Waiting for Weather

 I have a sprayer mixed with dormant oil ready to spray my fruit tees and I'm waiting patiently for a forty degree day...

Apple Blossoms April 2021

While we wait, I found a nice gardening series from England to watch on YouTube:

Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 2022 Series 1 - Spring

Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 2022 Series 1 - Spring into Summer

Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 2022 Series 1 - High Summer

Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 2022 Series 1 - Autumn

Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 2022 Series 1 - Winter

Smellavision

 Can we all just take a moment to appreciate Gurney's current favorite advertising photo that keeps popping up all over my internet travels.  I can almost smell it.

Gurney's

Mail Order Plants

 This post is a little premature.  I don't have all of the photos I would like to have to do a true expose' on mail ordering live plants.  But this is the time of year when I am thinking a lot about it.  So this is a place marker and a promise to do a more informative post.  

Yes, I mail order live plants.  And yes, it works out well.  I'm not talking about bulbs or corms or tubers or other bare root applications but actual green, growing annuals and perennials.  In this day and age when you can see examples of all of these beautiful plants on line it can be frustrating when you can't find the exact plant you have researched.  

Case in point, my Petticoats Peach Geum.  Naturally, I fell in love with a photo.  I really love peachy pink flowers.  Not pink.  Not yellow.  Peach.  I wanted peach Geums for a few years.  I searched high and low.  I could find a few Geums locally, but they were usually red or possibly tangerine and I don't love red flowers and I have plenty of orange.  I like them.  But I love peach colored flowers.  And the color palette around the house is much too soft for red flowers.  I've made that mistake before.

Below is the new garden bed we put in the summer 2020.  I put in divisions from my day lilies and Clematis bush so it would be cohesive with the bed next to it.  I planted some Carex grass for texture and put in a lot of different types of spring bulbs.  But I wanted something new that I don't already have anywhere else, and one of those things is Geum.

I ordered four peach Geum from Bluestone Perennials.  They came in the fall which is a good time for relocating or adding perennials.  They were just little guys in 3.5" pots.  That is the one thing you sort of have to get used to when mail ordering live plants.  You will be paying a higher price for a smaller pot and usually a trimmed down plant.  You would not normally go to a local store and pay $18 for a little pot.  You would probably be buying a gallon pot at that price.  But be patient for a few months.  You aren't buying for today. You are paying for convenience.  You are paying for relative rarity.  You are paying for growing potential.

Geum when first planted fall 2020

And this is what they became.

July 2021

Geum Petticoats Peach is supposed to grow 10"-12" tall and wide.  They are a compact plant with leaves similar to Geranium.  The flowers are about an inch in diameter and hover above the plant mound on delicate stems.  They spread outwards and can be divided every few years.

If you really have your heart set on something you can only get mail order, take a chance.  I've had good luck with Bluestone, Garden Crossings and Proven Winners.  I do not rely heavily on mail ordering live plants, but I tend to treat myself every year to something or other.  I have more hard to find items on order and next time I get a shipment I will take photos of the packaging so you can see how its done.  Before I tried it I couldn't imagine how a tender plant could be safely transported.  And of course now and then you might be unfortunate in weather or shipping delays.  Lord knows I would have preferred not to receive the Chilly Pear Tree a week before a May snow storm,  But for the most part its a viable option.  I am looking forward to seeing my Geum imerge for the snow bank

A little sparkle

 

Yesterday's Ice meets today's Sunshine

Heart Shaped Objects

 Hearts have always been one of my favorite shapes.  It started in grade school when I learned how to cut a perfect one from a folded piece of paper.  Its also a very flexible shape.  They can be fat or skinny or fancy or plain.  They can be edged in lace or made of smooth metal.  I look forward to this time of year when I round up all of my heart shaped objects and come up with some sort of happy vignette.

Tin hearts have become one of my favorite collectibles, whether they are Jell-O molds, ice cream molds or cookie cutters.  Especially if they are baking tins.  There is something about all of the years of bakers pouring love into these tools to make goodies for their Valentines that gives them a special aura.  

The latest addition to my collection is the 1920's Kreamer tart tin.  I've been wanting one for awhile and they only come up once a year or so.  When you see one you can't linger too long over the decision because no matter the price, someone will buy it.  When it arrived in the mail and I opened the packaged I fell in love with it.  It is so cleverly made.  Each one of the heart shapes is individually stamped into its own circle and then set into the larger flat tin.  It is a work of art and it makes my heart happy.

My large spring form pan is also a clever design.  The bottom fits into a very narrow lip and the tip has a slide which pulls off to release the sides.  It would take more than one cake mix to fill this baby!

