Not Quite Seed Starting Time

As we're in the depths of winter here in Massachusetts, my yearning for gardening seems to be inversely proportional to the mercury level. I troll my favorite seed and plant sellers (Bluestone, Antique Rose Emporium, and Pinetree Gardens), compulsively loading up my cart, then leaving the site, swearing I'm only going to buy plants from Kane's Flower World on May 1st.

I did, of course, order some seeds from Pinetree. I'm obsessed with Nasturtiums, several neighbors mentioned that they missed the giant sunflowers I had planted the year before, but opted against last year, and I've decided that I can't have enough basil.



Thinking about the rest of the seeds I'm going to start , I stumbled across this story on MSN, "Five Foods it's Cheaper to Grow." And usually, I'm a bit dubious about gardening advice from the major media, but I actually agreed with what they said. With limited time, space (heat and light too), and money, I had to think hard about what I really enjoying growing and eating, and if any newbie gardeners are thinking about making a stab at it, it's a good article for some general advice.

After my own first attempts with the veggie patch last summer, I've whittled down my list of plants significantly. This year, I'm going to focus mainly on tomatoes, basil, lettuce, and try to get by with just one cucumber and zucchini plant each (way too many cukes last year from just two plants), and then maybe buy a couple pepper plants (the Massachusetts growing season is really too short to start them from seed).

Now I have to try and hold myself back from starting up my seed operation, and count the days until March. I'm sort of satisfying myself with indoor plants and forced bulbs, but man, winters are tough on a gardener in New England.



A cutting from the oft-cloned family Pothos.

Winter Sights on the Way to the Library

I made my bi-weekly pilgrimage to the Swampscott Library with my son, and saw a few interesting sights along the way (besides watching my son repeatedly fling himself onto the snowbanks lining the sidewalks--oh, to be five again and loving snow!).



Of course, since my house was the first stop, I had to memorialize the 5-15 inches of fluffly stuff we got this weekend.



Quite a change from this shot from late June:


Of course, it's hard to appreciate January in Massachusetts, with pictures like the above, just teasing us, but I like to think that days like this makes me appreciate the warmer weather even more. And there are some lovely things to see, like these Sedum seed heads poking out of the snow at a house along the way to the library.



Or even slightly more whimsical sights, like this green chair and blue hose. They sort of make me think the owner was in the middle of the driveway, enjoying a sunny day in his/her garden, and then bamm! a blizzard struck.



And even on a day when it doesn't get much above 30, these Rhododendron flower buds, were a hopeful reminder that Spring will come.

Mid Winter Desperation

A few days ago we had a bit of a thaw and about 2-3 feet of snow melted away from the yard. I found this Fescue (Festuca, Elijah's Blue) peeking out from underneath some melting snow. It's impressive how blue and healthy the grass was, despite being buried under snow and certainly getting pelted with ice melt, since it's at the end of our driveway.

Owen rediscovered his "Sanbox Table" that I built for him last year. He pretty much spent the entire summer, dumping the sand out of the box, onto the porch, but there were a couple toys he hadn't seen in a while so he was pretty happy.

In my desperation/longing for flowers, I was suckered into buying this mini-rose from the grocery store (which is generally frowned upon, because they're so difficult to keep healthy). It had a ton of orange-tipped yellow buds. I'm still not very good at the close-ups with my camera. It's a Canon Powershot and doesn't allow for much manual tinkering. It seems to have a hard time focusing on the foreground, instead of the background, especially when there's a lot of light. I may be lobbying the hubby for a better camera next Christmas.

I was trying to get a picture of my little seed starting operation that I just placed over the heating grate, but Shadow got curious and stepped right into the picture, which actually made the shot a lot more interesting. I put these New Guinea impatiens seeds in soil about two weeks ago, and there's been no sign of life (the packet says they should germinate in 3 days). I don't have a heat mat, so I figured it was just too cold in the basement for them to get going. I'm hoping they will sprout now that they're in a warmer location. Of course, they must survive the two dogs and a 4-year old.

-SG

P.S. If you're reading this blog because you get an email, you should really go to the Web site. Apparently, none of the links work in the emails.

22, Feels Like 3

Apparently, it is unseasonably cold this week. I'm hibernating due to the frigidity, but I did lean onto my front porch to get this shot of my Scotch Broom (a pink one). I have my doubts about whether it will survive the winter in a container, but I bought this plant on a whim (curse you, Home Depot) and was never happy with it (just read all the nasty reviews on Dave's Garden, it will make you shudder). So I dug it up and put it in this container to see if I will like it any better. The jury is still out.

My sister gave me this houseplant over the weekend. Well actually, I stole the houseplant from her (thanks Maria and Don). It was a little sickly looking, so I did a little pruning, and voila, healthy as a horse (well, maybe except for those black tips).

Yesterday I went to Home Depot again, this time for some screws to hang this gift from my sister.


Then, acting on the same urge that struck me when I bought the Broom, I couldn't leave without the following:

Happy New Year!

Should I Even Bother?

Why am I posting a picture of some scraggly-looking Pelargoniums? Well, this is my first attempt at overwintering and I wanted to share my progress. I seem to have overcome the worm infestation (you can still see a little of the Dipel powder I hit the plants and worms with). I fed the plants about a month ago and they put out quite a bit of growth. This is the sunniest spot in my basement and the plants, though a bit spindly, seem reasonably happy. Every so often, I do check if they need water and I rotate the plants 90 degrees.

In other basement news, I've started to think about my little seedling nursery. I put together this comically delicate worktable, made out of an old door and some scrap wood. I bought two different kinds of 4 foot flourescents (cool and warm spectrum), as suggested by some helpful Home Depot guy. I also bought a timer this year (instead of mostly forgetting to turn off the lights at night like I did last year) and another shop light fixture (I'm doubling my seedling capacity!). Combined with an old fan, I hope to have the makings of a seedling factory. I've already ordered and received some seeds from Pinetree Gardens, so despite the winter gloom, the gardening will begin again pretty soon!

-SG

Worms!

In my quest to prove to my husband that I can save money by growing plants from seed, I split and potted up about 10 Pelargonium plants (zonal geranium) that I had started from seed last Winter. I found a home for them near a sunny window in the basement, and hoped for the best. (Here's information about keeping your Pelargonium's alive until Spring i.e. overwintering).

Some people don't really like Pelargoniums, but I think I'm a fan out of nostalgia; my grandparents always grew them in a pot on their patio, next to a statue of St. Francis. They are pretty drought tolerant and they were really easy to grow from seed, so I'm not giving up on them.

However, I may have to -- I went to check on them in the basement, to see if they were alive or needed water. To my dismay, they were clearly being eaten. There were little holes in the leaves, or sometimes entire leaves eaten to the stem. On closer scrutiny, I was thoroughly grossed out to discover little green worms were the culprits. Some were tiny, others were more than an inch long. I picked off as many as I could find, and went about researching if my plants were goners.

After some googling, my suspicion is that the worms are cabbage loopers. I did buy some Dipel Dust (an organic bacterial insecticide, which kills the worms), and I'm hoping it will do the trick. It's possible I have Tobacco Budworm, a common Pelargonium/Geranium pest, but the worms weren't reddish or brownish, and the Dipel might work on them too.

Wish me Luck!

-SG

P.S. Why is there so much confusion over Geranium's? If I refer to them as Pelargoniums, no one has any idea what I'm talking about, but Geranium is actually the scientific name for a Cranesbill. Which are much more rare (though awesome)...

Photo credit: Extension Entomology, Texas A&M University