Katie's Kitchen Garden

Seed Mats

2011-12-29T00:20:00.003-05:00

What I'm Taking to the Plant Swap Tomorrow

2011-05-14T07:09:00.003-04:00

I have more than 100 plants to take to the Central Indiana Plant Swap tomorrow at Holiday Park at 2pm.

Sun plants:
coreopsis
hardy geranium-Max Frei
salvia-May night
clematis-sweet autumn
heliopsis
daylilies-happy returns, Chicago apache, apple core, ruby spider, velvet beads
monarda-Jacob Klein
reblooming short purple iris
black eyed susan
lamb's ear

Shade plants:

hostas-patriot, ghost spirit, sagae

astilbe

sweet woodruff

ferns

tomatoes: Sweet Tangerine, Black from Tula, Russo's Sicilian Togetta, Chocolate Stripes, Japanese Trifele, Patano Romanesco, Azoychka, Red Alert, Mr. Stipey, Islea, Amish Paste, Early Chatham, Rutgers

basil: magic Michael, genovese, oriental breeze

rosemary

Getting Ready for the Central Indiana Plant Swap

2011-05-13T19:38:00.000-04:00

I FINALLY got to work in my garden today. This month, my work life has been intense. Now that everything has calmed down, I can have a personal life. My garden is an unbelievable weedy embarrassment right now. I spent the day weeding the beds in my front yard and dividing plants for the Central Indiana Plant Swap on Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday: What New Is Blooming?

2011-05-11T11:13:00.001-04:00

Iris Cristata

2011-04-24T23:50:00.000-04:00

I have a new garden favorite: iris cristata. It's also called dwarf crested iris. Until last year, I had never seen or heard of this plant. I stumbled across it at a nursery. It started blooming this week. It's so pretty and delicate. It's about 6 inches tall and the clump has doubled in size since last year. The label for the plant said that it serves as a great ground cover in sun to light shade. It's doing well under my oak tree.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Veggies

2011-04-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

Squirrels!

2011-04-19T07:08:00.000-04:00

I loathe squirrels. We used to have at least a polite relationship. I have a problem with them digging up my porch plants, despite the fact that I have tens of thousands of acorns all over my yard. Now, however, they have gone too far. They dug up my fancy reblooming iris and flung it in the porch to rot.
The photo above it the shriveled up remains of what they must have dug up over the winter. I replanted it in the front bed. I hope that it's not too far gone. The other iris that I planted at the same time look like this:

Big Harvest

2011-04-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

Today, I was cleaning out my shared alley bed and came across a few carrots from last year. They were all still tiny, despite having been in the ground for almost a year. I'm going to have to investigate what kind of soil carrots like. The soil is loose and rich, so I get big tops and small carrots. Maybe the soil has too much nitrogen. Does anyone out there know how I can amend the soil to get bigger carrots?

Planting Shallots

2011-04-17T12:07:00.000-04:00

I planted 24 shallot sets this weekend. Many books recommend planting them in the fall, but you can also plant them in the spring for a late summer harvest. They should be planted a inch or two deep and about 6 inches apart. Just make sure that their necks stick out a little bit above the soil line. It's important to keep the shallot rows well weeded. Their shallow roots system doesn't do well with weed competition.

Planting Sugar Snap Peas

2011-04-16T08:34:00.001-04:00

I'm so behind in my gardening this spring. I've been traveling a lot for work, so my gardening time has been limited. I am about a month late in getting my peas planted. I don't feel too bad, because a fellow Indianapolis gardener, Minji at thyme2gardennow, posted last week that her peas had just come up.

I always plant my peas along my picket fence so that the fence can serve as a trellis. I usually just poke a hole in the soil with my finger, but the soil is a little too compacted this year. Instead, I used a 3/4" drill spade that I slipped into an interchangable screwdriver. Making the right sized holes with it was easy.

I popped two peas into each hole since my pea seeds are old. The seeds are three years old, but pea seeds are viable for 3 years according to the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. After placing the peas in the hole, I added a little shake of inoculant to the hole. The inoculant has bacteria that help the pea seedlings to fix nitrogen. Using inoculant is suppose to give you stronger, more productive pea plants. I planted yesterday so that I wouldn't have to water. It rained last night and is supposed to rain throughout the day today. I often try to plant when I know there will be rain. I want my seeds and plants to get a long, soft, deep soaking.

Favorite Spring Perennial: Jack Frost Brunnera

2011-04-14T06:22:00.000-04:00

Jack Frost Brunnera, also called Siberian Bugloss, is one of my favorite spring flowering perennials. This year in my garden, zone 5, it started blooming around April 6, and will likely give me a couple of weeks more of bloom time. I like it because it grows in fairly dry shade without any help from me. The periwinkle blue flowers look lovely when planted beside daffodils. even after the flowers are gone, the heart-shaped, variegated leaves brighten up and add texture to my shade garden.

Wordless Wednesday: Emerging Hosta

2011-04-13T07:20:00.000-04:00

A Favorite Flower Resource

2011-04-12T08:12:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite flower resources is Fine Gardening's Plant Guide. This website is one my my go-to sites for digging up information on caring for plants that I already have or exploring which kinds of new plants would work well in my garden.

[note: Starting tomorrow, I will be back from a business trip that I took and I will have some 'real' postings about my garden.]

Excellent Veggie Resource

2011-04-11T14:53:00.002-04:00

One of my most useful, free :-) resources is the Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar from the Purdue Cooperative Extension. This free resource divides Indiana into four planting zones based on typical last frost and first frost dates. Indianapolis is in their zone C in which the 50% last frost date is April 26 and the 90% last frost date is May 5. The publication also includes date ranges for planting 57 different vegetables and fruits.

Wordless Wednesday: What New Is Blooming?

2011-04-06T07:33:00.000-04:00

This Year's Tomato Lineup

2011-04-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

I have 13 different varieties of tomatoes that I'm planting this year. I was planning on 14, but one variety didn't germinate.

Sweet Tangerine
Black from Tula
Russo's Sicilian Togetta
Chocolate Stripes
Japanese Trifele
Patano Romanesco
Azoychka
Red Alert
Mr. Stipey
Islea
Amish Paste
Early Chatham
Rutgers

Last year, I grew
Sweet Tangerine
Chocolate Stripes
Fred Limbaugh
1884
Yellowstone
Bloody Butcher
Blondkopfchen
Henderson's Wins All
Wolford's Wonder
Napa Grape
Italian Heirloom
Japanese Trifele
Black Cherry
Orange Russian
Stupice
Principe Borghese

I did a little taste and productivity test on all the tomatoes. I want to find the best tasting, most productive tomatoes for my garden. Last year, I tried several varieties and was won over by three different tomatoes:
Sweet Tangerine
Chocolate Stripes
Japanese Trifele

I saved seeds from all of my tomatoes. I kept a package each of Sweet Tangerine, Chocolate Stripes, and Japanese Trifele. I sent the rest of the seeds to www.wintersown.org. Trudi at Wintersown sends out free seeds, including tomato seeds to gardeners. I also asked for some tomato seeds. She allows requesters to choose 10 seed varieties and she tries to give them at least 5 packets of what they want. It's great to trade seeds for the cost of a couple of stamps rather than having to invest in several seed packs at the store for a much great amount of money.

Potting Up Tomato Seedlings

2011-04-02T17:26:00.001-04:00

My tomato seedlings have grown all the way up to the grow lights, so it's time to pot them up.

I started by making a soil mixture. I used to buy potting soil until I realized that it wasn't really necessary. Now I mix some coir (coconut fiber that has great moisture retaining properties), peat moss, finished compost, and some garden soil. I mix it all in a large storage tub.

I often use old plastic pots, but I don't have many this year. Instead, I used 9 ounce cups. The 9 ounce cups are a good size for me because they fit well into the trays that I put the potted up seedlings in. They will last a couple of years, so I can reuse them before eventually recycling them. They need a drainage hole, so I use a cheap soldering iron to melt a hole in the bottoms of the cups.

I had terrific germination. I usually place two seeds in each peat pellet in case one doesn't germinate. This year, almost all pellets had two seedlings and a few had three. There must have been some tomato seeds that stuck together.

I take off the netting on the pellets and tease the seedlings apart, trying to retain as many roots as I can for each seedling. Then I remove the first set of leaves at the bottom of each stem and bury the seedlings deep in the bottom of the cups. Roots will sprout along the buried stems and create a strong root system for each plant.

Once the tomatoes are potted up, I start hardening them off by placing them outside when the temperature is above 50 degrees. I start with 4 hours and gradually increase the time that they are outside until they are able to stay out all night. On the days and nights that forecast low temperatures near 50 degrees, I bring the plants inside. Temperatures any cooler will delay the seedling growth. I may plant them in early May if warm weather is forecasted or after May 10th which is our frost free date.

