I'm a little late with the Halloween post but I hope you had a Happy Halloween!
Here's Little Jack*:
Here's Big Jack:
Happy Halloween!
*Little Jack was home grown from the vegetable garden. At least there was one pumpkin that was not smooshed!
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Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random thoughts. Show all posts
Around the Garden in October
It's been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden. Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I'll share a few photos of the various garden areas. The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem to be doing fine!
Right now in the front garden along the sidewalk you will see mums becoming the center of attention. The red mums to the right have been in the ground for several years and have gotten quite large. I didn't cut them back even once this year and their timing seems to be just perfect. The mums on the left side of the sidewalk are the 'Clara Curtis' mums I mentioned in an earlier post. The 'Autumn Joy' sedum is going to seed while the gaillardia is still producing blooms.
It's still without a birdbath at the moment but the birdbath garden is putting on a good show. The 'Sheffield Pink' mums are in front of this picture with salvia, red twig dogwood, catmint, and a butterfly bush all nearby.
OK it's not really a garden but it is a part of the gardens. It connects them all together through a sea of green and is a void of space that allows the gardens to stand out. The trees in the back are well on their way to fall color. The lawn looks pretty good now that some of the oversown seed has emerged. It's not perfect but I'm not looking for the perfect lawn, just one that does what I need and provide a great place for the kids to play! I don't use pesticides or herbicides on the lawn.
The Front Garden Walkway
Right now in the front garden along the sidewalk you will see mums becoming the center of attention. The red mums to the right have been in the ground for several years and have gotten quite large. I didn't cut them back even once this year and their timing seems to be just perfect. The mums on the left side of the sidewalk are the 'Clara Curtis' mums I mentioned in an earlier post. The 'Autumn Joy' sedum is going to seed while the gaillardia is still producing blooms.
The Surprise Garden!
In Saturday's post I told you about my surprise garden. Essentially the spring garden cleanup resulted in the germination of the seed the spring garden produced. It' snot a bad problem to have but it does make mowing around it a little difficult. Cilantro, arugula and lettuce can all be found in this garden patch.
The Herb Garden
My herb garden is located just off one side of our patio. Oregano stretches itself onto the edge of the patio but you will also find lemon balm, stevia, and catmint here. On the opposite side is thyme, lemon basil, and one of my favorites, sage.
The Birdbath Garden
It's still without a birdbath at the moment but the birdbath garden is putting on a good show. The 'Sheffield Pink' mums are in front of this picture with salvia, red twig dogwood, catmint, and a butterfly bush all nearby.
The Lawn Garden
OK it's not really a garden but it is a part of the gardens. It connects them all together through a sea of green and is a void of space that allows the gardens to stand out. The trees in the back are well on their way to fall color. The lawn looks pretty good now that some of the oversown seed has emerged. It's not perfect but I'm not looking for the perfect lawn, just one that does what I need and provide a great place for the kids to play! I don't use pesticides or herbicides on the lawn.
The Shed
Back by the shed the gardens have filled in fairly thick. It's time to move a few plants to other locations. I'm looking forward to seeing the two crape myrtles on either side of the pathway grow into larger trees to flank the path. Also flanking the pathway are two 'Shenandoah' switchgrasses. The one on the right is significantly larger even though both were planted at the same time and were in the same size pot. The difference is the light. The one on the right gets a couple more hours of sunlight than the other. A few hours makes a huge difference. I was trying to be symmetrical but one of the problems with symmetry is that it can be hard to get both specimens to match for a variety of reasons. In this case they grew at different rates.
The Trees
The trees are well on their way to being naked. While the cooler weather will be welcome for a little while I'm going to miss the growing season. Spring will come along eventually and we'll get the opportunity to try new things in the garden. For now though we'll just have to live in the moment and enjoy the colors as they turn.
Join the 2011 Fall Color Project and share the brilliance of Autumn!
The Summer Garden is Coming to a Close
I sadly saw yesterday a weather report that mentioned the "F" word - FROST. It's coming very soon, most likely Sunday and/or Monday nights. While there are some good feelings about this - like a rest period for the gardener - it's also a time I dread. Those fresh tomatoes from the garden will soon be a thing of the past. We've frozen some sauce to enjoy over the winter in soups or pasta but it's not as great as walking out under the summer sun and picking that ripe juicy tomato for my turkey sandwich. I'll probably cover our tomatoes for the next couple weeks to try and resist the cold a just little longer but the summer garden is quickly coming to a close. I use old sheets to cover them since they don't transfer the cold through them like plastic does. The fall garden is partially planted with lettuce, spinach, Brussels spouts, kale, and chard. I'll plant the other half of the bed next week and other beds as I clear away more of the summer garden.
This year has gone by extremely fast. I've been busy working at Farmer's Market, starting my own small gardening business (it sure isn't easy!), trying to help a children's garden get started, and of course all of our gardening activities around our house. A time of rest this winter will be welcome. But the gardening off-season isn't just a time for garden addicts to relax and recover - true gardening addicts plan!
Gardeners plan for the seeds they buy, they plants they want to grow, what new garden beds they want to make, and all kinds of other things. Gardening addicts also prepare what they can for the growing season. It's time for me to build a few more raised beds to replace the old ones. I also have a greenhouse I need to set up very soon. It's a small one but with some creativity will help me next year as I prepare plants for customers. It's just another step in becoming a real nursery one day.
This winter I'm also hoping to put together a few small e-books. I hear it's the thing to do now and that more people read them than the physical paper books. I'm not sure - I've still never read an e-book! If you have a topic you want me to cover in e-book format let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm considering putting together a raised bed garden layout book and one on plant propagation but there are so many possible topics that could be covered.
The Fall Color Project is still underway but so far no one has posted for it yet. It won't be long before the colors peak so stay tuned for some great fall color!
I hope you can forgive the randomness in today's post. I've been cooped up due to rain the last couple days and am ready for some sunshiny fall days!
Fall Weekend Chores and Projects
I've been lax on the lists lately. There are always things that need done and projects that need tackled and this weekend is no exception. Here's a quick list of the fall chores and projects that I hope to start and maybe even complete this weekend!
The over-seeding needs to be completed by Sunday since more rains will be on their way next week and I don't want to water the lawn myself. Hopefully I can get through this list but its pretty ambitious. We'll see!
