Daylily Days

One of the first flowers I began working with was the daylily.  These flowers are super easy to grow and propagate.  If gardening for you is similar to working in a science lab, then there is no better way to quickly see the results of your own experiments than through cross-breeding your own daylilies.  I've found that seeds produced in early summer can be planted and produce foilage before the end of that same season. 

To hybridize your own daylilies simply remove a pollen laden stamen (there are six of these that will have thick yellow pollen on the end) from the plant, and rub it against the pistil (this is found in the center of plant and is surrounded by its own stamen) of the plant which you wish to produce the seeds.  It's best to attempt cross pollination in the morning.  Wait for a thick oval seed pod to appear, pluck it from the parent, and voila!

Giving Peas a Chance

 Jack picked sugar snap peas with me this evening.  He ate them raw right out of the pod like I did when I was a kid.  There is no greater dining satisfaction than growing and eating your own food.  To come in from the humid, warm air of your own backyard, rinse off your own veggies, and eat them in your own kitchen . . . there's nothing else like it in the world. 

Hello Again!

Last fall my husband and I took my son and in-laws to an organic farm in Winchester, VA.  We stayed in a gorgeous cabin made from old tobacco barns and absolutely fell in love with Hedgebrook Farm!

 From our cabin we headed out to Marker Miller's Pumpkin Festival where my son picked our pumpkins.

When we arrived back at the cabin we carved them up and then that night set them out to glow.

Now they are making their second appearance in my compost pile where we dumped them in late November.

I dug some out of the compost and transplanted them in the raised bed.   My father-in-law came by yesterday and dug out several for his garden, and I've potted several more to deliver to my neighbors.  I can't wait to see what we get!

What a difference

The flowers in the dry stream bed garden are coming along.  It is amazing to me what a difference a few months have made.  Initially, it seemed like an impossible task, now flowers and plants are growing!  And I'm hopeful that we will soon be able to add a pond:

February dry stream bed

April dry stream bed.  Foreground:  Peacock Orchid (Acidanthera bicolor muielae), Catmint,  Little Bluestem, Liatris, Speedwell "Christy."  Background:  "Blue" Love Grass, Agastache "Heather Queen" 

My husband bought the Speedwell at Wally World -- not my favorite place in the world.  His plan was to fill our window boxes with them, but that DID NOT work out;  they are much happier in the ground.  The Catmint was purchased in February at a local nursery.  It looked quite good considering everything else was still in a dismal state, so I bought it, and nursed it in my greenhouse.  Everything else is from bulbs or seeds that we started this year.  I anticipate the growth of all of our flowers over the course of the next year.  Gardening is a hopeful hobby.  :)

Lupines and Asclepias Incarnata

I have six milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) plants in the greenhouse.  I am greedy.  I want more, more, more.  So I was more methodical, and it is paying off.  I first put the Asclepias seeds in the freezer for about a week.  Then, I placed them in the refrigerator for another week.   Finally, I started them in jiffy trays.  Within three days they started germinating.  This is definitely the way to go in the future! 

The Chandelier Lupines gave me a fit at first too.  I chipped them and started them indoors under lights, and I had terrible results.  Only two seeds germinated and when I moved them to the greenhouse they turned to mush.   So I listened to fellow blogger, Alison http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/, and I direct sowed them outside in the garden.  Sometimes less is more.  The less I did with these the more they grew.  Thanks, Alison!  I never would have tried that without your helpful tip!

Milkweed (Ascelpia incarnata)

Chandelier Lupines

For great tips from some wonderful gardeners head to Dave's for seed sowing Saturday

http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/

Wordless Wednesday

Color has finally arrived

I am so pleased to finally have tulips.  In the epic woman versus voles battle I have finally scored a point.  I have planted tulips every fall, anxiously awaited their spring arrival, and found nothing!  But this year a bargain-basement, big box, very end of the season impulse buy paid off.  I have tulips for the first time in seven -- that's right -- SEVEN years.  Proof that my gardens come more from perseverance than talent.  The photo will also illustrate this fact, in that they are haphazardly placed as if the gardener thought, these things will never make it to spring, but I'll just chuck 'em in here and give it a try, again, anyway:

On the move

This has been a super busy week.  Last Sunday was spent frantically making up for the lost time that was spent indoors through our spring break.  We moved all of the plants that I started in January and February to the dry stream bed.

