Author Archives: bittster

Room for Vegetables

 

mixing flowers and vegetables

I read that this qualifies as companion planting.

This is a part of the vegetable patch….. believe it or not….. if you look closely you can see a few lettuce transplants towards the lower left. In my defense it’s a new part and maybe it’s best to grow flowers until I have a chance to build up the soil.

Planning the Veggie Patch

august vegetable garden

Some parts of the vegetable garden actually contain vegetables.

I just spent a large part of my Saturday afternoon putting together this year’s seed list, mostly for the vegtable patch. It’s not easy leafing through all the catalogs, browsing the websites, and looking up exactly what varieties will be best suited for your own little patch of land. The hours add up and it almost seems like more work than hobby, especially when you realize no one in this household really even likes vegetables.
Heirloom tomatoes, obscure asian greens, european market vegetables…. all sound great, but when you’re a canned corn and frozen spinach (usually only used for making dip) kind of family, a normal person might question the whole process.
The neighbors appreciate it though, and when a tray of eggplant parmesan shows up on our doorstep it’s all good.
As you can see in this photo from last year, flowers tend to dominate the veggies, each year getting a little worse. Annuals are one thing but perennials are a little harder to plant the tomatoes around. It seemed like a good idea in September but devoting four beds to tulips and daffodils (and one bed to hellebore seedlings) might be a problem when it’s time to plant peas.

The Winter Garden

 

growing under lights

Gardening indoors

A winter garden usually means something a little fancier than my shop light setup that sits in the back part of the garage.  Hellebores, evergreens and snowdrops could fill a corner of an outdoor winter garden, a nice glass conservatory planted with camellias and clivias would be a perfect spot for a January morning cup of coffee,  even a couple southern windows with a flowering lemon tree and a couple amaryllis is nice….. but this is all I’ve got.  It’s better than nothing.

The cyclamens love the cooler temperatures of the garage.  I keep some of my babies here, the ones that I didn’t get around to planting out or ones that I wanted to “keep close” for another year.   Right now the cyclamen coum are blooming.  Here’s one grown from  Green Ice Nursery seed.  The mother plant was collected in Russia, and I think it’s cool that my little plants are only one generation removed from the Russian wilderness.

Cyclamen coum seedling

Last year’s Cyclamen coum seedlings

Seedlings for the next generation of Cyclamen hederifolium are also coming along in the winter garden.  They were sown last winter, didn’t get enough of the cold they wanted, sat all summer and then finally sprouted in the fall.  I could have left them outside but they take up barely any space and I can check up on their progress any time I want.

cyclamen coum seedlings

Various hardy cyclamen seedlings

Cyclamen Coum….. indoors

Cyclamen coum under lights

Cyclamen coum in full bloom under the shop lights

In a way it defeats the purpose of growing a hardy cyclamen if you grow it indoors, but on a cold day like today indoors wins. My winter garden consists of a four bulb flourescent shop light hung over a makeshift table, but it seems to do the trick for things like cyclamen, snowdrops and hellebore seedlings. The cool temperatures of the garage are perfect for these winter growers and assuming their caretaker can handle the responsibility of watering, they should make it through the winter just fine.

winter reading

I’m trying to get through all these mail order catalogs.  Over the years I’m getting better but there are still only a few that I right out throw to the trash.  Michigan Bulb and Burgess are two that go on the fast track to recycling…. maybe a reincarnation as toilet paper or anything else more useful than their current state.  The rest all stand half a chance on the growing pile of winter reading material.

If you’re considering a first time order from a new-to-you company, always take the time to check out the garden watchdog at Dave’s Garden. I’m not saying their reviews are the final word on any company, but if 90% percent of the posts are complaints…. well at least you’ll know where to find plenty of company when you end up with a bad experience.

My regulars (a mix of lower prices combined with quality offerings) are Pinetree Garden Seeds, Santa Rosa gardens, Jungs(so-so reviews so be careful), Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, and Fedco Seeds. If the budget was bigger I would add Song Sparrow Farms, Forestfarm, Rarefind nursery, the Lily Garden, Oakes…. they are all worth the extra money for the quality of their offerings, but a budget is a budget.

 The rain and warmth of yesterday following the near

galanthus elwesii

The first snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii)

zero temperatures of last week are giving us a roller coaster of a winter.  The snowdrops are on their own schedule though, and the first one is officially up today.  Galanthus elwesii in case you’re wondering.

The inch of snow must have been enough protection for this drop.  In another more exposed spot, the plants look more like snow-drips.  Hopefully they will live to bloom another year.

Also open for the first time today, but less photogenic, is the “pallida” witch hazel.

witch hazel pallida

Winter blooms on the witch hazel (Hamamelis ‘pallida’)

Snow day!

 

icy cardinal at feeder

The birds still have to eat

Today it’s good to be a teacher, but not that great to be a bird. While I sit inside warm and dry the birds are stuck shaking off icy mess and trying to find a bite to eat. Hopefully the feeder helps make it a little easier on them.

One other bad thing about this weather is it gives you the time to look at all the new seed catalogs that have shown up in the mailbox. Over the last couple days I’ve put together maybe orders for roses, dahlias, lilies, apples, dwarf conifers….. hopefully all of them will be forgotten once the real orders take shape and the days get longer. Except of course the lilies, I don’t have many and sticking in a bulb or two here and there doesn’t barely count as a new plant.