Planter Planting Time

It's mid-April and it is finally time to start putting out the flowers.  I let the last flowers of fall die off and start to compost a bit in the planters.  A little extra compost never hurt, right?  I know just what to plant - it's the same flower that I've planted every Spring since I was a little girl.  The only thing that changes is which color I choose.

I pulled out all of last year's remains and mixed up the soil in the planter.  It's nice and fluffy now so the roots from the flowers will not have to work too hard to reach out and grab ahold in their new home.  I have to admit that I know the folly that I am starting.  These flowers are for Spring - maybe a little early Summer bloom, but then they should...go away.  I just want a little color from what should be a Spring-only plant.  But I know that is not what is going to happen.

Because I'm talking about pansies.  Cute little Johnny-jump-ups (viola cornuta) and pansies.  My DH loves purple, so I went with a mix this year.  The johnny-jump-ups have that very traditional purple/yellow/white face and the pansies I chose are a dark velvety purple.  They really compliment each other nicely.

I put the pansies in the center of the container.  They only grow about 6-inches tall, which is sort of short for a center plant in a container.  But these containers are on front steps of our bucolic manor and anything higher would get hit by shopping bags or our very enthusiastic pup when she goes out for a walk.  So 6-inches will be just perfect for the height.

The johnny-jump-ups will go around the edge of the container and cascade a bit over the side.  This is going to make the planters look really full and the johnny-jump-ups will get a lot of room to move around in the breeze.  Right now they look very subdued - as if they know what their job is and are resigned to doing it.  They remind me of that sweet little look that our pup give me when I'm holding a bribe biscuit in my hand.  I realize that no matter how I planted them, they're going to do what they want.

I put some time-released fertilizer on top of the soil.  That should give them enough food to get started and hopefully ease their transition from the warmth of the greenhouse to the cool night-time temperatures that they will now live with.  They're starting to perk up already.

They really are such pretty little flowers.  I just hope they know that it's okay if they don't last until Winter.  Really.

Frost Predictions

Two weeks ago there was a frost warning, so we gathered up and brought in all the tropical plants.  They stay outside from the first warm day until the last.  They're our instant hit of summer that starts in spring - big blossoms, great scents, vivid colors.  But two weeks ago everyone got a haircut and came inside.

There was no frost that night.  No frost for 7 days.  Then we got a huge snowstorm - so we felt really good about having hauled in these guys from all over the gardens, dragging them up to their winter home, and a lot less guilty about scalping their green blossomed locks - turning them from Cinderella at the ball into Cinderella way before she even knew what a fairy godmother was.

Poor little bald plants.  They'll grow back and be even more beautiful next year!

There's Always Room for More

No matter how sad looking the plant, whenever we get anything with roots, we find a spot for it in the gardens.  This little chrysanthemum isn't supposed to be alive.  It's supposed to have died off during our harsh Northeastern winter.   It shouldn't have survived the lack of watering and feeding and pampering that it had become accustomed to in it's childhood at the greenhouse.  It should be compost.

But!  We dug a hole after Thanksgiving last year and plopped it in.  The spot we selected was on the sheltered side, between a set of stairs and a rock wall, but it got lots of sun.  The soil was - well I don't know if you could even call it soil, it was more of a compacted dust bin really.  No grass would grow there.  Even the dandelions steered clear of the spot.  It was kind of barren and sad which matched the state of this chrysanthemum last November.

We left it alone.  Live or die.  It was up to the plant.  No pressure either way.  If it died, it would add some nice organic components to the soil and its little root system would have done a bit of good for breaking up the compacted dust.  If it lived, it could be a nice little chrysanthemum bush.  We didn't actually expect flowers.

It lived!  And it flowered!  I don't usually notice that area of the gardens, it's more of a blank spot, but while I was out retaking photos of the last flowers and veggies, I saw this little beauty.  There's grass around it now and a few leaves have gotten caught in its' foliage.  It is holding in water for the spot and turning what was not even a piece of dirt into good garden soil.  And it flowered! (Did I mention that it flowered?)

We're going to leave it alone.  It seems happy there and is doing a really good job of growing and thriving where no weed dared to tread.  It feeds the bumblebees and collects it's own mulch from wind blown leaves.  It even has it's own lawn.  Quiet frankly, I don't think it needs us much at all.

Overwintering Herbs

The frosts are starting, so this weekend it was time to bring in the herbs for overwintering.  Not all of the herbs will make through the entire winter, but we will be able to extend the season by a few weeks for most of them and the ones that make it through all the way will go back out to the garden next spring.  The most important thing about this fall chore?  This winter we will have fresh herbs to cook with!