It doesn't look like much, but it sure was a lot of work!

We also put up a Purple Martin house.  I read that Purple Martins help eliminate mosquitoes, and that is high on the priority list for me.  My son and I had a picnic on a nice day in early March, and were bitten by several mosquitoes.  It's going to be a bad year for them, I'm afraid. * I just read, and so am edited this post, that the Purple Martin's diet has been studied, and it has been suggested through several studies that only 2 to 3 percent of the Martin's diet consists of mosquitoes.  There are many reasons why this is the scientific view.  There is only one study, which has no real support, that suggests that they consume more than a few mosquitoes a day.*   I read that adult Martins come through our area around March 15, but they will not nest in a new home -- they always return to their former homes.  However, the adolescent Martins do not have a strong connection to a nesting ground and are more likely to take up residence in a new house.  They don't come through until about 4 weeks after the adults.    So we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Labels

I have to admit I thought more of my memory than it deserved!  It did not serve me.  I was just thankful that I had blogged last weekend about what I started because I did not label my tray, thinking, Oh, I'll remember these, and then, Oops!  I totally forgot what I put in the first tray!

Learning my lesson, I used labels this week.  I bought several Jiffy seed starting trays because out of everything I've tried this year these have worked the best.  I took Post-it tags and wrote on them in permanent marker then stuck them to the plastic holding tray.  Worked well, and now two days later it doesn't matter if I remember or not.  I know that I have one ten pack Verbascum phoeniceum, one ten pack of Iris missouriensis, one ten pack of Agapanthus Headbourne, one ten pack of Ajuga reptans, and one ten pack of Heuchera sanguinea "Firefly".  Now, if I could just remember how to capitalize and italicize all of these, I'd really be doing something!

Head to Dave's Seed Sowing Saturdays to share what you learned this week:
http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/

Soak up the Sun

So I'm stuck here watching TV
I don't have digital
I don't have diddly squat
It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got
-- "Soak up the Sun," Sheryl Crow
I'm trying to be ironic.  I am not sure if I've succeeded.  I am sure that yesterday was wonderful -- and today it's raining, and tomorrow it's supposed to snow.  Like many other gardeners, when I have time off, I watch the weather incessantly, especially when we're experiencing bad weather, and I'm in the house all day.  I pray, "Let it do this next week," but then later, I think, "What a selfish, childish prayer."  My mom just told me last week that she'd heard we were in danger of a drought.  This weather really is what we need!

So in an effort to stay positive, I'm thinking Sheryl Crow and "wanting what I've got" instead of "having what I want."

What I've got Number 1:
An awesome aunt/neighbor who gave me these gorgeous pussy willows.  She took twigs from their tree and put them in a Mason jar on her windowsill.  Thank you, Valerie Jean:

Valerie Jean's Pussy Willows

Number 2.   A pretty, pink bleeding heart:

  Number 3.  Onions and mustard greens looking fabulous in the raised beds:

And Number 4.  Time inside to write down all the happy spring things that are happening on our mountain.

Ollas!

Ollas are unglazed terracotta vessels that were introduced by Spanish settlers and used by Native Americans.  They have a reputation as one of the most water wise ways to irrigate a garden.  Usually they have a long neck and a wide base.  The base is buried in the ground near the roots of a plant, and the neck protrudes.  This design reduces evaporation and allows the water to slowly seep out to the roots of the plant, where it needs it.  Of course, after learning about ollas I wanted some for my garden; however, that was not feasible for me. 

I read about them this winter when I was pining away for spring.  There is an awesome website about homesteading that explains the history of ollas, and if you like you can order some for your own garden from there. 

