The Garden Buzz

Snow Long, I'm Leaving...for Garden2Blog13 at P.Allen Smith's Place

My favorite Facebook quote of the week went something like this... the only blizzard you're supposed to get in May is from Dairy Queen!

Maybe if I leave town spring, perhaps summer, will move in for good while I'm gone. 

It's exciting to be invited back to Garden2Blog with P. Allen Smith and twenty or so of the most engaging garden bloggers in the country. I'm honored. And hopefully the weather's warmer in Little Rock.

Garden2Bloggers at the Governor's Mansion

P. Allen filming at Garden2Blog

It's not a walk in the park, in fact last time I was there we dodged tornadoes while touring gardens and participating in all manner of gardening challenges and shenanigans. This year we received lots of pre-P. Allen "homework".

Scary weather looms over the container contest.

Bonnie Plants asked us to design an edible container garden in three containers; 24", 18" and 14" in size. I attempted to design something different from the winning garden themes of last year, but maybe I should have gone with something more tried and true. Nevertheless I had fun fumbling around with the color markers I managed to find around the house during one of our snow storms.

Edible containers are a great way to grow food in small spaces

I'll let you know how I did next week when we all meet up and see what our collective genius came up with. Meanwhile, an email arrives telling us to choose our preferred color Le Creuset French Oven. The catch? Pick a winning garden-to-table recipe for the pot, cook and shoot photos, then send to Allen. He'll be posting the creations on his blog where you can vote for your choice. I made our family's favorite Shrimp Corn Chowder; it's tasty, full of veggies and quite colorful. Visit P. Allen's blog to see all of the entries.

Vote for my Shrimp Corn Chowder!

More competitions to be announced. Follow all the fun and great info on The Garden Buzz facebook page (you can like it above) and Twitter @thegardenbuzz!

Related articles

Growing Frustration With Longest Winter Ever, Ever

Anguished Gardeners Amid Too Many Snow Days

Gifts for Gardeners: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Silly

Gardeners don't want for much. Other than a little healthy plant lust, they're a pretty contented lot. 

While there are all sorts of gadgets and gizmos aimed at the dirt-digging demographic, I'll bet that 90% of them are useless or unnecessary. Heck, when I was a budget-crunched college student my gardening tool of choice was an old butter knife. I kid you not.

Recently one of my favorite gardening tools is an old stiff broom. Judging from the teal color of the handle, it's from the 80's, the straw shortened and slanted from use. You'd be surprised what I can do with it. And when it disappeared for awhile, I anguished and mourned the loss. Turns out my husband stored it so deep in the shed I couldn't find it. I did a little happy dance when it was found.

If you think that brooms and butter knives might underwhelm the gardeners in your life, here in Part One, I'll list what I think are useful and thoughtful gifts that gardeners would really appreciate this holiday season.

PART ONE: The Good

1. Soil Scoop: Trowels are very personal, what works for one might not work for another. But the Soil Scoop is more universal; my preferred tool for planting containers. Useful for digging, weed-scraping and potting up plants, but what really wins me over is the curved shape that follows the contours of the container as you fill in with potting soil. It manages what could be a big mess and conserves precious potting soil.
2. Gloves: You can never have enough gloves, and there are so many good ones on the market now. Rubber coated ones keep our fingers from getting wet and cold. Heavy leather ones protect our hands from thorns and sharp debris. Colorful gloves in stretchy fabrics make more delicate work easy while keeping us stylish.
3. Hand Creams: For when we forget to wear aforementioned gloves. Assorted balms and unguents for our dirt-creased and chapped hands, the thicker and more luxurious the better. 
4. Load of Crap: Forget those diamond commercials. Compost, manure and other soil amendments delivered by the truckload are what really sets our hearts to racing. 
5. Containers: A gal (or guy) can never have too many pots, although my husband will beg to differ. But now there are so many innovative containers for growing edible and ornamentals in all sorts of challenging situations. Collapsible containers that save space when not being used. Vertical growing containers when space is also scarce. I could go on and on.
6. Books: For winter time dreaming. And for practical advice during the growing season. There are lots of great books on growing edibles right now, like Grocery Gardening by Jean Ann Van Krevelen or Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy, and so many more. Regional gardening books by Lone Pine Publishing that cater to local gardening conditions across the country are valuable tools for getting it just right, right where you are. Cookbooks like P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes From the Garden to help cook what we grow.
7. Memberships: Botanical gardens, arboretums, and plant societies all offer memberships with various levels of benefits. Educational as well as inspirational, they can be renewed every year, thus making your shopping a no-brainer.
8. Seeds: They're tiny but mighty. Awe and wonder in the smallest of packages. And cheap.

