Other Deck Plants

 I didn't show all the deck pots last time.  I have others that were "holding places" of perennials and self-sowers that I wanted to nurture for more permanent planting next year.

They don't look like much now, but they promise to be good additions to the meadow bed next year.  

The meadow bed has been a challenge.  Grasses grow large, but meadow flowers grow slowly.  I thing I hand to get in carefully from the edges and prune (or at least cut) the grasses.  As I understand it, meadow flowers can overcome grasses once established, but it takes a few years of help.  

On the plains, they did that themselves naturally.  Here, they have more trouble.  Grasses love this region!  I found a few grasses growing in spaces between the deck boards where a few leaves decomposed and gave them a place to start!  How grass seeds get up to the deck, I will know.

I have had a few meadow flowers grow and bloom.  They aren't impressive individually, but if I can keep some alive among the grass for a couple years while they mature, theyy will shade out the grass.  Most are 2-5' tall when a few years old and will shade out the grass (or I think) grow up faster and not be shaded by grass.

I get a few nice surprises.  Some few have overcome the grasses.

I know it is a deliberate planting, since there is a landscaping flag next to it.  But I don't want to step near it lest I step on another (slower one) that is struggling to establish itself and grow.

There have been a few blooms earlier.  One is like a black-eye daisy, but the leaves are a little different, and it flowered way earlier.

The coneflower was nice.  It's not one of mine from the other parts of the yard.  The center is much redder.  

So there is some progress.  But it sure is going to take a while.  I have 18 meadow flowers planted in a 4x8' framed bed just to help them grow stronger without grass competition.  Some show growth above ground, some don't at first.  

But I've learned enough about some of them to understand that some will grow and some won't.  Establishing a meadow bed is not a cheap or easy "hobby"...  Still, I really want one.

Flowers, Part 1

 Well, the blooming season has finally started!

The Stella D' Oros lilies started first...

I was amazed to see some Tithoniums blooming that I planted 2 years ago.  They are annuals, but described as "self-sowing".  Well, apparently they do!  I'm thrilled.  Self-sowing is as good as perennial.

This is something from the meadow garden I planted a few years ago.  Apparently they need a couple of years to bloom.  I don't know the name.  But they sure are a nice pure yellow!  And there are dozens of them.  I'll have to look through catalog to identify them.

This is actually some sort of weed.  Kind of pretty.  It doesn't seem to be a disease because they all look identical.  I'll allow them if they don't spread too much.

I brought variegated 'Snow-On-The-Mountain' from my parents home a couple of decades ago where it grew naturally.  They survive here in the hotter Mid-Atlantic area, but seem to convert to solid green leaves given the climate.  I am digging up the remaining variegated ones to transplant to shadier and cooler spots, but these do have nice May flowers.  

Garden And Yard, Part 1

1.  Well, it seems I can finally plant my tomato seedlings outside today.  Mid-April was warm and the forecasts suggested it would stay that way  but weather has been more variable the past decade and the Washington DC area is historically difficult anyway.  

Not to get into details about that, but basically DC is at the border between the last cold fronts from Canada and the early warm fronts from the Gulf with some swirling winds through the gaps in the Appalachian Mountains.  

Really mixes things around.  A night with an expected low of 50 suddenly drops to 40.  But it looks like the Gulf fronts have won and the lows will stay at 60 minimum.  Not much a difference to we humans in our homes, but it sure matters to a tomato seedling.

Tomatoes are actually semi-tropical plants.  And below about 55, they don't do well.  They can get permanently set back in growth and production.  Ever read that you shouldn't refrigerate tomatoes?  That's why.  It shuts down their enzymes and that's where the flavor is.  And as seedlings, they don't recover.  Oh, I don't mean they die; they just don't thrive.

I used to try all sorts of things to plant tomato seedling outside early.  Black plastic on the raised beds to warm the soil.  Surrounding the seedlings with plastic tubes of water

The idea is that the water warms in the daytime sun and keeps the seedling warm through the night.  It's a pain.  Each tube has to be filled individually and then after a day of warming the water, you have to plant the seedling down through the top.

I did that for 20 years, thinking I was getting a good head start on my planting and would get a nice ripe heirloom tomato a couple of weeks earlier.  I adore heirloom tomatoes!

Then, one year, I did that for half the tomatoes and delayed planting the other half until the soil warmed above 55.  The tomatoes planted later did better than the earlier ones...  Lesson?  You can't really warm the soil before Mother Nature does it herself!  

Waiting 3 weeks until the time is actually right to plant beats trying to get around the natural course of the seasons.  

