Garden Report

My dream garden turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The cute little bunny rabbits ate the first planting of lettuce, the gully-washer Spring rains sent most of the seed in a westerly direction, and so I had to re-seed... just about everything. The rabbits were back for the lettuce again, and this time they found the spinach,too. The radishes sprouted and promptly died. The night after I picked my first green beans, the sweet little deer ate the plants to the ground. Wah!

I've had a few nice cucumbers, very sweet and firm, but the plants are dying already. I've had three lovely zucchini, but the blossoms are now dying before the zucchini sets. What's up with that? Are the nights too cool? My butternut squash has struggled from day one, and now I fear some critter likes to eat the blossoms. I harvested the carrots, thinking Peter Rabbit would get to them before I could, but they were virtually tasteless. No fair, I love homegrown garden carrots!

Good news, though. There are tomatoes galore and they are delicious. I've put up several pints of tomatoes for winter soups and sauces, and if we could just get a few more really hot days, I think the remaining green tomatoes would "red up". If not, I can pickle the green tomatoes, make relish out of them, or just eat lots of fried green tomatoes. The green peppers are few but beautiful and growing a bit every day. They taste SO good; nothing like store-bought.

I put in a variety of herbs, but everything disappeared or never came up except a few sad little dill plants and the basil, which has been prolific. So I'll be making pesto, which I love. The chives that I planted three years ago are doing a repeat performance again this year, and I keep reminding myself to cut, chop and freeze some for winter recipes.

What's doing beautifully are the flowers! Sunflowers and marigolds everywhere and every size and shade of yellow, plus cosmos in all those lovely lavender/purple/pink colors, zinnias (a large, deep orange blossom appeared this week), and even a couple nasturtiums finally decided to bloom. Should I forget the veggies and just grow flowers?

Anyway, I guess things aren't too bad after all, but it certainly wasn't the garden I had hoped for. Mother Nature wins again! Next year? 1) A good, deep-tine tiller 2) More compost 3) More topsoil 4) More mulch 5) Wider paths between rows 6) A rabbit/deer fence? 7) Forget the whole thing and grow native wild flowers? :)

Flower Garden

Take a short walk with me around my flower garden. Cosmos, zinnias, even a valiant hibiscus with two large blossoms. A veritable riot of color. There are even some wildflowers. Can you find the bachelor buttons?

Flowers... Indoors?!

Flowers are so lovely growing outside, whether in the wild or as we humans think looks best. Though I love having flower arrangements inside, my preference is to enjoy them in nature. The seed for these cosmos and zinnias were given to me by a golfing friend. Merrily tossing them onto barely disturbed ground early this spring, I had no idea they would turn out to be quite this glorious. Not knowing whether or not he checks my blog, this picture is my tribute to him and to all those who share their love of nature. Little did I know this little plot of ground in front of my house, which has been in the past totally unsuccessful in demonstrating any fertility whatsoever, would provide such beauty.
Thanks, Ray!

The Beauty of July

We're into the most vigorous growing season of the year, and the plentiful Spring rains followed by long, hot days helped all the plants, shrubs, flowers and trees around here to thrive. Some of my shrubs got carried away, showing growth well beyond what we usually see in early July, so I was busy outside today with our electric hedge trimmer. We've had some really hot days, but the humidity has been bearable. This makes Summer a much more pleasant season for me. (Shh-h-h, don't let Mother Nature hear; she will slam down the humidity!) The rose bushes enjoyed an early, spectacular blooming phase, and then put all their energy into growing up and out, with no new rosebuds showing. So they got whacked way back, too. It is now possible to approach our front door from the driveway, along the walkway and onto the porch without picking your way or getting swallowed up by greenery.


My garden is creeping along. I've decided to adopt Ruth Stout's method of mulching, using hay that is simply pushed aside for planting in the Spring, and added to as needed to keep the weeds down. Hay allows rainfall through and holds the moisture in the soil. It also gradually decomposes and becomes part of the soil, enriching it over time as well as or better than any of the purchased mulches. I've harvested my first lettuce and radishes, and there are green tomatoes and small peppers ripening. The first cucumber showed up a couple days ago. I've had to replant several things because of the rascally rabbits, but once I get the hay fully distributed I don't think it will be so pleasant for them to approach the garden rows. One can always hope.


