Gardening

Gardeners Really Do Know All The Best Dirt

March 7, 2013 by Leah 1 Comment

This past Saturday it snowed, so Sunday seemed like the perfect day to break ground for a vegetable garden. Rob was able to borrow a tiller from a friend and we set to it. Once again, like every project with this house, I thought this would be an easy task that would take like 30 minutes max with a crazy big tiller…no.

I decided that I wanted to do a 12′ x 18′ plot, which would provide plenty of room for several types of vegetables, but also not be overwhelming to keep up with. When I laid the bamboo out in the yard, the space looked very small to me, but when the tilling started, I thought, “Oh man, what on earth am I getting myself into?” Pun possibly intended.

The soil in my yard is a nasty mixture of clay and rocks that doesn’t lend itself to digging. It took about three rounds of tilling to get the soil to a workable consistency before adding amendments. We also discovered a lovely 12″ diameter concrete footing on the edge of the plot which caused some internal swearing and readjusting the layout in my mind. As Rob tilled, I was raking the largest clumps of grass and roots in an attempt to delay the inevitable onslaught of weeds.

Since the soil in these parts is so rough, we added some organic humus (not to be confused with hummus, which is pronounced differently) along with some good old fashioned horse shit. That’s right, nothing gets those veggies going like a healthy dose of manure. It looks like Rob is doing all the work in these pics, and it would have been an impossible task without him, but I promise I was helping! I have the muscle aches to prove it!

So this is what we ended up with. A lot of weeding still needs to be done, and I plan to also add some lime, and possibly some more of the organic humus (not hummus) to soften the soil up a bit. Right now the soil is most likely having acidity issues due to its clay-like nature and pine needles from a nearby tree. The lime will add a bit of alkalinity that will enable the plants to better absorb the beneficial nutrients from the dirt.

The soil will be able to sit and relax until April 15th, when the growing season officially begins in Zone 7. So what am I planting??? Sweet Slice Cucumbers, Heirloom French Zucchini Ronde de Nice, Heirloom Icebox Watermelon Doll Babies, Nickel French Filet Bush Beans, True Lavender, Sun Gold Cherry Tomato, Giant Belgium Heirloom Tomato, Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato, Chives, and some Basil seeds my Uncle John smuggled from Italy. Most of the seeds were ordered from Swallowtail Garden Seeds, some were purchased at Yarrow Acres, and the rest fell into my lap. I’m terrified. I suck at growing seeds. I can keep plants alive, and can find my way around a garden, but seed starting is a whole different ball game, and I can only hope these things survive. Here’s the arsenal.

Used berry containers, used pots from the Hens & Chicks, and a flat of small pots given to me by a friend. I broke down and got seed starting soil, which I hate. The stuff is so fine that when I tried to water it, there were lots of bubbles and the water was draining through the soil, but not actually making it wet. ARGH! So I gave up on the watering can and started using the sprayer in the sink. What a mess.

The seeds were also so tiny, I was having multiple heart attacks trying to plant them just right. Tweezers ended up being the tool that saved the evening.

I have nowhere in the house to put these seeds where they’ll get adequate light other than the laundry room, which is not a south-facing room…it’s also not heated. I’m going to put a space heater in there at night and see what happens. Not a totally ideal situation, but I’m hoping the warm weather gets here soon.

Now I wait to see if this endeavor is a total failure or not. It’s quite amazing to think that towering plants can come from such tiny seeds, but I’m excited to see what happens! The beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and watermelon will be directly sown into the ground in April. The prospect of being able to grow food is such an amazing thought, especially since I’ve been particularly discouraged by the supermarket produce sections of late. Books like The Dirty Life and You Grow Girl have inspired me to want to use the land I have for something beneficial. Gardening is a physical effort that gets the body moving, a spiritual effort since many events in life are related to growth, and a mental effort since a bit of learning is required. I think the quote that sums it up best for me is, “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Thank you, Cicero!

Hens And Chicks: What’s The Fuss?

February 28, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

As much as I would love to buy chickens and all sorts of cute barnyard animals for the yard, my coworkers have forbidden it. They yell at me and say I’m crazy when I send adorable pictures of barn-y creatures over the work instant messenger. You’d be surprised by what you can find on Craigslist. Adorable little goats, miniature donkeys, mules, guinea fowl, Rhode Island reds, horses, ponies, and pot belly pigs have tempted me, especially with the shed/barn in my backyard. But alas, the hens and chicks I refer to are of the plant variety.