There you have it. Eight great gifts for gardeners. Stay tuned for Parts Two and Three where I'll discuss worthless gifts, bad ideas and the silly and outlandish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pleasant Surprises and News of the Strawberry Fields Project

Pulling into the driveway on Saturday I expected to find my garden all turned to black mush after the predicted freeze. Instead I found the garden much like I left it, only a little more mellow from autumn's first chilly weather. And other pleasant surprises...

The rampant Virgin's Bower had draped the William Baffin roses and Tollymore spruces with thousands of white star-shaped blooms. That wine-red dahlia finally flowered.The PeeGee Hydrangea panicles had taken on more of that soft shade of vintage rose. The zinnias were still blooming and taller than ever, and without any deadheading, lots of those spent flowers with that yellow corona to lend interest. Best of all, Monarch butterflies fluttering all around them.

With frantic cross country instructions for my husband to pick all the tomatoes left, I had a counter full of Costoluto Genovese, Cherokee Purple and Clear Pink heirlooms. 

Down in that low spot where the Heritage raspberries thrive on benign neglect I spied ripe berries, enough to fill a good-sized bowl. 

If you've been following the great strawberry growing challenge of the summer, you know no one can pick a strawberry without keeping count. Even though the contest ended, my husband reported 30 more smaller berries from the three, now tattered and exhausted  Stark Tribute plants. Enough little gems to combine with the raspberries for a rustic berry tart.

And...speaking of the Corona Tools Strawberry Fields Project, the most pleasant-est surprise was the small white box waiting for me. YES! I won the iPad. I found out at the GWA conference but was afraid to say anything until I saw it. I can't wait to get it "initialized" and start exploring all of its iPadian wonders.

I thought for sure my formidable competition, fellow garden blogger, Shawna Coronado would be the winner. With her winning smile, abundant energy and huge following, she is a force to be reckoned with. The Corona Tools people tallied all the criteria and found us in a dead heat. They flipped a coin and I got lucky. So here's a tip of my gardening hat to Shawna.

Thanks so much to the good folks at Corona Tools. What a fun challenge, I learned a lot myself while teaching others to grow food in the smallest of spaces.

Thanks to Stark Bros for donating the Tribute strawberry plants as well. For many years I drove past Stark Bros in Louisiana, MO on my way to visit family. On the hill is a white barn with a painted black bear, proclaiming Stark Trees Bear. That's so true.

And damn, if those strawberry plants don't have a dozen more larger berries (and many babies) ripening as I write!

 

Stump the Garden Blogger: Plant ID Please?

It's not often I run into a plant I can't identify. Especially an edible.

During our visit to the Slow Food Garden in Indianapolis, they challenged us to identify some of the unusual crops growing in this urban setting, no problem though, I know what okra and peanuts look like, even when they are growing with a backdrop of skyscrapers.

Funny, that later on in the trip, it would be a restaurant kitchen garden that would stump this garden blogger.

On our last evening in Cleveland we ate at the charming Lolita in the Tremont neighborhood, an offshoot of the popular restaurant, Lola. There by the patio grows a lovely potager with tomatoes, eggplant and lavender among other things. On the left hand side of this photo is the vegetable (perhaps fruit or herb) in question.

It has large leaves and a small green pod that resembles a small unripe tomato. I'm sure I could eventually ID this mystery plant. However I just returned from visiting my son's new school and still have two more kids and their accompanying crap to leave at schools across the country. I'm hurting for time.

Stay tuned for unexpectedly fascinating garden stories from Cleveland (who knew?) and the Garden Writers Association symposium in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, what the heck is it???

