But they're so tiny!

As a few of you know, I ordered citrus trees a few months ago to add to my growing collection of container garden items.  Well, I'm happy to announce that they're here!!

L-R: orange, lemon, and lime trees

I just potted the three little citrus trees in their own ginkgo fiber pots (which makes them eco-friendly and biodegradable).  The pots should last them for a year or two.  And as you can see they're still tiny so the small pots aren't going to be a problem (they're only 7" diameter). Lucky enough our local nursery had soil for cacti, succulents and citrus so I didn't have to guess on the mixture, which could've been a hazard.  Hopefully these lil' guys do well so we have fresh citrus next year!  On a side note: the blueberries aren't looking too happy with me so I doused them in vinegar water in an attempt to keep them alive...if anything I'll pay a little more for 2 or 3 year old plants.

In addition, talk about a whole front yard make-over.  Last year, we talked about transplanting the two bleeding hearts in the front garden and a few of the hosta to the side yard where they'll enjoy more shade than sun.  Well by the time we got to it they were all huge and it was too late in the season to move them.  Finally, we caught them before they're growth spurt.  Now the bleeding hearts are on the north side of the house with a neat row of six of the larger hosta.  They all have room to grow into their full potential unlike the cramped space in the front porch garden.

On top of that we moved around the remaining hosta in the front garden, moved in two more dianthus, planted some 'Sweet William Dianthus' on the side, moved a 'Black-Eyed Susan' and got stabbed to death by the climbing roses in the back.  I'm sure there are other things that we accomplished during our venture into the small gardens surrounding the house but it's getting late and the glass of merlot is kicking in.

If you haven't already: make sure to plant potatoes (I've got mine curing), start tomatoes and basil indoors for a better start outside.

Accidental Onions

The last few days have given us wonderful weather to play outside.  Thus the gardens got the much needed spring cleaning that they deserved.  For some reason, we collect the leaves from around the neighborhood.  The wind decides that we need a little ground decoration giving us leaves and snow as it wills.  I'm not all for this, but I say thanks and just bag up the leaves.  During that clean up we spotted the little buds of the hosta, Asiatic lilies and day-lilies coming up as well as a surprise in the back garden...or in a mound of dirt really.

Onions growing in a soil mound in the back yard.

Apparently, onions are trying to grow in a mound of dirt.  Thing is, the dirt isn't from the onion tote from last year's garden and I didn't put the onions there.  This is just extra dirt and somehow onions got there.  I'm blaming the squirrels because they're punks like that, but I'm going to go with it. I'm a fan of onions so it's cool.

Lemon mint with new growth, great for herbal teas :)

As for the other members of the garden from last year, the mint is growing back in their containers.  I wintered all but the Chocolate Mint on the back porch (the container was way to big to lug around the yard).  The porch has thick curtains over the storm windows to ward away the chilly breezes and I expected a normal Wisconsin winter; however, we barely got anything except for a handful of snowfalls.  So the snapdragons are still alive along the front border and if you've been paying attention to the blog then you know that it's almost impossible for me to kill them this year.  Instead, I trimmed back the old growth to make room for the new.

Also, we made a discovery on the side of the house with a pair of finches (irony at its best because we have a colony of zebra finches) nesting in a hole under the eaves.  There's a nice fluffy layer of attic installation on the side yard.  However, after the boy went into the attic and up a very scary looking ladder we got the problem of the finches fixed temporarily until we can get some material to close the gap in the wood and the holes in the attic vent.  Right now, we're using wood scraps from the back steps we replaced last fall and shims, lots and lots of shims.

Stay tuned for a special delivery later this week that I'm excited about!  Until then, get a little dirt under your fingernails and enjoy the humus.

Toilet Paper & Seeds

You're probably asking yourself "how does toilet paper and seeds relate?"  Good question.  And I thought the same thing when I read about this method in one of the books I got for Christmas.  The book, I Garden: Urban Style, discusses space and time saving techniques for those who live in an urban environment or apartments.  It goes from the basic "which garden suits you" to recipes for what you grow.  In "Chapter Five: Grow It" there is a nice tidbit about seed tape.  Thus toilet paper and seeds go hand in hand.

Here's how my experience with creating my own seed tape went:

Step 1 Gather the Materials:

• Non-toxic glue
• Cheap toilet paper
• Scissors
• Tape measure or ruler
• Seeds w/shallow bowl
• Tray

For this, I used a lid from one of the seed trays putting sheets of white paper underneath for contrast should I drop a seed off the toilet paper.  And I had a slight dilemma - which seeds to I wish to plant using this method? The Danvers Half Long or Scarlet Nantes?  I went with the Scarlet Nantes. 

Step 2 Cut: Measure the area or container (as is my case) to determine the length of the toilet paper.  Then cut strips.  Now keep in mind that that you can start several batches at two-week intervals to have a steady supply of carrots.  I usually do this with the mini-nantes because the thumb sized carrots are great sauteed with orange zest throughout the summer...just saying...

Step 3 Glue the Seeds: This step will give you tacky fingers but work in small batches instead of trying to finish the whole strip at once.  To hold the seeds, I used a shallow bowl with only a few seeds in it.  Also, don't slather the glue on because then all you get is toilet paper glued to whatever tray you are using.  The package says plant in rows 12" and then when seedlings emerge thin to 3".  Because you don't know if EVERY seed is going to work, I put the seeds on the strip every inch (or close enough).  Once they start to grow then I will thin or replant as needed.

Step 4 Plant: The package directions say cover with 1/2" of soil and with the seed tape all you need to do is lay it out wherever you'll be planting and cover.  The end. :)

This year I'm planning on at least two varieties of carrots in several containers.  Last year, they played well with the cucumbers, which I had on a cotton and bamboo trellis.  So a few will hang out with the cucumbers and others will go into other containers in cycles.  With self-watering containers it makes growing carrots so much simpler.  Because the seeds are so small and plants close to the surface they are easily disturbed in traditional pots.  So here's my challenge for you this season: Grow a small container of carrots.  You can thank me later :)

On a side note: I have a baby eggplant.  Out of the two seeds I planted, only one took, but check out the handsome lil' bugger.  Adorable, isn't it?  Guess the heat mat does it when growing eggplant.  This one is a Black Beauty variety.

I planted four bell pepper seeds but none of them took so I replanted and am now crossing my fingers that at least one emerges.  If not, oh well, I'll pick up a few plants from the local nursery.

By now if you are in my zone (which is 5), you should be starting lettuce, chard, kale, endive, carrot, radish, beet, turnip, kohlrabi, and parsnip outside as well as onion sets or transplants.

Good luck and don't forget to leave a comment on your garden's progress!!