Central Valley Garden Club went on another field trip but not to a public garden. I’ve heard about Watson’s Greenhouse and Windmill Nursery for two years now but the opportunity for a shopping trip did not present itself until now. What great places: Comprehensive garden centers with very healthy plants.
Recently I have been interested in succulents and they have great examples.
I’ve been really busy gardening these days, pulling stuff out, feeding the soil and planting new things. I got two “new to me” tomato plants at my garden club plant sale: Heirlooms, Moskovich and Black Cherry tomato. My tomato garden is now complete for the year. Five plants for two people!
Earlier this year I talked about carrots being a crop I was focusing on for 2013. My summer 2012 crop was acceptable, but I wanted better carrots. That is not what I have so far.
Does anyone grow Meridia carrots (from Terretorial Seeds) overwinter? The package says 240 days, overwintering Nates type, rich orange, 7-8 inches long, 1- 1 1/2 inches diameter. I planted them September 24, 2012 right after I did a quick till of the area. I decided to dig some today and was surprised they are not very orange or very big. I still have another row in the ground. Perhaps they need more time, what do you think is going on here?
I am happy that I grow much better roses than carrots!
Let’s be honest now. How many gardeners in the blogesphere clean their tools on a regular basis? On a yearly basis? Ever? Last week at my garden club one really smart lady piped up and said, “Let’s have a tool cleaning party! It will be more fun to do it together.” Every one thought about the state of their tools and said Yeah! One lady volunteered her shop space. People brought pot luck lunch. Others brought cleaning supplies. Every one brought dirty, rusty tools! So, one week later we gathered. One lady watched some Ace Hardware video clips and shared how to do clean tools.
1. Use a wire brush to remove dirt and some rust.
2. Use sand paper and/or steel wool to get remaining rust off.
3. Use steel file to sharpen as needed.
4. Use spray oil to lubricate moveable parts. We also used boiled linseed oil on wooden handles.
Now we have no excuse! The first photo is my “before” pile of tools.
This is my pile of tools after cleaning.
Near the very end of our cleaning, the hostess showed us that she keeps a pail of sand with oil in it , that is to be used when she finishes garden work with tools. She dips the tools in the oily sand and cleans them off before storage. I need to do this to keep my tools looking good!
I have two parts to my Western WA rose garden: miniature and mini flora roses where I have 3 or 4 copies of my favorite varieties, for exhibiting and flower arranging and the part I call my plant collection. The collection includes unique plants, favorite plants or plants that just would now have grown in Minnesota, my home of 26 years. This gallery shows some of my collection of plants.
‘Polka’ a climbing rose
Grandiflora rose
Hybrid hulthemia and floribunda cross, by Jim Sproul
‘Dorothy Rose’ is a single, miniature climber.
Decorative form miniature
Hybrid Tea rose
Shrub rose
Hybrid Tea, 1925
‘La France’ in bud. The first Hybrid Tea rose in 1867
‘Walking on Sunshine’ Floribunda
‘Playboy’
Bouquet of Floribunda roses
‘Daybreaker’
‘Easy Does It’
Rosarian friends having fun on February 18, 2013 in Minneapolis.
Are they dead or are they dormant?
The local Master Gardeners say to “Plant your peas by President’s Day” and they have not lead me down the wrong path yet! But this year I decided to try different varieties and actually make two plantings, two weeks apart. I love planting (and eating) sugar snap peas. They are the beginning of the gardening season for me.
I wrote the plan in January, then bought the seeds and inoculant and waited. Last week I tilled the area. I know tilling gets a bad rap in some parts of the country because of its tendency to disturb the soil structure and microorganisms but in the Pacific Northwest the winter rain compacts the soil, even in raised beds. So I covered the area with a tarp on rainy days and let is dry out on sunny days. Then tilled. Three days before planting I soaked the peas in labeled containers and rinsed the peas once a day. I lightly raked in some bone meal and alfalfa pellets for quick nutrition. Today I drained them and sprinkled on the inoculant before planting.
My dry, home made compost covered the peas. Then I watered with my Authentic Haven Brand Moo Poo Tea. Life is good!
I really had no idea about the concept of cover crops when I lived in the Mid-west. But out here in the Pacific Northwest one organic practice that was highly recommended to me is cover cropping after the fall harvest. Once the rainy season begins, soil gets compacted and many nutrients, such as nitrogen get washed out of the soil. The idea is to not leave bare ground during the rainy season. Roots keep air spaces and when you dig the plants into the ground a few weeks before you want to plant again, the nutrients return to your garden.
This is oneovernight example of rainfall: 2 1/4 inches! January 7, 2013.
My crimson clover was scattered around the empty spaces and around a few remaining veggies. I have this bed scheduled to be turned over March 1st.
Wishing all my garden friends a happy and healthy New Year and the best garden that you have ever grown in 2013!
Part of my daily reading includes a brief, local post called “Today in your garden” from MY Garden Nursery in Seattle.The culture advice is specific to Western Washington but today’s post applies to all gardeners and is worth sharing.
December 31, 2012
You don’t have to be a Latin scholar, but it helps to learn the basics of the scientific plant naming system. The first word (italic and always capitalized) is the genus, and the second word is the species. If there is another word set off by single quotation marks, then that is a specific variety sometimes called a cultivar.
http://www.mygardennursery.com/today-in-your-garden.html
I will share some examples from my favorite plant group, roses.
Species roses are wild roses that generally have single blooms. Think of Rosa banksiae or Rosa gallica versicolor also known as Rosa mundi
Both of these roses follow the genus rule above.
The rose ‘Randy Scott’ is signified by a single quotation marks where as a story about the person Randy Scott would not have quotation marks. The hybrid tea cultivar, ‘Randy Scott’ is a large, clear white rose that I added to my garden during 2012. (The word cultivar means cultivated variety, not a native or species rose such as Rosa gallica versicolor
I hope that helps you understand that the italics and quotation marks are not random in books. Many times these rules are not followed by people on the internet, which adds to the confusion.
This rose ‘Randy Scott’ was purchased from Wisconsin Roses
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on February 26, 2013