Gardening with God

PARADISE?

2008-06-25T22:02:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I wonder about this phrase. I am kind of hoping that in paradise there won't be room for weeds like thistles and nut sedge, that I fight with constantly here on earth. I am also hoping that mosquitoes and japanese beetles will be banned from paradise. I saw my first beetle today and know that the next month will be spent trying to keep them away from my flowers and grape vines. Maybe, just to please me, God would ban moles and ground squirrels from paradise, and the rabbits would only be interested in eating grass and weeds. On my way out to check on the mole that is ruining my back garden, three rabbits ran into the corn field from my vegetable garden. They have been enjoying my green beans, and not at all interested in the traps that I have set for them.
But, on the other hand, the hollyhocks are beautiful, the lilies are blooming in all different colors, and I am eating fresh strawberries and raspberries from the fruit garden. I ate green beans and broccoli last night for dinner, fresh from the vegetable garden.
So, I guess if I can get past all of the aggravations that nature throws in, my garden is still the closest thing to paradise that I am going to see on this earth. Makes me wonder how much more awesome the real paradise is going to look someday.

PLANT SALE

2008-06-14T23:00:00.001-05:00

Today was a beautiful day! I held my plant sale from 10-6. I had a pretty good turnout, but I think if I had held it a few weeks earlier I would have sold more. Note the great sign. My Brother-in-Law is a sign painter and he painted the sign for me, I think that it helped draw people in.
It was a lot of fun meeting new gardeners, that is my favorite part when I have one of these sales. I didn't have a lot of plants to sell, and of course they were mostly purple, but most everyone that stopped left with something.
Several people walked through my gardens, some asked about specific plants, and others had questions about plants in their own gardens. I always enjoy having these sales but they do wear me out, and I don't get a lot done in my yard because I have to keep an eye out for customers. I spent the time that I had between customers, finishing up the planters for the patio. Tomorrow I will have to tackle the weeds in the beds, the rain over the past few weeks have given them a great start. Our local weatherman reported that for the last 9 Fridays we have had rain. It has really backed us up in our business. Last year we had no rain, and this year we have way to much. That's Indiana for you!

MISSED SPRING

2008-06-11T21:33:00.002-05:00

I feel like I have missed Spring! I get so busy this time of year it goes by before I know it. I try to walk around the garden each evening, but that is about it. My 'Dortman' rose is gorgeous, and the honeysuckle vine smells like heaven. My vine was given to me by a good friend. It was a start from her vine, which was a start from her Mother's vine. It takes some work to keep it from taking over the garden, but that smell is worth it.
I have planted all of the properties that we maintain with purple flowers for the 'America in Bloom' competition. This weekend I am having a sale to sell the plants that are left. I do this every year, some years having more to sell than others. I put an ad in the paper with the garage sales and usually sell most of what I have left. I hate giving up the day, and the ad cost me $30.00, but I usually do pretty well. I can still get some weeding done in the beds in between customers. So if any of you are going to be in the Lafayette area on Saturday, and need some purple flowers, stop in. They usually go pretty fast. Of course I always have people ask for something that I had last year, but I usually have different plants for sale each year.
I still want to post about my trip last Friday, but I am just to tired tonight. We took a landscape job in a small town about 45 minutes from Lafayette, and we were there today. We didn't get home until 9:30, so I am off to bed. I have to drive back there tomorrow to finish up, so it will probably be another long day. Maybe I will get to my post about the trip this weekend.

COMPUTER PROBLEMS

2008-06-09T21:45:00.001-05:00

May 25 was the last time that I posted to my blog. I have missed sharing my garden, and have also missed reading what is going on in your gardens. In one of the many storms that we have experienced over the past few weeks, the little box on my roof that allows me to receive my wireless signal, was hit by lightning. After they came out and fixed that problem, I realized that my router was also hit. So after purchasing a new one, and waiting for my son to install it, (which explains why it took so long), I am finally back online. My office computer also now has problems, and I will have to find a 'geek' to work on it. How can you love and hate something at the same time? I love how my computer has made doing bookwork so much easier, and adding my books to librarything, and blogging have been great fun also. But when they stop working, it can make you crazy!
The picture above is of my Donald Wyman lilac. It is one of the last lilacs to bloom. It is named after Donald Wyman, a well known horticulturist. When I first started working at a local nursery back in the 70's, the book that I always went to when customers had questions, was Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. This book always had the answers. I would often look up plants just to see if they were in there. I was rarely disappointed. I remember how great it felt to finally be able to purchase the book for myself. It was a pretty pricey book back then, and there were no half price book stores, or library book sales, so I paid the full price for it. It is probably still one of the most expensive books I have ever bought, at about $40.00. I now own hundreds of books on gardening, but this is always the one that has the answers if I can't find it in the one of the others.
In the garden things are finally starting to grow. With all the cool weather and rain, most plants just sat there. Then the 90 degree weather hit, and things started to happen. One thing that happened was the strawberries. I had no idea that we would have so many. I was not prepared, nor do I have the time to put up any of them. So we are eating them, and sharing them with anyone and everyone. Most people can't believe how good they are, compared to the store-bought ones.
Well, I am cutting this post short because I want to read up on what everyone else has been up to. But I do hope to post tomorrow night on a trip that I took on Friday to a well known herb farm.
Glad to be back, and I do hope that you haven't all forgotten me!

NO TIME FOR BLOGGING

2008-05-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that it has been a week since I posted last. I also can't believe that we are into the last week of May! This Spring has gone by so fast, I have almost missed it.
The rain that we have had over the past few weeks has put us behind schedule. It is hard to make customers understand that every rain day pushes everyone waiting to have work done, back. Most people are very patient, and understand about the weather. We have had a lot of work that had to be done for graduations, so of course those were a priority. Thankfully, we were able to get everyone done that had events planned, and will now be able to get to everyone else.
This picture is the back yard of a customer that was having a graduation party. The beds needed to be cleaned up and mulched. The flowers blooming are Bachelors Buttons, or Mountain Bluets. They are beautiful, and reseed themselves every year.
My yellow tree peony is blooming! After removing the side shoot, it has done very well. I love the lemon yellow color. My "Miss Kim' tree lilac is also blooming. It seems especially fragrant this year, and covered in blooms.
I always look forward to Memorial Day weekend, because I usually can spend it in the garden. We had rain all day on Friday so the garden was to wet on Saturday to get anything done, so I spent the day organizing my shed, which I did not take a picture of, because I was so ashamed of the shape that it was in. It's all cleaned up now, and so much easier to get around in. I have found that when I am organized, I am able to accomplish a lot more. I found so many things cleaning the shed that I had forgotten that I had. I even found my bird bath heater that I replaced last winter because I could not find the one that I knew that I had somewhere. Now I have two, the birds are going to love me next winter!
After church this morning I stopped at my 90 year old friends home to check on her. It has rained the past few Friday's so I have not been able to do any gardening for her. I took a few pictures of her garden while I was there. The first is of her poppies in bloom, they have the most beautiful 'tissue paper' flowers. The second is a picture of some lupine's. The lupines sprang up in front of the compost pile, I assume the seed was dropped when they were finished blooming, and were added to the pile. The tall purple plant along the fence is Dames Rocket, also a volunteer. I commented that sometimes the random acts of nature turn out better than our planned gardens.
Our forecast is for rain tonight and tomorrow. I am hoping that they are wrong, and the rain comes tonight, and then moves on so that I can get some weeding done tomorrow.
Do take time tomorrow to think of all of the men and women that have given their lives so that we can spend a warm Spring day puttering in our gardens.

PURPLE, PURPLE, PURPLE

2008-05-18T22:07:00.001-05:00

Our town is participating in the America in Bloom program this summer. The flower color that they have chosen is purple. So that means that any properties that are participating, will use purple flowers in their landscapes. One of the properties that we maintain has always used a red and white color scheme, but this year, it will be purple. So, as you can see, my greenhouse is decked out in purple.
I plan to use purple and white petunias, purple verbena, and perilla. We will probably start planting next week, if it ever warms up.
My amaryllis is blooming again. If I could just get it to bloom like this at Christmas it would be great. But this flower has a mind of it's own, and blooms when it gets good and ready. I enjoy it anyway, whenever it decides to bloom.
I was able to get a little work done in the garden this weekend. I got my green beans planted, but I think that it is still to cool to plant my tomatoes. I think our April and May got mixed up. April was very warm and dry, and so far May has been cool and wet.
My tree peony is blooming. This one is a red and white
bicolor, 'Shimanishiki'. These are some of my favorite plants. They look very exotic, but are as easy to grow as the common peony.
My yellow tree peony is just coming into bloom, and my blue one is still about a week from blooming. I will post pictures of them when they bloom.
Well, it's back to work tomorrow, and I have something going on almost every night this week, so I won't get to spend any time in the garden until next weekend, I sure hope it's nice.

SATURDAY TRIP

2008-05-14T16:37:00.004-05:00

Sorry that I never got back to share my Saturday trip. My Sister and I headed out Saturday morning for Cox's Plant Farm. One of our fellow blogger's recommended it, and for the life of me I can't remember who. If you are reading this, please let me know and I will give you credit for the tip. (UPDATE: IT WAS KAREN AT KAREN'S PLACE) We had not got 2 miles out of Lafayette and we saw a garage sale sign. We had to stop because you just never know what you might be passing up. In this case, it was this great fountain. It just needs to be cleaned up, and if I get motivated, a coat of paint. It is also is covered in lime so that will have to be removed, but I just couldn't pass it up for $10.00! What a bargain. My Sister got a good laugh out of me trying to get it in the car. I bought a sheet at the sale to wrap around it, but it was going to be a challenge fitting plants around it for the rest of the day, but I knew that it would be worth it.
So we head out and get as far as Crawfordsville and see I sign for Davidson Greenhouse. If you have never been to this greenhouse, it is worth a visit. They have been around for as long as I can remember and have a great selection of plants. Lots of odd varieties of coleus, geraniums, cactus, and other oddball plants. The signage from Highway 231 is very good, and needs to be because they are located in the middle of the countryside. As we were leaving I snapped a picture of this little girl 'riding' this concrete lion. I wish that I had thought to give her parents my blog address so that they could have a copy of the picture.
So we finally leave there and head for Cox's. We arrive around 1 o'clock and the place is VERY busy! Duh, it's Mother's Day weekend, what were we thinking. They claim to be the largest garden center in Indiana, and I believe them. I have worked in a retail garden center and I don't know how they do it. They must have hundreds of employees. Just keeping up with watering would be a huge job. We spent a couple of hours shopping, and decided that we were starving and needed to find someplace to eat. We both commented on the fact that we were surprised they don't have a food vender on site. As we walked outside and around the corner, there was a tent set up for the Boy Scouts, and they were selling hamburgers, hot dogs, and chips. Wow, what luck! I bet that they made a fortune that day. It looked to me, by there set up, that they had done this before, probably every weekend so far this Spring.
So, after we had each helped out the Boy Scouts with their fund raiser, (I like to think of it that way instead of pigging out), we headed into Indy. We didn't really have a plan of where we wanted to go when we got there, so we just started driving. By chance, we ran across Eagle Creek Nursery, but didn't find much there. When we left there, we got lost, which we often do when we are on on of our trips. We always say that we are going to map out our route before we go, but we never do. At one point, we pull up to a stop sign, with me driving, and my Sister trying to figure out where we are. As I look to my left there is a church there, with a sign meant just for us out front. God has a great sense of humor!
We managed to find our way back to a main road, and found a few more interesting places to stop. Of course no trip to Indy would be complete without a few minutes at the Half price bookstore, well it was actually more like an hour but whose keeping track?
Only my Sister could have gotten me out of my garden last Saturday. I knew that it was supposed to rain on Sunday, which it did, and that I would be back to work on Monday. So, another weekend that I got nothing done outside. But I also knew that if I tried to get out of going, she would give me a huge lecture about enjoying the Spring season, not just working every weekend and missing it.
I hope that everyone has someone like my Sister in their life, to remind them of what really is important.
Thanks Peg.

MOTHERS DAY LIST

2008-05-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

Today is Mother's day, or as it is known around my house, 'Slave for a Day'. Because it is windy and rainy out, my list will probably not get completely done. Some of the things on my list had to be done outside, so they will have to wait for next weekend. I guess that is the true meaning of getting a 'rain check'. They did get my swing frame repaired, and my new water feature for my patio started. Both required the use of the welder, and I don't weld. I am replacing the water feature that I had next to my patio because it only held about 5 gallons of water, and the wind would blow the water off of it. So I was constantly refilling it. I am replacing it with a 25 gallon container, and a lower fountain, so it should not be bothered by the wind.
The flowering trees have been especially beautiful this Spring. This picture is of my 'Prariefire' crab tree. As the petals began to fall, it looked like pink confetti all over the sidewalk. It is also very fragrant, which is why I planted it by the back door to the house. These little Anemone Sylvestris 'Snowdrop' are beginning to worry me. They seem to really like this spot, and are spreading
rapidly. I really like them, and they flower very early, but I am going to have to keep an eye on them so that they don't take over the bed. Right in front of them in the picture is a Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine'. It has variegated foliage, and if I remember right, a yellow flower. I really like variegated plants, and this one has done pretty well. The picture below is in my back garden where I try to plant things that I don't have to fuss with. The plants in this garden need to be able to take care of themselves most of the time.
These are some variegated hosta that I had no place else to put, so I stuck them in here last fall. At the time I wasn't thinking about how they would look when the sweet woodruff was blooming. Sometimes things just work out with no help from us. I love how these two look together. Sweet woodruff is a wonderful groundcover for the shade, and spreads slowly over the years. The tree peony that I wrote about last Spring has begun to send out new growth. If you look closely it looks like two different plants. Last year I was puzzled by the plant blooming the expected yellow, and then blooming pink. When I was at the wholesale nursery earlier this Spring I asked one of the workers there about this oddity. He told me that this was very common. Tree peony's are grafted onto other peony rootstock, and the pink colored peony is coming up from the rootstock. I was surprised that they were grafted, because peony's are very hardy. He said that he was surprised too, and could not explain why this is done either. So, I cut they taller branches off of the plant. It was hard to do, because they looked really healthy and vigorous, but I know that the yellow peony is the grafted, and more desirable one.
Well, the 'slaves' need my advice on their work, so I am off. I will try to post later on my road trip yesterday, 'garden center hopping'.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mother's out there in blogger land!

PASS-ALONG PLANTS

2008-05-07T12:30:00.001-05:00

After reading Jen's post over at Our First Garden, I thought that I might share with you my thought's on pass-along plants.
I believe in always being prepared when it comes to acquiring free plants from generous gardeners. You must always carry in your vehicle the necessary items to make the sharing of plants as easy as possible for both parties, the giver, and the receiver. The givers will be so impressed when you open your trunk and show them that you are prepared to receive as many plants as they are willing to share. They will also feel that anyone so prepared to take the plants, can also be counted on to take good care of them when they get them home.
The items that you will need will all fit into a shoe box, so there is no excuse to leave home without it. In what I call my 'Pass-Along' kit I carry these essential items.
1: A shower curtain. This is the most important item because it is cheap, folds up into a very small area, unfolds to cover a very large area, and most important, keeps my car safe from loose soil, or wet plants. This item is also very handy for garden center visits. I would never venture out on any trip without a shower curtain.
2: plastic grocery bags. We all have tons of these, so keep 10-or 20 in your kit so that each shared plant can have it's own bag. The bags can be labeled on the outside or by using the number 3 item in the kit, old plant labels.
3: Old plant labels, and marker. I keep old plant labels and a marker in my kit so that the name of the plant can be added to the bag, or written on the outside of the bag. If the person sharing the plant with you knows the name of the plant, by all means, write it down. Don't count on your memory. If you are lucky enough to get lots of bags, it will be very hard to remember which plant is which. You can also write on the bag whether the plant grows in sun or shade, and other notes about it.
4: A pair of gloves and a knife. Always have a pair of gloves on hand, and a kitchen knife, or the root knife, shown in the picture, that I bought at Lee Valley tools. It cost's $8.50, and really works well. I have several of them, and they have held up great. I even use them in the Fall when I am cutting the foliage from daylilies back for the winter. The knife is used for dividing a perennial or cutting a small start from the main plant. You may also want to keep a pair of pruning shears in your kit if you have an extra one.
5: Camera. This is not essential to the kit, but if you take a picture of each plant that you get, you will be able to look at them when you get home and decide the best place to plant it in your garden by noting the size that it is in your givers garden.
When receiving pass-along plants from other gardeners the rule of thumb is not to thank them. The belief for this is that the plant will die if you thank them for it.
I always thank the giver for plants that I receive, and don't feel that I have suffered any losses because of this. I do think that if I appeared ungrateful, they might not be as generous next time, so I ignore the 'no thank you' rule.
Don't get hung up on having the name and variety of plants that you receive. After all, they are free! Some of my favorite plants are unnamed. The miniature Iris in the picture had no name, but it always blooms first thing in the Spring, without fail, and I like it as much as any of my named varieties.
Now, to be honest, in all of the years that I have been sharing plants, not one person has ever showed up with a "Pass-Along' kit. So, to remedy this situation, I keep plenty of bags and tags handy, so at least when they get home, they know what they have got.
Maybe I should make up these kits and market them? Hey, if they can sell pet rocks, anything is possible!

COLD AND WINDY AGAIN

2008-05-03T22:01:00.001-05:00

Well, it is Indiana!! We are back to cold and windy weather. I was able to get a few things done outside today, but it was so windy it was useless to try to do any cleaning up. When I went out this morning I really didn't know what to do. It was so windy, that I really didn't feel like working in it, and it looked like it could rain at any time.
Then I thought of a job in the herb garden that I had been putting off and was not looking forward to doing. I decided that it would be the perfect day, and it was in a semi-protected area.
The job was to eradicate the ginger mint. Several years ago I planted ginger mint under my swing in the herb garden. Every year it would creep a little further but the winter would usually kill it back enough each year that it wouldn't take over like most mints do. But the last few years this has not happened, and the mint has moved far beyond the boundaries that I had set for it. I also had decided that I wanted to try a short variety of chamomile in this spot, so the ginger mint had to go. Removing mint that has taken over an area is no fun task. If you do not get every piece of the root it will return within a few weeks. The only good thing about the job is that it is mint, so it smells good the whole time that you are working with it. I do like this mint, the new leaves have a nice yellow variegation, so I saved enough for a pot that I sunk into the ground. This will keep it from escaping back into the garden. It took awhile but I got the mint removed and the chamomile planted. By the time that I was done the clouds had moved in and it was a lot colder, so I moved into the greenhouse to work for awhile.
While walking around the garden today, I noticed a few things. The first is the spruce tree that died earlier this spring. I have no idea why, I just noticed that it had an odd look to it earlier, and when the wind and rain hit all of the needles ended up on the ground. This makes me very sad because I really liked this tree. it was just starting to get some size to it. The only thing that I can figure caused it's death was the weather that we had last year. The late freezes, and then the summer drought, must have been what caused it's death. There was no sign of insects, or root disturbance, so this is all that I can come up with. I won't have a problem filling it's spot though, I have a shrub rose that I didn't have a place for, so it will go there.
The second thing I noticed was that my 'Sensation' lilac is in bloom. This is my favorite lilac because it has a variegated flower. It has that same lilac smell, and gets about the same size as other varieties, but the flower is really unique.
My 'Carlesii' viburnums are also in bloom. I have made a hedge with 3 plants, and they are planted near the new patio off the end of our garage. They smell so wonderful when they are in bloom, it's to bad that the flowers only last for about a week. The third thing that I noticed on my walk was the "Tiger Eye' sumac that I planted last year. I was so happy with it last summer, it held it's color the whole season, and looked great under my tri-color beech tree. So as I am checking to make sure that it made it through the winter alright, I notice shoots coming up all around it. Some as far as ten feet away. This is very bad! In researching this plant nobody mentioned that it sends out runners. Now I have to decide what I am going to do about this problem, because I do not want to fight sumac coming up amongst all of my other plants. The only solution that I see is to dig a trench around it, and sink a barrier so that the runners can not get past it. That seems like a lot of work, but probably the only solution if I want to keep it. I have circled the runners in the photo, so that you could see what a problem this could become.
I am also adding a picture here of a 'PJM' rhododendron that is in my Mother's yard. It has probably been there for 15 years and blooms like this every year. People stop and ask what it is every year. This variety of rhododendron is very hardy, and has smaller leaves than the regular rhododendrons. It makes a nice foundation plant, and it is not deep rooted, so it is safe to plant near your home.

I hope that the wind is calmer tomorrow, and it is a little warmer. I would like to get some mulching done, and maybe figure out what to do with the sumac.

EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL

2008-04-23T22:23:00.000-05:00

It is a joy to drive around town this time of year. Everywhere you look, something catches your eye. Right now it is the pear trees, redbuds, and magnolias. The viburnums are just starting, and the forsythia are just about finished. My 'Ann' magnolia is in full bloom. I like this variety because it doesn't get much larger than about 8-10 feet tall, and continues to bloom off and on throughout the summer. But the 'Butterflies' magnolia is awesome! I am sure that if it was planted near the road like Ann is, people would be stopping to ask what it is. My only regret is that it is planted with a not so pretty back drop, and way to much yellow in front of it. I think that those daffodils should be dug up and moved, and maybe some nice red tulips should replace them.
I also have posted a picture of 'Euphorbia Myrsinites'. It is an interesting plant, always blooming before anything else in the garden, and continuing to bloom through the Spring. It grows along the front edge of my back beds, and never becomes a pest. It does seed, but pulling up any babies that you don't want is pretty easy.
We do need rain, and it is in the forecast for tomorrow evening, but I don't think that there is a very strong chance of it. I love how the plants just seem to jump out of the ground after a Spring rain. The farmers in my area are grateful for a chance to get their crops in, but I would still like to see a little rain, and I can't believe that I am saying this...a little bit cooler weather. Well, it is Indiana, tomorrow we could have snow!

UH, OH, TROUBLE!!

2008-04-22T22:46:00.001-05:00

This morning we had to travel to Indianapolis to the wholesale nursery and pick up plant material for several jobs. I do all of the landscaping, so my husband doesn't have a clue what plants go on each job. He goes with me to pick up plants, just to be the 'load and tarp down the plants, guy'. This makes it very easy to smuggle a few plants home for myself, each time we go.
Now, imagine yourself surrounded by acres of lush beautiful trees, shrubs, and perennials, all at wholesale prices. How can I be expected to behave myself in that kind of a situation? Especially first thing in the Spring! I was like a kid in a candy store!
Spring is always the best shopping because everything is fresh, and usually flowering. They must have had 500 Japanese maples just leafing out, and all of the flowering trees were blooming. They were really not much of a temptation because I don't have anymore room for trees. Where I ran into trouble was in the perennial greenhouses. There were several new perennials, and some that I had just never tried, and after all, I need to know the growing habit of as many plants as possible, in order to help my customers make wise choices. So, with that in mind I proceeded to pick out a few interesting plants.
First I chose a tree peony ('Kamatanishiki') that is supposed to have a blue flower. Now we all know that true blue flower's, are few and far between, but I decided to give this one a shot. I was not able to pronounce it's name, but that is beside the point. Next was a variegated helleborus ('Pacific Frost'), very cool looking, a heuchera ('Mystic Angel'), I just liked it's name, a baptisia (Twilite Prairie'), because I love all baptisia's, and a pasque flower, because, believe it or not, I have never grown one.
Now, didn't I do a good job of not going overboard? I controlled myself very well. Actually, I just happen to know that we will be back down in a few weeks, and they will have lots more plants in by then!

DECISIONS IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

2008-04-21T22:05:00.001-05:00

I got home from work tonight at 5:00, so I had a few hours that I could spend in the garden before it got dark. I needed to get my new grape vines planted. They have been in the packing material for about a week, and were starting to bud out, so I wanted to get them in. I am trying 3 different varieties, Canadice, Reliance, and Interlaken.
I also planted my potatoes. I am trying something new this year. Last year when I made my tomato cages out of concrete reinforcing wire, I made way to many. So, I dug six small holes, buried a whole seed potato, and then covered it with soil and straw. Then I put a cage over each potato, and added straw. As the plant grows I will continue to add soil and straw. I have tried variations of this method before, but this time I really want to check how many potatoes I get from each cage, and how that compares to just growing them the traditional way.

I still had some extra time after getting the grapes and potatoes planted, so I decided to plant some 'Dwarf Grey Sugar' peas. I know that it is a little late, but I had the seed, so I thought that I would go ahead and try it.
I am trying something very radical this year, something that I never dreamed that I would ever do. Even my husband thinks that I have lost it. Can you guess?
Well, after reading Teaming With Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels, (I didn't actually read the whole book, I kind of jumped around) I have decided not to roto-till my garden this year! This is huge for me! I love that first garden tilling in the Spring. All of the leaves, straw, and weeds get tilled into the soil, it just seems so right. Then, along comes this book that tells me just how much damage I am actually doing to my soil. Tonight when I went out to plant the peas, I almost changed my mind. The soil looked so hard, and the weeds were sprouting, the soil was perfect for tilling, and my husband was sitting there on his tractor with that look in his eye. I know what he wanted. He wanted to drop that tiller on that soil and just go roaring across my garden murdering all of those defenseless little bacteria, fungi, and other nasty sounding stuff. He tried everything to convince me to let him loose on that garden, even suggesting that we just till part of the garden and do a comparison on which vegetables do better. I finally said NO!, NO!, NO!, and he skulked away, defeated.
Now, the odd thing is that I am used to soft, freshly turned soil, that is easy to plant. Now I am standing with this little pea seeds, and this hard ground. How am I going to do this. So I go to my shed looking for some tool to get these seeds 2 inches into this ground. Then I spot my dibble. Now if you don't know what a dibble is don't feel stupid. They are not used much here in the states, but they are great little gadgets. They are made specifically for making holes, and that is just what I needed, so I grabbed it and headed back to the garden.
It worked perfectly! I have to admit, it worked better than when the ground is tilled. The holes were perfect, and I dropped a pea seed into each one, and then added a light coating of compost over the row, and covered it with shredded leaves. Now, I probably should keep notes on how the vegetables do with this new method, and I might even say that I will do that. But I know better. All I ask is that they grow and produce enough food that it was worth my time planting them.
And, I will be able to sleep soundly tonight knowing that all of that microbial stuff is safe and sound out there in the garden.

SPRING WORK

2008-04-19T22:05:00.003-05:00

This has been a busy week! Sunny, beautiful days! We are working on lots of cleanups and mulching gardens. One property that we worked on this week is going up for sale in the next few days, so the owners want it to look good. We spent a few days sprucing up the beds, and applying a fresh layer of mulch. We have worked on this property for several years and every time that I go there I am happy that I do not have to battle deer. The picture below shows a row of Yews that are nearly destroyed every winter from the culinary habits of the local deer population.
They munch these yews down to almost nothing. The first time that I saw this, I told the owner of the home, that I did not think that the plants would recover. He stated that this happens every winter, and that they always come back. Sure enough, they did recover. But, then the next winter, the same thing happens again. When I first saw these yews I thought that they were some interesting new variety. If you look at the closeup picture, they do look very bizarre. I wish that I would have thought of it earlier, I would have taken a few of the products on the market that are supposed to repel deer, and sprayed these plants. What a great test plot this would have been. Many of the other shrubs on the property also show deer damage,
but nothing like these yews. I guess that I will just keep fighting my rabbits, and be happy that they don't do this kind of damage, and are a little easier to control.
The forecast for today was rain, so I did not plan to work in the garden. It didn't end up raining much, but it was overcast with off and on drizzle. I did spend the day in the greenhouse. I got lots done, mostly potting and repotting. It looks like tomorrow is supposed to be a much better day for gardening, so I plan to spend the afternoon doing just that. I don't like to work on Sundays, but I often make an exception for yard work. It just doesn't seem like 'work' to me.
Friday was the first day back to my 90 year old friends garden. I check in on her often through the winter months, but Friday was the first day back in her garden. She is not able to do much, but I am always amazed at what she does get accomplished moving around her garden with her walker, and her bucket of tools. She already has her tomatoes potted up and outside against the house getting toughened up and ready for planting. As I was pruning her 'Dortmund' rose bushes, in order to install new trellises, she was standing with her walker watching me work. After a short time of silence she said to me, "you sure do good work". I said, "well thank you, I try". Without missing a beat she said, 'well, I guess I've taught you everything I know". What a character! I look forward to my Friday's with her.

THINK SPRING!!

2008-04-15T22:27:00.001-05:00

This is the message on my bathroom window. I think that you can tell that Mother Nature is not cooperating. This picture was taken on Saturday, the whole weekend being worthless as far as getting any gardening done. Rain, wind, and cold temperatures kept me inside most of the weekend. I did get a little planting done in the greenhouse, but I really wanted to be outside in the garden.
Then Sunday and Monday nights temperatures dropped into the 20s. I don't think that anything was hurt, the trees are not fully in flower yet, so I think that they will be alright. The weather has improved slowly since then, with the end of the week forecast to be in the 70s. But what do you suppose the forecast for the weekend is? RAIN!
Wait a minute! All week I plan for the weekend, and then it is supposed to rain! That doesn't seem fair. Why can't some of that rain be put off until July and August when we need it?
I have lots to do in the greenhouse, so it won't be a total waste if it does rain, but I would really like to get the mulch down before the perennials are up and leafed out. It makes it so much easier.
I received my shrub from White Flower Farm in the mail today, that I wrote a post about in January. If you remember I ordered a Calycanthus 'Venus' or sweet shrub. The cost was $39.95 plus $10.95 shipping. I had a $25.00 gift certificate, so the total cost was $25.00. I expected a pretty nice size shrub, but I am not kidding, what I received was a twig. I can't believe that people pay these kinds of prices. I would never order anything from this company again, after seeing the size of the plant that I got.
I also received my grapes from Miller nurseries. I ordered 1 Canadice (red seedless), 1 Lakemont (white seedless), and 1 Reliance (pink seedless). I am hoping that they are wrong about the weekend weather. I sure would like to get these in the ground. I tried grapes a few years ago, and ended up pulling them out after losing battle after battle with Japanese beetles. I have decided to try again, and will probably using netting to keep the beetles off of them.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

2008-04-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! I can't believe that I have not posted anything since Easter!
Spring hit in full force, and we have been busy. I am so tired when I get home at night, all I get done on the computer is check my mail. I really miss reading all of the regular blogs that I check in on. I haven't forgotten you, I just don't have much time right now.
I did get to spend the weekend in my own garden. Both days were absolutely perfect weatherize, so I couldn't resist. I am amazed at what a difference you can make in a day in the garden.
My herb garden did not get cleaned up last Fall, so it was first on the list for this Spring. I needed to cut everything back, and then cover the entire thing with leaves. The garden measure around 20 by 50 feet, so it's a large area. But I was fired up and ready to go Saturday morning. This picture shows how it looked last Fall, so you know that I had my work cut out for me.
I began by cutting off all of the dead herbs and cleaning out the planters. I had my husband dump a load of leaves in the vegetable garden that is right next to the herb garden, last Fall, so I didn't have far to get them to the garden. I used my trusty garden way cart, one of the tools that I couldn't garden without. When filled with leaves, it covers a pretty large area. I usually lay them about 3-4 inches thick, allowing for some of them to be blown away. Once the herbs start growing, they will stay in place, but while it is bare, they tend to fly around.
I am not very good at sticking with one job until it is completed and then moving on. I get bored, so usually do a job for awhile, and then do something else, and then back to the original job.
So, I would clear an area, cover it with leaves, and then continue like that until it's done. It took the entire day, but by evening, the job was done. What a relief! It is so much easier to do when nothing has sprouted yet. My cart can be pushed around without hurting any plants. If I had waited a few more weeks, I could not have used my cart, because the plants will be starting to grow by then, and would get trampled.
It is amazing to me that this garden can be completely bare in the Spring, and in a few months, be full, with some plants reaching 5-6 foot tall. Ninety percent of the plants in this garden are perennial. I plant Basil, Parsley, and Calendulas, but the rest of the plants come back year after year. I love herbs because they require very little care. I rarely fertilize them, and only water when it is extremely dry. The only other maintenance is occasionally dividing the plants that tend to take over the garden. I also always have fresh herbs for cooking. Many times I have run out to the herb garden for some lovage, chives, or rosemary to add to a dish.
But my favorite thing about this garden, is just walking through and running my hand across the tops of the herbs. And when people stop by, especially kids, I take them through the herb garden first. They always enjoy it the most.
I also have a swing in the garden, right across form the pond. it is a wonderful place to sit for a few minutes when I get home in the evening.
Well, I don't know when I will be back, happy Spring until then!

HAPPY EASTER

2008-03-22T23:24:00.003-05:00

"Loving Father, may I embrace the cross of your Son as my only hope, my only help, and my only happiness."

I wish you all a Happy Easter!

I am adding a picture of the cake that I made for Easter. I saw it in a magazine, and decided to try it. It turned out great, with lots of comments, and nobody wanting to cut it. As I was finishing it on Saturday night, I ran out of peeps and had to send my husband and son on a "wild peep chase". They had to go to 4 or 5 stores before they found any. They said that they knew that they had better not come home without them. ;) The cake is made with two 9-inch round cakes, one on top of the other.
Iced with chocolate icing and the top layer covered with chocolate chips. Then, I put toothpicks into the peeps, and stuck them in the cake, all the way around the outside. This cake would be great at a summer luncheon or tea, but I am not sure that you can find the peeps that time of year.
Sorry, the picture did not turn out great, but you get the idea.

I'VE BEEN OUTED!!

2008-03-20T16:36:00.005-05:00

For the past few months our local newspaper has ran a weekly column on bloggers in our area. I have read each one that they have printed. Most all of the blogs that have been highlighted have been about these peoples personal lives, and most from the under 30 crowd. Each week I would become more frustrated, sometimes yelling at the newspaper that there were people out there blogging for a purpose, and not just which bar they got wasted at on Saturday night. Now, I know that is important to some people, but it is much more important to me to know whose lenten rose is blooming first, and who ordered what seeds, and when will they plant them.
So, I decide to send my blog address in to the paper.
Now this is huge for me, because every one of these blogs has a picture attached of the author. I DON'T DO PICTURES! Everybody knows that, my family, my friends, everybody! I thought, oh well, they probably won't use my blog anyway, so I don't need to worry. So, off it went. I didn't hear from them over the next couple of weeks, and so I forgot all about it.
Until Monday morning. An email. "We would like to highlight your blog, and we will need a picture".
Me: "Could you just do it without a picture, maybe use that great smiling sunflower I use on my blog?".
Them: "No, but don't worry, the picture is very small, the size of a postage stamp". Yeah, right. Ok, this is when I tell them forget it. But if I do that, people will never know about all of the great gardening blogs out there. OK, so I send them the smallest picture that I can find.
Them: "We need a bigger picture". DRAT!!! I knew it! Ok, so I ask my Son to take a picture of me. He is laughing his head off, because he knows how I feel about pictures. Finally we get one, and I send it off. I am thinking that I have a few weeks to get used to the idea that my face is going to be plastered all over the newspaper.
But Wednesday morning, there it was.
Luckily, it is in a section of the paper that most people never get to, you know the one with fashion advice, self help columns, and the comics.
So I have been outed in the worst way possible, by the local newspaper. I just hope that my sacrifice has raised the opinions of people everywhere that bloggers aren't a bunch of nuts that don't have anything better to do than send there thought and opinions out into cyberspace, for all to see.
We have a purpose!!

WHERE DO YOU BLOG?

2008-03-19T12:25:00.001-05:00

It is Spring, and time for me to get back to work. It is also time to put away my "blog work station" at my dining room table. Let me explain. My main computer is in my office. This is a room that was added to our home before we moved here. It has no basement under it, has windows on two walls, and one heat vent for the room. Needless to say, in the winter, it is very cold in there.
So, a few years ago, before I began blogging, I decided that I needed a laptop. There are a few months in the winter, where I don't have to do much in the office for our business, so I thought that with a laptop I would be able to sit in my chair in the living room, where it is warmer, and check mail, do my banking, and play solitaire. I also work on genealogy in the winter months, and I would be able to take the laptop with me in my travels around the country.
Then, last winter while playing around on the internet, I found the librarything website. A place to catalog all of the books in my library, and talk with other people that love books as much as I do. I was hooked.
That website led me to blogging. I shared that story on my anniversary blog. So between blogging, adding books to my personal library, genealogy, and adding books to the library at my church that I started this winter, I needed a place that was convenient and warm. The dining room table fit the bill. We don't often have meals there anymore. It's just the three of us, and we usually eat in the kitchen, or I am embarrassed to say, in the living room in front of the TV.
So I bought a rolling cart from Sam's, and put my printer, scanner, and everything else I would need to create a mini-office on it. I attached a power strip to the side of it, and plugged everything in. That way it takes just one plug to get everything going. It has worked out very well, I even find my Son using it occasionally. If I do need to use the dining room, I wheel my mini-office into my reading room. It has worked out very well, but I am afraid that it is time to close up shop for the season. I will keep up with everyone on my office computer, now that it is warmer in there. My posts will probably not be as frequent either, but I am sure that will happen to a lot of us, because between you and me, if I have the choice of sitting at my computer, or being in my garden, you all know where I will be. I am sure that a lot of you feel the same way.
So, back to my original question. Where do you blog?

PROJECTS

2008-03-17T10:21:00.007-05:00

I took a walk around my property on Saturday to decide what had to be done in the beds this season. I had lots of projects last summer, including filling in and repairing a trench made by my husband in an attempt to install a drain, and landscaping around our new patio. I do not have any big plans this year, but I did find a few things that I have been putting off, that need to be done.
One is this beautiful pine tree. My husband insists that it needs to come down. It is the first thing that we planted when we moved here 17 years ago. I always warn people about planting trees to close to power lines and buildings, and this is a perfect example why. At the time that I planted the pine, we had planned to have the power lines buried. The problem with that is, it costs money to have power lines buried, and there was always something that was way more important to spend extra money on, so it never got done, and now it is so expensive, we will never do it. I love this tree, and so do the birds. but I think that the power lines are going to win. I told my husband that he is in charge of cutting it down, I don't want to be around to see it happen. The only good thing is that I will get a large new planting bed in the deal.
The second project that I found in my walk was this area. I wanted to tackle this last summer, but never quit got it accomplished. The idea is to move this raised bed, that I use for holding plants, to another area. Then I want to fence an area for chickens, and use the green shed for the chicken house. Several years ago we raised chickens in this shed, and I would like to do it again. This time though I would like to raise the chickens primarily for eggs, where the last time they were all butchered. I had planned to have it ready this Spring, but as you can see that hasn't happened. This has tended to be the junk collection site, don't we all have one? It will be a great place for chickens, and I am thinking that I can pipe some of the heat generated in the greenhouse, into the shed for warmth early in the Spring. The problem with this project, as with all of the projects in this post, is that it involves my husband. He has his own list of things to do, so I usually have to keep after him to help me with my projects. The shed for the chickens needs some repairs, so this might not get done until sometime this summer. It would be nice have a place to get rid of kitchen waste, and the manure would be a good addition to the compost pile.
The third thing is this picket fence. My husband built it shortly after we moved in. It is starting to rot along the bottom, and some of the boards have rotted all the way through. We have talked about replacing it with the new plastic fencing, but none of the ones we have found really look like the old fashioned picket fences. So, he will probably build a new fence from scratch. We would also like to add a piece of fence across the front of our property so it would match this section. The idea is to build the fence in removable sections, so that they could be brought in one piece at a time, over the winter for painting. Great idea, but we ran out of time. So this project may have to wait for next winter.

The project that I dread the most is cleaning out the pond. I only do this about every three years, and I really hate it. The plants need to be removed, divided, and repotted. The fish need to be removed and the pond drained, and then the foot of muck in the bottom cleaned out. It is such a hard job, and very messy. If anyone wants to help, let me know. Free starts of pond plants, and all of the fish you want. ;)

While walking around I also noted how bad the herb garden looks. It is the only bed that I did not get cleaned up last Fall, so it will have to be the first one that I tackle this Spring. Looking back to posts from last year that have pictures of the herb garden, it is hard to believe that it will look that way again.
So, I have plenty of work cut out for me, and with our busy season upon us, it will be evenings and weekends.
I can't wait to get started!

SHOPPING

2008-03-11T21:29:00.002-05:00

Saturday my Sister and I spent the day running around to all of those places that you always want to go to, but just don't have the time. Our Husband's had left early in the morning for a swap meet in Louisville, something that neither of us were the least bit interested in. On our list was the Tuesday Morning store in West Lafayette. If you do not have one of these stores near you, you are missing out. Before we got one here, we would travel to Indy to shop there. They are filled with quality things, priced lower than what you would normally pay. I receive their ad in the mail, and this month there were a few things that looked interesting. The first thing that I saw when I walked in was the St. Francis statue. I already have a statue of St. Francis, but this one is holding a bowl with a bird on the edge. It will look great on my patio, so I just had to have it. Then I saw this little rabbit. Well, anyone that reads my blog knows of my dislike of anything "rabbitlike". These little varmints eat anything and everything that they get near, and do lots of damage, to my shrubs and perennials during the year.
This one looked very innocent though, and his mouth was welded shut, so I thought that he would be a safe addition to my garden.
The item that I actually went to the store for, and that was in their ad, was this garden basket. It folds flat when you are not using it, and then pops up when it's needed. It is large enough for hauling tools around, but I bought it for harvesting fruits and vegetables. At only $10.00, it was a bargain. I have been wanting to get something specifically for this task, and I think that this will do the trick.
So, I spent a great day with my Sister, and picked up a few things for my garden.
Now I just wish that Spring would hurry up and get here.