- Attend the Spring Hill Country Ham Festival - This festival benefits the Tennessee Children's Home and only costs $10 for a carload of visitors. I thought it might be fun to attend for a little while in the morning and a great place to find some BBQ for lunch!
- Pick-up materials to build a wooden swing set for the kids.
- Build as much of the swing-set as possible over the weekend. This may take a couple weekends to actually complete along with some intermittent work sessions during the week. I really want this up quick so they can enjoy this nice fall weather we're experiencing! (Boy am I loving it!)
- Overseed the lawn with more grass seed. This is the only type of lawn maintenance other than mowing that I do. Every fall I overseed with a different variety of fescue. This combined with mowing high and only when needed has given me a pretty decent cool season lawn. It's not weed free by any means; during the warm season the crabgrass invades but I can live with that. I don't use any pre-emergent herbicides as I like to keep the clover and some of the weeds for pollinators. I truly believe that lawns can be very eco-friendly if managed correctly and with a tolerance for that which you can't control!
- Dig a little more of the greenhouse foundation area out. So far it's slow going but now that my wheelbarrow is repaired I can get to it.
The over-seeding needs to be completed by Sunday since more rains will be on their way next week and I don't want to water the lawn myself. Hopefully I can get through this list but its pretty ambitious. We'll see!
UPDATE 10-3-2009:The Spring Hill Ham Festival couldn't have been held on a more perfect day. The sun was shining, the temperatures were comfortable, and the BBQ was delicious! My oldest daughter enjoyed watching the Irish dancers dance, riding on a train, and playing in the kids area on the inflatables. While there we purchased a couple things including a large jar of local Sourwood Honey and a pot of parsley.We spent a little longer at the festival than we planned and so I never started on the swing set but I did get the materials so that I can tackle that project tomorrow!Friday night I managed to dig another 4'x8' area out for the foundation of the greenhouse. Slow and steady wins the race...right?
Pineapple Sage - Still Not Blooming!
This spring I bought this pineapple sage at a garden show fully expecting it to thrive and burst into colorful red blooms. Well I can say one thing, it is thriving! For some reason the blooms are just now beginning to form despite it growing to a size of about three and a half feet round. It has nearly overtaken the 'Little Giant' arborvitae planted next door. The blooms that are forming should begin to put on their show within the next week but I could have sworn that my pineapple sage from last year bloomed much earlier!
In other blooming news my Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigrum' is in bloom, that would be cotton. I mentioned this cotton on the Facebook page last night. It's gorgeous blooms would be much better displayed if planted enmass in a better location. I'll blame the local gardener for that. He's always sticking stuff in the wrong place.
And here's one more picture for the day just to show that fall is coming...
Soon the rest of this crape myrtle will be just as fiery color as the leaf! Are signs of fall in your area yet?
In other blooming news my Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigrum' is in bloom, that would be cotton. I mentioned this cotton on the Facebook page last night. It's gorgeous blooms would be much better displayed if planted enmass in a better location. I'll blame the local gardener for that. He's always sticking stuff in the wrong place.
And here's one more picture for the day just to show that fall is coming...
Soon the rest of this crape myrtle will be just as fiery color as the leaf! Are signs of fall in your area yet?
Parenting, Gardening, and Time...
I'm finding that this year has by far been the most challenging year for the garden. At least so far. It's not just because of the sweltering heat that is sitting on us like some big ole bear on a circus ball. And it's not just the complete lack of rain over the last couple week (wait I did feel about 5-6 drops the other day - no exaggeration here - only 5-6 drops). What has really made this year a challenge so far is time.
Time is the one factor in everything that is beyond our control. We can manipulate how we spend our time but no matter what we do time still goes, it travels, and it travels fast! It seems like overnight my oldest daughter finished kindergarten. School was a challenge - not for her she breezed through - but for me. For those who have followed this blog for a while now you probably know I'm a stay-at-home dad. For those who didn't know that before, now you do! My schedule changed to accommodate her school schedule which meant no more early morning gardening, not more getting out when it's cool to pull weeds or to propagate plants. It's all part of being the dad so I'm not complaining, not much anyway.
Now that school is out time is on my side again right? Not so fast -- now we have swim lessons! This time both girls get to go to the same class to learn how to swim. It's an important skill that everyone should know how to do just in case you ever need to. You never know when you might fall into a garden water feature and you have to know how to make it back to safety. It's not like your koi fish are going to give you a ride. They seem to really be enjoying the swimming lessons so far but again it takes away that morning time again.
And of course there's our newest addition. He's almost ready for walking, talking, and is already getting into everything. He will be a year old in July. While he is probably the easiest baby in the world to take care of that doesn't mean it's easy. Between diaper changes, keeping toys and papers out of his mouth, feeding him and all the other things parents do, time for extra stuff goes out the window. Extra stuff like the garden.
You might be wondering "what about the rest of the day?" With temperatures at 92-96 degrees each day for the last two weeks I don't want my kids outside for very long - or me for that matter. When the heat index rests over 100 degrees working in the garden isn't the fun relaxing activity that it should be.
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I wouldn't trade these three for anything - I just wish I could do everything else too! If I had the power to freeze time I might actually keep up with what needs done outside. The vegetable garden is growing well - too well probably since the deer have decided to visit again and the weeds are getting tall. There are a bunch of plants I'd like to propagate but I've found that cuttings taken too late in the day have poorer success rates. The cuttings get too much heat and lose water rapidly which leads to failure. I need a few days of catch-up time.
So you might be asking "why is Dave writing about his kids and lack of time?" Lately I feel that I haven't been able to to give blogging the time I used to be able to give. I still strive for a post a day with weekend exceptions but that pace has been a challenge to keep up with. I'm won't be changing anything with my posting intentionally but over the next few weeks my writing may seem sporadic. Also I want to apologize to my fellow bloggers because I just can't keep up with your blogs as I would like to. Time just isn't on this blogger's side right now.
I still have many more projects I want to get to (including a renewed interest in a deer proof fence) and as always I'll be documenting each project as I get to it. We'll just have to see what time allows me to accomplish.
For now I just have to be patient and enjoy time where is. You can never get back the times you let pass...