2.  For different reasons (Aphids and Fungus Gnats) I think I will give up trying to grow lettuces under lights in the basement.  In the basement, they have no natural predators (other than me) and they multiply faster than I can manage.  

I try to stay organic and the best organic controls are Neem (a tree bark product) Safer's soap (soap dehydrates insects and plants don't mind mild soap much), and yellow sticky-paper (yellow attracts them and they can't get loose when the land.  I had a dozen 3"x5" of those around my basement lettuce and pak choy.  I lost the entire crop twice last Winter.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I caught 1,000 of them on the sticky paper.  But there is no end to them!  There are always a few who escape and lay 1000s of eggs in the soil and then "there we go again".

And that's just one sticky paper!

I have the trays replanted out on the deck.  I never see a ladybug of other predatory insect there, but I don't see any aphids either.  But the lettuces are growing nicely and I'll replant the Pak choy soon.  I cut the celery down to an inch and they are growing new stalks quickly.  The Red leaf lettuce is doing especially well, but I don't have a picture (it was all blurry).  So here is last year and they are all doing about as well.

3.  I planted a dozen snow peas behind a trellis 3 weeks ago. 9 came up.  So I decided to plant more in front and fill in the missing back ones.  I soak the seeds overnight and then fold them in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag.  Most germinate and that lets you know which to plant.

Planting dry peas gets me about 50% seedlings.  Planting pre-germinated peas gets me about 80% seedlings.  BTW, the pea trellis is 6' wide in the middle of a 10' wide raised box.  So I'll be planting two grids of corn on either side (both bicolor, but one early-maturing and one later).  And I will soak the corn overnight too.  That helps.  But I don't have to wait to see a root.  The soaking itself is sufficient for corn.

4.  I have actual meadow flowers finally growing in my 4 year old meadow bed!  I knew they tended to take a couple years to establish good roots, but I was beginning to worry.  But suddenly this year they are growing upwards fast.  I know which ones they are because I stuck the labels in the ground AND stuck landscaping flags next to each.  So I will be sneaking around them with clippers to cut the grass back and give them less competition.  

As far as I can tell, 33 of the 36 meadow seedlings I planted are growing.  I am THRILLED.  Some are a foot high (after staying near ground level last year).  There is tall grass throughout the bed, but most of these meadow flowers grow 3-5' tall, so they will overcome that.  Well, they survived at 2" last year, so they should do better at 2-3' this year.

5.  The pollinator bed should also do well.  I transplanted a dozen Black-Eyed Susans last Spring and I suddenly see dozens growing there.  And I have 38 seedlings (several each of about 10 different kinds designed to support a wide variety of butterflies for adult nectar and larva-feeding).  Also good for hummingbirds and bees (bumble, honey, and native).  I did some research...

6.  2 years ago, I planted Maltese Cross and Tithonia flowers in an empty spot.  The Tithinia frew to 4' rapidly; the Maltese Cross about 8" high.  There is one Tithonia regrowing (can't win them all).  But I have a dozen Maltese Cross 2' tall now!

I will transplant them to the fenceline flowerbed this Fall.  They are self-sowing too, so I'll have more in a few years.  Aside from the meadow bed and the pollinator bed, I am trying to establish a cottage flower bed of self-sowers.

7.  I have more flower seedlings growing inside (and oddly not bothered with aphids), but that is for tomorrow.

 

Indoor Seed-Starting

 I got back to planting seeds inside.  Last post, I had cleaned up the spill from "somecat" jumping on the stack of soil-filled trays and knocking half of them over.  What a MESS!

So I took the filled ones and planted 2 trays of seeds.  "Just 2" you ask?  Yeah...

It was all the stuff I had to do before planting them.  Well, if you go to a fast-food place, they don't start preparing for the assembly-line when the store opens.  They have to have everything ready to use for the first customer, right?

I started by sorting out my plant labels (I don't make new ones every year).  First, veggies vs flowers.  Then various types of each.  Flower labels are easy.  Annuals vs perennials.  Then common ones (Marigolds and Zinnias, etc) vs "fancy" (the ones you don't find on Walmart racks).  I bundled the categories with rubber bands.

Then I had to soak some of the filled trays with water.  The dry potting soil I mix myself takes a while to get wet (really).  

Then I had to check my list of starting dates.  I am behind a couple of weeks (as usual).  So I needed to plant seeds that should have been started earliest first.  It is 4 weeks til "last frost date", so I planted the -8 weeks to -6 weeks last night.  And I planted the common ones, just to get back into practice again.

Later today, I will catch up to -4 weeks and be current again.  

