Playing it Cool

I went to my very first garden club meeting last week.  This is something I've been thinking about doing for quite some time.  I had just been putting it off.  Eventually, I was invited to come!  Invited!  Of course, I played it cool.  "Oh, I'll see if I can fit it in my schedule."  Inside, I was silently jumping for joy!

The other gardeners were so sweet.  Everyone seemed so interested in hearing about my garden.  They seemed like such a lovely group, and very knowledgeable about all things gardening.  I plan on returning - again and again!

During the meeting, there was a presentation on spring bulbs.  And I returned home with inspiration:

There was a photo of muscari bulbs planted in a rock wall.  It was beautiful.  The long greenery of the muscari hung down, while the blue bulbs reached up toward the sky.  I immediately knew - I want to do this in my garden.

They will look perfect planted in the cracks between the blocks in this area:

I've heard some garden clubs are not as nice.  But I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  And I got an idea for my garden!  It was hard not to squeal with delight.  But, I played it cool.  I simply said, "How lovely."

When autumn comes, I'll be playing it cool again.  I mean, I'll be playing in the cool weather - planting muscari bulbs in little cracks!  All the while, inside, I'll be laughing merrily!

Do you go to garden club meetings?

March Performers

The weather has been full of ups and downs.  We will hit 80 degrees (26C) soon.  And yet, we are still below freezing most nights.  A lot of difference between last year's mild weather.  In fact, last year I had a rose blooming in February!

This year's weather has been more "normal" (as "normal" as weather gets, I suppose), while last year's was unusually warm.  The plants in my garden are blooming about one month later this year than last.

So, what did I have blooming for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day?

Well, all of the blooms from last month are still sweetly blooming.  The cool nights have helped the soil warm up slowly.  Spring snowflake, pansy, hellebores, cyclamen, camellia, daffodils, irises, phlox, muscari, rosemary, loropetalum, violets, scabiosa, and candytuft are all still blooming in my garden.  In fact, I was beginning to think there wouldn't be any new blooms to show this month.

That is, until I looked up.  The crabapples are just beginning to put on their spring show!

I just love these trees!  And the bees do, too!  It seems are if they are all lined up to purchase a ticket to see the new blooms.

But I think the bees are missing the best show in my garden.  The ferns have decided to emerge for Foliage Follow Up.

To me, ferns are nature's epitome of extravagance.  So many stems, each with so many leaves.  Each perfectly formed, each unfurling with exquisite timing and impeccable grace.  The ants get to see this beautiful trapeze act unfold.

They also get the added bonus of seeing some super hairy legs on those ferns!

So, they're not only the trapeze act, they're also the clowns.  Who would have ever thought that ferns were an entire circus rolled into one!

I can't wait to see what other performances will soon be showing up in my garden!

A Happy Place

Do you have a "happy place"?  I do!  It's the garden center!  :)

And like most gardeners, I can't resist picking up an unplanned plant purchase or two while I'm there.

It makes me happy!

Last year, I purchased just one candytuft (iberis sempervirens).  I had never grown this plant in my garden, and wasn't sure where I could plant it.  My cart was already full, and my husband was patiently waiting for me to complete my selections and get to the ever-growing check-out line.  (I know how he feels.  When we go to the auto parts store, I patiently wait for him, and am oh-so-happy when we leave!)

I didn't have time right then to get more, because that would have required a decision of where they could be planted.  But one plant can always be squeezed in somewhere!  At least, that's how I rationalize it when I'm in my happy place.

So, I quickly put one in the cart.  Looking at its beautiful white blooms made me happy, and finding a spot to squeeze it into my garden made me happy, too.  But eventually the blooms faded away, and I forgot all about my candytuft.

Until this week.

This week, my candytuft has made my garden a very happy place.  It is blooming at the same time as my early irises.  They look so pretty together, and my garden almost glows as the white of the low candytuft plays off the white of the taller irises.

