Gardening is Not a Destination, It’s a Process…Or Something Like That

Backyard Living Magazine recently asked 100 Master Gardeners to give their best  gardening tip. I’ve already posted about a few of them, and there is one last one I wanted to share. It’s the very last tip listed, #100.

If things don’t turn out as you planned, savor the lessons learned and try something new next time.

I hope Katie Marlow — the author of that tip — doesn’t mind me making a slight alteration. It shouldn’t be “if things don’t turn out…” it should be “When things don’t turn out…” Gardening — like most things in nature — is a very humbling hobby. I’m not a master gardener, but I would venture to guess that even quite seasoned gardeners learn new things each year. Everyone makes mistakes. Instead of trying to be perfect, it’s better for your sanity to embrace mistakes as opportunities to learn.

When you kill a plant, you’ve only failed if you didn’t learn anything about how to care for that plant in future (even if what you learned is that you aren’t willing to spend hours upon hours babying that particular plant and don’t want to grow it anymore). I know that sounds like a variation of a cheesy quote one of your middle school teachers had on the bulletin board, but as the daughter of a teacher who loves inspirational quotes, I can attest that sometimes those sayings are true!

Beyond just gardening skills, I can’t tell you how much I have learned about myself through gardening, and how many opportunities gardening has provided me to be a better person. I’ve made plenty of mistakes that allowed me to work on being more patient, less impulsive and more steadfast (just to name a few personality traits!). I didn’t set out to learn patience through gardening, but the reflection made after planting some bulbs too early (and the problems that resulted there from) certainly had that net effect.

If you embrace the idea that being a perfect gardener is not possible, you’ll be happier and learn a lot about gardening and yourself in the process.

Other Master Gardener Tips:

January 5, 2009 | Filed Under How To | 5 Comments 

Food Stamped: Can Food Really Be Grown in an Urban Setting?

Over at The Jew and Carrot — a really wonderful blog about Jewish food issues and ethical, local, organic food in general — guest blogger Sarah Newman brought up an interesting documentary called Food Stamped about food stamps and whether you can really eat healthily on our government’s food program for the poor. In the movie, the documentarians try to live off of $50 for food a week, and supplement their diet with some vegetables and herbs that grow along their driveway.

It seems as though Sarah generally liked the film but had a few critiques, one of which involved the driveway herb garden:

And, what if they don’t have tidy herb gardens lining their driveway, like Shira and Yuval, to add nutritious and tasty ingredients to spice up their somewhat bland foods?

The implication being (I think) that it isn’t possible for poor, urban food stamp users to grow their own herbs, or even better, their own fruits and vegetables. And certainly not on a serious budget. I have to say, I heartily disagree! I thought I would round up some of the posts I written about growing your own food without access to an in-ground garden or even very much room. Even a windowbox provides enough room to produce tomatoes, blueberries, herbs, and more.

Growing Your Own Food:

Frugal Gardening:

December 30, 2008 | Filed Under Frugal Container Gardening, Fruits & Vegetables, Herbs, How To | 3 Comments 

Another Frugal Gardening Tip

I’m not even going to bother telling you that times are tough right now. We all know that. But what can frugal minded gardeners do about it?

Well, for starters, you can take cuttings from your existing plants and those of your friends and neighbors (with permission of course). Taking cuttings means free plants. I don’t know about you, but free sounds really good right about now.

These Coleus plants are all from a single plant I purchased for $3.99. When I bought the plant, I had in mind making topiaries, so I was really excited to find a plant with six branches. Immediately upon bringing the original plant home, I cut off the six branches, dipped the cut end in rooting hormone, and stuck the stems in fresh potting soil. A week or so later they were all growing roots. My four dollars bought me six attempts at making a topiary. Less than a buck a plant is pretty darn good!

Now, whenever I pinch off a branch growing too low down on my topiaries, I repeat the cutting process described above and get a new, free plant. I also do the same thing when I trim my mother’s geraniums. And I have had good results with Ivy and Philodendrons by just sticking a cutting in a glass of water until roots have developed.

Have you taken cuttings before? Which plants have you had success with?

Related Posts:

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November 10, 2008 | Filed Under Frugal Container Gardening, How To | 12 Comments 

Grow Your Own…Great DIY Balcony Gardening Ideas

November 7, 2008 | Filed Under Good Reading, How To | 3 Comments 

Anyone Can Grow Iris in a Container

As someone with legal training, I’m hesitant to make such a broad claim, but I am pretty sure I am safe with this one:* Anyone can grow Iris in a pot. If you can add water when the soil is dry, you can have a beautiful one of these…

Photo by **Mary**

The ideal time to buy iris rhizomes (fat roots that look sort of like fingerling potatoes) was back in August and September, but you should still be able to find rhizomes in your garden center. When you head out to the garden center, you will probably find rhizomes with clipped roots and leaves. The rhizome should be firm; it should not be dried out, mushy, smell bad, or have holes from insect damage.