Putting the seedlings out early gives me more room under my grow lights to start an early round of cucumbers, melons, and beans. I give them a head start and transplant them out after the frost free date in Indianapolis, May 10.

A Tale of Two Tomatoes

2011-04-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Last year, I tried starting my tomatoes in Jiffy Mix. As you can see in the picture at the top, I got tiny scrawny, purple seedlings. They were 2-4 inches tall. The picture on the bottom shows my tomato seedlings this year that I started in peat pellets. They are 8-10 inches tall. Both photos were taken when the seedlings were about 6 weeks old. From now on, I'm going to stick with peat pellets.

Wordless Wednesday: Enough, Already!

2011-03-30T13:12:00.000-04:00

Asparagus Worries

2011-03-29T10:13:00.001-04:00

I have been upset about my asparagus for about a week and a half. I'm new to growing asparagus, so I'm not quite sure if I'm doing everything right. I finally have asparagus that I can harvest. The big heartbreak of this spring was that after three years of waiting, I thought that only about a third of my asparagus made it through the winter [and perhaps some inadequate watering on my part late last summer].

While about a third of my asparagus plants looked like this clump

the other two-thirds looked like this clump.

If I had only been patient, I wouldn't have worried. It took about a week and a half for some of the other clumps to emerge.

Garden Calendar-March

2011-03-28T19:57:00.000-04:00

I live in such a fantasy world when it comes to planning what to do in my garden. I finished a lot of the tasks, but I didn't finish it all. I had a dream of having daffodils on my front porch this spring, but I never got around to potting up any bulbs this winter. It probably would have been a bad idea anyway, since the *(^&*%^&^(&%%$@ squirrels dig up most anything that I put on the porch. I have a HUGE oak tree in my front yard with tens of thousands of acorns that fall all over my lawn. You would think that the acorns would be enough. No, no, no. They would rather dig up my porch plants and fling them all over the place than eat the readily available acorns.

Anyhow, back to the topic. I also didn't get to cleaning out the garage. My niece is spend the year teaching English in France. All her furniture is in my garage. I'm not sure that I can really do much with the garage until she gets her own place. I also haven't done much with the yard.

I HAVE at least gotten most of my seed planting finished. My seedlings look great and will soon be ready to harden off. My tomatoes are about 8 inches tall with healthy looking stems and leaves. Thank goodness for grow lights!

This next weekend, I'm going to focus on cleaning up the yard. I'll finish cleaning out the beds, mow over the bagged leaves that I have, use the shredded leaves for mulch, and put more mulch down in the muddy area on the north side of my house that the dogs run through.

Propagating Rosemary

2011-03-27T16:37:00.000-04:00

I want more rosemary plants for my garden, my sister, & Gaynell, my neighbor. I decided to try starting some from cuttings.

I bought a rosemary plant that with several branches. I cut off each branch, leaving about a half an inch of green on each branch on the plant. I want to still use the mother plant.

Then I cut each branch in half and stripped off the lower leaves from each section. I dipped the leafless stems in rooting hormone.

Finally, I placed each rosemary piece in its own wet peat pellet and put the rosemary plants in a plastic shoebox. The rosemary box will join the other plants on my growing light shelves. I made 15 starts because I know that not all the cuttings will take root. I'll take the extras, if there are any, to the Central Indiana Plant Swap.

My Growing Light Shelves

2011-03-26T07:59:00.000-04:00

I use grow lights to start my seeds every year. I'm ~~cheap~~ frugal, so I decided to make my own instead of paying $100+ for a pre-made one. I bought a shelving unit, four fluorescent light fixtures, and eight grow fluorescent bulbs. I assembled the shelves and tied the light fixtures to the bottoms of the shelves with rubber coated wire. I put the lights on a timer because I can't remember to turn them on and off consistently. I've had great results with this set up for the past four years.

2011 Central Indiana Plant Swap

2011-03-25T06:08:00.026-04:00

We're having another Central Indiana Plant Swap on May 15th! Please come and bring your gardening friends and family. Information about the event is posted below. I also have several posts from last year about how I prepared for the event, what kinds of plants that I took (to give you some ideas of what I might take this year), and what the event was like.

One of last year's participants organizing her 'loot'

Posted on the Gardenweb Get-Together Forum:
Central Indiana Spring Plant Swap 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011, 2:00 pm
Holliday Park, 6363 Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis, IN 46260

PLEASE tell all your gardening friends, family, and colleagues! We're having the Central Indiana Fall Plant Swap on May 15th. We are encouraging all gardeners to participate! We typically have perennials, annuals, bulbs, tubers, herbs, vegetables, and shrubs. There's no cost to participate. Just bring in your divisions, leftovers, and extra plants!
Directions inside the park: Once you enter the park take an immediate left. Then pull into the first parking lot on the right. We will be under the giant sycamore tree. You can bring tables, chairs and plants to share.

MINUMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PLANT SWAP:
- You must bring at least one dozen (12) plants - some people bring more than 50. (I usually bring 100+)
- At least two (2) varieties of plants - try to bring one plant that is extra special.
- All plants need to be clearly identified with plant name and care --
(Examples: HOSTA: Halcyon, Shade. * DAYLILY: Happy Returns, Sun)
- For best results plants should NOT be dug up and divided that day. Allow a week or two of special care, to make sure the potted plants are not stressed from being dug up.

TRADING MATERIALS
Perennials well rooted cuttings potted up, bulbs, shrubs, happy seedlings, garden ornaments, extra gardening implements, gardening magazines and books, etc.
You can also print out pictures of the mature plants during peak bloom times. You can go to an online nursery that sells the plants and paste the care instructions into a document.
It is also helpful if you post here what you might bring. That way, we can get an idea of what will be at the swap and people can research a particular plant to see if they want to choose it during the swap.

HOW IT WORKS
We will do the swap in the ROUND ROBIN Format - it works well for this group, and is a lot of fun:
*Round One - pick one plant *Next Round - pick one plant *Next Round - pick two plants *Next Round - pick two plants *Next Round - pick three plants *Next Round - pick four plants *And so on . . . This way everyone gets a chance to get some of the plants they really have on eye on. This works well and other swaps have had great success with it in the past. Everyone should be able to take home as many plants as they bring.

KEEP IT SIMPLE, HAVE FUN, MEET FELLOW GARDENERS
* Post what you are planning to swap, and/or update your plant list.
* Bring a box or container labeled with your name to put your new plants.
* We plan to meet even if it rains - bring those rain coats, umbrellas, etc.
*E-mail me if you wish to be put on the plant-swap e-mail list.

Asparagus Grows Quickly

2011-03-24T08:12:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited! I have asparagus coming up. Each plant is producing fairly prolifically. Many of the spears are at least as big around as my fingers. I'm going to be able to harvest them for the first time this year!!!!

This is what my asparagus looked like on Monday.

Here's what it looks like today.

My first 'big' harvest of the year was two spears.

Wordless Wednesday: First Blooms and Other Perennials

2011-03-23T13:34:00.001-04:00

Planting Garlic

2011-03-22T17:50:00.004-04:00

When I went to to my backyard garden this weekend, I noticed that I had overlooked some garlic from last year. It had frost-heaved and sprouted. Since I don't have anything to lose, I tried planting it. We'll see if it grows well.

I broke the larger garlic clumps up into smaller clumps and replanted them.

I also planted the cloves from the organic garlic that I bought at the grocery store. I planted them about an inch deep and four inches apart.

First Planting of the Year!

2011-03-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I got to plant some vegetables. I intended to plant peas, onions, and carrots, but I ran out of time to plant the peas. I'll have to plant them later in the week.

I bought the garlic and onion sets at the grocery store. I was excited to see that could buy onion sets there. I bought red, white, and yellow onions. The garlic is organic so it hasn't been treated with spouting retardants.

I had a couple of onions that I missed last year. I planted them too late, so they never got very big. I dug them up and planted them with the onion sets.

To plant the onion sets, I put on a garden glove and poke 2" holes in the soil, about 3" apart. Then I drop in a tiny onion. Finally, I cover up the hole and water the planted onions.

Sprouted Potatoes

2011-03-20T22:02:00.000-04:00

I saved some potatoes from last year's harvest: butterball, Swedish fingerling, and blue potatoes. I stored them in my upstairs bathroom closet because it is dark and cold. I hoped that they would make it through the winter. When I went to retrieve them today, I saw that they had sprouted. The sprouts have already started to produce leaves. Since I have nothing to lose, I decided to try to plant them anyway.

I grow my potatoes in large plastic pots. I add a couple of inched in the bottom of the pot. Then I place a couple of potatoes on top of the dirt and cover them with a couple more inched of dirt. As the potatoes grow and produce leaves, I add a couple of inched of dirt, chopped up old leaves, and maybe a sprinkling of compost when the plants reach about 5 inches above the soil.