Last year I went on a plant buying frenzy in June, which is way late to be going on a plant buying frenzy in Tennessee. By that time of year, most of the plants at Home Depot and Lowes have been fried to bits or they are completely out of what you want. The True Value garden center actually exceeded my expectations with a few things, and John Deere and Hewitt’s were just way too expensive for what they were selling. No, I won’t spend $14.99 on a hosta that has been trimmed to a bloody stub because someone forgot to water it, thank you.

One of the things I couldn’t find anywhere last year was Hens and Chicks. They are like the holy grail of succulents. All the garden centers were out of them, so when I saw a big display of them at Home Depot last week, I snatched them up. As I was driving home I realized it’s still cold winter, and planting succulents at this time of year is stupid. No matter, I had my chickies.

Hens and Chicks thrive in crappy soil. Imagine the driest, sandiest, rockiest, ickiest soil that normal plants wouldn’t be able to live in. Got it? That’s what the chickies like. I’ve also read that they don’t like to be fussed over. This is a little upsetting because I really love fussing over plants. I over-fuss. Apparently one is not supposed to water chickies too often, except when you plant them. That’s when they get a good long drink that will see them through seasons of unfussiness.

After looking around at very expensive pottery planters, I stumbled upon a little gold mine at Big Lots. I wouldn’t recommend buying many gardening related things there, but they actually had a great selection of planters that were less than half the price of the other places I looked. The pots were $8 apiece and the green one is an old Pottery Barn Outlet find that was hanging around. I got some cactus soil and added a bunch of white rocks that were dumped next to the patio by the previous owners. This is what happened.

I hoped that by adding the rocks, the plants would feel
like they were roughing it and, you know, be inspired to persevere in
their difficult circumstances. I watered them well and set them on the front porch so they wouldn’t get rained on. Then I started worrying. Did I water them too much? Do they feel too fussed over? I’ve been ignoring them for a few days, haven’t even gone to check on them once.

A few years ago I discovered that I have a knack with orchids. This is weird because lots of people buy orchids from the grocery store and kill them in no time. I think this is due to over-watering. Two of the ones I have are now in their fourth year of re-blooming thanks to a cranky orchid grower I met in Florida a few years ago. She said the secret to getting a phalaenopsis orchid to bloom again is to put it through a cold spell. When the weather reaches around 45-50 degrees at night, around October or November, put the orchids outside for two weeks, then bring them in and treat them like normal. Before you know it, they’ll be sprouting a new stem with buds. It’s amazing. Every year it works without fail. But I enjoy fussing over my orchids, misting them every now and then, turning them, fertilizing once a year, chatting with them…so I’m trying the opposite strategy with the chickies. Hopefully they’ll make it. Hens and chicks overwinter in Tennessee so I’m not too worried about the cold, but I am a little worried. Just a little.

What Lies Beneath…

February 19, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

I am nearly going insane with spring fever. The weather this winter has been a confusing mix of unusually warm and utterly freezing cold. All of my bulbs are starting to emerge, which is making me crazy to get in the garden, and I’ve been pruning and fussing around all my little tender plants that are starting to come back up.

It’s maddening because it is too early to be gardening. So I’m reading You Grow Girl, which is actually a great book for savvy chicks who like to get dirty and the website is pretty awesome too.

At Home Depot and Lowes, the garden center sections are pretty much closed off, and when you walk into them, there is a tepid supply of seeds and some leftover plants from the fall. I think my biological garden clock is off because it is seed starting time, people, there should be ridiculous amounts of veggie and flower seeds strewn all over the place by avid planters like me, but all that awaits me are two cardboard displays with ugly Burpee seed packets that boast totally boring varietals. Having worked in a garden center for 5 years and growing up with a horticulturist for a dad, I usually know exactly what I want when I walk into a garden center. I am infuriated by lame employees who know nothing of the plants they are selling. I get irrationally pissed when I ask a question about seeds and get a blank stare.

I purchased all my seeds for seed starting as of today. Some are in the mail on their way, and some were found in the local garden shop Yarrow Acres in downtown Franklin. I will expound on that at a later date, but today I basked in the loveliness that was President’s Day. Bulbs are emerging, the garden is laid out and a plan is down on paper…and also in the yard, laid out with bamboo.

