"Free" Plants

 There are many ways that gardeners find "free" plants.  Sometimes its a stretch, there is usually some cost associated with it in soil and containers or electricity for lights.  But sometimes we literally pull them out of nowhere.  I put several different kinds of seeds in milk jugs for winter sowing.  Some work, some don't.  This year my snapdragon seeds didn't amount to anything,  When I was pulling weeds in the vegetable garden I noticed a whole bunch of volunteers in the gravel around where the Costa Mix Snapdragons were planted last year.  Which, incidentally, came from winter sown seeds....

I couldn't just throw away free baby plants.  So I stuck them in a cell tray.  After watering them in and setting them in the shade, they all perked right up.  Now I have 50 free plants growing.

Annual Flower Fatigue

 I have Annual Flower Fatigue.  I am not sure if you should read that ANNUAL FLOWER fatigue or annual FLOWER FATIGUE.  I am tired of choosing, buying and planting annual flowers.  Annually.  

It is enough work to plant all new vegetables each year, and that work starts in March.  Perennials are a more relaxed schedule, but there is always something that dies over winter and has to be replaced, or is complaining about the spot you've put it in and wants to move, or is being eaten by critters and needs protection.  The last thing I want to deal with this time of year is a couple hundred dollars of hot house bedding plants that have to be color coordinated and comfortably situated and fed every week.  And the amount of soil that has to be amended and moved! Containers to clean and bring out of storage.  Pots to dispose of.

This is the third year that I have started my own Coleus and Celosia seeds indoors.  This is a long term commitment, but it is cost effective and I can be assured that I will get exactly the varieties that I want.  Coleus is surprisingly easy to grow, but Celosia is a bit finicky.  It does not transplant well because the root systems are small and slow to develop.  Still, I persevere.

Because this is what it will look like in the summer.  It is a spectacular sight and garners many compliments.  And... the deer don't bother it.

But I have noticed, that Celosia self seeds very reliably.  Look at the edge of the firepit in the photo below.  Do you see all of those little volunteers?  Next year I am going to try direct sowing this and placing a polycarbonate panel or frost cover over it.  Now THAT would be easy.

Another thing I have done to streamline the container planting is switching to perennials.

Last year I converted these two, part shade whiskey barrels from annuals to perennial Heuchera.  They are doing wonderfully.  They require a little winter care but the deer don't bother them too much and it saves about a hundred dollars a year that I would be spending on annuals.

This planter lost one plant so the color is a little out of balance

I am really loving the ease of coordinating foliage plants and the color palette of red, black and chartreuse.  So I have again duplicated it in the Coleus planters.  Both the Heuchera and the Coleus can take both shade and sun so they are perfectly suited to the variable shade in this area.  And I do not have to choose between many shades of pinks or reds or yellows...  Or worry about how it will look along side my perennials plantings.

Below is my one annual plant splurge of the year.  These are mail order Proven Winners annuals from Romence Gardens.

The planter should look like the photo below when it is filled in.  The center grass is different, but it was the closest option available.

While we are out here near the firepit, take a look at this lovely Lemony Lace Elderberry bush.  Sometimes lime green plants can look sickly or washed out, but this shrub is doing a lovely job of adding a pop of foliage color and unique texture to the river bed.

One planter I was almost going to skip altogether this year is the one in front of the garden shed.  I am not planting any other annuals around the house or driveway but, I can see this one from the bedroom window so it is something I will look at many times each day.

I just used up extra Coleus plants and added a Marguerite lime sweet potato vine.

Now I said I wasn't planting anything around the house and driveway.  That's not entirely true.  I usually plant dozens of Salmon geraniums in the landscape and place planters on either side of the entrance, and those items cost a lot in time, money and deer repellent.  But there is one whiskey barrel in a prominent location, and leaving it sitting there empty just didn't seem right.

