Putting the Garden to Bed

All of us serious gardeners have to put our gardens to bed for the winter. This year it just seems all that bending has taken the charm out of the process for me. Man, the ole back gets sore, quicker. Can't be permanent can it? I must have strained myself, didn't stretch right or lifted something wrong.

The point is, somebody has to do the work or you don't maximize the grandeur of the garden for next Spring. Cutting back the Iris, Echicinea (Cone flowers), Brown eyed Susan's, Mums, Hosta and all the other perennials. Plus, pulling some of the clumps of grass and weeds in the garden come naturally; especially when the ground is moist. I also hate it when the sod is creeping into the edge of the bed. Got to get it now, before it gets a head start in March and April.

I always try to groom the bed by raking up the soil and spreading it out more evenly. My flower bed is about 30 feet long and elevated, so I need to push the soil back up that slides down when it rains. I have been thinking it would be nice to put a brick retaining wall up around the bed; maybe two courses up with some packed gravel beneath. Then I would not have to constantly dig out the edges. My that is work. I think that project may have to go on my calendar for next year.

Now my veggie garden is my storage garden for all my potted plants, to winter them over and re pot them in the early spring and pop them into my hoop house for expedited root growth and expanded blooms later. I have rows of Mums, Brown-eyed Susan's, coreopsis, Iris, and other perennials temporarily in the ground in my veggie garden. I also get a lot of plants prepared for the Garden Club plant sale in the Spring.

We got some great rain a few days after I did most of my transplanting. The day I re-planted most of my potted plants I gave them a good drink of water, but knowing the rains were coming, I did not get carried away; just a drink. I hope the majority of the plants survive winter. The only thing I regret is that the ground did not dry out enough to allow me to rototill it and loosen it up for Spring. Since the soil is so fertile and humus like, I am not worried about it being difficult to turn over in the Spring. It is just that it feels like the right thing to do; to turn it over.  I would love to add more enriched soil and perhaps another  level of 8 x 8's to give more depth to the garden.  Always something to do. See you in the Garden. 

Growing Pearls for the Heart

Growing Flowers is Similar to Growing Wisdom

I have always loved to grow things. When I was a child we had a lovely rose garden and I used to chat with my neighbor across the alley about how to make my roses thrive.  I think his name was Ray and he and his wife were friendly souls.  He used bone meal and different types of fertilizer, including peat moss to make his roses reach their peak glory. I also used to love to grow petunias for my Mother and would plant them every summer near Mother's Day. She loved the fragrance and it gave me joy to observe this annual tradition. Flowers for Mom.

I also grew a collection of Wisdom quotations over the years as well. These quotes blossomed in my heart and soul and gave me the tools I needed to cope and deal with the challenges of life. Now, in my golden years I have decided I have enough life lessons to write my own words of wisdom, so the quote you see above is my first  ORIGINAL WISDOM QUOTE suitable for publication. I am totally inspired to write at least one quotation per week as a blossoming of my philosophy of life. It is gratifying to embrace ones' own thoughts as having merit and value, worthy to be shared with the world at large.  

I hope you grow in wisdom and understanding as you share my Pearls of Wisdom. We can't take it with us, but we can take time to celebrate the highlights of a contented life. In all thy getting get understanding. See you in the Garden.    

Chrysanthemums in Pots

It is an acquired skill to grow and groom mums to be a perfect specimen with gorgeous bloom bursting forth as the weather cools. You want the shape of the plant to be full, with plentiful blooms and relatively close proximity.  The gardeners rule of thumb is 'no cutting back after July 4th'. It is not an exact science to trim back the plant just right, especially if you have varied sun and shade patterns as I do.  My goal is to produce full body Mum plants (in pots) suitable to display around my house and to share with my son's Pete and Paul. 

The mum stems reach for the light and can get lanky; creating weak stems that tend to hang instead of grow upright.  I want strong stems in the center of the plant to support a thick bloom.  So there is an element of trial and error to shape the Mum in the ideal form that you tend to see at the nurseries. From a practical standpoint, if I get really good spring growth, my trimmings of the growth can be my source for Mum cuttings to produce my next crop. I made about a dozen cuttings this year that are blooming nicely in my flower bed. 

In the picture to the below I have a yellow Mum in the background with a reddish purple Mum in front. This is a north west view  on my deck stairway landing. The sun is about perfect to give it the light it needs to grow and bloom. They seem to prefer a balanced amount of light and temperature which helps avoid the drying out tendency when you get direct sunlight all day.  I am quite pleased with the abundance of blooms on this plant. I planted my Mums, of course, in  my 'magic soil' early in the season in separate large flower pots.

My special soil consists of about 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 generic soil, and a fair amount of  sand and pearlite.The sand helps retain moisture and also prevents the soil from pulling away from the sides of the pot.The pearlite helps the roots to move easilty and aids drainage. I surmised that the sand might also keep the chipmunks from chomping through the soil to get at the roots, but they still seem to dig in the Mum's yard. The sand does help contain the moisture and I think creates an idea medium for plant growth. If I had a true green house, with good air flow, and continual sunlight,I think I could create award winning Mums. 