Planting and caring for Irises is really easy:

If you live in an area with mild winters, you can leave the pot outdoors for the winter. But if you have “real” winters, bring the pot inside and find a sunny spot. Since this is a bit late to start irises in temperate climates, they might not have enough time to get established before winter. But next year, you can leave the pot outdoors with a protective layer of straw or leaf mulch or something similar.

If you forget to water or fertilize, don’t worry, your iris is most likely fine. I know my grandma didn’t fertilize her irises and they still bloomed like clock work. Many varieties of iris can even tolerate partial shade.

Sources: Iris Colorado, Schreiner’s

*Please don’t sue me if I’m wrong. ;-) I promise it would be a waste of time because I have no assets to take if you won the suit!

October 29, 2008 | Filed Under Fall Gardening, How To | 3 Comments 

How to Move With Your Plants

Master Gardener Julie Bawden Davis has these tips for moving with potted plants:

  1. Wait to water your plants until they arrive at the new location.
  2. Secure the soil in the pot by putting crumpled newspaper in the pot and taping it in place
  3. Use green garden tape to secure the limbs of large plants to avoid as much damage as possible.
  4. Transport your plants inside an enclosed vehicle, not in the back of a pickup truck.
October 25, 2008 | Filed Under How To | 3 Comments 

20 Minute Topiary Update

Remember that topiary I made out of some electrical wire and a Bacopa plant? Well, in a little over a month the Bacopa has completely covered the topiary form. Of course, being the genius that I am, the only photo I got that was in focus cut off the top of the topiary…

I think I am going to sow some yellow Sweet Allysum or maybe some Nasturtium in the pot to cover up the dirt and the spot where the topiary form was inserted into the dirt.

I actually made two of these topiaries. Unfortunately on the other one, two of the “arms” of the globe shape just died one day. If anyone has any idea what could have happened and how I can encourage new growth on that side of the topiary, I’d really appreciate it.

October 22, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, How To | 7 Comments 

What is Your Favorite Plant?

As summer comes to a close, we’ve all had lots of time spent with vegetation, and thus a lot of time to develop favorites. What’s yours?

It’s hard for me to pick just one favorite. I started off favoring nasturtiums, until a hungry pack of aphids descended on my plants and I had to work really hard to kill them without using harsh chemicals. I wish I had just purchased lady bugs at the outset. But I thought I could kill the aphids faster with an organic spray. Boy was I wrong. Nature works a whole heck of a lot faster than something that comes in a bottle.

Then I got obsessed with signet marigolds. I love their lacey foliage and simple flowers. And I love the dichotomy of being unusual and common at the same time. Everyone knows what a marigold looks like. But signets are somewhat unusual.

Somewhere in there, I was also pretty in to echeverias. Until I killed them all. It’s kind of hard to love a plant that doesn’t love you back. Aeoniums have been pretty good to me though. And I really love the variegated one I potted up recently and the almost black one I have tucked under my herb planter.

I think the plant I’ve liked all throughout the summer, and still love, are zinnias. First of all, I like words and names that start with ‘Z.’ Second, I love the huge variety of colors, shapes and sizes of zinnias. They come in dwarf varieties that are only six inches tall and others that grow to four feet tall and everything in between. Zinnias come in virtually every color and color combination except true blue. I even like their seeds. Nice and big and easy to sow. I recently purchased these at Target:

What’s your favorite plant from this past summer…or of all time?

September 20, 2008 | Filed Under General, How To | 3 Comments 

Gardening Glossary and Terminology

It came to my attention that not all people who would like to have an awesome balcony or patio garden understand all the words commonly thrown around in the gardening world.

If you can think of a word or phrase I missed, add it in the comments!

Photo by darkgardyner

Annual – These plants only last one season. They’re usually the plants sold as small seedlings in six packs. They often have wonderful, flashy flowers and many will drop their seed in the dirt nearby the original plant, which means that new, free plants will pop up in the spring.

Botanical Name – Refers to the Latin name of the plant in the biological classification system. It is almost always two words. The first is capitalized and is the name of the genus and the second is not capitalized and is the species. For example, Tagetes tenuifolia is the botanical name for Signet Marigolds.

Bulbs – A specialized type of perennial with a thickened underground storage organ that contains a reserve of nutrients.

