Monthly Archives: April 2011

April 30, 2011 · 12:12 pm

COHABITING

When I began to garden my mission was to grow flowers to cut and arrange and give away.

That is still a major goal.

But bit by bit I began to want to grow vegetables.

The layout of my garden does not lend itself to rows of lettuce and tomatoes.

It’s more of a winding, flowing kind of place.

Tomatoes and peppers were easy to figure out.

You just treat them like any other flower plant.

Find a sunny spot and make it their home.

But after a few years of that I wanted more.

So…I had to improvise.

Luckily gardeners are pretty good at this.

My first thought was to edge portions of flower beds in lettuce.

Lettuce is a cool season crop which means we get an early crop and a late crop in our climate.

So early in February I rack the leaves away from the edge and sprinkle lettuce seeds.

Most of the time I used a seed mix called Encore from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Sprinkle some of the soil back over – give it a gentle pat and a little drink and wait.

Keep it evenly moist till it begins to sprout.

By April you’ll have a green garden edge.

What fun for you and the bunnies!

Just plan enough for everyone.

Then as it begins to warm I fill in the gaps with the summer resident – impatiens.

Peg "helped" me cut away the dead from the hydrangea bushes

Then we added Impatiens to the lettuce edge.

You see in the summer this space will be considerably shadier so it’s home to

a bed of Yew, Hydrangeas, Caladiums and Impatiens.

If I’m really industrious come fall after the first cold blast I’ll dig the Caladiums, pull the Impatiens and plant a fall and winter crop of lettuce.

It will come up anytime between November and February – depending on when I get it done and what kind of winter weather we enjoy!

Next I decided that the cages that house those glorious late summer and fall Dahlias were just idle in the spring.

Can’t have that.

So…they also get an early leaf removal in February.

Sugar Snap Peas are the crop of choice for this location.

Super Sugar Snap Peas growing up Dahlia cages.

It could also be used for Green Beans.

Really anything that needs something to climb on that is an early cool season crop will work.

Then I decided that I was tired of weeding the area behind my bank of Hydrangeas in the front yard.

I don’t mind weeding – it’s part of the deal after all.

But…I am always working to reduce the time I spend weeding.

Now this is going to be confusing but here goes.

When I say Hydrangea you are likely thinking it’s a shady area.

It was when we planted the Hydrangea.

Then the pine tree shading it from far overhead fell victim to the blight that is unfortunately taking out so many pine trees.

I was left with a sunny Hydrangea bed.

Perfect for a ground cover of Strawberries.

My sister Ann gave me some starts from her plants and we were off.

Going into the front and picking a handful of strawberries for your morning cup of yogurt is a spectacular way to start the day.

Now…these are not those over sexed things you see in the grocery stores.

No, these are real strawberries – small – tart – juicy – yummy!

I’ve since added strawberries under the forsythia in the back and am always on the lookout for another sunny spot that needs groundcover.

Strawberries growing under Forsythia.

So look around your yard and see if you can find a home for vegetables and berries.

This weeks two friends helped me both with this blog and in my garden.

You’ll notice a new picture at the top of my blog.

It’s a wonderful shot of my gardenhouse taken by my dear friend Debra.

Her medically trained radiologist eye sees the world in sweeping landscapes and infinite details.

Her pictures record her story intertwined with those of us fortunate enough to be her friend.

Thanks, Debra.

And a new friend Alyssa visited for a day to help and learn.

She’s an intern with my sisters at their retreat center Turtle Rock Farms.

I loved having the help and companionship for the day.

Alyssa in a sea of Katy Road Pink Roses

And to close, a sincere thank you to everyone who has told me they enjoy reading my weekly ramblings.

Hope you’ll think outside the gardening box.

It’s a great place to live.

Gail

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April 23, 2011 · 2:09 pm

ARRANGING THINGS

: Ladybug lunching at the “Peony Bud Cafe”.

It’s been a cool cloudy week.

Great weather for transplanting perennials.

So…here’s a bit about transplanting.

The need to move things around happens as a garden matures.

Or…you just move plants around to keep from buying more.

Not really.

In my garden several things go to seed and make babies all over the place.

Purple coneflower, gloriosa daisies, shasta daisies, tall garden phlox, all are a little rampant in my sun garden.

Hollyhocks and larkspur do the same but have more of a tap root so must be transplanted early when they are very small.

And I know the carpet of cockscomb is beginning to plot it’s annual takeover of my late summer and fall garden.

Now, don’t get the idea that I try to get everything in orderly little rows.

To find the “perfect” place.

I don’t.

Nor do I try to save every plant.

I used to, but gave that up some time ago.

