Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

March 15th, 2008

Well, it’s that time of year again. I’m always so sorry to see winter go (never enough snow), but my consolation is that it’s time to get outside!

I’ve started a lot fewer seeds inside. So far just my three types of sweet peppers (giant marconi, corno del toro and all time favorite the Gypsy!), two types of eggplant (my favorite the lavender, and a new one, an Italian heirloom Prospero something – it’s round and pinkish purple) and one type of tomato, the Marmande.

I’ve also planted a pot of candelabra bush seeds, hoping that by getting those going earlier I might get a bloom or two. Those were my bonus seeds last year from Onalee’s (if you’ve never ordered from Onalee, I highly recommend her). I’d never heard of the plant before, and it’s really more suited to Onalee’s climate of steamy Florida. But the plants grow huge, taller than me, and look kind of like rubber plants. The leaves fold up at night (it’s also called the prayer plant) and it’s just a cool plant.

I’m hoping my butterfly weeds will self seed, so not starting any. And if not, hoping against hope they’ll have them at the nursery again. I dug up my lantana bush, plopped mostly a bare root in a big pot and have watered it a few times. It’s in the basement with other plants I bring indoors for winter: hibiscus, my spider plant, my oxalis plants and a few other odds and ends. I thought I killed the lantana but it’s getting leafy, as is the hibiscus. Woot!

The eggplants have sprouted and are about ready to be transplanted into peat pots and moved to the basement under the grow lights. Some of the peppers are beginning to sprout.

Pretty much everything else I plan to grow from seed I’ll do a couple of weeks before planting time, or sow directly in the ground: cukes, honeydew melons, caserta squash (for trap plant), etc.

And then I plan to buy everything else: more tomatoes, maybe a winter squash if I can find it (having trouble finding my Blue Hubbard and don’t want to pay 3.95 shipping for one pack of seeds), Black Beauty eggplants, etc. There’s a big herb sale that I only found out about last year, after the fact. It’s the LI Herb Society or something and herb enthusiasts sell their plants. I’m looking forward to that. I have not had the greatest luck with growing herbs from seeds, other than cilantro, basil and parsley.

Yesterday, I worked in the garden and it felt great! My next door neighbor is sometimes a difficulty because she likes to visit, but I’m not the kind of person who appreciates gossip when I’m trying to work in the dirt. I constantly say “gotta get back to work,” but she never takes the hint. She’s a great neighbor, even if very gossipy, but doesn’t seem to understand that when I’m outside really into my gardening, I don’t want to be disturbed. Oh well.

I spread compost in half the garden; will do the other half early in the week if the weather holds. I did get the spinach, romaine, sweet peas and a new leafy mix planted. A little late, but better late than never. My uncle says those crops should be planted on Valentine’s Day. I’m in basically the same ag zone here as I was where I grew up, so I try to follow those dates.

He puts plants out in April, about a month earlier than my grandmother (and most conventional wisdom) suggested, which was Mother’s Day. He accepts the risk that some years they’ll all be frozen and die, and he’ll have to replant. Since he doesn’t invest the effort I do in indoor seed starting, it’s just a matter of buying more plants and replanting. Too risky for me. But I’ve considered trying those wall of water things..maybe next year.

My compost was beautiful and just made the garden look fantastic. I did have some dollar weeds invading and I pulled up what I could see. But I’m thinking of buying a product called Crabgrass something that is made of cinnamon bark and claims to spot kill dollar weed. I did intend to put down corn gluten meal, but I’ve decided to use the Crabgrass stuff and fertilize the lawn with soy meal. Corn gluten meal will eventually snuff out the dandelions and nasty clover, but it takes a few years.

Oh and those pesky squirrels have totally taken up residence in our big tree. My other neighbor, a young couple, had two dogs including a pit bull. (Great dog and they had a nice fence.) That tree is right next to the fence and I think those yapping dogs kept the squirrels away. Now that they’ve moved and the new neighbor has no dogs, those squirrels are here to stay. WE NEED DOGS.

Having always lived in the boonies and having dogs and cats that went outdoors, I didn’t realize until this burb living that squirrels and other critters ARE a problem. I never knew. Now I do. And my gossipy neighbor has a cat they let outdoors (wonderful cat), but someone kept calling the cat police and he got sent to cat jail. So now they’re making him stay in. I miss the cat, but I know it’s better for him. I didn’t like him being on the loose like that, particularly since he was declawed (stop declaw!!!) I kept a thing of pepper spray outside just in case a dog got loose and went after him. Fortunately that never happened, but I was ready to protect my buddy.

Next up: finish garden prep, suck up and chop all the leaves that continued to fall over winter. That tree just drops leaves all year long. But good for the compost pile. Also plan to make a new compost pit out of wooden pallets. I can get those for free at a place nearby and they’re easy to make. I had made my first one from chicken wire, because I didn’t want to invest much time or money in case I didn’t like composting. But I LOVE composting and now need a nicer looking one. I like composting as much as I like the actual gardening. There’s just something about it.

Other than that, now I just tend my seedlings and do garden prep, then wait for May to plant outdoors. I’m still  doing the companion planting route, plus I’m getting ready to order some soldier bug attractors from Planet Natural. Interesting to see how well those work. I’d put out a goldenrod plant, because soldier bugs like that, but I’m not sure it’s coming back. It looks dead. Maybe it’s just too early for growth.

My tansy survived and is greening up. Woot! I haven’t yet seen my chive plant coming up, but guess it will eventually. I wanted to divide it this year and start a new plant. My spring flowers are all about 2-3 inches tall. Crocus will probably bloom in the next two weeks. One of these days I want to add that kind of crocus for saffron and grow my own saffron.

I still have one more seed order to do…Park Seed. This will be my third year ordering from them, and I like them. I got my other seeds from Thompson Morgan, first time with them. They give you a ten buck coupon on your first order and there’s no minimum, so that’s fun. But their prices are kind of high, I think. Ohh, also need to order from Onalee again.

Oh I hope it’s another bug free year. That so rocked last year!

• Squirrels eating the tomatoes!

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