Candytuft grows in zones 3 or 4 through 9 in full sun to partial shade.  It is great for rock gardens, and I think it has found its own happy place next to the sidewalk in my garden.

But this one little plant, blooming so beautifully, has made me realize that I need more.  One is jut not enough!  Several lining the walkway would look much, much better.  

I guess you know what that means!  I will just have to go to my happy place - the garden center - again!   :)

Veggie Beds

Want to start a vegetable garden?  Several people that I have met lately have been interested in doing just that.  But they were unsure where to start, and most were extremely interested in knowing how to make raised beds.  So, I promised them a post.

Step by step, with all my little tips and tricks added in, this is how to make a raised vegetable bed:

1.)  Start with a design.

It can be simple, or elaborate.  Just keep the beds to around 4 ft wide so that you can reach across easily to weed the bed and also to harvest your vegetables.

Looks like a puzzle!

2.) Figure out materials needed, and the co$t.

Raised beds are an investment, so figuring out the cost before you begin the project is very important.

3.)  What will be under your raised beds?

We have Bermuda grass, which is notorious for being extremely difficult to get rid of.  On my first set of raised beds, I only put down cardboard under the dirt in my raised beds, thinking that the grass would not be able to work its way through to the top.  I was wrong.  :(  Eventually, I removed those beds, and reconstructed them over pieces of steel roof panels, with weed fabric outlining the beds.  This has worked well.  This time, I thought it would be easier to use weed fabric inside as well as outside the beds.  I purchased the weed fabric from Gempler's.

Not sure I'm completely sold on the weed fabric for inside my beds.

However, I garden my vegetable beds organically, and I now wonder what kind of chemicals will be leaching out from the weed fabric.  So, that might be something to think about, too.  I think next time I'll go back to the roofing panels.

If you don't have Bermuda grass to worry about, you may be able to get by without some sort of barrier between your soil and your raised beds.  I've seen photos of raised beds next to green grass, without any concern of the homeowner having a problem with the grass taking over their raised beds.  How I wish I that would work for me!

And, if you don't want to put down weed fabric or roofing panels, it might be possible to remove the grass entirely before erecting your beds.

4.) Lay out your design, then put the beds together.

This is actually quite simple, because I use raised bed corners from Gardener's Supply.  Of course, you don't have to use these, but they make the construction extremely easy.  Personally, I can't even put four boards together and trust my own construction, so they were worth it to me.

The corners just screw into the boards

I used 1"x12"x whatever length I need.  Of course, you can use a shorter height if you prefer.  It depends upon which vegetables you'll be growing.  It also depends upon the base of your vegetable beds.  A base of weed fabric or roofing panels is different than a base of soil.  You may also want to use a mix of different heights for a more interesting design.

Use non-treated lumber.  I know most people use treated lumber when using boards outdoors.  However, treated lumber has chemicals you don't want leaching into your vegetables.  Since these boards are not treated, it's best not to put the beds up next to your house.  You don't want to introduce termites into your home, and a board touching your home would give the termites a direct route.

5.)  You're almost done!  Time to add the dirt.

You can purchase bags, but I try to buy in bulk, as it's more economical.  Here's some tips for buying in bulk:
 
Figure out how many cubic yards you will need.  Click HERE for a handy-dandy calculator for doing just that.

But don't worry - if you can't figure it out, the dirt supplier can figure it out for you.  Just be sure to have the measurements of your beds when you call or go by.

That tree will probably have to go at some point, or my beds moved.

Another tip for buying in bulk is to ask about their delivery charge.  Some will deliver for free, some will have a set charge.  I have found that this depends upon the company's own trucking situation.  Some have their own trucks.  Some must use a delivery service, which charges them.  Some companies will charge you for over a certain yardage amount, but might allow a small amount to be delivered free of charge.  Again, this depends upon their trucks and the number of yards of dirt their trucks will hold.  For example, you may be able to get nine yards of dirt delivered free, while 10 yards would cost you dearly.  Ask questions!