I made my one single effort at choosing a flower that coordinates perfectly with my perennial plantings.  I went with a Calibrachoa which does not require a lot of water, and I chose a color that will match the Day Lilies perfectly.  I am actually looking forward wo seeing this one fill in.

Stretching My Compost

 I finally got all of my finished compost sifted.  It is so pretty that I would like to just leave it there to admire.  This pile is from the second half of last year, consisting of four months of kitchen scraps and garden waste.  I started the pile in the compost tube in July, dumped it in the late fall, mixed in what was left of the shredded leaves from the year before and turned it all winter.  I already sifted off a wheelbarrow load and used it to dress one of the beds that is resting this year.  I still had four beds that I felt needed some compost and this was only going to stretch to two or three beds.  

I also have a pile of shredded leaves from last year.  Since I planted my tomato plants in the ground instead of containers and am not growing potatoes in grow bags, I will not be using as many leaves to top off containers and have extra leaves to use on the beds.  Earthworms love leaves.  Sometimes I put down a layer of leaves and cover them with compost to stop them blowing around.   I used the shredded leaves alone as mulch in the cole crop bed because it is covered in netting and they will not blow out.  I also plan to put straight leaves in the cucumber bed because that will be covered for several weeks allowing the leaves to settle and be watered down so they won't blow around as much.

I would typically mix the leftover leaves back into the mulch pile.  Why not mix them in now, stretch the mulch, and make the leaves less likely to blow around?  Using a wheelbarrow, I mixed the mulch with the leaves 50/50 and spread them on the two tomato beds.  I mulched a third bed with straight compost because I planted pole beans in it today and will be direct sowing Marigolds along the sides.  Marigold seeds would be lost in the leaf mold and would not make good contact with the soil.  

My compost area is nice and tidy and I have an empty tube to start filling with scraps.

I still have about a third of the compost pile left, and plenty of leaves.  I will be able to mulch everything I need to and it will be time to dump the compost tube I have been adding to since last winter so I can begin turning it and finish off the composting process.

Below is a shot of one of my developing pears on the pear tree.  I have about six Bosc pears and a few Bartlett pears setting. The tree flowered heavily, but went through a hard freeze just as the blooms were opening up.  I don't know if the scant pollination is due to the frost damaging the pollen or if the bees were not as active in the cold weather.

The tree itself is putting out a lot of fresh new growth and looks really good.

Planting Tomato Plants

My tomato plants are in the ground.  These Dwarf tomato plants below are the nicest tomato transplants I've ever grown.  I started them quite early (April 1st) because I was not concerned about them getting too leggy.  I kept them under LED lights until they could go out to the cold frame and transplanted them into ProMix Vegetable and Herb soil.  One advantage of this warm spring is that they could go into the cold frame earlier than usual where plants always begin to thrive in natural light.

My little Micro Tomatoes are setting fruit already.  They are going to need to go into larger plastic pots because these 6" clay pots are proving too difficult to keep watered in our hot spring.

The Dwarf plants are set out alongside a store bought Early Girl (red tomato ladder) which literally pales in comparison..

Early Girl Plus, Dwarf Peppermint Stripes, Dwarf Adelaide Festival and Dwarf Awesome.

The indeterminate plants (below) are much smaller being seeded two weeks after the Dwarf varieties.  I find that it is easier to transplant them smaller because it stresses the plant less and they take right off.

Black Beauty, Carbon, Paul Robeson, Berkley Tie-Dye Green, Pike Co. Yellow, Lenny and Gracie's Kentucky Heirloom, and Barlow
Peppers: Orange Blaze F1 and Majestic Red

This year I am trying T-posts and string as supports and I planted bell peppers and basil along each side.  I have kept everything shifted to the left because the far corner is difficult to reach with my water hose.  I still have to put down a mulch layer of shredded leaves and sifted compost.  Also in another bed I have an Amish variety and a Sunsugar cherry (by request of my husband).  I had been put off growing cherry tomatoes because the Sun Gold plants get so huge.  This plant is supposed to be a little more compact (five feet tall instead of eight) while producing an excellent flavored tomato.

