How not to do a project, part deux

Apr15

Sunday rolls around and I’m not even sure what the weekend project is…. or was. I think it had something to do with that box of bareroot apple tree that’s been sitting on the porch for two days now. Bareroot plantings should be taken care of asap, first step is to plump up the roots again by sitting them in a bucket overnight, I think 24 hours is sorta the max for soaking, you don’t want to drown them. When planting, the only special thing to remember is to spread out the roots and work the soil back in between. A little dirt, water it in, a little more dirt, water in. It’s better to keep the root flare high rather than deep, you can always add soil or mulch around the base later if needed. Don’t bother mixing anything into the planting hole, if your soil is horrible, plant even higher and mulch well with compost and those nutrients will work their way down to the roots, just like they do in every forest on the planet. You may think it’s cruel not to try and improve the soil for your baby, but look around. If you can see other trees growing then your tree should be fine too…. unless those other trees are swamp cypress… you might have a drainage issue then.

So with a sense of urgency to get my tree (and 3 gooseberries too!) into the ground I got the coffe brewed and sat down at the computer….. breakfast followed and then some Lego villages had to be built. Then a friend stopped by. Six hours later, a run to the local nursery (to drop off $40), and this is where I’m at. It’s pansy season after all and buying pansies, shaking off winter, and supporting my local nursery are tradition in these parts. The apple tree is still not planted but it’s Sunday after all, and things shouldn’t happen too fast on a day of rest.

It’s more fun to plant pansies than dig holes for dormant apple trees, and you shouldn’t pick-axe pond holes on a day of rest, so I drug out the planters for my new purchases and got them planted. Again it’s not that easy. All the fancy pots already have stuff in them. It’s stuff like rubber trees and fig bushes that need repotting too, so that all came out to make room for the pansies. Did I mention I bought lettuce? I was embarrased to even think of my own seedlings when I saw the lettuce plants for sale. My reasoning was if I can get at least 215 servings of salad off these plants, they should pay for themselves.

The back deck got a little spring too. I should have powerwashed off last year’s stains first, but that’s another project and right now I’m too busy planting trees.

Tomorrow maybe I can actually get one in the ground. The rest of Sunday was spent taking the kids (my two plus another three) for a walk in the woods and down to the railroad tracks. They then insisted on seeing the drug house that burned down on Saturday. Funny how these things never get mentioned in most tree planting tutorials.

Around 9pm I snuck out and opened the tree box. Everything is soaking and has to be planted Monday before it drowns. I should have no problem getting to it since the only other thing going on is repairing the pond hole.

Regarding the pond hole, I made the mistake of leaving the shovels out next to the dirt piles, and after two hours of worm hunts, “climbing the pile”, and playing with the pick-axe, most of the dirt is back in the hole or thrown into the pond liner. A little more work for me, but at least most of the local earthworms (and a couple of grubs) have been given names.

How not to do a project

Apr15

Garden projects are usually pretty straight forward, you got dirt and you got stuff that goes either in or on it. Sometimes it gets elaborate with fancy structures, but for the most part we’re all just farmers scratching out a hole and putting in a seed. This weekend was good weather for that with temperatures perfectly positioned between numb finger lows and dripping sweat highs….. good work weather, and the plan was to order mulch, top a couple beds off, and make my suburban beds sparkle with neatness and weed-free goodness. Except the mulch wouldn’t be in until next Wednesday. Normally that would have wrecked the weekend project,but trust me there’s always a backup, and this one came in the form of a long narrow box which greeted me at the door Friday afternoon, a box containing my NEW!”liberty” apple! and three bareroot gooseberry bushes. New project: plant fruit garden.

