gardening

It's been a busy couple of weeks, at least when it hasn't been Raining;>! All the Creole Garlics are harvested and all but one cultivar is bagged for storage. AND my 1st Tomato(Red Brandywine) is Ripe! Right now there are 4 golf to softball sized greenies growing.
I've started my late season/Fall seed planting. A Japanese Cuke, Chinese Radish and a Hard Squash are all in and Watered. Around the 1st part of August I'll plant out the Pak Choi and Chinese Cabbages. I'll either start the Perennials and Biennials then or about mid July.
In August I'll order the hardy Annual seeds to plant out in Sept or Oct, depending on what the weather this Fall looks like.
The Oca looks like a probable total failure. Only one plant remains. The Ullicos are good so far as well as the Yacon. Surprisingly, I lost one of the Sunchokes. Probably our resident Groundhog(Maury;>). Lots of blossoms on the 3 Groundcherry plants...
I thought the older you get the better you like Heat. Unsurprisingly, I'm an Anomaly;>!
Cheers,
Pat(the Sweaty but Happy)

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Lisa Kelly Radio

low_delta

I've got aphids. The recommended treatment is to knock them off the plant with a jet of water. They won't be able to crawl back up the plant. That's great if you're looking at a rose bush infestation. Unfortunately, I'm looking at a prairie. It's mostly goldenrod, which are mostly infested.

So the water isn't very effective. I feel like the water will knock them off of one plant and onto another. Plus, it's hard to get to all sides of the plants, because there's a whole small field of them. Not only that, but the goldenrod leaves tend to get blown upwards by the water, which then protect the bugs on the stems.

I've seen a few ladybugs, but nowhere near enough.

So I've been walking through the field and smushing them with my fingers. I just slide my fingers up and down the stems in between the leaves. Turns my fingers red.

mdehners

Everything is planted with the exception of 2 last minute orders; a Good King Henry and (3rd times the charm;>) Yacon starts. Harvested 2 of my Créole Garlic cultivars(last one next week I think) and the last of the Mulberries on the tree I planted this Spring.
Got a single large green 'Red Brandywine' Tomato growing and a couple small ones. Actually have a dwarf Comfrey cultivar dying. The Bocking 14 and the species forms from seed are doing fine. My other green manure is a species Tithonia but all but one of the cuttings have died.
Lots of flowers, bees and butterflies with the exception of Monarchs,which I've seen none this yr. Only a couple Hummers as well....not our usual numbers though the last few yrs have been down.
My "Not My Cat", Jack is AWOL this morning. I'll worry if he's not back by Friday(not that I could do anything about him. He's someone's outdoor cat). My "Jack Tolerant" stray, Fluff had no problem eating for two;>....
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Spiral Dance Radio

ysabetwordsmith

How to weave an obelisk with Dave Jackson The Stick Smith

Dave Jackson a.k.a. The Stick Smith teaches how to weave a willow obelisk, for climbing plants; be they peas, sweet peas, runner beans, jasmine, etc.

This is a very sophisticated weaving method. It's not so much difficult as it is particular. Following these steps will give you a very consistent and durable structure. However, you could just as well make the basket ribs and do a simple over-and-under weave that would suffice for many garden purposes.

Weaving is a garden craft that lets you make many useful things. It also lets you obtain more yield from your permaculture or other garden. Many types of willow can give you a near-endless supply of excellent weaving materials. So will bushy dogwoods, hazels, and some types of maple. You can use these whips to make baskets, mats, obelisks, fences, and more depending on how thick you let them grow before harvest. Coppicing is the technique of cutting back a bush or tree so it sends up new shoots. You can do this for many years with the same plant.

