Tag Archives: garden

>My Garden Show – beyond the backyard

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>Looking outside has been a little scary lately. After a recent hailstorm, my tomatoes were draped weakly over their supports. I had to get up my courage and prune the broken stalks, tie up those that were salvageable, and hope for the best. Our fair state and my lovely county have received triple the normal amount of rain for July. If we get a little sun to balance it, the garden will be fine.


But in the meantime, I just have to live vicariously through my Internet garden friends. Here’s a fun site for gardeners of all types, all zones, all sizes of yards or no yard at all.

Your Garden Show lets readers show their own gardens, see others’ gardens, and see all kinds of green thumb results. The features an expansive 6,000 vegetable database developed by Cornell University (778 varieties of tomatoes – I didn’t know there were that many varieties!) and a 5,900 ornamental database powered by Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the U.S.A.

Uniting the 25,000 square miles of America’s gardens and beyond, YourGardenShow.com encourages passionate gardeners to “show and tell.” Maintaining local roots in California, Iowa, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy, the YourGardenShow.com team includes “Groundskeeper” Mark Kane, the former Executive Garden Editor of Better Homes and Gardens. (But does he use a smiley coffee mug like Groundskeeper Daisy? I’d guess not.)

Like many hobbies and interests, gardening has a strong following on the Internet. YourGardenShow.com is a good site on which to share the fun of playing, er, working in the dirt. Enjoy!

This is not a paid post. The PR people at YourGardenShow.com sent me an email inviting me to check out the site and share it if I saw fit. I liked it; this is my way of sharing. I hope your garden is growing well, your rain barrels are full, and the sun is shining on your zucchini. Well, maybe on the zucchini. Never mind.

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>Rain, rain. Or not.

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>Our summer started out like a soggy mess. The rain barrels filled and overflowed, filled and overflowed some more. I started rearranging the overflow tubes so that different sections of the garden got flooded with each storm.

Last week the weather was fabulous. Not too hot, not too cool. Windows open at night for lovely sleeping weather. No rain. We’re actually using the water in the barrels! It’s the kind of weather when I can actually get out in the dirt and accomplish gardening goals.

Task one: transplant herbs. I bought a few lightweight, inexpensive pots from Fleet Farm. I moved the herbs from their long hanging pot; now they’re on the steps leading up to the deck. I felt like they needed more space to grow and they were getting too soggy. I also noticed that a few stray oregano seedlings were coming up in odd places. They must have reseeded last year, unseen by me. I’ll pick up more oregano seeds and fill in the rest; we can reserve this long, narrow pot on the rail for oregano and just say it was meant to be.

Task two: take care of the transplanted rhubarb. I moved several rhubarb plants from their home near the garage to the former abode of mint and hollyhocks. I’ve decided to wait a few years before trying hollyhocks again; mine caught a bad case of rust last year. As for mint, we still have plenty.

Task three: fence the new tomato plot! Chuck started this, but has had little or no time to finish. I’ll weed a bit, keep the tomatoes on their supports, but that’s all. You see, the neighborhood rabbits have found a home there. We chase them out, wave them off, and talk sweetly to the baby one so we don’t scare it. No, not really. But as long as these three adorable furry creatures find refuge in my tomatoes, I can’t plant carrots. Or more lettuce. Or expect the broccoli to reach maturity.

Task four: keep it all watered. That’s easy! The barrels are still very full, thanks to yet another storm over the weekend.