I should have prepped things Friday but it was rainy and cold. Plus I was tired, crabby, lazy…. you name it….. better to get a good night’s rest and then tackle these things in the morning. So first thing Saturday I got right to it. First I wasted about an hour on the computer (always necessary). Then those little guys that live here woke up and it was coloring and cutting, then I was required to admire about 10 thousand crayon butterflies and angry birds, then the little people started crying for breakfast. One wanted bacon, one wanted french toast., one wanted to help crack the eggs, one insisted on buttering all the toast… then of course the fifth wave of cleanup… thousands of little bits of cut paper, but I did have to congratulate myself this time for not suggesting the paints.

Planting fruit trees always sounds easier in the books, and they never mention the crayon part. It was about midafternoon before I finally got around to taking a look at the box… but there was still something haunting me. Shovel in hand I stared at the stupid pre-formed pond that I dragged out of the woods last year. It was basically a project that never worked out for my brother in law and somewhere along the line I became convinced it would work out better for me. Early photo records go back to June of last year when I first began mowing around it. Generally speaking I hate pre-formed ponds. I have no idea why I need to put it to use, especially since I have a brand new liner that’s been sitting in the garage just waiting for the last decade for a hole to line. Why do I have to use this ugly, leaky piece of tossed-aside trash? I don’t know, but I digress…. we’re planting trees here.

So I grabbed the shovel again and started digging the hole for the pond.

The first couple inches were no problem. It’s the clay-ish topsoil that was spread when the house was built 40-ish years ago. The gravelly, shale filled, hard pack underneath is always where my digging ends. Rather than pick-axe my way through and finish the job, I took a break and proceeded to patch up the cracks that had formed in three of the liner corners. Turns out that an upside down pond insert sitting around in your yard for nearly a year is a magnet for small children to climb on and jump upon. Jumping on them cracks the liner. So long story short I patched the corners and started with the pick axe again, only this time with mittens because all my fingers were glued together during the patching process.

There’s a plastic chair next to the project site. Any good project needs “thinking time” to sit back and review your progress, and I had already spent a lot of the afternoon in this position. Things probably would have gone much better if there was more progress to review, but pick-axing holes sucks. Plus for the past two years I’ve celebrated each spring with a nice hospital stay due to A-fib relapses, so maybe this would be a good time to call it a day. Off to the recliner I went for more “thinking time” and to regroup for Sunday. The tree is still in the box, but at least there were no 16 year old sons here, slipping feet off brakes and running F-250 pickup trucks into garage corners. Spending a Sunday tree planting is much less work than the fun my neighbor will have putting the corner of his house back onto it’s foundation.

April showers bring May cacti?

Apr13

Even though it feels even less like spring than last week, I lugged all the deck succulents and cacti out for an April shower. Temperatures should be above freezing for the next few days and skies shoud be cloudy so it’s a good time to get them used to fresh air and sun again. After nearly six months indoors with little light and even less water I bet they like the change. The pencil euphorbia and the purplish euphorbia in the back (I have the names somewhere…) hate my winter abuse, the rest don’t seem to care much. If temperatures drop to freezing I’ll push them up against the house, if temps go down into the 20’s I’ll either cover them up or bring them back in for a couple nights.

There’s a reason this collection is growing. They do fine in the heat, don’t mind my hit or miss watering, and look good from spring to fall. All are planted in a mix of 75% potting soil/25% sandbox sand, terra cotta pots, and topped with a light layer of garage sale aquarium gravel on top. I’ll admit there have been casualties (overwintering casualties) along the way but for the most part it’s been easy-peasy. If anyone is interested I’ll put up a list of what I have…. if not we might just visit them again in August to see how much they’ve grown!

Hyacinths have arrived

Apr12

It’s not hard to find hyacinth bulbs in the fall. They’re one of the “big four” (a term I just made up) that describes them and the tulips, daffodils and crocus that show up every fall in garden centers around the country. They’re easy, fragrant, come back reliably and run the whole range of colors with the exception of green and true red. What’s not to like? There must be something, because even though they’re good enough to buy forced to celebrate Easter and other springtime celebrations, they’re not always the first choice for planting.
I say go ahead and plant them this next fall. I think you’ll like them.