Container Gardening – Growing plants in pots as opposed to in the ground.

Deciduous – A plant that loses all of its leaves in the fall and then grows new leaves in the spring.

Drought Tolerant – Plants that need very little or no artificial (i.e. provided by you) water. Keep in mind that even drought tolerant plants need regularly watering for the first few weeks after planting to help them get established.

Edible Plants – Plants you can eat. Often refers to herbs, fruits and vegetables but can also include flowers and leaves of plants that are usually used for decorative purposes.

Evergreen – A plant that does not drop its leaves in the fall.

Exotic – A plant that is not native to a particular region and could not thrive in that region without artificial (read: you) support.

Fertilizer – A “vitamin” of sorts for plants. Fertilizer comes in many forms, and adds nutrients to the soil that plants need. Typical ingredients include cow manure, bat guano, worm casings, fish emulsion, bone meal, and blood meal. Often, fertilizers are formulated for a specific plant or type of plant. Common specialized fertilizers are vegetable, flowering plant, fruit tree, rose, azalea, etc. Fertilizers usually have three numbers, something along the lines of 5-10-5. The first number is the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer, the second is phosphorus and the third is potassium.

First Frost – The average date on which a particular area experiences their first freezing temperature in the fall or winter.

Full Shade – Plants that do best when grown in an area that is shady all day long.

Full Sun – Plants that can tolerate 6 or more hours of direct sunlight every day.

Germination – When a seed shows signs that it is sprouting, either by sending up leaves or putting out roots.

Heirloom – There is not a firm definition of an heirloom variety of plants. It always means a plant that is not a hybrid (a cross of two different plants). It often refers to plants grown for a very long time (50 or more years) and which were originally handed down through families by saving seeds from the plants each year.

Last Frost – The average date on which a particular area no longer experiences any freezing temperatures in the spring.

Native – A plant that is naturally found in a specific region. Sometimes this term can be used loosely to refer to plants that are naturally suited to the conditions found in a particular area.

Organic Gardening – Forgoing the use of any synthetic products, including pesticides and fertilizers. Often it also includes not using genetically modified plants or seeds.

Partial Shade – Plants that prefer filtered sun or that can only tolerate a few hours (less than 6 hours) of sun. Often, they are not drought tolerant.

Partial Sun – Plants that prefer 3-6 hours of sun, but can tolerate direct sun or high temperatures.

Perennial – A plant that comes back year after year. It may go dormant or die back during the winter, or it may be super hardy plant that can withstand the cold of winter. Either way, this is a plant you will have around for multiple seasons.

Potting Soil – Often not made up of dirt! A soil-like mixture specially created for the needs of container gardens and potted plants.

Seed Leaves – Many plants’ first set of leaves do not look like the leaves of a mature plant. These first set of leaves are called…seed leaves.

Transplant – The process of taking the plant from one container or place and moving it to another. It usually refers to transferring the plant from the container it came from in the nursery into a more permanent spot.

Water Deeply – Plants that need a lot of water at once instead of a little water over several waterings. Deep watering often encourages good root formation, where as frequently providing only a small amount of water encourages surface roots, when are less stable and more susceptible to drying out.

August 27, 2008 | Filed Under How To | 1 Comment 

Natural Mosquito Repellent

Recently my youngest brother left for college in Vermont, and my parents’ flew out there with him to send him off. My parents came back without my brother, but with a bunch of itchy mosquito bites.

Photo by loveberry

Here in Southern California, we don’t have very much standing water for mosquitoes to breed in, and the state sprays insecticide a lot because we have such a huge agricultural economy. But I know that in many areas, there are mosquitoes galore this time of year. Luckily, this is a problem you can grow your way out of.

Lemon Balm is a natural mosquito reppellant. It has a very high level of a compound called citronellal in its leaves. Citronella–which is used in many commercial mosquito reppellants–is the essential oil version of citronellal. Some varieties of lemon balm are up to 38 percent citronellal! You can buy seeds of one such variety from Johnny’s Seeds: Lemon Balm ‘Quedlinburger Niederliegende.’

If you don’t want to carry a Lemon Balm plant around with you at all times, simply pinch off a few leaves, crush them in your hand and rub them over your skin. You’ll have a wonderful lemony smell that mosquitoes can’t stand.

Quedlinburger Niederliegende is hardy to zone 4 and prefers afternoon shade. It is somewhat drought tolerant and prefers soil that is one the dry side of moist. Feel free to pinch off leaves regularly as doing so will only encourage more growth.

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August 20, 2008 | Filed Under Herbs, How To | 17 Comments 

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