2 hours ago
Friday, June 27, 2008
Laggards
Here are some problem children:
Peppers and eggplants - Just sitting there. Including some we bought as plants. Could be the soil in a certain part of the garden. It's basically an old driveway. And in Nahant, the driveways in a home this old were almost always composed of crushed clamshell. Add to that some coke - the residue of the old coal furnace - and some shale and it can be a mess. We amended it with compost and garden soil, but I suspect it's the culprit. We shall amend again.
Mexican sunflowers - We always take the package, catalog and garden book information with a grain of salt. Oftentimes experience trumps the printed word as far as culture and care go. Still when the seed package for the Tithonia "Torch" said "quick summer hedge," I was expecting more than 7" of plant by the end of June. They're healthy as heck, and in full sun about 6 hours a day. Everything around them is thriving.
Bulbs - We bought dozens of montbretia and freesias and threw them in in April. And of the 30 or so a total of 3 have come up. Could I have actually planted them upside down, a rookie mistake? We like to think not!
Peppers and eggplants - Just sitting there. Including some we bought as plants. Could be the soil in a certain part of the garden. It's basically an old driveway. And in Nahant, the driveways in a home this old were almost always composed of crushed clamshell. Add to that some coke - the residue of the old coal furnace - and some shale and it can be a mess. We amended it with compost and garden soil, but I suspect it's the culprit. We shall amend again.
Mexican sunflowers - We always take the package, catalog and garden book information with a grain of salt. Oftentimes experience trumps the printed word as far as culture and care go. Still when the seed package for the Tithonia "Torch" said "quick summer hedge," I was expecting more than 7" of plant by the end of June. They're healthy as heck, and in full sun about 6 hours a day. Everything around them is thriving.
Bulbs - We bought dozens of montbretia and freesias and threw them in in April. And of the 30 or so a total of 3 have come up. Could I have actually planted them upside down, a rookie mistake? We like to think not!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Rain and flowers
June 23, and we're getting our first rain in over a week. We've accomplished a lot. Which isn't surprising, given our obsession. We threw in the final 8-foot section of fence right on the street, protecting the morning glories and liatris. Funny, when the fence comes last, how the space is suddenly defined. Now we have a little corner planting of Liatris, kniphofia, cannas, Maximillian sunflowers morning glories and annual sunflowers.
We also just finished a run of 8 gigs in 8 days, including two with two gigs per day. Starting with a wedding at Tuscanino, the B&B run by our friends Greg and Martha, we next played the Landing that night, Kendall Square with Mikey D., open mic at the Landing, a jazz trio with Robb at the The Dolphin Yacht Club , a fund-raiser for our Irish Step Dancing friends, back at the Landing, then a wedding Sunday. Wait is that 8 or 9? Anyway, throw in 2 rehearsals for a wedding June 28 (with a 40-song custom playlist, about half of which is Latin music!) and we've been busy.
Still, we managed to spend a fair amount of time in the garden, and here's what's happening.
* First sunflower, a strawberry blonde, has bloomed at about 4.5 feet.
* The Prince Sikorsky clematis on the garage popped on Tuesday (6/16) and is now covered, and tops the garage roof.
* The Dan & Pat clematis bloomed today, about 8 days behind the garage one. There exists at the garage and intense micro-climate that spans probably about 8 feet of the side of the garage. It gets about 4 hours of sun, and the dark color of the wall intensifies it. This is where the gaura, normally dicey in our zone, has made it. The heat is exacerbated by a window that reflects and amplifies the intensity of both the light and heat. So Roze tossed in some 15" high Marguerites that are thriving in half-day sun.
* Morning glories in half-day threw a deep royal purple blossom at the arbor.
* The little yellow ground cover from Jerry and Susan opened with lemony cup-shaped flowers in the rock garden.
* First zinnia, a cut n come again from River's Edge in Framingham, has shown its orange-itude by the Northwest fence.
* Green beans, chard, spinach, Romaine and peas all doing well, though we think we will start the spinach, peas and lettuce earlier next year.
* Strawberries! From one All-Star last year to dozens of plants. We've taken at least a gallon of berries, and that's only counting the ones that made it into the house. Neighborhood kids Elijah, Matthew and Ryan ate about a quart in 5 minutes Saturday.
* Zucchini and tomatoes are on or ahead of schedule. (Romas, Celebrity, Early Girls, Bush goliath and a couple of volunteers.) Brussels sprouts are about to take off amid the zucchini. Cukes are gaining momentum too, as are the sweet potatoes (!).
Finally, spotted our first monarch butterfly, so maybe they're on their way!
We also just finished a run of 8 gigs in 8 days, including two with two gigs per day. Starting with a wedding at Tuscanino, the B&B run by our friends Greg and Martha, we next played the Landing that night, Kendall Square with Mikey D., open mic at the Landing, a jazz trio with Robb at the The Dolphin Yacht Club , a fund-raiser for our Irish Step Dancing friends, back at the Landing, then a wedding Sunday. Wait is that 8 or 9? Anyway, throw in 2 rehearsals for a wedding June 28 (with a 40-song custom playlist, about half of which is Latin music!) and we've been busy.
