The seed and plant catalogs flooded my mailbox, today. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Is it just me, or are they sending them earlier and earlier every year? I'm thinking these companies sense that gardeners may have gotten cash for Christmas and they hit us when we are most vulnerable...in the dead of winter.
I will tell you right now that the best gardens I've ever grown were virtual gardens, planted in the fertile soil of my imagination with wanton disregard for my actual zone, soil and water situation. I've raised absolutely stunning lavender in huge clumps, with dinnerplate dahlias and rambling roses....in my imaginary garden.
In my REAL garden, the only stunning huge clumps are white yarrow, which I despise, and saucer sized dandelions, and rambling virginia creeper. (Would anyone like some yarrow, by the way? Free! I'll throw in a kitten, too.)
And here's a painful confession: (as most confessions turn out to be) I am a seed catalog snob. There, now you know. I don't know if it was Mrs. Greenthumbs and her books, or the Master Gardener program with Bob Gough, or Barbara Damrosch and her Garden Primer....it's hard to say. But I wouldn't be caught dead with a Gurney's catalog in my house. (I'm SO SORRY! I know lots of my friends adore Gurney's. I hope we can still be friends, after all this.) I drool over Cook's Garden, WhiteFlower Farms, John Scheeper's, High Country Gardens. There are actual wrinkled spots in the catalog that I blame on my kids spilling milk. It's me. I have to have the Latin names, the snooty descriptions, the hand-drawn seed packets. It's a curse, I tell you!
What's worse is that I'm not really that great a gardener! I love plants, love gardening, love garden shopping, love greenhouses and for all that, I'm a pretty average gardener. With really cool catalogs, and an inordinately wide botanical Latin vocabulary. Even if you call it Hemerocallis, it's still a daylily. And you can describe it how you will, it's still orange.
Well, I'll save some garden thoughts for later. The picture included here is one of my planters on the deck last summer. Actual, unretouched photo! It makes my heart ache for June! But I have lots of snooty garden catalogs to get through this week, and thousands of miles of flower and vegetable beds to plant in my head.
What catalogs do you like? (Or, for those WhiteFlower Farms girls, catalogues...)
16 comments:
Yes! They're here! I'm excited, but mostly am focusing on the veggie garden. Not sure if the $$ will be there for the flowers. So, if anyone has seed/divisions to share, call me. No yarrow, please. Mary won't let me plant it! Maybe we could even do a seed swap? Not sure what all I've got myself, but I'm excited for gardening, also!
Ok, send those catalogues my way!!! We're finally beginning to melt here, but now we need the ice skates and kayaks. I am in love with your planter box full of flowers...sigh!! I don't think I'll see my tulips on the northside of the house til June. I laughed and laughed at the kitty in the horse trailer. Hmm, wonder if Klaus, the terrorist kitty, would like to join him? Have a wonderful day~ that picture will keep me chuckling today.
WOW. Lots to say...here's my random thoughts:
First, those are beautiful flowers! See, I'm such a terrible gardener -- all container plants die in my care. I'm hopeful a drip system will remedy this situation. But by no means certain.
Also, loved this sentence: "I will tell you right now that the best gardens I've ever grown were virtual gardens, planted in the fertile soil of my imagination with wanton disregard for my actual zone, soil and water situation." Literary candy. :)
And I love your verse on the side.
And, um...if you do the seedswap, can I play too? I can mail you the seeds I don't forsee using before they go bad?
And you're a Master Gardener? I'm impressed.
Thank you for loving my flowers! They are the best my planters have ever looked, so I have something like 10 pictures from different angles. My husband rolls his eyes whenever he encounters those photos!
Couple of things...
Marisa, there's ALWAYS money for flowers. I will ensure that. When I order seeds, I'll get you some, too....call it your birthday present. Now, repeat after me: There's ALWAYS money for flowers! There's ALWAYS money for flowers!
Consider them pollinator attractors, to get those fruits set on your "useful" vegetable plants.
I think the seed swap is a fabulous idea! Should we aim for April 1st, then list what we have? We should have a pretty good idea by then, I would think. Do you want to do it here? Let me know what you think.