Waking Up from a Long Winter's Sleep

2011-03-19T21:21:00.002-04:00

My garden is waking up from its long winter's sleep:

the lamb's ear is small and fuzzy,

the rudibeckia is peaking through the leaves, and

of course, the weeds growing between the stones in my patio are the most prolific.

Dogs in Compost, Again!

2011-01-11T21:16:00.000-05:00

I don't get it! My dogs love to get into the compost pile. I don't usually put anything in my compost that they would eat. Apparently, putrid smells make the veggies and coffee grounds much more appetizing. I blocked the dogs from jumping in the pile by stapling construction netting over a coldframe lid, placing the netting lid over the piles, and placing an iron chair on top of the lid to keep the dogs from being able to get enough leverage to break through the netting. Well, they managed push the lid to the side and crawl down into the bins. They must have put forth a lot of effort. I supposed that I will have to attach the frame to the fence as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

2010 Resolution #3: Seed Saving

2011-01-08T10:10:00.001-05:00

My third resolution from 2010 was "I will save heirloom seeds from my annuals, perennials, vegetables, fruits, and herbs. I will use these seeds next year and I will trade them with other gardeners so that I can get new varieties."

I saved seeds from my tomato plants. I saved enough that I was able to send 100+ packets of seeds to a seed exchange. This year, I will save other seeds, too.

Comfort Food: Vegetable Beef Soup

2011-01-07T08:15:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite winter treats is a good, thick vegetable beef soup. My recipe varies depending on what ingredients I have, but this is generally how I make it:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of carrots, diced
2 cups of celery, diced
about 1 tablespoon total of herbs (I used 2 bay leaves, 1t oregano, 1t thyme, and 1 t rosemary this time. Sometimes I use herb blends like Penzy's Mural of Flavor or Tuscan Sunset.)
2-3 cups of tomatoes, diced
1-1 1/2 lbs of chuck roast, cut into small pieces, fat cut off and discarded
beef neck bone pieces
2 cups of corn
2 cups of green beans
1 cup of red wine (whatever I have leftover, usually a Cabernet)
3 cups of beef stock (add more if you like a brothier soup)
salt and pepper to taste

First, I saute the onions over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes until they start to turn a little golden. Then I add the garlic and continue to saute them until the onions and garlic are a little more golden, about 8 minutes. Then I stir in the celery, carrots, and herbs and gently saute them for about 5 minutes. Then I add the remaining ingredients. I turn the heat up to medium high until the soup begins to boil. Then I turn down the heat to medium low again and simmer the soup for a couple of hours.

2010 Resolution #2: Weeding

2011-01-06T09:09:00.003-05:00

My second resolution from last year was "I will weed for 10 minutes a day so that I don't have to spend hours removing the jungle of weeds that develop around mid-August because I though it was too hot to weed in July."

When I was on top of my weeding

The vegetable garden of shame

I had mixed results on this resolution. I bought a Japanese garden hoe which was supersharp to make weeding easier. I love it because it makes weeding so much faster. However, you actually have to use it in order to keep the weeds at bay. I was really good in the spring at weeding. In July, when it got hot and I had to work all month, it was all over. The weeds took over by August and it was ugly. I couldn't face the jungle, so I hired my neighbor's granddaughter to weed for me. She's good, fast, and knows what she's doing. She was totally worth it!

2010 Resolution #1: The Plant Graveyard

2011-01-04T09:08:00.004-05:00

Last year, I made a list of gardening resolutions. In the spirit of transparency, I'll post how I did on each of these resolutions over the next month. My first resolution stated, "I will no longer grow plants from seeds only to see them languish, unplanted, on the side of my house in what has become known as the plant graveyard." I only lost one flat of plants, and they were extras. I'm doing much better by that account. However, I did let six delphinium dry out and die while waiting to be planted, so maybe that's one area in which I need to improve in the coming year. The photo above was taken a couple of days ago before I cleaned out the plant graveyard.

A Little Garden Porn in the Afternoon

2011-01-03T09:45:00.000-05:00

The seed catalogs are starting to come!!! My sister and I refer to these catalogs as garden porn because we spend hours pouring over all the pictures and descriptions. Since I teach, I am off on vacation for a couple of weeks. I am wasting way too much time going through all these catalogs.

I've already ordered some seeds from Territorial Seeds and Jung's. Of course I ordered them without looking to see what was left over from last year. I relied on my memory. I'm sure that I will be surprised when I go through my seed box. I was just so excited that I couldn't wait to order seeds. Now the trick will be to hold off on planting the seeds until an appropriate time.

Gardening Outside in January!

2011-01-02T07:55:00.002-05:00

I took advantage of the balmy 40 degree weather to finish up some gardening that I didn't get around in the fall. I had 80 daffodil bulbs to plant. I have the terrible habit of waiting until December to plant bulbs. There's nothing like celebrating Christmas a week or so early by trying to dig holes during an ice storm and hoping that the ground doesn't get too hard to dig. Unfortunately, this year I was not able to participate in this annual celebration because we got an early snowstorm. I also know that trying to force the bulbs in pots in the spring doesn't work well for me because of the *#@!*&%*&#^ squirrels that like to dig into and destroy anything that I set on my front porch. I got lucky with this thaw that we have had for the last couple of days. I was able to plant the bulbs in my front and back yards. I also emptied all the pots in my plant grave yard, picked up litter out of my yard and alley, and disposed of previously frozen dog bombs. Finally, I collected some dirt in tubs so that I can mix it with coffee grounds, peat, and coir to make the soil mix for my seedlings this spring when I pot them up.

January's Garden To Do List

2011-01-01T08:06:00.010-05:00

This month is about catching up on garden tasks that I put off and preparing for the new garden year. I have already ordered my seeds from Jung's and Territorial Seed Company. I also have some tomato seeds that I saved from my favorite varieties from last summer. I have a lot of extra seeds that I saved and packaged. I will mail them to Trudi at www.wintersown.org. She will redistribute them to gardeners for free.

In addition to ordering seeds, I need to plant two sacks of daffodil bulbs that are sitting on my clothes dryer. I intended to plant them last month but we got an early snow. Nothing says "happy holidays" like standing out in the middle of the first ice storm of the year trying to plant daffodil bulbs before the ground becomes too frozen to dig. The weather forecast for this week suggests that we will have a couple of days with above freezing temperatures. Maybe I can use this opportunity to plant the bulbs in my garden. If not, I can always pot them up, put them in the garage, and force them in April.

Some clean up tasks are also on my agenda. Since we had an early snow this year, I didn't get a chance to finish cleaning up my yard. I need to tidy up the garden a bit and I definitely need to mulch the north side of my house. On the north side, I don't get much sun, so very little grows there. I have dogs and they like to run through this area, which I call the dog corridor, to get to the front part of the house. They like to bark at people and other animals that like to walk on 'their' sidewalk. Unfortunately, since there is no ground cover to speak of on the north side of the house, it becomes a muddy mess whenever there is a thaw. I usually place large chunks of pinebark mulch to cover the ground on this side of the house. The mulch keeps my dogs from loading up their fur with mud and tracking it into the house. The mulch is thin, so I need to add a half dozen or so bags to cover the thin and bare spots. Today looks like it might be a good day to get all of this done.

Jung's Order

2010-12-31T07:56:00.000-05:00

I received my first seeds of the year today. I ordered them from Territorial Seeds a couple of days ago. They were fast in getting the order out! I ordered the following seeds:

Edamame (bush beans-Sayamusume): I ordered the edamame because it's one of my favorite vegetables when I eat out at Japanese restaurants. I want to try to grow them myself. Since they are often steamed after being frozen, I assume that they will be even better fresh.

Celery (Redventure): The red and yellow stalks of this celery are what called to me as I was browsing through the catalog. When I grew celery last year, I grew a green celery that was self-blanching. Unfortunately, I got more leaves than stalk. The celery made great soup but there wasn't much substance for munching. I'll have to read up on celery so that I can avoid this problem this year.

Cucumber (Lime Crisp): I chose this variety because it is supposed to be both sweet and crisp.

Eggplant (Fairy Tale): Fairy Tale is a pretty purple and white small eggplant that isn't supposed to have the bitterness of other eggplants.

Strawberry (Italian Alpine): I want to grow alpine strawberries because of their sweet taste and clumping (rather than spreading) habit. I will plant them in my flower border because my strawberry pots always dry out. I've never grown strawberries from seed, so any suggestions are particularly encouraged!

Broccoli (Apollo Hybrid): I dislike broccoli as a general rule because I think that it tastes bitter. However, I really like broccolini. Supposedly, Apollo will prolifically produce the side shoots that are sold as broccolini. I grew Apollo last year and didn't have very heavy production. I think that I didn't water the plants enough.

Heliotrope: My mom loved heliotrope and grew it every year. I, too, love the way that it smells, but I think that it is too expensive for an annual. I'll try growing it from seed this year and see what happens. Maybe I'll get lucky.