Still, we managed to spend a fair amount of time in the garden, and here's what's happening.
* First sunflower, a strawberry blonde, has bloomed at about 4.5 feet.
* The Prince Sikorsky clematis on the garage popped on Tuesday (6/16) and is now covered, and tops the garage roof.
* The Dan & Pat clematis bloomed today, about 8 days behind the garage one. There exists at the garage and intense micro-climate that spans probably about 8 feet of the side of the garage. It gets about 4 hours of sun, and the dark color of the wall intensifies it. This is where the gaura, normally dicey in our zone, has made it. The heat is exacerbated by a window that reflects and amplifies the intensity of both the light and heat. So Roze tossed in some 15" high Marguerites that are thriving in half-day sun.
* Morning glories in half-day threw a deep royal purple blossom at the arbor.
* The little yellow ground cover from Jerry and Susan opened with lemony cup-shaped flowers in the rock garden.
* First zinnia, a cut n come again from River's Edge in Framingham, has shown its orange-itude by the Northwest fence.
* Green beans, chard, spinach, Romaine and peas all doing well, though we think we will start the spinach, peas and lettuce earlier next year.
* Strawberries! From one All-Star last year to dozens of plants. We've taken at least a gallon of berries, and that's only counting the ones that made it into the house. Neighborhood kids Elijah, Matthew and Ryan ate about a quart in 5 minutes Saturday.
* Zucchini and tomatoes are on or ahead of schedule. (Romas, Celebrity, Early Girls, Bush goliath and a couple of volunteers.) Brussels sprouts are about to take off amid the zucchini. Cukes are gaining momentum too, as are the sweet potatoes (!).
Finally, spotted our first monarch butterfly, so maybe they're on their way!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Patience
Gardening is one endeavor in which patience really, really pays off. A couple of cases in point:
* In 2006 we planted a $5 rose of Sharon against a sunny (half-day) wall. In 2007 I said to Roze at least 3 million times "This thing is dead," and stopped just short of yanking it. By June 2007 there were no signs of life. By mid-July we finally saw a leaf bud. By the end of August there were leaves and eventually a single pink flower. This year, the thing is robust, covered in new growth, and just now, mid-June, starting to produce what will eventually become flower buds.
* In March we shelled out $7 at The Great Orange Satan (No, not my friends at Daily Kos, but a well-known retailer) for a Trumpet vine (Campsis). We got a plastic box with a twig set in sawdust. Which was expected. We soaked it as directed and planted it next to a fencepost, all part of the plan for a stunning summer show of orange flowers set off against foliage to cover a fence. Based on what we read, I expected Jack-in-the-beanstalk growth. One commenter at Dave's Garden cautioned not to plant it close to a structure, because in the contest Trumpet vine vs house, the Trumpet vine will win. So I expected this thing to spread like kudzu, breathe fire, trap birds in its tendrils and generally undermine democracy and our American way of life. By Tax Day, we had a twig in the ground. During birthday week, we saw sunflowers, bee balm, clematis, nasturtium strawberries and all the other good garden citizens well on their way. And a twig in the ground. For Memorial Day, things were really in full swing all around the twig in the ground. We shrugged and said "Let's see what happens." Finally, about a week ago, Roze noticed a slight budding at ground level. Now, we have the beginning of leaves. So looks like we'll have a trumpet vine after all. Which is great, except that in its dormancy, we planted cukes and sweet potatoes (!) to grow up on the same section of fence. Again, our official position is "Let's see what happens."
New plants: We picked up a couple of Geums, which are new to us. A Lady Stratheden and Mrs. Bradshaw. The names alone evoke Victorian propriety. One can imagine these ancient plants embodying a go-to-hell border choice for Mary Elizabeth Scarlett (1796-1860), the 1st Baroness Stratheden (Lady Strathedon & Campbell) in Scotland. (h/t to Paghat the Ratgirl)
* In 2006 we planted a $5 rose of Sharon against a sunny (half-day) wall. In 2007 I said to Roze at least 3 million times "This thing is dead," and stopped just short of yanking it. By June 2007 there were no signs of life. By mid-July we finally saw a leaf bud. By the end of August there were leaves and eventually a single pink flower. This year, the thing is robust, covered in new growth, and just now, mid-June, starting to produce what will eventually become flower buds.
