EASY Garden Bed Prep

Fall bed preparation (Photo Captions: two garden beds being readied this fall for spring planting).

I do several things to prepare grassy areas for spring planting and I start the spring or fall before. The first is to decide where you want the new bed and cover up the grass with wet newspaper and perhaps a tarp (I have also used old sheets of plywood, old carpeting, too). Under the tarp I layer whatever materials we have that will decay and improve the soil. This year I am making a new tomato bed in my back yard- I covered it all summer with a tarp, then my garden drudge (spouse) lightly dug it up to remove persistent weeds (I helped)(a little). Then I started adding stuff- I dug raw kitchen compost waste into it (though the dog found some and ate it-yuck) and sprinkled coffee grounds from my nearest coffee shop on it (ask for “grounds for your garden). Then we layered on pine straw and leaves (NOT WALNUT) from the front yard, and grass clippings from our last mowing this season. I watered it all in and covered it back up with the tarp. I will continue to add coffee grounds to it over the winter, they are high in nitrogen, should help with decomposition and break down quickly. I am looking for a source for animal manure to compost and add in, too (let me know if you have a source for manure in the Richmond area!). I will uncover it in early spring, dig in everything, and water it again…and should have some great soil for my ‘maters!

I also started a flower bed this fall (see photo). I covered the grassy area with wet newspapers, surrounded it by bricks and covered it with spent soil from various pots of annuals I had this year. To this I added clover seeds as a cover crop, to prevent the soil from washing away and to improve the quality of the soil. This bed will be ready for some sun loving plants come spring!

Happy gardening!

Planting bulbs the easy way
(photo caption: planting bulbs in a trench)
Another quick idea, appropriate for this fall bulb planting season (plant spring-flowering bulbs in VA from Nov 1 to Dec. 1, even as late as Dec. 15). In early November, I planted 200 daffodil bulbs (a paltry amount, considering I planted over 900 bulbs one fall season!) Actually, I transplanted 50 species tulips bulbs and 50 so saffron crocuses too, so that’s 300 bulbs. How do I do it? No, I do not use a tubular bulb planter (I use one only when am sticking a few bulbs in an already heavily planted area, a rare occurrence). I dig a trench, sprinkle I some bulb fertilizer and scratch it in, distribute the bulbs right side up and cover them with soil. It goes pretty quickly, esp. if you are planting bulbs that rodents do not like, such as daff’s (they are poisonous to rodents). If you are going to plant bulbs they do like, such as tulips, you will need to take another step, building a garden-cloth cage (garden cloth is not cloth, it is square block, wire fencing- use one with the smallest gauge you can find, or small voles will be able to slip though- chicken wire will not work). Dig the trench, scratch in the fertilizer, line the trench with garden cloth, build up sides of garden cloth and attach it to the liner, place the bulbs in, cover them up and top with garden cloth you attach with wire to the sides of the liner. Another idea is to line the bed with sharp gravel (rodents don’t like it) or plant the tulips bulbs surrounded by daffodils. The only hard part is shifting all that soil. Make sure your garden spade is sharp! You can do this until mid-December here in central VA.

Happy bulb planting!

The Dog in the Garden

The dog in the garden (Photo caption: Looks innocent, doesn't he?)

A garden is a place of many potential joys for your dog. Here are some of the many ways our dog Bob enjoys his garden experience…

1. Figuring out how to slip through the fence or jump it in such a way as to avoid getting stuck in the raspberry brambles.
2. Applying Eau de Compost- go to the compost pit, enjoy first the joyous sniffing, then…the compost roll! Though why a bath seems to directly follow this experience…..???
3. The joy of tugging on landscape fabric - it pulls! It tears! It riiiiips!

4. A similar pleasure of gnawing at a rubber mulch tree ring...and scattering chunks of it around for the lawn mower blade to catch on!
5. Finding an unopened bag of mulch and deciding where to spread it…all over the tiny, vulnerable lettuce seedlings, for example.
6. Digging voles and moles- long narrow trenches dug right through the asparagus bed. The epicurean delight of eating them! The pleasure of throwing them back up! On the living room rug!
7. Chasing rabbits! Catching them! Leaving their disemboweled carcasses right by the swing set for kids to find!
8. The pleasure of “fertilizing” the garden.
9. The joy of the day Judy fertilizes with liquid fish emulsion (do not believe the label that says “odorless” -pah!). I love to lick it right off the soil! And get my head stuck in the watering can, trying to get down to those last drops!
11. Play “collect the burrs!” Run away from Judy when she tries to take them out of my tail! Hide under the deck until nightfall, when it is too scary to be outside. Submit to burr picking.
12. Tree squirrels! Bark at them to the annoyance of neighbors! (But it does keep them away from Judy’s fruit!)
13. Dig up newly planted beds- soil so soft, so fun!
14. Lastly, track all of it into the house!

Happy gardening with your dog!

