The Garden Buzz

Gifts for Gardeners Part Three: For The Gardener Who Has Everything

If you're still stumped on that perfect gift for the gardener in your life, hopefully Part Three in my gift giving series will reveal just the thing you've been seeking. 

Let's get right to it:

• Have you noticed your gift recipient's trees looking a little lackluster? Do they wear the same old leaves every year? Is their bark that same old drab gray from season to season? This product promises to give their trees the sparkling personality that they lack. The Yelling Tree Face is bound to grab the attention of surrounding plants and people. Before you know it, their trees will be the life of the party. 

• Topiary is a time honored tradition in the grand gardens of Europe. Whether it's a French poodle or the Loch Ness Monster, these whimsical additions will give anyone's garden that certain "je ne sais quoi". And just let them try to re-gift this one!

• Have you ever wished for larger hands? That's the question asked by the company selling this nifty little number. The Leaf Rake Hands will dispell any inadequacies in that department. Once they slip their puny little hands into these, your gift recipient will feel like a garden superhero as they scoop up large piles of leaves in an instant. Wolverine will have nothing on them. Great for scaring the neighborhood children off your lawn too.

 

• Look no further than the Lawn Stryper for the gardening man in your life. This handy invention allows him to transform his turf into Target Field or favorite golf course lookalike. Be the first on your block to get this gift. But it begs the question for us gals, when will they invent a similar device to mow cute polka-dots or a subtle check?

• Many gardeners love to grab a cup of coffee and stroll through their garden fist thing in the morning. These stylish High Tech Plant Examining Glasses will let them see what's wrong with their garden right out of the gate. Developed by Nasa these lenses filter out light from healthy green chlorophyl and spotlight disease and pest damage before it's visible to the naked eye. Who needs rose colored spectacles for their roses when they can have these? 

• Gnomes lend a certain old-world charm to any garden. When you've wearied of gnomes in such tired and cliche poses as "wheeling a cart", "digging with spade", "carrying water bucket" and "picking flowers", there's nothing like "gnome in a mankini" to liven up your garden plot.

Happy Holidays to all my readers! May all your gardening gifts be wonderful and well-received.

Happy Halloween!

Ghosts in the garden! Happy Halloween!

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!

 

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! 

 

Happy Valentines Day from The Garden Buzz!

You never know where you might find a beautiful heart...

 

Epimedium rubrum                                          The Garden Buzz

A Bottle Tree Grows in Minnesota

The photo of the snow-daubed bottle tree in my deeply dormant garden brought so many emails and comments, I'm going to push back the post on African violets and delve into the story of bottles trees.

 

Long ago and far away I was once a traveling saleswoman. While I grew up in 'southern' California, I next spent six years treading the ground of my truly southern ancestors. During this time I drove my trusty little blue Renault over the highways and back roads of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas selling frames for an optical company.

Well, at least that was what I was supposed to be doing, and I did put forth great effort. However it was still more of a man's world, and I lacked the expense account, golf skills and alcohol tolerance that seem to bode for success in that arena.

But enough excuses. I will freely admit I was mightily distracted by the exotic, rural landscape of plants and people that populated the tiny towns and backwaters of the south. Kudzu-covered forests, floating lotus meadows, shotgun shacks, ditch lilies and Dorothy Perkins roses sprawled over discarded kitchen appliances were so more interesting than the beige and boring optometrist offices where I would wait patiently while thumbing through faded Field and Stream magazines.

On the best days I would spot a bottle tree. These were not the contrived concoctions put together by gardeners and yard-decorators for kitsch and color. These were the real thing; blue bottles, most likely Milk of Magnesia, sparkling on the tips of a dead crape myrtle tree in a dirt-swept yard.

My mother would tell me they were to scare away evil spirits. Just as I had heard that "new paint will scare the haints". But blue, seems to have more magical powers than other colors. Blue paint around windows, blue porch ceilings and blue roofs are all seen in the south and were supposed to shoo bugs and/or bad vibes.

Going back to ancient times it was believed that spirits could be captured in glass vessels. Think genie in a bottle. And when the wind blows over the rim, you could hear the moaning of lost souls. Back then it made more sense.

Nowadays bottle trees are just fun, but then it never hurts to give your garden some good juju.

I'd been wanting one for quite awhile, but didn't have the spot or the talent to build one of the wood and rebar variety. My neighbors are kind of fancy too. Then opportunity presented itself. Not wanting to tear up a wedged-in bed where a shrub died, I realized I had just the place to put my bottles. After all I had been saving different colors ahead for the day.

 

 

I trimmed and shaped the dead limbs for better display, and to be honest it's more of a bottle bush than tree. As the garden tour approached and I still hadn't filled it out, my daughter and I took a trip to the liqour store in search of blue bottled beverages. As we suspected, blue bottles often disguise bad wine.

I have heard rumors of other bottle trees here "up north", but figured that this was the uppermost boundary for such southern traditions. Yet when I was traveling up the St Croix looking for fall color, I found a totem pole type of bottle tree. So who knows, maybe they have them in Canada. Anyone?

 

I don't have any photos of authentic bottle trees, but this one comes close. In Dallas this summer I toured a tasteful contemporary garden that had an alter ego. Beyond the koi ponds and meditation areas, a gate lead to a self-described "white trash garden". There grew not only a  beautiful blue bottle tree but a mayonnaise jar tree, filled with odd tokens and found treasures.

 

 

I like how my bottle tree is half-hidden; as you come around the corner, there it is, a colorful surprise, a gentle poke at convention and an homage to my southern roots.

 

Turkey in the Straw, Literally

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from THE GARDEN BUZZ!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from THE GARDEN BUZZ

 

Owl Pumpkin courtesy of my daughter, Hannah

2010 GWA Symposium: It's Not All Fun and Games...

Here at the GWA Symposium in Dallas, I discovered another gardening season...the silly season. But it's not all fun and games. There's so much to see and do and think about my head is exploding. There's still two more days of learning and networking to go. Yikes.

I thought I'd share this hot pink woodland sprite I encountered at the Novalis booth. I believe that is their Hydrangea paniculata "Mystical Flame" adorning his crown. And to think I had hot flashes!

Here's just one of the exciting new plants that they are stuffing in our swag bags. Definitely eye candy for the gardener. This one is from Plants Nouveau, it's Echinacea "Hot Papaya".

I'm having a great time imagining all these sample plants sitting in the hotel room bathtubs of all the garden writers.

Here's another good sport from the same company.

Next we are headed to the Dallas Arboretum. The heat index is 105. Wish me luck!