The past few years I have been very controlled in the number and variety of tomato plants I've planted.  I have had enough to keep myself in tomato sandwiches, but I have had to wait until August to harvest and there have been few to share and I have felt pretty stingy about my tomatoes.  This year I should have plenty of interesting tomatoes to share with friends. 

 

Setting Peppers Up for Success

It is so early to be planting peppers here!  But the forecast looks OK and my pepper plants are at the perfect stage for transplanting.  I can already see little buds forming at the top.  They are eager to go and I don't want to hold them back.  When I removed the pots, the white roots had just reached the bottom of the pot.  

I am no pepper expert, but there are a few things I have learned about them over the years.  The first thing is that they like to touch each other.  This has nothing to do with pollination, because, like tomatoes, peppers are self pollinating.  But they get lonely if you space them too far apart.  I suspect this has more to do with dappled shade than anything else.  Which brings me to the second most important point, and that is they don't want full, unrelenting sun, even here in NY where our version of "full sun" is much less intense than most places due to our proximity to the Great Lakes.  We have a lot of cloud cover, and still, my pepper plants do not want twelve hours of sun.  They are much happier on the north side of a fence post, in the shadow of the top rail, where they are shaded from the most intense hours of sun.  And lastly, they do well in containers.  They like warm soil, and what better way to warm the soil than to put it in a black pot?

These containers are about ten gallons.  Sixteen or eighteen inches across.  I have planted as many as six pepper plants in them and they always do well.  I start with some used potting mix, and recharge it with a good helping of Garden Tone fertilizer.  I fill it to about the level where their roots will reach, and mix the fertilizer into the top few inches of soil.

I top off the container leaving room for a generous helping of worm castings, and some Kelp Meal which has an N-P-K of 1-0-2.  I mix that up and we are ready to plant.  The key to growing peppers in containers is to use a container large enough for more than one plant.  Remember, everyone needs a friend!  I use a grow thru grid which will help support them later on when they are heavy with fruit.  Pepper stems are woody and tend to snap under load instead of bending.

Then I top dress the soil with a layer of shredded leaves. I do this with all of my large containers.  It helps the soil retain moisture and prevents it from crusting over on top.  It also discourages the occasional weed.  I water them in well, and they probably will not need water again for several days if not longer.  With containers, it is helpful to use a moisture meter so you don't over water and rot the roots.

And finally, I pin a frost cloth around everything.  This will add some heat during the cooler days, and block the wind while the plants are adjusting to their new situation.  I find it is easier to go ahead and rig a frost cloth right at the beginning.  It is easier to open this up if we get a really hot, sunny day where they may over heat than it is to run around in the evening trying to get everyone protected from a potential frost.

Now my pepper plants are all set and ready to go.  They will soon grow up through the grid and I will free them from their frost cloth.  It won't be long until we have blooms, and then little baby peppers.

Update on Relocated Perennial

The little Geum plant that I divided and relocated is happy and healthy.  In fact, it was the first of the Geum to set a bloom.

The portion left behind is also fine and blooming. 

Sunny Day

After several days of cool temperatures, mid-40s at night and mid-fifties during the day, we finally got a warm, sunny day and I can open up the cold frame for more than a minute, inspect some of my plants and give them liquid fertilizer.  The cold frame has needed to conserve every degree of temperature it can so I've only taken quick peeks to make sure nothing was drying out.

First are my Orange Hat Micro tomatoes.  This solves the problem of "cherry tomato plants are so BIG!"

Mature size and blooming

Below are my dwarf tomato plants and the Havasu hot peppers that we enjoy as pickled peppers.

These are ready to transplant but looking at the long range forecast, we are still getting night time temperatures below 55F for the next three weeks so I am not in a hurry.  I may go ahead and put the peppers in their large containers, but I will have to keep frost cloth around them and create a little personal cold frame for each container.