The zinnias and marigolds and cosmos are hard at it, making the place more beautiful. Right now, though, the lilies get the prize for magnificence. They are in competition with the glory of the skies overhead.

Groundcovers

We were in Bloomington on Sunday, and after brunching with Miki and Kevin, we toured their back yard. It's a shadowy hideaway with walkways and ponds and quiet, secret corners where one can rest and ponder and dream. Someone who owned the house in the past was gifted with imagination and created this lovely sanctuary. Their front yard is a study in contrasts, as it is brightly sunny and steeply sloping downward toward the sidewalk and the road. Miki spoke of wanting to replace the grass, which poses a danger to anyone mowing it, with a groundcover, perennials, or perhaps even making a series of terraces, as their neighbors have done. She requested information about groundcovers; thus, this series of pictures.


This first picture was meant as a caution rather than a suggestion. English Ivy is the chosen groundcover for many people, but I find it obnoxiously invasive and extremely difficult to eradicate.


This low growing plant appears to be, and acts like, a groundcover, though it spreads very slowly. I've entitled this picture "Mystery (weed?)" and encourage its growth simply because I find it to be a pretty addition to my front yard.


This may be creeping thyme... or some variety of thyme... The leaves are thyme-like and when crushed their scent approximates the smell of thyme.


This is a shade and moisture-loving groundcover called Ribbon Grass (or Dwarf Garters, which I find amusing). It's easy to take cuttings from existing stands, and it's hardy and slow to spread. I like the contrast of light and darker greens.


I found no explanation in my gardening books of why this is called Bishop's Weed. It grows about a foot tall and in the early summer it blooms with a stalk topped with what looks to me like a smaller version of Queen Anne's Lace. It can be invasive, but is also easily contained by planting it next to a foundation and surrounding it with rocks or some sort of edging. The leaves will start to get brown edges in dry, hot weather, but that doesn't harm the plant; in fact, a good deep watering will solve the problem.


This closely resembles what my books call Scotch Moss, other than the fact that my planting blooms yellow, while the books picture white blossoms. It grows thickly, forming hillocks as the stalks lay over on themselves. Partial shade and plenty of water are necessary for this groundcover, as with any variety of moss.


I believe this is the most popular groundcover around here, possibly because it is so hardy and will grow in sun or shade. I found some growing by an old, deserted farmhouse and barn, and helped myself to some starts. It has many names, including Common Periwinkle, Vinca Minor and Creeping Myrtle. It blooms in the summer, (periwinkle blue, of course), and grows thickly enough to choke out any noxious weeds that try to compete.


My personal favorite is this groundcover, called Ajuga Reptans or Bugleweed. There is more than one variety, but this picture and the next show the deep green and purplish leaves that appeal to me. It spreads by runners and establishes itself wherever it finds compatible soil. It's also easy to start with rooted cuttings. It can tolerate some sun, but for optimum performance it prefers mostly shade.


...and that's your lesson for the day. There WILL be a test. :)

"Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow..."

Don't know much about oats or barley (besides the fact that I eat oatmeal for breakfast and put barley in my homemade soups), but I do know a little about peas and beans. Today I bought a packet of bush bean seeds to plant a 16' row and discovered there were only six (count them... 6!) seeds, and the instructions said to plant them 4" apart. Well, hm-m-m, they are a lot farther apart than that, so if one doesn't germinate, I'll just plant something else there. Last year, the few bean plants I had continued to produce well into October. Maybe just for fun I'll toss out some flower seed and see what happens.

On a hunch, I bought some pea seeds, too. Even remembering that the best pea crop I ever got was planted in February(!), I decided to try planting in May just to see what I might get. Even erected a trellis thing-y to support them. Next year (yup, already planning next year's garden) I'll plant some sugar snap peas, because those are the ones I really like. Thinking about asparagus starts, too, because the only way I like asparagus is right out of the garden, fresh and crisp and raw... to get that, you have to plant it yourself!

Gardens and Flowers

Here are some pictures of recent changes around the house, including the beautiful hanging plant (a Mothers' Day gift), the clematis that finally decided to bloom (and we'll have about a hundred more blooms before it's done), and the bush out front of the house that was nearly decimated by the early Spring and late frost of a couple years ago. I'm happy to see it blooming again!

