Woohoo! Landlords Again!

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment,

while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
 

Yay! We have a resident!  This birdhouse has been unoccupied for several years. The last occupant was a Bewick Wren which was fun to have, but sadly no one’s been interested in our ‘rental’ since. I was about to take it down to see if it needed some maintenance when I noticed these Chickadees checking the place out. Now, weeks later, they are bringing in loads of live bugs so we’ve got a baby or more inside. I love that! This one is flying away after feeding baby.

 

I’ve seen the adults gathering bugs and larvae all over the garden. This morning they were uncurling the leaves on the lilac to find larvae in the webbing which some bug made. Off they went to the nest. And by the looks of the green worms I see going in the Chickadees are keeping up easily with what may be the cabbage moth larvae/worm that is doing this to our broccoli. If you see little white moths flitting around your vegetable garden, they are cabbage moths and they are looking for all your brassicas. They land for a second on the leaf and lay an egg. If you look underneath you’ll see tiny yellowish dots. Those are the eggs. Left undisturbed they will hatch into a worm which will do this to your leaves.

 

A regular spraying of BT or a peppermint soapy spray, both organic controls, will curb the problem too but putting up a few birdhouses is by far more fun. While I see eggs and the worm damage, when I go to pick off the worms…I can’t find any. No doubt they are feeding that little baby bird well. 

In Bloom in my Garden Today: Armeria pseudarmeria latifolia ‘joystick mix’, Baptisia, Bletilla pink, Chive, Daylily,  Daphne caucasica, Dianthus, Digitalis grandiflora, Fuchsia, Gaillardia (blanket flower), Hardy Geranium, Heuchera, Iris, Kniphofia ‘little maid’, Lavender, Lobelia, Nepeta ‘six hills giant’ (catmint), Peas, Phygelius ‘new sensation’ (cape fushia), Pyracantha koidzumii ‘victory’, Rose, Salvia, Saxifraga andrewsii (irish saxifrage), Sedum, Tellima grandiflora (fringecup), Tomato, Vancouveria hexandra (inside out flower),

Author’s photos

A Better Way to Get Your Peas Started

I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.  It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a row of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from and Old Manse

In years past I used to start my peas outside in late February with not so great success. Here in the Pacific Northwest our damp cool weather is great for pea germination but also heavenly for slugs that usually ate more than their fair share of my emerging seedlings. So I began sowing my peas indoors in a variety of cell trays and soils, experimenting to find the right mix.  A couple of years ago I began soaking the seed 24 hrs before planting to plump them and speed up the process of germination. I’d been doing this soaking method with corn for many years with great success. Planting the plumped peas and watering them after planting seemed to work ok but I only usually got half germination and the other half rotted, gooey seed every time. Clearly too much water. As I stated in the previous post, moisture, air and temperature is a delicate balance for good germination. I should add here that old seed does not germinate well either but I knew my seed was still viable.

 Fast forward to last year when I used to work with Sarah, a horticulturist at the greenhouse where I volunteer. She always grew her crops on the drier side of usual. A week ago while buying a new package of peas, since more than half of those I sowed on February 15 have now rotted, I talked to the proprietor about soaking pea seed. He suggested never soak the seed more than one hour and rather than watering them into the soil, use a mister to keep the soil barely moist but never dry. If you are using peat-less potting soil, it may have some moisture in it straight from the bag, mine did. Keeping what he said in mind and the success Sarah had with her drier growing methods I tried it. I sowed the seed on February 26 and now 8 days later nearly all have emerged with the few remaining beginning to push up the soil so I can already see I have 100% germination success!

 

 

 So from now on I will be keeping to this procedure:

• I start my pea seed in plastic cell packs indoors to keep slugs from mowing over the emerging crop.

• I soaked the peas for 1 hour or a little less, not more. This time I am planting Cascadia snap peas.

• I used standard organic potting soil as pea seed is large enough to push through the chunkiness of potting soil, (tiny seeds like basil, lettuce and tomato will do better in a fine seedling mix which contains peat). Make sure your soil of choice is organic with no fertilizers or wetting agents added.

• I used a mister to add moisture rather than a watering can only as needed, keeping the soil barely, slightly moist.

• I put the planted cells in a recycled “clam shell” food container (I think it had baby croissants in it from the bakery originally) to hold in moisture so I actually didn’t have to mist much at all. If you don’t cover your cells you may need to mist a little more often. A plastic dome  like cover works like a greenhouse and recycles its own moisture which will collect on the top and drip back down to the soil.

