Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

May 12th, 2008

I’m in the process of hardening off my seedlings. I grew fewer this year. Last year I sort of went overboard (hahaha, that’s an understatement) because a friend and I shared seeds, plus we found this crazy place online where you can order sample packets for 35 cents each. That tends to send a person into a buying frenzy.

I did very well this year with watering my seedling. Usually I over-water and get mold, or underwater and kill things. I only recently got mold on some of my plants. It’s a whitish mold that grows on the top of the soil and sometimes on the peat pot. Doesn’t hurt the plants, but looks foul. I kill it with cinnamon. Just a sprinkle. Cornmeal is another organic method of killing a fungus, but it also can hamper seed germination. So it’s fine on plants, but not fine if you’re trying to sprout seeds. You can also make a juice with it, sort of a cornmeal tea, and spray it on anything that has a fungus.

My lettuce is looking fantastic this year. I added some red romaine, and it’s just gorgeous. I’ll bet we’ll be having fresh lettuce in the next two weeks. Also have regular romaine, some spinach and some kind of leafy mix I bought online. (It was called leafy mix, and includes all kinds of greens. So I don’t know what’s what.)

My hairy vetch (oh how I love my hairy vetch) is thick and beautiful. Any day now it should be full of ladybugs, my little garden helpers. This year, I’m planting directly INTO the vetch, and it will be a living mulch. It dies out during the heat of summer, but should still provide a nice mulch for weed control and moisture conservation.

I STILL haven’t moved all my crazy bamboo. Soon, I say. Right now, I’ve got Mother’s Day done (Mom is here, and we did the Mom thing yesterday with the Moms) and am spending the day outside. I’m just in for a tea break.

I spent this morning hauling everything out of the basement. My hibiscus that is going to get a root trim later today, and fresh potting soil; my oxalis plants, my spider plant that is loaded with babies – it may get a fresh pot because it’s cracked its pot; my diffenbachia; my lantana bush that I dig up and bring in; and some other things that may all be dead. I ignore these things all winter – just some water now and then, and they get some light from a little window in the corner. The hibiscus thrives on being ignored….it likes the rest.

But that is a big job carrying everything up and out, and some of those pots weigh a ton now. I need an elevator or a conveyor belt. Then I had to move all my seedlings outdoors to continue the hardening off process. That was several more trips.

I get a lot of really good exercise this time of year, and it’s natural. No dancing around to an 80s tape.

So everything is up and out and this afternoon I’m going to try and do the following:

–trim the hibiscus roots and repot

–repot some other plants

–dish up my hanging basket which features begonias this year (I saw this on a Paul James show, so I’m attempting something new)

–dish up some of my other container plants that I bought over the weekend

–trim a new black coleus I bought and start a second plant; not sure where I’m going to put these

–get my direct-sow seeds planted (mostly curcurbits – melons, squash, cukes)

Next up, depending on weather, get my plants planted. I have lots.

I also surveyed things that are coming up, and I’m delighted. I’d left a lot of dahlia tubers in the ground, which you’re not supposed to do. Somehow they survived and are about a foot tall now. Ha! Oh, I need to plant the NEW dahlia tubers I bought because I thought the ones I’d left must be all dead. And I bought some canna bulbs (tubers?). I’ve never grown cannas before, but I decided they’re lovely and dramatic. I’m all about the drama.

I’ve got various things coming up and have no clue what they are. Weed or friend? I’ve been clipping leaves and bring them to the computer to try and identify, and that’s hard. Where do you start. Fortunately, my mother, queen of all flora and fauna, is here, and she knows about 90 percent of them by a leaf. We always said she could go into the woods and come out with a nice lunch and some kind of wild berry lemonade. She knows so much about wild plants and tame ones.

I wish I had a tenth of her knowledge.  And she can sing, too.  She’s multi-talented.

My in-laws think all my gardening obsession is quite “cute.” I need a new hat and some kind of adorable gardening outfit to entertain them to the max.

Okay, tea break is done…time to head back out. Ciao.

• Spring to do’s
• Planning for spring

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