Bringing My Rosemary Inside

2010-12-30T09:02:00.002-05:00

I love rosemary so this year I was thrilled to find out that rosemary 'Arp' is hardy with protection to zone 6. Since I live in zone 5b, it might make it through the winter in a sheltered part of my garden on the south side of my house. I bought two plants: one for overwintering indoors and the other for planting outside. Maybe one of them will survive. According to the label that came with the plants, Arp will grow to about 48" tall and 30" wide.

I haven't experienced much luck with rosemary. I can grow it through the summer, but overwintering inside usually results in an untimely death due to fungus or mites. My rosemary last year survived the winter but died from mildew in the spring after I set it on my front porch. Well, in all truthfulness, it may have died from a homemade treatment made from baking soda and other household ingredients that I used to treat the mildew.

This year, I will try to not overwater or underwater the rosemary. I will let the top inch of soil dry out and then give it a good soaking. I put it in a south window for as much light as possible, but my neighbor's house blocks some of the south sun. Maybe I won't kill it this year.

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Berries

2010-12-29T10:57:00.003-05:00

Beauty Berry

Holly

Asparagus

Squirrel Buffet

2010-12-28T14:21:00.002-05:00

My younger dog, Marci, likes to look out the window overlooking my front porch. She rests her elbows on the back of the sofa in front of the window and scans the street and sidewalk. She watches for people and dogs to walk on her sidewalk. Then she barks what I suspect might be some obscenities. She's not a very refined dog.

For the past couple of weeks, she has started to bark at what I assumed was nothing. She would start one of her tirades and I would look out the window. I saw nothing. I saw nothing because I wasn't looking closely enough. We had squirrel intruders. Neither the dogs nor I are very fond of the squirrels. They are rude house guests. I've been angry with them ever since I moved into the house and they dug up all my porch plants and flung them across the porch and front lawn. Because of these little &%#$#, I can't have any potted daffodils on my front porch in the spring. The dogs don't like the squirrels because they run along the top of the fence and taunt them.

I found the evidence of the squirrel activity this morning and I had to apologize to Marci for questioning her instincts:

Lately, the squirrels have been digging up acorns from my lawn

and eating them on my front porch.

I don't mind if they eat the acorns. I just hope that they won't dig up my daffodil bulbs.

A Return to Blogging

2010-12-27T12:46:00.009-05:00

I really enjoy taking pictures of and writing about my garden. I got busy last summer and then I got out of the habit. However, I'm back and I intend to do much better this year.

I also have some extra time on my hands. I was supposed to go to France for two weeks to be with my niece, Polly, who is an English teaching assistant in an elementary school in Valenciennes. We were going to travel through France and Germany. Unfortunately, the weather in Western Europe and the Eastern US has been so bad that I had to cancel my trip. Oh, well, I will probably go over there in May and the weather will be warmer and the gardens will be in bloom.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

2010-07-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

Another one of my favorite summer recipes is strawberry cream cheese pie. This recipe came from my grandmother and my mom made it all through the summer.

1 baked pie shell
1 package cream cheese
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar

Spread cream cheese softened with a little cream (or in the microwave) over the bottom of the crust. Place half of the strawberries over the cream cheese. Mash half of the berries until they are really juicy. Bring to a boil and slowly add sugar and cornstarch stirring constantly. Cook slowly for 10 minutes. Cool and pour into pie shell. Chill. Top with sweetened whipped cream.

Mmmm, zucchini blossoms...

2010-07-23T10:25:00.001-04:00

Eric and I picked some zucchini blossoms at the community garden and we bought some more at the Lexington Farmer's Market. I thought that it would be lovely to make fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with herbed goat cheese.

So I stuffed each zucchini blossom with about a tablespoon of herbed goat cheese. The blossoms that we picked at the community garden were very fresh, so I was able to open the blossoms and spoon in the goat cheese. The farmer's market blossoms were a little older, so I had to slit their sides open to spoon in the goat cheese.

I dipped the stuffed blossoms in beaten egg and then in a mixture of Italian herbs, sea salt, and panko. I fried them on each side in medium hot canola oil until they turned golden brown. They were delicious!

Spinach Salad with Peaches and Blueberries

2010-07-23T10:06:00.000-04:00

I made a delicious spinach salad for Yoli and Eric over the weekend using the fruit that we bought at the farmer's market and the yummy blueberry balsamic vinegar.

I rinsed and picked them stems off of some spinach. Then I pitted and sliced some peaches and tossed them in blueberry balsamic vinegar to keep them from turning brown. I placed the peaches and some blueberries over the top of the spinach with some feta cheese. I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and more blueberry vinegar over the top.

Grandma's Peach Cream Pie

2010-07-22T07:34:00.003-04:00

This pie, more than any other, reminds me of summer and my childhood. My mom used to make it every summer during peach season. It was her mother's recipe. I made the pie this weekend for Yoli and Eric with peaches Yoli and I bought at a farm stand. It's important to used only fresh, tasty peaches. Frozen peaches are too watery and the pie will never set. Tasteless peaches make a tasteless pie.

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup cream
3-4 fresh peaches, peeled and halved

Mix first 3 ingredients together. Pour half into unbaked pie shell. Fill with fresh peach halves. Cover with the rest of the mixture. Pour cream over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until set.

Making Pesto

2010-07-21T08:28:00.000-04:00

Eric and I made pesto this weekend while Yoli sat on the sofa reading a book. We harvested two bags full of pesto that was starting to flower from the community garden. I left enough lower leaves and stems that the plants should send up a new burst of growth within the next couple of weeks. I cleaned the pesto and removed the leaves and small stems from the larger, tougher stems while Eric made the pesto. My thumbnails are still stained from using them to cut the basil stems.

To make the pesto, we stuffed a food processor bowl with basil and added about a tablespoon of salt, 1 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of walnuts (because the one store in their town didn't have pine nuts), 2 tablespoons of minced fresh garlic, and 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt. These measurements are approximations because we eyeballed the amounts of ingredients that we added. We processed the ingredients on high until they were fairly smooth. We spooned the pesto into 1 cup containers and froze all of them except for what we ate over the weekend. We made a gallon and a half of pesto. Stupidly, I left mine at Yoli's house and will have to pick them up next time I visit her. This weekend, we made crostini and roasted potatoes with the pesto.

Breakfast Crepes

2010-07-20T06:57:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite summer breakfasts is fruit crepes. They're healthful, delicious, and easy to make.

To make the crepes, I just throw a cup of flour, 2 eggs, a cup of skim milk, a dash of salt, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a blender and blend them until they are well mixed. Then I spray a small skillet with cooking oil. I heat the skillet to a medium-high heat. Then I pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet and swirl the batter so that it covers the bottom of the pan. I cook the crepe until the sides start to curl up, flip it over, and cook it for about 30 more seconds. I place the cooked crepes on a large dinner plate and cover it with a kitchen towel to keep the crepes warm until I finish making all the crepes.

I make the filling by sweetening some yogurt with stevia powder or honey. Sometimes I add other favorings like high quality flavored balsamic vinegars or spices. I added cinnamon and blueberry balsamic vinegar to the filling in the crepes that I made this weekend. I fill and top the crepes with the filling and fresh fruit. I used mango and blueberries in the crepe shown above.

Lexington Farmer's Market

2010-07-19T22:18:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I visited my friends, Yoli and Eric, in Georgetown, Kentucky. Eric and I are both foodies, so while Yoli went to belly dancing class, we went to the farmer's market in Lexington. We bought fingerling potatoes, blackberries, zucchini blossoms, black cherry tomatoes, and beef short ribs. It was wonderful to have fresh, locally grown tomatoes. Lexington in a zone south of us so their tomatoes are a little earlier than tomatoes here in Indianapolis.

Sowing Carrots

2010-07-11T06:57:00.004-04:00

On someone's blog somewhere, I saw a terrific idea for sowing tiny seeds. I would like to give the person credit, so if someone out there has seen this idea on another blog, please let me know. On this blog, the person showed how to make her own seed strips. I decided to try this idea out myself.
[Update: The idea comes from Annie's Granny's website. You should totally check her out. She's definitely a gardening goddess! I steal ideas only from the best gardeners ; ) ]

First I place dots on a napkin with a marker about an inch an a half apart.

Then I placed tiny dots of non-toxic, washable glue on each marker spot.

I used a screw to pick up small amounts of seed since I didn't have any toothpicks. I dipped the screw in a little glue to help the seeds stick to it.

Finally, I placed 2-3 seeds on each dot.

I'll let the seed mat dry and sometime next week, I'll place the mat in my garden and water thoroughly. I'll keep you posted on how this works out. It will be nice not to have to waste so much seed and not to have to thin out the carrots.

Sweet Anticipation

2010-07-10T08:07:00.000-04:00

My tomatoes and eggplants aren't ready yet, but they will be soon. I can't wait to make eggplant parmesan with them.