Total Time: 4 1/2 hours

You'll need a drip tray for the plants.  I found this great watering pan at the local ag store.  It's big enough to hold all of the herbs I want to save for the winter, no pots scattered all over the place.  The best part about it is that it does not have any seams, it's pressed out of a single piece of metal so there are no places for water to sit and create rust.  I think it will last a few years.

This 5-inch pot is a leftover from spring planting.

I'll be using 7 of them for my herbs.

A brush and some soap will take care of all of the old dirt and plant debris from the pot.  (Should have done this in spring right after planting!)

Scrub the inside of the pot.

Scrub the outside of the pot.

Use a scrub sponge to get those really stuck on bits off.

All clean!

Now I have to sanitize the pots to kill off any microbes or bacteria that have been living off of that old plant matter.  According to Iowa State Horticulture guidelines I should use a 1 part bleach to 9 parts water ratio.

Here's a big bowl to soak the pots in.

I put some water in first and then added the bleach to get my 9:1 ratio.

Since I'm working with bleach here, I put on some gloves.  I dipped each pot into the water mixture.

Then I stacked them loosely together and submerged them.

Since I didn't want to wait around while they soaked for at least 10 minutes, I filled the bleach cup with water and used it as a weight.

Time to get the herbs.  I have a trowel for digging, a claw in case some of the roots are really stuck, gloves and a plastic bag to hold the dug up herbs.

The garden has quite a few leaves filling up the beds and some of the herbs are looking really straggly, but we should be able to find enough for overwintering.

The rosemary is hiding in the middle of the brussels sprouts.

Genovese basil.

Parsley.

Chives.

Purple basil.

Sage.

Starting with the parsley.  I located the base of the plant.

I wasn't sure how big the roots would be, so I just gently stuck the trowel in a few inches away from the base of the parsley.  When I didn't feel anything hitting the trowel, I pushed it in the rest of the way at a slight angle going towards the base of the plant.

I used the trowel to pry up the parsley, taking my time and trying to be careful not to rip apart the root ball.

Once I got the parsley roots loose, I pulled the plant up out of the garden bed and shook a little of the dirt off.  I didn't shake it all off because I didn't want the roots to freak out.  Pulling all of the dirt off of the roots seems to me like pulling a teddy bear away from a kid - it's just not nice!

This is the parsley all dug up.  The root ball is about the size of a small baseball.  It has a few thicker roots on it as well as a nice amount of the soft hair-like ones.

The chives were next.  It dug up like a clump of grass.  Their roots are all really soft and are about the size of a  softball.

The sage had a really big root system.  It's got really woody stems with roots popping off of it.  I'll trim off the side stem and leave the main mass for potting up.

The basils roots were pretty shallow considering the heigh of the plant.  I picked basil that still had some light green stems because I think they will have a better chance for new growth once they are potted up.

The rosemary roots are nice and dense.  It looks like there are enough to hold the plant securely in the pot.  They are also about the size of a softball.

Tools for potting up:  drip tray, sanitized pots, trowel, freshly dug herbs (smells great!), a bag of organic potting soil.  I get large bags of organic potting soil from my local greenhouse and use it as a fertilizing boost for planting in the spring as well as for potting up in the fall.

Lay out the pots in the drip tray.

You want to make sure the dirt line for the plant stays the same as it was in the garden.  And don't forget to leave about a 1/2-inch for watering space.  For these pots, I'll fill the dirt up to the first horizontal line in the pot.

Toss a bit of dirt in the bottom of the pot for all of the hair-like roots to nestle in.

Put the plant in and fill the rest of the way with dirt.  Use your fingers or the trowel to shove the dirt in around the roots of the plant.  You don't want to have any air pockets here - just a solid block of dirt and roots in the pot.

Rosemary all potted up.

Purple basil, 

Sage,

Chives,

Parsley,

Basil,

More basil.

All of the herbs are potted up.  I'll water them inside so it will be lighter to carry.

I use old coffee grounds as an insecticide.  I keep a jar of them in the fridge, so I always have some on hand.

First I have to rinse off the plants to get rid of any bugs, slugs or other creepy crawly things.

I sprinkle a few spoons of coffee grounds on top of the pot.

Everything potted up, rinsed, watered and coffeed!

For the next week, I'll just make sure the herbs have enough water and light as they adjust to being inside.  After they have settled a bit and I can see how they are doing, I'll give them all a good haircut.  If they are really stressed, leaves start dropping or turning yellow right away, I will cut them back sooner and add some organic fertilizer to their water.

Time to make dinner...