* In March we shelled out $7 at The Great Orange Satan (No, not my friends at Daily Kos, but a well-known retailer) for a Trumpet vine (Campsis). We got a plastic box with a twig set in sawdust. Which was expected. We soaked it as directed and planted it next to a fencepost, all part of the plan for a stunning summer show of orange flowers set off against foliage to cover a fence. Based on what we read, I expected Jack-in-the-beanstalk growth. One commenter at Dave's Garden cautioned not to plant it close to a structure, because in the contest Trumpet vine vs house, the Trumpet vine will win. So I expected this thing to spread like kudzu, breathe fire, trap birds in its tendrils and generally undermine democracy and our American way of life. By Tax Day, we had a twig in the ground. During birthday week, we saw sunflowers, bee balm, clematis, nasturtium strawberries and all the other good garden citizens well on their way. And a twig in the ground. For Memorial Day, things were really in full swing all around the twig in the ground. We shrugged and said "Let's see what happens." Finally, about a week ago, Roze noticed a slight budding at ground level. Now, we have the beginning of leaves. So looks like we'll have a trumpet vine after all. Which is great, except that in its dormancy, we planted cukes and sweet potatoes (!) to grow up on the same section of fence. Again, our official position is "Let's see what happens."
New plants: We picked up a couple of Geums, which are new to us. A Lady Stratheden and Mrs. Bradshaw. The names alone evoke Victorian propriety. One can imagine these ancient plants embodying a go-to-hell border choice for Mary Elizabeth Scarlett (1796-1860), the 1st Baroness Stratheden (Lady Strathedon & Campbell) in Scotland. (h/t to Paghat the Ratgirl)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Gardening
So, I'll post every 2 years. How's that?
Roze and I have become obsessive gardeners.
It started in Marblehead about 6 years ago on a rocky little terrace. Where we lived, Highland Terrace, lived up to its name. We were in fact on a terrace carved out who knows when. The back yard featured a wall of huge granite blocks, the likes of which you see making up seawalls or jetties - like 5' x 3' x 3'. These blocks served as a retaining wall for our neighbors' yard, which was anywhere from 3 to 8 feet above the level of our yard. Our house itself sat about 8 feet above the road bed, which in turn sat about 20 feet above the level of the bike path that led to Swampscott. Got it? A series of steps on a big scale, each "riser" being about 8 feet tall.
We reclaimed a section of the terrace to the right of the house that sloped from street level up about 8 feet to yard level. We also had a little patch created by walls and walkways, about 10 x 4. We started with the existing stuff, which wasn't much - daisies, lilies and some annuals. But in those 2-3 years, we dipped our toes into the perennial waters and got hooked. Delphiniums, speedwells, cleomes, hosta, rudbeckias were our greeters at the door to perennials. Some - delphiniums, cleomes - we abandoned, as they proved not hardy enough for the rockier-than-usual soil the 19th century engineers used to build the terraces. (And we also had a very cold winter in 2003, and lost lots of stuff.) Others - speedwell, rudbeckias - have become favorites, and some even made the trip from Marblehead to Tudor Road.
I was elated when I discovered that Sunset had a Northeastern version of its "Western Garden" book, which I had used my main reference when I lived in California. (Back then, in the 80s, you couldn't get Sunset nor Coors beer west of the Rockies.) That book is our "Joy of Cooking" for the garden. The go-to manual for the basics, with a depth that continues to surprise us. Just as the "Joy of Cooking" can guide you from the low (how to make muffins) to exotic (how to dress a squirrel), Sunset's book will tell you how to grow a marigold or graft an apple tree.
At Tudor Road, the garden has evolved and expanded. There are now 6 main areas (on a 4,200-square-foot lot!):
1. The mixed flower/veggie patch pictured that gets 7-8 hours of full sun;
2. The shady wall along the NW side of the house;
3. The rock garden and arbor;
4. The shady front of the house with a NE exposure;
5. The new for 2008 perennial/annual bed on the E side of the house w/5-6 hours full sun;
6. The new for 2008 herb/perennial/annual garden on the E side of the house w/5-6 hours full sun.
There's lots of little spots too: mini-mixed plantings of annuals and perennials along the neighbors' E fence; the beds on the E side that get blasted for about 4 hours then fall into deep shade; a small patch of Lady in Red hydrangea and Siskiyou pink gaura next to the garage - you get the idea.
In 2006 we spent $200 on sod that died in 2007. In 2007 we ripped the sod out and put down gravel. We also designed the pattern you see in the picture for the vegetable area. (Actually, I said "Let's organize this area," and proceeded to think in terms of squares and rectangles. Roze -- she of the left-brain -- drew out the pattern you see.) The idea for that area - as in most of our plantings - is to mix it up. Veggies with flowers. Herbs with annuals. Bulbs with perennials.
We're also organic. No pesticides. We use oil spray, ladybugs, water, compost and organic fertilizer. Our strategy is to help the plants out-compete the bugs and diseases. We also have 2 cats that keep the critters away.
OK, gotta get to work. In future posts - this year! - we'll chat about the zen of gardening, rewards of risk-taking, the balance between what we want and what nature gives us, new to us plants for 2008, food and all that other good stuff.
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