But I do try to gather them in groups of 3, 5 or 7.

And I do move thing out of the middle of the path.

Or a really tall plant from the front edge of the garden.

You can actually start this process in mid-March if you get around to it.

Here’s how.

If possible pick a cloudy day.

Or… if a plant is moving into the sunshine, transplant late in the day so it will not be in the sun right after you have yanked it out of the ground.

Make sure that the soil is moist – not too dry or too wet.

You want the soil to stick to the roots.

Before you start digging figure out the new home for your plant.

Dig the hole in the new place.

Now dig up the plant with as much root and soil as possible and move it to it’s new home.

Tamp the soil in around it and give it a little drink.

Remember to give it a drink each day for the next few days – especially if it’s in the sunshine.

This same method works for shrubs as well as small plants.

I have a Blushing Bride Hydrangea that needs to be transplanted.

I’ll add a little manure to the soil when I refill the hole.

That should help it settle in.

It may be a little late since my hydrangeas are starting to set flower buds.

But….that’s never stopped me before, unfortunately.

Tulips for the most part have come and gone – except for the greenery.

Now theoretically they are like daffodils – let the leaves die completely back.

But I consider tulips in my garden to be annuals.

They simply rot over the course of the summer.

So, I pull them up.

Sometimes the bulb comes with them and they can be dried and saved.

But mostly the leaves just kind of “pop” when you pull on them.

I pull them out to make room for the perennials that are coming out of the ground underneath them.

Then off to the composter they go!

This is always a bit of a slow bloom time.

The riot of spring color is subsiding being replaced with glossy leaves.

The last few tulips hang on.

Iris are opening up.

White “field” German Bearded Iris

The first rose appears.

Rosa Katy Road Pink

Peony buds are swelling – eager to meet the world.

And columbine loves these days.

Columbine McKanna’s Giant

Remember the more you pick columbine the more it will bless you with blooms.

Strawberry plants – which I use for groundcover in sunny spots are blooming and beginning to set berries.

The lettuce in the bed by the garden gate is providing a luscious edge.

Both to look at and to eat!

It fills the space till the soil warms up enough for caladium bulbs.

Caladiums hate cool soils.

My friend Betty taught me to never plant them before May…and I don’t.

And speaking of lettuce – it’s getting to be Farmer’s Market season.

Most open by the first weekend of May.

Hope you’ll find one and support it all season long.

Bask in the season.

Gail

“I am a theologian and a college professor. I like being both.

But what I really love to do – what I get exquisite pleasure from doing – is to garden.”

Vigen Guroian

Pots

Since this weekend is the first weekend past the “official last frost day”,

I’m guessing that many of you will head to the greenhouse to buy annuals this weekend.

So…I’m trying to get this off a bit early this weekend.

I’m writing on Friday night and it’s well….almost freezing.

But…tomorrow will be in the 70’s so we’ll all be itching to get going.

Let’s talk pots.

First a disclaimer.

I have a lot of opinions on pots. But they are just that – my opinions.

So take them as that and go forward into the world of pots and annuals.

My theory is bigger pots and fewer of them is the way to go.

In all my yard I have 10 pots.

And they are big pots.

The smallest is 18″ in diameter.

The largest is 30″.

Frankly 18″ is a bit small but it holds an asparagus fern.

They’ll grow practically without a pot so you don’t really have to worry about them.

The thing I dislike about lots of little small pots is that they just require so much time to water – all the time.

And things die when it gets really hot.

So… think BIG!

I’m partial to clay pots – Italian clay which is sturdier than Mexican clay.

I’ve had 2 Italian clay rolled rim pots for over 25 years.

They are pretty gnarly by now which is why I love them – personality!

Italian clay will have thicker walls than other clay and will survive the freeze thaw cycle that so many of us deal with.

25 year old Italian clay pot with Madavilla vine and sun annuals.

There are great fiberglass pots on the market now.

They can get a bit pricey but are worth the investment.

They are lighter weight which is good if you are need ing to move them in and out from season to season or if you are still in the moving around stage of live.

Then there is plastic.

My least favorite but practical in many aspects.

If you do go with plastic buy the best quality you can afford.

There are some commercial quality plastic pots that actually resemble clay.

The one on my landing is plastic kind of by default as I remember.

Now…on to potting soil.

Actually, lets talk filling really big pots with non-soil.

I often use old plastic pots to fill the bottom of a big pot.

This saves money on potting soil since the roots often don’t go more than 8″ – 10″ at most.

The soil itself is tricky.

It needs to be light – and retain moisture.

You can buy commercial potting soil.

Which is where I start. Then I add peat moss which will help to keep the moisture in.

