From winter through the spring, 2021 was filled with lots of activity and color in the garden.
2021 was quite a year for me in the garden. I started a blog, to keep track of all of my adventures. We put in a wildlife pond, a new pollinator bed, built two more raised beds, filled the deck to bursting with pots, and I planted more seeds than ever. I added quite a few native plants to the yard, tried winter sowing, started growing a few exotic (for Central Ohio!) plants like pineapples and a banana tree, and I’ve stuffed every available surface indoors with potted plants.
The yard saw quite a few visitors this year, everything from dragonflies and bees, to hawks and cats. Our birdfeeder collection multiplied (much to the delight of the local sparrow population), and the compost pile has continued to grow, then break down, only to grow again.
Recently, our lemon tree has started forming flowers for the first time! I’m so excited at the prospect of lemons.
Our raised beds had a productive year. Things kicked off with asparagus and lettuce in the springtime, then the herbs, garlic, shallots, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and green beans from the summer into fall.
2021 was a warm year, and a wet one, too. According to the local weatherman, who keeps track of these sort of things, this will have been our 7th warmest year since 1879. Just this month, which has been unusually warm, we tied our record for the 3rd warmest December since 1878. We’ve spent a few days with the windows open this week, which has never happened before at this time of year. Our hellebores are budding already (which usually doesn’t happen until March or April) and while most of the perennials dies back last month when we had a bit of snow, the yard is looking pretty green.
I made a few ceramic tiles this fall, with impressions of ferns and leaves from the garden.
Despite the temperatures and rainfall, the garden seemed mostly happy this year. I only watered the pots and raised beds with veggies and annuals- all the plants and trees out in the flower beds were left up to their own devices. I put in a lot of natives, which grow very deep roots that can withstand the summer heat. And I tend not to plant perennials that require much in the way of fussing.
When not gardening, I spent some time crafting up artwork and gifts for friends and family, inspired by, and borrowing from the garden itself. I made up some beeswax candles with bits of dried lavender from the flowers beds. I also dried up a bunch of herbs, like thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, bay leaves, parsley, fennel, and dill, some of which ended up in mixes for friends. Finally, I made up some little clay tiles and pendants, which I “printed” with impressions of ferns and other plants around the yard. I painted them, and shipped them off for some one-of-a-kind art for friends. They turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself, and I hope to make up some more.
The lavender candles, mid-wax-pouring
I’m really looking forward to the next gardening season. This winter, I’ll be working on my Master Gardener certification, and soon, it will be time to start sowing seeds again. I’ve already been pouring over the seed catalogues as they arrive, and may have already purchased my body weight in seeds… I’m excited to see which new (to me) plants, flowers, and trees catch my eye and end up in the garden this coming year.
As pandemic life continues, and things in the world feel uncertain, I hope that your garden is still bringing you peace and joy. While those seed catalogues pour in, and you find yourself deep into springtime daydreams, may 2022 find you safe and healthy. Happy gardening!
Summer and fall were filled with flowers and treats for the pollinators and I to enjoy!
We’ve been having some particularly gorgeous sunrises lately.
It’s been a hot minute. I accidentally took the better part of a month off from updating the blog, and decided I ought to get back into the groove. So, now it’s December. We’ve had a few snowy days, some freezing days, cloudy days, and a lot of days where the temperatures have been above average for this time of year. The yard is blooming with dandelions again, something that usually doesn’t happen until the springtime.
A lot of the warmer-season bugs, like bees, have left for the season, but we’re still seeing ladybugs, stinkbugs, spiders, and little beetles whose species I don’t know. I’m sure if I did any digging around in the not-yet-frozen-ground, I’d find plenty of worms, pill bugs, and other creepy crawlies roaming about, too. Even when it is cooler out, there’s a lot going on in the soil.
Our volunteer maple tree put on quite a gorgeous show in November, with fiery orange leaves.
I did a tour of the garden the other day and was surprised at how much was still green this year. A few of the ferns are still hanging out, and the snow and freezing cold mornings haven’t managed to put all of the perennials to sleep yet. Most of the plants have finished for the season, though. As usual, I left up the vast majority for a winter display, as well as to help feed and house the local wildlife until springtime. I’m really enjoying all the tall, dry grasses, like the little bluestem. I know I talk about that native plant a lot, but I just love how different it looks in each season, and its tall, flowy brown stalks with their willowy little seed heads are just gorgeous at this time of year.
I love the way all the different plants look at this time of year, from brown grasses, to frost-covered herbs and green, orange, and red heucheras.
In addition to the gardens, we’ve still been enjoying our harvest from this years crops. The sugar pie pumpkins we grew made for some absolutely delicious pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. And we are still making our way through the tomato paste from the san marzano tomatoes, as well as the smorgasbord of green beans that continue to pack the freezer. (I like mine with a little bacon and onion… mmm!).
Our sugar pie pumpkins made for a delicious pie!
I’ve been diligently making lists of which veggies, herbs, and fruits I’d like to try out next season. This process is ongoing, and I’ll likely make up about 74 different lists of plans before throwing the whole process out and simply buying whichever seed packets catch my eye once the seed catalogs arrive this winter. It’s fun to daydream, though, and I love a good list.
Speaking of lists, my project this month is to catalog all of the indoor plants. My little indoor jungle has become of showcase of my lack of self control in garden centers, as well as my inability to remember the names of anything. While one of the problems is surely too far gone to be helped, I think I can put my organizational skills to some use coming up with a spreadsheet naming all my plants. Who knows. Maybe in taking a closer look at all the plants, I’ll find some that can be split, necessitating a trip to the greenhouse for more pots! And plants! Win-win!
Hope that your garden is having a lovely sleep while you move your efforts indoors (if you are in the northern hemisphere). Happy gardening!
I love the way that prairie plants look in the autumn. We made it to the park yesterday to check out the fall color.
