Resolve to Keep Better Gardening Records This Year

There is a very simple, very free way to keep track of what you planted, when you planted it, how good the harvest was, how pretty the flowers were, etc. And it boggles my mind that more gardeners don’t use this tool.

I am talking about a website called My Folia. If you’ve ever thought “I wish I could remember which one of these 100 varieties of tomato seeds did really well last season” or “how long did it take my Zinnias to sprout from seed last season?” or “was it the seaweed extract or the worm castings that really made my bell pepper crop so huge?” then My Folia is for you. It is a super easy tool to use, and it only takes a few seconds to record all the details of your garden that you want to remember for later. My Folia integrates wonderfully with Picasa and Flickr so you can easily connect your photos with My Folia to keep a visual record as well.

Not only can you use it to record your own gardening experience, you can use My Folia to find other people growing the same things and learn from them as well. Or, if you’re a social butterfly, you can use My Folia to find gardening buddies who like growing the same things as you, who have a similar type of growing space (balcony, windowsill, 10 acre backyard, etc), or who garden in the same area of the world as you do. There is also a wonderful forum section to ask questions and discuss all things gardening.

If you have resolved to do a better job journaling about your garden this year, then definitely give My Folia a test drive. If you do sign up, add me as your buddy.

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January 2, 2009 | Filed Under Winter Gardening | 6 Comments

Do You Plan on Starting Seeds Indoors?

It seems hard to believe, but in about a month or so (depending on where you live), it will be time to start seeds indoors.

Photo by joaobambu

Seed starting, for the uninitiated, is pretty simple. By sowing seeds inside, in the warmth of your home, you can get a month or two head start on the growing season, which also means you have more time to garden. When your neighbors are just starting to toss a few seeds into the ground, your plants will already be 4-6 weeks old.

I plan on starting one set of edible plants inside, and then another set of the same edibles a month or so afterwards so that I can have “waves” of veggies coming ripe at different times. Or at least that’s my plan. I’ve purchased cucumbers and eggplants made for container gardening, Green Zebra and cherry tomatoes, peppers, chard, fennel, herbs…

I’m interested to hear your plans. What seeds have you already purchased? Which do you have your eye on? When do you plan to start? Are you going to do anything different this year or trying any new techniques or products?

December 16, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, General, Winter Gardening | 9 Comments

Cold Protection Advice From People Who Know About These Things

I was perusing the New York Botanical Gardens’ blog (yes, a botanical garden has a blog, a pretty good one actually) and came across some advice for container gardeners who live in areas with real winters:

If it is containers that you are concerned about, the simplest answer is Bubble Wrap. Garden centers sometimes sell a horticultural version that has a silver foil lining with Bubble Wrap inside. Insulate hardy containers once they freeze; with half-hardy containers, insulate before they freeze. Wrap the container with Bubble Wrap and secure with garden twine. If possible, tie the Bubble Wrap over the top of the container, pulling it up around the base of the plants so that the soil in the container is covered. This will help protect it from the freezing and thawing cycle that usually happens in February. If your container is not hardy, place it in an unheated garage so that it can go dormant for the winter.

I’ve never seen horticultural bubble wrap at my local nurseries, but it doesn’t get much below 50 degrees in my neck of the woods. Has anyone ever bubble wrapped their pots before? How did it work out?

December 3, 2008 | Filed Under Winter Gardening | 2 Comments

Neat Trick to Keep Forced Bulbs Looking Great

Theresa of Garden Fresh Living has a neat trick to keep your forced bulbs from growing too quickly and flopping over. I won’t give her trick away, but I would have never thought of this, so it is definitely worth clicking over and trying it out.

Photo by ms.Tea

November 25, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, Winter Gardening | 4 Comments

A Winter Container Idea

I posted this a while back, but I think it was too early for most people to start thinking about winter container ideas. This recipe features plants that can handle frost and even a bit of snow.

You’ll need:

A large frost-hardy container
(C) 1 large swiss chard (or three smaller ones potted in a clump to make one large plant)
(D) 6 medium-small ornamental cabbages
(B) a six pack of violas
(A) a six pack of variegated trailing ivy

Start in the center with the chard, then add the cabbages and tuck the violas and ivy in last. If your pot will not be viewed from all sides, you can skip adding the violas and ivy in the back of your pot. If you can’t find chard, kale or even broccoli or cauliflower could be substituted.