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/03/24/using-ollas/

I found other websites that explained how to make them by sticking two terracotta pots together and sealing them.  I wasn't crazy about trying that as I could imagine all of the various mistakes I'd make, how I'd ruin (waste) many very good terracotta pots, and perhaps leach sealant into my garden.  Fortunately, I lucked up.  On a snow day, my husband and I headed out to a local discount store, and there we found unglazed terracotta garden "globes" -- perfect and cheap!  We bought eight.  Because they did not have the long neck of a traditional olla, we also bought glazed plates to put on top of them to reduce water evaporation.  Today, they went into my beds!  I can't wait to see how they work this summer!

Earth Day is coming up on April 22.  What cool ideas do you have to conserve water?

The website, closertodirt.com has instructions for making your own if you can't find anything that will work locally:  http://www.closertothedirt.com/experimenting-with-ollas/

Visit The Garden Bloggers Sustainable Living (2011) Project for more great ideas on what we can all do and share your own great things:
http://thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/2011/03/gardeners-sustainable-living-2011-win.html

Stay or Leave

Winter and spring on my White Oak Mountain

Maybe different, but remember
Winters warm there you and I,
Kissing whiskey by the fire
With the snow outside
And when the summer comes
The river swims at midnight
Shiver cold
Touch the bottom, you and I,
with muddy toes

Stay or leave
I want you not to go
But you should
-- Stay or Leave, Dave Matthews

Spring is a state of flux.  Winter doesn't quite know whether it wants to stay or leave.  (And I'm with Dave Matthews in saying to you, Old Man Winter, that you should leave.)

As if to prove my point, the snow that was coming down when I started typing stopped, and the sun came out as I was trying to upload photos. 

In spite of the winter-like temps we're having this week, I'm still excited to be off of work, and I'm planning big things in the way of seed starting.  Might as well get as many pretty flowers ready for warm weather as I can, while I can. 

Started this week in a Jiffy Seed Starting Tray: 
Blue Love Grass (2nd set), Czar's Gold Sedum, Violas, Salvia (2nd set), and Heather Queen Agastache (2nd set)
In recycled plastic cups, which I drilled drainage holes in: Caladium corms
In recycled spinach tray:  Astilbe rhizomes

The Ice Storm Continued

Being stuck in the house the week before my birthday with a cold is a very dangerous thing.  I was finally given permission to make my birthday wishes come true -- thank you, hubby! 

I ordered two Doublefile viburnum "Shastas."

and enough seeds to keep me busy and the greenhouse stocked all spring:

Lily of the Nile Flower Seed - 100 Seeds
Iris Missouriensis - 1000 Seeds
Verbascum - Mix - 5000 Seeds
Butterfly Weed - Carmine-rose - 500 Seeds
Heuchera Firefly - 5000 Seeds
Ajuga Groundcover Seed - 200 Seeds
Luzula Nivea Ornamental Grass - 200 Seeds

The Ice Storm, Big Gusts, and Me

Top of the dry stream garden, where I want to plant milkweed

Well, I swear that you came in the form of rain
That had frozen somewhere along it's way through the evening sky.  So the trees got tired and laid on the ground.  I swear you marched in like big gusts of wind.  Oh, cutting through our clothes.  Such an easy attempt to convince us
There is no reason we should be outside
--The Ice Storm, Big Gusts, and You:  Tilly and the Wall



The one, and only, literally, Cinderella



It's the first day of spring break.  I have a nasty cold, nasty, and we're supposed to get an ice storm tomorrow.  What's a gardener to do?  Evaluate, order, shop, and solicit help.  I have been convinced that there is no reason I should be outside for the next two days!



I've evaluated my milkweed, Asclepias Incarnata "Cinderella," and what I have is great, but I only have one actual plant that has survived all my poking and prodding.  I have several seedlings under the grow light.  I decided to just dump the rest of the packet into two peat pots and see what happened.  I am not very sophisticated.  Seems to me the more sophisticated I try to be the worse the results.  At any rate, the two peat pots have about six seedlings currently.  This is wonderful news.  However, it's not as wonderful as I need it to be. 