Aaaaand suddenly, it’s November. We’re expecting our first temps below freezing this week, which will officially draw the gardening season to a close. This year has been warmer and wetter than average, which presented its own set of challenges. I thought I’d use today’s post to look back at the garden this year, at what worked well, and which schemes of mine went hay-wire.
When I started the season, I had a few projects in mind. I wanted to turn one of our side yards into a wildflower bed. I planned to add two new raised beds to the back yard for more planting space. And, I wanted to add a native plant bed to the hellstrip in our front yard.
I thought I’d pulled out the last of the carrots in late summer, but I spotted these last stragglers yesterday and harvested them before this weeks freezing temps.
The first of these projects just never made it off the ground, so to speak. The best time to prep a bed like this is in the fall, and I just didn’t get to this bed in time for that. I may work on it over these next few weeks. It would be a nice bed to try the “lasagna” planting method, where you don’t dig anything up, leaving all the organisms and soil structures in place, and instead, layer soil and compostable items like paper on top. The paper kills off the grass, and you’re left with a nice new bed for planting without tearing apart the ground below. It’s far easier on the body, (take that, arthritis!) and is a great way to maintain the health of the soil. Anyway, we’ll see if I get to that this project this month or not…
The next two projects, I did accomplish this past spring. The two raised beds were added early in the season, and we filled them with leaf compost. I grew quite a lot in all four beds this year, all from seed/bulbs: two types of tomatoes, marigolds, carrots, leeks, lettuce, parsley, garlic, shallots, green beans, bachelor button flowers, asparagus, oregano, bush beans, and basil. Everything seemed fairly happy most of the season (though, the druzba tomatoes caught blight at the end of August). I think next year, I’d like to plant about half the beans (they were hard to keep up with), half the tomatoes (I plant to just grow paste tomatoes next year), and I’m hoping to crack the secret to growing parsnips. I’ve tried for two years now, and just never managed to get them to sprout.
Our strawberry plants decided to flower again. The cold will keep them from actually fruiting until next year.
The hellstrip project was also a success. I scaled back my original plan to take out all the sod, and I never managed to get a maple tree planted (though, there’s a volunteer growing out back that I may move to the front yard yet this month). But, in mid-spring, the husband dug out a huge patch of sod, and I moved in a bunch of native plants that I’d grown from seed, along with a few other perennials for the pollinators, like creeping thyme and nepeta. The bed still needs edged with stone to match the others, but so far, it’s looking quite nice. I’m especially proud of the little blue stem grasses that I grew from seed using the winter sewing method. They are an important prairie plant, and look fabulous with their fiery orange and red spikes this fall.
In addition to these larger projects, I spent quite a lot of springtime turning the deck into Plant Central. It sort of started as an accident, as I’d planted way too many seeds, and ran out of space for all of them in the garden beds. But then, I leaned into the idea that the deck was now a hangout for potted plants, ignoring the lack of space for lounging and grilling for their human counterparts. I had… well, frankly, a garden center amount of plants on that deck this year. There were veggies, herbs, tropical plants, native species, fruit… at one point, there was even a 20 foot sugar pie pumpkin vine winding around the grill and half the deck. I really enjoyed my little jungle, and plan to go even more wild next year, because why not.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! This was our first year successfully growing pumpkins. I am still awaiting pumpkin pies. Hint hint, husband.
Finally, in what I consider my crowning achievement in the garden this year, I added a wildlife pond. I’d been day-dreaming about having a water feature in the yard for ages, but I expected it to end up as a large pot, with some water and a lily pad or something. Then, in a fit of whimsy, I announced to the husband that we were going to dig out space for a tiny pond. I had certainly done a bit of research beforehand, but really, one day I just woke up and decided I had to have a pond, and that was that. So, we dug out the pond, added a plastic lining, set rocks around the edges and along the bottom, and then added a boatload of native plants around the edges. I mulched the space, added a water pump, and we were off and running. Birds eventually found the space, and then, to my absolute delight, two frogs showed up (Stanley and Stan Lee). The space is wild, and beautiful, if I do say so myself.
So, the year ended up being quite prolific, garden-wise. I added a lot more native plants to the garden, which were vital during the long, hot stretches of summer days. They lured in all sorts of amazing insects and wildlife. I also grew more veggies, fruits, and herbs than I’d ever managed before, all from seed. I certainly learned a few things for the future, and I have lots of notes on what I’d like to plant next season. I’m pleased with the projects the husband and I managed, because landscaping is tough work.
The cats are back on bird watching duty. I’ll be hanging up the suet blocks and setting out sunflower seeds soon to draw in more visitors.
I have a few ideas percolating for next year… I’d like to rip out some more grass, and expand the perennial beds that wind around the entire perimeter of the back yard. I’d also like to create some more height on the deck with a trellis for some climbers. Finally, I’d like to really focus on stuffing more native species into the yard. I have a lot of single plants peppered around, and I’d like to bulk up their numbers to make the landscape flow a little better. We also plan to replace our falling apart fence early next spring, before the perennials wake back up so they aren’t damaged.
For now, though, the garden is about to go back to sleep for the season, and I have lots of time to daydream about what’s to come in the months ahead. Soon, I’ll be putting the bird feeders back up, and awaiting the first snowfall. Many of my deck plants have been moved inside, so I’m surrounded by green and flowers, even on cold, gloomy winter days. 2021 was a great year in my garden. Hope your gardening season has been even better!
The past few days have been a flurry of planting. And sweating. And complaining about sweating. And happily prancing around the garden, hoping the neighbors aren’t watching. On Friday, the last of the nights in the 40s were behind us, so I started going wild and popping things in the ground. In went the marigolds, zinnias, bachelor button flowers, german chamomile, thyme, parsley, basil, oregano, and the borage plants that were living in the cold frame. I ran out of room in the yard, so I started potting things up into larger recycled containers on the deck.
A little bit of mulch really helped snazzy up the new water feature.
