Category Archives: Uncategorized

September 1, 2024 · 8:31 pm

IT’S BUG SEASON

Labor Day weekend mentally marks the end of summer.

Some even consider it the beginning of fall.

And since the heat dome has finally moved away from here

The temperatures are peaking most days in the 80’s.

What a relief.

It’s been a long hot summer

For just about everyone.

I would like to submit another option for this season.

Bug season!

Despite all the heat

It’s another buggy year.

Orb weaver spiders have been popping up for weeks.

John even found some at the farm

Who have all ready filled their eggs sacks.

Almost evey day I see a praying mantis.

This morning I rescued one from the inside of the kitchen window

And found another on the door as I took the first one outside.

Their are bees and wasps and moths and Monarch butterflies

Along with the occational hummingbird.

I love the buzzy feel of the garden

At this time of the year.

So how did I get so lucky.

Well, I do live on the Monarch migration path

But there is also intentionality about it.

First you have to give up spraying chemicals.

It’s important to put up with bugs and let them

Find their own balance.

If we stay out of their way

They will do just that.

Then we need to make sure they have food.

That means growing pollinator friendly plants

And extending their bloom well into the season.

Zinnias and Cosmos planted in July,

Deadheading Verbena Bonariensis and tall garden Phlox

Letting the Cockscomb bloom….and bloom.

Water is also important.

If you don’t have a bird bath

Saucers with rocks or pebbles to rest on

Will be greatly appreciated

By everyone.

We are, after all

Part of this one glorious community.

Happy bug season.

Gail

I aologize for my unplanned lengthy sabbatical. I spent over a year writing stories of my life for my family. They gave me a subscription to Storyworth. It was great fun to answer their questions and record my story. If you like to write or spin a tale check it out.

CABBAGE UPDATE

This is the third winter

Of my seed starting education.

I guess if it’s a college course

I’m a Junior!

And honestly, I feel like I’m making progress.

As of today I have 128 cabbage “teenagers”

Since last week they were potted into

A bit bigger pot and seem to love it.

When I began the process

Of popping them out of their toasty cell homes

They were actually root bound.

That has never been the case for me.

I think the credit goes to having the grow lights much closer.

It’s really the only big change this year.

But there are a few tricks I’ve picked up

Over the past few years

That are improving the end result.

For years I had a problem with “damping off”.

It’s a fungus that kills a happy baby plant.

They just lay over and die.

Very disappointing.

While listening to one of the endless gardening

Podcasts or YouTube videos

Someone made the comment that Chamomile tea

Is a natural fungicide.

So now my seedling babies and I enjoy tea together

On a regular basis.

I simply put a tea bag in my wonderful mister

And one in the watering can.

I don’t want to jinx it but so far not a casualty this season.

Another great help are timers.

Since seedlings like about 16 hours of light a day

These are great for turning that off and on.

I also plug a fan into a separate timer

To go off and on every 30 minutes

About 10 hours a day.

The fan also helps with fungal growth

It’s big job is to act as a gentle breeze

Strengthening the stems of the plants.

Everything is watered from the bottom

Once it has sprouted.

I set the pots in everything from old cookie sheets,

To rejected boot bin trays

To saved carry out containers.

Yellow sticky traps come in handy

For all those gnats that will eventually come.

I’m sure there are more tricks to learn.

For me that is the joy of all of this

Picking up tips and tricks

And the continual learning.

You have to be willing to fail a little along the way

But then there is the joy of getting to try again…and again.

Gail

3 Comments

Filed under Cabbage, Seedlings, Winter Gardening, Cool Season Crops, Seeds, Uncategorized

Tagged as Cabbage, Seedlings

January 22, 2023 · 9:05 pm

LET’S TALK LETTUCE

With the warm winter we are having

At least so far

People are getting antsy to plant something.

Yet, it’s basically too early for almost everything.

There is one group of vegetables that might work now

No guarntees though.

Greens

Greens like the cool seasons.

So here in zone 7a

That means spring and fall.

My favorites are arugula and leaf lettuce.

But all kinds of greens like it cool.

I like to plant it on the edges of my flower beds

And in my big pots

Planted on top of the tulips I buried in November.

My favorite is a leaf lettuce mix

From Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Called Allstar Gourmet Lettuce Mix.

Simply rough up the soil a bit

And sprinkle the seeds.

Then run a rake gently over them

And pat it down a bit.

Keep the soil damp while it germinates.

You can do this in several places

At two week intervals.

By March or so you will have plenty of fresh greens

For you and whatever bunnies may come your way.

Granted it’s not full on gardening

But it’s a tasty way

To start the season.

And isn’t it amazing how something as fragile

As lettuce

Can withstand the tougher conditions of winter.