A couple warm days have brought all the hyacinths into bloom. They’re remarkably color coordinated considering I originally planted just $7 worth of no name clearance bulbs from SAMs club. This would be year 5 for them and I think over that time they’ve actually gotten bigger each season, especially the pinks and whites. Some push up two stalks of fat blooms, and if there’s one fault to these flowers this might be it. Sometimes the blooms are so heavy they flop.

A newer “retro” hyacinth that avoids the flopping problems are the multiflowering types. Each bulb can push up a less dense, often multiple, flower stalk. I say they’re a retro version because people commonly compare them to the old roman hyacinths, which were an older (less hardy) version with a similar, wilder look. I’ve got “Blue Festival”, which doesn’t make much of an impression in the garden, but even so I’d like to add the pink and white versions too. Close up the blue looks great. I need to get mulch down around these bulbs. Maybe it will be the weekend project, but with daffdil season starting any day now who knows?

Spring is Official

Apr10

Two warm days and spring has exploded into full force. The trees don’t have leaves yet but 70°F brings up all the bulbs, opens the hyacinths, and starts the daffodils. It also brings out the neighbors. I saw more people around the block yesterday than I had in all the last three months combined, and everyone was out raking, fertilizing, aerating, blowing….. all the good things that responsible subdivision inhabitants fill their sunny days with. In the front bed we have our first dose of flower sunshine, good old “tete a tete” daffodil. It’s the Stella D’Oro of daffodils and gives nice early color.

I have to confess I broke the camera last weekend. It’s a Nikon D3000 with a Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6GII lens……. I have no idea what any of that means but I’m sure it has something to do with expensive and something to do with even more expensive to fix. The camera met the floor and the plastic tabs that hold the lens snapped off. Apparently it’s a common break and after several hours of moping and cursing (silently of course, away from the kids) I went online and found the fix. It was a generic lens bayonet piece which I ordered as well as the tiny screwdrivers needed to replace it. Two days ago I replaced it and am now back in business. There was one more final blip in the road, it was the crappy, non-functional, cheap (more cursing) screwdrivers. I gave them to the boy, who has a talent for disposing of small tools, and then made a trip to Home Depot and got a Husky set (for less money btw). The camera came back on line just in time. Here’s a picture of the front border with blue scilla siberica and the reds of corydalis solida. Corydalis might just be one of my new favorite spring bulbs.

I’m not 100% sure if they really are true to their names, but I bought the darker red corydalis as “George Baker” and the lighter, almost pink as “Beth Evans” (both from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs). Most of the time I can’t tell the difference between the two, but I don’t entirely care. Both are nice and I need more. There are whites, purples, pale pinks…… but they’re hard to find and not exactly cheap. Maybe I’ll treat myself this fall to two or three affordable ones….. I just won’t buy any more new work ties for a year or two.

Not blooming yet are some I bought as the generic corydalis solida, it’s a murky mauve color, shorter, wimpier looking, and I’m not crazy about it. I’ll bore you with a picture of it when the blooms open.

The blue of the scilla siberica and the violet stars of the chiondoxa are nice enough too, but if you look closely you’ll see a bunch of seedlings coming up. I’m not sure I want that many and wonder if they’re going to be a pest some day. But on the other hand a weed with a bright blue or violet color might not be the worst problem to have, so for now they are welcome reseeders.

The hellebores have come up too, these survived spending the winter buried in kids toys and trash and are now looking all dark and moody.

They look better in the picture than in the garden, the colors are too dark to show up well, but the dark one is cool. Originally these were bought as “sunshine strain” from Barry Glick’s nursery maybe 5 years ago. I expected a nicer range and bigger blooms but I guess you get what you get…. also the plants were kind of tiny when I got them…. I should probably stop there.

Here’s a lighter one, an “Ashwood strain” from Santa Rosa Gardens. I like it.

That’s enough for now. Daffodils are coming up and I need to save my energy for that.