After that, I will tackle the more "exotic" flowers.  Those are trickier.  Those seeds can have some real odd requirements.  Some need to be planted deeply, some need to just be sprinkled on the surface.  Some need to be planted in soaked soil and then be left dry for a week.  Some need constant water.  Some need strong light, others want none at first.  Some need cool temps to germinate, others need Summer warmth.

There is a reason those flowers are not "common", LOL!  I move trays around the house a lot.  Some get set above warm floor vents, some get set in the colder garage.  Some get direct light on the planting stand, some have a towel other them for initial darkness.  It takes some time, but it is a hobby and obsessive attention to a hobby is self-justified.  😎

There is a reward though.  The "fancy" ones are fairly cheap as seeds but expensive to buy as seedlings.  And the ones I am trying to grow are ones that support beneficial or lovely insects (butterflies, bees, ladybugs, etc) for food or egg-laying.  And many support hummers and other interesting birds (some migratory).

So tomorrow, more seed-starting.  And some are nearly impossible to grow (for an amateur like me).  I have an order of 38 pollinator and meadow flower plants due to arrive in late April.  Sometimes, you just have to buy what you can't grow.

Cat Toy Stash And Meadow Planting

First, after posting Monday about figuring out the loss of cable service, I realized I had a couple of pictures that I could have used.  To get at the TV surge protector (to check the cable connections), I had to pull out my stereo rack (yeah I still have old stuff like that).    Well, I discovered 1) that I hadn't cleaned under there for a long time and 2)  Lori has been losing toys under there for a long time!

This is probably a better picture...

BTW, those wheels are a stand to ease rolling out the stereo rack.  I need to get in behind it and do some cable-checking; the stereo isn't working.  It is probably a failed controller box, but I need to hook up each device to the speakers individually to be sure.  I miss having high quality music!

Second, I planted the 40 meadow bed seedlings.  I tried making the holes with a bulb plasnter, but the soil was too hard.  Fortunately, I have an auger that fits into a drill.  Not my own drill and auger, but you get the idea...

That made things easier.  The seedling company suggests randomly planting the seedlings, but since they were of very different heights and it is a small "meadow",  I grouped the largest in the center and the smaller around the edge.  It took a while, and I was pretty tired afterwards.  All that bending over to drill and plant and backfill soil around seedlings is hard on my back and knees these days.  But I got it all done and then set a sprinkler to soak the bed for 2 hours.  

I do what I can to make things easier.  I wear kneepads, wear gloves, and keep an upturned bucket near to use as a support standing back up.  BTW, baseball gloves are great for gardening!  The leather is thin but tough and supple.  They give enough protection from small thorns and dried holly leaves, but you can still feel what you are holding.  If you have a gardener on your gift list, give them a try.

No pictures of that.  Forty 6" seedlings in a 30'x15' bed just don't show up.  I'll wait for flowers.  And there are other flowers in the bed.  I transplanted 8 Black-eyed-Susans from where I later planted the 11 heirloom tomatoes (in new disease-free soil).  Plus, I broadcast a large packet of native wildflowers in mid-May.  Hopefully, it will all be worth it later this year and for some years to come.

Third, after cooling off inside for a half hour, I decided to plant some beans.  Kind of late in the season, but I will get some Sept and Oct.  Even that took work.  I have invasive periwinkle wines  and had to pull many out of the bed and around it.  But it will be worth it to have fresh Italian Flat Beans again.  The canned ones are too soft and salty.

Fourth, still more to do.  My Bok Choy planter succumbed to aphids and some sort of tiny gnat inside.  There are various kinds.  Fungus gnats, drainage gnats, fruit gnats.  I read that the gnats get in when you open a door (and you can't see them) and that most of them find any damp soil with organic matter.  

There are yellow sticky sheets that attract and hold them.  I found  20 sheets of the sticky stuff (and they are double-sided) at Amazon for $9, but I'm sure they are available elsewhere.  I have caught thousands.

I was going to say I can't figure out how the aphids find my inside plants, but I looked up their life-cycle.  Sure enough, there is a winged phase in Spring!  OK, next year, I am going to drape fine-mesh garden fabric over the planters.  Let's see them get through THAT!

If there are aphids in the planters next year, then there were eggs in the planter soil.

Next project is to shallowly till the soil around the Saucer Magnolia in the front yard.  The daffodils have died back, so it is safe for the bulbs.  I will scatter a packet of "deer-resistant" flower seeds in the disturbed soil and see what happens.  

Always something to do.  And I haven't even mentioned in-house stuff.