• I did not use a seedling heat mat this time but have in the past. Peas don’t really need it.

My peas are well on their way to being happy vines! As they get a little bigger and some leaves start to form I’ll harden them off for covered outdoor temperatures so I can put them outside under my little plastic cover on the south side of my house where they will get better light. When they are a good 6 inches (15cm) or so tall I’ll harden them off again for no protection at all, and then plant them around my bamboo teepee. I’ll be picking peas in no time, woohoo!

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Tete-a-Tete daffodil, Crocus, Cyclamen coum, Galanthus elwesii (snowdrops), Heath (Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Hellebore, Rhododendron, Sarcococca confusa,

Author’s photo

Quite the Leap from Campfire Girls to a Seedling Tray

Flowers and fruit are only the beginning. In the seed lies the life and the future.

~Marion Zimmer Bradley, author 1930-1999

It’s that time of year again in the USA. Campfire Girl mints are for sale, if you can find them. I used to be a Campfire Girl (Wo He Lo to all you alumni) way back when, way before they allowed boys into the groups and when that box of mints cost 50 cents US. As I rose through the ranks from Bluebird to Campfire Girl I’m sure I must have earned a bead or two for gardening. After all, I grew the best pumpkins in my neighborhood in sunny California…at least that’s what mom always said. And I sold my fair share of those mints too. Going door to door mind you…none of this sitting in front of the grocery store and letting customers come to you. No, I had to wheel my cart of minty boxes and go knocking on doors, hoping somebody would be home and buy my mints so I could get that blasted bead and be done with it…well at least until next year. Bless you, each and every one that bought mints from me. Oh, the agony February brought. You have NO idea!

 

Well times were different then, it’s true. I wouldn’t let my little one go door to door alone these days so I guess grocery store staging is for the best. I do still buy the mints and as I was ready to toss out, er, I mean recycle the plastic tray sans devoured mints I noticed it looked to be perfect to hold the peat pellets that I use to germinate some of my seedlings.

 It will hold 16 and the whole lot can then be easily slid into a clear plastic bag to maintain a level of moisture. Don’t allow the plastic to rest atop the pellets though. It will deform and rot emerging seedlings.

 

 
To prepare your peat pellets, soak them in warm water for 20-30 minutes or until wetted completely through. Do not peel off the netting. There is an open top and closed bottom. Let them drain, give a little squeeze which releases extra water and gently roll it between your fingers to slightly break up the peat allowing a little air into the mass and you can create height to the pellet if you are planting larger seeds like beans. Place your seed in the top indentation and scrape some of the peat over the top to cover it. For bigger seeds, press the seed down into the center of the pellet and again, cover with some of the peat.
 

Peat dries quickly, so you want to keep them moist but not wet. Do check now and then to make sure there’s no mold forming. If so, they are too wet and the seed could rot so you’ll need to open the bag or poke a few holes in the bag to let in more air, it’s a delicate balance. Once seedlings emerge remove the plastic, they don’t need it and a drier environment help deter rotted stems at the soil level.

 

Place your seedlings in a southern sunny window. Monitor the moisture of the pellet, not too wet but moist. As you see roots escaping from the sides of the pellet, pot them up, pellet, netting and all, into a 4 inch pot (which you kept from those annuals and veggie starts you bought last year) in organic potting soil with no fertilizing or wetting agents added, and keep them moist but not wet. Keep them on that sunny sill till you can plant them outdoors. If you are the cold north like me you may need to pot them up into the next size pot again and again till temps moderate.

Timing is important for sowing your seed. The further north you are the longer into spring you must wait to transplant them into the garden. If you must keep potting them up, you risk leggy seedlings since window sill sun isn’t the same strength as true outdoor, overhead sun. Read your seed packet for germination times and know your local last frost date. If you are blessed with a greenhouse, you can move potted up seedlings into that after of period of ‘hardening off’. That simply means getting the little plantletts accustomed to the new cooler temperatures in which they will be growing. For about a week, move them into the new location during the day hours and back ‘home’ at night. Then a few more days of leaving them out 24 hours. Keep an eye on them, if they wilt, it's too cold or the sun is too strong. They may need more of an adjustment period.