I need quite a few Cinderellas to fill the blank spot in the extended front garden area (this is the top of the dry stream bed garden).  So, this morning I decided to order more seeds, and low and behold, when I did I read something that I should have prior to my first attempt:  "Refrigerate 7-10 days - germinate very irregularly over a long period."  Oh!  Well that explains it!





I received some much needed information from outsidepride.com, and now I need some planting advice from fellow gardeners.  Last night, my husband and I bought four cherry saplings:  Nanking and Sand Cherry.  I want these for their fruit, but I also want them to look pretty in our yard.  I need suggestions and advice for planting and pruning.  If you have any advice please share! 

For sharing seed stories head to Dave's Seed Sowing Saturday http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/



On their way



Liatris



On my way ( 12 times)

You know what they say about the young
Well pick me up with golden hands
Send me on my way, on my way

Send Me on My Way, Rusted Root 

 

I sent my favorite plants on their way; the Agastache and Liatris that kept me happy all winter moved out of the house and into the greenhouse this week.  I am feeling a bit of separation anxiety.  

I also started more broccoli.  I planted the spindly little plants from the first attempt, but I am not optimistic. I am hoping to have plenty of nice plants for the spring.  I start only a few at a time as I am still learning EVERYTHING about how to successfully start seeds.  I just hope that my timing is not completely off.

How are your seeds doing this week?  Share at Dave's Seed Sowing Saturdays:

http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/



 

Agastache





Cool Play

Bones are sinking like stones
All that we fall for
Homes places we've grown . . .

And we live in a beautiful world (yeah we do yeah we do)
We live in a beautiful world
Beautiful World, Cold Play

My son and I took a memorable walk recently.  The afternoon was cool and slightly overcast.  It had rained for several days prior.  We had spent quality time  indoors watching Prince Caspian and reading The Magician's Nephew, but we were ready to get out and act out.  Down into the magical woods we went.  There, he was no longer my son, he was Peter.  I was no longer his mom, I was Susie (he's four and combines Lucy and Susan into one character).  We battled trees that were under the White Witch's  spell.  We discovered the bones of a giant sea creature, that had come through the pools between worlds.  We crossed a raging river, and we got lost in the world of imagination that the woods begs children to create.  For a little while, I was not interested in the names of trees and foilage and how green things work.   I was just in the beautiful world of my son's mind and glad to have plants as play things.

What a Wonderful World

You know the lyrics . . .

I hope everyone had a Saturday as fantastic as ours.  I've heard of Wordless Wednesday, but this day was so beautiful that it almost deserves a Silent Saturday?  Syllableless Saturday?  It doesn't matter; I'm typing, so obviously I'd be breaking any rules of the day.  But it was so gorgeous that I, for a second, really did want a better camera.  Then as I took pictures of my son with mud from the garden only somewhat wiped off of my fingers, I was glad I didn't have a nicer one.  We planted mustard, peas, and strawberries in the raised beds.  We moved rocks to the dry stream bed.  We planted the forsythia and golden mop.  We moved things in and out of the greenhouse.  We let the goats roam.  We had a Super Spectacular Saturday. 







 

Now we're cooking

I finally started my tomato seeds this week.  I am trying a method I learned from another blogger.  Alison at http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-tomato-trick.html gave me a great idea about how to start them so that they won't become too leggy, which has already happened with my broccoli because I didn't have them close enough to the light.  She explained that she learned from another gardener to plant the tomatoes in about one inch of soil and then add more soil after the first leaves appear.  I love Alison's blog.  I also love learning new ideas from experienced folks; it makes me feel a little less likely to ruin a packet of seeds.

The tomatoes I started are from organic seeds (and if someone will explain the difference between organic and nonorganic seeds to me I would greatly appreciate it).  They are San Marzano tomatoes, which are said to be one of the best for creating sauces.  I've also read that because they are an heirloom the seeds can be saved for next year.  I'm hoping they will be tasty in salsa and bruschetta as well. 

