Iris Cristata

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

Squirrels!

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

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

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

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

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.