Death Notices and Lamentable Losses

As much as we gardeners try to do our best to nurture the plants in our care so that they can become the fully beautiful plants that is their heritage, sometimes things will happen that can best be described as ‘out of our control’. Then again, things happen that we could have controlled if only we had paid a little closer attention.

While reviewing my master list of plants I have come to realize that some plants simply did not survive this past summer. One of my favorites was an Achillea Angels Breath. Here it is in happier, healthier times, living harmoniously with its neighbors. Enjoying the sun, the feeding and the care that I was able to give it. Both of us totally unsuspecting of the terror that the Nepeta Walkers Low would soon visit upon it.

I should have seen the warning signs, the gentle but insistent nudging seemed playful at first, but soon the aggressive nature that is the Nepeta nature was soon apparent, as shown here. But, alas, I was sadly distracted at a critical time by other more pressing issues that took me away from the garden and the doomed plight of the Achillea was sealed. Achillea, my hapless friend, you will be missed.


Another poor unfortunate victim to my careless and barbarous neglect is this Arabis Snowcap. This beautiful specimen was a victim of a devastating and fatal cycle of drying out and over-watering. Imagine, thriving beautifully for two years, full of the promise that comes with knowing you have a full, fruitful life ahead of you only to be drowned by an overzealous garden hose. Oh the humanity. Arabis Snowcap, I hardly knew ye.


And then there is the demure, fragile Armeria Lauchean. Also fallen victim to poor hydration practices.


But, there is redemption on the horizon, my good friends. I have vowed to mend my ways. I have taken a solemn oath to never again place unfair expectations upon a plant by forcing it to survive in conditions beyond its limits. No more will I be timid in the time-honored practice of judicious and timely pruning of aggressive growers, forcing them to ‘play nice’ with their neighbors. Early next spring boundaries will be observed and plant supports will be erected. No more will those tame and timid growers be crowded out by their aggressive neighbors.

Meanwhile, I think a bit of transplanting is in order and from now on when I read descriptions of plants I will pad their width dimensions by about 10-15% just to be on the safe side.

Losing plants before their time, especially due to my mishandling, is just too hard on my psyche.

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Frosty mornings and a Long Todo List

Last nights temp dipped to 35F! Arrgh, this is coming on all too quickly. I still have so much to do.

Perennials need to be trimmed, seeds collected.

I just read a very timely and informative blog called Choosing Voluntary Simplicity about growing Hollyhocks. In the article Shirley informs us that she collects seeds from her Hollyhocks and I thought, duh, why didn’t I think of that. I am still such a newbie at this stuff that I didn’t even get this idea on my list of things to do.

I don’t have nearly the collection of Hollyhocks Shirley has (and it is a beautiful collection), but I hope to correct that oversight.

My one lonely Hollyhock needs company. So, I’m going to see to it that next year it will be surrounded by more beautiful Hollyhocks.

Since I have never collected seeds before I’m a little stressed over getting to them before freezing weather kills them off. Her instructions on how to handle the seeds and store them has given me confidence to go for it.

My compost pile needs to be spread out into the beds where it will do the most good. This clay soil desperately needs this stuff every year to improve its poor drainage. After that, I’ll be able to empty about half my freezer of all the compost material I’ve been collecting over the past few weeks. It really is amazing how much compostable stuff my wife and I can create. For instance, I drink several cups of coffee a day which creates quite a bit of coffee grounds along with the paper filters. We eat a lot of vegetables so the trimmings from all of that adds up. Egg shells, extra pancakes (because I can’t seem to make just enough for two of us).

Yesterday, I made Butternut Squash soup from a recipe our daughter gave us which created even more leftovers for the compost pile. By the way, I saved the seeds from the squash. Just remove all the pulp, lay them out in a cookie sheet for 3-4 days, turning them once a day. Then put them in a paper bag, inside a plastic bag and keep them in the fridge or freezer until next spring. From what I have read these should keep for a couple of years. Tip: place a few seeds in a wet paper towel inside a plastic bag and see if they sprout after a few days. This way you know the seeds you are keeping are viable.

This morning I cut up a cantaloupe my sister-in-law gave me and I will save these seeds as well. Plus, more for the compost pile.

The tomatoes need to be covered, still a bunch of green ones after our huge harvest two days ago. Whatever is left will go to the, you guessed it, compost pile.

This year I think I may plant some cover crop in my vegetable beds. This will be another ‘first’ for me. I used to think my space is too small for such things but I figure size really shouldn’t matter. I’m sure the benefits will be worth it, even if it is not on a grand scale. A couple of suggestions are Hairy Vetch, Winter Rye.

From Organic Gardener: ‘You must kill your cover crops before they set seed and the top growth gets out of control. That's right, kill them.’ Now this just scares me. I can picture myself not getting to the crops in time and having Hairy Vetch all over my backyard. Mowing is not an option because these will be planted in raised beds. Maybe I can use a weed whacker or pruning shears.