I've come across several more smaller sized cake pans.  These three are my first finds.  I put them on this shelf back in 2019 and liked them so much they've been there ever since.  I added the swans last year.

As winter wears on these homey touches keep my heart warm.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Peter Rabbit Boots

 I tend to not enjoy wearing funny colored shoes/boots as much as shopping for them, so I won't be buying these.  But how stinkin' cute!  These special editions tend to sell out super quick, so if you love them don't think about it too long.

Available at:

• Hunter
• Anthropologie
• Terrain

Preparing for Seeds

 It is still winter and the anticipation of spring is both exciting and ominous.  All of these plans we make actually have to be carried out.  And you can't make greenhouse style plans if you have no greenhouse.  I have to make sure that I am prepared to start things when they need to be started in the conditions they need to survive.  Otherwise the seed purchases and summer dreams will be all for naught.

This starts with a calendar and some facts.  Seeds don't all want the same thing.  For starters, some need light to germinate and others need dark to germinate.  It helps me to make a chart.  Nasturtium are the only thing I am starting that require darkness.  Those will be started in the basement.  They also require either soaking or scarification (breaking the shell).  Everything else can be started in the cold frame.

Did you notice in my chart that these seeds require 75 degree soil?  That won't be accomplished in the cold frame the first week of April without a heat mat.  I have two tray size heat mats that I have used for years in my basement set up for tomatoes and other veggies.  I plan to order a large heat mat (20" x 48") that will fit four trays at a time.  My old ones are not adjustable and they typically keep the soil five to ten degrees warmer than ambient temperature which works well for the basement.  This one has a temperature sensor which can be set at 75 and it will regulate itself to maintain the desired temperature.

Another thing I need to have is enough seed starting mix.  I usually use potting mix in the cold frame.  There are two caveats with that.  #1, reused potting mix is no longer sterile and you can get damping off problems.  #2, potting mix is a little coarse for seedlings and it helps to run it through a sifter to remove larger elements.  You can sift your potting mix and sterilize it with boiling water or some time in the oven.  Working with soil in April can be a bit of a hassle.  This year I am just going to buy a couple bags of seed starter.  You know, its the little luxuries in life that make us happy.

This year I am going to grow some Ranunculus.  This is sort of exciting.  I've seen them on the internet and they are beautiful.  To be successful, it is recommended that you soak the corms and set them in potting soil for ten to fourteen days to pre-sprout them before you plant them out.  I am going to use regular (non-draining) plant trays to do this.  This will begin March first.  I will need to make sure I have unfrozen soil to use.  We are supposed to get a 45 degree day coming up.  I will probably still need some warm water to thaw the iceberg, but it will be a good day to go out to the dirt locker and work on that project.

Something else that can benefit from pre-sprouting is Dahlia tubers.  Again, you fill a tray with soil and place the tubers in the soil and put them in the sun.  This is sort of like chitting potatoes.  You want to wake them up without risking planting them out in the ground too early.  If they are in trays you can move them to the warmest, sunniest spot and bring them in at night.  I have these bus tubs (for restaurant use) that will be the right size.  Again, I'm going to need soil but the Dahlia sprouting won't begin until May 1st so hopefully things will be more thawed out by then!

Speaking of soil.  I need more.  Every year I buy about a dozen large 50 quart bags .  The first priority for new soil is my container tomatoes.  They always get new soil because I want it to be free of disease and high in nutrients.  In the fall I save all of my good potting mix for the next year.  I have the 73 gallon dirt locker and I also have four heavy 18 gallon Rubbermaid totes.  Anything leftover that doesn't fit into this storage is either dumped in the raised beds or into the compost pile.  This starts me out with 145 gallons of potting mix.  Its still not enough.  I will need another dozen bags or so to fill my expectations.  

And this list only includes my set plans.  It won't cover me deciding to plant up leftover marigolds in small decorative pots to place here and there in bare spots.  It won't cover any perennials I want to dig into the creek beds because those each require fiber pots of soil.  I will be able to stretch the potting mix quite a bit by adding about 25% of my finished compost to each container.  Suddenly 145 gallons of saved potting mix doesn't seem like a lot.  But a simple decision like not planting sweet potatoes can change the scenery quite a bit. These are the things I need to know and take into consideration.  If I DO end up buying fourteen bags of new potting mix to plant everything my heart desires I will be faced with a storage problem in the fall.  Its a system of checks and balances.  I make my plans and consider the consequences.

Parting Shot:  Some spare Strawberry Blonde Marigolds spontaneously using up some of that valuable potting mix.