Time is the one factor in everything that is beyond our control. We can manipulate how we spend our time but no matter what we do time still goes, it travels, and it travels fast! It seems like overnight my oldest daughter finished kindergarten. School was a challenge - not for her she breezed through - but for me. For those who have followed this blog for a while now you probably know I'm a stay-at-home dad. For those who didn't know that before, now you do! My schedule changed to accommodate her school schedule which meant no more early morning gardening, not more getting out when it's cool to pull weeds or to propagate plants. It's all part of being the dad so I'm not complaining, not much anyway.
You might be wondering "what about the rest of the day?" With temperatures at 92-96 degrees each day for the last two weeks I don't want my kids outside for very long - or me for that matter. When the heat index rests over 100 degrees working in the garden isn't the fun relaxing activity that it should be.
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I wouldn't trade these three for anything - I just wish I could do everything else too! If I had the power to freeze time I might actually keep up with what needs done outside. The vegetable garden is growing well - too well probably since the deer have decided to visit again and the weeds are getting tall. There are a bunch of plants I'd like to propagate but I've found that cuttings taken too late in the day have poorer success rates. The cuttings get too much heat and lose water rapidly which leads to failure. I need a few days of catch-up time.
So you might be asking "why is Dave writing about his kids and lack of time?" Lately I feel that I haven't been able to to give blogging the time I used to be able to give. I still strive for a post a day with weekend exceptions but that pace has been a challenge to keep up with. I'm won't be changing anything with my posting intentionally but over the next few weeks my writing may seem sporadic. Also I want to apologize to my fellow bloggers because I just can't keep up with your blogs as I would like to. Time just isn't on this blogger's side right now.
I still have many more projects I want to get to (including a renewed interest in a deer proof fence) and as always I'll be documenting each project as I get to it. We'll just have to see what time allows me to accomplish.
For now I just have to be patient and enjoy time where is. You can never get back the times you let pass...
Besides it won't be long until a little mischief is on his way to the garden!
Random Thoughts and the Week
Today I actually found myself in a home improvement store looking for paint for the garden shed. How I found myself or more importantly how I got lost there I'll never know but I ended up coming home with four gallons of paint. The colors will be revealed at a later date. They aren't groundbreakingly unique colors but I think they'll dress up the shed nicely. The colors had to blend with the house and the garden and hopefully they will make a nice blend.
New Roots:
I also found myself with a couple beautyberry bush cuttings ready to pot up as well as two more rosemary cuttings. New roots are always very exciting!
Cancellations:
Today I canceled my mowing for the second time. The other day I was out mowing when a storm came through. When it was over the yard was less than 1/3 mowed and the grass was too wet to continue. It rained again today incoveniently and I never got back to it. Suffice it to say that my grass is tall, very tall but all children are accounted for!
If you missed something this week here it is!
New Roots:
I also found myself with a couple beautyberry bush cuttings ready to pot up as well as two more rosemary cuttings. New roots are always very exciting!
Cancellations:
Today I canceled my mowing for the second time. The other day I was out mowing when a storm came through. When it was over the yard was less than 1/3 mowed and the grass was too wet to continue. It rained again today incoveniently and I never got back to it. Suffice it to say that my grass is tall, very tall but all children are accounted for!
If you missed something this week here it is!
Sunday May 23, 2010
- Meeting Other Garden Bloggers - A visit of another garden blogger to my garden.
Monday May 24, 2010
- Here's What Rooted Today -This time of year I'm always propagating plants, look and see what I potted up on Monday!
Tuesday May 25, 2010
- The Gardens from the Porch Perspective -Looking around from our back deck.
Wednesday May 26, 2010
- What Bolted Cilantro Looks Like - It looks pretty cool I think!
Thursday May 27, 2010
- Things to Do in the Vegetable Garden - End of May -There's always something that needs done in the vegetable garden. It's important to stay ahead!
Potting Up
I was able to get outside this afternoon and do a little potting with some cuttings that had rooted. It's a constant process right now since as soon as one batch gets rooted I start some more. You never know if you will have enough! Sometimes you give away the plants to friends and family, other times the little plants get damaged by the sun, disease, or insects. It pays to have a few extra plants on hand to pop in the garden when you need them.
Here's the group that I potted. On the top tray there are five Russian Sage cuttings and one 'May Night' Salvia. The salvia was the only one of several cuttings I made that rooted. The other cuttings are starting to root but don't have enough roots for potting.
In the bottom tray I have five more Russian sage cuttings and three 'East Friesland' Salvias. I had to use two different trays since I ran out of the right sized square pots to fit this tray. With the Russian sage I've noticed that if you remove the bottom two leaves of the cutting you can plant the cutting deep like I do tomatoes. The Russian sage will root all along the stem and create a stronger root system. Of course this assumes that your cutting is long enough to remove the bottom two leaves and still have adequate foliage on the cutting.
Here's a little hosta I potted up. It was an offshoot of another hosta in the shade garden that I thought would be better off babied a little until it was large enough to play with the other hostas. It's an unnamed variety that I got in a box somewhere last year. Most of the time those box deals don't work out too well. Those hostas came up much better this year than they did last year.
I did a few other things like planting daylilies, transplanting sunflowers, suckering tomatoes, and some general watering. The daylilies came from the swap. I'll save a post for them when they bloom. The sunflowers came from our birdfeeder. If the birds think they liked them in the feeder just wait till they get some fresh sunflower seeds!
Here's the group that I potted. On the top tray there are five Russian Sage cuttings and one 'May Night' Salvia. The salvia was the only one of several cuttings I made that rooted. The other cuttings are starting to root but don't have enough roots for potting.
In the bottom tray I have five more Russian sage cuttings and three 'East Friesland' Salvias. I had to use two different trays since I ran out of the right sized square pots to fit this tray. With the Russian sage I've noticed that if you remove the bottom two leaves of the cutting you can plant the cutting deep like I do tomatoes. The Russian sage will root all along the stem and create a stronger root system. Of course this assumes that your cutting is long enough to remove the bottom two leaves and still have adequate foliage on the cutting.
Here's a little hosta I potted up. It was an offshoot of another hosta in the shade garden that I thought would be better off babied a little until it was large enough to play with the other hostas. It's an unnamed variety that I got in a box somewhere last year. Most of the time those box deals don't work out too well. Those hostas came up much better this year than they did last year.
