LysmachiaMoon's blog: I love you folks

I know it's way past Valentine's Day, but I wanted to say "I LOVE YOU" to all you fellow gardeners who post here on site. Coming here, sitting down with a cup of joe and catching up with what everybody is doing is like walking into a friend's kitchen. And it's so comforting to know that I'm not the only one with weeds that didn't get pulled, seedlings that gave up the ghost, and that really really expensive plant that died in its pot because I never planted it.
Sometimes, sitting here at the end of a long day, muddy, aching feet, and broken nails, I think that my entire gardening venture is teetering between madness and utter ruin. Surely if I were a better gardener, more organized, smarter, stronger, a better person I'd have all this DONE by now. Surely NO-ONE has a rose bush that they are afraid to approach because it's so overgrown it growls every time I come near it with secateurs? NO-ONE has a patch of daylilies that have fused inexorably with couch grass and is probly busily creating some godless hybrid that will one day communicate with aliens? NO-ONE has a bed overgrown with bindweed that is multiplying so fast I'm convinced it is working steadily and inexorably toward global domination?

Then I read you folks' trials and tribulations (and triumphs) and I realize we're all in the same boat....all trying to re-create some little part of a heavenly Eden in the all too disappointing Earth. Thank you.

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Well, we've had almost a week of very very windy weather, very cold temps, and clear skies. What had been soggy is now dried out. I brought all my greenhouse plants back indoors a few days ago and I'm glad I did because our overnites dropped to 22F last night. Everybody is tucked up warm and cozy in bedroom and kitchen and will stay there for the next several days.

Happy to report that the re-covered greenhouse withstood the fierce winds without trouble. Sealing the seams with heat instead of tape is definitely the way to go. Nothing lifted and even during the worst of it I did not see that "ballooning" effect of the wind getting in through gaps and inflating the entire covering. It rippled a bit, but that was all.

I got my replacement Castor Bean seeds yesterday but I'll hold off planting them until a bit later. Now that I know how fast they germinate and grow I don't think I need to rush things. Seeing that my experiment with growing petunias from seed seems (seems ) to being going well, I decided to take a plunge with starting pelargoniums (geraniums) from seed. I got the seeds yesterday and planted half of them; if they germinate and grow I should have a dozen or so plants. The only problem is I'm starting them very late; they really should have been in the ground by Feb. 1. That's ok. This is an experiment and if I have to overwinter immature plants for next year, so be it.
Also reseeded my pot of basil with fresh seeds (still no head in pot).

Another crescent bed turned over and ready for planting in the veg. Today I'm going to work on one of the very big rectangular beds because I think I may put my potatoes in there this year. I've got four kinds of seed potatoes chitting nicely on top of the kitchen cabinets.

The veg is going to get a lot of attention this weekend because it really is a mess. (It usually is this time of year.) I've got stacks of fencing panels, bean poles, tomato cages, etc. everywhere. Once I get things really going it will all fall into place, but for now it looks like a dump or, more charitably, a construction site. I still need to concentrate efforts on that southwest corner. It's a shady damp spot and I'd like to get two wild cherries that have come up to the south of the veg taken down to let some sunshine in. The soil there is very good and it would probably be a very productive corner with more light (and fewer weeds). It's another of those problem spots: I've tried everything and nothing really thrives except the thornless blackberries trained along the fence. Last year I put in late cabbages and I think they would have done well but they got swamped by a butternut squash vine and I forgot they were even there. I also need to get cracking on finishing up the berry cage and assorted tweaking and grooming that structure will entail.

I've also been randomly potting up little "extras" that I have everywhere. Yesterday I potted up 8 small containers of sedum. I think that rather than have a big formal Plant Sale in May I may just set up a table along the road and put up some signs and let people stop in and buy whatever catches their eye, on the honor system. The "honor system" is popular around my area, I'm happy to say. I sometimes put out extra eggs for sale and I've never been cheated...in fact, some people leave MORE than I ask. As far as plant sales, I'm also wondering if it might be worthwhile buying a space at our community Yard Sale (held at the community center) in May and just loading up the pickup bed and selling from there. I don't think the spaces cost much, so it might be a good way to not only sell extra plants but meet some nearby gardening folks. We'll see. Right now, I need to get my workies on and get moving. Those carrots aren't going to water themselves, missy.

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