Dec 19

It is a very slow time in the gardens in December and January, even here in the mild Carolinas. Most of my time in the gardens is spent cleaning up from summer's neglect. Out in the veggie garden I allowed the weeds and tall grass to take over around the asparagus and strawberry raised beds. I think the fact that I was planning on moving the strawberries may have had something to do with that. And the fact that I have gotten more involved with coaching softball in the spring and fall seasons.
 A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine, Jim, invited me to help him coach his daughter's 8 year and under, softball team. I think Jim remembered that I had coached my daughter's (Emily, or Em as we call her) team back when he and I first met some many years ago, and felt that my experience might be of some help. Since then I have helped Jim coach Em on a few 'recreational' teams (open to all players) and a couple of 'challange' teams (tryouts for spots on the team). Last fall the association where Emily plays (and Jim is a coach and board member) found themselves short of a coach for the girls 8 and under softball teams. They asked me if I would coach a team, and I accepted. I can't begin to tell you how rewarding it is to work with these young ladies and their parents. I have asked to be considered for a coaching spot again this spring and am really looking forward to the new season.

 All I really have going on is starting a few broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants every other week. I am vowing to get more into succession planting this year so that I will have an extended harvest, rather than everything coming at the same time. We'll see how that works out time wise.

Saving Broccoli seeds

I think I mentioned that I was attempting to save some broccoli seeds. Well, the pods formed, they look like miniature bean pods. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I have yet to figure out how to take close ups. Perhaps one day I'll take the time to read the directions :0

 So it was time to til the garden bed the broccoli was in so I cut off the head with all the seed pods and put it in my shop to dry out. BAD MISTAKE! I repeat BAD MISTAKE! That thing stunk to high heaven. We had to burn candles through out the entire house to get rid of the smell, and the head only stayed in the shop for about an hour. So now the head is outside to dry, and you can smell it from many yards away.

 It is time to start preparing for the early spring garden. I will be sprouting my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants for about the next 8 weeks. Every two weeks I spout some seeds, and a week later pot 3 plants each of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. This will give me a staggered harvest. I like to grow the seedlings for around 10 weeks indoors, and two weeks outdoors, before transplanting them into the garden. So if I am going to put transplants in the ground from early March through mid April, I need to start them now.
 So a week ago, I put about a half dozen seeds into a moist coffee filter (a different filter and baggie for each variety of plant), folded it over on itself twice, and put it in a ziplock baggie. I prop the baggies between two bottles to keep them upright (so that the sprouts will grow up out of the filter, if you lay them flat the sprouts will grow up through the filter and you won't be able to separate the seedling from the filter) Usually within a week the sprouts will start poking their heads out. I carefully pull the seedlings off of the filter, using only the tiny leafs as a handle so as not to crush the stems. Then I pot them up in 3"x3" pots and place them under lights.
 About every other day, I place the pots in the bottom of the sink filled with a couple inches of water for a few minutes to allow the soil to soak up the moisture. You don't want to water from above if you can help it at this stage. The seedlings are too tender to take it, and it can promote fungus growth on your seedlings.

Some Fall Blooms

I took a walk around the house today to get some pictures of what's blooming here in early November. The knock out roses, both the pink and the yellow, are still blooming. This is not unusual as I typically have blooms on them until early December and our first hard frost.

This Beauty Berry (callicarpa japonica) spilling through the split rail fence is at it's peak.

And while the Coral Bark Japanese maple isn't in 'bloom' it is quite beautiful this time of year!

What follows is a sampling of my sasanqua camellia collection. Not a collection so much as an assortment.  These shrubs do really well for use here and are very adaptable to our climate. They grow well in both full sun and part shade. No real pest problems to speak of. One year I had an outbreak of leaf gall (swelling and toughening of the leaves). I spent some time picking the affected leaves off, being careful not to touch the unaffected leaves. That seemed to have solved the problem.

 Snuck  in an Encore azelea bloom here in this picture.

This is an Oakleaf hydrangea. The leaves are a brilliant burgundy. 

Here we venture out into the veggie garden where we have some carrots and beets growing in the foreground. You may be able to make out the golden leaves of Simpson's black seeded lettuce in the background.

Here's a row of radishes. 

And here I've planted a much more reasonable amount of garlic this year. Last year I went way overboard and had far more than I needed and the bed got overrun with weeds. This year,  I might have around 50 plants.

Here you can see some of the strawberries I transplanted last weekend.

