While in the fall, I do remove the spent annuals I do not deadhead perennials. I prefer to leave the seed heads for the birds that visit our yard. As spring grows nearer, we’ll put bird feeders out to help our winged visitors through the nesting season.

Seed catalogues are piling up and I’m forcing myself not to look at them too much lest I be tempted to over spend and over plant. Not that I have the room for overplanting anymore, Economics has made maintaining our hobby greenhouse rather difficult. In other words, heating it throughout late winter and early spring months has become “cost prohibitive”.  Last year I attempted to grow seedlings in a lighted plant stand with mixed results. The lack of humidity was the biggest reason the plants did not fare well. Then there was the light. Or should I say lack of light. Despite the grow lights, the seedlings all became too spindly. Pinching and pruning didn’t help much. The other thing that didn’t work well in the plant stand was vines! I love flowering annual vines such as mina lobata, cardinal vine, canary vine. And no matter how hard I tried to keep them separated, I couldn’t. What a mess!  I will try again this year to grow seedlings in the plant stand. In a pre-emptive move,   I have purchased a roll of clear plastic to make a humidity cover for the stand. That has to help! I’ll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, the houseplants are receiving my attention. They are being watered regularly, fertilized (at half strength), brown tips and leaves are kept to a minimum, and the plants that need some shaping are getting just that. They seem to be pretty grateful for the extra care as they are looking much healthier than when I brought them back into the house after a summer outside. The bougainvillea that hung outdoors all last summer in all its green glory finally decided to show some colour this month.  The spider plant is producing dozens of babies. Not bad considering I purchased three little spider plants for $ .75  last fall  during the season-end clearance sales. They were in 3” pots and all leaves. I potted them together in a 10” hanging basket and waited. My patience has been rewarded.

You may have noticed that I’ve been away for a very long time. But, I’m back. That could be bad, it could be not so bad. Time will tell!

The reasons for my absence are varied. One is time. Or lack of time more correctly. We’ve given the interior of our home a major facelift this winter. – lots of painting, plastering, ceiling work, trim etc, etc, etc. It’s been difficult to find time (energy) to blog and work on the house. And now, all I can say is, if I never see another paint brush again it will be too soon!!

Another reason is all the spammers out there that made my blogging life hell for a while. I can’t believe they actually believe that anyone they spam would actually accept their spammed comments, let alone read/open them!!! How stupid can they be?? I guess some people have nothing better to do.

In addition to the above reasons, I briefly (?) went through gardening burn out. Yes, what I thought would never happen, did! I got tired of gardening. I got tired of weeds, tired of flowers, tired of shrubs, tired of grass, tired of watering, tired of writing about gardening.  Guess all that’s understandable since I’ve been doing it personally and/or professionally for most of my adult life. And, since arthritis became my constant companion, gardening is no where near as easy as it was just a few short years ago. But this year, I’m ready to go at the gardens full tilt.

We have many plans for our gardens this year; new projects to start, old ones to finish. Today, I’ll be starting some seeds. Not in the greenhouse this time, but in my plant stand. That should work out a little better than previous attempts since our cats are older now and a little less curious. Again, the seeds I’ll be starting are varieties that are not commonly found at the local greenhouses.  The other seeds I’ll be sowing are for plants that are too expensive to purchase finished.

Among the gardening tasks I’ve let slide are the cuttings I’ve rooted. They are well past the potting up point, but over the next day or two, they will finally make into soil filled pots. While I’m potting up cuttings, I have a number of houseplants that are crying to be transplanted into bigger pots, so that task will be taken care of too.

Powdery mildew had infected the rosemary plants I overwintered. Rather than resort to chemicals, I trimmed the infected stems off, and rinsed the plants under the tap. That method worked quite well, (I repeated the treatment three times) and now, six weeks later, there is only a very slight trace of powdery mildew left. One more time should do the trick.

Enough of writing about gardening for one day. It’s time to actual do some.

Catch you later!!

When is a weed, not a weed? When it’s pretty and you like it!

A number of years ago, I allowed a mullein to flourish in the herb garden. A visitor remarked on the then five foot high weed that was just coming into flower and suggested I hand him a shovel so he could dig it out for me. When I refused his offer and told him why the mullein was allowed to remain in the garden, he couldn’t have looked more incredulous than if I suggested he cut his right hand off.

Last year we allowed a giant thistle to grow at the back of one of our gardens (homage to Trevor’s Scottish roots). A visitor teased us about being too wimpy to remove it and suggested we try a chemical herbicide. Us!? Wimpy? Chemicals?! When I explained the significance of the thistle, he still didn’t get it, just shook his head in wonderment. Think I heard him mumble something about “Hippies”.