The weekend saw several trips to the garden center to acquire more dirt and pots. And mulch. I did a little more grass-removal around the wildlife pond, and started mulching in the area. The birds don’t seem to have found the new watering hole yet, but there’s some new insect larvae in the water, and a few spiders and other bugs hanging out around the rocks. The new plants are all looking happy, including the pitcher plant I added last week. Pitcher plants are carnivorous, and love to feast on mosquitoes, which they should have plenty available to enjoy. I potted the plant up in and actually set it into the water, so the leaves are dry, but the roots of the plant are under the surface. It should really thrive and I’m excited for some more pesticide-free mosquito control!
The new Pitcher Plant, ready for breakfast.
Moving along down the yard, the raised beds are now all planted up (finally!). The first bed houses some carrots, parsley, lettuce, leeks, shallots, garlic, and pole beans. I’m going to add some parsnips in a few weeks once I do some harvesting to make room for them.
The next beds are stuffed full of tomatoes. I ended up with 14 plants: 8 san marzano paste tomatoes, and 6 druzba tomatoes. I am elated to finally have them all in the ground. I’ll be less excited once I have buckets of tomatoes to peel and dice for canning season, but that’s really the whole point of this exercise.
The tomatoes are in the ground!
Growing tomatoes is sort of a national past time in the US. They are the #1 crop grown in our yards and on our porches, and there are probably more articles devoted to the art of growing them than anything else in the garden. I just have a few tips of my own, for first time (and returning) growers. Tomatoes like sun, a lot of sun. They will not thrive in a shady location. Tomatoes also prefer temperatures between the 60s-80s. A frost or freeze will kill them off, and when it gets too hot for too long, they start looking pretty pathetic (I can’t blame them, I have the same issues).
Tomatoes don’t enjoy sitting in water, but they do require a good soaking on a consistent schedule. Not enough water, or draught conditions between waterings can lead to calcium deficiencies that cause Blossom End Rot, a fun issue where the bottoms of the fruit will blacken and rot out. A good soak every few days, at the base of the plant should do the trick.
But, first, you have to get them planted. Tomatoes do well in containers or in the ground, they just like a soil with some compost and other nutrients. And, any container should have some good drainage holes to make sure they don’t swim around. Tomatoes should be planted with some sort of support system. I like metal stakes, but we’ve used those round, metal cages before, bamboo poles, wood stakes… really anything will work that the plants can be tied to, to help keep them upright. On their own, tomatoes will flop over and kind of spread like a ground cover.
Plant your tomatoes deeply for stronger roots and happier plants.
Plant your toms deeply. Tomato roots grow from the sides of the stem, so when you’re putting your plant into the dirt, plant it down far enough so the first set of leaves will be sitting on the top of the soil. This will help your tomato grow stronger roots, and ultimately, better tomatoes for you to enjoy.
Finally, if you’re planting multiple tomatoes, it helps to space them apart by at least 12 inches. Tomatoes like space to breathe, to grow healthier, bushier plants. I set mine too close together last year, and while I ended up with a lot of tomatoes, they didn’t grow very large.
Wrapping up the raised bed tour in the garden is our asparagus bed, which also now houses some herbs: more chamomile, basil, oregano, and parsley. The chamomile is mostly for the pollinators. The other stuff I like to cook with, and I’ll dry some as well for use during the winter and for holiday gifts.
The real stairway to heaven
Close observers of this blog may be wondering, why, Sara, didn’t you also grow some peppers this year? Yes, gardeners, I certainly did. I grew six italian sweet pepper plants, in fact. They are all fairly tall already, and flowering. I had planned to add them to the raised beds, but someone grew too many tomatoes and ran out of room. The third trip to the garden center this weekend (%^&%&$#!) was to pick up containers and dirt for them. They now live on the deck steps, as I am running out of room on the deck itself. I’m really testing the structural integrity of our deck boards this year.
Out in the rest of the garden, things are flowering and the heat and rain in this weeks forecast should bring out even more. Our daises, clematis, lilacs, coral bells, allium, irises, and columbines are all in bloom, and the peonies look about ready to pop as well. (Peonies are my absolute favorite flower, so I’m anxious to see them again this year!) The climbing roses are also beginning to bloom, in a brilliant, hot pink. A few years ago, I thought I’d accidentally killed them off, but they stubbornly refused to die. The plant has just grown out of control. I should have started training them a month ago, but I must have had very important things going on then. So, this weekend, the husband helped me put in some eye hooks along the fence where they grow, and we tied some fishing line between the hooks to string the roses through. Many puncture wounds later, the roses are looking much happier, and the lilies and lambs ear that grow below them are happy for some actual sunlight again.
Daisies
Roses
Clematis
Lilacs
Giant White Trillium
Bugleweed
Irises
Star of Bethlehem
Columbines
All that’s left to do now is to dig up the sod in the front yard for the next bed, in the grass patch between the sidewalk and the street. I have some native grasses and plants growing that should be ready to pop into the ground soon, so I need to get digging. Once that’s wrapped up, it will be time to fall into the lounge chair on the deck to enjoy all of this years hard work! I can’t wait to see everything bloom as the days grow longer. The swallowtail butterflies should be here before too long. We have their favorite host plants: dill, fennel, and parsley waiting.
Hope all is well in your garden, and that you are able to get out and enjoy nature this week. Happy gardening!
Wild geraniums, brunerra, hellebores, creek sedge and hostas, hosta, dutchman’s breeches, hostas and ferns, jack in the pulpits, and ferns with trillium and hostas
I sometimes think our favorite pastime in Ohio is complaining about the weather. As a lifelong resident of this state, I’m well trained in the art of turning any conversation into a rant about the temperature. Today’s post will be no exception. As readers of this blog know, I grew a bumper crop of peppers and tomatoes from seed this year. They’ve been cruising along inside, under grow lights, and once the last chance of frost hit for the season, I started hardening the plants off outdoors. I had hoped to plant everything out in the garden last week, but the temps were in the 40s and 50s, which is much chillier than tomatoes enjoy for a high. And, it’s been raining buckets.