Eggplant 'Listada de Gandia'

Tomato 'Sweet Tangerine'

Notice how the tomato is starting to take on an orange tint.

Tomato 'Bloody Butcher'

New Favorite Perennial

2010-07-09T07:15:00.002-04:00

I bought pink poodle echinacea this spring. It started blooming when I was on vacation. I came home to this beautiful surprise.

My Favorite Summer Salad

2010-07-08T07:39:00.041-04:00

As soon as I get my first cucumbers in the summer, I start making my favorite summer salad and I don't finish making it until the last tomatoes have ripened in the fall. I almost always have tomato, corn & cucumber salad in my refrigerator. I made this salad for the first time this year last night using cucumber and basil from my garden.

To make this salad I used fresh tomatoes, cucumber, corn (fresh when I can get Indiana corn), garlic, basil, sea salt, a very good balsamic vinegar, and a decent olive oil.

First, I saute minced garlic in a small skillet in 1 tablespoon or so of olive oil at a medium heat until it turns golden brown. If I am using fresh corn, I saute the corn for a few minutes in the skillet right as the garlic starts to show a little golden color.

While the garlic is browning, I cut up the tomatoes and cucumber into bite-sized pieces and add them to a salad bowl.

Then I add the browned garlic and some chopped basil leaves to the bowl.

Finally, I toss the salad with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt.

Wordless Wednesday: My First Big Harvest of the Year

2010-07-07T06:56:00.001-04:00

Garden of Shame

2010-07-06T12:17:00.001-04:00

I've been on vacation. When I returned home, my garden was a mess (and still is). I have A LOT of weeding to do. I also need to tie my blackberry canes to the fence and stake up various perennials. This morning, I managed to mow the lawn and weed the front part of my front lawn shade bed. The temperature is 95 degrees in the shade. When sweat was running into my eyes, I decided that I would weed my garden in short bursts of 20-30 minutes and only weed those sections of the garden that have some shade. Maybe I'll have it all weeded in a couple of days.

Favorite Combination: Caladium, Coral Bells, and Hostas

2010-06-20T18:27:00.001-04:00

My front porch faces east and I have a large oak tree in my front yard. Consequently, my front porch is shady. The area next to my front door gets no direct sun and it's fairly shady. I struggle to find colorful plants that will grow in this space. I have finally found a great combination: caladium, southern comfort coral bells, and thunderbolt hosta.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-16T23:56:00.000-04:00

Favorite Combinations: Variegated Red Twig Dogwood and Pink Asiatic Lilies

2010-06-14T09:27:00.005-04:00

I bought these Asiatic lilies at a big box store and found them on the clearance rack for $1 a pot. I love the clearance racks. Once the plants are past their prime, they are heavily discounted. I bought three pots and they have established a large healthy stand. I'm sorry that I can't remember the name of the cultivar. My computer crashed last year and I lost my plant name database.

Asiatic lilies are easy to grow. When I dig the hole to plant the lilies, I throw a handful of compost in the hole and mix it into the dirt in the bottom of the hole. In the spring, I top dress the soil around the lilies with some extra compost. After the flowers bloom, I remove the deadheads to encourage more flowers.

The read twig dogwood bushes are one of my favorite shrubs. They provide a lovely backdrop for perennials in the spring, summer and fall. In the winter, the bright red color of their new growth branches provide some winter garden interest. Red twig dogwood thrive in full sun but will tolerate some shade. In the spring, I prune out the old and dead branches and trim the bush into a rounded shape. I also spread a shovel of compost around the base of each bush and mulch the bushes with chopped up leaves.

First Tomatoes : )

2010-06-13T08:40:00.004-04:00

When I was weeding the vegetable garden today, I noticed my first tomatoes on my Supersweet 100 tomatoes.

Garden Fairy

2010-06-12T21:18:00.001-04:00

I have the BEST sister, ever. Liz is a true garden fairy. She just spent the day with me weeding my backyard vegetable and flower beds. They were a weedy mess, but now they (almost) weed-free. I just didn't have time to weed the past two weeks and we've gotten a lot of rain.

The weather was oppressive-hot and humid. We were both soaking wet with sweat by the time we were finished. We had to take several cool down breaks to escape into the air-conditioned house and drink some iced tea to rehydrate. I wanted to post a photo of my sister weeding on this blog, but she threatened to beat me bloody if I posted a picture of her looking so dirty and sweaty [and let's just say that you all are lucky that there's no such thing as smell-o-vision!]

I still have about 8 feet of my perennial bed to weed and I need to weed between the plants in my vegetable garden. I should have the all finished by the middle of next week if it doesn't rain too much.

Daylilies Blooming Now

2010-06-11T20:53:00.000-04:00

Ruby Spider

Double Sweets

Siloam Double Classic

Lemon Custard

Strawberry Frappe

Favorite Combinations: Autumn Sunset Climbing Rose and Blue Light Clematis

2010-06-09T22:23:00.000-04:00

Autumn sunset climbing roses are one of my favorite climbers. It grows in zones 5-10. In zone 5, it blooms prolifically for me in May and June and I get sporadic blooms over the rest of the summer and fall. It blooms better in cooler rather than hotter weather. I add some composted horse manure to it every year and make sure to water it weekly in really dry weather. It has been easy to grow.

Blue light clematis has a gorgeous blue flower. It thrives in zones 4-8 in full sun to part shade. I planted it next to my climbing rose and it uses the rose as a climbing support. It blooms most prolifically at the blooming peak of the autumn sunset rose so they look stunning together. Like the autumn sunset, it blooms sporadically throughout the summer except for in the intense heat of August. Like the rose, it gets a shovel full of composted horse manure every spring and weekly waterings during dry periods. This clematis was a slow starter for me. The first couple of years, it only bloomed a little and the vine was quite small. It's in its fourth year and now produces an abundance of blooms.

Favorite Combinations: Coreopsis, Salvia, and Hardy Geranium

2010-06-08T07:20:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite combinations of plants that bloom this time of the year is May Night Salvia (Salvia sylvestris), tickseed (coreopsis grandiflora), and hardy geranium 'Max Frei' (geranium sanguineum).

May night salvia is one of my favorite perennials. It's easy to grow and intensely colorful for long periods of time. It's bluish-purple color complements the colors of most plants in my garden. It grows in zones 4-8 and prefers full sun. It has the most intense blooming period in May and June. However, if I shear it off after it blooms, it will rebloom for me throughout the summer. My only complaint about the plant is that it smells a little like cat pee. Fortunately, the foul smell isn't detectable unless I place my nose close to the plants.

The coreopsis grows in zones 4-9 and blooms from May/June until frost for me in the heart of zone 5. It's easy to grow. It thrives in full sun and is drought resistant.

The hardy geranium grows in zones 3-8 in sun. It's supposed to grow in part shade, but mine has always died in part shade. It blooms most prolifically in May and June for me, but I get some sporadic blooming throughout the summer.

Big Raspberry Mistake

2010-06-07T23:18:00.001-04:00

I have big beautiful healthy leaves on my raspberry plants. They have been so prolific that they have grown out of the drainage holes in the bottom of their 36" pots and attempted to take over my gravel driveway.

Unfortunately, I have few berries. I made a big mistake. I read all about how and when to prune ever bearing raspberries. I read somewhere to cut back all the old canes in the early spring. Maybe that advice was for fall bearing raspberries and I didn't pay enough attention to what I was reading. I should have been skeptical, since I also remember reading that the berries fruit on old canes. In my zeal to prune my raspberries 'correctly,' I pruned out most of the canes that would have given me a late spring harvest. Consequently, I have 3 canes total out of 6 huge containers of raspberries that set fruit. Fortunately, I missed pruning back those three old canes. On those canes, I have several raspberries. They are quite tasty but I can only harvest 6-12 ripe berries at a time. I learned an important lesson: I should prune raspberry canes after they are done setting fruit.

Blooming Potatoes

2010-06-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

My potatoes are blooming. After the blooms are gone, I will be able to fish some new potatoes out of the pot. Once the leaves die off, I will tip the pots over on to my asparagus beds and fish out the potatoes. The leaves, compost, straw, and soil from the potato pots will serve as a rich top dressing for the asparagus beds.

Wordless Wednesday-What's Blooming

2010-06-02T12:36:00.000-04:00

Amish Produce Auction

2010-06-01T07:55:00.002-04:00

[Note: I purposely did not take any photos of the Amish out of respect for their beliefs about graven images.]

Last Friday, my sister, her friend Jerry (and now my new friend), and I went to the Amish produce auction in Greens Fork, Indiana. We went as a group because at these auctions, the produce is sold in lots. We agree on a lot of produce that we want to buy and then we split the lot after the auction. After the auction we went to a berry farm and bought some fresh strawberries. Friday night, we had a barbecue and ate some of our purchases.