I also like to add the commercial moisture retention granules.

Be sure and follow the directions on the package of how to use them.

They will SWELL up like you don’t believe when you put them in water.

It’s great fun!

Mix this all together with your hands until it’s fluffy.

If I’m planting caladiums I mix a special non-soil mixture of equal parts sand, peat moss and pine bark nuggets.

This will provide good drainage and keep the caladium bulbs from rotting.

What to plant?

The options are endless.

Historically, I have used pots of all annuals and still do for the most part.

I’m trying to broaden my horizons.

So look at perennials, grasses and bulbs in addition to annuals.

Of course, the beauty of annuals is that they bloom and provide color all season long.

Greenhouses will have sample pots planted to give you ideas.

There are always magazines.

But remember gardeners reading garden magazines is like real women reading VOGUE!!!

I also take pictures during the season of pots I like and keep a file on my computer.

Some of those I’m sharing today, although I seem to only be able to find last years pots and a few dreamy ones from the Rocky Mountains.

Street planting Breckinridge, CO

The basic design principle is to have 3 elements in each pot.

Something tall in the center or back.

Mounding plants in the middle.

Trailing plants along the edge.

Tall plants I use – by no means a complete list – are:

Sun: Mandavilla – on a big – 4″ metal frame, Agastache, sun Coleus, Asparagus fern, Foxtail fern, tall Snapdragons. Salvias & grasses.

Shade: Kimberly Fern, Caladiums & Coleus are great.

Mounding plants are endless. Here’s what works for me:

Sun: petunias, nierembergia, allysum all mound and trail. Also Marigolds, sun Begonias, Snapdragons, Gomphrena, Heliatrope, Lantana, Pentas

Shade: Impatiens, begonias, snapdragons will tolerate light shade, short caladiums.

Trailing plants:

Swedish ivy, English ivy, vinca minor & major, Helicrysum, Sweet Potato Vine Verbenas, Wave Petunias.

That should get you started.

And now a word about pace.

This past 2 weeks my cranky back has been well….cranky.

It has forced me to re-evaluate everything I do and how I do it.

Specifically, the pace at which I do it.

I think I’ve been treating gardening like a 1950’s family road trip.

You remember, pile into the car and drive like crazy – past some pretty fun looking stuff – to the destination.

Now I must remember that gardening is like the saying.

“The journey is the destination.”

Slow down – step back and take it all in – accept the pace of nature.

Enjoy this week’s journey.

Gail

New blooms this week…

Columbine

purple Dutch Iris

Wisteria - only a few dozen blooms this year.

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April 11, 2011 · 2:24 am

Sandpaper Hands

I can tell it’s spring because by Saturday night my hands felt like sandpaper.

I know I should wear gloves but just can’t seem to keep them on.

Just need to get my hands in the soil – really in the soil.

And that’s what I did this weekend – all weekend.

It was, for me, the first long gardening weekend.

Actually, it began on Thursday evening in the front yard.

I went out to stake down the daffodil leaves and Torry, Cassidy and Sloane from next door pitched in.

Daffodil leaves need to die all the way back in order to feed the bulb and bloom for next year.

This takes awhile and can be not so pretty in the process.

I used to braid them and stake them down which is lovely.

Or it was until Megan and I succeeded in edging all my loooooong beds in daffodils.

It would simply take forever.

So instead I take leaves in each hand, twist them around each other, tuck the ends in and stake them down.

The stakes are made by cutting the ends from a wire clothes hanger with wire cutters.

Just make one cut on the bottom to save your hands.

They work great and are free – except for the Advil you’ll need to get your hands back in shape.

You can also use landscape cloth stakes.

By Saturday the real fun began.

I spent most of the day in the shady part of my garden.

Ferns have been sending out runners all winter and were popping up everywhere.

So I spread the joy a bit transplanting them to other shady areas.

Then new Digitalis, Astilbe and Bleeding Heart were added.

Digitalis is really not known to like my house but I keep trying.

Because they like an acid soil, last fall I added a few pecan shells and leaves to the soil and today I added a bit of lime.

I’ll keep you posted.

The good news is that Belinda’s Dream roses are looking great – considering.

Hopefully, I’ll at least have fall roses and they may still surprise me this spring.

And speaking of bloom the Japanese Tree Peony bloomed this morning.

I’ve put this poor plant through two moves and once sliced it in half with a shovel.

This year it’s full of buds and blooms – proving that patience does pay of.

Nature teaches us to be patient if we will listen.

Dahlias are some of my favorite flowers.

They are fall blooming so they are one of the last things to come out of the ground in the spring.