ANOTHER BOOK SALE

2008-03-07T16:15:00.003-06:00

Well, last Friday night there was another library book sale. These are very dangerous for me, especially when I am starting a church library. Most of my time was spent looking through the religious books, but I could never leave a sale without checking out the gardening books. I did really well this year, either they were picked over before I got to them, or I already owned them. I just ended up with a few. But what an odd assortment. I picked out some really different gardening books at this sale. I wonder if they were all donated by the same person? I will share a couple of the books that I bought that are very different from the normal gardening books I usually purchase.
The first one is called "The One-Minute Gardener". I don't know about you, but this intrigued me. Gardening in a minute. Where is the fun in that? I spend more than a minute just standing at the edge of the garden, wondering what to tackle next. I guess this book would be great for someone that is on a tight schedule.....but really, 1 minute. That is insane. The book does have some good time-management tips in it, so I will put it on my shelf, but I don't ever want to get to the point when I spend just one minute a day in my garden.
The next book is called "The Carpet Garden". I couldn't imagine what this book might have to say, but you guessed it. Cover your garden with carpet, and plant through it. No weeds, no bugs?, no mess! I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to garden in my living room, so this idea is not for me. The only thing that I took from this book was to maybe plant my tomato plant through a square of carpet. This might hold in moisture, and keep the plant dry. But as far as carpeting my whole garden, that's just not going to happen!
Then there was a book on Labyrinth's called, amazingly enough, (get it, maze) Labyrinth. I enjoy labyrinth's but I am not sure I want one on my property. I think that they would take a lot of care, and I just don't see the value in it. So, I will just look through the book when I want to admire the beauty of these things.
Then there is the "The Garlic Lovers' Cookbook" straight from the garlic growing capital of the U.S.A., Gilroy, California. I thought that I might need this when I dig the garlic next Fall, that I planted this past Fall. There are lot's of recipes, and some of the history of the plant. The festival that they have in Gilroy draws thousands of people each year. Local legend says that when Will Roger passed through the town at harvest time, he described it as "the only town in America where you can marinate a steak just by hanging it out on the clothesline".
I also picked up a few older books, one called "The Language of Gardening", and one called "Favorite Flowers in Color". There is nothing like the old gardening books. The one on flowers has 300 pictures, and must weigh 5 pounds. The flower book is from the 1940's, and the language of gardening the 6o's.

Then there is one called "The Lively Garden Prayer Book". It is full of garden prayer-poems. Some of the titles are, "The Hymn of Holy Lettuce", "The Pouting Potato", and "A Dung Beetle's Love Call". It is a very cute book. There is also one called"A Well-Watered Garden" A Gardeners Guide to Spirituality. It is a journal for writing your thoughts down, with scripture passages, and garden ideas, sprinkled throughout the book.

There is a book called, "Tales from the Plant Kingdom" that is signed by the author. It tells the legends and stories about the flowers and plants that we have in our garden.
I also got a book on lavender, entitled, "Lavender". It is one of my favorite plants and this book has tips on growing it, and using it. It has great pictures that I can look at in the winter months. I will just spray the air with lavender essential oil, look at the pictures, and pretend that it is summer outside.
Also, a book called "Kitchen Table Bird Book". Now I have lot's of bird books, but none specifically written to be kept on the kitchen table, and since this is where I mainly watch the birds from, how could I pass it up? It is a nice book, with drawings instead of photo's.I also picked up a copy of a book of "Frog's and Toads". I already have this book in my library, but I bought this one to keep outside with me so that when I run into one of these little guys in my garden, I know who I am dealing with.
These are the most unusual of the books that I bought at the sale, and all at a cost of $1.00 each. All of the books were like new, with no writing or highlighting in them. In this day and age, with books selling in the 10-20 dollar range, you just can't beat it. On that note, I think that I read that West Lafayette is having a book sale in the next few weeks...I had better make some more room on my bookshelves!

THE SENSITIVE PLANT

2008-03-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

After reading Gina, at My Skinny Garden's post on the Tickle Me Plant, I felt that I needed to write about my history with Mimosa Pudica, aka Sensitive Plant.
When I was in seventh grade my science teacher had us do a project growing these plants in paper cups on the window sill. I was totally amazed at these little guys. When you touched them they would wilt, and then recover in about 10 minutes. This plant is where I trace my interest in plants and growing things.
I moved from the sensitive plant to house plants, and then to a small garden behind our garage. I would spend summers with my Grandparents helping them in their garden and lawn. I also spent some time working in a florist shop in a high school job program.
When I graduated, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. It didn't occur to me that I could work with plants for a living. I lived up North in Highland at the time, and one day my Brother was visiting from Lafayette and suggested that I come home with him and see if I could get a job working in a garden center in Lafayette. I really didn't think that would happen, but I agreed to try. The first one that I walked into hired me. I then had to return home, pack up my belongings, and move to Lafayette. I lived for a while with my Brother, and then with my Sister, before getting my own place. I worked in that garden center for about 5 years. I met my husband there. We always joked that because we worked so many hours, if you didn't meet someone there, you would never meet anyone, because you never had any time off. I remember that the employees of the shop tied pots, and plastic gardening tools to the back of our truck, along with the "just married" sign.
After we were married I went to work for a company affiliated with Purdue University. My job was to transplant the plants grown in a lab, to flats in the greenhouse, and then into pots to be shipped to the customer. When that job ended, I was offered the greenhouse, if I wanted it. We just had to take it down. That was not a tough decision, and I am still using it today. Then in 1986 we started our own landscaping business. I never made it to school, because I never considered working with plants for a living. One day I just realized that I was doing it, and by then it was to late to go back. So, I am totally self taught, which I think is sometimes the best way.
Just the other night I was talking with my husband and son about the decisions in life that we make. I often wonder where I would be now if I had not taken my Brother up on his offer of coming to Lafayette in search of a job, or what my occupation would have been if I had had a different science teacher in seventh grade.
I have used the sensitive plant in many talks that I have given, especially if the talk includes children. I love to watch their faces when they touch the plant. Who knows, maybe the same thing will happen to them that happened to me. I can think of worse things to do with your life.

ENTER MARCH

2008-03-01T22:03:00.001-06:00

Well, here in Lafayette March came in like a lamb. I hope that doesn't mean what they say it means. I am ready for the snow to be over. The thing that I dislike most about March is that it seems to be windier than other months. I hate wind. I can take the cold, but when you add wind, I get very irate.
I have not made it to the greenhouse to do any planting yet. I did go out and check on the plants that I overwintered, and they all looked pretty good. There are a few that I will need to repot, but most will go directly into the beds. I just ran out of time last Fall, so I was happy to see that they survived.
The work at my church has taken a lot more time than I thought that it would, as those projects often do. But I should be able to begin filling the library with books by next week. It is very exciting to see a drab, ugly room, transformed with a little paint and carpet.
I am ready to put all of my painting supplies away now, and get out my gardening tools. It has been a productive winter, but I am so ready to get my hands in some soil. I know that all of you feel the same way.

(I borrowed the picture above from our local news station, I hope that they don't mind.)

FORGOTTEN ANNIVERSARY

2008-02-26T10:33:00.005-06:00

While shopping at Sam's this week I ran across one of the orchids that I had purchased a month ago for my friend that turned 90 years old. The plant was not in bloom anymore, so the price was reduced from $30.00, to $6.00. I quickly grabbed one up, and only one because my husband was along. if he had not been with me, I am not sure how many of them would have come home with me. The only problem was that I really wanted a yellow one, and could not tell what color this one will be. I guess it will be a surprise!
Well, as I stated in the previous post, I have been very busy. Therefore, I let my blog anniversary slip by. February 20 2007. I had jotted the date down on my notepad about a month ago, but I missed it!
So, happy late anniversary to me!
How did I get started blogging you ask? Well, it is kind of a funny story. I ran across Librarything while playing on the Internet, and thought that this had to be the neatest site I had ever found. I immediately decided to add my books. I had no idea how many books I owned, and how much of a job it would be to catalog them. After entering several hundred books I began to notice that there were several people that had a lot of the same books that I had. One of these people was from Indianapolis, Carol at May Dreams Gardens. I sent a note to her on Librarything, and she wrote back. She commented that when I got my blog going, to let her know. Blog???? I had never had any experience with a blog, what exactly was it? Wasn't it just a bunch of people that didn't have anything better to do than sit around and write about there daily lives, stuff nobody really cared about?
So, I went to Carol's blog, and from there to other gardening blogs. I was hooked. These people actually wrote about gardening!! This is great, other people that loved gardening as much as I did!! I have never been very good at journaling about my garden, what an opportunity this would be to keep track of my garden in a blog. Of course my Husband and Son made fun of me, and my Son's girlfriend even giggled one night when she was over, laughingly wondering how many people read it, 10 maybe 20? When I told her that over a period of a year, there had been over 4000 people read it, she stopped laughing. I said that she just didn't understand gardeners. We don't write about the date we went on last night, or the new makeup we were trying. we write about important things like which tomato variety was the best, and where was the best place to buy seeds. She looked at me like I was crazy, and walked off.
So, I continue to blog, whether anybody reads it or not. I can now enjoy going back and following where I was at this time last year. I would never have taken time to record these events in a notebook, it's just not as much fun. And I am so happy to have met all of the people that "garden" on their computer too. I have learned from your posts and hope that you have learned from mine. After all, that is what we are here for, to help each other out in the pursuit of the "perfect" garden.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

2008-02-20T22:16:00.001-06:00

I love this picture! Someone sent it to me in an email. If this snowman was in my yard, the rabbits would have crawled up the front of him and taken the carrot, not the deer.
Wow! I haven't been on for awhile. I can explain. I take on way to many projects in the winter, and then as Spring comes around, I panic in my effort to get them all done. The library project at my church is coming along, I have the room painted, ordered the furniture, and the carpet goes in next week. I also have about 100 of my books that I am donating to the library, entered into Librarything, after deleting them from my library.
We have three apartments on our property. People thought that we were crazy when we bought the place, but how often do you get the chance to have someone else make your house payment. The problem is that I have one apartment ready to rent, and one that just came open. I have not cleaned it yet, and of course when someone called about renting, they wanted the one that hadn't been cleaned yet. He needs it by the weekend, so I have been getting it ready this week. That is the part that I hate, but those monthly rent checks are sure nice.
I also spent last weekend taking my 10th grade Confirmation class to a retreat in Noblesville. It was a wonderful experience, but sleeping on a gym floor two nights in a row, and getting about 3 hours sleep each night, just about did me in. But it was worth it. There is nothing quit like watching teenagers "discover" Jesus.
We are also starting to gear up for the Spring season in our business. That means sending out letters to last years clients. That takes loads of time, and I dread it every year.
So, needless to say I have not had much time to think about gardening, or blogging. I am hoping that on Saturday I can get out into the greenhouse and get some planting done. Every year I get busy and don't get my tomatoes planted early. I intend to change that this year.

WHERE IN THE GARDEN WORLD ARE YOU?

2008-02-14T23:00:00.003-06:00

Well, everyone seems to be doing it, so I will add gardening in Lafayette, Indiana to the list. Lafayette is about 1 hour North of Indianapolis, and about 2 hours South of Chicago.
It is a University town, so we have a pretty stable economy, year-round, but when the students come back in the Fall, it really jumps. You might think that living in a town with a well-known University like Purdue would be great. It is most of the time. Like I said, Purdue employs lots of people, and with the student here most of the year, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. But there are disadvantages.
Like, try getting around on a football weekend. Or try finding a restaurant to eat at on Parents weekend. Small things, but it can get annoying.
You would think that because Purdue has a great Horticulture program, the employee selection for us in the landscape business would be great. But, for whatever reason, we do not get many students apply for work with us.
We are in zone 5, but I can sometimes get zone 6 plants to survive here. We have a great downtown, with lots of events through the summer held there. We are close to historic Battleground, and Prophetstown State Park, a fairly new park focusing on a 1920's working farm, a Native American settlement, and a 122 acre prairie.
I was born in Lafayette, but did not live here until I had graduated high school. Until I was 6 years old I lived in a small town about 40 minutes from Lafayette, then moved about 60 miles North to Highland, Indiana, were I grew up. When I graduated I knew that I could not stay in "the region" any longer, so my Brother, who lived in Brookston at the time, (a small town about 20 miles from Lafayette) talked me into moving back here. He was sure that I could get a job in one of the nursery's in town. Sure enough, the first one that I walked into hired me. So, as they say, "I loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly!".
I have never regretted it. I love the weather, our four distinct seasons. I always say that in Indiana when you are just about getting tired of one season, another one comes along. I also don't think that I would survive gardening year round. I love winter for the chance to catch up with things ignored during the Spring and Summer months. And the wonderful anticipation for Spring. I have a good life here, with much of my family close by. It still has a little of that small town feel, and within an hour you can be in Indy if you really need to do some major shopping.
It would be the perfect place to live, if we could just get a Trader Joe's or Wild Oat's, and a Half-Price bookstore.
Thanks to Jodi at Bloomingwriter for suggesting this "sharing" of our garden world, with other garden bloggers. It's been fun to read them all!

(photo's from the Battleground and Lafayette town websites)

THREE THINGS (PART 3)

2008-02-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

The last thing that I think that you need for a successful and easy to care for garden, is in my opinion, the hardest. The goal in your beds is to have no openings were you can actually see the soil or the mulch. The plants should grow together, just until they meet, and maybe mingle a little bit with each other. This is very difficult for me, because I have always read that you need to keep plenty of space between plants for good air movement. They need this to keep from getting mildew, and other diseases that plants get from being to close together.
When you plant your garden, you should usually know a little something about what you are planting. How big it gets, how much sun, type of soil, etc. Plants rarely follow the rules. If they like were they are planted, they may get twice the size that the tag says that they will get. So even if you follow the rules, and leave plenty of space between plants, they usually grow where they want to grow.
If you put the plants to close together to begin with, you can really have a problem in a few years. The old adage, "the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap" is very true.
The other problem is that all of the garden magazines and books show these beautiful gardens. They set us up to think that that is the way our gardens should look. The pictures are usually taken on the one day of the year when the garden is perfect. Every plant is blooming, and disease-free. In the real world, this does not happen. How many times is one area of a bed in your garden gorgeous, and right beside it some plant has either decided to die, or the rabbits have chewed it to the ground, screwing up the whole effect? It is rare when all of the plants in our garden cooperate with each other, and all look great at the same time. To me the hardest part of gardening is to get something blooming, in the right color combination, at the right times. My husband says that I move plants around more than I move furniture in the house. I have been known to move a plant a couple of days after I planted it "for good" in a spot. I always apologize, and tell them that this time it is really "for good", but they know better. They know that next week I might decide that they would look much better in that bed on the other side of the lawn.
Sorry, I kind of got off on a tangent there, my original point was getting the plants to fill the space, without growing close enough together to cause disease problems.
If you accomplish this in your garden, and you have mulch down to keep the weeds from sprouting and hold in the moisture, and you have a good edge to keep the grass and weeds from creeping in from outside, your well on your way to a semi-maintenance free garden. You can spend your time in the garden doing things like dead heading, fertilizing, watering, and pulling the stray weed that always shows up no matter what you do.
So, if you have accomplished this, please give me a call, because I haven't, and I sure could use your help.

(The pictures that I used in this post ARE NOT from my garden. They are from books, were all the "perfect' gardens are)

THREE THINGS (PART 2)

2008-02-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

The second thing that I believe is imperative to a successful and easy to maintain landscape, is to mulch the beds. Mulch will keep most weeds from sprouting, hold the moisture in the ground, and keep the beds looking nice. Mulch's will also add valuable nutrients to the soil as they decompose. I most often use hardwood mulch for my landscaped beds, leaves in my perennial beds, and straw and grass clippings in my garden and fruit bed. I have the advantage of always having shredded leaves on hand, because we collect them from clients lawns in the Fall, and I usually keep a few truckloads for myself. These leaves have gone through several shredders, so they are cut into very small pieces. I also keep mostly the "dry" leaves like oak. Maple leaves tend to stay wet and mat together, so they aren't as desirable to use as a mulch. I can apply these leaves in the Spring and they last through the next Spring. I also have lots of grass clippings at my disposal, so I usually lay newspaper in the paths of my garden, cover them with grass clippings, and then add a light layer of straw. This also lasts the whole season. I add the straw on top of the grass clippings mainly because it dries out better, and looks nicer.
The bark mulch that I use is always hardwood. I never use colored mulch's for one reason. When you look at a landscape that has colored mulch around the shrubs and perennials, what do you notice first? That's right, the mulch. I believe that when you look at a landscape, the first thing that you notice should be the plants. There should never be anything used in a garden that will take your eye away from the plants. I also don't like the idea that colored mulch's tend to float and move around in the rain.
Hardwood mulch matches the soil color closest, and decomposes nicely. The orange mulch is cypress, which does not decompose quickly, so people tend to just keep piling it on year after year. I have often tried to dig a hole in a landscape with this kind of mulch, and don't hit soil until I am 6 inches down.
The colored mulches, red, black, and even aqua, are usually ground up pallets that have been dyed. I have often wondered if whatever chemicals were stored on these pallets leaches out into our soils after they have been ground up and made into mulch.
Then there is the free mulch that you can usually get from the city. It is usually made from live trees, so as it breaks down it robs your soil of nutrients. This mulch could be made from anything, walnut trees, trees covered in poison ivy, etc. The only place I use this mulch is on paths in woodland settings.
I also occasionally use rock mulch. It is not my favorite thing, but sometimes it is the best choice, in an area of high traffic or for people who don't want to mess with a landscape once it is done. One thing that you should never do with a rock mulch used around plants is to put weed fabric under the rock. What happens when you use this fabric, is the plants roots grow partially on top of the fabric, and partially underneath the fabric. it is a nightmare if you ever want to change it. There is nothing harder when installing a new landscape, than removing fabric that is all entangled with roots from the plant material. It also can not be healthy for the plants. The only time that I use fabric under rock is if I am installing a rock strip along the side of a building.
If you do use a rock mulch in your landscape, make sure that you "plant" a few coffee cans in the beds. You can then put the lid on the can and cover it with rock. Then, in the Spring, pull the rock away, take the lid off the can, fill it with soil, and plant your annual flowers. In the Fall, remove the plant, put the lid back on, and cover with the rock.
Plastic mulch's are sometimes used under rock, but I don't recommend it under mulch. The plants will do the same thing that they do with the fabric, and if you don't poke holes in the plastic, they won't get any water either. Fabric used under bark mulch is also a bad idea. As the mulch decomposes and turns to soil, you get weeds sprouting and trying to grow down, while the plant roots are attaching to the fabric. You don't want to know how hard it is to pull up fabric with 2 inches of soil on the top, and the shrubs roots growing on top and underneath the fabric.
So mulch's are the second "must" for a successful landscape. Tomorrow, the third and last thing that you need to know to keep your landscape easy to maintain.

THREE THINGS

2008-02-11T20:21:00.000-06:00

After gardening for 30 years, and working in the landscape business for almost the same amount of time, I have found that there are three things that are necessary for a successful and low maintenance landscape.
The first thing is a good edge to your beds. If you do not have a clear edge, the weeds and grass waste no time taking over. The perennial grasses are the worst. They send runners just below the surface of the soil, and come up, in and around your plant material. Once this happens, it is almost impossible to get rid of the grass without removing everything and starting over.
I most often use the plastic edging shown in this photo. Many people complain that this edging works it's way out of the ground, but if it is installed properly, this edging will stay in place for many years, and can even be dug up, and moved out as your plants grow. The key is to install it straight, not slanted, and always keep grass on one side, and soil on the other. Sometimes the soil will wash out on either side of the edging, especially if a plant is hanging over the edging and shading the soil. You also need to drive steel spikes through the edging back into the soil. These spikes are usually supplied with the edging when you buy it. There are different grades of this plastic edging. Hint: If it is rolled up in a box, it is probably not of the best quality. The best edging of this kind is usually sold in 20 foot strips, at about $1.00 per foot, and you will only find it sold this way at garden centers.
If the edging is cut, it can also fill with water and freeze in the winter, which will also cause it to work it's way out of the ground. Sometimes I add a row of bricks on the outside edge to add a little bit of interest to the bed. This also gives you a place to run your mower wheel. I have this edging installed on my property, and in some places it has been there for 10-12 years, and still in good condition.
I also use boulders, or other types of rock as an edge. I have found if these types of edging are used, you must keep a few inches of bare ground along the edge facing the lawn, in order to keep the weeds and grass from creeping around and underneath.
Sometimes you can get these types of edging materials from people tearing out landscapes, or farmers that are happy to have some crazy city person, load their trunk with the rocks that they have piled at the edges of their fields. Always ask permission first though, because sometime the farmers wives have the same idea.

You can also use timbers as an edge to your bed. The problem with these is sometime they are not deep enough to keep grasses from creeping underneath. They also don't last as long as the plastic or rock. They tend to rot after 8-10 years. They are also often treated, so you wouldn't want to use them around edible plants. If you do decide to use them, it will help keep them in place if you drill holes about every 5 feet, and pound a 2-3 foot piece of rebar through the timber and into the ground. This will keep it is place, especially over the winter. I used timbers around my fruit garden which allowed me to put my fence up, leaving about 4 inches extra along the bottom. I then lay this extra fence flat, and lay bricks on top of it. This has kept my fruit garden free from rabbit damage. They are not able to get under the fence because the brick is anchoring the extra fencing to the ground. You can't see the bricks in the picture, because of the leaf mulch, but they line the entire inside of the fence line. Because of the timber on one side and the brick on the other, the rabbits can't get in.