Feelin’ Rich

Apr8

I’ve been on a buying spree lately. After months of doubtful back and forth it looks like my job will be around for another year, so I’ve finally cracked open the wallet to treat myself to a few extras on my wish list. The first was last weeks’ $100 trip to Lowes. A new 4 light T8 shop light with timer, light bulbs, and a bag of potting soil all got a spot in the cart. I eyed the seed potatoes for a while (they had a nice selection, reasonably priced) but didn’t bite. After years of sitting on my wallet it’s hard to go all out.

I’ve got the lights set up in a corner of the basement close to the furnace, so I’m hoping this will be a good spot for the warm growers like tomatoes and peppers. Of course space under the new the light is already filled up with nonsense like coleus cuttings and geraniums, but I did fit a bunch of new seedling pots in. Hopefully by the time I need more space a few of the cool weather things can already go outside.

It’s a crappy picture but it shows about all you want to see of the spindly coleus cuttings that have spent all winter on the windowsill. I should have potted them up earlier but….. you know…. hopefully they will grow fast enough to give me a few additional cuttings as I pinch them back.

Nothing fancy about the light set up. It’s a basic T8 shop light with generic 5000K “sunlight” light bulbs rated for laundry rooms and closets. I may be feeling rich but I’m not going crazy with special (aka expensive) growlights, and based on the success of the first light setup this one should be fine.

My credit card got a little more excersise over the next couple days. Not much, but I’ll wait a few days before fessing up to my other purchases.

The crocus meadow

Apr4

Calling it a crocus meadow might be overselling things a bit, but I like to think of my little plantings last fall as the start of something bigger…. even though right now its main function seems to be rabbit buffet.

Of course a green background of lush grass would make a nicer setting than the current dried tan, but even this little burst of early spring color is most welcome at a time when everything else is still on the sidelines, waiting for the weather to make up its mind.

The meadow wasn’t much of an investment. All the bulbs were purchased for around $30 with shipping from Van Engelen during their post-Thanksgiving clearance sale (an awesome sale btw). I chose the species grand collection which included (50) Blue Pearl, (50)Cream Beauty, (50)Goldilocks, (50)Purity and (50)Ruby Giant. A pack of 100 Crocus tommasinianus also ended up in the shopping cart. I got some great clearance prices but even pre-sale they still would have been a good deal. You just have to be able to meet their minimum order since they are a bulk seller.

Cold weather and 350 small bulbs in need of planting doesn’t sound like a good combination but I tried a new (to me) planting method. Someone on the bulbs forum on Gardenweb suggested using a masonary hammer for planting and I figured I’d give it a shot. Using the sharp end you swing it into the ground, pull back, drop in a bulb or two, hit the hole closed with the hammer end and you’re done. Repeat 300 times. It only took me a couple minutes and only cost me one blister on my hammer hand. I like the results!

An early Easter and late spring worked out perfect for hiding eggs among the flowers. I don’t know if the kids were impressed but I thought it worked out nicely.

One problem has been the rabbits, they love the fresh crocus blooms and every now and then mow down part of the display. Oh well, as long as the crocus live to bloom another day. Another crocus bloom killer is the little girl who lives here and her playmates. Once the fun of the egg hunts ended the kids spent a good hour making bouquets and delivering them to the neighbors. How could I say no to that?

I didn’t plant any of the big purple and blue hybrid crocus, I was trying for a species look and I suppose I got that. For now they’re out, but I’ve seen lawns with the bigger types naturalized and they do look great.

I did sneak in a couple spare snowdrops.

I plan on adding other bulbs this fall. Maybe a few of the early (short) daffodils, possibly a few alliums that will bloom amongst the uncut grass, maybe a couple other things. Right now the only bulb on the definitely transplant list is this scilla mischtschenkoana (trust me I googled that spelling). It’s another early bloomer that I hope will do well in the grass.

Crocus!