Our nepeta, clematis, columbines, allium, hellebores, and azaleas are all enjoying springtime.
This weekend, as I gazed morosely out the bay window in the kitchen, the storms continued. Yesterday alone, we had a few inches of rain. The ground is a muddy mess, with flooding and puddles all over the city. The calendar claims that we’re moving into the second week of May, but with temps 20 degrees below normal, it really doesn’t feel like it. Crabby gardener (me) is crabby.
I’m hoping to get everything planted later this week. The skies are supposed to clear, and it will be a little warmer out in a few days. I’m ready for everything to be in the ground already, and out onto the deck. Our kitchen has gone Full Jungle and while “grow lights hanging from your kitchen chandelier” is certainly a look, I’m not totally sure it’s one that will catch on with interior decorators any time soon.
Anyway. Three paragraphs is probably long enough of a weather rant today. I haven’t cussed out any meteorologists, but I hope I’ve managed to hang on to my Midwesterner cred anyway. So. Moving on.
I was weeding the asparagus bed and found this guy growing… I dug it up and was surprised to see that it’s a walnut sapling! The squirrels must have planted it. I repotted it so it can keep growing on the deck.
Last week, I acquired quite a few new plants for the garden. I ordered some native plants from Prairie Nursery the other month, and they arrived a few days ago. I was pretty impressed with the packaging- all of the plants were healthy and happy, and nothing was smashed to bits by the delivery company. I’ve been working on pulling up some more grass around the new wildlife pond, and so I was able to plant the new maidenhair ferns, canada anemones, jack in the pulpits, creek sedge, northern sea oats, and wild geraniums there. All of the plants will love living around the wet and shady new water feature. I also nabbed some more blue false indigo, prairie smoke, bergamot, and obedient plants for the sunnier areas around the yard. Each of these are host plants for some really neat pollinators and bugs. I’m excited for everything to fill in and since they are all native perennials, I won’t have to do much with them (including watering) after they get established.
Saturday, our local park held a plant sale. There are few things more irresistible to me than plants (hence the blog), so I took my newly-vaccinated self to fill up a tray with some great natives, veggies, and herbs. I brought home some woodland phlox, nasturtiums, creeping thyme, shallots, garlic, and chives. I also grabbed some oregano, since the seedlings I was growing were a little fried after I accidentally left them in the cold frame on one of the 85 degree days we had last month. Oops.
I grew all of this years basil crop from seed, and it’s ready for another harvest!
I really, really love growing herbs, despite my lack of success with this years oregano seedlings. Quite a few herbs are perennials in our area, so I have them scattered about in the gardens and get to enjoy them every year. The others, I tend to grow in pots to keep them from taking over the garden (some herbs are more aggressive than geese and will absolutely charge everything around them with a swift voracity). I like having herbs in pots so they are close to the kitchen for easier collection purposes when I’m cooking. And, I can bring them inside if it gets too cold. Pots also make it easier to control the soil and drainage for your herbs, which comes in very handy with things like rosemary, that do not like to get very wet.
I thought I’d give an overview on some of the herbs that I grow, with a few tips I’ve picked up over the years. When it doubt with most herbs, grow them in the sun, make sure they won’t ever be standing in water, and containers are great to keep them from taking over a space. Here’s some of the finer points:
Herb
Growing Tips
Harvest
Notes
Basil
Basil grows well in pots or in the ground. It loves full sun, well draining soil, and won’t be able to handle a frost.
You can harvest basil leaves often, by just plucking off leaves. Once it really heats up, basil will start to flower. Remove the flowers to keep leaves tasting fresh.
Basil grows really well next to tomato plants. It’s an easy herb to grow, and it’s hard to beat pasta with fresh basil leaves on top!
Bay Laurel
Bay Laurel is one I’d recommend growing in a pot in climates where it gets cold in the winter. It won’t be able to live through a freeze. It likes to live in something that drains well, in the full sun. We bring our bay inside in the winter and it lives in a sunny windowsill.
Harvest bay leaves when they are a few inches long.
Fresh bay leaves are amazing in sauces and stews.
Bergamot
Bergamot would grow fine in a pot, or in the garden. It likes full sun, and will get bushy, growing about 2′ wide, with beautiful, starburst flowers.
I would not recommend harvesting bergamot. Some parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested.
Bergamot is an awesome perennial in our area, Zone 6a. It grows really pretty flowers and is a pollinator magnet!
Borage
Borage can be grown in a pot, or in the ground. It’s not a fan of winter. Grow borage in a sunny, well-draining spot.
Borage flowers can be used in tea, or as a garnish in things like salads. Both the flowers and leaves can be eaten.
Borage is a great herb for attracting pollinators! The small, star-shaped blue flowers are really pretty and taste better if eaten fresh and not dried.
Chives
I recommend growing chives in a container, because they tend to spread all over the place. They are a nice perennial, grow quickly and easily. Chives enjoy the sun, but can handle a spot with some shade.
Harvest chives multiple times throughout the year, just wait until a month after you’ve planted them. Cut chives back to about an inch above the ground when harvesting.
Chives will flower, luring in pollinators. They taste great in lots of dishes, both fresh, and dried.
Chamomile
Chamomile grows well in pots or in the ground. It likes the sunshine, but can tolerate a little bit of shade.
Once the chamomile flowers are starting to go past their prime, pop them off, dry them, and then enjoy in tea, or a relaxing bath.
Chamomile is a great bee magnet, and the pretty flowers, which look like tiny daisies, are great for dyeing up fiber and fabrics.
Cilantro
Cilantro likes cooler weather, and is great for springtime and fall in our climate. Grow it in pots or in the ground. In my experience, it likes a shadier location, with morning sunshine.
Pluck off the leaves and stems to harvest cilantro, and the plant will keep growing. Once it warms up, the plant will bolt, sending up flowers. These will turn to seed, coriander, which you can harvest once they start to dry out on the plant.