Another kind of edging that I have tried this year, and have been extremely happy with, is a composite plastic timber. These are made from recycled tires, and come in landscape timber, 4x4, and 6x6 sizes. They are fairly expensive, but because they will last forever, I think that they are a good investment. I have used the 6x6 as an edge in an area, where constant traffic with tractors and trucks would not allow use of any other kind of edging. So far, they have held up very well. They are an attractive brown/black color, but be warned, they are very heavy, and very hard to cut. I have commented to my husband that if we move from this property, these timbers are going with us.
I only have two beds on my property with no edging. These are both along a white pine border, and the edging would have to be moved to often to justify having it. So every other year, I cut these edges by hand. I don't have much trouble in these beds with weeds and grass, because of the dense shade, and pine needle cover.
So, a good edge, in my opinion, is the most important thing to having a successful and low maintenance landscape. I know when I come out to work in my garden, I am not going to have to spend any time on edges. That means a lot, when you have a limited amount of time each week in your garden.
Tomorrow I will post on the second element to having a successful and low maintenance landscape.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GARDENING

2008-02-07T13:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have not posted lately, I am in the middle of winter projects. I have been given the go-ahead on a library for my church. So I have spent a couple of days painting the room, and getting ready for new carpet. I have picked out the book cases, and as soon as the carpet is in, they will be installed, and then the books can be added. The majority of the books will come from my personal library, and the rest will be donated. We will eventually purchase books as memorials, and add books that parishioners request. This library has been in the back of my mind for years, so I have not gotten rid of any books, in anticipation of moving them to the church. I am definitely running out of shelf space at my house, so it will be good to transfer the books I have saved, to the church. There is another library sale at the end of the month, and I will now have shelf space!
I intend to have the library on Library.com, so I have been removing the books from my library, and adding them to the church library. This takes a lot of time, so I have not been able to 'blog' much. I did think that I would pop on and add something that I ran across in my travels. I hope you enjoy it!

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GARDENING

1.) Thou shalt not covet the neighbors roses.
2.) Thou shalt honor thy mum and thy poppy.
3.) Thou shalt not plant it if thou cannot spell it.
4.) Thou shalt not feel silly talking to plants.
5.) Thou shalt nurture thy bleeding heart and thy weeping willow.
6.) Thou shalt dig in thy dirt, not dish thy dirt.
7.) Thou shalt bloom where thou be planted.
8.) Thy plants shall be expelled from thy Garden of Weeden.
9.) Thou shalt forget-me-not with friendship everlasting.
10.) Thou shalt rest on the seventh daisy.

CAN YOU TELL I'M A GARDENER?

2008-01-30T21:46:00.000-06:00

After reading Kylee's post over at Our Little Acre about how her home shows her love of gardening, I thought that I would share some reasons why you might think that I like gardening too. You won't find house plants in my home though. Unlike Kylee, I am not much of an indoor gardener. I have a few Orchids, and the plants that I bring in from outdoors in the Fall, but that is about it.

This is my living room bookcase. This one doesn't begin to hold all of my books, but it does hold my nicest ones, not the ones that you drag out to the garden with you.

This is my dining room. Most of the pictures above the buffet are garden related. This room used to be pink with a old-fashioned flower border. I got tired of the pink a few years ago. I like this much better.

This is my bedroom. Several years ago my Sister and I both saw this picture and wanted it. She ended up with it. After hanging in her home for some time, she moved into a new home and changed her entire style of decorating. Lucky for me, this picture did not fit in. I bought it at her garage sale, and see it every morning when I wake up. It was worth waiting for.

This is my reading room. My favorite spot to read. Every wall in this room is covered with books, and as you can see, my little "reading angel" keeps watch over my books when I am not there.

This is my kitchen. I love this room. It is so cheerful, and red has always been my color. When we bought this house the kitchen was a disaster. We lived with it until a few years ago, and then decided to tackle it one winter. My husband had never done tile work, and was worried about my bold choice of color. I reassured him that it would be fine, and it turned out great, and he did a wonderful job on the tile. The border and wall paper are vegetables, and my Sister sewed the curtains.
As you leave the kitchen to go out the back door, I have a poster of different herbs from the garden. I love these posters, and have three in my home. The tomato poster you can see in the kitchen photo, and there is a corn poster in my mud room.

This is the mud room just inside the back door. I don't wear hats often, so these don't get much use.

The office is just inside the back door, off the mud room. This is where the majority of my gardening books are kept. This makes them convenient for my work, and also to get to from the garden without tracking mud all through the house. You will note the box under the chair. I have run out of room for books, so I am either going to have to move to a bigger house, or kick my Son out so that I can make the entire upstairs into a library.
Thanks Kylee. I have never looked at my house through someone else's eyes to see what you could tell about me from the way I decorate. It was kind of fun!

IKEA TRIP

2008-01-22T09:59:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of you have ever been to an Ikea store, but if you haven't you should definitely try to go there at least once. It is what I call a "shopping experience".
Every year my Sister and I try to get there at least one time. The nearest store to us is about a 3 hour drive, so you don't just hop in the car some afternoon and head there. It is sort of an event, when we go. So, we planned the trip for Saturday, the coldest day of the year so far. There was no snow in the forecast, so we decided to brave the cold, and go ahead with our plans.
Usually, we search through the catalog before we go, to get an idea of what we might want to buy. This year, I decided that I didn't "need" anything, so I was just going along for the ride.
Never make that mistake when going to Ikea. I came home with two bags full, even though I didn't "need" a thing.
There are several things about this store that make it unique. The products that they carry are very well made, but very reasonably priced. The store's usually have 3 levels, with escalator's to each level, with a special cart escalator to take your cart with you as you go from floor to floor.
When we arrived, the first thing we did was to have a snack to tide us over while we shopped. A 50 cent hot dog, $1.00 cinnamon roll, and a $1.00 drink would be enough to keep us going for awhile.
When we go there it is an unwritten rule that everyone is on his own. We don't try to stick together, because each person has there own interests, so we agree to meet at a certain spot latter in the day.
The first thing that I found that I couldn't do without, were these tin boxes. I thought that they would be perfect for my seeds. They come in packages of two, a large one and a small one. The package of two sells for $6.98. If I had found these in a garden catalog, they would probably run around $20.00 each. There is a slot on the front of the boxes for a tag with the contents of the box on it.
The kitchen area is also a difficult area for me. I am a gadget collector, and they have plenty of them there. They also have a garden area, selling flower pots, and even plants. I did have a problem while in line watching people take these plants to their cars, with nothing over them. It was 0 degrees outside, and they were taking these plants to their cars, and letting them set in the cart while they made room for them. I can't imagine how long a plant could last in those conditions. I bit my tongue, because there were so many people buying plants, and I didn't want to get thrown out of the store for bothering the customers.
After we spend a few hours shopping, it is time for dinner. Right next to the Ikea at the Schaumburg, IL store that we go to, is a restaurant called "Sweet Tomato's". It is a tradition that we eat there. It is an "all you can eat" restaurant, but different than most. The food on the buffet are salads, soups, and pasta. It is a very easy restaurant to "eat healthy".
By the time we are done with dinner, we can usually hit a few more stores in the area, before heading home.
The only problem is, when you get home you start thinking, "darn, I wish I would have gotten a few more of this item". When I pulled the tin boxes out of my bag, my Son thought he had a few great uses for them. As you can see from the picture, my seeds won out. He can make his own trip to Ikea. I already have a list of items that he can pick up for me.

A SPECIAL GARDENER

2008-01-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

In April of 2002 I got a call from a friend of the people that had the Voodoo bulbs that I wrote about on the previous post. I had mowed this lady's lawn 20 years ago, but had not had any contact with her since then. She called to see if I would consider helping her in her garden. I agreed to go and look at what she wanted done, but told my husband that there was no way that I was going to do it. I was just far to busy, and if I did have any spare time, I wanted to spend it in my own garden.
So I went and met with her. She started showing me around the garden, assuming that I was going to take the job. She was so proud of all of her flower's, but her knee's would not allow her to get down on the ground like she used to. She was also taking care of her invalid husband, which took up a lot of her time.
Well, needless to say, I could not tell her no. She had thought about hiring a kid to help her, but knew that they would not know the difference between plants and weeds. So, I agreed to come for a few hours every week, if I could make it. The beds were full of perennial grass, and the usual weeds that plague all of our gardens.
So, that first Friday I showed up with my trowel and gloves, and started on the beds. We developed a routine that summer, usually on Friday mornings, were I would come for a couple of hours to weed, mulch, or do whatever she thought was pressing that week. She would usually come out and garden along with me, or sometimes just sit in her chair and visit while I worked. She would often tell me that if it wasn't for me, she would not be able to stay in her home. Her children lived several hours away, and were not able to help her with everyday chores. She would come out to her garden during the week, whenever she got the chance, and would always tell me when I got there on Friday, what she had accomplished since I was there last.
Then about a two years ago, her husband passed away. I was still coming weekly, and was noticing that she was slowing down a bit, her knee's bothering her more. She spent more time in her chair visiting, than she did gardening. I learned to be a good listener, because the minute I got there she would begin to tell me all about her week. I would garden, and she would drag her chair around behind me, often sharing with me stories of her childhood, raising her children, and her gardening wisdom. She still got an amazing amount of chores done during the week, making herself go out to the garden everyday if she could. She was especially proud of her "Dortmund" roses, and they are awesome, as you can see in the picture.
Every Spring she starts her own tomato's, and has her own certain way of planting them. She will stand over me and instruct me on how much Epsom salts, and fertilizer to put into the hole, each year going over it again in case I have forgotten. During the winter months she meticulously goes over the seed and bulb catalogs, choosing new variety's to try. She loves lily's, and always orders a few of them. I stop in to see her during the winter months, and she will discuss with me which plants she is ordering for the Spring. I am amazed at her memory. She will often sit in her chair an instruct me where to plant the bulbs that had come in the mail that week. And the next Spring remember where they are all planted and what variety they were.
She gardens almost total organic, though I have had to introduce her to Roundup, or we would have never gotten control of the wild grasses. She grows many of the old fashioned favorites, and the garden is colorful the entire year.
This Fall I was able to get almost all of the garden cleaned off before winter set in. She was so thrilled, and has even called to tell me how wonderful it is to look out at it and know that she is ready for Spring.
Today she turns 90 years old. I wasn't sure what to take her, but while shopping at Sam's I noticed that they had these amazing orchid's. I love my orchid's because of their long bloom period, so I thought that she might enjoy one.
She doesn't talk much about moving anymore, but when she does, she isn't down about it. She knows that at 90 years old, she is not going to be able to stay in her home forever, and she has her "garden memories" to keep her company when the time comes that she is forced to give up her real garden. But she still drives her car, even taking friend to their doctor appointments, and getting her own groceries. She keeps up with current events, and can talk politics's, the economy, or any other item in the news.
I truly believe that the one consistent thing in her life, her garden, has kept her going this many years, and hopefully for many more.
When I took this job in 2002, I never thought that I would still be going there weekly, in 2008. But she is already making plans for this years garden, and getting her seeds and bulbs ordered.
She often tells me that she doesn't know what she would do without me. But what I know, is that I have gotten far more out of this relationship than she has.

VOODOO BULBS

2008-01-16T20:25:00.000-06:00

Since I don't work outdoors during the winter months, I try and catch up on everything that didn't get done, or got put aside during the months that I am working or gardening. I gather the tax information together, clean up stacks of paper that never got filed or tossed, and just tidy up the office. As I was going through a file cabinet in the office, I ran across I bunch of pictures
from 25-30 years ago.
I used to help an old couple that lived next door to us, with the rose beds in their back yard. They had hundreds of rose bushes, and they hired me to help take care of them. They showed me a bulb that they planted every Spring. They called it a Voodoo bulb. I looked it up in my books, and that is indeed the name of it. There are more than one variety, but I have never found this particular one in any of my books. The bulb would be planted in the Spring, and about 6 weeks later, it would start to grow. It would grow a stalk that looked exactly like the flower stalk, but then would open to umbrella-like foliage. The shade from it was dense enough to grow impatiens underneath. When they dug the bulb in the Fall, there were baby voodoo's coming from the Mother bulb. Of course, I asked for one. The Mother bulb was probably about the size of a volley ball, and the babies about the size of a golf ball. It takes many years to get them to the large "Mother" size. They are not hardy, so they have to be dug every Fall.
When they reach the "Mother" size, they begin to bloom. I would store the bulb in my basement, and come about February or March, the flower would start up from the bulb. No soil, or water, they just grow. As you can see, this is no small flower. They could reach 6-7 foot tall. Now, there has to be a a drawback, right? Well, there is. When the flowers open, and that large purple tongue-like thing sticking out of the middle of it is at it's peak, the absolutely most horrible stink comes from the flower. As I remember, it smelled like rotten meat. So, the flower could stay in the house until full bloom, and then it had to go to the porch. In our several moves since we lived in that house, I somehow lost track, or didn't get my Mother bulb dug up, but I have always managed to keep at least a few babies going. The ones that I dug this Fall are now about the size of a baseball. For the past few years I have planted them in a whiskey barrel so that they would be easier to dig. They don't seem to be getting much bigger, so I think next year I will plant them directly in the ground. I sure would like to get my bulbs back to the "Mother" size.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

2008-01-15T10:24:00.000-06:00

We are back home! I am not much of a vacation person, and we don't take many trips because of our work. When we do get a chance to go somewhere, it has to be in the winter.
Our last day in Nashville was Sunday. As soon as we checked out of our hotel room, we headed for the Opryland hotel. Everything that I had heard about it was true. The hotel and the gardens were beautiful! It was so nice to be around plants again. It has only been a few months since I have been able to garden, but it seems like forever! I think that, that couple of hours in the hotel will get me through until Spring. The gardens are kept in perfect condition, but if I had had my pruning shears along, I would have trimmed up a few plants. They would probably frown on that, so it is lucky that I left them at home. I think that they were in the middle of Christmas decorations, and Spring planting, so there were a few open areas of soil. My husband had to hold me back from digging through it. We never found any other garden related stores, though on the way home I spotted a Worms Way store from the highway, of course not in time to get off the right exit to stop. So, I guess that I will spend this week going over the catalogs that I have received, and getting my seeds ordered. Then I will have an excuse the first of February to get out into the greenhouse and do some planting. There is nothing like the smell of the greenhouse on a sunny day in February! I can't wait!

STILL IN NASHVILLE

2008-01-13T01:14:00.000-06:00

I am sorry that I didn't post any pictures from the Opryland hotel. I haven't gotten there yet!
We spent yesterday touring downtown Nashville. We enjoyed the music coming out of the bars, the barbecue sandwich's at Jack's, and stopping in the guitar, boot, and gift stores. My Son found a pair of boots that he couldn't live without, and after much pleading, and the offer to sign over his tax check, he made his purchase. We then headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was very nice, but very tiring. We had tickets for the Opry at 8:00, and over the winter months, the performances are held in the Ryman auditorium. That was great to see, and we really enjoyed it, but did not get back to the hotel until very late. I was to exhausted to even check my mail.
This morning we had to be downtown for the start of the Sound and Speed event. Now, Nascar is not high on my favorites list, but I decided that I could stand it for a day, to please my family. It was very hard, but I made it through. Then, in the evening was the concert with Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, and Jason Michael Carroll. The concert was definitely worth putting up with the day of Nascar, and well worth the ticket price. The only bummer for the day was finding out that the Ford company had opened the Country Music Hall of Fame, free for the day. I had paid $50.00 the day before for us to go through it.
So, I announced to the guys tonight, that tomorrow is my day. We will be heading, first thing, to the Opryland hotel so that I can get my garden 'fix', before we head home.
Thanks for the suggestions Jacob. I think we saw all of the sites that you recommended, but no Lyle Lovett at the guitar store. :(

HELLO FROM NASHVILLE!!

2008-01-10T21:42:00.000-06:00

I am writing this from a hotel room in Nashville Tennessee. We made plans to take this trip about a month ago, and before I knew it, the time was here.
I don't know why this idea came to me, but I saw an advertisement for a "Sound and Speed" event on this weekend, and decided to check into it. The "Sound" part for my Son, and the "Speed" part for my husband. I am sure you are asking, 'what is in it for you?' Well, I have always wanted to see the Opryland hotel, acres of indoor gardens, and water features. So, that is on my agenda for tomorrow. Doesn't that sound great for the middle of winter?
The real reason that we decided on this trip is because when I mentioned it to my Son, he seemed very excited. Shocking to me, because at 21 years old, who knew that he would still want to go on a trip with his parents. So, knowing that this would probably be the last trip that we take as a family,we decided to go. We did go through some unbelievable rain on the way, but we got here safe without any problems.
It has been worth it already to see his excitement over this town. He is a huge Johnny Cash fan, and when he plays, sounds an awful lot like him. We toured the Opry Mills shopping center today, way more shopping than I need, and not a garden store anywhere!
I am very sad that we won't be visiting the Cheekwood Botanical Garden. I am afraid that this would not be the best time of year to see it, maybe next time.
So, maybe tomorrow night, if I am not worn out from the walking, I will post some pictures of the hotel. I can't wait!!

WHITE FLOWER FARM

2008-01-07T13:30:00.000-06:00

When I ordered Fine Gardening magazine last year, I received a $25.00 gift certificate to White Flower Farm along with the subscription. I just ran across it in my 'paper cleaning' frenzy, so I thought that I had better decide on what I wanted from the catalog.
Now, if you have never seen a catalog from this company, don't bother unless you have stacks of money sitting around that you don't have anything to do with. Their prices are higher, by far, than any catalog I get in the mail. They do have some unusual plants, and if you are unable to find them anywhere else, you might want to check them out. I also do not know the quality of their plant material, because I have never ordered from them.
My beef with them is that even the common plants they carry cost a fortune. One of the most common, Leucantheum "Becky", is priced at $10.95, and all their varieties of columbine are priced at $10.95 also. Most all of the perennials are from $8.95-$21.00. As you all know, columbine is easily started from seed, and even if you buy plants they are very cheap. Some of the specialty plants can go as high as $50.00.
So, it was a challenge to try and find something that I wanted, that I knew that I could not find locally for a lower price, and in the $25.00 range.
After going over the catalog several times, I decided on the Calycanthus 'Venus'.
I have a god customer of mine that has the common form of Calycanthus. Most people know it as Sweet Shrub, or Carolina Spice Bush. Her plant has the most interesting cinnamon colored blooms, with a wonderful spicy smell. It is probably a 10-15 year old specimen, and is only 4-5 foot tall, and about 3-4 foot wide. Venus is supposed to be 6-8 foot tall, with a 8 foot spread.
When I saw this variety I feel in love with it. I think because they describe it as having glossy foliage and 5 inch magnolia-like flowers. It reminds me of my favorite tree, the Sweet Bay magnolia. They describe the flowers as emerging ivory, and then opening to white with yellow and purple infusions in the center. The fragrance of the flower is described as a strawberry and melon perfume. This shrub is also supposed to bloom off and on throughout the season, which the common sweet shrub does not do. I did go over my budget, which is what I expect they hope you will do. The price for Venus was $39.95, and with shipping it came to $50.00. So I got it for half price. I hope that it is worth it. Now I just have to figure out where I am going to put it, before they ship it in the Spring!
We are still enjoying our Spring-like weather, 68 degrees at 2:00P.M.! I went out for a walk around the yard, to check for rabbit damage, and saw a woolly worm creeping along the foundation of the house. What is he thinking! It is winter out there! At least it was last week.

SECOND REPRIVE

2008-01-04T22:55:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks like we are going to be back into the 50s this weekend. I think the outdoor Christmas decorations will have to come down, we may not get another opportunity for awhile. These decoration were made by my husband a few years ago. I had seen them in a magazine and decided that they would make a great gift for all of my sisters for Christmas.... and I would need a few for myself. Copper wasn't as costly then, so he bought some pipe, cut them to different lengths, and then glued regular ornaments to the tops of the pipes. I only expected a year out of them, but this is the third or fourth year, and they still look pretty good. The ornaments that I used were the boxed kind you can get after Christmas for practically free, so they were pretty cheap to make. They look really nice with just a string of white light underneath them, but this year I had these snowflakes, so I used them. I had several guests comment on how nice they looked, and they shed just enough light that I didn't have to turn the back overhead light on so people could see where they were going. The nice part is, that when the ornaments get bad, you can just knock them off and attach new ones.
The seed catalog's are still flooding the mailbox. You would think that after years of not ordering from some of them, they would give up...but they don't. I have started to look through them, but not to seriously yet. I will need to clear a large area on the dining room table, and get down to business next week. I think though before I do, I will check my seeds from last year and make sure that I don't order any that I already have.
I did run across a $25.00 gift certificate that I got from White Flower Farm when I paid for a subscription to Fine Gardening magazine. With their prices, maybe I could buy a crocus bulb or two!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-12-31T16:38:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!
This picture is of my Son at 1 year old, celebrating the New Year. We had so much fun with him. He is now 21, and won't let me decorate him like this anymore...I wonder why?
Over Christmas we got out some of the old video tapes that we took when he was a child. It had been a long time since I had watched them. One of my New Year's resolutions is to get them transfered to DVD's. I have already ordered the software to do it.
It has been interesting to read everyone's thoughts on resolutions, or some people use the term, goals (somehow that doesn't sound quit as permanent as resolutions). I always come up with the standards, loss weight, exercise more, buy less books, etc, but most of these don't make it past the first few weeks of January. I have always called these resolutions, so this year I am going to call them goals, and see if that makes a difference.
The one resolution that I never have trouble keeping is: No outdoor gardening until Spring. These are the resolutions that I don't have a problem with. You know, like, no skydiving, no mountain climbing, no eating sushi, etc.. Things that I would never do in the first place. I don't have a problem with those. Maybe if these were the only kinds of resolutions that I ever make, my success rate would be 100%!
Everyone have a safe and happy New Year.

