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!!

Boo-berries and pumpkins

This year I'm giving seed starting (yet) another chance.  Every year, I try to start my own seedlings for transplant; however, the blasted things never take or just don't like to be transplanted.  This time around I got a heat mat for my eggplant and pepper seeds, something I didn't have when I tried two seasons ago.  I'm going to give the seed experience another go tonight after dinner.  While this is an epic moment it brought about utter chaos.

If I start these seeds then where will they live?  How many should I start?  And the plan I had created back in January went out the window....not just because of thinking about seedlings but because I picked up a few things while out and about over the last few weekends.  Namely blueberry plants and pumpkin seeds....and not to mention the red and blue corn seeds...oh! and more sunflower seeds...can't forget those...

The blueberry plants are now occupying the self-watering containers (SWC) I had planned for the pepper plants and well the pumpkins and corn seeds...they're hanging out for the moment.  That brings me to the present.  I've cut out pictures of all the seeds and plants I'm planning for this year's garden out of an extra Burpee's catalog.  I'm planning on taping them (or somehow arranging them) onto an over-sized piece of paper as an impromptu planning guide.  But then, I'm getting into the dilemma of finding out I might not have enough pots for this year's idea unless I get/make more...what's a girl to do?

Getting rev'd up

Hello there fellow gardeners!  How's the weather holding up in your neck of the woods?  It doesn't know what it wants to do here.  For a good week, the sun was shining and the thermometer read 50 degrees (which for here means flip flop weather, seriously...I saw people wearing flip flops).  However, it caused the ground to warm slightly.  Enough to signal my crocus that its time to bloom.  Now we're getting a nice batch of snow with low temperatures to boot.  The crocus were just starting to break the surface so hopefully they survive.

The cats finally figured out the array of pots filled with their very own grasses to nibble on.  I had to pick up extra eco-friendly pots (they're not plastic but do disintegrate if planted in the ground) for sowing more since the fatty of the bunch decided to eat the whole large pot by himself.  The pots are tiny and are different colors; however, I should've added rocks or weights to the bottom because the cats have a tendency to yank on the whole blade of grass tipping the pot over in the process.

Speaking of pots....my herbs aren't growing in their little seedling pots.  The seeds are from last season, for some plants that's not good, but most of these have a longer shelf life.  Who knows?  Maybe I should just pick up another batch of seeds and try again.  It will give me a great excuse to go to the local nursery to check out the preseason seed sales and pick up a heat mat.  I'm planning on trying to start my own eggplant and pepper seeds this year.  Reading the gardening books have told me that they need a heat supply to germinate so I'll give it a go.  If anything, the nursery carries my fav plants come April/May for transplanting so there's always that to fall back on.

All it needs is love...

Pots for the herbs

     Oy, a busy week so far.  I know I'm a day behind getting the blog up.  However, I have started some of the slower growing herbs for this year's garden.  I'm using the biodegradable Jiffy pots with seed mix this year.  In the back is a dish with the oats for the cats so they'll leave the regular plants alone.  Since the seeds are so small for the herbs I did a mass spread and will thin them as needed.  Here's to this year's batch of herbs :)

Chocolate sunflower

     Not only that but I went through all the flower seeds and discovered another batch of chocolate sunflower seeds. *evil grin*  Last year only two of the seeds took with some spectacular flowers that lasted through the summer.  I'm looking forward to planting those come April.  I also have some chocolate violas, columbines and pincushion flowers.  Who knows, maybe I'll set up an area in the yard for a chocolate themed garden, not just in visual appeal but scent as well.  We'll see what boyfriend thinks of that idea....

The newest addition to the houseplants

     On a side note, I found a small plant abandoned to the doom that is known as Walmart's garden center.  They are generally horrible with their plants especially in our area because they built the new Walmart with the garden center in the direction of the wind patterns.  There's a history of said wind taking down hundred year old trees and power lines, so of course it's a genius idea to put the plants on the windy side of the building...The poor plant sat in the back room trying to survive in it's paper cup near other clearance plants such as glitterized trees for the holiday season and wilted ferns.  I repotted it in one of the smaller self watering containers and there's new growth so the outlook is hopeful.  It's a really pretty plant and I need something in the office that can survive low light.

Reflect on the environment

As a gardener we have a close link with the environment as seen in the growth of food for our families as well as ornamental plants, shrubs, and flowers in our garden spaces.  However, what are we doing to protect and invigorate the environment?  While writing this post I'm watching the 2009 PBS Frontline special Poisoned Waters.  It raises an all important question, what are we doing to our drinking water, estuaries, and waterways? The agricultural industry (to include animal farms) provides the largest contribution to water pollution and waste that comes in the form of excess fertilizer and manures that makes their way into the water.

I live a few blocks from Lake Michigan.  There are times when people are not allowed in the water due to waste seepage from further up the shore.  My boyfriend remembers a time when the fish in the lake were deemed inedible for human consumption.  It's all well and dandy to meet regulation requirements, but what about going above and beyond standards?  While I'm not a country homesteader, I am an urban gardener and even though I am just one person among seven billion people in this world, I can still make an impact by implementing eco-friendly measures in my garden.

How about you?