I am so excited for spring. In March, Cheekwood will have a daffodil show on March 23-24. I am so excited. I’ve been to this a couple of times and each time, I am stunned by the beauty and variety of the flowers. I’ve noticed in my yard that several patches of daffodils were planted by the previous owners…in the shade…so none of the leaves have blooms amongst them. I might try relocating the bulbs to a sunnier spot to see if that helps.

For now I have to be content to wait knowing that the payoff will be big. If I start too early, I’ll screw my little plants and cause them to struggle unnecessarily. Only a couple more weeks and the planting can begin!!!

November: Phantom Month

December 3, 2012 by Leah Leave a Comment

November was a phantom month. It came and it went. It was there and then it simply…wasn’t. To say I have been busy doesn’t really describe what I’ve been up to. Busy for me might look different than busy for other people. My friends who have children (I don’t know how they do it) know a kind of busy that must be exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. For me, busy looks like traveling for work, traveling for family and friends, maintaining friendships outside of work, cooking, cleaning, maintaining my 1/2 acre of ground, cleaning gutters, learning Italian, maintaining a relationship, maintaining my faith. All of these things signal a lack of time alone, which for me, is utterly exhausting. There is peace and regeneration in time spent alone.

The weekend before November hit, there was one task that had to be finished. Planting trees. I wanted to plant a maple that would get bright red in the fall, along with two apple trees. I settled on an October Glory Maple and two Honeycrisp Apple trees. Albert Camus once said that “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” I chose the maple based on this lovely leaf.

And I chose the Honeycrisp because I love the taste of the variety and they are $2.99 a pound when in season, so hopefully I can save myself some money and get some lovely apples!

To plant the maple my neighbor, Lindsay, came over and helped me dig a hole in some of harshest, rockiest clay soil, I’ve ever seen. Rob helped separate the soil from the grass while we dug.

After watering the tree as we went, while piling a bit of mud up, we covered the bottom surface with mini pine nuggets. Over the next weeks, I watered the tree every few days and waited impatiently for the color to change to a cheery autumn red. More on that later…

I decided to put the apple trees in the same part of the yard. This time I dug alone and almost immediately ran into some nasty rock with my shovel. Due to the changing daylight and lack thereof in the evenings, I was forced to wake up early in the morning — which I hate to do, by the way — and dig like a maniac. The neighbors must have thought me mad. I got out there with a small spade and used the hammer on top of it to break up the stone, a miserable task. How a tree would make it in that soil, I could only guess. I threw some manure in those holes and hoped for the best. Here’s what happened.

There is a Welsh proverb that says “A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.” These two little trees are my mini orchard, sort of visible, with a bit of tender hope attached to them. There are two other apple trees close by in the neighborhood, so hopefully they will pollinate this spring.

A couple of short weeks later, the maple put on a brilliant little show, just before the bluebirds returned to their new house for the first time. Bluebirds use these houses in the winter to nestle in for warmth. Apparently you can even make heated ones! Now the little birds will have a tree to perch in when they nest in the spring.

As of today, I am happy to report that all trees are still alive!!! They are standing straight and will hopefully survive the winter. I also went to the Biltmore in late October and got some bulbs to plant around the base of the maple. So excited to see these bloom in the spring!

The fall brought with it a melancholy beauty. I always enjoy nature’s brightest display with the knowledge that it ushers in the cold barrenness of winter. Small changes like leaves accumulating under the last roses are bittersweet.

One morning in the cold I noticed this monarch butterfly clinging to the butterfly weed. The wings were malformed and there is simply no way the creature will finish its migratory trip to Mexico, but I have a soft spot in my heart for monarchs from raising them when I was little. I sat with this one for a moment and appreciated how much effort it must have taken to escape from its chrysalis into the cool breeze of fall.

And then the happiest surprise came when I noticed a sunflower growing in the Japanese Maple planter!

A frost had already come, but this determined little sprout refused to give up. I couldn’t believe it would actually survive the cold until I went out to the car one morning to find the brightest yellow bloom smiling at me.

There is only one thing left to do in the yard. The sick plum didn’t pull through and therefore, needs to be pulled out. The roots are quite insistent that it stay in the ground, but I’m too afraid a disease will spread to the remaining plums. This is what’s left. All I can do now is buy a hatchet to sever the remaining roots. Then the yard will be ready for winter and all it brings.

The first hard frost was beautiful. Some of the flowers survived, and some simply succumbed to the beauty of the ice before breathing their last. At this point, I’m ready for the yard to be done. The sooner winter takes over, the sooner spring will be here!

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