GOOGLE MAPS

2007-12-29T13:14:00.000-06:00

Wow, this is more than a little scary! Our local newspaper recently ran an article on 'street view' on google maps. They reported that people were concerned over the fact that strangers can look up an address, and basically check out your property. Lafayette is one of the cities that this service is available to, Indianapolis is another. Not all cities have been photographed yet, but I am sure that is not far off.
So, I decided to check and see if my property had been done. I couldn't believe the detail! I understand that this is not in real time, (the nearest I can figure the photo's were taken in August of 2007), it is still very 'Big Brother' like. I enjoy traveling around the world with google earth, but this is a whole different ball game!
I am not sure what is next.
(Sorry, I am not real good at links yet, but if you click on the title of this post, it will take you to street view of my property)

WEATHER REPRIVE

2007-12-27T00:49:00.000-06:00

Wow! What great weather we had today! It was near 50 degrees and sunny. I was able to get out and put away a few things that I missed earlier this fall. A few clay pots, my sun dial, and some miscellaneous statuary. I also took a walk around the yard to see what damage the rabbits had already done. I found a few plants chewed on, but they couldn't get to the new burning bush that I planted this Fall. After I planted them, and before I got the wire cages put around them, they did trim them back a little. But it doesn't look like they are able to get to them now. I will have to watch for heavy snow, because I am sure that they will use that opportunity to walk on top of the snow to get to the plants. I am hoping for a nice hedge from these burning bush in a few years, and that won't happen if the rabbits can get to them.
I also checked on the plants that I am over wintering in the greenhouse. I ran out of time this Fall, so they will have to spend the winter inside. It isn't the ideal environment. It warms up during the day, but gets very cold at night.
I usually don't have a problem until late February, and then they think that it is Spring, and start growing.
I only am able to use my greenhouse in the early Spring, because it would cost way to much to heat it over the winter.
I have had this greenhouse for a very long time, and it has quit a history. Back in the 1980's I worked for company from Michigan, that was affiliated with Purdue University, and was experimenting with growing tissue culture roses. We would grow rose bushes, in baby food jars, with about 25 bushes to a jar, in a medium that looked a lot like Jello. Hard to believe, but that is what we did. My job was to take the plants, after they had grown roots, into the greenhouse, pot them up, and care for them until they could be sold. It was a very interesting job, and I really enjoyed it.
When they built the greenhouse on the site, they decided to try and build one out of regular conduit pipe. They were successful, and we used it for several years. When the time came to shut down the experiment, everything had to go. I was given the greenhouse, and everything that went with it, if I could just remove it from the premises. My husband and I took it apart, and numbered every piece, so that we would know how to get it back together. Several years passed before I had a property to put the greenhouse on, but finally, we put it up, and I have been using it ever since. For a few years I grew herbs, and sold them locally, but it was hard to do that and work in our landscaping business, so eventually I had to give it up. I still grow the flowers that we use in our landscapes, and enough herbs and vegetable plants for myself, and a few friends. We have to change the poly covering every 5 years, and are in the process of replacing the benches, but other than that, it is pretty maintenance free.
My favorite thing is towards the end of February when I head out to the greenhouse to start my seeds. It is so wonderful in there, and smells all earthy and Spring-like. I hope some day I will be able to get back to growing and selling herbs and flowers from my home, I really enjoyed that.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-25T23:49:00.000-06:00

This is the sign that we put up in front of our home every Christmas. It says it all. I pray that all of you had a blessed, happy, and safe Christmas.

ORNAMENTS ON THE TREE

2007-12-22T00:16:00.000-06:00

Carol at May Dreams Gardens, and some of the other blogger's that I visit have added photo's to their blog's, of garden themed ornaments that hang on their Christmas trees. I am amazed at how many different gardening ornaments are out there. I have seen very few that are the same. I am not sure that I have seen any of the ones that I have, on anybody else's tree.
I actually put up two trees every year. This started when my Son was small. He wanted a tree with multi-colored lights, but I had always used white lights. So, the large traditional tree holds all of the family oriented ornaments, and the smaller tree is covered with any religious, or more delicate ornaments. I enjoy both tree's, and have collected enough ornaments over the years, to cover each.

I actually have garden related ornaments on both trees. I will add my favorites here.

This ornament is one my teenage niece made when she was a little girl. It is a worm. I love it!

An asparagus, believe it or not!

St. Fiacre wisdom.

I bought this one for my husband years ago from a specialty catalog.

Watermelon, Yum!!

A glass carrot.

The garden of weeden, I'm sure we have all been there!

A delicate ear of corn.

A beautiful glass rose.

A brass oak leaf.

The so'mores marshmallow watering can man.

An herbal ornament.

A glass santa with a watering can.

The red hot pepper.

More St. Fiacre wisdom.

Gardening Angel, we all need one of those.

Another herbal ornament.

The apple core, not even turning brown yet.

Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy!

2007-12-15T17:40:00.001-06:00

A remarkable phone call from a 12-yr old boy to Houston radio station KSBJ FM 89.3. So profound, the station has it posted on their website.

I have never added a youtube video to my site, but this one is awesome! I had just commented last week that I was not sure what our world would be like in a few years, with the kids of the next generation running it. (Sorry to be so negative, but I had just had a really disappointing talk with my 10th grade CCD (Catholic education),class about the importance of their faith in their lives.)
Then, as he often does, God shows me that we will be fine, with kids like Logan out there.

SNOW AND ICE

2007-12-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of my crab tree earlier in the week. The second picture is of my tree rose. I did not notice it until I went out to get the mail, so I wasn't able to do anything to help, except wait for the ice to melt. It did spring back, but has a slight bow in the trunk. I am very lucky that it did not break. I ran across this rose last year at the wholesale nursery that we buy from. They are Knockout roses, and they had a special on them. So I bought one for myself and one for my Mother. Before I could get my Mother's planted, a big wind snapped it in half. So now I wonder if they were on special because they are just not able to withstand out weather.
I had mine staked, but the ice was just to much for it. It was especially pretty this Summer but I couldn't find any information on how hardy they were. I have never had a problem with the hardiness of regular Knockout roses, but tree roses can sometimes be a little more difficult to grow.
Our forecast for tonight is 7-10 inches of snow. It is supposed to be a heavy wet snow, so I am a little worried about my evergreens. I have filled the bird feeders, and put out suet to tide the birds over, and have plenty of food in the house. We only live 2 miles from the grocery store, on a State highway, so I usually don't have to worry about getting snowed in. My Son has his snowmobile gear all ready to go. Last year when we had the blizzard, and no one was allowed on the roads, he took his snowmobile out on the highway. He said he only saw a few vehicles in the entire time that he was out. He said it was one of the best experiences that he has ever had. The speed, the quite, and feeling like he was doing something not many people could do, was quit a thrill. I was happy to stay inside a watch him, and was glad when he got back home.
So maybe if I am snowed in I will finally get my "8 things that I am happy about" meme done, that Leslie over at Growing a Garden in Davis tagged me with last week.

NOT READY FOR SNOW!!

2007-12-04T16:54:00.000-06:00

Snow is forecast for this evening!! I am not ready!! There is still to much to do outside!!

As soon as I heard the forecast for snow, I left the Christmas decorating, and headed outdoors. I still have plants that I did not get into the ground, so they had to be either put into the greenhouse to overwinter, or bedded into the garden for the winter. I also had a few planters that needed to be put into the shed, my 2 swings were still hanging, etc., etc., etc.
There was one project that absolutely had to be done. In the fall we pick up lots of leaves, and
I keep several of the better loads, (the ones that are mostly oak leaves), for my beds. They make a great mulch for the beds that I don't want to cover with bark mulch. These leaves are wonderful because they go through the mower, and then go through a vacuum that shoots them into a covered truck. This process chops them into pieces, so they are easy to spread and stay put over the winter. The pile in the picture above are to cover my herb garden next Spring, but I had another pile dumped in the back on the grass. I had to get these moved or the grass would die underneath them. So out I went in the 30 degree weather, to get it done before the snow. It actually didn't feel as cold as it was. The sun was out most of the day, and the wind was not blowing.
I got the leaves all used up, and even though the grass looked pretty bad under them, I think it will be fine next Spring. These leaves are one of the advantages of having a lawn service, and I always make sure that I get at least two truck loads every Fall to use on my property. I also have friends stop by to see if I have any left over. They bring there garbage bags and load them up. I also often have people stop for soil. We make our own out of all of the debris that we accumulate over the summer. This is primarily my husbands job. I think he is just so amazed that it works. The pile is so large that he uses the tractor to mix it. It is quit amazing how nice the soil is that we end up with. This is the other advantage to my business. I always have good composted soil available when I need it. Sometimes the pile gets so large that my husband
starts using it for jobs where he needs to fill in
an area with dirt. I always give him a hard time when he does that. Imagine using "black gold" to fill in a hole. I have told him that we could probably sell both the leaves and the soil, but we just never get around to it.
So, I use what I need, and the rest just keeps piling up.
Well, hopefully we won't have a lot of snow. They are saying 2-5 inches. But the temperature through the weekend is supposed to be in the 40s, so maybe I will get back out there on Saturday.

BIG TROUBLE

2007-12-02T18:11:00.000-06:00

What happens when you put a rainy day, a check book, and a book sale together?

That's right, big trouble for me. The sale actually started on Friday night. If you are a friend of the
library, (and I am a VERY good friend!), and you pay yearly dues, you are invited to the sale on Friday night before it opens to the general public on Saturday morning. I decided that I had run out of room for books, so I made plans for Friday night, and managed to keep my mind occupied on Saturday, so that I would not think about the treasures that I was missing downtown.
But, what finally got to me was the fact that the books are all marked half price on Sunday. How on earth could I ignore that! And besides, it was raining, so my plan of finishing some things in the garden, went out the window. So what was I to do? Head downtown of course. I gave my self a good talking to on the way, reminding myself that I really was out of room, and had no place else to stash any books. But once I got there....well, you book lovers know what happened. There were garden books, and Christmas books, a book I had purchased at Barnes and Noble this summer, and returned because I didn't think I needed it was there for $1.oo! Plus, it is winter, so I needed a few novels to read. And, it was raining outside, so I had to stay in there until it stopped. Finally, about 30 books later, I lugged my treasures to the car. I had left my home in the morning for church, so when I came driving into the driveway at 3 o'clock, my husband came to see were I had been. When he saw the bags, he just started shaking his head. He knows my weakness, and just smiled and carried the bags to the house.
So tonight I scan them into Librarything, and then try to find them a home. It won't be easy.

THE END

2007-11-21T22:48:00.000-06:00

I think that we have finally reached the end of our nice weather. It was wonderful while it lasted, but it is the end of November, and time for the cold weather to stay. This season sure went fast! Since this is my first year at blogging, it will be fun to look back to the Spring posts, now that it is cold, and relive those days, until they are finally back next Spring.
I did manage to get my garlic planted on Tuesday afternoon. I knew that the weather was going to change on Wednesday, and even though I don't mind cleaning up beds when it is cold, I don't like digging in wet soil and planting. And we do have wet soil! I think we have got close to 2 inches of rain today.
The picture above is the garlic split apart and ready to plant. I planted two different varieties, one was Inchelium Red, a softneck variety, and the other, Chesnok Red a hardneck variety. I ordered my garlic from Seeds of Change. It was a little pricey, but was grown organically, and that is what I wanted. Plus, I ordered late, and many companies were out of the varieties that I wanted.
I am trying the no till method of gardening, so I raked back the straw in the bed, and dug the holes with a small trowel. Then I covered the bed with compost, and a little bit of organic fertilizer, and covered the whole thing with mulched leaves. It has been a long time since I have grown garlic, so I thought that I would give it a try. It is kind of like starting the Spring planting season early. I feel like I am ahead of the game, having my first crop for next year planted already.
I was amazed when I started digging at how many earthworms that I found. Large ones, and baby ones. I don't ever remember seeing that many when I planted. I have to believe that it is because of the way that I planted the garden this year. I tilled it in the Spring, planted, and then placed straw around the plants. I couldn't believe how much difference a few inches of straw made in the garden. I had very few weeds, did not have to water as often, and now all of these earthworms. I think that I have found the method of gardening that I will be using from now on. Since I read the book, "Teaming With Microbes", (well, I didn't really read it, I kind of scanned it, but I do intend to read it eventually), I learned about the damage that you can do to soil when you till it. And after seeing all of those earthworms, I am beginning to believe it.
Well, I do hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope that there is something on your table from your garden. That always makes it special. I also hope that you are able to spend it with the people that you care about, and the people that care about you. I have begun to see that it really doesn't matter whether you are with family or friends. What matters is that, if possible, you are with the people that you care most about in the world.

FALL CLEANUP

2007-11-17T21:28:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful day! I had to travel to Indy this morning to pick up some trees for a job, but got back home just after lunch. There is still so much to do outside that I didn't know where to start.
I decided to start on a shrub bed at the front of the property. I like to start my fall cleanup near the house, and work my way towards the back gardens, so that if I don't get all of the beds done, I won't have to look at the unfinished ones all winter.
Then I decided that I better get in all of the bird baths, and other paraphernalia that I scatter around the beds in the Spring. It never seems like much when you put it out, but when your putting that stuff away, it takes forever!
Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty nice also, so I hope to finish up the beds near the house, get my garlic planted, get all of the annual pots put away, and maybe my patio furniture put up. I don't like working on Sunday, but I hope that God will forgive me, seeing how we have a chance of snow on Thanksgiving day, and I am running out of time.
I still have a few trees in my lawn that are holding on to their leaves, so I hope we still have some good weather after Thanksgiving, to clean up those leaves when they fall.
The picture above is the Sweet Gum tree in our back yard. It was the first tree we planted when we moved here 17 years ago, and probably not the best choice for this location. I do love the tree, and it had pretty good fall color, but if you have ever had a Sweet Gum, you know about the "porcupine balls". These spiny little balls are about the size of a cherry tomato, but that is where the similarity ends. These little guys are hard and prickly so you wouldn't want to step on one with your bare feet. As the tree gets larger, there are many more of them. I have seen the ground under some trees completely covered by them. My tree has never been much of a problem, but it is starting to get pretty large, so I don't know how bad they will be in the future. We usually just vacuum them up with the mower, but I expect that some day, after there are more of them to deal with, we will have to come up with another plan. A leaf blower also works pretty well, but I am sure as there are more and more of them, that will probably not work either. Some people use the little balls for craft projects, but I am not very crafty, so they will end up in the compost pile.

I MISSED IT!

2007-11-12T20:18:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of you have a Ginko tree's, but if you do, you know what I missed. In the fall, the leaves of the tree turn a pretty yellow. But there is one difference between Ginko's and other tree's. Most tree's drop their leaves over a period of a couple of weeks. Ginko tree's drop their leaves all at once. My Ginko was beautiful one day, and bare the next. This is nice if you don't like to cleanup leaves every other day during the fall season. With Ginko's, you only have to cleanup leaves once.
I have two Ginko tree's in my yard. One is in the herb garden, and one is near my new patio. They are a wonderful tree, but you have to be watchful in the fall, or you will miss all the action.
I don't know if any of you treat your evergreens in the fall with anti-transparent, but it is a good thing to do. What this product does for an evergreen, is to seal the leaves so that they don't lose moisture through the leaves, over the winter. It acts like a kind of "glue" on the leaves. Most evergreens are lost during the winter, because the air is dry, and winter winds pull the moisture out of the leaves. If the soil around the plant also goes into winter on the dry side, the evergreen will have a hard time surviving. Even if it is not killed, it can be burned by the cold winds. Most in danger are small, or newly planted evergreens. I usually don't worry about established evergreens, but azaleas, boxwood, rhododendron's, all should be treated.
The product that I use is called Wilt-Pruf. It comes in an aerosol spray can, or you can buy it in a quart or gallon size, and mix it yourself. I always go around in the fall, and spray the evergreens in all of the landscapes that I have done over the summer, and rarely lose any plants, if this is done. You can also treat you live or cut Christmas tree before bringing into the dry air of your home. The picture above is a heather that was planted earlier this Spring. When you spray the plant it looks like you have spray painted the plant white. It will dry to a clear, shiny finish. A one time spray will last all winter, but it must be applied while temperatures are above freezing.
You can find Wilt-Pruf at most garden centers or home stores.

MAJOR PRUNING

2007-11-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

This is the time of year when I do my major pruning. After the trees have dropped their leaves, it is much easier to trim them. I didn't plan to do any pruning today. I headed to my truck this morning to go finish a couple of jobs that I had started last week. Mainly just trimming back perennials in two of my favorite customers yards. I usually try to save Friday for this kind of thing. I figured that I could do what I had to do, and still get home and get a little work done in my own garden.
But, as fate would have it, my truck wouldn't start. Bummer, I would have to spend the entire day in my own garden. You can imagine how broken hearted I was! ;)
So first I tackled my Tanyosho Pine. I planted this pine 10 years ago, and it has done very well, but over the years it had accumulated a lot of dead wood, and large amounts of pine needles would accumulate where the branches come together at the base of the plant. I trimmed out all dead wood, and any branches that were crossing each other. I had not planned to do this when I started out front, so I don't have a before picture, but you could not see through it before I started, it was that thick with branches and needles.
Now I was on a roll. So I started in on the Sargent Crab tree. It didn't need much, because I keep after it, usually touching it up each fall. But
it had a few suckers, and my husband informed
me that it was getting very difficult to hang the
Christmas lights because it was growing
back towards the house, so I spent about an hour
shaping it up. It is so much easier to prune deciduous trees in the fall, because you can see exactly what you are doing, without all of those leaves in the way.
So now I have tomorrow to get the perennials trimmed off. I tend to move from bed to bed, instead of jumping around, usually starting in front of the house, and working my way to the back beds. I did divide a few perennials, and dig out a old spirea that wasn't doing well, in the bed that the Tanyosho pine is in. I couldn't believe how dry it was. So, after I finish the work in each bed, I water them well. Hopefully we will get the rain that is forecast for Monday.
I also want to share a picture of my 'miracle tree'. This tree was put in shortly after we moved here 17 years ago. When my Son was about 10 years old he was speeding around in my golf cart, and ran over the tree, taking it flat to the ground. My husband declared that we might as well pull it out, because there was no way that it could survive that. It was pretty beat up, but I decided that we would give it a chance, and I pulled it back up straight and staked it. There have been many times over the years that we have commented about how tough trees are, and how destructive kids are! The story has been told many times, especially by anyone commenting on how pretty the tree is. My Son has never forgotten the incident, and at graduation time, had some of his pictures taken under the tree.
It is now one of my favorite trees on our property.

MY BABY

2007-11-02T23:25:00.000-05:00

This is the first time that I have written a non-gardening blog, so you will have to bear with me just this once.
My baby turned 21 years old today. It seems like only yesterday that he was this sweet little thing. I can't stress enough to parents with small children-let everything else go, and just enjoy them while they are young. It goes so fast. While you are raising them you never think that it will end, but all of a sudden they have grown up, and all you want to do is just stop and say, "wait, I want to play a few of those years over again!".
My baby is an only child, and I think this makes it even harder. Every event in their life is the only time you will experience whatever it is, so you tend to make a big deal out of all of them. Every birthday, every school function, and so on.
Tonight we celebrated number 21 like we have celebrated all of the other ones, with a bonfire, and lots of family and friends. Sometimes we have linked the birthday and Halloween together, and dressed up in costumes. Sometimes the weather has forced us into the garage, out of the cold, wind, or rain. But this year we had perfect weather. We cooked hot dogs, and s'mores over the fire, and set up tables in the garage for everyone to sit, eat, and visit.
I have always hoped that my Son would share my love of nature and gardening. When he was a little boy, I would drive him to the babysitter, and on the way we would play the Spirea game. The game could only be played in the Spring, and the rules were that whoever spotted the Spirea in bloom first would yell out, "SPIREA", and the winner was whichever of us had the most when we got to our destination. We had such fun playing that game, and to this day, in the Spring, if we are driving someplace together, he will often yell out "SPIREA" if he spots one in bloom, before I can see it and claim it.
But at 21 years old, the last thing on his mind, is gardening and plants. Music, his guitar, and his vehicles are his passions. He does work in our business, but I do not see the passion that his Father and I have for it. That's OK, but I do hope someday he will know the value in growing his own food, and gardening just for the enjoyment that we gardeners get from watching plants grow.
Just last weekend he was the music coordinator and driver for the wedding of his newly married cousin. He drove them around town in his 1930 Model A, that he is so proud of. He has grown into a very fine young man.
He is kind, has a genuine love for his family, and a great loyalty to his friends. He has a deep love for God, and is very happy to share his faith with others.
I am proud to be his Mother.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OCTOBER???