Current Mood: busy

mdehners

Got almost everything planted today: Eggplant, Oca, Ulluco, Lemon Verbena, Flowering Tobacco, Sweet Annie, Holy Basil, Dahlia and a couple cultivars of Morning Glory. Hopefully, I'll get the rest in this week.
I still have one order that hasn't come in; my replacement Yacon. The wrong plant my last order(from another vendor), the Longevity Spinach is doing well.
The Canterbury Bells are covered with buds and the Autumn Sage is COVERED with blossoms and bees. Enjoying the cool Spring weather, since usually it's about a week or two between Winter and Summer;>!
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Andrews Sisters Radio

moonhare

It’s been wonderful weather for outdoor work: more mulching has been done and brush has been cut and removed. I also gave the rototiller a quick pre-season going over: motor and gear oil topped off and a flat tire taken care of.*

I’ve had a furry friend keeping me company out by the shed since February; a rabbit has taken up residence nearby :o)

Waiting patiently to see what might be available.

Soooon…

Edit - I just noticed that this bunny is probably a New England Cottontail: there is a dark patch on the forehead and not the white spot of the Eastern Cottontail! Click the pics to expand them.

* I probably mentioned this before in regards to the tiller… When I was about 16 I watched, in awe, mind you, a friend of my sister manually replace a tire on his 1970 Road Runner. He took the original tire off the rim, and replaced it with another, with tire irons. To seat the bead he looped and tied a rope around the center of the tire, tightening it by turning a lug wrench slipped beneath it while filling the tire with air. Heh, I use the rope trick on the tiller tires, when necessary, with baling twine, a crescent wrench, and a hand pump.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Turn! Turn! Turn! various

winterfirelight

It's been busy times in the garden! I got the last of my cold-stratified seeds planted last night. On Sunday we took on the big project of replacing the old wooden bed out by the street that's been slowly rotting away and was full of grass anyway. It's all concrete underneath, and the bed was too shallow to be able to plant anything substantial, much less anything that I'd feel comfortable harvesting. In it's place we put in four 2x2 corrugated steel beds that are much taller, and there's space for another 3-4 small beds of that size if we decide we like how these first ones are working. Still some cleanup to do from that, but otherwise it's looking much better.

I've gotten the feverfew, oregano, and thyme settled in those new spaces, with the last bed ready for the tulsi seedlings whenever they're big enough to transplant. The nights are still getting quite cold, so I'm waiting a while longer before making the little things have to brave the weather. It's supposed to be a temperate variety that can handle our cooler temperatures, but I've previously only grown the more tropical tulsi, which makes me a little more cautious than I maybe need to be. I'll be curious to see how the varieties differ.

The elecampane officially survived the winter, which I'm very happy to see! I thought for sure I had lost it. It's much slower to wake than the rest of the garden. I'm not sure if that's just how it is, or if it's a function of the place where it's been planted. It seemed to lag behind other plants in growth last year, too, but I imagine the second year will tell me quite a bit about how it feels where it is.

There's plenty of maintenance work to do in the garden, but in terms of plants, it's back to a waiting game. All the big plant sales and swaps won't happen until May, and none of the seedlings are quite ready for transplant yet, so I shall bide my time and be patient. I still haven't quite decided where everything will go, or what else I'll buy when the sales come along. There's a real risk I'll run out of space, but at least the soil is amended and weeded and ready to go. Hurrah for warmer days!

Current Mood: chipper

rebeccmeister

This is largely cross-posted from my personal blog, since I figure a lot of us spend a lot of time thinking about soil quality and composting! I love worm bins because they can be made to work for all kinds of lifestyles, including people who live in apartments, since a well-managed bin does not smell and can be designed to fit in all kinds of spaces.

I think I'm reaching the stage where there's something of a steady-state for managing my new-ish worm bin bench. To begin with, by myself I generate around 1 batch of kitchen scraps a week that can go into the bin. My kitchen scraps mostly include spent coffee grounds, banana peels, apple cores, and vegetable trimmings from whatever I happen to be cooking that week. Eggshells now get handled separately, and citrus goes into the yard compost outside because citrus is toxic to worms.

( photos and description below the cut... )

angrboda

The below is a crosspost from my own dw. Has anybody else experimented with a garden journal? What sort of stuff did you write in it?

For Christmas Husband gave me a nice Critical Role notebook as 'something to go with', so I have been vaguely pondering what to use it for. I have now decided to have a go at making it a garden journal.