Life is like that sometimes.

Gail

PS Cabbage babies keep sprouting!

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Filed under Cool Season Crops, Lettuce, Uncategorized

Tagged as Lettuce

January 15, 2023 · 8:19 pm

TINY MIRACLES

As I reported last week

I’ve started my indoor gardening season.

This is my third year for starting cabbage.

Just this week I read that the germination rate for cabbage

Is near 100%.

Wish I had known that before I planted 140 cells with seeds.

Sure enough within three days over 100 of those seeds had sprouted

And today I am the proud mother of 126 baby cabbages.

YIKES!

At least twice a day

Coco and I journey to the garden house

To make sure they are OK.

So far everyone is happy.

Now I don’t expect each of them to make it to maturity

But I probably will be looking for homes for some of these

Since I will have more than even Faith Farm can handle.

This week I added Flat Italian Parsley and Sweet Peas

To the line up.

So far they are still dormant

Which is fine with me

Giving me an excuse

To check on things.

Just as I was ready to plant an indoor lettuce crop

I noticed a tiny miracle in my garden.

The luscious crop that was a victim

Of the pre Christmas Artic blast

Is coming back from the roots.

Never did I imagine that.

Both areas are planted against the edge

Of the brick patio

Giving them warmth

And one area is well protected from the north.

But really

Surviving -20 degrees!

There is a richness that comes

From these tiny miracles.

For me it adds to the depth of joy

In the cold and sunless days of winter.

Wishing tiny miracles for you this week.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Cabbage, Lettuce, Uncategorized

Tagged as Cabbage

January 8, 2023 · 7:21 pm

AND SO IT BEGINS

While our gardens are taking their

Long winter’s nap

Most gardeners are dreaming of spring.

The volume of seed catalogs we receive

Only makes us yearn all the more

For those first few days

When we know winter is fading.

Over the last few years

I’ve been filling this void

With indoor seed starting.

Each year I get a bit better at it

But I still have much to learn.

This year I’m improving the light

Available for seed germination and growing.

Thanks to a generous gift of LED lighting

From my friend Jenny

And a Christmas gift of a seed starting station

From John

I have a new found hope

Of even better results.

The first thing up is always cabbage.

Here in zone 7a cabbage plants need to be out

Between February 15 and March 10.

So last week their tiny seeds

Hit the dirt – so to speak!

It felt good to have my hands in soil again

Even if it came from a bag.

I’ll start Italian Parsley and Basil this week for Faith Farm

And a winter lettuce crop for myself

Since the pre-Christmas -20 wind chill

Took out all that was planted in the ground.

I think of gardening as one grand experiment.

Often pushing the limits

Or defying the “rules”.

I’ve accidentally done that this year

With the fact that the last of the spring flowering bulbs

Are just now going into the ground

Taking full advantage

That is the grace of God’s great earth.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Basil, Cabbage, Community Garden, Gardening, Herbs, Lettuce, Oklahoma Gardening, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Winter Garden

August 7, 2022 · 4:43 pm

PROPAGATING

One of the things I love to do when traveling

Is visit local gardens.

So on our recent family trip

To Newport and its Jazz Festival

We headed for Bellevue Avenue

And the mansions of the “Gilded Age”.

They are spectacular.

Unbelievable really.

Actually, a little too unbelievable for our taste.

There likely were elaborate gardens

At one point.

But not so much today.

There are however seas of hydrangea

Blue mopheads, green limelights and

Of course, Annabelles.

But I like real gardens

The kind that are a bit messy and unkept

Like mine.

Luckily Elliott discovered Blithewold Mansion and Gardens

Down the road in Bristol, R. I.

Though Blithewold was built during the same era

It has a completely different feel.

I feels like a family lived, played and gardened there.

The estate is currently 33 acres.

It is filled with a cutting garden, vegetable garden

Water garden, bamboo forest, rose garden, greenhouses

And an arboretum.

Generally, I head straight for the flowers

And they were wonderful.

Many of the things I grow

And others I’ve long been curious about.

It did not disappoint.

But the trees are what captivated me.

In particular the Giant Sequoia.

Now remember, I’m on the east coast

Not California.

I know, I was a bit confused myself.

I don’t remember how the first one came to Blithewold

But Marjorie Randolph Van Wickle Lyon the daughter who grew up here

Took it upon herself

To learn to propagate them.

And propagate she did.

The origianal Sequoia is now 90 feet tall.

There are a dozen more on their estate

All of which are the product of Marjorie’s ingenuity.

It seems she created so many that she gave them

To guests who visited.

I like this lady.

So let’s think about this.

A young woman

Born in 1883

Into an era and a social strata

That shall we say

Didn’t encourage women to do

Well…anything.