Not everyone enjoys cilantro (for some, it tastes a lot like soap), but if you like it, cilantro is a tasty garnish. If you harvest the coriander seeds, they may be ground up and used in lots of dishes like curry. Yum.
Dill
Dill is a perennial in our area. It grows well in pots, or in the ground, though it likes to spread. Plant dill in the sunshine.
Harvest dill leaves before the plant flowers.
Dill is great fresh, or dried, and the husband swears by it in his scrambled eggs. Dill is also a host plant for swallowtail butterflies. The caterpillars will eat some of the leaves, but since this herb grows so quickly, it’s easy to share with them!
Fennel
Fennel is a sun-loving herb, that’s easy to grow. I like it in pots, but am trying some in the raised beds this year, too.
Harvest fennel leaves for use in things like salads, and after the plant flowers, the seeds can be harvested and dried.
I bake with fennel in my breads a lot, and it’s also a must have in many of my italian dishes. Fennel is another host plant for swallowtails. They show up in our area on the plants in late spring, and we love watching the caterpillars grow into new butterflies!
Lavender
Lavender is a little more particular, as herbs on this list go. It’s a perennial in our area, but needs a sunny spot with soil that drains very well. It will not be happy in location that floods or in clay that holds lots of water. I grow ours in the garden, but it would love life in a pot, too.
Harvest the sprigs of flowers by trimming them back to the woody stems. Enjoy lavender in a bath, pop the sprigs in a drawer to keep clothes smelling fresh, or just enjoy their fragrance in a nice bouquet on the table.
Lavender is another great plant to attract lots of pollinators- the bees absolutely adore this one! It’s very low maintenance. Lavender requires little water, and you don’t cut the plant back to the ground at any point- just trim off spent flower sprigs after they’ve bloomed. It can be split and moved every few years to keep the plant full and happy.
Mint
Mint is that plant your mother warned you about- it will absolutely take over a garden (possibly, an entire state). Grow it in pots for the best chance at containing this beast. Mint likes full sun, and is a perennial that doesn’t care if winter exists.
Harvest mint leaves all summer long. They are great in tea and adult beverages, make a nice addition to a bath, and can also be nice treat in a fruit salad.
Mint will flower, and attract lots of happy pollinators. We grow a few varieties, but my favorite is an heirloom, that started life in Emily Dickinson’s garden. A friend gave me a cutting the other year, and it took off right away. I fangirl every time I see it.
Oregano
Oregano is another herb that loves the sun. It comes in tons or varieties and grows well in pots or in the ground, just make sure it doesn’t get overwatered.
Pluck off leaves as they grow, and when the plant flowers, try to pull off the flowers to keep the leaves tasting nice. (Like basil, the leaves will turn a little bitter if the plant has flowers).
Oregano flowers are a favorite of pollinators, and the leaves are tasty in lots of dishes. We tend to dry ours, which does dull the flavor just a bit, but it’s also yummy fresh.
Parsley
Parsley practically grows itself. It’s hardy, and will take some cold temps. It likes the sun, but will also tolerate a bit of shade. It’s fine in containers or in the ground.
Harvest leaves about a month after planting. Parsley will just keep growing.
Parsley is another host plant for swallowtail butterflies. We share our harvest of it each year with the caterpillars. It comes in loads of varieties. Parsley is great fresh or dried.
Rosemary
Rosemary behaves a lot like lavender, except it’s not a perennial in our area. It hates the cold. Plant it in a sunny spot, and it will be happiest in soil with some rock in it to make sure it drains very well. This plant likes things dry.
To harvest your rosemary, trim the top few inches off. I like cooking with the whole sprigs for the flavor in stews and on grilled treats.
Rosemary dries well, but is really the best fresh. I keep our plant on a sunny windowsill in the cold months, and move it outside in the summer so we can enjoy it year round.
Thyme
Thyme is pretty versatile. It grows as a perennial in our area. It loves the sun and will grow well anywhere, though it will tend to spread out in the ground.
Harvest thyme by plucking off a few inches of leaves.
Thyme is a great ground cover, as well as a awesome ingredient in cooking. The bees love its tiny flowers, and I’ve been using it more and more in place of grass in our yard. You can walk all over it without killing the plant (just watch out for bumble bees!).
I feel like that ending up being a lot longer than I’d intended, but hopefully it’s helpful information. Herbs are so versatile. Many of them are very beneficial for our local insect populations, and there really is nothing like cooking with fresh herbs. Most require little watering or maintenance, and since they grow so well in containers, they are great plants when you don’t have a whole lot of space available. They grow just fine indoors, which is great during the winter blahs, and they don’t seem to attract as many of the pests that destroy plants, like some veggies and flowers do.
Some of our lavender: the lighter leaves are last years growth, and the limier green are new this spring. We’ll see flowers by the summer time.
Hopefully the week dries out soon (dang it- I’m onto the weather again!) and I can get some more planting done. I’d like to get the rest of these cold frame herbs in the ground, along with the aforementioned kitchen plant crew. Wherever you are, I hope your May is going well, and that your gardens are behaving.
We’ve made it to my favorite month in the gardening calendar. I love May. Everything is green, many of my favorite flowers begin blooming, and I can finally go hog wild, executing the gardening plans. Our last frost date isn’t technically until May 9th, but according to the weather report, we should be in the clear now. (I’m probably jinxing things… last year, we had an uber late frost, and my entire state was outside, panic-covering veggies and annuals with sheets to protect things from the cold).
A few of our trees: eastern redbud, red maple, and flowering dogwood
I started hardening off everything that’s been living indoors last week. We’ve made it up to four hours now, over four days. I knew I’d planted a boatload of seeds, but I really do have a lot going on. I moved the grow lights down to the kitchen so I could haul all the plants inside and outside easier. (The seedlings were living on the second floor, and it took exactly one day with 11,000,000 trips up and down the stairs for me to decide that was so not continuing for the full seven days).