Thanks Alison at bonneylassie.blogspot.com

And thanks Dave for hosting such a great learning experience at http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/

Family Reunion

I'm going home
back to the place where I belong.
Home, Chris Daughtry

Friday afternoon, my husband had one of the most pleasant trips of the year.  He went back to our favorite, local nursery, Dana's Garden Spot, and bought a forsythia and a golden mop.  These were his first plant purchases of the year.   I believe they were a subtle hint.  I have twigs stuck in pots:  twigs of plants I tried to propagate this year, like a golden mop.  I have not given up on the hope that there are roots in the pots, deep in there where I can't see them.  He has, and I think he may be a bit tired of the dead twig arrangement I have going on in the bathroom.  I think his plant purchase was his way of saying, "It's time to let go of those twigs."

At Dana's, he was greeted by the owner, Dana, who we know very well.  We've been getting to know Dana and her family for about five years.  She smiled warmly at him and said, "I love this time of year.  It's like we get to see family we've been away from for months."

And that is why I love her nursery. 

At first, her nursery was located on a small slip of land on the side of the highway that takes me to the closest town.  Sometimes, I think I would go to town just to pass it.  Many days, I would just stop in to see what she had.  Her youngest children would be playing under the display tables, her older boys would be operating the cash register and equipment.  Somedays, the kids were the only people there.  But whenever Dana was there, she'd answer questions in her no-nonsense kind of way. 

Her business has grown and changed over the years.  Now, her nursery occupies a much larger parcel of land.  She's expanded and has more to offer in the way of organic food, Amish delights, gardening classes, and seeds.  She, on the other hand, has not changed a bit.  Her children are still at the cash registers.  Her weather worn, make-up free face still smiles, and she is as no-nonsense as ever.  I am happy for her, and I am happy for us.  In a world, where big box annonymity is the norm, it is nice to go somewhere and feel connected to the people of the community; Dana's is one of those places that defines ours.  She, her family, and her lovely plants will always be a part of our home.

Hooray for Hoary

Verbena Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta) that is.

This is basically a note to self, but please do read if you like.  I went to Earth Fare today to purchase my son's organic food -- I love that store.  I go once a month because it is quite a drive.  I really wish I could frequent it more often, but it's probably best that I can't.  They have little shopping carts that are made for kids.  My son shopped like an adult and was in heaven!  I found a display of native seeds that I drooled over like a kid in a candy shop; I was in heaven.  I showed adult-like restraint, however, (because my husband was with us), and I only bought two packs of seeds Little Bluestem and Rocky Mountain Blue Columbine.

But, I looked up the website on the packet when I got home
http://botanicalinterests.com/products/view/1815/Verbena-Hoary-Vervain-Seed/category:flowers/filter:15

And I found that Verbena Hoary Vervain is not only a gorgeous native that is absolutely perfect for my dry bed stream, it also attracts good bugs, or rather beneficial insects.  And deer typically don't eat it.  Yes, I am going to order some!

Kids

Control yourself.
Take only what you need from it.
A family of trees wantin',
To be haunted.
Kids, MGMT

I love this song.  It's great.  The beat is great; the lyrics are great, it makes me feel great.  And with a title like "Kids," it makes me think of the one greatest thing on earth, my kid.  Whenever we are together in the car, and I pass a place where trees have been logged, I think "control yourself, take only what you need from it.  A family of trees wanted to be haunted."  And I think how different his life will be if all of us don't start controlling ourselves.  Trees are a very important part of  his life.  I didn't plan it that way, nature did. 

The weekend before I found out that I was pregnant, I planted ten free trees from Arbor Day in our yard.  One, a silver maple, has grown faster and stronger than any other, and just by some strange stroke of luck, it is the shade tree that I planted in front of my son's play area.  It's Jack's tree. 

We plant trees frequently.  It just wouldn't be a season of planting if we didn't.  But for the past two years, we've done something a little different in the still season.  We have bought a Christmas tree from a tree farm.  I wasn't sure if this was a good practice or not.  As we can't fit one into our house that contains the root ball, we've purchased those that were grown specifically to be cut down.  But the tree does continue to live every year, and we get so much out of it beyond the Christmas season that I think it might be an okay practice. 