Oh, a very important point I just stumbled upon, some cover crops such as rye are allelopathic, which means they inhibit seed germination. Great to know BEFORE buying a bag of rye. Now I need to research which cover crops don’t inhibit seed germination.

Well, I’ve procrastinated enough. So, with my coffee mug held tightly in my fist, it’s time to face the chilly morning and plan my day.

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Boy, How time flies!

It has been awhile since I last posted. No, it isn’t that my interest in gardening has waivered. It’s just that life’s demands have forced my attention to be focused in other directions, and I will spare all of you the details.

Earlier in the year, our area was hit by frost that killed off my newly set-out tomato plants, not once but twice! This can be expected to happen and I should have known better, but not being able to focus 100% on the task at hand will often bite back hard. Predicting weather never has been an exact science, and the lesson learned is that I need to cover everything when temperatures have a chance of dipping below 40F. Hopefully, problem solved.

Anyway, I only planted tomatoes this year and dispensed with plans to grow anything else. This allowed me time to focus on my other, more pressing, non-gardening issues.

I planted the usual Juliet Grape tomato which has always proven to be a big performer and this year was no exception. The other tomato was a Roma I found at some box store. I’m a bit ashamed to admit I didn’t buy this from a garden center but there you have it. It was just crying out to be taken home so I did. While it didn’t produce a bounty of tomatoes, and they were only slightly larger than the Juliet grape tomatoes, I did manage to make sauce for several spaghetti meals.

Over the course of the summer the average high temperatures were in the 90’s and my lawn (and my neighbors lawn) conspired to retake territory that I took for flower beds, those being the ‘non-raised bed’ variety. So, over the next week, the chore of re-pulling all of this grass will be a priority.

Now on to new stuff. I have decided to try my hand at propagation. Since starting from scratch five years ago, I now have several shrubs and plants that have established themselves and so the time has come to attempt to make more. The task seems a bit daunting right now, being behind the learning curve, but I think it will be interesting to learn the various ways in which plants can be propagated. I’m not a total stranger to this, I have been rooting houseplants in water for years with a good bit of success. However, outdoor plants may need a slightly different approach such as, placing cuttings in soil (or soiless medium) to layering to dividing and more. Research will allow me to select which type is best according to which plant I want to multiply.

Some plants I have and want to reproduce are Forsythia, Spirea, Caryopteris, Bee Balm, Daylily, Phlox, sedum, mums, and Lamium.

One thing I find most thrilling and fascinating about plants is that every plant cell has the ability to duplicate all parts and functions of the plant. By taking a cutting of a leaf or stem and creating the right conditions, you can create an entirely new plant.

I bought rooting hormone, potting soil, perlite, and I already have loads of plant containers to re-use, so my new adventure will soon be under way. For the next 4-6 weeks I am going to diligently watch over my little charges and hopefully they will become new plants in the spitting image of their parents.

Stay tuned for updates.

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Taking advantage of our beautiful Autumn days

I raked up a bunch of leaves from our Peach, Pear and Cherry tree leaves and placed them on the four raised beds I use for vegetables.









I recently moved all four beds a little closer together to make room for a fifth bed, which will be built next spring (although the mood just might strike a little sooner, ya never know). And while I was moving them I expanded two of them from 4x4 footers to 4x8 foot.

This, along with the new 4x8 foot bed, will give me an additional 64 square feet of raised bed.

One of the 4x8 beds will be the new home of our raspberry patch (it was growing under the west side fence into the neighbors yard). I try really hard not to be intrusive across the fence although they said they were okay with getting free raspberry plants, I still don’t want to force them on them.

Since I had some spare time I decided to enclose my very informal compost pile. This first photo is from two years ago and as you can hopefully see it's on a cement pad (it used to be the home for a dog and his house) and measuring in at about 10 foot by 12 foot, I have plenty of room for the pile. I decided to enclose the pile because it was a bit difficult to manage. I used some scrap wood, 2x8 foot, 2x6 foot and some 1x1’s. Chicken is going to be stretched around it to hold everything in.

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Expanding and snowing?

It’s snowing! Well, not real snowball, snowman, digging the car out, skiing type snowing. But it’s only October 5, for goodness sake.

I’m in the middle of expanding one of my beds to make room for a beautiful yellow rose bush one of my daughters is growing tired of. How can you grow tired of roses?

Oh well, her loss, my gain.

It’s going to be a bit out of place for awhile because the area I’m putting it in is full of drought tolerant plants. It won’t stay there for more than a year or maybe two until I get its permanent spot prepared in the front yard. That’s going to be a major undertaking.









Speaking of loss and gain, is there nothing sadder than a tomato plant that has been struck down by frost?









Well, maybe a pepper plant.









Oh well, now it's off to plan next years garden.

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