Monticello Field Trip

Monticello Field Trip Report
I have been to Monticello several times over the years, even before we lived in central Virginia. Our first trip was about 20 years ago, when we travelled to VA for a wedding in Harrisonburg, and took a day trip Monticello. Despite my somewhat ambiguous and vaguely discomforting feelings about Jefferson (I greatly admired his philosophy of science and experimentation and greatly hated his slave-owning and the fact that the place was built and run on slave labor) it was garden lust at first sight. I remember blowing off the tour of the inside of the house until a later hour so I could experience the wonderful vegetable gardens and take the garden tour and wander the flower beds, vineyards and woods for a few hours. I was most taken by the vegetable gardens, instantly wanting to work there and have a garden just like it (my garden is far from that ideal). I remember surreptitiously snacking on a few garden peas, amazed I was eating a similar variety to one Jefferson grew.

The 1,000 foot long terrace that the vegetable garden is on was literally cut from the side of the mountain (yes, another reminder of slave labor). It gets plenty of sun and has an amazing view across the countryside (I will post a photo on this entry). Jefferson experimented with trellising, cloaching (covering plants to protect from cold), cold framing and blanching (e.g. blocking sunlight from plants like celery and asparagus, to get the then desired “white” forms). Jefferson liked to try new things and experimented with 330 varieties of over 70 vegetables. He grew such new fangled vegetables as tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli and cauliflower. He loved to keep records and kept a log of the day peas were first brought to table each spring, peas being his favorite vegetable. The varieties of plants and vegetables Jefferson grew looked different from the “improved,” commercially-available, varieties of today, which have been bred to survive imported pests, diseases, and long trips in trucks and, often, to simply increase shelf life and delay ripening (commercial considerations)(that’s why nothing will ever taste as good as a home-grown tomato…or eggplant…or lettuce… or bean…or…or…). It is worth it just to go and see these “non-improved” varieties.

As I said, Jefferson was a copious note taker and correspondent and recorded varieties he received from many far-flung acquaintances and plantsmen who sent him seeds, bulbs, cuttings and plants. He also recorded information in his farm book, about seeds, crops and yields. As a matter of fact, so much has been written by and about Jefferson the gardener and farmer, it would be silly for me to recap more here. All I can say is, if you haven’t been to Monticello, start planning your trip TODAY! Make sure you stop and buy some cool heritage seeds there (so don’t need to resort to “accidentally” collecting a few in the garden! I swear I do not do that anymore!).

I will end with my two favorite Jefferson quotes:

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden” Thomas Jefferson.

“The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture” Thomas Jefferson.

Happy gardening!

Part II: Garden Mistakes I Have Made

Garden Mistakes I Have Made Part II: Do Not Try This at Home!
(Photo caption: part of the wonderful beautyberry, that is way to large for its current spot).
(See part I). Most of my other garden mistakes have had less severe consequences. The next mistake has to do with under or over-watering, or letting the soil stay too dry (from neglect) or too damp (from mulch). The Irises I had a picture of in the first "mistakes" entry were victims of too damp soil due to mulch-I swore that the mulch was far enough away from the iris rhizomes, but the rain may have washed it into a pile on top of the rhizome. I found them too late, after they were rotted and gone. A similar thing happened to my pricey Flame Echinacea. An example of under-watering, or putting a plant in an area that was too dry, is the Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) in a dry-ish raised bed (though I admit to doing this twice! Don't learn from your mistakes is the motto here!)

Failing to cage a tuber or root (those that are tasty to rodents) under ground is another mistake. When I first moved here, I planted tulips, not realizing the extent of the mole and vole incursions into my neighborhood. The tulips were eaten forthwith and just never came up (my personal "Feed a Vole" program). The sweet potatoes fooled me, though, with their beautiful, lush foliage. In the fall, I dug up the sweet potato bed- there they were, large, lovely sweet potatoes. It was only when I tried to lift them that I found they had been eaten from underneath, leaving just beautiful shells of sweet potato skin. Every time since I have planted tulips, I have dug a trench, and built a cage of garden cloth (square wire fencing, small gauge) right in the trench, with a top to deter squirrels. Or I have planted daffodils, poisonous to rodents (and hardier than tulips anyway). When I try sweet potatoes again, I will do something similar, though use a much larger cage.

Not marking a plant and accidentally digging it up is another obvious problem. I or my husband have dug up perennial hibiscus (they die back to the ground and are easy to miss), various bulbs, and other woody perennials that die back. I use metal garden markers with indelible pens and wax markers to mark their locations (and they do, until my little nephew pulls them out of the ground or we run them over with the mower).

Other mistakes?
Composting kitchen utensils, even sharp knives (ouch! You do not want to get cut while your hands are in compost- the infection possibility is huge!)
Not bothering to return a defective or dead plant within the warranty (most companies are good about these returns).
Plant non-drought tolerant plants under trees or under a roof overhang- the trees or overhang will divert rainwater.
…and I could go on and on….
Happy mistake-free gardening!

Happy Halloween!

I have always loved Halloween! Something about dressing up and becoming someone or something else! I always preferred scary costumes- witches, ghosts (one year my mother made us three youngest kids devil costumes-I think she was trying to tell us something). One quick gardening tip for Halloween. After Halloween I take my used inedible Jack o' Lanterns and toss them and, most importantly, their seeds into a waste area in the garden (that spot that isn't used to grow stuff) and see what emerges. This year I came away with 15 or so little pumpkins, most Jack Be Little ornamental types, and a few pie pumpkins. You never know exactly what you will get (pumpkins cross fertilize with other squashes easily) but it is fun!

Happy Halloween! Keep those hands in the dirt!