Michelle, you shouldn't be too impressed with the Master Gardener thing, attached to my name. Really. But I do love plants and gardens and all things related. Even gardening books! OOOH! Speaking of which, if any of you can get your hands on a copy of "People With Dirty Hands", I highly recommend that one. And "The $64 Tomato" is thought provoking, too.
Okay, signing off, now.
There's always money for...um, um, I'm not sure I can say it. On the bright side, seeds are not that expensive. I just have more luck with plants that are 6" tall already. So, I'm interested in the seed swap, since I suggested it!
Marisa--
I always have lots of Salvia sprouting up all over. It blooms early and is very hardy... you're welcome to any of those that you want come spring. I also should have some nice Russian Sage sprouts and maybe even some Shasta Daisies. You could also try some of my Columbines on your east side... I think they'd do okay there. Come to think of it I have some kind of hyssop in my back bed that always grows rampant too. My newest bed is covered with a 5 foot drift and it doesn't have the best-draining soil, so we'll see what happens there. I dug up my strawberry bed and planted a ton of bulbs over there, so I'm excited to see what comes of that...
Another thing... remind me that I really don't need to plant 10 tomato plants... maybe more like 2-3... and remind me to get them in with walls of water sometime in May... that way I won't be harvesting tomatoes in October and we can maybe really use them in July or August!!
I love my friends. Thanks, Traci and Mary! I really wasn't begging for flowers, if it came out that way, just thinking that the flower budget might be limited.
Ava from High Country Gardens here- Remember, you need to attract and feed bees with flowers. Bees are essential to insure ample vegetable harvests. Lavender is unsurpassed in bringing bees to your garden. Plus edging your garden with Lavender plants will naturally repel deer and rabbits away from your vegetables. Have fun cruising the new catalogs.
Thank you, Ava! I do have some perennials in my yard, and ultimately, a little will be splurged on flowers, most likely. Traci or whomever, do walls of water really work? We would eat tomatoes off 10 plants, if we could get them to produce more fruit than foliage. Eric has told me what to add to my soil, and will see if that helps, also, but we so wish we could produce tomatoes.
Marisa...
In my garden, I've found that Miracle Grow and less water help to produce more fruit. Part of the problem is that I don't get mine in the ground real early so it takes longer for everything to mature, and then they are just setting blossoms when it gets really hot which is counter-productive. My sis-in-law puts hers in the ground before May 15 with walls of water and covers them if it's supposed to be cold. Karen has also used walls of water successfully. I have them in my closet, just never get around to using them. Seems like May is so busy! But I'm determined to be a better veggie gardener this summer!
Me too. I'm really tempted to start tomato plants NOW! I'm pretty sure they would die if I start too soon, so I'm trying to be patient...
My 95 year old grandmother always starts her tomatoes from seed about the 1st of February in her west-facing laundry room. She gets them used to her water and soil that way and she's an amazing gardener. She plants pretty early in tires and then covers with blankets when it's cold. She's usually eating tomatoes by the 4th or so of July. She used to compost everything and then use it in her garden, but now she's got such great soil and absolutely not a weed to be seen, because she's been so vigilant all these years. She's my hero in more ways than one!
Wow!! I am truly impressed. So, I'll aim for the 1st of February. We started plants last year, and ended up buying plants because ours all died! She plants in tires?
Wow! This has become quite a forum!
I've planted in tires, too, and it's the best...I like it MUCH better than wall o water, for larger garden spaces. I had trouble with my wall o waters blowing over, here on the hill. I think with the protection of your barricade fence, you shouldn't have that problem.
And I have ONE west window...in Maggie's room. I'm sunk. I don't mind buying tomato plants, except that I can't find the varieties I like, very often.
Oh, and with the tires, you stack them two or three high at first, for wind protection. As the plants get taller and tougher, remove a tire. Only drawback is that they can be mosquito breeding grounds, during a wet year. Everything is a trade-off, isn't it?
She starts them in any kind of container she can find: she cuts the tops off of quarts of milk, cottage cheese containers, butter containers.... she's of the generation that never wastes anything. Then when she does plant them in the ground, she tears the lower leaves off and plants about 2/3 of the plant underground and puts tires around the plant. She also says it's important to leave 6 inches or so between tires on all sides so the plants have room to be themselves.
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