Why on earth would I use peat you ask? Yes, I am familiar with the controversy over peat products for our gardens but I use it quite sparingly. I never buy large bags of compressed peat to use in the garden or on the lawn, it is too environmentally costly and I believe compost to be quite superior in everyway, not to mention far more renewable. I use peat in pellet form, a few per year, and only for certain seeds that seem to germinate most reliably in them. Coir pellets have not provided consistent germination in my experience, though I have found coir pots to be comparable to peat pots so I use coir pots for starting seeds that do not want their roots to be disturbed by transplanting like those of the squash family. I have also found regular potting soil, providing it’s not too chunky, to be quite satisfactory for starting many seeds. You can find potting soils that do not contain peat. In the USA, potting soil bags usually list ingredients. If no such listing is provided, shop for another brand, preferably organic. I believe it’s important to consider what we put into our gardens and as the soil is what feeds the vegetables and fruits that we eat and the seeds, nectar and pollens that bugs, bees and birds consume.

On a final rant note. Camp Fire Girls became Camp Fire Girls and Boys and ultimately ended up Camp Fire USA in this country. While I think a certain amount of gender separate activities at certain ages is a good thing, thats a tad off subject. What I really want to know is what happened to the dark chocolate mints? When I was selling them the box contained BOTH milk chocolate and dark chocolate mints in equal amounts! What happened to the dark chocolate? Clearly today’s science has proven dark chocolate to be the healthier alternative, so…any chance the duo will make a comeback? Just asking.

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Crocus, Cyclamen coum, Galanthus elwesii (snowdrops), Heath (Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Hellebore, Rhododendron, Sarcococca confusa, viola

Author’s photos

Worth The Effort

"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life."

 ~Cora Lea Bell

It’s a gray, cool day today with a mist ever so slight that it moistens the face but is gone before it hits the ground. The birds are loving it as they are in full force today singing and foraging in the garden. It’s warm enough for the bees to fly too. That’s great news to a Pacific Northwestern beekeeper in February.

I came across this whilst I was out and about today.

 

 

Don’t you just love it when you see people taking responsibility for their actions and care for those around them who share the world with them?

I do.

Here are the links

www.beyondpesticides.org
http://www.nwf.org/CertifiedWildlifeHabitat/

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Cyclamen coum, Galanthus elwesii (snowdrops), Heath (Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Hellebore, Rhododendron, Sarcococca confusa,

 

Authors photo

Winter's Blooming Heath

The longer one stays here the more does the spirit of the moor sink into one’s soul, its vastness, and also its grim charm.

~Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles

I’ve never walked the heather moors of the UK but after years of reading the likes of Daphne du Maurier, Helen MacInnes, and Mary Stewart I do believe I would very much like to. The suspenseful pens of these authors paint the moors as somewhat forsaken places extending for miles and miles with gripping hints of evil foreboding nearly everywhere and blanketed with a heavy, low, grey, cold, wet fog that chills your bones thru and thru. At other times the moors become a blustery, wind swept landscape rife with danger. Or yet another heroine in trouble will flee to the moors as a place of beauty and peaceful tranquility stretching for miles and miles with the sound of surf somewhere off in the far distance and the promise of romance in the air. One day I must visit them, I simply must!

How gorgeous it must be to see the rolling hills of blooming heather in all its unspoilt glory. Picture if you will the lovely low mounds of heather that you see in the gardens in your neighborhood. They bloom in white or various shades of pinks or purples. Now imagine scores of these colorful, blossoming mounds, huge, each one melding into another, blanketing the hills and extending on as far as the eye can see into the distance. That must be what the heather moors are like when in bloom.

Heather (Calluna) and Heath (Erica) are closely related in the family Ericaceae and easily confused even among professionals. If you want to find a specific heath or heather you simply must get the Latin name and take it with you to the nursery. Using the common name of heath or heather at nurseries online or on land can only be a study in confusion. Just look at the many common names given to the same plant that I am talking about here today…Erica carnea (winter heath, winter flowering heather, spring heath, alpine heath). They are using both heath and heather in the common name for the same plant.

In the case of today’s topic, what you want is an Erica carnea. Specifically Erica carnea ‘springwood white’.

 It is a heath. E. carnea is native to central and southern Europe. The evergreen leaves are needle-like in form but quite soft and pleasant to the touch. As a low growing shrub it grows to a compact height of 4–10 in (10–25 cm) but can carpet an area 3 times that in width after several years of growth. When properly spaced several plants can form a weed crowding carpet of color. It is one of the hardiest of all heaths and has been known to poke its blooms through a blanket of snow. It is very easy to grow in almost any soil, needing little care once established. A light annual shearing just after flowers fade make for a leafier plant that does not form a bare, woody center with age. Be sure to keep the pruning timed with flower fade. Any later jeopardizes next years bloom as future flower buds are formed during the summer. Any winter damaged branches should be pruned out in spring. It is hardy to USDA zone 4-7 with some protection. If you want a taller, rounder, bushier shaped heath look for Erica x darleyensis, USDA zones 5 and warmer.