Yet, she decides to propagate

GIANT SEQUOIA !

Marjorie never had children

Yet she left a legacy that will last generations.

So as three generations of Wynnes

Explored her home

I couldn’t help but think about the legacy

And memories

We create each day.

Hoping that we will leave such a lasting legacy.

Gail

Gardens

FLUID CRYSTALLIZATION

There is a section of my garden

Where I don’t have many perennials.

I have given it over to self seeding annuals.

Poppies and Larkspur in the spring

Are followed by Cosmos, Cleome, Cockscomb and Zinnias.

This does however result in a few empty spaces.

For years – decades really – I have planted Zinnias in those places.

This happens later in the season.

Usually mid – June through Mid – July.

So when the first round of volunteer Zinnias

Get mildew

And they will.

I have a second fresh crop for fall.

This accidental plan

Has worked great for years and years.

Then comes this summer.

The first round of Zinnia seeds

Planted in mid – June

Have sprouted and started to bloom.

But the second and third rounds

Simply won’t sprout.

I’ve tried different varieties

From different companies

At different times

And zilch!

Then I read this week

That because of this relentless heat

The soil is too hot to germinate seeds.

Seriously…how can that be.

Think about that for a moment.

It’s a really scarey thought

Since growing food

Requires lots and lots of seed germination.

So, once again, we must adjust our knowledge

Of what works

And what no longer will.

Which brought to mind a book I’m reading.

“From Strength to Strength” by Arthur C Brooks.

In it he talks about the “fluid intelligence” of our 30’s and 40’s

And the “crystallized intelligence” of my stage of life

And ways of sharing our “crystallization” (my word) that will lead to happiness.

So my “crystallized intelligence” of decades in the garden

Needs to become a bit more fluid

To adapt to nature and the changes we are forcing on it.

But that is really how nature works.

Witness the life of poet Mary Oliver

Who walked the woods and shorelines of her home

Writing books and books of poems.

Leaving behind a depth of “crystallized intelligence”

For the world.

Maybe it’s the generations of Presbyterians in me

But I’m thankful I don’t have all the answers.

About gardening

And about life.

There is still space to grow.

Gail

If we don’t change we don’t grow. If we don’t grow we aren’t really living.

Gail Sheehy

2 Comments

Filed under cleome, cockscomb, Cosmos, Garden Planning, Gardening, Larkspur, Nature, Perennials, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Timing, Uncategorized, Zinnia

July 17, 2022 · 4:17 pm

STAYIN ALIVE

It’s been over a decade

Since we have had

This kind of heat.

Generally I try not complain about the weather.

After all, my grandmother drove a conastoga wagon

From Iowa to Oklahoma when she was 18

During the summer.

What have I got to complain about!

Yet, somehow this feels different.

It is unrelenting.

I think we are on week 4 or 5

Of most days well over 100.

Keeping the garden alive

Can be a full time job

In years like this

If you haven’t prepared for it.

There are two things I did by instinct

That help my garden survive.

Granted not everyone wants a full blown perennial garden.

But adding perennials to your flower beds

Will save you time, money, water and worry.

Because perennials intend to survive

More than one season

They are more deeply rooted

Meaning they can take the slings and arrows

That nature is throwing these days.

Some even thrive on it.

So right now these things are not just surviving

But are actually happy in my garden.

And providing all the nector

The flock of buzzing pollinators living with us

Seem to need.

Happy perennials are Maxmillion Sunflower

Purple Coneflower, Tall Garden Phlox, Gloriosa Daisy,

Veronica Spicata and Sunny Border Blue and Verbena Bonariensis.

All of these not only come back but also spread.

No perennial gives more than Annabelle Hydrangea

And her cousin Incrediball.

Then there are the self seeding annuals

Zinnia, Sunflower, Cleome and the ever present Cockscomb.

These are the foundation of my high summer garden.

Other plants may bloom a little but these are the staples.

Even in this heat they only require water about every 5 days.

That, of course, is with drip irrigation.

Fifteen plus years ago when we built my garden

I ordered a really large roll of inline emitter drip line

From Dripworks.

1,000 feet of coiled drip line was like a giant snakey octopus

All over my backyard.

Once it was softened by the sun

And put into place

It has been the lifeline of my garden.

I connect the line to two faucets at opposite ends

Of the back of the garden.

We are lucky to have a well.

I turn them both on at once

And let them slowly drip for several hours.

That’s right.

I want the water to go deeply

To the low roots of even the biggest plant.

The water will draw the roots even deeper

Helping the plant survive

The 114 degrees predicted for next Tuesday

And the two weeks near zero

That will surely come next February.

I don’t know whether plants are like people

Or people are like plants.