We bought some potatoes. For our barbecue, we grilled the potatoes in foil with olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and rosemary.

We also bought zucchini, spring onions, and asparagus. Jerry lived in Japan for several years and made us some decadent Japanese bar food-asparagus wrapped in bacon and grilled.

To make the bacon-wraped asparagus:
Rinse the asparagus, cut off the fibrous bottom, and cut the spears in half. Dip the half spears in a mixture of olive oil, black pepper, and sea salt. Wrap each dipped spear in a half a strip of bacon and secure the bacon to the asparagus with a toothpick. Grill the bacon-wrapped asparagus spears until the bacon becomes crispy.

Sometimes Evil Is Pretty

2010-05-27T09:20:00.002-04:00

I REALLY loathe catalpa trees. They drop these long seed pods all over my yard and despite my best efforts to clean them all up before they can release their devil spawn, I pull thousands of catalpa babies out of my garden every year. They're not even easy to pull. If hand pulled, their bark pulls off like a glove and the trunks and roots remain. I have to dig them out or pull them with pliers.

I lived in a Victorian era neighborhood and the Victorians really loved the catalpa. About 100 years ago, there was some sort of tree disease that spread through the neighborhood, killing many of the trees. The neighbors living here at the time replaced the trees with catalpas. Now we have hundreds of mature catalpa trees all over our neighborhood, including my neighbor's backyard.

I hate to admit this, but I can see why the Victorians were so enamored with catalpa tress. I can only see their point of view for about two weeks a year when the catalpa are in bloom. This week, when I step out into my backyard, a sweet fragrance envelopes me. I look up at the catalpa tree and see these orchid-like flowers and I look across my yard and see it blanketed with fallen flowers.

Soon, however, the tree will form these long fruits that look like seed pods. Then the fruits will burst open and their magical flying seeds will drift all over the neighborhood. The dried up fruits will litter my back yard. How can something so pretty be so invasive and messy?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-26T21:54:00.000-04:00

Plant Marker Idea

2010-05-23T22:33:00.001-04:00

Last week when I went to Soule's Gardens to buy some hostas, I saw a wonderful idea for plant markers. Cynthia, the owner of Soule's, uses polished rocks with the names of the plants written with paint pen to mark the names of her plants. [She also buries a tag in the ground at the 2 o'clock position on all her plants just in case some child decides to play rock collector.]

Cynthia told me that the rock tags have lasted for more than two years for her without getting washed off or faded. She told me to make sure that I used paint pens and polished rocks.

I went to a big box store and found some bags of polished rocks in the candle section and some paint pens in the craft section. I bought black, white, and gold pens to see which one looked best and was easiest to read.

I think that the gold one was the prettiest and easy enough to read, so I made most of my rock labels with the gold pen.

Little Green Berries

2010-05-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

My berries plants are finished flowering and are now forming berries.

Blueberries: Elliot

Blackberries: Triple Crown

Red Raspberries: Heritage

Strawberries: Honeoye

Veggie Garden Progress

2010-05-21T07:41:00.000-04:00

Here's an update on my vegetable garden.

My west back yard bed

My north backyard bed

My eggplant is doing well. I'm growing listada de gandia. I chose this variety because it's white with purple stripes. It's supposed to have a great flavor and it's just the right size for dinner.

My zucchini got munched by something, probably bunnies, but it is forming some new leaves. I hope that it will survive.

Most of my cucumbers look great.

However, my lemon cucumbers look terrible.

I planted green, purple and yellow bush beans. They all came up and are growing well.

My tomatoes have grown at least a couple of inches this week. Fred Limbaugh looks fantastic. I chose this variety because it's a pink beefsteak that tastes sweet and fruity.

These are my cheater celery. The celery that I started from seed didn't do well, so I bought a dozen celery seedlings from a nursery. This variety is self-blanching, so I don't have to worry about planting them in trenches.

My broccoli has finally taken off. The seedlings were puny, but they are filling out nicely. I chose Apollo because it produces a lot of side shoots. I don't like heads of broccoli much, but the side shoots are sweeter and more tender.

Field Trip to Winery

2010-05-20T21:46:00.001-04:00

My friend, Maggie, and I went to visit our friend, Alicia, today. On our way back from her house, we stopped by Oliver Winery to do a little wine tasting and buy some wine. Oliver has beautiful gardens, so I snapped a couple of pictures of them to inspire the design of my gardens.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-19T07:35:00.003-04:00

Central Indiana Plant Swap 2010

2010-05-18T19:54:00.001-04:00

I haven't written much for the past week. I was out of town on business. When I returned, I had to prepare for the plant swap. I had most of my plants dug up and ready to go but I still had a few to finish at the last minute. I finished the potting on Saturday and Sunday morning, and then I labelled the plants with popsicle sticks marked with the plant names. I ended up taking about 180 plants. I had several in gallon pots, but most were in 4" pots. I managed to fill my trunk, back seat, and front seat. It was a tight squeeze, but I got all the plants into my car.

There were about 30 traders at the swap. The picture above was taken near the end of the swap because I was too excited to remember to take photos for most of the swap. We had everything from Jack Frost brunnera and daylilies to birdhouses and old gardening magazines.

I stopped getting plants after several rounds because I already had or didn't want what was left. I have many different perennials in my garden, so I don't need a lot of new plants. However, I chose some lovely plants. I choose coral bells, shasta daisies, dwarf yellow reblooming iris, pink asters, lavender bearded iris, pink anemone, scented geranium, and lady's mantle. I also snagged a dozen or so English gardening magazines, a birdhouse, and a garden-themed tote bag. I'm pleased with my haul.

My sister brought home red monarda, sweet william, daylilies, obedient plant (I warned her, but she won't listen to me....), and columbine, among others plants that I can't recall right now. She also stopped after a couple of rounds because she had gotten all that she wanted.

Some gardeners who needed more plants, were able to take more plants home:

A guy named Russ is organizing a fall plant swap. If you want to find out more information about the Central Indiana Fall Plant Swap, go to the 'get togethers' forum at the www.gardenweb.com plant forums later in the summer. He shall have posted details by August.

Potato Progress

2010-05-13T07:10:00.000-04:00

My potatoes in pots are thriving. Tuesday, I added more planting medium to the pot, because as the potatoes grow, their stems need to be covered with dirt. I added a mixture of grass clippings, dried out leaves from last fall, and some soil to cover all but about 4 inches of the top of the stems. Eventually, I will fill the pots to their tops and the pots will be topped with huge crowns of potato leaves and flowers.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T20:52:00.000-04:00

What a Hoe!

2010-05-11T07:34:00.000-04:00

I loathe weeding. I usually can only get through it with the help of Peter Frampton, the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, and George Thorogood. [In reality, it often takes my sister coming over and making me weed. Even then, I have a limited attention span for weeding.]

Last summer as I was hand weeding my beds and whining to my neighbor, Gaynell, she told me that I needed a Dutch hoe. She brought hers over for me to try and I loved it. It was a slim hand held hoe with a knife-sharp blade. I went out that day and found one at Smith Hawkins. Now, I'm a frugal person, so for me to buy something at SH means that I REALLY want something badly and can't find it anywhere else. They called it a Japanese hoe.

This hoe slices through weeds like they're nothing. It does a nice job of running about an inch under the surface of the soil so it does wonders with grass and plantain lilies. I can even sharpen it in my electric knife sharpener. Today, I used it to removed all the tiny weeds from my beds and it was wonderful. I thought that others out there who hate weeding might find this tool useful.

Planting Tomatoes

2010-05-10T23:33:00.002-04:00

I finally got to plant my tomatoes. Today I had both time and dry weather!

I planted the following tomatoes:
1884
black cherry
black krim
blondknofchen
bloody butcher
chocolate stripes
Fred Limbaugh
Henderson's Wins All
Italian heirloom
Japanese trifele
mortgage lifter
orange Russian
pineapple
Roma
supersweet 100
sweet tangerine
Wolford's wonder

Here's a tomato 'pineapple' seedling.

I pinched off the lower leaves so that I could bury the stem deep. Tomatoes do much better if they are buried deep. Their stems, if buried, will develop roots all along the buried part of the stem. Burying a lot of the stem allows the tomatoes to grow an extensive root system.

I dug a 6-10"deep hole for each tomato plant and added some used coffee grounds and crushed egg shell the the dirt in the bottom of each hole. In the past, I have had problems with end rot on my tomatoes. End rot is caused by a calcium deficiency in the soil. The egg shells will slowly release calcium around the roots of the tomato plants. Bone meal can also be used as a source of calcium. The coffee grounds will serve as a source of extra nitrogen to the growing plants.

Finally, I buried the tomato plants deeply in the bed. I probably buried 70-80% of each plant.

