Life is What Happens To You While You’re Busy Making Other Plans

I came across this quote by Allen Saunders (and later attributed to John Lennon) and it struck me as being what happened to my blog the last month. Sometimes things in your life happen that just throw everything of course and you just need to go with it. But, I am back and I will be trying to catch up with what has been happening in my garden since my last post. The garden has not stopped growing and needing attention, but luckily, the weather has cooperated and everything is looking wonderful and making us all smile, as only a garden can do.

This beautiful hydrangea was a gift from a friend to brighten my day. I found the perfect spot and I’ve enjoyed looking at it everyday from both my kitchen window and the patio.

Clean Up

The sun has come out so the ground is finally beginning to dry out. We were able to get out there and assess what happened. We were able to rake most of the soil and mulch out of the grass and back into the gardens. The really muddy spots in the grass we need to just stay off and see how it’ll recover.

Even More Rain

In the last 24 hours, over 5 inches of rain has fallen on already saturated soil, with a little more to come tonight. Most of the day was spent watching the backyard flood and turn into quite a river as all the water from up the block flowed past, and some through, our backyard. All that rain washed whatever mulch there was remaining from the winter into the grass and across the yard. It took a lot of topsoil with it too, and left that all over the grass as well. Thankfully, we fared better than some, our water stayed out out of the basement (so far, fingers crossed) and did recede when the rains finally slowed down to a drizzle. But, we’re going to have to figure out pretty quickly how to clean up this mess, protect the plants that have had the soil eroded around them and get the mulch and soil out of the grass. The good news is that plants in higher areas are loving the water and warmer temperatures. We’ll see what it all looks like in the morning. We may need to deal with rerouting some of this water flow permanently to keep it to the perimeter of the yard where it belongs.

Water is always a hassle to deal with, whenever one neighbor alters their landscaping or grade, it affects everyone around them. It’s a constant battle to keep it flowing to the end of the block where the storm sewer is.

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Beginning to Look Like a Jungle

I finally got my basil seeds to start indoors. I kept forgetting to by them at the store. I planted them in the seed trays on April 11, so I should be fine for transplanting in May. The other seedlings are growing like gangbusters. Just need to remember to keep them watered and turned. When the water starts to get too low, the first to go will be the corner squares. In the picture, you can see a pepper plant looking a little weak, signs that I let the water get a little too low. You can also see that I need to turn the plants, they are growing all over each other towards the window.

Two things I need to work on. 1) Thin out the plants. I usually put a couple of seeds in each space, so once they get growing I need to pinch back to just one plant. It remains healthier, and I just don’t have the space in my garden to plant them all. 2) I also think I need to figure out how to stake some of the seedlings, otherwise I’m going to get a giant tangled mess of climbing plants. What do you do when your seedlings get too leggy and big and it’s too soon to plant them outdoors?

Dreaming of Last Frost Date

The spring weather has been teasing us; every two steps forward comes with one step back. But despite the weather antics, it’s time to start thinking of when we can really start to plant. My church has a plant sale fundraiser every year for our Child Care Center, so time to select some annuals to plant and help a good cause all at once. Then unfortunately, I forgot to place my order for the annual member’s Plant Sale at the Morton Arboretum in the western suburbs of Chicago, but they have tons of great plants for sale in the open sale area from April 26th-28th. Putting the dates on my calendar right now to find some things for a few “holes” in the garden. Hopefully, the fields of daffodils will still be bloom when I am out there.

Rhubarb: Part 1

I love rhubarb, but have found it so expensive to buy at the farmer’s market or grocery store. My mom (who lives in northwest MI) has always had a bunch in her garden, so a couple of years ago I asked for some. First she bought me a root to plant from her local garden shop, but that came completely dried out and was basically dust. Since that didn’t work, she split off a part of her plant 2 falls ago, brought it to me in a bag filled with dirt and I planted it. That spring, it came up beautifully. Everything I read said I should not harvest anything the first year. It allows the roots to get established fully and will result in a healthier plant going forward. So for all last summer I could only look longingly at my plant and collect rhubarb recipes on Pinterest to use this year. Then, last fall, my mom wanted to get rid of all her rhubarb plants to grow something else, so I took the rest and planted it next to last year’s plant.

Here’s what they look like so far this year. It’s one of the only green things in the garden. It’s also not the prettiest area of the yard, but it is good soil and sunny.

2nd year plant is on the right, first year on the left.

Second year plant

First year plant

Finally Something’s Blooming

Finally it seems like spring has arrived, but much later than last year.