Keep heath plantings away from the reach of a dog’s lifted leg. I planted one a few feet (approx 1 m) from my public sidewalk and dogs decided it was a fine place to leave their scent, time and again. I nearly lost it, whole branches dying off one by one. I moved it further from the sidewalk and it recovered nicely.  Presumably these dogs were being walked by their owners on leashes and now could no longer reach it.

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Winter heath is not only lovely for flower color in late winter when little else is blooming but also very important to honeybees. In late winter, reportedly triggered by the winter solstice, the queen is ready to begin laying eggs again to rebuild the colony. By late winter if you are in a cold winter area the bees will have eaten through much if not all of their food stores and in order survive and raise brood (eggs, larvae, pupae) they need to have blooms from which to forage. If there is no food available, the queen will not lay and a colony that survived winter will soon starve. Blooming heath at this time of year provides much needed nectar and pollen. When weather permits, winter flowering heaths are heavily worked by bees.

Now, if we could just get the temps up and a bit of sun here in the Pacific Northwest the bees would fly and I’d be one happy beekeeping gardener!

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Heather (Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Daphne caucasica ‘Eternal Fragrance’, Schizostylis ‘watermelon’, Sarcococca confusa, double white daisy

Author’s photo

Cuppa Good Tidings

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

~Japanese Proverb

How wonderful it is to steal a moment in the garden with a cup of tea when your life is crazy busy.

I am a tea and coffee drinker but in the last few years tea seems to be winning in the frequency department. Loose leaf teas are my preference. I think they simply produce a better, more flavorful cup of tea than a tea bag can usually manage. Since it’s the winter season when our tastes turn more toward certain spices I found my tin of The Republic of Tea Tea of Good Tidings. It’s a black tea blended with almonds, fruits, juniper berries and winter spices like clove and cardamom among others. Add a spoonfull of maple syrup to sweeten…ahh it is delish and never tasted so good as on a cold winter day. Discovering my tin was nearly empty I added it to my shopping list. I was surprised to find how many grocers do not carry Republic’s line of teas at all. Quite an extensive line it is and only one store had more than just a few varieties. If you are a reader local to the central Puget Sound area, Metropolitan Market is the grocer I discovered who carried the largest selection but by no means the whole offering of The Republic of Tea (RoT).

To my surprise even those stores that had holiday blends from RoT, none carried the particular one I was after. I was so bummed. Don’t tell me they don’t blend Tea of Good Tidings any more? So I got online and happily RoT’s website does offer it for sale. Believe me I searched several stores not being one who wants to add to the price with shipping costs but by the time I did all that running around I probably matched the cost in gasoline. So I ordered it. And when it arrived, quickly I might add, I was surprised at the size of shipping box for just one tin. Must be a lot of packing material, I thought. Don’t you just get annoyed sometimes with the amount of packing material you have to dispose of from some mail order companies? Well this one brought a smile to my face and a new level of respect for The Republic of Tea Company. Their tea bags are cut round to fit their round tins and when I pulled out all the piles of packing material it was obvious that it is the scrap paper after the cutter has cut out the circles used for the teabags. I’m always impressed when companies use their ‘waste’ as packing material that can be safely disposed of and/or reused by the consumer. And this being food safe, natural and unbleached paper can go into my compost pile! Bonus!

Kudos to you RoT for your innovative and responsible packaging practice and thank you for a lovely product. And I’m glad to see you are developing a more extensive line of whole leaf teas which I will be perusing for sure.

From a gardeners perspective the world of teas is fascinating. Black, green, white, Keemun, Oolong, Pouchong, Darjeeling and Pu-erh teas are all different teas, with very different tastes and differing caffeine levels but did you know they all come from the same plant? Camellia sinensis (Chinese Camellia) is the leaf but depending on what part of the bush or tree it was plucked from and how it is processed and fermented after harvest is one way all those differing varieties are created. That and where the plant is grown. Tea plantations are all over the world so depending on the soil and minerals found therein the tea leaves will taste differently. Red tea or Rooibos (pronounced roi-boss) is yet a different plant all together, found in Africa and is naturally caffeine free.

This is not meant to be a lesson on teas…I am not that well studied but I do highly recommend a tea tasting if you find one…they are insightful and fun where you will learn how to brew or steep the different teas. For instance green and white teas are delicate compared to black or Pu-erh tea and can only be steeped 3 minutes or they become very bitter. Some teas can be steeped more than once for a second or third cup but not others. And if you want less caffeine but don’t want to buy decaffeinated tea you can pour off the first steeping and lose most of the caffeine…but don’t try this with a delicate tea. Those are just some of the tidbits I learned from a tea tasting at a local tea shop.