The Italian Sweet Peppers are flowering already!
The tomatoes and peppers have started to flower, which is kind of blowing my mind. I’m really excited to get these plants into the ground. I also have rosemary, basil, and parsley hardening off, as well as our lemon tree, a (newly arrived) dwarf banana tree, some madder, the ginger and pineapple plants that I started over the winter, some geraniums, and an amaryllis bulb.
The deck is starting to fill up with pots as well. The potatoes I planted have sprouted, and I just potted up the canna and cala lily bulbs that we grew last year. (They were living in the garage over winter, dormant and just waiting for warm days again). I have two pots of dahlias growing this year, well, they are just tubers now, but hopefully, they will sprout soon. And, there’s cilantro, two pots of lettuces, sorrel, fennel, a bay laurel, strawberries, tulips, aloe, mint, and some swamp milkweed. How’s that for variety? The cold frame is basically permanently opened up now so the seedlings don’t overheat and burn, and it’s housing the dropseed, little bluestem, prairie blazing star, zinnias, marigolds, milkweed, bachelor button flowers, borage, thyme, more parsley, oregano, passion flowers, and german chamomile. Things should be large enough to plant out soon here.
The calla lilies are growing again and ready for planting. I promise, the flowers look better than the rhizomes here would suggest.
Last fall, after the sunflowers had finished their display, I harvested a few of the seeds to plant this year. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, with nice results. I have Mammoth Sunflowers, and some Autumn Beauty, and I planted both varieties out in the beds this weekend. They both grow quite tall, so I plant them along the fence. I love when they bloom in late summer- they are so cheery, and the bees really enjoy them.
Out in the garden, things are beginning to really fill in. While not even close to it’s full volume, I’m very pleased with our first shade bed. It’s packed full of hostas, ferns, heucheras, great white trilliums, dutchman’s breeches, sedum, creek sedge, hardy geraniums, a rhododendron, hellebores, crocuses, brunerra, speedwell, and along the front edge, by the birdfeeders, are dozens of little sunflower seedlings sprouting up. The birds shake the seeds out of the feeders, and I just let the sunflowers grow, thinning them out a little for healthier plants. It’s not the ideal placement for tall plants- right at the front of a bed- but the flowers the birds grew last year were so pretty. I’m really a sucker for sunflowers, wherever they may grow.
The shade garden is popping back up and filling in quickly this spring.
I set up a little pot again this year in that flower bed, filled with some rocks and water for the birds and bugs to enjoy. It was a hit last year, basically a little bird bath, so I thought I’d give it a go again. The dragonflies really seem to enjoy the water features, too, and with the way they devour mosquitoes (an adult dragonfly can eat hundreds of those bloodsuckers per day), I am about anything that lures them into our garden.
Some of the sunflower seeds from last falls harvest
This week, we’re expecting quite a bit of rain, but hopefully, once that clears out, I can start in on the next big gardening project: pulling out the sod in the front yard between the sidewalk and the street (the hellstrip). Quite a few of the plants for that project are still growing in the cold frame now, and the other half are things I plan to split from perennials we have around the yard already. Pulling up grass is a pain, literally, but it’s the necessary first step. Any time I can get rid of more grass in our yard is a good time in my book. Once the grass is out, I can plant the new bed, get it mulched, and the next pollinator garden will be in business.
Hope the week is warm and sunny where you are, and that you can spend some time relaxing around all the new spring life outdoors. Happy gardening!
Our Giant Allium is blooming. I love these wild little balls of flowers, and I saw quite a few bees enjoying them over the weekend, too.
Just a few more days and it will be May! For us in Central Ohio, that means the last frost date is almost behind us, and soon I’ll be deep in the throes of a full on Planting Frenzy.
Our miniature daffodils are just opening up this week.
Our plants made it through last weeks freezes and snow with minimal damage. We had three nights below freezing, but the 2″ of snow we received didn’t stick around for more than a few hours (just enough to be depressing as hell before it was on its way). I hemmed and hawed each night about covering things up, but ultimately laziness won out. I hadn’t really planted anything yet this year that would baulk at the cold, but it was still a huge relief when things looked ok.
A few Japanese Maple leaves took a little damage from the cold, but the tree will be just fine.
Yesterday, the husband and I picked up the larger stones for the wildlife pond lining. I assembled everything, added a few twigs and branches, and filled the pond up with water. The remaining native plants I ordered should be arriving in a week or so, and then, hopefully, it will be Move In Day for our local critters. I am really pleased with the way things look so far, and as all the plants grow in, and I mulch the area, it will look even better.
Ignore the muddy water. Things will clear up once the dirt from the rocks settles.
I tried to pull out all the tricks I’ve learned for attracting and providing safe spots for wildlife. Water is always a draw on its own, and there’s plenty of nooks and crannies for things to live in, between the stone and all the branches. The native plants I chose are host plants for different butterflies and moths, and as it continues to warm up, hopefully, I’ll start seeing dragonflies, bees, and other bugs checking out the space. If we get any reptiles and amphibians, I’ll be over the moon. I’m excited for the birds to notice the pond, too. It’s a nice depth for them to be able to take a bath, and there are worms galore all over the area, so the eating is good.
Salads, incoming!
For those of us with more refined taste, the first of our little lettuce patch is about ready to enjoy. We harvested some of our basil this past weekend for pasta, and our strawberries are flowering already. The carrots, leeks, and parsley that I started in the raised bed a few weeks ago are starting to really take off as well.
I’m hoping to begin hardening off my pepper and tomato plants here soon so I can add them to the raised beds after the danger of frost has passed. When you start seeds indoors, you need to put them through a fun little dance called “hardening off” before they can move outdoors. The process takes about a week. On day one, the plants can spend about an hour outside, and I usually start them in the shade. The next day, give them two hours, the third day, three hours, and so on, until a week has passed. This gives your plants a chance to adapt to the different level of sunlight, humidity, wind, and the general “joie de vivre” of life outdoors. (Ok, that last one may not be totally scientific, but the first three are all important). Not doing this can seriously stress your plants, and they may not survive.