And, while you're buying soil, ask questions about it, too.  Here, most companies will offer you two different types of soil, with two different prices.  One is plain dirt.  Around here, that's mostly sand.  The other option is called "organic mix", "garden blend", or some other name, which is just sand mixed with wood shavings.  The first year, this vegetable bed will not perform any better than if you just had plain sand, but the second year it will break down to a nice quality.

After I have put the soil in the beds, I also rake in some organic fertilizer.  I purchase this in bags, and just add a bag or so to each bed.

My vegetable garden is tripling in size this year!

6.)  You're done!  But before you plant, there's one more thing you need to think about.

Do you need fencing?  I do.  We have deer that think our vegetable beds are their own salad bar.  It also helps to keep our cats out.  You don't want cats to use your vegetable beds as their litter box!  The cats and the deer could both easily jump over our fence, but they don't.  If you don't want to put up a fence, I would suggest a motion activated water scarecrow.  They really work!

7.)  Finally!  It's time to plant!  :)

I would suggest buying Mel Bartholomew's book on Square Foot Gardening.  It's not absolutely necessary, but it's worth a read.  And Gardener's Supply has an online kitchen garden planner for determining the number of plants for each square foot.  I love it!

My final piece of advice would be to start small.  You can always add more beds.  I started with three 4x4 beds.  It was the perfect beginning for me.  I eventually enlarged those beds, and now I'm adding even more.  But, starting out small gave me the confidence I needed.

My first set of raised beds.

Good luck to you!  All the work will be worth it when you taste your first  fresh-from-your-very-own-garden veggies!

A Field of Gold

Narcissus.  Daffodils.  Jonquils.  I'm certain that there's a great explanation for all those names, but here in East Texas, we just call them all daffodils.

I don't like daffodils.  Actually, I should clarify that.  I don't like daffodils in my garden.  Well, let me clarify that a little more.  I don't like yellow daffodils in my garden, at least, not very much.

It's complicated.

Last year, I was thrilled when the white daffodil 'Thalia' emerged at just the same time as my red dianthus began to bloom.  It was beautiful.

But, I've never wanted yellow daffodils in my garden.  I wasn't sure why.  I love yellow.  It's actually one of my favorite colors, so that wasn't it.  I love that yellow daffodils bloom early in the spring.  They are a welcome sight - outside of my garden.

Why don't I want them in my own garden?  I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, and I think I figured it out.

One of the Seasonal Celebrations I have always looked forward to in spring is going by the home in which my great-grandmother lived most of her adult life.  And where she planted a beautiful garden.  I can remember playing in her garden as a child.  I spent many summers there under her crape myrtle trees, playing in the dirt.  Now I always make a special trip to go by there in spring, because that's when the daffodils bloom.

Her birthday is March 7th, and I can imagine that she loved to see the daffodils blooming for her birthday.  She passed away in 1980, but her daffodils still continue to bloom each spring.  There are so many at her old homestead that that they have escaped out into the fields, and there they continue to thrive.  She has plain daffodils and fancy daffodils.  And some small ones that are probably some sort of species or natural hybrid.

The small ones have a scent that is wonderful.  Even on a windy day, you can smell their sweet fragrance.

These daffodils are survivors.  Not only have they escaped her yard, they have escaped the fields beside her house.  The road leading to her home is dotted with these same daffodils.  It makes me wonder how many years they have been growing.  How they managed to escape.  And how they continue to thrive with absolutely no care.

These have more rounded petals than the ones above.

I realized I love these daffodils.  So, why don't I like them in my own garden?  That was the question I asked myself over and over.

Then it dawned on me.

I love my great-grandmother's daffodils precisely because they are growing out in the field.  I love seeing them in the wild.  And that's when it hit me.

These daffodils have been blooming in the fields beside her home for so many years, that to me, that is how they should be grown.  Not in a garden.  But, in an open pasture.