Don’t forget, the comment contest is still going strong. Every comment is an entry to win a copy of Bountiful Container and Botanical Interests seeds and tote.

November 7, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, Winter Gardening | 7 Comments

What to Plant Now For Winter

Forget Mums. Whatever is left over in the garden center at this point is probably ragged looking anyway. You need plants that can stand a bit of cold weather and provide visual interest to make your balcony really pop as you look out at it from your toasty apartment…

A few days ago, I posted some tips and tricks gleaned from around the internets, along with a winter container recipe. If you’re still in need of some winter container ideas for your balcony, here are some more plants to consider:

Rainbow chard (I had a ton of success with Chard, I selected it as part of my Magnificent 7 Plants for Balcony Gardeners)
Ornamental kale and cabbages
Hellebores
Heuchera (an especially good plant if you’re in need of a plant with interesting foliage, Huechera comes in tons of different color varieties. Huechera, also called ‘Cora Bells,’ is also pretty tough and difficult to kill).
Variegated osmanthus (a plant that looks like a Holly, which is also another great winter plant that will also attract birds to your container garden)
Fragrant winter-blooming sarcococca (a great choice for shady balcony gardens, or anyone who needs a little privacy)
Colorful sedges (great “spillers” and super easy to keep happy)
Dwarf conifers

October 17, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, Winter Gardening | 1 Comment

Winter Container Gardening…for the Birds

If your gardening season is nearing its end, you can turn it over to the birds and enjoy watching their antics all winter long. You don’t need a huge yard to attract birds, especially in the winter, when the pickings are pretty slim. If you provide what birds need, they will come.

Photo by dbarronoss

So what do birds want in the winter? Basically, seeds and water. Many of the birds that stick around during the winter are seed eaters. Insect eaters migrate because there aren’t very many insects to eat in January. If you allow your plants to produce berries and seeds, or if you put out a bird feeder with the right kind of seeds, birds will be thrilled to visit your garden.

Some people are worried that feeding birds is actually bad for them, that it encourages them to be lazy and only look for food at your bird feeder. The thinking being, that if you had to remove your feeder, the bird would starve. However, studies have shown that birds do not frequent just one feeder or food source. They like visiting multiple locations, a skill developed over thousands of years of evolution. Even before feeders, birds figured out that it was best to search for food in multiple places to limit their risk of starvation. So rest assured, you need not commit to having a feeder in the same location for the rest of your life.

How Your Plants Can Help Birds:

Instead of deadheading the last of the season’s native flowers, allow them to go to seed. Coneflowers (echinacea), for example, provide great bird food and even look attractive without their petals. If you plant ornamental grasses for fall color, allow them to go to seed.
Other plants that are good for birds during the winter: coreopsis, sunflower, Virginia creeper, and hyssop. I am letting my sunflower, which is blooming profusely at the moment, go to seed so that birds will be able to stop in for a snack. I am sure my cats will love watching them on Cat TV (i.e. the front window).
Honeysuckle is another good winter food source. My aunt has one that is trained into a 4 foot topiary tree that lives in a pot on her patio. It looks nice, is balcony friendly, and birds love it. Trifecta!
Hollies look nice in winter and have red berries birds like eating. They also provide safe shelter for birds.

Water:

Birds still need water during the winter. Be sure to locate your bird bath in a location that doesn’t make the birds who visit it a sitting duck (pardon the phrase) for cats who are also on the lookout for winter food.
If you live where water freezes during the winter, check out this heated bird bath. It’s like a bird spa!

Where to Put Feeders and Seed:

Provide feeders at multiple heights, as some birds like to eat seeds near the ground, some at table-height and some higher up. Most container gardeners don’t have trees to hang feeders in, but you can buy sheppard’s hooks meant for hanging baskets at your garden center. Simply place the hook in your largest container and hang the feeder from that instead. Small hanging feeders that swing in the breeze are attractive to many small agile birds.
You can also simply sprinkle seed on the ground. Sparrows, juncos, doves, and bobwhites prefer to feed on the ground, and all you have to do is scatter the seed there.
Another way to provide a raised feeder is to nail a platform (with edges to prevent seeds from falling off) onto a wooden post. Or, if your apartment or condo is not on the ground floor, you can simply nail the platform to a window sill or balcony railing. Purple finches and evening grosbeaks like that set up.
Be sure to locate the feeders in front of a window where you can enjoy watching the birds who come by for a snack.