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Top Ten Reasons I Adore Fleet Farm

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10. Fleet Farm had the tomato supports I needed when no one else in town stocked them.
9. My receipts come with a discount on gas at their gas station. If I fill up the minivan there after making a purchase, I save. I fill my van so seldom; if I can wait to fill the tank when I’m at Fleet Farm, it’s a winner.
8. The clerk at the Fleet gas station resembles a young Brad Paisley. If the teen girls start hanging around the bait counter, we’ll know why.
7. I can resist most impulse buys because of the unique merchandise. I do not need a blaze orange negligee. Really, honey.
6. I said most impulse buys, not all. I did buy a small funnel for my jam. It turned out to be a perfect fit for the tops of the jars, and it prevented waste and messes. I’ve never seen this little gizmo anywhere else – only at Fleet Farm.
5. It’s a huge store; getting what I need requires exercise. Who needs a treadmill? Who needs to walk the mall? I just shop at Fleet Farm.
4. It’s easier to say than Farm and Fleet.
3. Chuck and I bought our bikes there three years ago, and they’re still going strong.
2. It keeps me humble. Walking from the canning supplies to the garden center I passed through the equine section. There are things on the shelves that a city girl like me will never need. Need? I don’t even know what most of the equine equipment is!
1. At Fleet Farm, I found everything I needed to make my first batch of jam!

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>True or False: did you guess?

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>

First: did you see the true or false quiz yesterday? No? Then go to Friday’s post first. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Guess which one (yes, one) is false.

Okay, you’re done now? Here’s the list again, but with commentary, of course.

What did Daisy do recently?

1. Amigo and I got well-deserved haircuts.
Yes, we did. We were both overdue, too. I feel lightheaded but well-groomed now that the haircut thing is done.
3. Plumbing and electrical inspectors stopped by to check on the recent remodeling project.

Yes, they did. They were quick and efficient, and I didn’t have to wait around home too long. That’s good, because Amigo and I needed haircuts.
4. Amigo and I went out to lunch at a tiny hole-in-the-wall grill downtown.
Funday Friday! Yes, we like to go out to lunch on Fridays in the summertime. Our favorite places are locally owned, smaller restaurants or even diners. Today’s was very tiny; most of their business is through catering and through the pub next door. Sound good? Yes, it was.
5. La Petite took care of Krumpet (the bunny) post-surgery.
Yes, indeed. Krumpet the adorable was spayed yesterday.
6. I made half-caff coffee: decaf fair trade from last week’s farmers’ market, full-caff Door County coffee, chocolate raspberry truffle flavor.
Yes, surprising though it may be, I made half-caff. It was delicious. I sometimes drink more coffee during breaks than during the school year, so I often cut down on the caffeine by brewing half and half.
7. I cleaned the bunnies’ litter boxes.
It’s almost a daily chore. It feels so good when that’s done. The house smells a lot better, too.
8. I chased a bluejay away from my garden. You’re welcome to the worms, Mr. Jay, but leave my seeds alone!
I suspect there are plenty of worms to keep the soil healthy. But why is there almost no spinach, but lots of lettuce? Who’s munching on the beans, but leaving the peas alone? BlueJay, can you tell me that?!
9. The rain barrels remained full, despite several days of sunny weather.
Even though I used the rain barrels to rinse the litter boxes (see #7), they’re still filled to the brim.
10. I wrapped up nine packages for Paperbackswap and mailed them all!
Yes, yes, and yes!! Nine packages containing ten books. Two were audio books, worth two points each. When all arrive at their destinations, I’ll have 12 more credits with which to order books!
Ah, but I hear you. “Daisy, what happened to number 2? You’re a teacher; you can sequence and count and make accurate lists!” Yes, I can. Here’s number 2, the statement that was false.
I did not uproot the rhubarb. I am, however, working on transplanting it. At the moment, it is surrounded by raspberries. Rather than continue pulling out raspberry vines, I’m aiming to move all the rhubarb to a new home. We moved one plant already, and it’s doing well. Here’s the new home:

You can see one rhubarb plant on the left. The rest is mint. Tall, spreading, incredibly aggressive mint. But what’s that in the middle? There are three or four of these stray plants in the middle of the mint.
It vaguely resembles a lily, but the lilies La Petite put in are much, much shorter. This tall piece has no flower, either – at least not yet.