My husband who is so gifted and talented that it really is not fair, seriously, makes arrangements out of the small branches that fall off of the tree during transport.  He mixes pine cones that we collect from our woods into the arragement and creates something gorgeous that lasts from November until spring flower cuttings or fruit and veggies from the Daily Farmer's Market take their place.

Not only does he use any little peice of the tree that falls off; he also reuses the tree.  In the winter, we sit it out back on the patio and it serves as a landing tree for birds that fly through the yard.  Then finally when the weather breaks and the days are warmer, he and my son transport it one last time to the pond, where it becomes a habitat for the fish. 



The tree makes a new home for the fish.



Junk

What ya gon' do with all that junk
All that junk inside your trunk?
-- Black Eyed Peas

Okay, so that's a terrible, uninspiring song.  Really, truly, it is.  It has no place in a proper gardening blog!  Fortunately, this isn't a very proper blog; for thing one (it's Dr. Seuss's birthday), I daily find typos, spelling errors, and omissions.  And daily I fix them.  For thing two, I really have no idea what I am doing in many areas of gardening.  And in gardening as in writing, it's the mistakes and corrections that keep us learning.

Mistakes, junk, trunks, and what to do.

I bought some juncus hedgehog seeds over a month ago.  I love this grass.  It's a native (or so one website explained), and it's very unique.  It has straight, green blades that are topped with small, blackberry like balls.  Plus, the name makes me giggle.  I think the whole juncus family may have been an inspiration to Dr. Seuss.  (This information in no way has ever been verified with any source -- I call it, *gasp*  an uninformed opinion). 

A piece of of information that I really would like a legitimate source for is how to start juncus hedgehog.  I had no instructions with my seeds, so I had to wing it, which tends to mean ruining a packet of seeds more often than not.  I placed the very miniscule seeds in peat pots last week, and I put them in a Ziploc bag on a heat mat.  There they have sat for a week.  I keep peeking at them, but nothing is going on.  Nothing.  If something doesn't happen soon, I may break down and purchase some plants.  I really want the dry stream bed garden to be plants that I've started from seed.  But I want this plant in there even more.  There may end up being some juncus in my trunkus . . . we'll see.

Delivered

  

With your future, got your future babe (here I am baby)

Here I am baby (signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours)

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered," Stevie Wonder

How can you not love Stevie Wonder?  If you haven't noticed, and it'd be pretty hard not to, I'm a big, big fan of music, almost as big a fan as I am of plants.  I'm also a huge fan of deliveries.  And my hubby arranged for a huge one today:  four scoops of enriched soil from our local nursery.  It came in on a dump truck -- woo~hoo! 

We filled the rest of our three raised vegetable beds (we already had quite a bit of leaf mulch in there), and tomorrow we're going to finish the dry stream bed. 

I had a migraine, so when I say we, I really mean he. 

I sort of wandered around, in and out of the house, in and out of the greenhouse, in and out of the hubby's way, trying to assess everything that I haven't blogged about in a while -- and a lot of these items are things I've learned about from the blogging community, so THANK YOU wonderful gardeners who share:

One tray (old strawberry container) of mustard in the greenhouse (moved just to experiment)

One smaller tray (old strawberry container) of spinach in the greenhouse (moved just to experiment)

Three pots of lilac shoots in the greenhouse -- from a lilac bush that was given to me by another gardener (no matter how beautiful, unique, or unusual a plant is that I grow from seed, none compare to those that have been given to me from a fellow gardener's home -- there is a rich history, which deserves its own post later on, in those plants)

Two peat pots of peas in the greenhouse

Greenhouse temperature definitely seems to be warmer now with the trashcan

One basil batch in a juice bottle greenhouse

Three pots of echinacea in an outdoor sunny spot

Three peat pots of liatris under the grow light

Three peat pots of aubrieta under the grow light

Three peat pots of bedder sage under the grow light

Completely destroyed my first batch of chandelier lupines -- too wet in the cake tote; started some more today.  Hopefully, this time I will not turn them into a stinky pile of mush.

And last but not least, relented, took a migraine pill, sat down, and wrote about all these things that make me feel good, and voila, felt Wonder-full :)