The indeterminate tomatoes have been up-potted one more time and are in no hurry to go in the ground.

And finally, my Large Exhibition Coleus Mix.  This is year two for this packet of seeds an they germinated well.  I am happy that I got two of each color so I can pot up a pair of matching planters.  

I also got extra of the Mosaic color which I will use in the planter in front of the chicken coop.  That solves that problem because I was feeling pretty cheap, lazy and uninspired about that planter.  Why not fill it with what are basically "free plants".  I'll just buy a Sweetheart Lime sweet potato plant to spill over the front and I'll be all done.

Planting Again

 I started my own sweet potato slips for the third year in a row.  They are getting so darn expensive to mail order that considering the amount I end up growing it is not cost effective to order new each year.  But growing slips from my own stock is free.  Last year I tried growing them in 7 gallon containers which proved to be just a little too shallow.  I had a few tubers that were blunted off when they reached the bottom.  So I am back to my large, 25 gallon grow bags.

I took one of my nicer remaining tubers and put it in potting soil under a grow light back in March.  A few weeks ago I broke the slips off of the tuber and placed them in a jar of water and put that out in the cold frame where they could get used to some sun.  If you skip the hardening off process you risk losing all your slips when you plant them out.  The roots look amazing.

When I order slips through the mail all I get is unrooted stems with all of the leaves wilted and dead wrapped in soggy newspaper.  It is always an unimpressive, expensive little bundle.  As an example, below is a picture from 2021 with the same grow bag planted with three mail order slips.  Can you see 'em in there?  Me neither...

My own slips are absolutely superior to those.  I have a few backups in case one of them doesn't take.  The original tuber is still under grow lights putting out more little baby slips.  I estimate I could get two dozen slips from a standard sized tuber.  

These 25 gallon grow bags will support four or five plants with enough room to put on some good size.  There is always a chance that one or more will not take.  I amend the soil with regular Garden-tone fertilizer and Bone Meal which helps develop stronger roots.  And a sweet potato is just a root after all.

I put five in each bag and then mulched them in with shredded leaves.  This is to help the soil stay moist and not dry out on top.  While I was in the leaf bin I got out enough to mulch in the cole crops.

Leaf mulch is important in this situation because of the fact that the bed is covered securely and that makes it difficult to pull a weed here and there.  The leaf mulch pretty much eliminates weeding all season and the insect mesh prevents the leaves from blowing out of the bed.

The peas and lettuce bed is growing well.

I planted carrots in containers (not much to see there) and transplanted most of my indeterminate tomato varieties.  I also finished planting my dahlia tubers.  I got the large decorative ones done in the main dahlia beds the other day but I also have some singles that I put along the walkway to the garden.  The sprouts on the large decoratives are already beginning to peak through the soil.  Since they are getting such a great head start I hope I get some earlier blooms this year.  It is so tough to wait until the end of July to see any blooms!

End of Mulching and Dahlia Day

We have finished the last of the edging and mulching.

And now that we are done tracking mud and mulch in the house, we have also shampooed the carpets and mopped the floors.  In the garden I am adding as many items to the bottom of my To Do List as I am crossing off of the top.  Today I planted fifty of my dahlia tubers.  They were all awake and sprouting so it had to be done.  The weather forecast looks OK but if we have a late frost I will have to cover everything.  It is a good practice to place your support stakes at the time of planting, but instead I covered most of them with wire cloches to stop critters digging them up.  To counter the tempting smell of the fertilizer and fresh soil I sprinkled them all with Liquid Fence granules.

Most of my garden chores right now do not make much visual difference.  I bury seeds (and tubers) in the soil and move plants from small pots to larger pots.  I have nice dwarf tomatoes and hot peppers and coleus hardening off in the cold frame.

The indeterminate tomatoes are weeks behind and still under grow lights.

The groundhogs were right, this has been an early spring.  I feel like I am planting a week or two earlier than usual at this point, but I am still holding off planting any warm weather plants in the ground.