Strawberry Growing Tips: Corona Strawberry Fields Project Update

If we always took care of our plants with the thought their success might win us an iPad, I wonder what our gardens would look like! Make sure to leave a comment (VOTE) if you find this post helpful or inspiring or you think I could really do some great garden blogging with a shiny new iPad!

You can read all about the Corona Strawberry Fields Project on my original blog post. But just to remind you, the folks at Corona Tools challenged garden bloggers from Garden2Blog with this...

The goal of Corona’s Strawberry Field project is to demonstrate to everyone that even in the smallest of spaces, we can all make a difference by growing fresh, nutritious and organic food.

Starting with three bare roots plants we all came up with our own growing styles and solutions. The most surprising thing? It was so much FUN!

Strawberry Project 8/2/11

Now that we're getting close to the finish line, I thought I'd recap what I did and how anyone could apply these ideas for growing delicious strawberries in their own garden. But don't stop at strawberries, these tips are great for growing other container garden goodies.

• For planting I recycled a wooden box measuring just 11' x 13", originally used for shipping Dow's Vintage Port. A rustic container like this blends well with any garden style. Re-purposing containers requires no extra expense or waste. See what you can convert into a growing vessel.
• With a depth of 91/2" there's plenty of room for good root development. It also has good drainage, which is important, in addition make sure to plant with the crown at soil level to avoid rotting. The three bare root plants were spaced about 4 inches apart.
  
• For the planting mix I combined potting soil and compost, enriched with Jobe's Organic Fertilizer. 
• Periodic fertilizing was done with Moo-Poo Manure Tea and naturally formulated Bonnie's Vegetable Food.
• Any supplemental watering was done with rain water (saved in clean trash cans) from roof runoff.
• The container was set on a patio table (you could use any high surface) for good air circulation and also to deter chipmunks and other pests.
• The location was chosen for its beneficial microclimate; morning and afternoon sun while protected from wind, and lots of warmth radiating from the blue slate patio pavers.
• Japanese beetles were hand-picked and disposed of every other day. 
• Growing them by the front door meant that I could appreciate their charm while making it convenient for picking.

The strawberry planting was dealt the usual setbacks and challenges that most gardeners face: Wet spring, cold weather, extreme heat and humidity, pests, and vacation neglect. However...

Drum roll please:

 As of August 10.... Total ripe berries: 34  Unripe berries: 41 Runners: 18 with 3 baby plants on each for future plantings. And lots of flowers still developing.

You might not have the makings of strawberry jam with just three plants but you will have tasty, healthy berries to snack on in the garden, mine rarely make it inside. Those that did found their way onto cereal or ice cream. Bon apetit from The Garden Buzz!!!

 

Competitive Small-Space Strawberry Growing: Do I Stand a Chance?

The challenge was simple enough. Grow three strawberry plants in a creative manner that maximizes space and produces lots of of berries. Then blog about it. The grower/blogger best following those requirements with the largest number of comments and questions wins an iPad.

Of course, I have to say that this challenge was presented to the garden bloggers that attended Garden2Blog this spring by the Corona Tool Company. They sent us 3 bare root Tribute Strawberry plants from Stark Bros (the fruit tree people), a Corona Trowel and their best wishes for a spirited competition, all meant to bring awareness that even the smallest of places can be put to use for a delicious treat.

It's been fun to see all the different approaches by all the bloggers involved. Jenny Peterson, The Mulch Maven down in Austin, Texas planted hers in a hayrack windowbox decorated with wine corks and a mystical looking ceramic mushroom, Chicago's Shawna Coronado of The Casual Gardener repurposed lighting fixtures and built a futuristic Strawberry planter, while Jackie d"Elia placed hers in edgy steel wall planters. You can see everyone's progress on the Corona Strawberry Fields facebook page.

Of course I think that Shawna will win because beyond her great garden solution she has a gazillion facebook friends to vote her through!

Me? I started behind since I do live in Minnesota where we had a wet, crappy, cold, did I mention crappy, spring followed by a spate of blistering 103 degree days in June. Even the commercial growers have thrown in the towel according to a local news report about the short and so-so strawberry season here up north.