Technically, they should not overwinter in this zone but they often do so I don’t dig them in the fall.

Come spring it’s always a guess to see what holes I’ll need to fill in.

So this year I came up with a new plan.

The tubers arrived this week and today I planted them in pots.

They can begin to grow in the pot and when I know what is or is not coming back I can fill in with new ones.

Hopefully, I’ll be ahead of the game – we’ll see.

The rest of today was filled with transferring tomatoes into bigger pots.

I won’t put them out until later on in the month so this should give them more space to form more roots.

The weekend ended as it began.

Torry, Cassidy and Sloane returned.

This time we planted fescue in basket liners for their Easter baskets.

It’s easy.

Fill the liner about half full of moist potting soil. Cover with a solid coating of fescue seeds.

Then add a light coat of potting soil and water with a gentle spray.

Keep in a sunny window and spray to keep moist.

In 10 to 14 days you’ll have a bed of real grass for all those Easter eggs.

Tulips are beginning to wane so I’ll end with small pictures of the ones that remain and other joys of spring.

Enjoy the week.

Gail

We’re off….

What a glorious weekend!

Clear skies – warm sunshine – a little breezy – couldn’t be better.

So…out to the garden I went.

It’s hard to know where to start at this time of year – there is so much I have been wanting to do.

It used to be that I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish in my garden each weekend.

I let my weekends be an extension of my week – making list – crossing things off – getting “the work” done.

But last year I tried to let go of that.

I would simply walk into my garden and do what I wanted – what spoke to me.

Now…I’m not saying I’m totally cured of the drive to “get it done”, but I’m getting better.

This is fun after all! Play if you will!

So what spoke to me first were my dreadful looking Belinda’s Dream roses.

I gathered my pruners, lopers, long rose gloves into my wheel barrow and headed out to the

fence to cut away all the dead.

Well, the wheel barrow was a dream.

I quickly returned to get the big poly cart that we have from the city.

They pick them up and compost everything in them.

So, I put things into these carts that I don’t want to compost at home.

Thorny things, sticks and weeds for the most part.

I’m proud of this little city on the prairie for composting our yard trash.

Anyway, I cut away all of the dead.

Winter kill on Belinda’s Dream Belinda after cutting away the dead canes.

You have to be careful when you do this making sure that you are not cutting away anything that is still alive.

But you can’t be timid, either.

Getting the dead off plants is a basic tenet of gardening.

Don’t ask the roots and plant to support non-productive grown – it will be, well, non-productive!

The whole weekend reminded me of the radio interview I heard last spring with author Elizabeth Murray.

Elizabeth was the first woman to garden at Giverney – Monet’s home, garden and inspiration for much of his painting.

She was entrusted with cutting back the roses that spring and if I remember correctly it hadn’t been done in a while.

She described the process ending in mountains of dead rose canes.

What courage!

A young woman – a foreigner no less – and we aren’t talking about just anyone’s backyard.

She’s at Monet’s house!

Well, my afternoon wasn’t quite that exciting but I did remove lots of dead wood.

Next I pulled back the winter protection of leaves and manure.

Then came the much awaited drink of Epsom salt water.

Add about a fistful to a gallon of water and pour it slowly over the crown – that’s the center of the plant.

The good news is that the new growth all seems to be coming from above the graph.

So it looks like I’ll still have pink roses rather than the red I feared.

Sorry Daddy.

It’s also tulip time around here.

So here’s a little photo journey around the neighborhood.

Beginning with the beginning….

Nov. 2010 Megandigging holes for this week’s delight!

This would be the week to drop by if you’re in town, Megan.

I’ve also included a picture of a field of canola in full bloom.

Though this is still wheat country more and more farmers are trying canola.

It supplies us with fields of “sunshine” this time of year.

Quarter sections of land daffodil yellow…..ah spring!

One last word.

It’s warm today and makes you want to plant annuals.

Try to restrain yourself.

Remember not only does the air have to warm up, but also the soil.

So if you must plant something plant things that love cold – not heat.

Things like more pansies or violas or alyssum.

Wait another week or so for the other annuals.

A little housekeeping.

Some have asked how to subscribe.

There’s a place at the top of this post to subscribe by filling in your email address.

You’ll then receive and email with a link to click on to confirm the subscription.

That should do it.

Also, I’m aware that the captions under the pictures are at best goofy.

I’m trying to figure that out – obviously with little success so far.

Enjoy the week and the wisdom that nature is waiting to give you.

Gail

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Filed under Gardening, roses, spring, tulips

Monthly Archives: April 2011

COHABITING

ARRANGING THINGS

Pots

Sandpaper Hands

We’re off….

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