Well, I gave in. I took it all out. Mint, the mystery plants, and the remaining sickly looking hollyhocks. The rhubarb is hanging out all by itself now. Soon, it’ll have friends. And I will have lots of rhubarb for cakes, quickbreads, muffins, crisps, cookies…

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>The good, the bad, and the ugly in the garden this week

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>The bad: darn these baby maple seeds! The helicopters landed, I picked up as many as I could, and now I’m pulling the sprouts of those I missed. If I ever let natural succession take its course, I’ll have a lot of silver maples.

The ugly: Poor Chuck! The bunnies ate his new shrub. The rain and the construction kept him from putting up the fence, and the neighborhood fuzz-balls thought they’d enjoy a salad.

The good? My tomatoes are supported! I couldn’t decide which type of support to buy, so I bought all three. This will be the experimental year. I’ll see what works best and invest in that kind of support next summer.

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>Tomato, tomahto, and tomato supports

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>The newest dilemma in the new garden area is this: how shall I support the tomatoes? The old cages are no longer suitable. Last time I used them we had a tomato jungle: the plants grew so tall they fell over the sides of the cages, and then the wire cages broke through the stems. They were getting close to six feet tall, and the conical cages were only 48 inches in height.

Last year I planted tomatoes in the wrong place and too close together. They didn’t get enough sun, and they fought each other for space and water and nutrients from the soil. We didn’t get hit with the blight, but it was not a good year for tomatoes.

I’ve ruled out the wire cages. I’m using the old trellises to support the peas. Now what? I did a search (on swagbucks, check the link in the right sidebar), and found several options.

Tomato ladders. There’s a neighbor who uses these, and I like the looks of the product. They’re strong, they’re thick, and they’re coated steel (no vine breakage!). But I’d need ten at least, and at a cost of $50 for a package of three… deep breath.
Tomato towers. This is also expensive. Could we make our own? Do I have time? Does Chuck have time? I found something similar in a local hardware for $5 apiece.
Tomato Spirals. Now these look intriguing. At $35 for a set of five, this is more affordable. I can use the t-shirt tie-ups from last year if I need them.
Here’s a combination of two philosophies: the tomato spiral cage. Again, expensive to purchase outright.

Now the challenge: finding and buying these. I’d much rather buy locally. I’ve checked two hardware stores, a garden specialty store, and two big box stores with garden sections. So far, no luck. At least, no luck that I’d consider affordable. If I spend too much, we’re approaching the $64 Tomato mark, and that’s just not reasonable. I know most of these products would last for years, but I still need to make the initial investment now.

There are two stores left on my list, and then I might give in and order online – or create something entirely different.

Ideas, gardener friends? Suggestions? I’m listening.

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>The new garden is in! Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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>Chuck put in a few blueberry bushes! I hope we get to the berries before the birds do.

Meanwhile, I put in the tomatoes and peppers and a little broccoli.


Meanwhile, I turned to the side and realized that in our attentiveness to the new plot, we had neglected the old.


Chuck repurposed the old fence boards (see below left) to be a walkway in the new plot.

Meanwhile, I raked out as many of the maple helicopter seedlings as I could. Maples are lovely, but geez! They really overdo this reproduction business.
Finally, I planted beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, and squash.
Whew! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’ll be time to put away all the clean laundry – but that’s another post.

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>Tomato, tomahto

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>Here it is as it looked last week; my new tomato plot. A plain triangle, a few grass clipping layered over a little compost.

We covered the area with cardboard and newspaper last fall, outlined it with a few posts and spare boards, and let nature do its job over the winter.

To read the rest, go to Green Spot-On!

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>Dandelions: a weed is just a flower out of place.

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Have you seen the commercials? The ones that imply that dandelions are evil, nasty, even toxic creatures that intentionally invade your (gulp) Lovely Lawn. The commercials want you to buy their product, of course: the Chemical Killer of Evil Dandelions. Here’s one fighting for its life in the middle of the mint. I predict the mint will win. Mint is a very aggressive plant that doesn’t give up easily.

But chemicals? Expense aside, I don’t need them. I don’t want them on the mint; I might use it in cooking or to mix a mojito. I don’t sweat the dandelions; I use them to offset the high cost of lettuce.

Buttercup loves them.

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