But I do know that without my deep roots

And firm foundation

The last 2 1/2 years would have been

Even more difficult.

For me and my garden.

Gail

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Filed under Annabelle Hydrangea, Bees, Bugs, Bumblebee, drip irrigation, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Gloriosa Daisy - Rudbeckia, HELIANTHUS, Maximillian Sunflower, Perennials, Purple Coneflower - Echinacea, self seeding annuals, Sunflowers, Tall Garden Phlox, Uncategorized, Veronica Spicata, Zinnia

July 10, 2022 · 3:29 pm

“ON BEING” IN MY GARDEN

Much of what I do in my garden

Is dictated by the rythmn of the season.

Winter is for seed starting.

Spring for planting and transplanting.

June is for…well…just being glorious.

July is all about survival.

And this year is a rough one.

We are stuck under the heat dome

Bringing days and days at or near 100 degrees.

So, the most important thing I do

Is monitor the water.

Using it in the most earth friendly way I know.

Less frequent deep watering with drip lines.

Another part of the ritual is seed collection.

The garden house floor

Is covered with stacks of Larkspur, Poppy and Hollyhocks

In their final stage of drying

To re-suppy my seed collection

And share in the coming year.

I love sharing seeds

And hearing about them sprouting in new homes.

I thrive on pattern and ritual.

So following nature through the seasons

Brings me peace and joy.

My Saturday morning garden ritual is to first cut flowers

For the church arrangements.

That way they have several hours to get a good drink

Before being arranged.

This week I quickly moved on to weeding

And planting Cosmos & Zinnia seeds

In the open places that were created.

I was clicking along when my friend Debra sent a text.

She too was in her garden

And doing what we often both do.

Listening to Krista Tippett’s podcast “On Being”.

I have been a faithful listener since near the beginning 20 years ago.

Together Debra and I have listened and discussed

Along with Krista and her guests.

At times it feels like we actually know these people!

After all, Krista is an Oklahoman so there is a connection.

But this morning was different.

It was the last of this particular format.

“An On Being Listening Party Reviewing 20 Years”

And the memories of so many Saturday mornings in my garden.

Came flooding back.

Conversations with a joyful Desmond Tutu, Mary Oliver, John O’Donahue

And so many more were recounted.

These are all favorites of mine.

But two of my most memorable conversations were not mentioned.

So I share them here with you.

They go back to a time early on when the program was only on the radio

Not podcasted – and was called “Speaking of Faith”.

The first is an interview with Joe Carter.

Likely you don’t know of him.

He is a musician who told the stories of spirituals.

With a deep rich voice

And a broad knowledge of these stories.

I was transported back to my childhood

Listening to my great uncles singing these very songs

In my parents living room.

I think I’ve listened to the unedited version 6 times!

Joe Carter — The Spirituals

The other early memory is of a conversation between

A Jewish woman and a young Palestinian man

Titled “No More Taking Sides”.

They tell the stories of their unimaginable loss

And what they have done with their grief.

Be prepared to cry at the end.

Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad — No More Taking Sides

If you don’t know “On Being” you can find it and the treasured conversations here.

On Being with Krista Tippett

The conversations are rich.

The subjects are broad.

Fortunately, those hundreds of conversations are available to everyone.

I know I’ll be listening to them again and again for another 20 years.

So thank you Krista for being my Saturday morning garden companion.

You have opened my heart and broadened my mind.

You have challenged me and helped me grow

Bringing fascinating people into my life.

I’m looking forward to the next iteration of On Being

And how it will enrich our lives.

Gail

WIND

Last week my new friend Amy came for dinner.

Once we realized we both like gardening

A quick trip to the garden house

Was a must.

Some of you may know that once someone asks me a gardening question

I’m off

Giving them a gardening encyclopedia

When all the really want is a cliff note version.

Normally, several minutes in I finally look at the glazed eyes of my innocent victim

And dial it back a little.

But Amy kept asking questions

And I kept going.

There was one question I’ve been asked before

But I heard it differenly this time.

“Why do you have a fan running on the baby plants” she asked.

To strengthen the stems

My usual reply.

Then it hit me.

Stress….

I’m putting stress on these tiny plants

To make them stronger.

Oh my, maybe it’s just living my life

“Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains”

Is actually a line from our state song,

Or maybe it’s having lived so much life,

Or maybe it’s these past two years

But suddenly I knew.

We are like those baby plants.

Standing in the winds of life.

I know so many people

Who have struggled and stood strong

Against those winds.

And though the stresses of those lives

Would never have been our choice

They have strengthened us

And helped us to grow.

We are all just creatures

In God’s great creation.

What a gift.

Gail

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Tagged as Seedlings, Wind

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