I did a few other things like planting daylilies, transplanting sunflowers, suckering tomatoes, and some general watering. The daylilies came from the swap. I'll save a post for them when they bloom. The sunflowers came from our birdfeeder. If the birds think they liked them in the feeder just wait till they get some fresh sunflower seeds!
Trying to catch My Breath!
I've been so busy that I've neglected the blog for a few days. I even had to miss posting the Friday Fives last Friday in order to get everything done! Fortunately the weekend rains and Mother's Day gave me a bit of a break to catch my breath but I still feel like I have a to do list a mile long to accomplish. I hesitate even to show you the current state of the garden. The weeds are growing a mile a minute and I just haven't had a chance to get out there. (With over two inches of rain from the weekend they will grow even faster now.) You're probably wondering why I'm so busy. OK...even if you aren't you probably are now, if not just pretend and read along anyway. ;)
My mini-nursery business deliveries were mostly fulfilled last week. There are still a couple more to go but the majority of the plants have been passed out. I think during the first year of a business there's a lot to learn. Mistakes get made but if you can overcome them you learn quite a bit about how to do things right. My biggest issue was not starting the plants quite early enough. Our warm snap made people very eager to start their gardens. Next year I'll start a few weeks earlier with the peppers and tomatoes. I won't deliver until after the safe planting date but the extra growing time will help the plants to fill out better. The other issues were management of my "facility" issues. A better arrangement of where I place my plants and how I fill the orders will make things much less stressful in the long run! I spent too much time filling the orders because I was looking for where I put the plants. I'll learn from this and we'll the nursery will get better because of my mistakes! If you're thinking of starting a nursery please remember - it is a lot of work! I enjoyed it, but it is a lot of work!I decided on and launched a new name for my nursery last week. I bought a domain name for the nursery but right now only have a Facebook page set up for Blue Shed Gardens (I would love to have you follow along)! My idea is to use it as the main nursery and use The Home Garden Box as one product of the main nursery. My goal for Blue Shed Gardens is to have a heavy emphasis on native plants but I also want to be inclusive of other interesting species. Essentially that means I'll grow what I like! No matter what plants we grow we'll be staying local for now.
I spent last Thursday afternoon at the Spring Hill Farmer's Market. It's a small but growing farmer's market in our town. Merchants at the market are required to have home grown or homemade goods and live within 15 miles of Spring Hill, TN. The emphasis for the market is to keep things local and help our community. It was my first time ever selling plants at a farmer's market and went pretty well for the first time. My most popular items were the tomato plants but I also sold some butterfly weed and some herbs. I also had a small inventory of ornamental grasses, Japanese maples, viburnums and various other shrubs. This week I'll have some heirloom watermelons at the market.
In the mean time while I've been doing all these other activities my garden has suffered! I have planted out several tomatoes and peppers as well as seed for cucumbers and melons but the garden is getting weedy. The potatoes look great so far and I can't wait to see what kind of harvest we'll be able to get from them. There's a lot to do.
As soon as you figure out how to either stop time or add more hours to the day please let me know!
Random Thoughts While Mowing
Tonight while mowing I had no fear of the myriad of carpenter/bumblebees that were hovering through the garden. I was on my riding mower and said to the bumbles "my buzz is bigger than yours."
My Rant on The Media (The Tennessee Flood of 2010 Part 1.5)
Please forgive this short ranting post you are about to read. My next post for this afternoon will have a couple videos of the flooding in our backyard then I'll get back to gardening but I wanted to say a few words about a subject that is really irritating me. The rant is below. It's short, non-political, and I felt it was important to be said.
Also three places where you can help the victims of the Tennessee flood:
A Mini-Rant
I noticed that the national news media glaringly failed when it came to the flood. Very few stations decided to cover what can arguably be called one of the greatest national disasters in our country since Katrina. I'm not criticizing any station over the other (I do have to thank The Weather Channel for their coverage), nor do I feel slighted - in fact I'd rather TN stay out of the news, we're much better off that way! What I am concerned about is that if no one knows about the flood Tennesseans can't receive help. Tennesseans are independent, resilient, and are very good people who will rise up and get back on their feet again with or without help. Our nickname "The Volunteer State" didn't happen by itself, Tennesseans are consistently helping others - it's what we do here, but a little help from other areas of the country would expedite the recovery exponentially. What makes this disaster so bad is that this never happens here - Tennessee is not prone to flooding. People don't have flood insurance because there has never been a need for it. Lives have been changed forever - their homes may be gone and never able to be replaced - unless they receive help. Maybe the media thinks "oh they can take care of themselves." Go look at the webpages for CNN or Fox, neither one has a big front page article of our disaster or our recovery (as of the writing of this post). CNN has small link that says "Rains especially cruel in Tennessee", duh - it's about the third one down on the left side right now - you have to look for it. I can't even find a story on the front page of Fox. The coverage has been abyssal for what actually has happened. I do have to say I'm very proud of our local news stations who have gone out of their way to give great coverage.
Think about this, the New York car bombing that failed killed no one and the bomber was arrested. The flood killed 18 people and displaced thousands from their homes. Billions of dollars have been lost to our economy which was already in bad shape. Home repairs and in some cases complete rebuilds are going to cost a fortune yet all the major news stations can talk about and analyze is one attempted and failed incident. Don't get me wrong fighting terrorism is extremely important but in this case the news media has failed in their priorities. Does it have to happen in New York to get covered? Haiti received massive coverage, rightfully so, yet a natural disaster in our own country seems to have almost been ignored. How high does our death toll have to be for Tennesseans to be important? The oil spill that has been happening in the gulf is a terrible disaster too but really how much more is there to say about that when it's been talked about round the clock since it happened? I don't expect round the clock coverage but get the word out there that people need help! And do it more often than a side blurb that amounts to little more than a footnote. People are without homes, without clothes, and without food. After this post I won't be ranting about the media and I'll get back to gardening but I felt this was important to be said. Tennesseans could really use a hand right now and the more people who know that the more help they can receive. Please donate if you can to any one of the agencies I linked to above.
I don't usually rant here. I don't like the negativity that accompanies most rants. Especially when they are about good positive things like gardening, I mean really, why rant about gardening? It's people's lives that are important.