What Seed to Provide:

The favorite bird seed is black sunflower. It attracts cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches.
Another good bird seed is niger. Goldfinches love niger. But it’s expensive, so use it sparingly.
Safflower, a white seed, slightly smaller than a black sunflower seed is another essential. Squirrels don’t like it. However, neither do grackles, blue jays, or starlings. Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers love safflower.
White seed millet is good for sprinkling on the ground.

On a totally unrelated topic, be sure to check in tomorrow, I’m announcing a fun contest with good prizes!

October 6, 2008 | Filed Under Attracting Birds Bees and Butterflies, Winter Gardening | 2 Comments

How to Force Bulbs

Forcing bulbs — or tricking them into thinking they’ve have a nice cold winter — is a great way to indoor blooms during the dead of winter. It’s also necessary if you live in a mild climate and want beautiful tulips, daffodils or hyacinth during winter and early spring.

Photo by talekinker

As a number of bloggers have noted, you will be seeing spring bulbs in your local garden center soon, if they’re not there already. Many bulbs need a good long chill before sending up leaves and blooms. In cold climates, this can easily be achieved by planting the bulbs in the fall, before the first frost, and leaving them to their own devices over the winter. But if you live in a more mild climate, like me, or you want to enjoy their blooms during winter, you have to provide an artificial winter, which is called “forcing.”

Forcing bulbs is pretty simple. It can be done in your refrigerator, or a garage or basement. Pretty much any place that provides consistent temperatures below 50 degrees (F) but above freezing temperatures.

Pot the bulbs in clean, sterile pots. You can place the bulbs very close together, so put as many bulbs as you can in a single layer. For example, 6 tulip bulbs will fit in a 6 inch pot. Normally you want to leave the pointy “nose” of the bulbs exposed. So fill the pot with dirt but not all the way to the top.
Water the bulbs immediately upon planting, and thereafter the soil should never be allowed to become dry.
Put them in a loosely tied plastic bag in your fridge or other cold spot. Check them every week or so to make sure the soil is moist. Also check to see if roots are coming out of the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot. When you see roots sticking out and 2-3 inches of green shoots, it’s time to bring the bulbs out of the fridge. Most bulbs require 5-6 weeks, but some, such as tulips, can require as much as 16 weeks.
Place the pots in a cool location, such as a shaded corner of the balcony. Somewhere that is about 50 degrees (F). Rotate the pots once a day so that the stems and leaves grow evenly and upright.
When the flower buds are plump and ready to open, put the pots in a sunny location, such as a bright windowsill. Returning flowering plants to a cool location overnight will extend the life of their blooms.

September 10, 2008 | Filed Under Container Gardening, Winter Gardening | 6 Comments

Great Tip: How to Tell Which Area of Your Garden Will Get Sunshine in the Fall and Winter

Jim McCausland over at Fresh Dirt has a great tip for determining which area (if any) of your balcony or patio will be sunny during the fall and winter:

Thursday evening, set your alarm for 1 a.m. (If this plan won’t fly with your spouse, drink a couple of glasses of water before you go to bed, and you’ll be up at the appropriate time.) Go outside when the alarm goes off, and you’ll find the full moon floating in almost exactly the same spot the sun will occupy five months from now. Whatever beds get moonlight now will get sunlight then. Whatever beds are shaded by buildings and evergreen trees now will be shaded by the same things in December.

…

The difference between the sun’s summer and winter tracks is sharp. Today in Seattle, the midday sun is 64° above the horizon. In late December, it will be only 19° above the horizon. In Los Angeles today, the midday sun is 77° above the horizon, while in December, it will be 33° above the horizon. The difference is what causes such long winter shadows.

This is important advice, because as Jim notes, now is the time to plant fall and winter vegetable seeds, but obviously those plants will need sunshine a few months from now to do their best.

July 15, 2008 | Filed Under Fall Gardening, Fruits & Vegetables, Gardening in Full Sun, Winter Gardening | Leave a Comment