Every year I think about digging up some of the daffodils that have escaped into the open fields.  But since I never wanted them in my garden, I never did.  But this year is different.  This year I want some of them.  I don't want them for my garden.  I want to put them in the fields that surround my home, just as they grow in the fields beside her home.

That is the Lesson Learned.  Plants have personal meaning and memories attached to them.  We should figure out what they are, and how and where that plant should be grown to preserve those memories.

I will finally love having yellow daffodils.  Because they were hers.  And they will be grown as her daffodils have grown for years - wild and free, in a field of gold.

I'm joining Donna at Gardens Eye View for Seasonal Celebrations, and Beth at PlantPostings for Lessons Learned.

Something New!

Harvesting lettuce isn't new.  I've posted time and time again about the lettuce I've been harvesting this winter.  I harvested lettuce in December.  I harvested lettuce in January, and I harvested lettuce in February.

Last month, I also posted about my broccoli starting to flower.  Well, the temperatures have dipped back down, so we are still harvesting broccoli.  Although the heads are tiny, they're still delicious!

I even harvested a few Brussels sprouts.  They melted in my mouth like butter!  Yum!

The green peas are flowering - for the third time now.  They flower, then get frozen.  Again, and again. I'm hoping this time it won't freeze again!  Not a good track record for growing green peas through the winter.  Next time I'll plant them in late winter/early spring instead of in the fall.

So, what's new?

Well, if you look very, very closely, you can see the very first asparagus spear peeking out!

Boo!

I decided to give growing asparagus a try - in a stock tank.  The reason behind the stock tank (with holes drilled in the bottom) was twofold.  First, hopefully they get the winter chill they need.  That's the main reason asparagus is not grown here - not enough winter chill.  Perhaps this will be a good solution to that problem.

And secondly, since they stay in the ground, I felt like this dedicated container would be a good way for me to remember not to dig them up.

And do you want to see something else that's new?

Look!  I'm enlarging my vegetable garden!  Wahoo!  I love being able to harvest vegetables throughout the entire year.  I've even talked a few strangers I've met here and there into starting their own vegetable garden!  If you live in this area, you really should give growing vegetables a try.  It's amazing how much you can harvest each month!

But, that was just the teaser.  I'll dedicate an entire post to that project later.  I'll tell all my tips and tricks.  You'll see how easy it can be to make your own vegetable garden.

I'm joining The Gardening Blog for Garden Bloggers Harvest Day.  Are you harvesting any vegetables this month?

Extra Early

I've always dreamed of having an iris walk.  I have yet to put one in, but am still giving the idea much consideration.  Irises are sold with labels such as "Late", "Mid Late", "Mid", "Mid Early", "Early", or "Extra Early".  It is advisable to get several type of irises with different bloom times so that your bloom time is extended.  Of course, now there are also re-blooming irises.

So, putting in an iris walk has more consideration than just what color (or colors) of iris you prefer.  And, of course, there are bearded irises, siberian irises, louisiana irises, dutch irises - well, you get the picture.  There's a lot of irises to choose from!  Designing an iris walk would take quite a bit of research and planning.

Still, I hope one day to do just that.

I have a few different irises in my garden, but the majority of them are "Extra Early".

These are iris albicans, some call them "cemetery irises".  These irises in my garden came from the secret garden in the woods close by my house.  They are easily transplanted, and I just dug these up while they were in bloom, and put them gently in my garden.  They should be planted shallowly, almost on the top of the ground.

These irises grow in zones 4 through 9, and are usually passed from gardener to gardener.  The buds have a slightly silver sheen to them, opening to a pure white.  In my garden, I love how they draw attention to the new red leaves of the 'Mrs Dudley Cross' rose.

When/if I ever create my own iris walk, I will definitely include these in the mix.  They are one of the most reliable early spring blooms in my garden.  I can't imagine my garden without them!