Organizing plants

A call on the radio program today had me thinking.  We don't always edit our plantings enough. The caller was worrying about her view from her home office (it sounded pretty jumbled up).

Taking a clear view, printing out photos (b&w), thinking about what you actually SEE -- all are so helpful for transforming views in our landscapes.

It's not always about adding more plants, but editing them out, to be sure.

Isn't gardening fun?

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Even more seeds...

Hmm, I'm on a roll, even as the weather turned grey and rainy today.  I ordered more seeds this morning (unusual ones), along with some gratis ones from Renee's Seeds (I'd just placed a paid order yesterday, so I'm not feeling too guilty about accepting the media freebies).  They're (Renee's, that is) are the best!  I love her seed choices.

I'm itching to start seeds under lights and on a heating pad out in my garden shed, even though I KNOW it's way too early. I'll just content myself by cleaning up and tidying beds (from lots of winter annuals), until I can plant snow peas and sugar snap peas later this month (depending on soil temps).  But then I'll start some cool-season veggies for transplant!  I do need to barricade my Piedmont garden against deer, however -- they're probably still out there, waiting for the nice gardener to offer up something tasty.

It's been quite mild so far this winter, at least in the Piedmont, so I should be able to coax some hardy lettuce and spinach seeds to germinate with a bit of warmth first, before setting them out.  First, however, I'll be transplanting leek "babies" from my perennial leeks, which have produced lots of small offsets ready to move to new spots.

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Ordering seeds!

Woo, hoo! I had a great time this morning organizing the seeds that I have (a lot) and starting to order more. 

Tops on my list were callalo (edible amaranthus) that we'd eaten in the Caribbean, but is grown throughout the tropics (and warm-season temperate areas) and "seasoning peppers" - a Capsicum chinese variety that has flavor, but not the heat of traditional Caribbean peppers.

I also ordered some interesting Indian vegetables along with the Asian ones-- from Evergreen Seeds, tinda (an edible gourd) popped up (and went into my cart) along with "India Spinach Beet" -- which looks like a type of chard. 

Along with roselle (or sorrel), the hibiscus used for a delicious tea (from the fleshy calyx) at Christmas time in the Caribbean, I'm having fun ordering seeds!

I've also included asian eggplants of various sorts, yard-long beans, and red-leaf mustards.  Yum!

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A mild winter so far

Returning home from winter break travels, I was surprised that we'd still not had a hard freeze in the Piedmont. Some of the camellias near the house are loaded with lovely pink and white flowers -- the white-flowered ones are a treat because they're almost always browned by freezes!

The cilantro and arugula are still looking great - both can withstand light frosts, and maybe more if they've been gradually exposed to lower temperatures. (The cilantro is in a glazed ceramic pot, while the arugula is growing as a big patch in the satellite garden.)  The parsley is still looking good, too, of course, and the French sorrel is putting out new leaves, too (apparently the deer haven't been back recently).

On my walk this afternoon, I saw a large patch of mustard greens (similar in cold hardiness) looking good, too. It'll be interesting to check out the kitchen garden next to the visitor center (at the botanical garden where I work) to see how the snow peas are faring!

In the mountains, the weather has been a lot colder, temps into the lower 20's.  It'll be interesting to see how the greens in the raised beds there have fared on our next trip.

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A compost turning = happy gardening in 2013!

The old compost pile by the shed was last turned in midsummer.

Last summer I turned this compost pile as part of the shed-moving project, and I've continued to add alternating green and brown layers* to the top since then.

Now, it was time to turn it again to access the bottom of the pile, which I guessed would be finished by now. I also had some old, mostly composted arborist woodchips to mix in with the unfinished compost to add some extra nutrients and more volume.

I cleared out the space for the new pile where I'd recently worked down to the bottom of my last compost pile.

At the bottom of the new pile a layer of leaves and pine
needles topped with a layer of the old woodchips.

Layering the new pile

Once a three by five-foot rectangular area was cleared and smoothed, I put down about a five-inch layer of leaves and pine needles. There is an unending supply this time of year. I added about a two-inch layer of chips and then a three or four-inch layer from the compost pile.