I guess I don't have any competitive streak when it comes to gardening, my style's a little lazy and definitely laissez-faire and by default, organic. My approach is usually low-key and simple.

June 10, a promising start...

So I used an old wooden box I found laying around the garage that was labeled Dow's Vintage Port. Remembering an old world recipe for strawberries macerated with sugar and soaked in port, I felt it fitting. Kind of like coming full circle with a touch of recycling too.

I planted them in a mixture of potting soil and compost along with Jobe's Organic Fertilizer. And then I left town for two weeks.

My strawberries sulked through the cold weather, then sweated the heat and actually sputtered out a few berries. I figured that was the end.

June 30, a few berries, is that all there is?

The rules said grow them "naturally", so I refrained from giving them a shot of Miracle-Gro, and brewed up a bucket of Moo-Poo Manure Tea made by cattle rancher Annie Haven (we grew up a mile from each other in CA but only met in Arkansas as fellow garden bloggers, small world, huh?). That seemed to perk them up and put on more foliage.

The beginnings of more berries...

Next up on the weather menu: torrential rains, and then mind-boggling heat. A week of tropical, dew-point busting, humid, hot weather the likes of which had never been seen or felt with heat indices over 110 in Minnesota!  I watered the berries with that rainwater saved in trashcans mixed with some Herb & Vegetable Plant Food that the nice folks at Bonnie Plants sent me to trial. 

Meanwhile the Japanese beetles thought they looked pretty tasty too. I plucked them off into soapy water and then sent them to a grisly death in the garbage disposer.

July 25, buds, blooms and berries galore...

And well, wouldn't you know...the plants are not only producing runners, but flowers and baby berries. I love how they are draped over the table and dangling like jewels from the vines. I just may have a bumper crop of berries after all!

Strawberry Fields Project in progress, and behind that a raised bed from Green Gardener where I'm growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil and a few cukes.

Vote for The Garden Buzz by leaving a comment or question on this blog post if you like my interpretation of small-space food-growing. Who knows, Mama might win an iPad! 

 

Summer Window Box Recipe with Coralberry Punch

Coralberry Punch sounds like just the refreshing beverage I need during these dog days of summer...but more about that in a bit.

I'm always on the lookout for lovely window box combinations. I see them in magazines and vow to remember and repeat them in my own creations. I even photographed bunches of them for future reference in Charleston while I visited that charming city.

But I seem to forget them once spring arrives and I'm at the garden center. So many choices, am I the only one who gets overwhelmed by them all?

My window boxes are a nice shade of terra cotta that contrasts well with the taupe-y stucco and stone trim of my home. That is, until you go to plant them. Any pretty shade of pink acquires the characteristics of a plastic flower next to the oranges tones of the box.

I learned this the hard way. Yellow doesn't do much better. Last year I played it safe and stuck in a melange of coleus that blended better but not great.

I knew I wanted to try a wine/lime color scheme; using various foliage shapes and colors. I needed a filler flower with prolific small blooms to bring it all together. Wandering through the nursery I spied the new Proven Winners Superbells "Coralberry Punch" that turned out to be just the ticket.

This Calibrachoa hybrid sports peachy color petals with a dark red flare and yellow eye, offering lots of shades to play off of when combining plants. This new plant doesn't need deadheading which works for me, since I don't need to climb up into these beds for that chore on a regular basis.

They've filled in even more since I took this quick iPhone photo.

Best of all, it doesn't clash with my window boxes. And as a bonus, hummingbirds love the tubular blossoms. They were buzzing within inches the moment I started planting them. As Miley, would say, "Pretty cool".

Window Box Recipe 

Superbells "Coralberry Punch" (Calibrachoa hybrid)

Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) "Aureola"

Big Leaf Ivy

Beets "Bull's Blood"

Coleus "Red Wizard"

Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia) "Aurea"

 

Don't limit your window boxes and containers to just annuals. Look around your own garden and see what perennials and even small shrubs can be used to perk up your pots. I dug up and divided the forest grass and creeping Jenny from areas of my yard. The big leaf ivy was mostly from last year's containers that I overwintered as houseplants. When fall comes I'll replant the first two and once again overwinter the ivies, making this a more economical and interesting solution to filling my window boxes every year.