Also three places where you can help the victims of the Tennessee flood:
A Mini-Rant
I noticed that the national news media glaringly failed when it came to the flood. Very few stations decided to cover what can arguably be called one of the greatest national disasters in our country since Katrina. I'm not criticizing any station over the other (I do have to thank The Weather Channel for their coverage), nor do I feel slighted - in fact I'd rather TN stay out of the news, we're much better off that way! What I am concerned about is that if no one knows about the flood Tennesseans can't receive help. Tennesseans are independent, resilient, and are very good people who will rise up and get back on their feet again with or without help. Our nickname "The Volunteer State" didn't happen by itself, Tennesseans are consistently helping others - it's what we do here, but a little help from other areas of the country would expedite the recovery exponentially. What makes this disaster so bad is that this never happens here - Tennessee is not prone to flooding. People don't have flood insurance because there has never been a need for it. Lives have been changed forever - their homes may be gone and never able to be replaced - unless they receive help. Maybe the media thinks "oh they can take care of themselves." Go look at the webpages for CNN or Fox, neither one has a big front page article of our disaster or our recovery (as of the writing of this post). CNN has small link that says "Rains especially cruel in Tennessee", duh - it's about the third one down on the left side right now - you have to look for it. I can't even find a story on the front page of Fox. The coverage has been abyssal for what actually has happened. I do have to say I'm very proud of our local news stations who have gone out of their way to give great coverage.
Think about this, the New York car bombing that failed killed no one and the bomber was arrested. The flood killed 18 people and displaced thousands from their homes. Billions of dollars have been lost to our economy which was already in bad shape. Home repairs and in some cases complete rebuilds are going to cost a fortune yet all the major news stations can talk about and analyze is one attempted and failed incident. Don't get me wrong fighting terrorism is extremely important but in this case the news media has failed in their priorities. Does it have to happen in New York to get covered? Haiti received massive coverage, rightfully so, yet a natural disaster in our own country seems to have almost been ignored. How high does our death toll have to be for Tennesseans to be important? The oil spill that has been happening in the gulf is a terrible disaster too but really how much more is there to say about that when it's been talked about round the clock since it happened? I don't expect round the clock coverage but get the word out there that people need help! And do it more often than a side blurb that amounts to little more than a footnote. People are without homes, without clothes, and without food. After this post I won't be ranting about the media and I'll get back to gardening but I felt this was important to be said. Tennesseans could really use a hand right now and the more people who know that the more help they can receive. Please donate if you can to any one of the agencies I linked to above.
I don't usually rant here. I don't like the negativity that accompanies most rants. Especially when they are about good positive things like gardening, I mean really, why rant about gardening? It's people's lives that are important.
A Pot Garden?
The other day I wrote a post about protecting your plants from a freeze. I followed what I preached and came through with no frost damage on my covered plants. I think Tennessee is now officially in the clear! I came away with these interesting shots. A new kind of pot garden?
My Plant Yard Sale Experience
As you probably know (or have guessed by now) my dream job/career would be to own my own nursery. I've thought about different ways to do this and researched quite a few options. Ideally I would work from home and be able to produce plants for retail nurseries or landscapers. That dream is still a long way off at this point but I tried something of an experiment this past weekend, we had a yard sale, and I tried to sell a few plants.
Saturday, the day of the garage sale, was gorgeous. A cool crisp morning - jacket weather, led to a warm and sunny late morning and afternoon. People came by at a regular pace, looking for bargains and deals. One person asked if I had guns and knives - nope not here. Another person was looking for buttons. Another yardsaler was looking for patio furniture - closer to my goods but still not plants. I met people who claimed they would kill plants - even monarda and mint. You really have to try to kill those two plants! I even met people who were from Alabama visiting a sister who lived in our neighborhood while they were without power from the terrible tornadoes they suffered last week. I hope you'll join me in thinking and praying for those people who lost their loved ones and homes in that disaster.
I met lots of people, but no one who really wanted to buy plants from a yard sale. One person did come and buy a few plants who heard of my sale from the one advertisement I put out (a small message to our local garden club). That was neat since he actually lived in a house with a garden and pond I've admired for a while now. He has over 600 varieties of daylilies! I think his purchase was more to be nice to a fellow gardener than to buy plants for himself.
What was my grand total for the day on plants? $14! I'm sure glad I don't have to feed my family on that income! I'm not disappointed in the least, far from it really. I learned a few things that day and even came up with some ideas for the future that I might explore.
What did I learn?
It was fun to try and I might do so again in the future - only modified. Good planning, proper advertising, and a nice variety of plants are not only necessary but paramount to success.
Saturday, the day of the garage sale, was gorgeous. A cool crisp morning - jacket weather, led to a warm and sunny late morning and afternoon. People came by at a regular pace, looking for bargains and deals. One person asked if I had guns and knives - nope not here. Another person was looking for buttons. Another yardsaler was looking for patio furniture - closer to my goods but still not plants. I met people who claimed they would kill plants - even monarda and mint. You really have to try to kill those two plants! I even met people who were from Alabama visiting a sister who lived in our neighborhood while they were without power from the terrible tornadoes they suffered last week. I hope you'll join me in thinking and praying for those people who lost their loved ones and homes in that disaster.
I met lots of people, but no one who really wanted to buy plants from a yard sale. One person did come and buy a few plants who heard of my sale from the one advertisement I put out (a small message to our local garden club). That was neat since he actually lived in a house with a garden and pond I've admired for a while now. He has over 600 varieties of daylilies! I think his purchase was more to be nice to a fellow gardener than to buy plants for himself.
What was my grand total for the day on plants? $14! I'm sure glad I don't have to feed my family on that income! I'm not disappointed in the least, far from it really. I learned a few things that day and even came up with some ideas for the future that I might explore.
What did I learn?
- First, garage sales are not the ideal venue. People are looking for stuff - not plants. That doesn't necessarily mean they won't buy plants but if it's not on their list they are less likely to consider buying it. I think a plant sale out of the yard could work, I've heard several stories about those who have been able to make a god side income with it but a sale in conjunction with a garage sale isn't the best of both worlds. Different types of customers looking for different things.
