How the Garden Grows.....

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves."
                                        ~Mahatma Gandhi

 Veggies: from left to right: Beets ( can't see them much , little red leaves  squeaking up thru  dirt), lettuce, radishes.More lettuce. A huge row of sunflowers, broccoli ( you can see them waving  feathery hats), row of knee hi sweet peas, Campanula down-right ( big ole clump that will bloom all summer), Centaurea close to fence, cabbages ( just out of range). VERBASCUM, down-left, poking its leaves thru the fence. Oh, and carrots ( really slow to get going, on other side of sunflowers) . And not just any carrots, heritage ones, purples, blues, oranges........

The garden grows. The bees buzz. 

 The sky swirls.

 And the cats roam. Spencer still likes his yellow cup.

 And the slugs....well...they slug it out.  Nothing but a can of beer won't cure.A can of beer for the slugs, that is......

 This year I'm trying real slug bait beer traps, not homemade versions.  These ones sink into the dirt. I'm also trying real beer, rather than non-alcoholic. I have yet to check the beer hot tub to see how it is working.

 I may find worms in the trap. Or beetles. They like beer too. Apparently.

 Grapes are graping. ( Not sure if that is a term, but then, explains it better).Smokey avails himself of the arbour. Daily. He has that bird's eye view....

 Sunflowers are like little umbrellas these days.

 The cat plant thrives. He still likes the pot. He doesn't seem to need re-potting....

 Sunflowers beg to be replanted. I just haul them up  out of the masses and put them somewhere else.  Douse them with a goodly dose of water to get them to reset their roots. And try to get their stems to stay upright. Like little toy soldiers on parade.

 "It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season." ~Kate Morton ( 1976-) " The Forgotten Garden"

 Centaurea is much slower this year . But up it comes. The new seed I planted is even slower than the surviving counterparts.  I'm thinking I will reseed  in about two weeks to keep a continuous supply blooming if I can. 

 Cranesbill , Many people do not realize that this perennial geranium  has potential healing powers in is roots; called a a powerful ingredient called tannin, an anti-inflammatory.

 Cranesbill will turn the yard into  a woodland paradise. The bees are drawn to it. And anything we can do to attract bees......This year, I've noticed  bees are humming more than ever ,as the cranesbill takes up more and more space. More bees. This is great. Which is fine by me. Good to preserve  a natural perennial. I think I started with ONE  small plant, and it has spread on the wings of bees. I couldn't be happier.

 SWEET PEAS  spreading  little wings. Faster than last year. Everyone's proabably tired of my sweet peas. But it's just not the same without them. This year, I spread them around. I want to see what corners of the garden will work. I have rows and rows of the Knee Hi version,like on the left, and troughs of the Climbers, like the ones on the right.  

 DAHLIAS, ROSES, SUNFLOWERS, Centaurea, all meshed together in the front bed where it is warm, and safe and protected.  I was  worried Dahlias would not grow very well ( that the soil was too soggy, or too sandy, or too something). But up they come.......time will tell......
 "My garden is my favourite teacher. "~Betsy Cañas Garmon, 

Photographs 2017

SPRING PLANTING IDEAS....

 "In the Spring I have counted  136 kinds of weather, inside of 24 hours." -Mark Twain (1835-1910)

 In the Spring, EARLY spring, that is, I tend to quilt en masse, and I also tend to hoard things to plant. I am lucky enough to have this lovely little greenhouse that sees a lot of activity. If I could live in the greenhouse, I probably would. Full of clematis, and pots of things, and veggies and flowering in-edibles waiting to be planted. And sometimes a  cat or two from the hill.....

 Well, they tend to  hang out more, in my empty pots.  As Spencer demonstrates  so well...

 This year, I've decided to switch it up a notch. If you do the same thing every year then it gets boring.Tired of  the same things stuff into the dirt on the hill.  Or in the front. So I bought a wack of rose bushes, to fill up the front bed, where usually I'm scuffling around trying to stuff in annuals.If all works out , this year, it will  have roses and Centaurea venturing forth out of the soil.  All sprayed with Bobbex. The Deer LOVE roses...... 

 And then there's the quilting.  It just gets a hold  and your either planting or quilting.. These pieces  I still have to dye in beet juice to make them distressed.  Which in some way is rather calming  to dye something.....kathartic, like planting.

 "Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems."
            - Rainer Maria Wilke (1875-1926) (He was a Bohemian-Austrian novelist)

 I've also decided to grow  Dahlias and Glads up on the hill, with Velvet Queen Sunflowers mixed in.  Centaurea on the side. I ripped out all the brambles by the fence. Most satisfying thing to do.  The earth there is well  ground up, full of compost and worms. I haven't had Dahlias or Glads for years and years. Definitely not in their own space. 

 I also figured that I  needed to plant some veggies, and keep  resowing through the summer to see what  will work. So, on a dark and rainy storm day, I toddled down to the local grocery store....they have the best selection of  bedding plants every season. Cheaper than the fancy greenhouses sometimes. 

 They also have the best selection of  seed packets.  I love seed packets. I get so many that sometimes I can't decide WHAT I want to plant. But this time, I scanned through  the choices and picked up Radish, Lettuce, Heirloom Carrots, Peppers, Romaine, lots and lots of Spinach, which should do quite well.

 And because they were there, and I couldn't help myself, grabbed a flat of butter crunch, red leaf, salad greens,broccoli, cabbage, already started, set to go. Now, if the RAIN would just stop......

There are Six , foolproof, EASY PEASY veggies to grow: Spinach, Chard, Lettuce,Radishes, Kale and Peas. 

 "Lettuce is like conversation, it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you never notice the bitter in it..." 
          -Charles Dudley Warner(1829-1900) (Essayist/ friend to Mark Twain)

 MARCH  ( well it's almost April, though you'd never know it with all sog and bog around) is a good time to plant ( from seed,  if you wish): Broccoli, Cabbage, Beets, Carrots, Corn, Cukes, Lettuce varieties, Melons, Onions, Peas , Peppers, Spinach and Summer Squash...

Spinach grows like crazy. Very frost tolerant.  Peas also.  Hard to keep up with the harvest at times. More to share with your neighbours.

 "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."
                                        -Margaret Atwood (1939-) (Canadian novelist) 

 At this time of year you may want to cover young veggies in plastic tunnels or covers at night.  Or you can wait to plant till April. Though you may still have to cover things then. I only have one small section that isn't taken up with flowers in which to plant, so am waiting  till just the start  of April. Depends on the sog and bog. Rain. Rain. Rain. In the winter, it was Snow. Snow. Snow.  Gives me time to get CHICKEN WIRE to cover against the deer.....

 IF there are Deer around .  Though I can't say they come here, in the summer and eat stuff; just seeds in winter and apples in fall. At least , in my garden that's what their pattern usually happens to be. BUT, Deer ( with the big brown eyes) DO like  things like beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower,  and basically anything YOU like to eat.  Not hot things like garlic or hot peppers. 
       I tend to use a cover of chicken wire at night, and spray BOBBEX around the area. Not ON the veggies or fruit, by the way. BOBBEX  contains Fish Oil, Fish Meal, Garlic Oils, Clove Oils. Stuff that Deer DISLIKE IMMENSELY. It works. They may still come in the garden, but I haven't had them eat things surrounded by Bobbex. It's like the super hero of repellents. So plant away......

 "The sun just touched the morning; the morning, happy thing supposed that he had come to dwell, and life would be all spring."
                                              -Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

 2017