This is an endorsement for loose whole leaf tea but is not a paid endorsement for RoT or any particular supplier of tea. I have found favorites over the years and I mail order that which I need from more than one company. I also frequent tea shops in my area where loose leaf teas are sold and I often check out the Asian markets. Some of my most favorite are from shops only found in an International District.

 

Cheers!

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Daphne caucasica ‘Eternal Fragrance’, Rhododendron, Daisy

Author’s photo

The Best Veggie Scrubber

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field."
~Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th US President

This may seem an odd subject to blog about but if you scrub as many fresh veggies as I do, this is important and I’ve wanted to write a short post on it for quite some time. If you have a lot of vegetables to scrub, a good scrubber will not only clean the food you are about to eat but will not cause bodily fatigue as you use it.

I’ve used a lot of things to scrub my vegetables, everything from nail brushes to those green Scotch Brite pads. Most things I’ve tried worked well, except the loofa sponge. It got soft as soon as the water hit it. The Scotch Brite pads conform well to a variety of odd shapes and crevices but they break down over time and need to be replaced often throughout the year. As I said most cleaned well enough but many also caused some thumb or finger fatigue after a while. Some even caused wrist pain due to the amount of pressure needed to really get the dirt off. Carrots for instance can hold onto a lot of dirt stain, even those store bought that had already been rinsed.

Last year while shopping for my organic veggies at my local health food store I saw this little gem. It has become the only one I use and it shows no signs of wearing out.

The coir bristles are good and stiff. I wondered if they would hold up when wet unlike the loofa.  They do. The store offered the brush in two sizes. The one shown here is actually marketed as a nail brush per the tag but I thought it a perfect size for my smallish hands. There is another larger size marketed as the veggie scrubber this one was a better fit. The bristles are so tough I actually wouldn’t want to use it as a nail brush. That skin surrounding your nails can be pretty tender. Matter of fact these bristles are a bit too rough for the tender-skinned new potatoes or freshly dug sweet potatoes but are great for the tougher potato skins.

I also like that it is made from all natural materials and distributed by a company that is local to the Pacific Northwest, committed to quality, its employees and selling products made mostly of materials that are recyclable or biodegradable.

So if you do a lot of scrubbing like I do, I hope you find and like this brush. Scrubbing vegetables isn’t such a chore with it…well it’s at least a more enjoyable chore.

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Daphne caucasica ‘Eternal Fragrance’, Rhododendron, Daisy

Author’s photo

Tomato Willamette - A New Favorite

August, for me, was the beginning of three months of intensive harvesting and food processing. Kettles of salsa, tomato sauce, and corn dominated the kitchen in endless relays through the fall. Three large freezer chests were packed with cider, berries, and meat.

At the time, I believe this was referred to as returning to the simple life. Good for a laugh.
~ Ani Gurnee

I’ve talked to people here in the Pacific Northwest that have given up trying to grow tomatoes in their gardens, saying we just don’t have the hot weather for it.  Or do we?  We actually have a long growing season but is considered cool till August.  Forget Beefsteak or Brandywine here unless you have a greenhouse.  They need a long, hot growing season to reach their size, you’d be lucky to get one to ripen before frost.  So cool and iffy is our growing season for tomatoes, many gardeners stick with the cherry tomatoes. Such a small tomato doesn’t need a long, hot summer to give ample produce.  But read on and I hope to convince you to try growing larger varieties that prefer our cooler summers.

I’ve also talked with shoppers in the grocery store.  One man saw me choosing organic tomatoes and he complained that “tomatoes here (in the Northwest) have no flavor”.  He was from the east coast.  I told him he might try growing his own, so they would be fully ripened on the plant yielding more nutrition and flavor when he picked them.  The tomatoes in the grocery stores have been picked for transport so they are green, firmer so as not to bruise or crack and will ripen during transit or in the store.  Because they are picked green they never fully develop the nutrients and flavor of an on-the-plant ripened tomato.  Also the growers who supply grocery stores use those varieties that have been developed for more disease resistance and to have a sturdier fortitude for shipment.  The commercial world calls these “shipping tomatoes”. Flavor wasn’t necessarily the goal for hybridizers.