I am trying to let these broccoli plants go to seed this fall. I am hoping to be able to harvest my own seed to plant again in the spring. It may prove to be a waste of time, or free seeds, we shall see.

I am experimenting with growing some hard winter wheat this year. It looks pretty much like grass you find growing in your yard right now.

And the dogs enjoy eating the tender young shoots.

The bees get active on the warm days like this weekend. We are supposed to be up around 70 degrees for our high all weekend. 

You may be able to make out my blackberry plants in the picture below. I planted these 2 winters ago, the deer like to graze on them so I haven't had any berries yet. 

Here are some crimson clover seedlings coming up in one of the garden beds. I plant it as a cover crop to nurish the soil. I'll turn it under on the first dry day after mid-March. I want to give it 5 weeks or more to break down before I plant the summer crops in this bed. 

Here you can see I've cut down the asparagus stalks and top dressed the bed with a couple inches of compost. This one bed with 24 crowns is plenty to feed DW and I for about 6 weeks in spring. 

Fall clean up

The cooler temps of fall are here and it makes working in the garden much more pleasant. I am moving my Chandler strawberries this weekend. I have found that they do fine for about two years in one spot and then they need to be moved. I cut back the asparagus bed and put a layer of compost on it, and the bed that will be the corn patch this spring. 

I'm back.

Well it's been awhile since I've posted. I've been busy coaching two girls softball teams. I was asked to coach an 8 and under recreational team. The local sports association was short a coach, and my friend Jim is on the board and recommended me for the job. This team practices once a week and plays twice a week.   I am also helping Jim coach his daughter's 8and under Challenge team. This team practices twice a week and then plays tournaments approximately every third Saturday. The tournaments take all day and if my rec team usually plays early on Saturday so when I finish that game I go right to the tournaments for those games. So as you can tell, it keeps me busy. 

 

Enough of that, though, here are some blooms from the gardens. This first picture is of the Torenia (clown's bells) . It is starting to go to seed and I've been collecting the seeds. The seeds are really tiny, so I just shake the dried plants over a piece of paper and then fold the paper and pour them in a baggie. Around late February I will sow them and then pick the individual seedlings out and pot them up to grow out under the lights until it gets past our first frost date.

 This second picture is of some thread leaf zinnias I tried this summer. They are called Chrystal zinnias. They repeat bloom all summer and stay nice and compact. I got them because their seeds were cheaper than Profusion Zinnias, and so I gave them a try. I really liked them, but I still think profusion zinnias are the best bedding zinnias (and perhaps the best bedding annual of all). I grew some pink profusions this summer and collected seeds from them as well. If you continue to collect seed from profusions year after year, eventually they will tend to start to get leggy and not stay nice and compact. I have gone as long as four seasons before starting over with hybrid seeds, so all in all not a bad deal.

These are the last of the zuccinnis for this year. I had tilled under the melon and cucumber bead back in July, but I missed picking some of the fruits and so I got some self seeded zucinni and cukes.  I noticed that the self seeded zuccinis were fatter than their parents even at a young age.

I am moving my strawberry bed this fall, so I am taking starts from the old bed. It is best to rotate your strawberry plantings, just as it is with most every crop. I find that I can grow good berries for two years in the same spot, and then the plants will start to die off and not produce. DW and I just love our fresh strawberries in the spring so this is a must do chore!

Here are a few pictures of the cosmos that has self seeded itself all around the grounds here. If you can put up with it's weedy appearance most of the summer, the blooms are beautiful in the late summer/fall. There were many a day when it was all I could do to not pull up the plants this summer because they do look like a common weed. I am so glad I didn't but I am apprehensive about having even more of them in my beds next summer. 

I have some ginger growing up through my antique rose. It is right at the corner of the deck where I hang out when grilling. They smell fabulously sweet. They spread by underground stolons, so be careful where you plant them. I have the unwanted task of trying to prevent them from overtaking the rose. So I'll be digging some of them up this winter. 

I finally got around to getting some soil sample test kits to send in to the state for testing. I took samples from all four veggie beds and mixed them in this bucket. I also took samples from around the yard for another kit. Once the soil is good and dry, I'll box them up and mail them off to Raleigh for testing. I expect to get the results back in 8 to 10 weeks  and we'll see what my soil needs.

I have some dahlias scattered around in different beds. This one is by the pool.

This is some plumbago that is by the fish pond.

And the clematis just keeps on blooming!