Apr1

Finally some springtime weather. The crocus jumped at the chance to soak up a little sun and warmth and give the bees a chance to do their thing. These are in a warm spot near the house, but even in the open garden stuff is starting to show up.We were all home for an extended Easter weekend and I was determined to get the yard ready for spring. Thursday was a warmup day with a little cleaning out front, Friday the big bed along the street, and Saturday I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the backyard. It still looks a bit grey and dreary but there sprouts showing all over.

One plant that looks better than ever is cyclamen coum. It’s been blooming through snow and ice, rain and frost. They’ve been giving color since late February. These are just two year old seedlings, but I bet they’ll outlast the crocus.

New bird sighting

Mar24

Redpoll at the feeder

These have probably been to the feeder before, but yesterday after a closer look I saw we had a small flock of redpolls sampling the sunflowerseed. Cool, I’ve never seen one before. It’s a bird of the tundra and boreal forest, so not exactly a hopeful sign for spring, but a new bird is always something. They were followed later in the day by a swarm of starlings searching out grubs and worms in the lawn and then a flock of grackles eating the cracked corn. Even though grackles are listed as year round residents here I only notice them in the spring. With that in mind I’ll count them as a sign of warmer weather.

Indoors I planted the next bunch of seed. These were the 4-6 weeks before frost bunch and although I’m on the late side once things go outside they will hopefully catch up.

They say it’s spring, I don’t agree.

Mar23

Easter decorations

All the signs are there, the calendar, the birds, the rabbits, the plants, but one thing is missing. It’s still crappy grey windy weather and I don’t feel like spring at all. In fact after a snow day this week, I’m expecting another on Monday when another 2-4 inches comes our way. Hardly the weather of egg hunts and daffodils, but there’s not much you can do about it. I suppose the silver lining is once things start going it will be so late the threat from late freezes shouldn’t exist…. but you never know.

Every time the snow receeds (the sun when it does come out is pretty strong) the plants that reappear seem to have grown a little more. The cyclamen coum is really taking off now in spite of the cold, and the winter aconite wins the distinction of being a flower so early it’s actually now over for the year. My cyclamen picture doesn’t really capture the glow these early cottoncandy colored flowers give off on a grey day.

A few hardy Cyclamen coum in the garden

Crocus are trying, and on the first warm day will burst out fully opened. It amazes me how these flowers seem to explode into bloom when the temperature rises. The snow crocus are first with yellows and creams and smaller flowers, the bigger dutch hybrids are a little later with dark purples.

Yellow species crocus

We will see this spring how my crocus lawn is developing, it’s a bit sparse right now but I see lots of sprouts and I’m hoping more will show. Here’s the only lawn picture I got before the rabbits nibbled off every single bloom.

Purple dutch crocus hybrids

A sheltered spot near the house has the first hybrid crocus ready to bloom. The other ones planted in the open garden are barely just appearing through the mulch.

For all the complaining, spring is not much later than average. My less than scientific investigation puts us maybe a week behind a normal year. I’ve kept records of bloom dates for a couple years and like looking back to see what’s up and what’s missing. My records should be more organized and I should plan a little better but this is about all my procrastinating self can handle. Right now I feel like I’m already behind and should have more seeds started and more cuttings rooted, but you know how it goes, you’re either much too early or (for me at least) much too late.

seed exchange packets

I guess it would help if I stuck with the plan and didn’t take advantage of the surplus round of the North American Rock Garden Society’s seed exchange. Here are 40 more packets waiting for me to do something with them. Did I need them? Of course not, but who can resist giving excess seeds a home and only spending $10 dollars doing it?

So in the meantime I’ll start the peppers and tomatoes and stick with the indoor gardening. Under lights the onions are coming along, the snowdrops are starting to yellow and the cyclamen coum is still showy. Two months of indoor color during the dullest time of the year is pretty good in my book!

Onion seedlings coming along under the shop lights

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

Author Archives: bittster