I have mentioned a few times on this blog that after trying several tomato varieties that Stupice, a roma type, became my favorite for its early production in my climate, meaty not too seedy, prolific harvest and reliability.  It’s the perfect tomato for growing in our cool, cloudy, unpredictable spring weather.  A Czechoslovakian heirloom, cold doesn’t set it back like most hot weather tomatoes.  Stupice has a 65 day maturity rate and is an indeterminate type, meaning it is more sprawling with vines that will need support and will produce longer into the season giving you a lengthy harvest. 

My new favorite is Willamette.  It is a determinate type, with a 70 day maturation after transplanting your seedling into your garden.  Determinate tomato varieties tend to be more compact, shorter and bush like that may not need staking and will give you more fruits all at once…great for canning, when you want to do batches.  However my experience with Willamette is that I wanted a trellis to support the vines, the tomato is so heavy it pulled them down.  The tomatoes are GEORGEOUS!  And double the size of Stupice with a beautiful multi-lobe shape like the beautiful heirlooms.  Willamette was developed at Oregon State University for our short growing season.  I will mention that while their maturity rates are registered at only 5 days difference, I think Stupice gave me ripe tomatoes much sooner than a 5 day difference.  Both last summer (Stupice) and this summer (Willamette) were cool, and wet well into July.  I had tomatoes way earlier last summer (Stupice) than this summer.

 

Like Stupice, Willamette is more meaty than seedy.  I don’t like tomatoes that ooze out half their weight in goopy seed stuffs before you actually get it onto your plate.

 

Both Stupice and Willamette fit well into the small garden but in my experience Stupice is a bigger plant which may need some pruning to keep it in its allotted space.

To have the best tomato variety to meet your specific needs and for your location I suggest you forgo the plant starts at the nursery or garden center and study seed catalogs for your region.  Then choose one or two varieties that have the characteristics you want, buy the seed and start your own.  That said most reputable nurseries do carry the most popular varieties that will grow in your region but you are limited to what they choose to sell.  I rarely find Stupice and haven’t seen Willamette for sale as plant starts.

I start my tomato seeds pretty early by most standards.  I start them indoors in February mostly because I’m antsy to get going in the garden again but it’s still way too cold.  As they grow I pot them up so they don’t get root bound so by the time mid May rolls around I’ve got a gallon size plant to transplant.  Now is when you start your countdown.  If the seed packet says 70 days to maturity, begin counting when you’ve transplanted your plant into the garden. Not when you sowed the seed.  So 70 days from my May planting date will be sometime in August for harvest.  Poor weather shouldn’t be a factor since I’ve chosen varieties that perform well in my climate, which can be cool and wet well into June.  Frost however is another issue.  My last frost date is April 15 so again it shouldn’t be a factor but be prepared to cover your plants if a late frost is predicted.

I don’t do canning, and I only cook for 2 so I don’t need a super prolific plant.  Even though one is a determinate and the other an indeterminate, both these varieties yield an easy amount, spaced out just right so I can share a few with neighbors and enjoy them on our plates without feeling overwhelmed by tomatoes!

Stupice is an heirloom, meaning its been grown for many years and the seed has been saved because of certain qualities of the plant/fruit and has been passed down through the generations.  Seed Savers is a company committed to preserving that tradition.  Willamette is a hybrid tomato, meaning a tomato that was recently (40 years ago) cross bred with other tomatoes for certain desired tomato qualities.  Make no mistake…hybrid is not GMO.  Genetic modification (GMO) is the controversial science and practice of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another, ie: animal genes inserted into plant genes. I do not use GMO seed or purchase GMO foods at market.  Never.

So, to recap. 

Stupice: indeterminate, a bigger plant (may want to prune it to keep it in check for a small garden), medium size roma type tomatoes, needs staking, harvest over a long extended period, cool weather friendly.

 Willamette: determinate, a compact plant, large meaty tomatoes, minimal staking but still recommended, harvest over a more concentrated timeframe, cool weather friendly.

In Bloom In My Garden Today: Alyssum, Begonia ‘bonfire’, Borage, Caryopteris ‘longwood blue’ (bluebeard), Cimicifuga simplex ‘brunette’, Colchicum, Coreopsis ‘moonbeam’, Cyclamen coum, Daphne aucasica, Echinacea, Fuchsia magellanica ‘hawkhead’, Gaillardia (blanket flower), Hardy Geranium, Heather(Erica carnea ‘springwood white’), Hosta, Kirengeshoma palmata, Kniphofia ‘echo mango’Lobelia, Nepeta ‘six hills giant’ (catmint), Oregano vulgare compactum ‘humile’ (compact oregano), Perovskia ‘little spire’, Phygelius ‘new sensation’ (cape fushia), Rose, Salvia, Schizostylus, Star Jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides), Tomato, Veronica ‘royal candles’,

Author’s photos

Echinacea (Cone Flower)

Where flowers bloom, so does hope. 
~Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady and wildflower advocate, 1912-2007

This beautiful flower with droopy petals and an ever elongating seed head is also a medicinal plant used throughout history, its properties easing illness and boosting our immunity.  But don’t go eating any of these plants in your garden, not all of them are used for medicinal purposes. 