This was a good year for my Mums and I even left a few in my Hoop House and of course the humidity is making the blooms thrive; albeit, with a look of being a hanging Mum, with the stems looking a little gangley.  However, I  can not complain about the great display of color above. I was very happy with my Mums in the Garden Pots this year.  Next season  I plan to grow more cuttings from the yellow Mum so I have greater variety to display around my yard. This fall I displayed flower pots of Marigolds, Geraniums, Ageratum and Vinca vine on my 'Great Wall of Deegan', as Nancy calls it. See you in the garden. 

Louisiana Iris in Bloom

One of the biggest surprises of my Iris bed is the uniqueness of the Louisiana Iris that are blooming. I have attached some photos of the three varieties I am growing. The geometry of the bloom is so different from the more well known Iris, such as Tall bearded variety. I was quite happy with the quality of the pictures as well. I wish I had the actual names of each flower but I do not. Perhaps I can get some ID help on Dave's Garden.com. I hope you enjoy the flowers. The nice thing about these Iris is that they are the last Iris to bloom in my garden so it extends the Iris bloom season. 

My Garden is Growing by Leaps & Bounds

This picture was taken on June 15, 2013. Only about 10 days of growth since the last photo. Of course Mother nature is helping out; a great deal of rain during this time frame. Not a whole lot of sun, but decent light. It seems something has stopped eating my broccoli leaves. Also I put down some little cups with beer in them and caught a few slugs; well they drowned themselves in the cup of beer. Talk about drowning in your own beer. :) Plus I was advised to put melon slices down on the ground as well. The broccoli is growing so tall. Perhaps too much leaf growth, but that is the way it works; first heavy leaf growth and then the broccoli head form.

Everything is Planted in My Garden

The Vegetable Garden of Deegan

The picture makes the garden  look longer and narrower that it is. In reality the dimensions are about 30 x 11. I am really happy with my soil this year. I ordered a few yards of Super Soil (Humus, Sand & Soil) to enrich the garden a bit and expand the bed by the old bean patch in the rear of the garden. I roto-tilled it well and mixed the new soil with the old. You can just tell when you have good texture to the soil. For some reason black soil just appeals to me as well. This soil remains black.

What is planted in my garden.

What you see from right to left is a row of green peppers, Jalapeno, Pablano,  Broccoli, Tomatoes (including Beefsteak, Cherry, Rutgers and, and heirlooms. I have three rows of green beans and wax beans. I also have a hill of Zucchini and a hill of Cucumbers for canning. I grew a beautiful egg plant for Jackie and Paul. Plus,  we are growing pole beans next to the back and side walls because it is an efficient use of space and we love beans. Nancy freezes them.  Oh, I forgot in the foreground is a row of garlic. I will show another picture of the garlic. We had a great rain the other night and it is just amazing what a good soaking will do.

Something is eating my broccoli.

I had a problem with something eating my broccoli leaves; was dusting with Savin dust but did not seem to solve it. It was suggested it may be slugs. I think I will do as my wife suggested a put out a few saucers of beer tonight. See if I can scare me up some slugs. I also planted a row of ageratum; extras that I had. It is always nice to have some flowers near the garden; adding a little color for atmosphere.

Garlic is fun to grow 

The Garlic is maturing nicely and already going to form seed heads. I usually take some of those seeds and germinate them for fall planting. They get growing this fall and will ripen next summer for harvesting. Garlic is so expensive in the store, it is a treat to grow your own. I just love to experience the glee of not having to pay for the veggies. Of course I pay with my time, but when you enjoy gardening, it doesn't feel like a burden. It is not work to me. More like recreation or therapy.

 Close up of Abe Lincoln, the new heirloom tomato 

It is interesting to note the texture of the leaf is different than regular tomatoes; seems to be smoother and a broader leaf. It is only June 7th and the plant is flowering already. I am very eager to see what the tomatoes look like, their size, color and shape. My Master Gardener friend, Nancy Whisler says this is the 'high fashion' heirloom tomato this year, creating a real buzz in the gardening community. I bought a few heirlooms from Nancy. She grows hundreds of heirlooms each year. I will try to save the seeds from a few tomatoes this year to see if I can keep the chain going. How cool that would be if the seeds performed like an heirloom should, and produced true fruit, a copy of the parent. I can't wait. I also have heirloom beefsteak. If that bears true seed as well, I will be flamboyantly excited. So much to look forward to this year.       

 

There is a Face in the Bloom of this Iris

What do you see when you look at this Iris?

• I believe this is a Japanese Iris because it does not have a beard and it tends to be flat. However, that is not the drama of this picture. It is what is in the center of the Iris. Do you see what I see? I see a face. I have never had this perception when looking at an Iris. This is a photo from above the Iris. To me it looks like a face. I wont tell you what kind of a face because that will tend to bias your perception. The power of suggestion will be at work. Please let me know in comments what you see, if anything. This is an unexpected adventure and now I wonder how often Iris lovers see something unique when viewing an Iris. You never know what is going to pop up next. Surprise, surprise.