- Second, the right venue is important. A craft fair might be better than a garage sale but obviously a real nursery would bring in people specifically looking for plants. One day maybe!
- Third, reaching the right crowd is paramount. I didn't advertise a plant sale at all. I mentioned it to the garden club but only the night before and realistically I couldn't expect anyone to come on such short notice. The community yard sale advertised in all the local papers but a specific plant sale ad might have done wonders, then again maybe not. Contacting Master Gardener programs and other garden clubs might have been an option but at this point my plant selection was limited and I didn't want to get over my head.
- Lastly, a beautiful day after several really awful rainy days probably keeps gardeners at home in their gardens! When the sun is shining I need to garden, don't you? Make hay while the sun shines!
It was fun to try and I might do so again in the future - only modified. Good planning, proper advertising, and a nice variety of plants are not only necessary but paramount to success.
Yesterday in the Garden
Yesterday was a day of many minor accomplishments. The sky was overcast but no rain came down while I worked out in the yard. I managed to attack several nagging chores that needed done. While I work I always try to look around and take some mental notes of things that need done and what's happening in the garden. Here's what I did along with some of my observations of the day.
Well that should do for now for my list of things I did or noticed yesterday. I'm sure I forgot something but it can wait. My next door neighbor came by to ask me about building raised beds for their garden. After I built mine his neighbors on the other side of him built two raised beds. It seems that gardening is contagious! It just reaffirms to me how great raised beds are for vegetable gardening.
- I planted about 10-12 Japanese Dappled Willow cuttings that I had started last fall. Salix integra is noted for its dappled foliage that has some reddish tints toward the tips of the leaves. It is a shrub and will max out at around 8-10 feet tall. These plants grow fast and will hopefully make a nice deciduous privacy screen for the spring through autumn months. They are extremely easy to propagate like most willows.
- I staked out our green weeping willow so it wouldn't lean too far to one side. It has leafed out pretty good so far.
- I planted a red maple toward the back of our property. Maples are one of my favorite trees. Acer rubrum will have some nice fall color and provide some good summer shade!
- I observed the Red Sunset maple we planted last spring is already starting to produce samaras. Samaras are the little winged seeds the flutter to the ground like little helicopters and make new maples to enjoy.
- I stopped by the compost bin to turn it and found what appeared to be a cabbage growing out of the pile. I picked it up and put it in one of the garden beds that I filled Saturday to see what may come of it.
- Oh, I forgot to mention that I finally filled the garden beds on Saturday! I can check that off my to-do list. I'll show some pictures later!
- I cleared a bunch of weeds from beds. I think I pulled enough of them that I can stay ahead of them. The corner bed with my Heuchera is getting overtaken by wild strawberry so I need to intervene soon!
- I noticed that my 'Purple Homestead' Verbena is about to bloom. That's very early, but with it's proximity to paved surfaces it is probably getting some good heat to keep it warm over-night. That's why gravel can make a good mulch, it will retain the heat of the sun and release it at night.
- I noticed that a spirea I propagated last year that I thought was dead is in fact alive! That was a nice find.
- My 'Stella de Oro' daylilies are growing fast. I divided one clump into 13 smaller clumps in the fall. We should have some nice color this year!
- Some liriope (monkey grass) I divided last week is thriving. A huge clump was left by the previous owners that I divided into 30 plants. It is now serving as an edging to a bed of daylilies.
- My Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) is leafing out. I can't wait to take some cuttings off of them. I'm hoping that their fragrant leaves will be a deterrent to bunnies and deer when I plant it around my garden.
- I discovered that my yellow leather work gloves will stain my fingers yellow.
- The Yoshino Cherry I planted a few weeks ago will actually have some blooms this year. The buds are very close to breaking. This is one of my favorite flowering trees so you can be sure it will make an appearance on this blog!
- I put in some daylily divisions in the rain garden. I know I should probably have waited a couple weeks but they wanted to be planted so badly I couldn't resist. These daylilies are an orange-yellow kind that I picked up from my mother-in-law's house. They were already sprouting last weekend at their house. They should be fine.
- I noticed that my Euonymous fortunei cuttings are showing new growth. wasn't sure that they would make it through the winter.
- I transplanted my 8 butterfly bush cuttings into one large pot to grow for a couple more weeks indoors. One of them had actually flowered! I'll be able to move them outside after the last frost date which is usually around mid-April.
- The War of the Weeds is not over. I sighted some ragweed invaders that will need squashing.
- My viburnums are beginning to show some foliage. They were some discount plants I found last fall for about $1-$2 each. One is a 'Shasta' and the other two are snow ball types.
- My Arbor Day forsythias are showing some good green growth but no flowers. They were too small last fall to have developed any buds. I'll do some pruning on them this year to encourage some good branching.
- The Bradford Pears have lost most of their blossoms by now. That reminds me, I still need to do my "Why You Shouldn't Plant A Bradford Pear Tree But Some People Do Anyway" post. Catchy title don't you think?
- My little redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) are starting to make leaves. They probably won't flower this year, but I'm just happy they made it through the winter. Their root systems were rather small when I planted them.
- The Campanella 'Canterbury Bells', Bells of Ireland, and 'Grandpa Ott's' Morning Glory have all sprouted. Grandpa is growing fast!
- I noticed that this list is getting very long...
- My other seeds in the garage are doing well. I should have plenty of tomatoes this year.
- Even though I did this last Thursday I did finally fix my deck rail. It will probably break again since some serious work needs done on our deck, but a temporary patch will help us get by for now.
- I noticed that spell checkers can't decipher botanical names. Something needs to be done about that.
Well that should do for now for my list of things I did or noticed yesterday. I'm sure I forgot something but it can wait. My next door neighbor came by to ask me about building raised beds for their garden. After I built mine his neighbors on the other side of him built two raised beds. It seems that gardening is contagious! It just reaffirms to me how great raised beds are for vegetable gardening.
If You Could Plant Anything What Would You Plant?
Here's a random question for you. If you could plant any plant in your garden that exists outside of your zone what would it be and why? The first and only rule with this question is that the plant must not be hardy in your zone. Other than that any plant you can think of is fair game.