 For years I had an Echinacea plant, barely alive in a sunny spot on the sunny south side of my house.  I couldn’t figure out what was keeping it from thriving.  I moved it to a slightly less hot, sunny spot but still it just sat there and looked worse and worse.  Finally I decided to get serious so I moved it again to a different sunny spot.  I also planted about 5 more along side, creating a large patch of Echinacea.  Since then I have added more and they are all growing and thriving.  I think the first two spots were too wet of soil, one being by a downspout and the other had shrubs shading the soil too much.  Sometimes it takes a few moves to find just the right place, so don’t get frustrated if a plant seems to fail…try moving it.  This is one plant where one just isn’t enough.  A single plant seems puny but en-masse it is a sight to behold.  Begin with no less than 3 plants, planted in a triangle, 20 inches (51 cm) apart if you want to make an impact in your garden.

There are many species of Echinacea, all native to North America.  You might be most familiar with the purple varieties but in the past several years Echinacea has become a favorite among hybridizers, introducing new colors of yellows and oranges every year.  I still prefer the standard purple though I’ve seen a soft butter yellow that I’d love to bring into my garden someday.

Most common in gardens and nurseries in my region is Echinacea purpurea or Eastern purple Coneflower.  It is a robust, stocky flower and plant with deeper green leaves as seen here in my garden.

Pictured next is Echinacea pallida, a more delicate species.  It is just beautiful.  It has a much softer color and the petal is longer…flowing, a little like ribbons around the May pole.

Overall the plant structure of E. pallida is more delicate and open than the E. purpurea species as you can see the two side by side below (E. pallida is on the left).   The only negative thing I can say about E. pallida is that its stems are not as strong as E. purpurea so I’ve had to stake the plant.  I’ve not had to stake E. purpurea, though after a windstorm a stem or two does need help.  With E. pallida the overall plant leans over so one encircling or half circle support is all that is needed.   Perhaps if you plant your E. pallida amonst your E. purpureas they will provide all the support needed for the other.  I need to move one and will be trying that this year.  Normally I don’t like staking plants…who’s got time for all that fussing.  But there are some plants that are so beloved either for their look, color or fragrance that in order to keep them one must make the choice to stake.  Like many things in life you must pick your battles.  Echinacea pallida is worth it for me.

Plant your Echinacea in a full sun location.  Keep them well watered until they get established, at least for the first year, perhaps into the second.  Even with our rainy weather, keep an eye on the level of soil moisture.  That first year of establishing in a garden the plant must develop a strong root network.  Don’t keep them too wet though, as roots need the soil to dry a little so oxygen can reach into the soil pockets too.  Only after they are established will they handle the stress of drought.

The pollen and nectar are gathered by bees and butterflies in the summer.  I do not suggest you deadhead your Echinacea.  If you do you will miss the fun of seeing the song birds in the winter feasting on the seeds.  It is a plant that truly provides food for your garden wildlife practically year round.

The most commonly sold Echinacea in western U.S. nurseries is E. purpurea.  Finding E. pallida may take more work but if you like variety and rarities in your garden it is well worth the effort.

In Bloom in my Garden Today: Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop), Alpine Strawberries, Alyssum, Astilbe, ‘Begonia ‘bonfire’, Bletilla pink, Borage, Coreopsis ‘moonbeam’, Daphne caucasica, Digitalis grandiflora, Echinacea, Fuchsia, Gaillardia (blanket flower), Geum, Geranium ‘mavis simpson’, Green Beans, Heuchera, Hosta, Kniphofia ‘echo mango, ’Lavender, Lilium tigrinum ‘splendens’, Lily, Lobelia, Mullen chaixii ‘Album’, Nepeta ‘six hills giant’ (catmint), Perovskia ‘little spire’, Phygelius ‘new sensation’ (cape fushia), Purple poppies, Rose, Salvia, Scheherazade oriental lily, Schizostylis ‘watermelon’, Sedum, Star Jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides), Thyme ‘foxley’, Tigridia (Mexican Shell Flower), Tomato, Zucchini, Veronica,

Authors photos

Lighting in the Garden

Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment, can be confused with paradise.
~ Henry Mitchell, 1924-1993, American garden writer and humanist

Night lighting in the garden adds another dimension of beauty.  Ground lights aimed up tree trunks add elegance.  Strings of lights and Tiki torches add a party spirit.  Walkway lights entice you to look for what’s around the next bend in the path without stubbing your toe or trampling a treasured plant.  Do you think adding lights to your garden would be too costly both in fixture and continual energy usage?  I may have a solution for you.