Fertilizing and Overseeding the Lawn

2010-05-07T08:24:00.001-04:00

I'm making a concerted effort to use as few chemicals in my garden and lawn as I can. About the only chemical that I used now is Roundup, and I only use that for poison ivy. I also used a chemical fertilizer with potassium this spring for my purple tomato seedlings because I needed a fast acting source of potassium.

I'm not a big fan of massive lawns. My garden space is larger than my lawn. I probably have about 250 square feet of lawn. For the last couple of years, I have done nothing to my lawn but mow it and sprinkle a couple of grass seeds in bare spots in the spring. It doesn't look very good. I don't expect it to be immaculate, but there are patches of dirt showing through and a lot of broad-leafed weeds, especially in the backyard. Consequently, I am going to experiment with organic lawn care this year. I'll share what I'm learning along the way and I will show you the results. I'm also hoping that I can get feedback and help on creating a nice lawn from people who read this blog.

My front yard looks better than my backyard. A couple of years ago, my neighbor, the landscaper, installed a perennial bed for a client. They didn't want the sod that she removed, so she brought it to me. It looks pretty good on the sunny side, but the shady side of my front yard has several patches of dirt.

Today was fertilizing and overseeding day. To prepare for this day, I purchase mushroom compost, sun grass seed, and shade grass seed. I also dug out all the weeds that I could find in the lawn except for clover, which helps to fix nitrogen into the soil.

First, I set my mower blade as low as I could and I mowed my grass. I usually set the blade high so that the taller grass will shade out some of the weeds.

Then, I adding about an inch of mushroom compost over the top of the lawn. I created piled rows of compost across the lawn and spread the compost through the grass with the flat side of the rake. After that, I used the pointy side of the rake to scratch the compost into the top of the soil. My lawn soil has not been amended for years, so I really need to improve the quality of my soil and give the grass seed some fertile media in which to grow.

It's easier to spread the compost with the flat side of the rake.

Next, I sprinkled grass seed in the bare spots and gently raked them in.

Finally, I watered the lawn well to help the compost settle at the roots of the grass and give the grass seed a moist environment for germination.

After the new grass grows to about 3 inches, I will mow it for the first time. I will raise the blade high so that the taller grass will shade out weed seeds and make it more difficult for them to germinate. I will also mulch the grass clippings into the lawn with my mulcher mower.

Plant Swap Plants-Update

2010-05-06T09:11:00.001-04:00

I've been potting up more plants for the Central Indiana Plant Swap on May 16th. Here's the updated list of the plants that I will bring:

Perennials

6 Siberian or Japanese iris (purple)
4 moonbeam coreopsis
3 lamium (either pink pewter or purple dragon)
6 sweet woodruff
3 hellebores/Lenten Rose (either pink or cream)
6 monarda/bee balm (Jacob Klein-red)
3 purple coneflower
1 salvia (May Night-purple)
6 short bearded reblooming iris (yellow, purple, or light blue---probably purple)
3 hardy geranium (dark pink) (Max Frei)
1 lily (stargazer)
1 daylily-probably blacked eyed stella, but I'm not certain
1 snowball viburnum
8 Stella d'Oro daylilies
3 ruby red stella daylilies
3 rosy returns daylilies
5 pink or red hardy hibiscus
3 drumstick allium
3 lamb's ear, Helen Von Stein (large leaves, clumping rather than spreading)
5 black eyed susans
6 heliopsis
3 unknown small variegated hostas
3 unknown solid small green hostas
3 sweet autumn clematis
1 fern
3 light pink hardy geranium

Unknown small variegated hosta

Unknown small solid hosta

Basil

3 sweet
3 lime
3 lemon
3 thai

8 red or yellow raspberries

Tomatoes

3 Fred Limbaugh
3 Henderson Wins All
3 Bloody Butcher
3 Japanese Trifele
3 Chocolate Stripes
3 1884
3 Supersweet 100
3 Orange Russian
3 Roma
3 Black Krim
5 Brandywine
10 Black cherry

Hardy light pink geranium

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T07:01:00.003-04:00

Outsmarted by a Cocker Spaniel

2010-05-04T06:55:00.014-04:00

One would think that I could outsmart my dogs. Cockers are not known for their intelligence. It's a good thing that they are so sweet. As I posted last month, I'm having problems with my dogs running along the fence that borders my alley. In the past they haven't done this, but now they have this new destructive habit. They have been trampling my oriental lilies, bee balm, and delphinium.

Last month, I rearranged the bed to create some daylily speed bumps. I was hoping that the day lilies would provide enough of a barrier that my dogs wouldn't beat a path at the back of the bed. I was wrong, and Stevie from Garden Therapy was right. Her comment to the posting was "Good luck! I hope they don't see it as an obstacle course now!" My dogs totally see the day lilies as added fun. Maybe Stevie is a garden dog therapist : )

My new plan is to install hurdles. I bought some cheap garden fences at a home store and installed them throughout the back of my perennial bed. A few years ago, Peanut, the dog picture above, could have easily cleared these hurdles. He's older now with a little arthritis, so he's not much of a threat. Marci could never be coordinated enough to jump the hurdles. She is rather clumsy and has been known to fall off the bed. I really hope that this new idea works. I don't want to have to restrict my dogs' access to the back yard.

Harvest Monday

2010-05-03T20:30:00.001-04:00

I finally got to harvest something that I planted this year. My volunteer lettuces were ready to cut today.

I filled a colander with an assortment of lettuces. I also pinched off some basil and flat leaf parsley from plants that I bought at a farmer's market this weekend.

I used the lettuce to make a salad to share with my neighbor, Gaynell, and her husband, Ken. I rinsed and dried the lettuce. On top of the lettuce, I placed avocado, tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese. To finish the salad off, I sprinkled the fresh chopped flat leafed parsley and basil. I made a dressing out of pomegranate balsamic vinegar and blood orange olive oil. We ate the salad with pork loin that was marinated in a Hawaiian barbecue sauce.

Wet Weekend II-The Veggies

2010-05-02T14:10:00.001-04:00

Today, I wanted to plant my tomato seedlings. I looked at the weather forecast until our frost free date, May 10, and the predictions indicate that it shouldn't get below 45 degrees. I know that the predictions aren't perfect, but I can always plant my plant swap tomatoes if a frost kills my planted tomatoes. The plant swap isn't until May 16th, so I will have my replacement tomatoes should anything go wrong.

Instead of planting tomatoes, I took pictures of my vegetables. Tomorrow will be my first day for lettuce harvesting. I finally have enough to make a salad.

My container potatoes are looking beautiful. They are getting tall enough that it's time to add some more organic material to the pot. I'll probably sprinkle in some aged compost and some leaves.

Maybe I will be able to do some work in my garden on Tuesday. On Monday, I'm sure that the soil will be too wet to work with or walk on.

Wet Weekend I-Perennial Gardens

2010-05-01T15:24:00.002-04:00

I haven't accomplished much in my garden this week other than to raise a strong crop of weeds. Work has been hectic and it's been raining. Since it's raining today and supposed to rain tomorrow, I decided to post some photos of my perennial gardens and give an update of how my veggies are growing.

Today, I should have been planting my annual flowers.

Since it was raining, I decided to take pictures of my shade bed instead. This bed is on the north side of the front of my house.

This hosta is sagae. I love its 3 foot tall vase-shaped habit.

In this back corner of the shade bed, I used to have a compost pile. It was fairly well hidden from the street by a viburnum and a Japanese maple that the previous owners planted. Neither the maple nor the viburnum have done well because they get too much shade. The maple is now dead and the viburnum is pitiful. One of my spring projects will be to replace the Japanese maple with a pagoda dogwood and plant some hostas.

I think that the bright green in the pagoda dogwood's leaves will brighten up the corner.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T06:48:00.002-04:00

Bush Beans

2010-04-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

Mondays and Tuesdays are my busiest days. I did manage to get outside for a brief period of time to plant some bush beans.

I purchased a package of a Burpee bush bean mix that contains three varieties: greensleeves (green), royal burgundy (purple), and super wax (yellow). They will all turn green when cooked, but I like that they are different colors. I'm planting bush beans because I don't want to have to find something for them to climb on. I will also probably plant some scarlet runner beans along my picket fence because they have such pretty flowers.

Bush beans need to be planted about 3 inches apart. The space from the base of my thumb to the knuckle in my index finger is about 3 inches, so that's how I measured the planting distance.

I poked a hole in the soil with the tip of my index finger. Then, I planted the beans about an inch deep. I forgot to add a light sprinkle of inoculant, but it's not absolutely necessary. Since I am planting a couple of bean plants every week for several weeks to ensure continuous harvest, I'll try to remember to add the inoculant next time.

Strawberries in Pots

2010-04-25T17:53:00.002-04:00

I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I would have liked to this weekend. It was raining so much that I was only able to get my strawberries planted. It was too wet to work on my lawn and weed.

