Monthly Archives: February 2013

Gardening Will Always Be Important To Me

Posted on by
Reply

When I was a kid, I don’t remember a special affinity for gardening. All I remember was weeding and more weeding. My mom says that I remember incorrectly and that I did have an interest. Fascinating what we remember and what we don’t. 

Today it is a different story. I love the feel of sun on my face when I’m in the garden whether working or just sitting and enjoying the view. The bright colors, sweetly scented flowers and delicious food that I get from my garden all contribute to my love of gardening. The smell of geraniums and tomato plants. The taste of Sungold cherry tomatoes, warm from the vine. The smell of the earth in spring. Digging home grown carrots in colors of purple, white, yellow and orange in early spring. What’s not to love! I even like weeding. My husband and I used that as our “quiet” time when all the kids were still at home. We still go out and weed together in the evenings. It’s cheaper than therapy!Image

 

Link

8586769_157Gardening Forever

I rec’d a catalog form Gardener’s Supply and this is on the front cover. I thought I’d share this since there are a lot of people who want to garden but can’t get ont heir knees. I will post other things that you can do to make it easier in the coming weeks and days. This is one way of gardening when you have physical challenges and limitations.

Orange Russian Tomato

Image

1

Orange Russian Tomato

Exceptionally beautiful tomato, one of my favorites. It truly is as striking as this photo. some of them get very big, others are more moderated. The one in front is heart shaped and the one in back is a little more round. Their golden flesh is marbled inside with streaks of red. They are delicious and sweet, somewhat fruity in flavor, and are meaty with very few seeds. Indeterminate. 85 days

Signs of Life

Image

Reply

Signs of Life

Early last week I planted some seeds that need longer grow times than others. They are geraniums, lobelia, alyssum, snaps, hollyhocks, petunias, foxglove, stock and impatiens. I also planted 42 “Sungold” tomato seeds in a small cell type of flat as an experiment. (The only drawback is that it needs constant water. These are under lights in the house. My onions (5 kinds) are out in the small greenhouse since they don’t need as much warmth to germinate. Anyways…there are finally signs of life! It’s always exciting to see green coming up in the little flats, The hollyhocks were the first to show themselves, followed by the “Paint Box” geraniums. Yeah! We look at them every morning and night to see what’s new. I divided my seed packets into early, mid and later timeframes to start them. My tomatoes won’t be started until March, the peppers a little earlier. The funny things is, by the end of the season (fall) I am ready to lay down asphalt in the garden. I get so tired of weeding and dragging hose. I swear I’m done with gardening. In january the seed catalogs start coming and I think it’s like having a baby, you forget how much it hurt and can’t wait to do it again. Thats how it is with gardening…OR… maybe it’s just being tired of gray skies and brown lawn.

Have You Grown Peppers Yet?

Image

Reply

Have You Grown Peppers Yet?

I am planning the varieties of peppers that I am going to grow this year and am wondering if anyone out there has any particular favorites that they like to grow and cook with. It seems in the past, our most popular are the jalapeños (which true aficionados don’t consider hot), Ancho/poblanos (which are called anchos when dried and poblanos when fresh) and sweet banana peppers. I myself love to cook but don’t like hot and spicy so I am a wimpy hispanic! I can do beautiful things with sweet peppers though. Most folks don’t know that almost all peppers start out green and then turn some color or other. Purple, red, yellow, light green, white, chocolate brown, orange, and gold are the colors that peppers come in. One note; I grew a pepper last year that started out a creamy white color. It was beautiful pepper that eventually turned red.

Dinathus: Rainbow Loveliness

Image

Reply

Dinathus: Rainbow Loveliness

This is the flower I mentioned in my previous post. This flower has a sweet, scent that permeates the air around my patio. It is absolutely lovely and flowers are airy and delicate. Very unusual and they last several years before they need to be replanted. I like them in pots up close.

Catalog Fever: Botanical Interests

Aside

I’ve started going through my seed catalogs. If I recycled them by the pound I’d have about 20 dollars worth. Some of these catalogs are miniature works of art. Beautiful pictures and fascinating information make it a pleasure to read through them. So far, I’ve gotten through 3 catalogs. One I’d like to recommend is “Botanical Interests”. Their website is http://www.botanicalinterests.com I was intrigued with their hand drawn illustrations which brought out the beauty in the flowers and the vegetables. Of course I’ve always thought that veggies are decorative in themselves. This year I will order the “Calypso Beans”, Lettuce; “Butterhead Speckles,” and a couple of melons; “Minnesota Midget” and “Canary Tweety”. I know, I know, I’ve never had good luck with melons but these look interesting and have shorter maturation dates. All gardeners keep trying, don’t we? For flowers, I will order a dianthus called” Rainbow Loveliness” one of the sweetest smelling and most delicate flowers I’ve ever had the pleasure to grow. I’m a big fan of impatiens and they have “Swirl Monet Blend”, a picotee blossom that looks like it’s in shades of pink. With all of the catalogs out there, most of whom are offering the same varieties, it can be hard to choose who to order from. It’s nice when a catalog goes above and beyond just trying to sell you seeds and treats you to a satisfying, visual experience, That alone sets them apart from the crowd and makes me want to purchase from them. Check out their catalog!