2007-10-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

Where did October go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I thought, 'Oh good, it's October, I will get so much done in the garden this month!' Tomorrow is the last day of the month, and I have only crossed two things off of my extremely long 'to do' list.
Part of the reason that I haven't completed more items from my list was the wedding of my favorite niece, on October 20. Even though I am just the Aunt, there was lots to do, and no extra time to spend in the garden.
I finally did get back to the garden this past weekend, but felt that I needed to get all of the plants moved inside that I did not want to lose to frost. Then there are my worms. This Spring when I started my vermiculture experiment, I placed my "can-o-worms" just outside the back door. All summer long I added all my kitchen waste, and the worms loved it! But, red worms do not tolerate cold weather, so I needed to get them moved inside for the winter. I decided at this time, to add fresh bedding, and move the worms into there new home in the basement. So I dumped the worms onto an old shower curtain, and sorted them into their new bedding. I really wanted to do this, to see how many worms had survived the summer. I was happy to see lots of red worms, and some really great compost. I added shredded newspaper, peat moss, and leaves to create their new
environment, so they are now ready to munch up all of our kitchen waste through the winter.
Now I am praying for a few more days of
good weather so that I can get the rest of my
fall work done. I still have plants to get into the ground, perennials to cut off, and annuals to pull. I also need to put all of my birdbaths, and outside decor away for the winter.
I have two sheds, one to store all of my garden "stuff", and they other we use for raising chickens. We have not raised any chickens for a few years, so I store my patio furniture in it. So, over the weekend, I open the door to this shed, and notice that some animal has been using the shed as it's personal bathroom. And by the looks of it, it's either a raccoon or a possum. Now I have to pull everything out, and try to find out where he is getting in. I did not need this task added to my already long list of things to do this fall. But I know that if I don't take care of this problem now, my patio furniture will not be fit to sit in come spring.
So, this weekend I will be back out there trying to catch up. I sure hope that November doesn't fly by like October did!

FINALLY!!

2007-10-09T20:44:00.000-05:00

Finally cooler weather!! The only thing that still looks good in my garden is the sedum, everything else is burned up or burned out. All the rain has gone around us, so I am still watering to at least keep everything alive.
My fruit garden has done really well considering it's the first year. I have been eating raspberries on and off all fall. Hopefully next year the blueberries and strawberries will be as plentiful.
The fencing have kept the rabbits out, so the plants are not being chewed to the ground every other day.
I have started a list of what needs to be moved this fall, and what should be left until spring. I always leave grasses to divide in the spring. I have not had much luck moving or dividing them in the fall. As tough as they are, they don't seem to make it very well through the winter if they are not rooted in well. I really would rather move and divide plants in the fall. There are so many other things to do in the spring, that the more I can get done in the fall the better. I also like to cut all of the perennials off in the fall. I f I leave them, the rabbits have lots of places to hide over the winter.
My tomato cages worked well, except that I didn't anchor them down, and the first big wind that came along knocked them over. I just left them, and continued picking the tomatoes where they lay, but next year I will be staking them at the same time that I plant the tomatoes. I also will not be planting near as many tomatoes as I did this year. I have offered them to everyone that I know, but most people only want them if you deliver them, they don't want to have to come and pick the tomatoes themselves. I enjoyed the cherry tomatoes more this year, they seemed to have a better flavor than the regular tomatoes.
This weekend is the Feast of the Hunter's Moon here in Lafayette. I have not been to it in years, but for the last 3 years we have held our annual garage sale on that weekend. We call it the 'Feast of the Garage Saler's Moon'. We always have a big crowd, and get a lot of people stopping that are headed in for the Feast. I usually have some plants to sell, and all the miscellaneous stuff that I have accumulated over the past year.
So, I will be busy for the next few days getting ready for the sale, then on Friday night is the library book sale, that I should not be going to, but can not seem to stay away.

I'M BACK!!!!

2007-09-23T19:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything!! I guess that I should explain. Basically, I have 'garden burnout'. I know that gardeners aren't supposed to admit to garden burnout, but I feel that I must explain my absence.
I have not done anything in my garden for a month, except water. I just got tired of trying to keep everything looking good. I really want to start cutting perennials off, but I know that it is a bit to early. I am planning to move some plants around, and plant a few that I picked up at season end sales, but I am waiting for it to cool off a little.
The herb garden is the only thing that seems to be doing well. I haven't watered it at all, but it just keeps growing. I am amazed when I look back at earlier posts and see what it looked like in the spring, and then look at it now. The goldenrod, and the fennel look especially good this time of year.
I have a small pond in the herb garden, and am afraid that it is going to need to be cleaned out this fall. When I was feeding the
fish the other day I noticed a large object that looked like a log, laying in the middle of the pond. After examining it more closely, I realized that it is the root of one of the lilies!
The plants in the pond are also busting out of their pots, so they will have to be divided and repotted also. I dread this job. If you have a pond you know what I mean. It is messy, you have to find somewhere to keep the fish while you are cleaning out the pond, and you usually end up in the water at some point in the process.
I have been using my away-from-the-garden time constructively. I volunteered at my church to revamp the kitchen pantry. This involved removing everything from the room, painting the walls and ceiling, installing a new light, putting together the new shelving, and then moving everything back. This then lead to finding someone to install new flooring in the kitchen. And if this wasn't enough, I then decided to paint two classrooms, and arrange for carpet to be installed in the rooms. Needless to say, I have spent the last month inside. In 20 years of business I have never had any time off during the summer months. Because of the hot dry summer, and the fact that the employees actually stayed on past June 1st, I was able to take some time off.
My cactus also decided to bloom one more time before winter. I guess that it wants me to see how beautiful the flowers are, so that when it comes time to drag it insde for the winter, I won't decide that it's not worth the trouble. It weighs a ton, and it is a cactus, so you have to be VERY careful!
So, I will spend the rest of the evening catching up with all of my fellow bloggers. I am sure you all have continued blogging in my absence, so I better get started.

TURTLEHEAD

2007-08-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I have added anything to my blog. I don't know how you blogger's who post daily do it, especially this time of year.
I feel like there is nothing going on in the garden. I know that I am just waiting for a little cooler weather so that I can start dividing, and moving plants. I really enjoy getting the beds ready for fall. When I divide or move plants, I can almost feel their relief, and their promise that I will be paid back next year with wonderfully lush foliage and beautiful flowers.
One of the plants that is blooming right now is the Turtlehead (Chelone). This planting is about 3 years old. It starts out small, and slowly spreads. I like it because it blooms when not much else is. It likes to be kept moist, so it has not looked it's best this year because we had no rain, and I didn't get it watered as often as I should have.
A few years ago a friend of mine stopped by, and as all gardeners do, we walked around the lawn. This planting was not very old, but was blooming. I went on and on about how thrilled I was about this plant, and what a wonderful specimen it was. My friend nodded in agreement about what a wonderful specimen it was. Several weeks later I stopped by her home, and noticed a Turtlehead plant about five times the size of mine, in full bloom. I realized then that this was a true friend. Someone who would let me go on and on about this wonderful plant that I had grown, knowing full well that the one she had at home made mine look like a piker.
I hope that everyone one of you has a friend like that in your life.

FINALLY RAIN!!!

2007-08-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

We are finally getting rain this evening. It started rumbling around 6:00 P.M. and has rained off and on since then. It seems to be getting a little more serious about it now. I just puttered around the garden today, watering and fertilizing the container plants. The tomatoes are starting to get to the "to many at once" stage, so I need to find someone to take them off my hands, or get out the canner kettle. The pickles, beets, and green peppers are still going strong despite the lack of moisture. I think I will plant some potatoes and some more beets this next week.
I planted this "Tiger Eye" sumac this spring. I bought it last fall on a clearance and did not get it planted. It over wintered in the garden, and the rabbits pruned it almost beyond recognition. I didn't have much hope for it, but it has done very well. It looks especially good next to the tri-color beech. I was a little concerned that it would get to large for this area, but read somewhere that you can just trim out the largest branches, and it should stay at a manageable size. It really looks good with purple, so I have planted coral bells, and "Red Emperor" sedum next to it.
It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, and then get very hot again this week. I'm hoping that we get enough rain that I won't have to drag hoses around all week.

DINNER TIME

2007-08-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of what my husband does to perfectly good tomatoes. He slices them, coats them in a mixture of flour, parsley, and seasoned salt, and then he fries them. It looks like a mess to me, but he loves them. As soon as the tomato plants start producing, he cooks up skillet after skillet of these. So tonight, he cooked his tomatoes, and I picked fresh peppers, zucchini, and onions from the garden, and sauted them in butter. Yumm!!! Nothing better than picking vegetables straight from the garden to eat.
Another day without rain. We have cooled off a lot, and the plants seem to appreciate that, but we are supposed to be back into the 90's next week. The only good thing about this weather is that the weeds don't seem to be growing either. I just keep dead heading and fertilizing hoping that we will get some rain and when it cools off, the plants will take off and look good through the Fall.
I just can't get into doing anything else in the garden. I don't want to plant anything because then I have to keep it watered. I will just wait until September to plant the new plants that I picked up in Indy last weekend.

SHOPPING TRIP AND WATERING

2007-08-12T22:21:00.000-05:00

My sister and I spent the day yesterday in Indy, plant shopping. We usually go down once a year, in the late summer, just to search for plant bargains. We try to hit all of the major garden centers, have lunch, and maybe even get to a half-price bookstore. We found our bargain plants a Habig's, we each got about 10 new plants at $2.00 each. They still looked really good, so we were very excited. We didn't find much at the other nursery's, so after getting lost a few times, we found a half-price bookstore, and spent about an hour there. I always head first to the clearance area, and then check out the gardening section. I picked up several garden books for $1.00 each, and in the garden section, found the newly released "The $64 Tomato". I was surprised to find this book, considering that it was just published this year. I am about 1/3 of the way through it, and have to say that I can so relate to a lot of what he writes about. I wonder how many of us gardeners have spent this much money to grow the perfect tomato, or other vegetable. It is a very humorous book, and well written.
The hibiscus are at the height of beauty right now. This one, "Blue River II", I bought at a local nursery a few years ago for my moon garden. When I took it to the counter to buy it, the employee ringing up the sale claimed that is was mis-marked, and should be priced a lot higher than the tag said. They gave it to me for the price it was marked, but weren't to happy about it.
I spent most of today watering. I was thinking about last year and remembering that I never once had to use a sprinkler all of last year. That was the first time that happened since we moved to this property 17 years ago. I am definitely making up for it this year. I am so tired of dragging hoses around the yard, and trying to decide who needs water the most, the vegetable garden, the shrubs beds, or the perennial borders. I try to get them all at least once a week. Every time I water I think to myself that we surely will have rain before I need to water again, but that isn't happening. Oh well, enough whining about the weather, it's Indiana, tomorrow we could have snow!

PARTY, GARDEN ART

2007-08-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

The party is over! Now I can relax. Sunday we held my husband's 50th birthday party. His brother and nephew were here form Seattle, and his sister and her husband from Michigan. This was a surprise to him, and I had to keep it quite for weeks. I did, and he was very surprised. We ended up with a very hot day for the party, but still we had a good turn out of just over 50 people. We had a very good time, and my husband got to visit with a lot of people that he hasn't seen for awhile. He also got to spend a lot of time with his brother and nephew.
The picture to the left is a part from some farm implement, but looks kind of like a metal flower. It has a funny story behind it. My niece, (a city girl), has met the love of her life, (a farm boy), and plans to be married in October. She has five aunt's. Her fiance came with her to the party and brought this for me to put in my garden. When I saw it I told him that he was definitely "in" with me now, and welcome into the family. He had a big smile on his face until the other sister's started asking where their "metal flower" was. They tried to take mine, an we were going back and forth about who should get this one. He tried to make peace and give mine to my older sister, and then would bring me one later. I replied that then he was definitely "out". He hasn't been around me enough to tell if I was kidding or not, and the look on his face was priceless. Here he stood with all these women arguing over who gets the metal flower. My older sister finally took pity on him, and told him that he could get her one later, and he was off the hook. We had him going for awhile though. I am sure that he thought he had really screwed up big time.
The picture below is of a bird bath that had a cracked bowl. I glued it back together but it still
leaked, so I had my husband drill holes in the bottom for drainage, and then I planted it with sedum, added a few garden fairies, and, made a very nice planter out of it. Like I have said before, I believe that there is a use for everything, and this bird bath still had some life left in it even though the bowl had been broken.
I don't expect that the sedum will over winter in it very well, so I will probably transplant it to a more permanent spot this fall.
We still need rain here, it keeps missing us. It is also very hot and windy. So, I guess I will start the sprinklers up again tomorrow. I hate to say it, but I am looking forward to fall.

HERB GARDEN, TOMATO CAGES

2007-08-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

The herb garden is at it's height of glory right now. The Joe Pye Weed is awesome. It is so hard to believe that in the Spring the herb garden is flat, with no plant material showing. I always look at it and think that it just isn't possible that in a few short months it would look like this. This is my favorite place, there is always something blooming, and the butterflies are most abundant here. The bronze fennel is the only plant that is not as tall as it should be. I think all of the plants froze out this winter, so these are seedlings, and won't reach there usual 5 foot height until next year.
Marc, at the gardening desk blog, has asked about the different means bloggers use to keep tomato plants under control. In previous years I have let the tomato plants sprawl all over the ground, and I ended up with a lot of rotten tomatoes. The 80 year old lady that I help in her garden has a unique system, she puts one tomato cage into the ground, then wires another cage upside down to the top of the first one, and stakes the whole thing with aluminum pipes. She has been using the same ones for years, with great success. I tried this with mixed results, maybe they just don't make tomato cages like they used to, but mine usually fall over. I have tried all of the cages, and spiral wires, etc. on the market, but have never come up with anything that I have been happy with.
So this year I was not sure what to do. I also planted way to many plants, so buying more cages was out.
We had a concrete approach poured for a new garage, and when the work was done, there was a partial roll of the wire left that they lay on the ground to reinforce the concrete. We couldn't get anyone to take it off or hands, and because I believe that there is a use for everything, I decided to make tomato cages out of it.
I couldn't believe how many cages I got. I thought that I would need to stake them, but have not gotten around to it yet. I keep thinking that I will go out some morning and they will all be toppled over, but is hasn't happened yet. I have kept any branches that venture outside the cage trimmed off. So far they have worked out really well. I know that storage could be a problem, but I think that I will just leave them in the garden over the winter. I also kept one to grow potatoes in. I will report on how those turn out at a later date.

SISTERS

2007-07-30T16:52:00.000-05:00

I received this card in the mail today from my Sister. She makes her own cards from calenders, so they always mean a little bit more that store bought ones. She knows how bad I want this property, and has dreamed along with me for years about running an herb farm. She sent it to encourage me, and let me know that she believes in me.
I am still trying to find financing. There are two other people interested in buying the land, but the owner wants us to have it, so he is waiting. The land has been in his family for 3 generations, and he doesn't want someone to come in and split it up for home sites, which is what will happen if we don't get it.
I have a Sister and a Brother that I know if they had the money to loan me, it would already be done. That means more to me than the land. To know that they would be willing to invest in my dream, if they could, is something that I will never forget, whether I get the property or not.
I still have several sources yet to try. I am trying not to go the bank route unless I have to, just because of the time it would take. I have a 21 year old Son that is in love with the place also. He said the other day that he would sell everything he has to get it. That was shocking to me, because his cars mean everything to him.
I believe that this is God's will for me, at this time in my life. I just have to trust that He will find a way to make it happen.

SCARECROW

2007-07-26T22:21:00.000-05:00

The scarecrow comes out in the early summer to guard the herb garden. Not that he really does any good, today I saw a hawk sitting on top his head.
I have not been blogging much, we have been really busy, and with another gathering coming up next weekend, I don't have much time to spend on the computer. My husband turns 50 on the 6th of August, so on the 5th we will be celebrating with a large cookout for family and friends.
The other reason that I haven't been on much is financial. This week I found the perfect property for the herb farm that I have always dreamed of. As I am sure a lot of you know, sometimes opportunities come along at the wrong time in life, as this one did for me. I am not prepared financially at this time, for a purchase of this size. The man selling the property is ill, and needs to sell as soon as possible. I have been scrambling all week trying to find investors. Why does everything in life always have to come down to money? I have had this dream for years, but really didn't think that the place to do it existed in my area. But this property ends up being just a few miles from my home. I have always believed that all of us have a purpose, and I believe that mine is teaching people how to use herbs, how to garden again like our Grandparents did, and how to become healthy using these means instead of doctors and drugs. I have worked in this business for 30 years, and believe it is now time to share what I have learned with others.
I have to believe that if this is what God has planned for me to do, He will find a way.

CELEBRATION

2007-07-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

After much work, we were somewhat ready for our gathering on Sunday. The patio wasn't completely finished, but it was covered in case of rain. We added a tent to the lawn area beside it, and we had enough seating for everyone.
The weather couldn't have been more beautiful. It was warm with a slight breeze, not the usual baking July sun. We had about 75 in attendance, which was about average for this kind of thing.
Those of you who are Catholic may have heard of Cursillo. It is a retreat, with it's purpose to bring us closer to Christ, and our fellow Christians. The annual picnic for the group has always been held in the same place, but these people were ready for a break, so I volunteered to have it at my house. it was a lot of work, but I think that everyone had a good time.
Before the picnic, we held our morning Mass under a tent at the back of my property. This was a huge blessing for me, to be sitting on my own lawn, with the birds and butterflies all around, celebrating Mass with my fellow Catholics. Another huge blessing was a chalice that I had purchased while in Assisi, a few years ago, was able to be used during the Mass.
In two weeks we have another big celebration..my husbands 50th birthday. I expect as many or more people for that one.
I have most of my mulching, weeding and planting done, but you know as gardeners, there is always something else. This is one of my favorite times, just maintaining and keeping the weeds down. I already have my list started for what gets moved where this fall, I am afraid it will be here before you know it.
I also had my first BLT with tomatoes from my garden, last evening. I always look forward to that.
I have also noticed that the japanese beetles are not as bad, maybe there time here is about up. I still battle rabbits and moles, which I successfully eradicate as soon as I see them working. I wish that rabbit's were as easy to get rid of.

TOMATOES!!

2007-07-12T23:56:00.000-05:00

I have about 20 tomato plants in my garden. I am not sure what possessed me to plant that many, except that the alternative was to throw out the ones that I was not going to use, and since I just couldn't do it, I planted them.
Then, on top of the plants that I grew myself, I was given 2 plants. I would not have taken them, but the lady that gave them to me, is an 85 year old women that I garden for every Friday morning. She was so proud of her plants, that I just could not refuse them.
Over the weekend, as I was struggling to get the tomato cages around tomato plants that should have had the cages around them weeks ago, I found my first ripening tomatoes! And guess which plants they were on. That's right, the ones that I got from my 85 year old friend.
They should be ready to eat by the weekend. She will be pleased to know that my first tomato of the season, will be from one of her plants.

PROBLEM AREA

2007-07-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Colleen, over at In The Garden Online has challenged us all to post our garden problems, failures, and difficult areas, or as she puts it, 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly'.
I have lived on this property for 17 years, and have pretty much worked out or eliminated all of the problem areas, except one.
This area is in the back of my house, receives morning sun, and is under a large overhang. There is a door that I hope someday to exit onto a porch, so I don't want to plant any shrubbery. I have tried hosta, and other perennials in this area, but nothing survives because it is so dry.
So, I got the bright idea to plant Houttuynia, (Chameleon Plant), in this space a few years ago. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Never, ever plant this groundcover anyplace that is not surrounded by acres of concrete. It travels by underground runners, and comes up anywhere and everywhere. Nothing phases it, even Roundup. Any piece of root left after digging it out, will sprout, and take over. The roots also smell awful, and have been known to leave a rash on your skin. The plant itself is multi-colored, and very attractive, but don't let it fool you. It is a nightmare!
This Spring it looked really bad, and I thought that it would be a perfect time to get rid of it. So, I sprayed what was left of it with Roundup. If you didn't know better, you would think that I had fertilized it! It is now heading around the air conditioner to a hosta bed. I am afraid that I am going to have to tackle this problem soon, or it will take over my whole property.
If anyone out there has every come up against this plant and has a solution, please share it with me.