That’s all I have for now. Hope everyone has a lovely week. Happy gardening!
As always seems to happen in the springtime, the days are flying by. The garden continues to pop awake, and the dogwood tree, tulips, creeping phlox, brunerra, rue anemone, virginia bluebells, and trillium are in bloom. The peonies are growing, and our clematis vines and allium have blooms, waiting to open.
Our ‘Jack Frost’ Brunerra in bloom in the shade garden
I’ve been doing some work on the new wildlife pond. I added a liner, and filled it with a bit of water. I hauled some river rock and pebbles to the backyard, which I’ve half spread out around the water. I’m looking into grabbing some larger stones to edge the pond, but I didn’t want to wait to plant the native perennials I’d picked up the other week. I have a boatload of native ferns and other shade and water-loving plants on their way to me in a couple of weeks to join the edge of the pond and to make more hidey holes for bugs and birds. Slowly but surely, I’m taking up all the sod around the pond to extend that shade garden. I’m really excited for that space to come together.
The pond is slowly coming together
We have two shade gardens in the backyard, right up next to the house. I have them both pretty packed with native flowers and sedges, and also a slew of ferns and hostas. I am a bit of a hosta fiend. I blame my dad. When we started the garden, he split one of he and my moms giant hostas, and gave it to me to help get my garden started. I love that thing. The leaves grow larger than dinner plates, in a deep blue-green, and it looks like a giant jungle plant. Since then, I’ve collected 11 more hosta plants, in various shapes and colors. They bloom every summer, with graceful little stalks of purple flowers that the bees enjoy. I saw a bumble bee sleeping inside of one of the flowers one year summer, and turned into a blubbery mess. I dare you to gaze upon a fuzzy bee, snoozing in a flower and not completely melt at the cuteness.
No bumble bees yet on these hostas
Our seedlings continue to grow like wild. I’m watching the calendar with anticipation, just waiting for the day I can pop my tomatoes and peppers into the ground. I’ve lost complete control over the tomatoes. I measured a few of them this past week, and they are now over 2′ tall. Normally, when I transplant them into the ground, they are 6, maybe 7″ high. These monsters are more than ready for the new raised beds.
Well, that’s all I have, for the moment. Don’t forget- this Thursday, April 22, is Earth Day! Because it’s spring in Central Ohio, we’re expecting highs in the low 40s at one point this week, with possible snow flurries. I try to get out to do some planting every Earth Day, but this year, it may be an indoor gardening sort of day instead. Wherever you are, and whatever your weather, I hope you can spend a little of your Earth Day enjoying and supporting nature. Plant a tree, or donate to a local conservation group. Check out a park, and help clean up any trash you may find. Unplug and enjoy!
Like Dr. Seuss said in The Lorax, “Unless someone like you care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Our first asparagus harvest of the year was delicious!
I think spring must be my favorite season. Aside from my allergies, which are definitely trying to kill me through sheer irritation, watching all the trees bud and the garden coming back to life really makes this the best time of year. I love hiking through the woods and checking out the spring wildflowers. I love watching the first bees of the year bouncing wildly around from flower to flower. I love walking through the garden each day, checking out which perennials have started to break through the earth again, and which trees have sprouted leaves. I love watching all the seedlings growing and daydreaming about the first flowers and vegetable harvests. Looking outside at all the green just makes me feel like myself again.
Giant White Trillium, Brunerra, Flowering Dogwood, Creeping Phlox, Tulips, and Dandelions
I’ve been busy this past week, cleaning up the yard. Last years flowers have all been trimmed away, and I discovered a few solitary bee nurseries in some dried out sunflower stalks. The baby bees had already flown the coop, but it was really exciting to know that they had spent the winter there before hatching this spring.
I also started some more seeds, which have been sprouting up in the cold frame out on the deck. In a few weeks, I’ll finish up planting the rest of the seeds that prefer to start life in their final growing space. For now, I have an arsenal of flowers and herbs sprouting. I have a few types of thyme, parsley, oregano, basil, fennel, cilantro, and borage, as well as marigolds, bachelor button flowers, german chamomile, zinnias, prairie dropseed, and little bluestem.
No Vacancy
I also popped the lids off of the seeds that I started in the milk jugs in January through winter sowing. I had decent germination, and so the prairie milkweed, prairie blazing star, and purple prairie clover is coming along well. I’ve never successfully grown any of these native species from seed before, so I’m excited that this method worked out so well.
The butterflies are going to love this blazing star once it grows up!
After all that trimming, weeding, and seed starting, one would think it would be time to take off the gardening gloves and sit back on the deck with a nice cup of tea. While that does sound wonderful, I may have gone a different route…
I’ve had the idea of a wildlife pond in the back of my mind for awhile now. Water = life, and I love thinking of all the bugs, birds, and amphibians we could have traipsing around a pond. In the summer, we can hear the frogs at night, bellowing to one another from the creek behind our house. But, that’s tens of yards away. I want that in our yard. So, ignoring the fact that I already have quite a few large-ish projects planned for the next month or two, I decided a wildlife pond had to happen. Right now.
In a hole in the ground, there lived a pond.
The husband, well used to my schemes by now, raised nary an eyebrow when I asked if he’d help me dig the pond out. We discovered a huge rock while excavating, which will actually work out nicely. I plan to turn that end into a little ramp so critters can wade down into the water at their leisure.
The pond is about 2′ deep, and I picked up some lining for it yesterday. I’ll line the pond, add rocks to hold the liner down, fill it up, and then get to the fun part: planting.