I have no idea how one does that. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm basically just putting stuff in there and seeing where it goes. I don't even know how long I'll be able to keep it up,* but we're having a go anyway. So far I've put in a list of what's in the different beds off the top of my head, I've put a todo list of tasks I'd like to get done during the spring (lol!),** and I've put in a number of ideas for how I would like to do the terrace pots and a list of other plants I might like to try and plant.

It occurs to me that it might also come in handy when we go to the garden center because I can take it with me and look up what I was considering, which feels far more attractive than a note on my phone, and I could potentially also put in things that I saw at the garden center that might be interesting later on, especially if I remember to also bring a pencil.***

This decision coincides, or is probably partially born from, the effort Husband is currently making to get through a vast stack of garden magazines that have piled up. We tried putting them in a specific place, so that they weren't always lying around on the dining table. This worked splendidly for me because it was more tidy, and not at all for him because the magazines tended to just accumulate and he'd never actually get around to looking in them. So now the magazine storage situation is a bit unclear. Anyway, he's making his way through them, tearing out the pages he wants a closer look at, and I got trough after him and do the same.

On one page, I was mainly interested in a small bit in the bottom third, so in a fit of inspiration I cut it out and glued it into my journal. I had a bit of leftover hobby glue that was still good, so I used that. I discovered that the paper is really too thin for this to be an ideal solution, but on the other hand, I'm kind of enjoying the tactile way the paper has gone a bit crinkly now where it has dried. Might acquire more unsuitable glue and do it again.

---

*But it is giving me some opportunity to use highlighters. I have far too many highlighters. But they come in so many colours, and you obviously have to have one in each colour. I mean, obviously!
**If I do a third of them, I'll call it a success.
***Not a pen. A pencil. And definitely not a mechanical one. An old fashioned one that you have to sharpen. I've been favouring them for years now. I think it has something to do how it feels to write with it.

ysabetwordsmith

April 2026 is National Native Plant Month

Please help to spread the word that the month of April is Native Plant Month and plan activities in your community to make a real difference by planting native plants, removing invasive plants, and teaching others about the importance of native plants as a source of food and habitat for wildlife.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

mdehners

Soooo,the 1st of the Dwarf Columbine plants I started from seed last yr has come into bloom. Not so dwarf but all deep Blue!!!! There are 2 others from those seeds that have buds and can't wait to see what they'll be.
Only the Yellow Wallflowers survived last Winter and are Blooming. Some of the Sweet William's I started last yr are showing pre-buds. Looks like only one Sanguisorba survived so I'm going to move it to a less Shady spot with less competition. I've been too busy with seedlings so I'm behind a number of chores in the garden. I'm lucky I was able to plant the Fig and the Mulberry last week though they arrived at an inconvenient time to plant by the Moon(my project this yr).
I can't believe that my Mint didn't overwinter. The Roman Chamomile is about half it was last yr too.
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Heilung Radio

ysabetwordsmith

Today we visited the Charleston Food Forest. These pictures show the front and right side. (See the left side, and the Coles County Community Garden.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

winterfirelight

This past weekend the weather was lovely, so I took on the project of taking out the massive, invasive butterfly bush that was planted by the previous owners. It's been on the to do list for ages, and I'm very happy to have it finally done! We've so much more space now, and we won't have to worry about constant pruning to keep it from growing over the garden path. I thought for sure I was going to have to take up part of the path to dig it out, but somehow the roots were positioned such that it barely disturbed the path at all. I did relocate a number of strawberries and a few bulbs, but I had been planning on moving them anyway, so no loss there.

I also cleared out dead growth from the square plot and found a lot of new calendula coming up, which is always exciting to see. I'm hopeful that I won't need to plant anything new in that bed, and that everything will have either self-seeded or will come back up on its own as the weather warms. My goal is to have most of the garden full of perennials and self-seeding annuals so I've less to do in terms of planting every year, but there's still lots of space to fill, so it'll be a couple of years yet before that's realized.

And in the backyard, I got the nettle potted up! It would be exciting to see that flourish this summer - safely far away from places people walk, and helpfully contained so as not to cause A Problem. I still want a few more pots out there for other aggressive spreaders - I have lemon balm I need to relocate from the front, and various other seeds in the mint family I'd like to plant without them taking over.

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Yesterday I discovered the Seed Library Network. I was delighted to find one near me.