PATIO PROGRESS, BOOK SALE

2007-07-08T21:40:00.001-05:00

The patio roof is going up! After waiting on the building permit, we are finally able to get on with the roof for the patio. We had to agree that we were not going to use the patio for business use. That was fine with me, that was never the plan.
We have already spent many evenings setting on the patio, I am sure once it is finished we will use it even more.
What I did not mention on my blog was that this coming Sunday we are having a church picnic, here, and the patio will be done, one way or another. My husband and I both work well under pressure, and you can't get much more pressure than that!
My garden is pretty much done, no three foot weeds in any of them, so we can concentrate on finishing the patio. Of course we still have to work everyday, so we will be working some late evenings to get everything ready.
Friday night was another book sale at our local library. I did pretty well, I think only because they didn't have as many gardening books as usual. I still managed to find a few nice books. It's a good thing that they only have these sales a few times a year, because I don't have any more room for books!

DAYLILY TIME

2007-07-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

The daylilies are in bloom! There are so many to choose from, it is hard to decide which one's to pick for your garden. I have many different varieties, some that I have lost track of their name, and some given to me, so I have no way of knowing their names. It doesn't really matter, if I like them they stay, if I don't like them, I give them away.
This particular variety is, I think, 'Black Eyed Stella'. It is a pretty large plant, and the flowers are bright and vibrant.
The beetle's don't seem to bother daylilies, so I plan to keep adding them to my garden.
An interesting note about the japanese beetle's this year. They don't seem to be bothering my roses, or the normal plants in my garden that they usually like. Instead, they have attacked my herb garden. The borage and the basil, have been ruined. I will be glad when they leave. I am grateful that they are only here for a short time.

MAIL CALL

2007-07-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

I heard the cicada's singing this week, it is now truly summer!!
This mailbox was a cast off from a customer, and I believe that most things that people throw in the trash, can be used by someone, somewhere. It just takes a little imagination. I won't claim this use of a mailbox as my own, I am sure that I have seen it done in some gardening magazine from the past, but when I saw this one, I knew that I could make good use of it.
This particular box is the super-dupper size, so I can get lots of stuff inside. Right now it holds a pair of gloves, several garden tools, hand shears, watering accessories, some plastic bags in case someone wants a start from one of the plants in this bed, and a couple of kneely pads. The garden that this mailbox is in, is at the back of the property. It has already saved me lots of steps. I don't know how many times I was just walking through the garden and saw a weed that needed to be dug, or a flower that needed to be cut, and I wouldn't have the tool I needed.
You can also see in this picture a piece of 'art' hanging in the tree behind the mailbox. I stopped at my Mother's house one day and this object was laying outside the garage. I asked her about it and she said that someone had given it to her, and that she really didn't want it. So I told her that I would find a use for it, and took it home. I think it's kind of cool, and the birds seem to like it.
Tomorrow is a holiday, and if it doesn't rain, we hope to get the patio under roof. But if it does rain, I will take that to, we still need it.

HOSTAS

2007-06-25T20:49:00.001-05:00

I guess that I forgot that I was going to do a Plant of the Week. So I will get to it.
This week, it is Hosta.
I have tons of them, and use them almost like a groundcover.
Hosta's are almost the perfect plant. Some varieties will grow in sun, but most prefer light to heavy shade. They have few pests, though some people have trouble with slugs. Some varieties have flowers that a fragrant.
I usually just start with one plant of a variety, and keep dividing it until I have enough to fill an area. Sometimes I even divide it before I plant it. I am also sometimes asked by customers to remove or divide hosta's in their gardens. I love when that happens, because I usually end up with lots of new plants. The only problem with this is that I don't know the names of all of the hosta's that I have. But, I have a lot of great hosta, regardless of the variety.
My husband keeps telling me to count them and see how many I have, but I never seem to find the time for that. I am guessing that I probably have 25-30 different varieties, and probably a couple hundred plants.
The variety that I have the most of, though I don't know it's name, is one that I dug from outside my Grandmother's back door, 30 years ago. I have divided that plant, and shared it with many people, and have planted it in several areas of my yard. I always think of my Grandma when I am around them.
The variety in the picture is 'Gold Crown". It is a very nice hosta, short with a yellow-gold color. The flowers are nice also. As I was taking this picture there was a chipping sparrow giving me a hard time. I wasn't sure why until I started looking around and found a tiny nest in the shrub to the left of the hosta. The babies were peeking out, so I was afraid to get close enough for a picture of them. Lucky she let me know, because that shrub is going as soon as I get the time to take it out. It is a "Summer Snowflake' viburnum, and has not done very well. I think the late freeze this spring really hurt it, and it has not recovered, so out it goes. But now I will have to wait until the babies have left the nest.

BARGAIN PLANTS

2007-06-24T22:21:00.000-05:00

Every year at this time our local Rural King farm store discounts all of their plants 50 %. I always check out the selection beforehand. I also have other gardening friends watching the place, and whoever see's the 50% discount signs first, calls the others.
I didn't have much hope this year, I would cruise by and note how awful the plants looked. I don't think that they believe in watering their plants, and since we have had no rain, the plants went without water. It finally got so depressing to see the plants so thirsty for water, I stopped driving by.
But then I got the call, the plant's were marked down, so off I went.
The plants surprisingly looked pretty good. They must have started watering after I stopped checking on them. So, I started collecting the plants that I had picked out earlier.
Many of the plants they carry are Proven Winner's, but they also carry some basic plants. I spent around $100.00.
This is what I ended up with:
1 'Vanilla Spice' coral bells (interesting white flowers)
3 'Weston's Parade' azalea's (hardy to zone 3, blooms in the summer)
1 'Mme. Lemoine lilac
1 'Pinky Winky' hydrangea
2 'Snowstorm' spirea
2 'Rising Sun' coreopsis
1 'Angel Daisy' shasta daisy
1 'Jackmanii' clematis
1 'Leonardo' leopard's bane
1 'Adonis Blue' butterfly bush
8 burning bush ( I want to make a hedge with these)
1 'Miss Canada' lilac
I think I did very well. The burning bush were only $2.50 each, and looked really good. I still may have to make one more trip over there, I did see a few dogwood tree's that I might NEED.
Other than shopping for plants, I didn't get much else done this weekend outside. It rained all day here on Saturday, which was wonderful. We got about 1 1/2 inches. Sunday I did a little weeding, they came out a lot easier when the ground has some moisture in it, and then did some mulching with grass clipping in the vegetable garden. If I lay newspaper down and cover with grass clippings, it keeps the weeds down most of the summer.
So, I will be planting some of my new babies after work in the evenings. Since it doesn't get dark until almost 10:00, I will have plenty of time.
Have a great week.

NEW SPRINKLER

2007-06-20T21:46:00.001-05:00

My husband surprised me with a new sprinkler this week. As you can see by the lawn, I needed it. What I didn't expect was how much the birds have enjoyed it. Because it is so high off the ground, they can fly through it. I saw a few birds sitting in the grass waiting for it to go past, and then flying up into the spray. I am sure it feels very good to them, we have had so little rain.
My husband asked me the other day if I had noticed that it seemed like there were a lot more birds around than usual. I told him that yes, I had noticed and I could tell him why. I told him that we have 6 birdbaths, a fountain, and a small pond on our property, plus we have been running sprinklers almost every day. I am sure the birds have had a hard time finding a water source during this drought, so I think that is why so many have stayed around our property.

HERB GARDEN

2007-06-19T22:18:00.001-05:00

My property is an official Wildlife Habitat!
The National Wildlife Federation has named my property a certified wildlife habitat.
It wasn't to complicated, you basically fill out a form on their website. They ask lot's of questions about your property, and if you meet all of the criteria, you are certified.
Now, what does that mean? Not a whole lot. You get a certificate in the mail, and for a donation, you get the sign for your yard.
The wildlife can rest assured that they will be taken care of and protected on my property, except of course for the rabbit's, they know that they aren't welcome.
I worked a little in the herb garden this evening. We finally got a little rain this morning, only 1/2 an inch, but that is better than nothing. It made the weeds come out a little bit easier. It was nice and cool, the honeysuckle was smelling really good, and the chamomile, though almost finished blooming, also smelled good. I think that is why the herb garden is my favorite place. It always smells so good there. The calendula's are also blooming, and the lavender.
Whenever people see my herb garden, the first thing that they always ask is, "do you use all of these herbs for cooking?". Sadly, I have to tell them no. I don't get much cooking done during the summer.
I do use the chives, basil, mint, loveage, and
rosemary,but that is about it.
I hope that someday I will be able to use more of what I grow. I do have friend's stop to get herb's if they need them, so they don't go unused. I also think that it is worth growing them, just for the enjoyment of walking through the garden in the evening, and breathing in all of the different scents.

THE BEETLE'S HAVE ARRIVED

2007-06-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

I spotted the first Japanese beetle today. It was tucked under one of the petal's on a rose bush.
I dread this fight worse than the rabbit's. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, they still eat most of the roses, and anything else in the garden that they want. I have tried everything out there, but have never found anything that really keeps them off of the plants.
Does anyone out there have any suggestion's?

FOILING THE RABBITS

2007-06-11T15:43:00.000-05:00

What a beautiful weekend! To bad that I spent most of it moving sprinklers. I did manage to accomplish a few things in spite of the watering. I have a long narrow garden along the back of my property. I have changed it several times, the most recent being from a white garden or moon garden, to a fruit garden.
I planted a 'Gala' apple tree at one end, with strawberries under it. Then in the middle, raspberries, on on the other end, blueberries. I planted most of these last fall. The rabbits have decided that this is now their own personal buffet! Finally, I had enough. I headed to the nearest Menard's and bought enough plastic poultry fence to go around it. Of course I ran out 4 feet from the end, so I made a gate out of regular chicken wire.
The bed is edged with timber's, and when I installed the fence, I let about 6 inches of it lay on the ground on the inside of the bed, and laid a row of old bricks on top of it, before mulching it with leaves.
Well, my family is placing bets on how soon the rabbits will figure a way in. If that happens, I am going to declare war, and I should not be held responsible for what I might do!
I have eaten a few strawberries from the bed, and the blueberries are ripening. Of course my husband remarked about how much each of those berries cost me, with the time and materials that I have invested in this bed.
Needless to say, I ignored that comment....after all, who can put a price on foiling those rabbit's!

PATIO PROGRESS

2007-06-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

The patio is on it's way! It didn't take long once we got started. I was in charge of transporting the pavers, and my husband was in charge of putting them in place. I don't know which job is harder, but we were both tired, so we will finish it this weekend.
We still have not had any rain to speak of, so I will be running sprinklers again this weekend. The weather is supposed to be great, so I hope to get a lot done.

NEW PATIO

2007-06-05T21:46:00.000-05:00

Last fall my husband informed me that he would be needing to expand his garage. He has already done this three times, so I was not to happy.
The compromise was that I would get a patio off the end of the garage.
So, we measured and discussed, measured and discussed some more, and then decided on a 14 by 30 paver brick patio. The roof line of the garage will drop down, and extend out over the patio.
We have lived in this house for 17 years, and have never really had a place to sit and relax, or entertain guests. So, needless to say, I am VERY excited.
So this evening when we got done working for the day, he decided to lay a few bricks to see how it would look. I am the official brick supplier, so I handed him the bricks, and he laid them. He got through a whole pallet in about an hour and a half, but then it got dark and we had to stop. At this rate, we should have it done by the weekend.

IN BETWEEN THE RAIN DROPS

2007-06-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

Well, we finally got some much needed rain....but sadly, not enough. It rained off and on all weekend, but just showers. I had to run the sprinklers the whole weekend, something that I have never done this early in the season. I still got a lot of work done, but had to be ready to pack everything up and run for cover quickly, which I did several times.
Worked a little this weekend in the herb garden. The scent of the chamomile and the honeysuckle, made pulling weeds bearable.
My fence is also up. I wrote about that earlier in the year, (sorry, I don't know how to link to an earlier post). It hides most of the neighbors mess. I had not intended to put up a fence, but I just couldn't look at the garbage outside their back door any longer. When they remodeled their house, all of the old drywall, and miscellaneous junk went out the back door, where it has stayed for over a year. I didn't think that they were going to clean it up any time soon, so the fence was the only solution.
I also got my garden planted this weekend. I know
I should have had that done weeks ago, but I just kept putting it off. So, I got most of it planted, but finally got rained out Sunday evening.
The tomato's, beets, and zucchini are in. I will plant beans, peppers, carrot's, and whatever else I have room for, some evening this week.
The rabbit's are still driving me crazy. I planted some 'Lady in Red' salvia, Saturday evening, and by Sunday morning they had bitten the tops off of them. They don't bother to eat what they bite off, just leave it lay there for you to find. I had to reapply the pepper after the rain today, hopefully that will stop them. They have caught on to my traps, and seem to be avoiding them. I think that I hate rabbit's over all the other pests that attack my garden.

SWEET BAY MAGNOLIA

2007-05-30T21:44:00.001-05:00

OK, my first pick for plant of the week is Sweet Bay Magnolia (Magnolia Virginiana). I have chosen this plant because it is one of my favorites.
Sadly, my tree was greatly damaged by the freeze this spring. The tree had four forks, all of which had started to leaf out when we had the freeze. Three of the forks never came out of it, the other one leafed out, and is now in bloom. I don't know how long it will survive.
So my solution....cut down the three dead trunks, and leave the fourth until it dies. Meanwhile, I planted a new tree as close to the stump as I could get it. I cut the other stumps off, and set a bird bath top that I had, on to them. My idea was to try to make what was left of the first tree, fit in with the new tree, and tie it all together. Sweet Bay's generally will grow in sun or part shade, and love a wet area. They start blooming in May, and continue off and on throughout the summer. The flower is a creamy white, and dries to a tan color. The fragrance of the bloom is very strong, and you will probably smell the blooms before you even notice the flowers. The leaves are glossy, and usually hang on through the winter.
The tree grows in a kind of vase shape, and can reach 15-25 foot tall.
I would recommend planting this tree near a patio, or a window.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

2007-05-29T21:51:00.001-05:00

I occasionally scan the blog's on Garden Voices, and ran across one today written by Jocelyn at The Garden Corner. She is posting on her blog, a 'plant of the week'. I really like that idea, and think that I will copy her idea, (I hope that she doesn't mind).
I have not been able to keep up with the Garden Blogger's Bloom day on the 15th of the month, (to many pictures, and to little time), but I think that I can handle one plant each week. The hard part will be choosing only one.
By the way, I saw my first lightning bug tonight....now it is truly summer!!

THREE DAY WEEKEND

2007-05-28T22:19:00.001-05:00

I have waited all month for this weekend. Three days in my garden. I would get loads of work done. By Monday night, I was sure to have the garden in perfect condition.
Well, Mother Nature had other plans.
We need rain so bad that I didn't even mind when the forecast was for rain, all three days. The problem was, that it rained off and on, all weekend, but we only ended up with 1/2 an inch total. It seemed like every time I got involved in something, it would begin to sprinkle. So, I ended up doing a lot of weeding, and planting some plants that I have picked up at the various big box stores.
I know, I shouldn't be shopping at those places. They don't take care of their plants, and often don't have a clue what they are selling. But our local Lowe's store has a habit of putting some of their less that perfect plants on 75 % clearance. I can't pass them up. I just know that I can save them. So I buy them for pennies, and take them home and pamper them back to health. So far I have had pretty good luck. Most of them make it and do well. Some of the plants are just past their bloom time, and that is the only thing wrong with them. So I take them home, and plant them, and am happy to wait a year to see them bloom in my garden.
I have a nesting box on the back of my shed that the robins have ignored for several years. This year they decided to move in. Of course they didn't want me around, but they did allow me to take this picture, before they take off on their own.
I am beginning to worry about my wren's. They are always moved in by now, but so far I haven't seen or heard them anywhere in the yard. I have several houses to choose from, but they just haven't been around to check them out. I have had several families every year since we moved here, but nothing yet this season. I sure hope they show up. I can't imagine a summer without them.
My rose bushes are starting to bloom. This large one, I think the name is 'William Baffin', always seems to do well. It gets no special care, but only blooms once, so I have to enjoy it for the few weeks it is in bloom.
I still don't have my vegetable garden planted. I did get it tilled on Saturday, but then it rained just enough to keep me from getting anything planted. Maybe I will be able to get that done some evening this week.
The forecast is for rain again towards the end of the week, so I had better not leave the vegetable garden until the weekend, or it may not get planted.
Memorial Day seems to mark the end of Spring for me. My goal is to always have my annuals all planted, and hopefully the garden in.
I didn't make it this year.

MIDWEEK UPDATE

2007-05-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

I don't know what is going on with my tree peony. I posted a picture of it blooming yellow on Sunday, but today the same plant had a pink bloom on it. I am going to have to examine it closer and see if there are actually two plants.
I am also posting a picture of my "Dortmund" rose that is blooming. It suffered a lot of winter damage, so it is not as pretty as it was last year,
but it is still alive!
The last photo is of my sweet bay magnolia. My favorite tree, and it looks like it is not going to make it. I am not sure what happened to it. The tree has four forks, one of which leafed out and is now blooming. The other three trunks looked like they were going to leaf out, and then the buds just shriveled up and died. I waited as long as I could, and kept it watered, but I am now giving up. I think that I will plant a new one beside it, leave the branch that is alive, and cut of the other three trunks. I am grateful for the live trunk that is in bloom now. I am so used to the fragrance from the magnolia when I am working in the garden, I would really miss it. This tree was about 12 years old, so it will be a while before the new one catches up. I really hate this, but mother nature makes the rules,not us.

ANOTHER WEEKEND

2007-05-20T23:11:00.001-05:00

I wait all week for the weekend to come, and then it goes by to fast. I had so many things to get done, and even though I accomplished a lot, there is still so much more to do. My project this weekend was a large shrub bed that had to be redone because of a drain that was put in. This bed had to be done right away because I had removed a row of hosta from the front of the border, and they had been sitting in my garden cart for 3 weeks. They needed to be planted soon. So, I had no choice but to tackle this job before I started anything else. I worked both days, and got it all done. But, my vegetable garden, and my annuals are still sitting in their flats. I keep telling myself that it is still May, and I have plenty of time, but that is only going to work for one more week.
My second tree peony is blooming this week. This is the first time that it has bloomed, and it is a beautiful yellow. I enjoy these peony's much more than regular peony's. They don't have as many blooms, but the ones that they do have do not droop and end up on the ground after a rain. Not that we have to worry about rain. We got about a 1/4 of an inch last week, and nothing since then. The forecast was for rain tonight, but it skipped us. Everything is so dry, and the lawn is beginning to turn brown in some areas.
I had hoped to get some planting done after work this week, but I will probably have to spend my time watering.
Until next weekend...

WE NEED RAIN!!

2007-05-13T22:45:00.003-05:00

It is so dry here! We have not had any measurable rain for at least 3 weeks. I have never seen a spring where the ground has cracks from the lack of moisture. There are areas in my lawn that are burning up, this usually doesn't happen until July or August.
Many of my plants suffered from the late freeze, and now the lack of rain is adding additional stress. My sweet bay magnolia has one side completely leafed out, and the other side just starting to leaf out. I finally had to run the sprinkler on that bed, to try and help it along.
I didn't get much done in my lawn on Saturday. We had to go to Indy for plant material for some landscape jobs we have lined up. The only good thing about giving up my Saturday morning, was that because it was the day before Mother's Day, I managed to convince my husband that I needed a few more perennials, to replace the ones that I lost over the winter. I also picked up some new roses.
On Sunday, Mothers Day, my gift from my husband an Son was, 'Slave for a Day'. I have gotten this gift for the past few years, and I love it! They agree to do anything that I want them to do in the yard, for most of the day. Now neither one of them care one bit about gardening, so I save up the things I want done, and they get as many of them done as possible. So, tonight I have a new water line buried to the back of the property, so I don't have to pull hoses, and a few other misc. jobs that I have had on my 'to do' list for a while. This gift means a lot to me, because I know how bad they didn't want to be doing 'gardeny' things on such a beautiful day.
I worked on a perennial bed that was ruined when we buried a drain to the ditch in front of out property. I removed a hedge of roses, that never did as well as I thought that they should, so this opened up all kinds of space for new plants.
The mourning dove has chosen the spot in this perennial bed to build her nest. I have been working in this bed off and on, this Spring. She never moves a muscle, no matter how close you get. But today, my husband was digging with the back hoe, and that finally did it. I took this picture of the little ones, while she was away from the nest. I always say that mourning doves are the laziest birds. Their nest is usually just a few twigs. But this Mother put a little more effort into the nest for her babies. I don't suppose that it will be long, and they will be gone.
I don't know where my wrens are. I know that they are back, but have not been in any of the houses that I have for them. I hope that they show up, they are my favorites.
I have been trying to attract blue birds for years, with no luck. So of course my neighbor puts up a house, and within a few days, the blue birds have found it and are moving in. Very disappointing, but at least I can enjoy them over the fence.
Well, until next weekend.....