With my first choice I would probably pick some citrus trees. Grapefruit and oranges would be great trees to have. We eat them fairly regularly and it would be good to just walk outside and pick something for breakfast. Maybe lemons also since they can be used for so many things. Fresh squeezed lemonade in the summer from trees in our own backyard would be awesome!
Another choice I might make would be Camellia sinensis which is used for making tea. It's a zone 7-9 plant and would be a borderline plant here. We could possible cheat the zone and plant it outside but the winters would most likely damage it. We're about as close to zone 7 as you can get without actually being there. It could be planted in a pot indoors then put out for the spring, summer, and part of fall. We drink tea fairly often and it would be nice to have green tea fresh or try to make our own black tea.
What would you plant?
With my first choice I would probably pick some citrus trees. Grapefruit and oranges would be great trees to have. We eat them fairly regularly and it would be good to just walk outside and pick something for breakfast. Maybe lemons also since they can be used for so many things. Fresh squeezed lemonade in the summer from trees in our own backyard would be awesome!
Another choice I might make would be Camellia sinensis which is used for making tea. It's a zone 7-9 plant and would be a borderline plant here. We could possible cheat the zone and plant it outside but the winters would most likely damage it. We're about as close to zone 7 as you can get without actually being there. It could be planted in a pot indoors then put out for the spring, summer, and part of fall. We drink tea fairly often and it would be nice to have green tea fresh or try to make our own black tea.
What would you plant?
While at the Book Store...
...I noticed something odd on the shelves and it was a little disconcerting to see. I went to the big chain bookstore in Franklin to see what kind of garden books they were carrying with the intent on purchasing one with some leftover money I received for my birthday last July. I know it's been a long time since July but while there are things that I would like to have I just couldn't find anything really worth spending it on!
I perused the shelves with my two year old daughter while my oldest was spending the day with her grandmother. You know how two year olds are - constantly exploring, searching, playing, and handling everything their little hands can get a hold of. She picked up books and I put them back, I told her no, I went back to looking, she went back to picking up books. This little scene played out many times but I noticed that the book that she kept picking out was a rather peculiar one in the gardening area. It was within easy hand reach of any little child which I suppose wouldn't be a big deal normally but this book was about growing something that is illegal pretty much everywhere in the United States. It was a book about growing marijuana! I knew those kinds of books existed, but to actually see it on a shelf in a book store was surprising. There wasn't only one either, there were easily 5-6 different books on the subject.
Now I realize that simply reading material about the plant does not make you a criminal. I also realize that some people claim that it should be legalized. I'm not writing to get into a debate on that subject but should the biggest bookstore in Williamson County carry something that could so easily fall into the hands of teenagers? It's illegal to grow here in Tennessee for any reason, why help people break the law by carrying books on subjects like this? Why carry books on growing illegal plants that tell you how to do it (and though I didn't not read any of the material I'm assuming that it tells you how to skirt the law) and not carry at least as many books on growing tomatoes and other vegetables? I'm not saying that the other books weren't there, in fact I saw a great number of large resource type books from the American Horticultural Society
, The Garden Primer (Nancy Damarosch)
, and many other books that discussed gardening in general but books that hone in on a single vegetable or plant as subject material seemed very rare compared to the marijuana books.
Then again maybe it's just me but shouldn't books in the garden section be about plants we can actually legally grow? Maybe the marijuana books should be in the "How to" section instead...
I perused the shelves with my two year old daughter while my oldest was spending the day with her grandmother. You know how two year olds are - constantly exploring, searching, playing, and handling everything their little hands can get a hold of. She picked up books and I put them back, I told her no, I went back to looking, she went back to picking up books. This little scene played out many times but I noticed that the book that she kept picking out was a rather peculiar one in the gardening area. It was within easy hand reach of any little child which I suppose wouldn't be a big deal normally but this book was about growing something that is illegal pretty much everywhere in the United States. It was a book about growing marijuana! I knew those kinds of books existed, but to actually see it on a shelf in a book store was surprising. There wasn't only one either, there were easily 5-6 different books on the subject.
Now I realize that simply reading material about the plant does not make you a criminal. I also realize that some people claim that it should be legalized. I'm not writing to get into a debate on that subject but should the biggest bookstore in Williamson County carry something that could so easily fall into the hands of teenagers? It's illegal to grow here in Tennessee for any reason, why help people break the law by carrying books on subjects like this? Why carry books on growing illegal plants that tell you how to do it (and though I didn't not read any of the material I'm assuming that it tells you how to skirt the law) and not carry at least as many books on growing tomatoes and other vegetables? I'm not saying that the other books weren't there, in fact I saw a great number of large resource type books from the American Horticultural Society
, The Garden Primer (Nancy Damarosch), and many other books that discussed gardening in general but books that hone in on a single vegetable or plant as subject material seemed very rare compared to the marijuana books.Then again maybe it's just me but shouldn't books in the garden section be about plants we can actually legally grow? Maybe the marijuana books should be in the "How to" section instead...
8 Things I Learned Over The Weekend
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| Coral Honeysuckle - Lonicera sempervirens |
- Unseasonably warm weather may seem to be a blessing at times but it also brings a bunch of problems. Foremost is the presence of weeds. The chickweed has exploded into prolific proportions while other weeds are coming up at least a month early. Ragweed which usually does begin to grow for a couple more weeks is already sprouting where it can. There are two ways this can go: either we're in for the worst possible allergy season in the fall or a late freeze will bring doom to the annual ragweed and we end up with a decent allergy season. Of course a late freeze will bring doom to anything else that is tender and growing in the garden.
- We'll be having strawberries earlier than usual this year. They've already begun to bloom!
- Plums are on one of our plum trees. Tiny little green baby fruits will hopefully be feeding our family some homegrown fruit from the garden. I'll have to protect them soon from rampaging deer.
- Lawnmowers don't run well when the engine is stuffed with straw...
- Mice don't run well after being cooked by lawnmower engines...Inspect your lawnmower carefully before using or you may end up with filet de rodent!
- The coral honeysuckle is already in bloom. It's a great plant for attracting the hummingbirds!
- Weed wackers/trimmers/weedeaters do a great job at cleaning up chickweed in the garden. Just trim the weeds into the soil and in a few minutes the garden is clear of chickweed! Of course you will be covered in all kinds of green chickweed goo so wear eye protection, but it's a small price to pay for decimating mountains of messy weeds. Just keep your mouth shut when using the trimmer - trust me, I know.