My Tomato Planting Technique: Does It Measure Up?

P. Allen Smith measures the tomatoes that Garden2Blog garden bloggers planted in his vegetable patch during the various competitions. Here's mine!

The Garden Buzz

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: May 15, 2011

 

Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! After all this is the month she dreams about.

While I'm aware that today, the day before Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, is World Naked Gardening Day, I think I'll spare the neighbors and give it a pass. It's been cold, windy, rainy, miserable and damp up north. Most Minnesotans are too busy with the Fishing Opener today to give much thought to gardening, much less in the nude.

So I donned my light down coat and wrapped a wooly scarf twice around my neck before heading out to photograph the latest buds and blooms in my garden. Even with that my fingers were numb halfway through. Just when you think I've run out of ways to complain about the weather up here, I manage to find another. 

I can't get used to the compressed gardening season, daffodils blooming alongside tulips, well, it just seems wrong.

 

Just like Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden, I've lost the tags and can't remember the names of these beautiful varieties of narcissus. Although I do recognize the one here as probably "Poetica" from the pheasant-eye style daffodils. They possess a haunting clove-like scent. Any other help with ID? Is one possibly "February Gold"?

 

 

 

 

Then on to the more subtle signs of spring with lots of understated native plants.

 

Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum commutatum) The Garden Buzz

Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) The Garden Buzz

Lovely shrub...Fothergilla major "Mt. Airy"    The Garden Buzz

Ground hugging blooms of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) The Garden Buzz

Serviceberry Tree (Almelanchier alnifolia) The Garden Buzz

Red Barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum)  The Garden Buzz

River Birch catkin closeup (Betula nigra) The Garden Buzz

Ending up with a few fruit blossoms...

Buds of Blueberry "NorthSky"          The Garden Buzz

Cherry "North Star"    The Garden Buzz

"Red Lake" Currant blossoms     The Garden Buzz

Fragaria vesca, Alpine Strawberry      The Garden Buzz

 

And here I didn't think much was happening in the garden!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are We Gardening Yet?

After the lllonnnggest winter and a lackluster spring, I think I might actually plant something this week. Maybe. I'm glad I started all those seedlings; nothing too exotic, you might even say basic, besides the cerinthe, lots of annuals and a few veg just so I had something to tend.

I used to start multiple flats under the lights of this mighty plant stand my husband and father-in-law built. I had to leave it in Kansas when we moved. Actually my MG friend Kae, AKA Josie Montana and the Parsley Princess, took it away. I'm hoping she's still enjoying it. My husband set up another smaller version this year in the garage.

Even more so I miss my greenhouse where I overwintered herbs and citrus and took little mini-therapy breaks from what I thought back then was a long winter. Ha. Little did I know.

I thought you'd appreciate my hardening off method for the little seedlings, well, not so much the method but the location. It's very important to acclimate seedlings gradually to the outdoor weather, starting at first with little bouts in the shade and then cloudy open sites until they are ready to face the harsh world. 

Mini-Cooper plant stand                                          The Garden Buzz

The deer have been more active this year, leaving poop piles, that I read are a sign of feeding areas. Before they have been following established trails and just passing through. This is troubling, since I have my hands full with the rabbits. So I've been out with my Liquid Fence and Shake Away granules doing a double-tier approach.

"Who me?" I think he's eyeing my heuchera.                 The Garden Buzz

 Anyway, I hoped the above-bunny location would work, but then I thought maybe I was just putting out a deer buffet! 

The gardening season is off to a slow start, but the writing season has been busy. Sometimes I hear my own voice so much in my head while writing I kind of get sick of myself.

In case you're not sick of me yet, here's few other places where you can read more Rhonda...

At Herb Companion magazine, Three Reasons to Love Dandelions, for herb lovers

At Your Voices, Highly-Evolved Vultures Circle Wayzata, for wildlife fans

At the Star Tribune, Five Foolproof Veggies to Grow and Garden Math: Divide and Multiply, for gardening how-to

Also this summer look for articles in Northern Gardener magazine, Herb Companion and more columns in the Star Tribune.