The lawn of our shade garden has one spot that we don’t mow. In that spot grows my absolute favourite flower ever – the Oxeye Daisy. I’ve tried growing it from seed and planting it in a garden, but without success. So I content myself with this one little plant that sprung up in the lawn. Every year we leave that area untouched until the plant has died off.

The foundation of our house has dozens of harebells growing around it. Harebells are yet another plant considered by most to be a weed. I say, how can anything so pretty be a weed? Yes they are invasive, yes they require a lot of thinning to keep them under control, but harebells are so worth it!

Violets of all colours cover our lawns each spring. Do we dig them out? No! Because they are pretty, and we like them. And, we have come to look forward to their presence every May.

Creeping Jenny covers the ditch that runs beside our property. It is another “weed” that is not disturbed because its little yellow flowers are a delight to the eyes.

Black Eyed Susans run rampant on our property. Because they are so sweet and cheerful, a good many of them are allowed to stay, but not all. I fear they would take over the whole place if we didn’t keep them in check.

Virginia Creeper is another weed we grow on purpose. The brilliant red of the leaves in autumn is breath taking and adds some much needed colour as the trees and flowers begin to fade.

Wild grape is allowed to flourish on the twig arbour beside the herb garden. The leaves make a wonderfully dappled shade canopy to sit under when taking a break from working in the garden. The birds love the tiny grapes produced, so that’s another reason to keep it. And the vines are harvested every year to use to decorate the house for autumn and Christmas displays.

So, if you see a weed, and you think it is pretty, why not leave it to grow, flower and flourish? Think of it as added a bit of wildflower gardening to your plot of land.

Rain, rain, go away…..After the last couple of summers with next to no rain, I can’t believe I’m wishing the rain would stop! Let’s see, this must be day ten in a row that it’s rained. And, rain is expected for the next three days. Glad we own a canoe!

Seriously, the rain is a good thing for our trees and plants. All the watering we do is nowhere near as effective as a good rain! The down side of all this rain, is the weeds are loving it as much as the plants. And, because it’s raining so often, we don’t have as much time to spend in the garden getting rid of those weeds! During the few hours of sunshine we had today I looked at the plants and smiled. I look at the weeds and groaned! Never have they been so plentiful, not to mention lush and vigorous! I very briefly wished I believed in using chemicals rather than hand pulling to rid the gardens and yard of weeds. Matter of fact, I went so far as to vocalize that wish as I was taking the scuffler out of the shed.

There are eco safe alternatives to chemical weed control besides hand pulling for large areas or in between cracks in sidewalks and driveways. I have tried many of them, with varying degrees of success. Here are two of the simplest.

Boiling water: pour boiling water on the weeds and they instantly shrivel up, and the foliage dies. This method does not always kill the roots so it will have to be repeated several times. Not my favourite method.

Vinegar: A more successful approach is to mix three parts vinegar with one part water and add a few drops of liquid dish soap (to help the solution stick to the leaves). Spray on the weeds being careful not to spray on anything you want to keep. The weeds die quickly, but again, not always the roots, so several applications may be required to eliminate all weeds, especially perennial weeds.

For someone who is not comfortable using a sprayer for fear of taking out desirable plants, there are tools that make the task of weeding easier.

Scufflers and Hoes: This is my preferred method for weeding large areas, but obviously impractical for eliminating weeds growing between cracks. These tools basically take off the tops of the weeds. Occasionally you’ll get lucky and the roots will come up too. How can this be possibly effective? At least one new member of my crew will ask that question every year. Simple; Plants need chlorophyll to live. Without leaves, they have no chlorophyll. The roots will sprout new leaves, which are again, lopped off. Eventually, the roots become so weakened from constantly putting all their energy into sprouting new leaves, they die. No more weed.

Cultivators: I’m not a big fan of cultivators. I find them awkward to use and less precise than a scuffler or hoe. Cultivators often take out the entire weed, roots and all, so they are very effective.

Of course there is always the alternative of hand pulling the weeds. Hand weeding is the most effective method without a doubt. And, yanking those weeds out of the ground, roots and all, is the greatest stress reliever! It is my favourite method of dealing with weeds but no longer possible since arthritis of the hands and knees have become my life partner. Otherwise, I would not be using tools and home made sprays. Instead I’d be on the ground pulling to my heart’s delight, getting my knees black and enough dirt under my nails to pot up a small plant, and thinking at the end of the day, I’d managed to stay fairly clean. Considering.