- Yoshino cherry trees are gorgeous! OK, I already knew this but it's worth repeating.
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| Tiny plums forming on a plum tree. |
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| Yoshino Cherry Tree in Bloom |
What did you learn over the weekend?
Randomness from Wednesday
Wednesday was full of randomness, although it wasn't all gardening. A little bird watching, a little gardening, and a little bit of house stuff all rolled together to make a Wednesday.
The day started with a trip to the home improvement store. Not for gardening stuff this time but for painting materials. A bathroom in our house needs redone so I ventured out to find what we needed. Fortunately the garden center area wasn't stocked yet and the temptation to add more plants to the garden was not there.
Later in the day I went out exploring the garden in the 30 degree weather. And I found this:
The hyacinths are rising! Already. It seems very early to me but the weather has been much warmer this year and it makes sense. I looked back at a blog post from 2009 and saw that the last week of January was the hyacinths were beginning to emerge. The daffodils were sending up buds too. I hope this early growth doesn't carry over to the fruit trees or we may finds ourselves lacking in local fruit this year.
Before my daughter got home from school my neighbor's daughter stopped by to ask a question. She wanted to know if I would mind if she kept a bee hive in their back yard which is adjacent to ours. I thought about it for a second, my only real concern being that my kids wouldn't wander too close and said sure. It will be a benefit to my garden to have a happy hive of honey makers nearby. We garden organically here so there will be no risk to the hive from us and with bees becoming threatened by stuff like colony collapse disorder anything we can do to support them is a good thing! And maybe if the bees do well we'll get some extremely local honey!
Then my kids and I drove to grandma's house. I had a meeting to go to (which I'll mention in a moment) and grandma was going to watch the kids for me. Along the way I had to make a stop. I've been saying for a couple years now that I need to stop by the lake in our community and take a picture of the heron. Wednesday was that day! I'm pretty pleased with the pictures I managed to take of the blue heron.
I know some of you pond gardeners may not be fans of the heron, with their great appetite for your fish, but they are some very majestic birds. Their size and their graceful flight have always captivated me. Truly majestic!
I think photos taken in water situations always look pretty cool when the reflections are in the just the right place.
Earlier I mentioned a meeting I was on my way to, what was it you may be wondering? Myself and two other people have decided to start the first Spring Hill Children's Garden! Right alongside the children's garden will be a community garden where citizens of Spring Hill can come and plant their gardens for 2012. This definitely looks to be one of my bigger projects and I'm really hoping that it goes over well in our community. If you have ever put together or worked on either a children's garden or a community garden and you have some ideas or tips to share please let me know! This will be our first attempt and any insight that will help us find success is welcome!
There's more Seed Sowing 101 to come on Monday - Tomorrow will be another Friday Five Post!
The day started with a trip to the home improvement store. Not for gardening stuff this time but for painting materials. A bathroom in our house needs redone so I ventured out to find what we needed. Fortunately the garden center area wasn't stocked yet and the temptation to add more plants to the garden was not there.
Later in the day I went out exploring the garden in the 30 degree weather. And I found this:
The hyacinths are rising! Already. It seems very early to me but the weather has been much warmer this year and it makes sense. I looked back at a blog post from 2009 and saw that the last week of January was the hyacinths were beginning to emerge. The daffodils were sending up buds too. I hope this early growth doesn't carry over to the fruit trees or we may finds ourselves lacking in local fruit this year.
Before my daughter got home from school my neighbor's daughter stopped by to ask a question. She wanted to know if I would mind if she kept a bee hive in their back yard which is adjacent to ours. I thought about it for a second, my only real concern being that my kids wouldn't wander too close and said sure. It will be a benefit to my garden to have a happy hive of honey makers nearby. We garden organically here so there will be no risk to the hive from us and with bees becoming threatened by stuff like colony collapse disorder anything we can do to support them is a good thing! And maybe if the bees do well we'll get some extremely local honey!
Then my kids and I drove to grandma's house. I had a meeting to go to (which I'll mention in a moment) and grandma was going to watch the kids for me. Along the way I had to make a stop. I've been saying for a couple years now that I need to stop by the lake in our community and take a picture of the heron. Wednesday was that day! I'm pretty pleased with the pictures I managed to take of the blue heron.
I know some of you pond gardeners may not be fans of the heron, with their great appetite for your fish, but they are some very majestic birds. Their size and their graceful flight have always captivated me. Truly majestic!
I think photos taken in water situations always look pretty cool when the reflections are in the just the right place.
Earlier I mentioned a meeting I was on my way to, what was it you may be wondering? Myself and two other people have decided to start the first Spring Hill Children's Garden! Right alongside the children's garden will be a community garden where citizens of Spring Hill can come and plant their gardens for 2012. This definitely looks to be one of my bigger projects and I'm really hoping that it goes over well in our community. If you have ever put together or worked on either a children's garden or a community garden and you have some ideas or tips to share please let me know! This will be our first attempt and any insight that will help us find success is welcome!
There's more Seed Sowing 101 to come on Monday - Tomorrow will be another Friday Five Post!
A Thank You!
I wanted to say thank you to Barbara Wise for an excellent container gardening presentation this past weekend at the Spring Hill Garden Club Meeting! The slides and photos of the work you do were fantastic and the garden club appreciated seeing the ideas created by a expert in the field of container gardening. It was definitely a perfect start of the year meeting!
If you couldn't attend the meeting this past Saturday because you live in some far away land please stop by her blog to see the kind of container work Barbara does - you won't be disappointed!
If you couldn't attend the meeting this past Saturday because you live in some far away land please stop by her blog to see the kind of container work Barbara does - you won't be disappointed!
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| Barbara answering questions from a club member |
Getting Organized
Over the next several days I'll be doing some minor changes to the site (emphasis on minor!) to help get better organized. I'll just be making some posts that will house links to related posts to make things easier to find information. When I starting this blog I didn't give a whole lot of thought on how to do things, I just wrote what I thought about. That's not going to change but I can look back now and see some definite patterns in my posting. Those patterns can be better grouped into subject areas and that's what I'll be doing. So please bear with me while I spruce up the place a bit!