I have a small urban backyard, so I don't have a lot of space. I also have dogs that have free access to the backyard through a doggy door and who also love strawberries. The first year I grew strawberries in pots, they kept disappearing. I thought that the birds were getting the berries until I smelled strawberry on the breath of my dogs. I should have known because the sneaky little snots are also tomato stealers.

Last year, I grew Ozark, an everbearing strawberry, in two strawberry pots but I never got enough at any one time to do anything other than snack. Only a few of the plants survived the winter, so I have to replace most of the plants. I left out the pots in a sheltered place on the side of my house over winter. I should have protected them better. This winter, I will probably overwinter the pots in my garage. Maybe more plants will make it through the winter.

I decided to try a June bearing strawberry so that I can get more strawberries at once. The plants will produce fruit for about two to three weeks in June. I decided to try Honeoye, which is supposed to produce a lot of sweet fruit. I bought 20 bare roots of Honeoye.

First, I took the roots out of the package and soaked them in water for about an hour.

Then I removed the dead strawberry plants form the pots and replaced them with the Honeoye. When I planted the strawberries, I dug out as much potting mixture from the holes as I could and replaced it with with a mixture of used potting soil and compost.

When I planted the pots last year, I used a blend of compost, coir, and old potting mix from the previous year's containers. I also placed a PVC pipe with holes drilled in it in the center of the pot so that I could get more water to the bottom plants. I was losing too much water through the drainage hole in the pots, so I stuffed a plastic grocery bag in the bottom of the PVC pipe and that slowed down the drainage without blocking it off completely.

Saturday's To Do Wish List

2010-04-24T08:12:00.005-04:00

Spread mushroom compost over front lawn and over seed the bare spots.

Plant strawberry plants in the strawberry pot.

Dig up the raspberries that have grown out of the bottom of the raspberry pots.

Weed.

What chores do you have on deck for this weekend?
Please post a link to your chore list or a project that you are working on in the box below so that we can go to your blog to see what you're up to.

I Gave Up on the Celery

2010-04-23T19:58:00.002-04:00

I tried to start celery from seed. I sowed the seeds in February and placed them under fluorescent shop lights. My other seedlings did just fine. I even started taking them outside on warm days to give them as much natural light as I could and they still look puny.

My pathetic celery seedlings

I had a bunch of meetings off campus yesterday. I had about 30 minutes to burn and there was a nice garden center between meeting spots. I couldn't help myself. I really have little self-control at garden centers. I bought some stevia, some pink poodle echinacea, sedum for a porch pot, and 12 beautiful celery plants. I'm a total celery cheater.

My beautiful new celery

I'm feeling both giddy and a little guilty about buying the celery plants, but I have little hope for the seedlings that I started. If there's anyone out there who successfully grows celery from seed, I would love to hear your celery starting secrets.

No Asparagus This Year

2010-04-22T21:39:00.002-04:00

I won't get to harvest any asparagus this year. I planted one year crowns last year. I read that I would have a light harvest this year. Unfortunately, all my asparagus spears were very thin, too thin to harvest. Now they have all ferned out. I added coffee grounds and chopped leaves as an organic mulch and fertilizer. Maybe next year will be better. If there are any asparagus growers out there who have ideas for helping the bed to thrive, I would love to learn from you!

Wordless Wednesday-Veggies

2010-04-21T17:22:00.005-04:00

Speed Bumps in the Dog Superhighway

2010-04-19T20:28:00.000-04:00

The dog superhighway

I have a problem with my dogs running along the alley fence. In years past, this hasn't been a problem, but starting this year, they seem to have this new habit. They have trampled down some of the emerging perennials.

The speedsters

New speed bumps

I decided to add a few speed bumps to their highway. I added some daylilies and iris since they are tall and fairly trample-proof. I also took the opportunity to dig out all the ditch lilies that were in the middle of the bed. I hope that the new plantings will protect my bee balm, delphinium, and lupine. This solution seems to be working so far. While they did go back into the bed to lounge near the daylilies, they weren't running along the fence line.

Naughty Baby Bunny Killers

2010-04-18T17:03:00.001-04:00

When I was out working on my perennial bed in the backyard today, my dogs found a rabbit den with baby bunnies under my hibiscus bush. Before I realized what had happened, both dogs had baby bunnies in their mouths. I managed to make one of my dogs release his bunny, but my other dog killed hers.

Baby Bunny Killer

I confined both dogs inside the house. I found the bunny that I made my other dog release hiding along my fence. The other babies escaped, so I assumed that the bunny was injured.

Then I went to a business owner, Jan, whose shop is across the street. She's an earth mother type of person who would likely know what to do. I was in luck. She had some experience with wildlife rehabilitation and said that she would take care of it. She lives on a wooded 5 acres of land, so she's going to take it to her house. She thinks that it's old enough that it will survive so long as it's not too injured. She said that she will find a sheltered place outside and make sure that it has plants to munch on and water. She said that there are a lot of bunnies out at her house.

When I returned to the back yard, the bunny was still in the same place, even though neither my dogs nor I had been in the backyard for about 10 minutes. I found a large tub and put straw in the bottom. Then I put on some garden gloves, and gently placed the bunny in the tub. It could move around some, but it didn't try to flee. I took the bunny to Jan. By the time that we got to her house, the bunny had burrowed under the straw for safety.

Since my dogs destroyed the den, Jan suggested that I find a sheltered nearby spot outside of my fence to 'suggest' a safer place for the bunnies to relocate.

The destroyed den

My suggestion for a new den

Jan said that I might be able to encourage the bunnies to relocate to a place outside my yard if I find a fairly close spot that is sheltered and move a shovel full of the hair and dirt from the hold nest into the new. Along my alley neighbor's fence is a climbing hydrangea that could provide some shelter and a nice hidden spot. I found a tucked away spot, dug a little with my shovel, and placed some of the hair and dirt from the old den in the new spot. I hope that they build their new home outside of my yard. I really don't want my dogs to be able to get to them.

Plant Swap Plants-Totals So Far

2010-04-15T01:05:00.007-04:00

On May 16th, 2010 there will be a plant swap at 2pm at Holiday Park in Indianapolis. For more details about the plant swap or ideas on how to organize your own plant swap, click here. So far, I have potted up the following plants for the swap:

Ruby Red Stella Daylilies

Rosy Returns Daylilies (pink)

Pink Hardy Hibiscus

Moonbeam Coreopsis

Perennials

6 Siberian or Japanese iris (purple)
4 moonbeam coreopsis
3 lamium (either pink pewter or purple dragon)
6 sweet woodruff
3 hellebores/Lenten Rose (either pink or cream)
6 monarda/bee balm (Jacob Klein-red)
2 purple coneflower
1 salvia (May Night-purple)
6 short bearded reblooming iris (yellow, purple, or light blue---probably purple)
3 hardy geranium (pink)
1 stargazer lily
1 daylily-probably blacked eyed stella, but I'm not certain
1 snowball viburnum
8 Stella d'Oro daylilies
3 ruby red stella daylilies
3 rosy returns daylilies
1 pink hardy hibiscus

Basil

3 sweet
3 lime
3 lemon
3 thai

8 red or yellow raspberries

Tomatoes

3 1884
3 Supersweet 100
3 Orange Russian
3 Roma
3 Black Krim
5 Brandywine
10 Black cherry

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-14T07:07:00.003-04:00

Bah! Catalpa Trees and Poke Weed

2010-04-13T20:11:00.017-04:00

Catalpa trees and poke weed make me nuts. I pull thousands of catalpa seedings out of my garden. You can't just pull them up with your hand. Their roots get a strong grip in the ground before they grow stems big enough for me to see. I now garden with pliers in my back pocket. I use them to grab the section of the stem right as it meets the ground. A good hard yank with the pliers in that spot allows me to pull most of the catalpa seedlings without having to dig them out.

I live in a historical neighborhood. One of the original requirements for building in the area was that the property owners had to plant trees on their properties. Apparently, in the Victorian era catalpa trees were very popular. The Victorian residents of the neighborhood planted them all through the neighborhood. I don't have one, but my neighbor's catalpa tree hangs over my back yard. They have lovely flowers, but they drop obnoxious seed pods that readily grow into catalpa seedlings. A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out dozens of seedlings from my front yard, and I still see more that I will have to take care of soon.

What weeds or weedy plants make you crazy?

Sowing Leeks

2010-04-12T20:20:00.000-04:00

Today, I sowed leeks directly into my back yard veggie bed. I used my nifty weeder that my neighbor, Gaynell, gave me for Christmas. It's perfect because it's about 1/2" deep which helps me to measure the depth of the little trenches that I made for sowing the leek seeds.

I sowed a couple of seeds every 6 inches. When the seeds germinate and grow a little, I thin out the leeks until there is about 1 leek every 6 inches. As they mature, I will put little 1/2 toilet paper tube collars around the bottoms of each leek to blanch them so that I will have a larger edible portion of each leek.