Using Spring Break as my date marker, it’s usually still pretty drab for another week, so this is pretty normal. The daffodils are about 2 inches high, the daylilys and hostas are poking their leaves out and the chives are greening up. Actually, the daylilys and hostas poked up back during a warm spell in December, only to get shocked by the cold weather that followed. They seem to do that every year and I used to worry, but it always seems to turn out just fine.

Just for fun and cheeriness, when it is this drab time of year, I visit Michaels and find something bright to add some color.

Starting Seeds Indoors

I’ve almost always bought my plants from a local garden shop, but a couple of years ago decided to start my own seedlings when I couldn’t find quite just the right vegetables I wanted to grow. Went pretty well the first year, forgot to get them started last year, so back again this year. First off, when I did this ago ago in NJ, when I had the most perfect garden location, soil and plenty of time I discovered those seed starter kits and realized they really work. Somewhere in the last 15 or so years I decided I was never going to use them again and tossed it all. Costly and dumb mistake!

So, I started over again with the APS system (newer product is the GrowEase Seed Starting Kit) from Gardeners Supply company. Lots of companies make similar products. I bought the starter kit and an additional APS 40 (which seems to have gone missing, UGH). I love these systems because the kits are self watering, which means fewer dead plants when I fail to check them every day. You also need to be sure to use sterile seed starting soil unless you want mold and gross stuff growing all over your soil. It’s worth the money to buy.

To start the seeds, set up your kit; reservoir, water capillary mat, planting tray and cover. Be sure to wet the capillary mat and never let it dry out. You also need to wet your soil before filling the planting tray. Not sopping wet, just nice and moist. When filling the planting tray, I try to be careful not to pack it too tightly, but do tamp it down a bit or the spoil/root ball falls apart when transplanting.

This year, on 3/30, I planted seeds for

Cucumber, Sweet Burpless Hybrid (Burpee)
Summer Squash, Burpee’s Hybrid Zucchini ((Burpee)
Summer Squash, Sunray Hybrid (Burpee)
Sweet Pepper, California wonder (Burpee)
Summer Squash, Black Magic (Gurney’s)
Tomato, Sweet Million Hybrid (Park Seed Co)

I didn’t grow any full size tomatoes because I can get excellent varieties of those plants at my local greenhouse. I placed the trays in a west facing window, mostly because that’s where I have space.

Five days later, this is what it looks like:

The big ones are my cucumbers, and the tomatoes and zucchini have also sprouted. Today I added some fertilizer that came with the kit to the water and removed the covers. I’ll try to lay the cover across the areas that haven’t spouted yet, and remember for next year what comes up in what order and try to group them better. I might be having a problem with some leggy plants because I don’t have them in quite enough light. We’ll see what happens. It’d be better to have them under those grow lights at the beginning, but I haven’t quite made that investment yet. I do have to remember to turn the plants to get them to grow a little straighter.

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Spring Vegetables

Two years ago, we created a raised garden along the side of the house to plant vegetables. It’s about 16×3 and filled with garden soil and peat moss. I’ll add pictures later of how we did it. This year, I added 3 more bags of Miracle Grow garden soil, but because I am a little early, I couldn’t find any compost or peat moss at the local garden shop yet. Oh well, I’ll add fertilizer later. I really wanted to get my cold weather seeds planted in the ground before it warmed up. Last year we had almost no cool spring weather, so all my cool weather loving plants never happened. This year, nothing but cold!!

So on April 1, I planted a few rows of some of the hardier seeds. This is about 6 weeks prior to out normal last frost date of Mother’s Day. I planted the following:

Pea, Mr. Big (Park Seed Co)
Spinach, Bloomsdale, Long Standing (Gurney’s)
Lettuce, Butterhead (Burpee)
Radish, Cherry Bell (Gurney’s)
Bok Choy, White Stem (Botanical Interests)
Sweet Greens and Reds Lettuce (Renee’s Garden)
Carrot, Tenderweet (Gurney’s)

One thing I should note about my seeds, is that I use what I find around in stores and on-line, and sometimes carry them over from year to year. I know purists frown on this, but I plant what I have. I did buy seeds this year from Burpee on-line.

It’s spring–almost

Welcome to my new blog, Stephi Gardens. I hope as the year unfolds, you find my gardening experience interesting and maybe gives you some camaraderie and hints as you embark on your own garden. Not everything turns out as planned, I am constantly rearranging and fixing the things I’ve created. Every year is a new one in the garden and I’m never quite sure how it’ll turn out. Nonetheless, I love to see what happens, sometimes it gets away from me, but that’s casual gardening in the suburbs.

Author: stephiblogs