I wanted as many native species as possible to live in and around the pond, which will draw in even more wildlife. I have maidenhair ferns, jack-in-the-pulpits, creek sedge, sea oats, wild geraniums, marsh marigolds, blue flag irises, sweet flags, and rue anemone. These plants are all native to our area, many being host plants for multiple species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). The area gets some sun in the morning, but is mostly a fairly shady spot. These plants should thrive there, given that they don’t love full sun, but do enjoy waterfront living.
The haul from a recent trip to Scioto Gardens, an amazing nursery in the Columbus, Ohio area that sells all native plant and trees.
While I’m on the subject of native plants (and when am I not, really?!), I want to take a moment to talk about a non-native (to our area): the Bradford Pear, which is a type of callery pear tree.
Bradford Pears are originally from southeast Asia, and were introduced to the US in the early 1960s, by the US Department of Agriculture. They were first planted here because they grow quickly, stay relatively small, and have a narrow shape, making them easy to fit into the landscaping of many houses in the cities and the ‘burbs. Since the trees are sterile, it was thought that they’d just be a nice-looking flowering tree in the springtime.
Unfortunately, these trees cross-pollinate like wild, and they have spread all over the eastern and midwest regions of the US. They’ve been declared an invasive species in many states, and have caused millions of dollars in damages.
Bradford Pears are early bloomers. Their flowers kind of smell like dead fish, and they could probably blow down if you sneezed on one hard enough.
Bradford Pears only live for about 20 years, but many don’t even make it that long. The branches sort of grow up, not out, and their tall, narrow shape makes them easy targets for storm damage, from wind, snow, and ice (things we have in abundance in the east and the midwest where they grow).
The trees are one of the first in bloom in our neck of the woods, and their thick foliage blocks out the light underneath them, keeping native species from the sunlight they need to grow. They cross-pollinate with every other pear tree around, which leads to these trees taking over. Just in the field behind our house, I count twelve of them, and I know they weren’t planted there by anyone.
In 2017, the Bradford Pear was declared an invasive species in Ohio. However, nurseries and stores have until the end of 2022 before it will become illegal to propagate, sell, or distribute these trees. Many other states have followed suit, but since the tree is so popular (they live in front of about every house just in my neighborhood alone), and selling them makes growers money, some states have been hesitant to ban the sale of Bradford Pears.
I share this information because as gardeners, we have a great opportunity to make our yards beautiful havens, both for ourselves, and the wildlife with whom we share our land. I don’t imagine most people would willingly plant something that they knew would cause so much harm to the area. When you pop out to the garden center, you sort of expect everything there to be beneficial- that the plants are pleasant to look at, and nice for the yard. But a little bit of research into what you’re adding to your space can really be eye-opening. Maybe instead of that Bradford Pear, try a native serviceberry, or a something like arrowwood viburnum, a similarly sized tree, with gorgeous white blooms. Or, for some brilliant color, add in an eastern redbud with it’s purple-pink flowers.
That’s all from the soap box (for now… mwahaha). Hope your week is filled with sunshine and relaxing. Happy gardening!
Flowering Dogwood- another tree that is native to much of the eastern US
I can’t decide if I wore myself out yesterday cleaning up the flower beds, or if I’m still in a sugar coma from all the jelly beans I’ve consumed throughout the weekend…
Either way, it was an excellent weekend in the garden. Our warm weather was back. We headed to the park to enjoy the springtime wildflowers, and I went wild planting up the next round of seedlings. I started some zinnias, german chamomile, marigolds, prairie dropseed, little bluestem, button flowers, two types of thyme, and the next of our parsley.
I’m fascinated by all the different shapes and sizes of seeds, like these spiky marigolds
I also started some seed potatoes in grow bags on the deck. This is my first time growing them, but all the gardening videos I watched on YouTube indicate that potatoes are pretty easy crops, and obviously, I am not one to turn down trying out a new plant.
Putting the new potting bench to work
The potting bench continues to be the Champion of 2021. I spend time with it each day, even if it’s just to pat it lovingly as I walk past, grinning smugly to myself for a job well done. After I started all the aforementioned seeds, I re-potted the peppers and tomatoes (again). I can’t believe how quickly they are all growing. It will be another month before I can plant them out in the garden. Until then, I’ve had to do some maneuvering to make sure everything can still fit under the grow lights. It’s recommended to keep your lights about 4″ above your plants, and these beasty tomatoes keep outgrowing their space.
I am not used to my tomatoes growing so fast!
Back outside, the cold frame is stuffed to the gills with some of the new flower seedlings, lettuce, and herbs. It’s been another life-saver this year. I don’t have room for any other grow lights or seed trays with my current indoor setup, so being able to toss things outside has been awesome.
The milk jugs hanging out with the cold frame that I did my winter sowing in are also holding up well. I have seedlings growing in each of the containers, and I’ll be able to pop the top halves of the containers off here shortly. I stuck with all native plant species in those containers: swamp milkweed, purple prairie clover, and prairie blazing star. I’m very pleased that that method has worked out, and since the seedlings won’t need to be hardened off at all, I’ll be able to get them planted a little earlier. Score.
The cold frame is filling up with herbs, veggies, and flowers
Finally, I started the Giant Springtime Flower Bed Cleanup. Armed with gardening gloves and a new pair of shears, I’m slowly making my way around the yard, cleaning up the beds, and removing most of last years growth. I used to do this in the fall, but the last few years, I’ve been saving this job for the spring instead. A lot of wildlife relies on the seeds from your flowers, dried stalks, leaves, and other plant material for housing and food. This is an easy way we gardeners can all help out our local birds, pollinators, bugs, and other critters. Anyway, the old plant material gets popped into our compost pile, which we add to the veggie beds, helping to improve the quality of our crops. The circle of life tastes delicious.
Hope you are able to enjoy some time outdoors this week. I’m off to figure out where the heck I hid the spray nozzle for the hose last fall. Past Sara never makes this as straight forward a task as it should be… Happy Gardening!
Some spring wildflowers from a recent hike: bloodroot, purplecress, trout lily, dutchman’s breeches, and spring beauties