From there on, I alternated the materials from the compost pile with thin layers of old chips. By the time I was halfway through, the old compost pile, the compost was mostly finished. Yay! When it was clear that all the compost was finished, I stopped.

Finished compost is stored in a bin.

Storing the finished compost

I had a fair amount of finished compost from the bottom of the pile to store. I had dumped out the last of the old compost from the bin onto one of the layers in the new pile because it had dried out. I rinsed out the bin with rain barrel water and then shoveled in the fresh compost and put the lid back on the bin. Beautiful.

But I had more than the bin would hold, so I shoveled the rest of it out from its old spot. After I had filled the old wheelbarrow, I piled the rest on the ground in a holding spot while I cleared out a good storage spot.

I don't smile when I hit Smilax rhizomes even if they are red like this one.

I found a vigorous greenbriar (Smilax spp.) rhizome under the old compost pile and removed it. At least there are no prickles on the underground portions. This particular root was about ten feet long before I cut it off as it went under some nearby trees.

Oooh, I hate this pesky native plant and have spent many hours wrangling with it. I have the scars to prove it. Clawed by the cat-briar!  But this time I caught it before it sent up its prickly shoots.

Readying the storage spot for the finished compost.

Once I'd cleared and leveled the spot, I again laid down a good six-inch layer of mostly pine needles (where the leaf rake is) and then shoveled the compost from the pile (to the right of the rake in this photo) on top of it and dumped the wheelbarrow load, too. I removed any worms I saw from this pile and added them to the new compost pile. I don't want them to over-work the finished compost. Then I evened out the top of this new pile and covered it all with a thick layer of leaves and pine needles. I also covered the new pile with leaves and pine needles and I won't continue to add layers to it. I'll let it mature.

This photo is taken from behind the shed. In the foreground
is the pile of stored compost under a cover of leaves; in front
of that is the rest of the old chips; in front of that is the new
pile & the yard waste barrel, which now holds the catbriar.
And at the top of the photo, two of my six rain barrels.

Whew! A good afternoon's workout and my spring garden plants will be happy to have it.

I estimate that this compost will be done in time for late spring gardening. Our last frost is usually around the end of February, so mid-March is the time to set out the tomatoes. That way we can harvest a good crop before the summer heat stops them. It's time to start those seeds now. (More on that later.)

Until then, I'll use the compost for potting up houseplants, container gardens, seed starting, and garden bed building for cool-weather vegetables. I'll also use some compost as top dressing around the driplines of relatively newly planted trees and shrubs around the property to encourage outward root growth. Wide-spreading roots are more drought tolerant and more wind tolerant. Who wouldn't want that?

Alchemists would be envious of my Black Gold!

For centuries alchemists unsuccessfully tried to turn base metals such as lead into those noble metals (gold and silver) with magic potions and weird spells. We gardeners take waste products such as dead leaves and kitchen scraps and Mother Nature supplies the magic to turn them into compost, our black gold--no magic words are needed. Isn't that cool? Do you have your own Black Gold mine?

~ ~ ~

* I explained green and brown layers in "Composting for your garden."

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Two weeks in the Caribbean

St. John view

A couple of weeks on two relatively quiet Caribbean islands has been largely free of gardening observations. I didn't see many vegetables or fruits of any sort being grown on St. John, US Virgin Islands, aside from our friend's plantings (she's been planting tropical fruits such as bananas, mangos, and papayas, as well as sowing lettuce and growing tomatoes). The island is largely dependent on imports from surrounding islands and the mainland for most fresh provisions, apparently. There seems to be a small trend towards establishing kitchen gardens (according to a tourist booklet on the plane) by some resorts in the UVI's just to serve their own restaurants. I can certainly see why this would have appeal! St. John is quite dry so it's challenging to have enough water available, with cisterns being widely used for water-harvesting.

The prime attraction on St. John is the vast expanse of national park, both above and below the sea. Snorkeling is fabulous, as are the beaches and hiking.