WORMS AND WORK

2007-05-06T21:56:00.001-05:00

Well, this is the time of year that I get to spend the least amount of time in my garden. Most of my time is spent in other people's gardens, trying to make them beautiful. You would think that I would get enough of it during the week, that I wouldn't want to do it on the weekends. But at least through Spring, I am in my garden every weekend. In the evenings when I get home from work, I do take a stroll around to see what is blooming.
Yesterday it was the tree peony (Paeonia 'Shimanishiki'). I planted this one in 2003, and it has done very well. It blooms earlier than the common peony, is very exotic, and comes in many different colors. They also don't die to the ground like common peonies, they are like a regular shrub. They can be expensive, but are well worth it.
My two goals that I set for myself this season was Vermiculture, (a fancy name for raising worms), and chickens. I have raised chickens before for eating, but I want to try raising them for eggs.
Well, I have got the worms going. They are now consuming most of my kitchen waste. I tend to research everything to death before I get into it, and that is very easy to do with the internet, so after much searching I decided on the Can-O-Worms. It is a very neat setup, consisting of trays that can be stacked up as the worms eat their way through your garbage. It is made from recycled plastic, and looks like it should hold up for a very long time. The literature states that you can keep these in your home, but I placed mine just outside the back door. It will be moved to the basement in the winter, because the worms can not take the cold weather. You use red worms because they are the best composter's, so I ordered them also. The Can-O-Worms came weeks ago, but the worms just showed up this week. I guess that it was to cold to ship them any earlier. The little guys got right down to business, but they are shy and don't like sunlight, so when you lift the lid for a peek, they disappear into the bedding. The booklet says that they can eat about a half pound of food waste per day, so it may be difficult to keep up with them.
The beauty of the system is that there is a spigot on the bottom, so you can drain off compost tea. And after each layer is full of worm casting, you just add the next tray, and the worms move up, allowing you to take the first tray and use the castings in your garden.
The main reason that I wanted to try this, was that you can use the casting to make compost tea. I have been buying my 'starter' for my tea, so I think that the worms will pay for themselves over time, and I won't feel guilty throwing out all of those egg shells, vegetable waste, and coffee grounds. They love all of those things. You can even run paper through your shredder, they love that too.
So one goal has been accomplished. The chicken's are going to take a little more time. The shed is not ready for them, so I may have to put them off until Fall.

WEEKEND WORK

2007-04-29T20:57:00.001-05:00

Do any of you ever have a plan in your mind of what you want to accomplish for the weekend, and then end up working on something completely different? I tend to do this a lot. During the work week, I will be thinking about what I plan to do on the weekend. Then come Saturday morning I head out to complete these things. Something will get me off track, and before you know it I am working on something completely different that what I had planned to do.
This weekend I had my mental list of things that I wanted to accomplish. As I headed out to gather my tools together I passed a groundcover bed of pachysandra. When this bed was planted I mixed in some myrtle. Over the years the pachysandra has done well, but the myrtle always looks bad, especially in the spring. The bed also had a lot of leaves in it. So, I get in there and start ripping out the myrtle. Hours later with that done, I notice that there are some hosta in that same bed that need dividing, so I work on that. Needless to say, I never get to the job that I had planned.
But wait, I still have Sunday. I try not to do any heavy work on Sunday, because I think that we all need a day of rest. But, it is spring, and there is so much to do. So I decide to putter around with some little things that need to be done. I planted some strawberries that I had bought bare root, and needed to go in the fruit garden. That led to starting my 3 foot fence around this garden because the rabbits see it as their own personal buffet. They munch the blueberries down to nothing, and chew the raspberries off and leave them lay.
So I decided this year, that I would get some fruit out of this garden one way or another. So, up goes the fence. I didn't get that job completed because I ran out of fencing, and didn't want to tackle the local Menard's on a weekend. So I am hoping that I still have some plants left tomorrow. I will post a picture once I get the fence completed.
I do have a few photo's to share. The first is a Fritillaria. This is the first year for it, and I was very pleased with the size of the bloom. If you have never grown these unusual bulbs, you should try them. They are said to be repellent to most vermin. I think that it might be because of their unusual odor. I won't say that it is unpleasant, but it is definitely unusual. They should be planted in the fall.
The second photo is of my Purple Beech tree. These are my favorite trees and I have three different varieties in my yard. It is just beginning to unfurl it's leaves. They start out a bronze color, and turn a deep purple over time. They stay that color the entire summer.
I think my passion for them started about 25 years ago when there was a beech tree in our town that was about 150 years old. There were no ordinances at the time protecting these old trees, and when a pharmacy bought the lot that the tree sat on, and built their store, the tree was cut down so that the sign for the store was visible from the road. I still remember how I felt that day when I drove by and the tree was cut down. I could not believe that they had done it.
There was such an outcry from the people, that they now have an ordinance against cutting down any trees, without approval from the city. I never did shop at that store, I just couldn't get past them cutting down that tree. So my job is to plant as many beech trees as I can!
Well, I didn't get any of my jobs done this weekend that I had planned to get done. But next weekend is just 5 days away, so I will start making my mental list of what I want to get accomplished, and I just might stick to it this time!

SARGENT CRAB

2007-04-26T16:12:00.001-05:00

After being hit with a couple of good freezes, my Sargent crab (Malus sargentii) has decided to go ahead and bloom. It is not as bright white as usual, but I will take what I can get at this point. The unknown azalea variety growing under it is not doing to badly either.
The most plant damage that I have found has been on crab trees and hydrangeas. The crab trees seem to be dropping the old dead leaves and sending out new ones, but the hydrangeas are just sitting there. I have noticed a little new growth at the bottom of some of them, but a few don't look like they are going to try again. That makes me sad, because you can never have to many hydrangeas!
The rain from yesterday sure made a difference in my yard, the plants loved it. We are getting another shower now, and then the weekend is supposed to be clear and warm. So it looks like I will spend another couple of days mulching. I am way ahead of last year, and with another couple of weekends work, I should be able to sit around the rest of the summer and enjoy the flowers.
I know, that's not going to happen, but it's nice to dream!

RAINY DAY

2007-04-25T18:26:00.001-05:00

I sure have enjoyed the weather this past week, but I was very glad to see the rain come. We got 1 inch of rain today, and expect more tomorrow. Everything was very dry here, and I could just tell that the plants just needed a little boost. I also had done some seeding in different spots around the lawn, and I hate dragging a hose around.
While out on my 'garden check' walk each evening, I have watched my Variegated Solomon's Seal, (polygonatum multiflorum 'variegatum'), sprout, and then grow inches every day. It almost looks like asparagus when it first comes out of the ground, but quickly stretches up and leafs out. It grows in the shade, and multiplies quickly, without taking over. In my garden, everyone who sees it wants a start, so it never has a chance to spread much. I have pulled it up and shared it with friends throughout the year, and it never seems to mind being disturbed.
As you might be able to tell, it is one of my favorites. There aren't many plants that are so carefree, don't seem to be bothered by any pests, and gets along so well with other plants and in a shady situation. I always look forward to there little heads poking up out of the leaf mulch first thing in the spring.

MY CACTUS

2007-04-21T21:02:00.001-05:00

MY CACTUS IS IN BLOOM!
Why is this such a big deal to me? There is always something blooming either in the greenhouse or in the garden. Why do I get so excited when my cactus blooms?
I have only owned this particular cactus for a few years. It was given to me by an 89 year old lady who could no longer carry it outside in the spring, and back into her home in the fall. I promised that I would take good care of it, and brought it home.
She informed me before I took it, that it would bloom only once a year, and the blooms would only last for one day. So I took the cactus home, (which was not an easy task, as you can see that it has a slight lean to it, and it is very prickly), and put it into the basement under lights, for the winter.
When I brought it out to the greenhouse in the spring, it began to bloom. Not once, but many times throughout the spring and early summer. I was especially proud that the cactus bloomed more than once that first spring, and at one point had over 20 blooms at once, but my friend was right about the blooms lasting only one day.
I have people come on those bloom days just to look at it. I guess people feel like they don't want to miss something that happens so rarely. This cactus tends to grow babies, and drop them randomly into the pot, where they root down, and start to grow. These are always offered to the cactus admirers, but there are seldom any takers.
Why do you think that is? Do they not want the responsibility of taking care of such a odd plant? Are they intimidated by all of those prickly parts? Or do you think that they would just rather drive over and gaze at the beauty of the flower, and then go home with a horrible feeling of cactus-envy?
I don't really know the reasons that nobody seems to want these babies, but I don't mind. I know they don't look very lovable, but each of these little ones will one day bloom like it's mama, and so they deserve to only go to a true cactus lover!
To quote Karl Capek, from The Gardener's Year, "I tell you, a mother's pride is nothing to the boasting and bragging of a cactus-man whose cactus has come into flower".
In my case, that would be cactus-woman!.

MORE BOOKS

2007-04-14T20:01:00.001-05:00

What a rainy, snowy , all round nasty day!
We needed to go to Indy to pick up some plants for a landscape we are doing this week. And since it was not a very good day to do anything else, we decided to make the trip. After collecting the plant material that we needed, I hinted around that since we couldn't do much at home, maybe we could find a half price bookstore.
So we went looking. We ended up on Allisonville road at a tool store that my husband loves. As I was thinking, "how boring", I spotted the book store that I was looking for! So I had my husband drop me off at the door, and told him to take as much time as he needed at the tool store, no really, TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS YOU WANT!!
The problem came as I stepped through the door and saw the sign that said, "HALF PRICE ON ALL CLEARANCE BOOKS, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY". What are the chances!! So, needless to say, I made a bee line to the back of the store.
Of course it was crowded, but I managed to wriggle my way to the garden books. There were lots of them. I had to take my basket to the register area twice, to have them hold the books for me. What a great time I had! The best part was, that the book were just 50 cents each, so I got all of them for the price that I would have paid for one book, new.
My question to you is this. When do we have enough books? When do we say, "I don't need any more gardening books, I have plenty". Will we ever be able to say, "no, I don't need to go into that bookstore, I don't want anymore books".
Now, the problem that I will have to face in the VERY near future, (like, right now), is where to put the new books that I purchase. I have used all available space in my house, and until my Son moves out, (and that doesn't look like it is going to happen anytime soon) I have no place else to put them. While cataloging my books at Librarything, I weeded out any books that I thought that I could part with. And because most of my collection of books are of the reference type, unlike novels that I would read and get rid of, I have no hope of any space coming available in the near future.
So that is it. How do I stay away from bookstores until a solution can be found? Surely someone else out there has faced a similar problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Now, I am off to add my new books to Librarything!

SEEDLINGS AND TEA

2007-04-12T22:13:00.001-05:00

My seedlings need sun!! They are definitely a pitiful sight. I started them late on purpose, but I didn't expect to lose all of the warmth and sunlight like we did. They are just sitting there doing nothing. They are on a heat mat, but even that doesn't seem to help. They need sunlight!
I just started a few tomatoes, peppers, zinnia's, basil, and some miscellaneous flowers that I saw in some of my garden catalog's and couldn't resist. No great lose if I don't get anything, but it's the principle of the thing. I went to all of that trouble, the least they could do is grow! I have managed to pot the tomatoes and basil into individual pots, so now I will be able to help them along with a little fertilizer. And until we get some sun, that is the only thing left to try.
I don't like to start them on fertilizer when they are still in the flats, but I am getting desperate.
I tried for the first time last year, compost tea. I like the idea of starting the seedlings off with a natural boost, so I set up my 'tea set' this afternoon. It should be ready by the weekend, and if we get some sunlight, I will be back in business!
I make the tea, 5 gallons at a time. Not nearly enough for all of my plants. So, last summer I was at a school auction and saw a big plastic trash can that had a spigot on it, at the bottom. I thought that it would be perfect, so I bid on it, and got it. I don't think that I paid more than $10.00 for it. When it came time to leave the auction, I went to load my trash can, and after looking at it closely, realized that it was made for exactly what I want to use it for! It is a 55 gallon plastic trash can, with another can that slips inside and stops about 6 inches from the bottom. The inner trash can has a row of small hole in it. So when you make the tea, it filters through these holes, and you use the spigot to drain of the tea. Eureka!!!! How often does that happen!! Finding exactly what you need, no adapting anything.
So my next batch of tea, will be made in my new 55 gallon tea maker. But for now, I will use the little amount for my seedlings, and hope that it helps boost them along. We still have about 4 weeks until it's safe to plant them outside. With a little cooperation from the sun, they will be ready.

CHRISTMAS IN APRIL??

2007-04-09T20:41:00.001-05:00

Well, I guess that my amaryllis is a little confused. All of this cold weather we are having, it thinks that it is Christmastime!
A few years ago I took a bunch of bulbs and planted them in one pot. They haven't done much, so this year when I took them to the basement to overwinter, I tucked them under a bench where they didn't get any water or light.
I never have been one to try and get my plants to bloom at the 'right' time, I tend to just let them bloom whenever they want to.
Well, when we started having all of the warm weather, I decided to move all of my basement plants, to the greenhouse. The amaryllis had started sending up a few leaves, so I knew that it was time.
They love it out there! They have taken off, and are now almost in full bloom. They are all fighting for space to open fully. I don't know if that is going to happen, they seem pretty crowded. There are about nine or ten stems and with four flowers on each stem, it is quite beautiful. It sure would have been nice to have had her in the house, blooming like this, at Christmastime.
Maybe next year I will try to plan better.
(By the way, I won second place in the March book pile contest. The prize is an annual subscription to Librarything. I don't know what they do if you already have an annual subscription??)

MARCH WEATHER, IN APRIL

2007-04-05T15:50:00.001-05:00

This is my 'Cleveland Select' pear tree in full bloom, two days ago. It doesn't look like this anymore. Not only are the new buds wiped out on my flowering tree's, but the leaves have been damaged also. I am glad that my magnolia's were able to bloom before the cold hit, I did enjoy them while it lasted.
The heat in my greenhouse will need to be turned on tonight. I don't have much in there, but my seedling are in there, and even though they are on a heat mat, I don't want to take the chance of it getting below freezing inside.
Since it was to cold and windy to do much work outside today, I went with a friend to Indianapolis to pick up some furniture that she had ordered. After picking up the furniture, we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We decided on hitting the garden centers. She had never been to Altum's, so that was one of our stops. We also went to Habig's, and to Smith and Hawken's where I picked up a orchid that was priced at $59.95. It was clearance priced at $14.95!
What a great buy. You don't run into those kinds of deals very often, especially at Smith and Hawken.
Next, we went to Half-price-books, were I left the rest of the money that I had brought with me! Luckily my friend is not as into books as I am, and we only shopped there for about 1/2 hour.
It was a pretty nice day if you were inside looking out, but if you were outside, the wind made it feel about 30 degrees.
Well, as they say. if you live in Indiana, and you don't like the weather today, it will be totally different tomorrow.
I think that we are going to have to wait a bit longer that that though, it sounds like the first of the week before we are back to normal temperatures.

WIND/MAGNOLIA'S

2007-04-01T16:54:00.001-05:00

I HATE WIND!! I hate trying to work in the wind. Everything blows around, and you spend most of your time chasing things around the yard. It just wears me out to be out in it. I will take heat over wind any day. They said that we would have gusts to 30 mph. today, and I believe they were right.
I needed to trim a overgrown cotoneaster, and thought that I could get that done today in spite of the wind. The branches were blowing around, the the kneeling cushions I use to kneel on wet ground, kept blowing away, so finally I just gave up.
My 'Ann' magnolia is in full bloom, and the wind is beating it around too. This magnolia is a great large shrub/small tree. This one is about 6-7 years old, and shouldn't get much bigger than it is now. I like this particular variety, because it blooms heavy in the spring, and then sporadically throughout the summer.
I also planted one of the new 'Butterflies' magnolia's 2 years ago. The blooms are a beautiful soft yellow, and his a very lite fragrance. It gets a lot larger than Ann does, but I think that it will be a very popular magnolia once it is easier to find. It seems to grow pretty quickly, and blooms at the same time that other magnolia's are blooming.
I am glad that I have been able to enjoy the magnolia's this week, because I think by the middle of the week the forecast is for frost, and that would have taken care of them. They bloom for such a short time, I hate to miss it.

THE GARDENER'S YEAR

2007-03-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

This month's book selection was definitely different. I started out liking it, then I thought it started to drag a bit, and I lost interest in it for a few days. I picked it up and tried again, and I kind of enjoyed the rest of it.
I got a kick out of his odd observations, like why in leap years a day is added to the cold and nasty month of February instead of May. I also enjoyed the chapter when he goes on vacation.
I guess I saw myself in so many of his thoughts, and could relate to so many of the things that he talked about. It is hard to believe that this book was first published in 1929. The things that he writes about, are the same things that we face today. From unruly hoses to the delight at getting your hands on some "nice manure'.
It would have been a joy to have had a long chat with him over the difference between gardening in Prague, and gardening in Indiana.

HERB GARDEN

2007-03-30T16:57:00.001-05:00

What a great day! I did not have to work today so headed for the herb garden early this morning. I spent the day dividing, moving, and mulching. I am getting nervous that the leaves I stock piled last winter to mulch my beds, are running out, with two beds left to go. But, I did have enough to finish the herb garden. I have never had the herb garden done before all of the plants were a foot tall. It is so much easier to do when the are just sprouting! I always leave it until last, and then I dread doing it, so I am VERY happy this evening. All that I have to do now, is uncover the pond, which I wait to do until everything is up, or else all of the leaves end up floating on top.
I am also adding a few pictures for all of you fighting the battle of the rabbit. The first is the nest that I found under the maple tree in the ivy. I hate finding them when they are full of babies, because I can't bring myself to destroy it. But this one is still empty, so I can fill the hole.
The second picture is what I found in my trap this morning. I had put this trap out two weeks ago, baited with carrot's, and then lettuce. Something kept stealing the bait, and not setting off the trap. So I moved it a few days ago, and threw a carrot towards the back. This morning, there she was! You just never know. Sometimes I will have the trap set for weeks, and just by moving it, I finally get one.
Now, if anyone has a problem with me trapping rabbits, just give me your address, and I will be happy to drop this sweet little thing off in your neighborhood. ;)

HONEYSUCKLE VINE

2007-03-26T23:34:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally tackled the honeysuckle vine this evening. I have been dreading it because it is so overgrown, but it had to be done. The birds enjoyed roosting in it all winter, and were not a bit happy that I was trimming it back. The vine that I have came from a start from a friend of mine, and she got her start from her Mother's garden, so it is definitely an old variety. There is nothing like that smell when it is in bloom. The only problem is that it usually needs to be trimmed back twice a year. It also is very strong, so a normal trellis won't get it. I use the hog panels sold at farm stores. They form a barrier between the herb garden and the rest of the yard, and the honeysuckle makes a nice cover.

I also am working on a area in my yard that borders the neighbors lawn, (calling it a lawn is VERY generous of me!) I have looked at the mess for two years and finally decided that I have had enough. They started renovating there house, and all of the junk went out the back door, where it has stayed.
There is already a fence dividing our property, but I am now adding a wood fence in front of the wire one, to hide the mess. I will only have to put up 3-8 foot panels, but what an aggravation, not to mention the cost. But if I wait around for them to clean it up......well, that just isn't going to happen.
So we bought the fence, and now need to get it up before the lily of the valley, and the hosta's are up, or they will be trampled, and with these 80 degree days, they will be a foot tall by the weekend!

SPRINGTIME!

2007-03-24T14:32:00.001-05:00

Finally, I can get out in the yard for a little while. To wet to do much, but it was nice just being outside.
I got up this morning planning to clean the house. But as soon as I saw the sun trying to come out, I decided that it was time for the overwintered plants in the basement, to be moved to the greenhouse. I always hate that job, because some of them are pretty heavy.
What a surprise when I started moving them. My favorite orchid, (he is mainly my favorite because I have not managed to kill him yet), is in bloom! So, I hustled him out to the greenhouse, knowing that he would be much happier there. I divided this Orchid two years ago, and this is the first time that it has bloomed really well since. It grows like a weed, another reason it is my favorite. So, now I was on a roll! My Gardenia had a bad case of the spider mites, so I had to take care of that before I moved her into the greenhouse.
Everyone else looked pretty good, but I am sure all were happy to return to a nice, bright, warm environment.
Next, I brought all of my additives and chemicals back outside to my shed. I garden mostly organic, but occasionally I need a little help. Spider mites is one pest that I have never been able to handle with organic insecticides, and scale is another.
So, after that was all finished, I decided to start trimming the Honeysuckle. That is a huge job, and since it looked like the rain was moving in, I thought that I could trim until I got rained out, and that is exactly what happened.
So now I am back in the house, and I think that I have a little time left for cleaning. Darn, that is not how I had it planned! Oh well, better to get it done while it is raining outside and I am not able to do much else, than to have to give up a sunny day to be inside.
I made one last spin around the yard before I went in and found this little Iris histroides 'Katherine Hodgkin', blooming. I ordered a bunch of bulbs last fall, and didn't get them planted right away, and when I finally got around to planting them, some had deteriorated so much, that I knew they would never grow. The rest of them I planted, and hoped that they would be alright. This was one of them. This species is called an Orchid Iris. I have never grown them and will be anxious to see how they do.
Well, I am off to clean the house.