I can find these solar path lights at big box hardware stores occasionally on sale for $2 each.  Make sure the stake is removable.  And know the smaller the light is often the dimmer the glow.

On just about any given day at a large chain thrift store I can find replacement glass shades for $1-$3 dollars each.  The trick is to find enough of the same style that will fit your solar light.  Finding 3 or 4 matching shades in one visit is easy, though finding 12 will probably require multiple visits.  But we’re talking about affordability today, not a quick finish to a project.  And they don’t need to be matching if that is your style.  They can be all different, making it easier to find the quantity you want in one visit.  Take your solar light with you to try out in the glass shades you find to get a good fit and look.  Make sure the store management knows your bringing it in with you.  Or you could buy the glass shades first then take one into the hardware store to find a solar light that will fit in it.  If cost is not an issue for you, the hardware store has several styles of these replacement glass shades and you can buy them new in the quantity you need and the solar lights in the same store. 

I’ve used these jelly jar style glass shades for several years in the garden with votive candles.  I have put them on ledges or hung them from tree limbs and hung them on my front porch.  Lovely but you can go through a lot of votives over the years.

By putting the top of a solar path light (stake removed) into the jar I now have much longer and brighter lighting when the sun goes down.  I think I’d prefer a glass shade that will allow the solar light to be completely hidden below the top rim; the jelly jars seem a tad too small for the solar lights I’ve chosen.  And since I live in a rainy climate I’ll be looking for 6 shades with a hole in the top and bottom that will allow the rain to pass through and drip out.  The bottom hole will need to be small so as to hold the solar light in.  The only problem I can foresee in the rain is if your solar light fits in snugly below the glass rim with no way for rain to pass over and off, water could pool on top and short out the solar panel electrical components.  While they are made to be used in the rain, they are not designed to sit in water.  If the inside of your glass shade is ribbed vertically or bumpy, that would allow water to pass. 

With that in mind I’ve got a new search ahead of me but sometimes that’s half the fun isn’t it?  Though for now it’s sunny, warm and fairly dry and these jelly jar garden lights are just great.  When we get a brief passing shower no water is getting in so they may be fine in the rainy season too.  Alternatively, I could try ‘sealing’ the rim with a canning jar rubber seal or a bead of silicone. 

If you want to hang them you need to make a wire ring around the rim of the shade, and then fit on a handle.

Here’s two other ways I use these solar lights. 

They can be tucked anywhere.

You could even simply drop one into an opaque vase on your patio table at your next dinner party. Once the sun goes down your table and guests will be lit with a warm glow. 

They work by solar recharging of a battery inside the top of the light.  Over the years the battery will weaken and the glow dims a little.  I think the batteries are replaceable but it will probably cost less to replace the whole solar path light when you next find them on sale.  I’ve had one on my fence for 3 or 4 years so far and it still works well albeit a little dimmer than the newest ones.

The jelly jar glass shades cost me .99 each so my total cost for each solar/shade combo light is $3 (plus tax) plus a little wire so I can hang them. Not bad if you are on a tight budget or just penny-pinching love a bargain like me.  The uses for these lights are limited only by your imagination…and some sun for recharging.

In Bloom in My Garden Today: Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop), Alpine Strawberries, Alyssum, Astlbe,Begonia ‘bonfire’, Bletilla pink, Borage, Clematis alpina ‘frankie’, Coreopsis ‘moonbeam’, Crocosmia ‘george davidson’, Daphne caucasica, Digitalis grandiflora, Echinacea Fuchsia, Gaillardia (blanket flower), Geum, Hardy Geranium, Heuchera, Hosta, Lavender, Lilium tigrinum ‘splendens’, Lobelia, Mullen chaixii ‘Album’, Nepeta ‘six hills giant’ (catmint), Peas, Perovskia ‘little spire’, Phygelius ‘new sensation’ (cape fushia), Primrose (double English), Purple poppies, Rose, Schizostylis ‘watermelon’, Star Jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides), Thyme, Tomato, Veronica ‘royal candles’, Zucchini,

Authors photos