"spinach"

Our second week is being spent on Dominica, a largely 'natural' island of rugged topography and remarkable vegetation. In coastal areas, agriculture is practiced largely in small-holdings of bananas, cassava, and taro, punctuated by groves of oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines.

Market vendor in Rouseau

Passion fruit, star fruit, and oranges

Vegetable growing seems to be limited to relatively small entrepreneurial folks growing market vegetables (right now, lettuce and carrots seem to be in demand).

local produce from Dalvina

I bought some "spinach"--actually an amaranth (callalo) - not the New Zealand spinach I was remembering (I actually recognized the plant as amaranth, but didn't remember exactly what NZ spinach was) - carrots, lettuce, onions, and "seasoning peppers" from a woman near our cottage, and chatted with her a bit. She grew vegetables all year round in raised beds bounded by metal roofing. Her chickens provided the fertility for the nice-looking soil.

We saw a similar plot on a hike up into the surrounding hills (of banana plantations) - the young woman tending this market garden was more ambitious. She even had a bit of broccoli growing - amazing for this warm climate.

View from our cottage in Dominica

 

Posted with Blogsy

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Winter Solstice and more...

The Mayan Calendar ends 12/21/12 6:12 am EST.

Winter solstice has been a cause for celebration (both pagan and religious) since man's earliest days for now is when the days start to get longer. And isn't that reason enough?

This year the day has new meaning, though, since the experts tell us that the Mayan calendar, which has been in effect for more than 5,000 years, will end.

Over on the Florida Native Plant Society blog, I posted a plea to plant a tree, because when you plant a tree, you believe in the future. So if the world does not end as predicted, it will have been because all those gardeners planted so many trees that the future just had to be there for them.

Read more of this post here.

Broccoli harvest

In the garden, we've been enjoying all the cool weather edibles, particularly the broccoli. Once we harvest the main head (curd), we leave the rest of the plant in place so it will grow new, smaller curds which we'll also pick, the side curds open much more quickly than the main curd, so it's important to keep an eye on them or you'll miss the harvest window.

Eventually, when the next batch of broccoli is producing, I'll let some of these plants flower, so the mid-winter butterflies and bees have a reliable supply of nectar.

After the main curd is harvested, we also use the leaves, which are somewhat sweeter than cabbage leaves, in soups, stews, and salads.

After the main head is harvested we leave the plant in place for more curds and for the leaves.

Chasing the chipping truck

The other day this truck, a chipper and its truck and a stump grinder rumbled down our street. My old pile of arborist wood ships was getting low and it was old enough that it was mostly compost anyway. So I walked down the road and asked what they were going to cut down and grind up. It was a mature and healthy hickory, which was dropping nuts on the lawn between the house and the lake. So these homeowners thought it was too messy and spent big bucks to have it removed. Personally, I would have removed the lawn and planted native understory trees and shrubs, but it wasn't my choice.

The tree guys said that they'd be done with the chipping around lunchtime. I cleared out the rest of the old pile. About ten big cart loads later, I was thinking that the pile wasn't really all that small, but now I have a new pile of wood chips, leaves and spanish moss.  I hope that there were no bird nests.

Two days after the pile was dumped, it was hot. You can see the steam rising in the morning sunlight. The odor is almost a minty smell. The fence out here is rigged so that one post comes out and the rails removed so the pile can be dumped behind the fence. It works very well.

I've lost count of how many piles of wood chips we've received over the years. They've all been absorbed into our yard in one way or another. Here's my post on chips Follow the Yellow Mulch Road.


Coral berry (Ardisia crenulata)



Coral berry

I found some coral ardisia in a wooded area out back. Although it's a lovely plant, which produces oodles of red berries perfect for holiday decorations, I yanked it out. It's highly invasive in Florida. I don't want to be part of the problem. Here's the FLEPPC (Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council) data on this plant.

I could have used it for building a wreath, but I'd already done all the wreath building I was going to do. So it went in the trash--not the yard waste. See my post:  Recycled Christmas Wreath.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Greener New Year, if the world is still in tact. ;-)

Green Gardening Matters,

Ginny Stibolt

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