Today we visited the Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange. It's on the second floor. We rode the elevator up, and the display was big enough to be seen from where the elevator lets out. Seeds are stored in drawers, sorted by type. There are sections for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Some of the really popular ones have their own drawer; others are grouped together. Unopened packets of commercial seed are filed as they are, for folks who want to know exactly what they're getting. Opened packets or homegrown seeds are put in envelopes by library staff. With wildflower and landrace seeds, especially mixes, you may get more surprises.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: excited

ysabetwordsmith

Seed Library Network
This website has extensive resources on seed libraries and seed swaps.

Seed the Map
Is your seed library open? Take 5 minutes to get on the Global Seed Library Map.

Explore the Map
Search the map to find other folks in similar regions or at the same type of location.

Seed Library Networks
Check out the other seed library networks & learn about how you can create your own.

Current Mood: busy

mdehners

Got some Garden-related stuff done the last 2 days. Planted a Saskatoon bush in a container and moved a few seedlings into 3" pots from the trays. My Fig cutting is showing buds along the stem but I'm not tempted to even look until April;>
Giant and Bronze Fennels, Variegated Lunaria(though no sign of it at present). The Giant isn't edible but looks really kewl the 2nd yr when it blooms about 10-12 ft tall! Next week a few more should be ready to bump up to larger pots just in time for the next batch of Stratified seeds to be ready to plant...
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Kiva Radio

winterfirelight

Finally started some seeds this past weekend! A little later than I intended, but given that last year I started them a whole 2 months sooner than I ought to have, I'll take it as a win. More seeds than I had realized need to be stratified first, so those are now chilling in the fridge and I'll get them in pots next month instead.

I'm hoping this week it'll be warm enough out that I can get some compost into the garden so it's all prepped when plants are ready to go in. We've already had crocuses and daffodils up for a few weeks, but we also had a frost this morning, so it's still a little early for most things. Unpredictable March! I've got big plans for some of the space this year, but we'll see how much I actually manage to get done. So far I'm mostly working on clearing out the cabinets so I have space for harvests later in the season. I made some tincture blends on Saturday to consolidate some jars, and used up some oils for salve yesterday. I'll have to spend a lot of time over the next couple of months drinking tea to work through my stash of dried herbs. There are worse fates!

The community garden has gotten started too, and I spent some time there today weeding and clearing out dead plants. I took an extra parsley and some stray borage home with me. I've never gotten borage to take in my garden, but I've tried putting it in a different location this time and maybe it'll settle in.

mdehners

Today, weather and health cooperated and I got out to do some gardening! Got almost all of the Winter-killed stuff cleared and part of a bed weeded. Unfortunately, the mini Irises bloomed while I was down. Bummer;>!
My dbl Ice Follies Daffs started blooming. They're finally mature enough to put on quite the show.
I figure next week, everything willing I should be able to plant cold hardy veg seeds like radishes and onions.
I've good germination of the seeds I started indoors so far with the exception of the Giant Fennel. Only got one seed to sprout so far and it's been 3 weeks. In 2 weeks the next batch of stratified seeds will be ready for planting. This batch has the Skirret, Rampion, Sea Kale and Turkish Rocket. Grew Sea Kale about a decade ago but it didn't "do" coastal Florida well.....unsurprisingly;>!
Cheers,
Pat

Current Mood: good
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: Kiva Radio

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures around the yard today. These are from the savanna. (See the house yard.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today's project was creating an enclosure behind the log garden. I dragged some more logs back there so I can dump dead leaves inside. That way, they'll stay put, create habitat, hold moisture, and remain available in case I want some leaf litter during the warm season. This is a good use for old logs if you have any lying around.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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1st Harvests 2026

aphids

Early Summer!

Crafts

Getting There....

Tiller time again!

Spring Has Sprung!

Worm Dirt Harvesting

Starting a garden journal

National Native Plant Month

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! ;>

Photos: Charleston Food Forest Part 1 Right Side

Clearing Out

Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange

Gardening

It's a Beginning;>

Seed Starting

Springing!

Photos: Savanna

Photos: House Yard

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June 2026

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