Busy days with the nicer weather finally here. I've been getting the garden planted; all done but the green beans. I have to go to town and get some bush bean seeds today because I had accidentally gotten pole bean seeds. In the past, I've grown both, and though the pole beans are easier to pick, it's hard to find the best way to support them, and the beans themselves seem to be tougher. So, I'll be picking beans on my knees in the dirt again this summer, probably hoping the plants will die because they produce skabillions of beans before they're done.

Planning the Planting

The only good thing about all the rain we've been getting lately is that the puddles show me which areas of the garden are especially in need of topsoil. As far as I know there aren't any vegetables that grow well in a bog! So, I slogged around the garden perimeter, walking off measurements in preparation for planting the garden on paper. That's the fun part.

It's not a very big garden, barely a small plot compared to the humongous garden we had at Lost River. Now THAT was a garden!

Double-dug soil, enhanced with compost and various organic fertilizers, terraced with two-foot-high rock ledges, and with grassy paths alongside each row. The vegetables were easily harvested from either side, and we never had to worry about compacting the soil because we had no need to walk on it. There was room for strawberries and asparagus and peas and beans and beets and corn and beans and tomatoes and lettuce and spinach and radishes and all sorts of herbs and flowers, as well as winter and summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes and yams...... It was a dawn to dark garden, that's for sure.

This year's garden is going to look like an old lady's hobby, which it is! I pulled out my old copy of Rodale's Herb Book and our battered, much used Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening today and set to work plotting it all out on paper. I'll buy five tomato plants and three green pepper plants. The rest will grow from seed, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, with flowers and herbs scattered throughout, partly for looks but mostly because there are plants that like and encourage and protect one another. That's why it's called "companion planting".

Basil and borage protect tomatoes against that ugly tomato hornworm. Marigolds and nasturtiums planted all over the garden deter many bugs. Green beans are happy around dill and savory. Cucs & squashes taste better interplanted with oregano and marjoram. Pyrethrum flowers protect beans and can be made into a very effective bug-killer spray. Green beans like garlic, too. Caraway protects radishes. Chives like carrots. There is absolutely no need to buy anything to kill the bugs, because they don't come around when you companion plant.

Truth time... I gave up on growing broccoli and cabbage and cauliflower because I never found anything that kept the worms out... Yuk! ...and I tried the entire spectrum of organic deterrents from mint to red pepper spray. I have to admit that there is no magic bullet, but companion planting works well for the most part, and it makes gardening kind of friendly and cozy, thinking about all these compatible little plants :D


I'll put in a packet of cosmos, too, because when I first experienced those lovely, free and airy blooms a couple years ago, it was like discovering I had a new best friend!

The Art (?) of Gardening

This clever and pretty little door hanger is going to experience some fairly heavy use this summer. My garden is going to be twice as large as last year, so this morning I was busy moving my compost piles and burning down an area of last year's leaves, small branches, clippings and garden trimmings. All last year I added to two compost piles on a regular basis; one of leftover food, eggshells and vegetable/fruit scrapings & peels; the other of yard waste, weeds, twigs, and spent flowers. Occasionally I sprinkled organic compost starter on the piles and watered them down. Probably I should have turned them on a regular basis, but the starter instructions said that wasn't necessary.

When I went after the finished compost at the bottom of the piles, I was glad to find about four bushels of rich, crumbly, dry stuff that was ready to be spread, and another couple bushels of not quite done compost that makes a good start for this year's piles. It is so easy to make good compost; if done correctly they are never odiferous; there is no cost and very little effort involved. Now if you want fast-acting, nitrogen-rich compost, you will have to ask a neighbor who has chickens or goats to donate some animal waste to add to your compost pile. We had large, steaming compost piles when we lived on the "farm" at Lost River, because we had both chickens and goats.

I'm going to get some topsoil in a day or so to add to my raised beds, and then beg, borrow or steal a tiller. Then it will be time to buy plants and seeds. Because I love flowers, there will be flowers galore, and because I like to use fresh herbs when cooking, they will have a place in my garden as well. Maybe my next entry will be about companion planting (and no, that doesn't mean my companion will help with the planting. Stay tuned!