Peppers for the grill, anyone?

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A pepper is born -- one of five on 2/22/08

A quintuplet of peppers has sprouted in the nursery. Hurray! Already my mouth is watering at the thought of this one -- a red bell pepper -- growing up to offer the makings of a sizzling shish kebab cooked up on hubby's newly purchased grill. What is it with guys and grills? Michael was out on the deck Sunday night -- in cold February -- grilling a whole chicken on the new rotisserie gadget attachment thingy. We are envisioning all the wonderful garden-grown foods we'll be able to cook right on the grill this summer. I'd better start planting more grillable veggies. I grow it, he grills it. This is going to be good...

Peas on ice

Friday, February 22, 2008

Peas on my ice-covered garden, February 22, 2008

February 22. George Washington's birthday. The day I intended to crack the winter seal on the vegetable garden and usher in spring with a planting of peas. The songbirds had been coaxing me along for weeks with their spring melodies, the Canada geese spelled out vernal in gigantic V-formation, and I had every indication that it was time. But alas, Nature is teetering precariously between seasons. Today, with an ice storm, it is clearly still Winter.

So, when I speak of cracking the seal on the garden, I don't just mean that figuratively. I'd actually have to get out there and start chipping away at ice. Worse, under drizzling cold rain.

Pea planting is on hold for now. Until soon. Hopefully, very soon.

Second round of seed sowing

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Seeds planted February 3, 2008

Nestled under the grow lights are my latest plantings: three types of peppers and two floral candidates for my flower box project. In peppers, I'm growing the sweet red Buran variety that did very well for me last year. In the second package from the left, I have a new-to-me variety called Bull Nose -- another sweet pepper that I chose for its interesting name. Next are the poblano chiles. Michael loves chiles rellenos, so these are all for him!

In flowers, the stunning blue lobelia has become a staple in my garden. I always start the seeds early in the year because they grow so slowly. Once the plants starts blooming, though, they keep going all summer. With short mounds of tiny blue flowers, lobelia is perfect along edges and tucked at the base of taller plants. I haven't yet found another flower that matches the depth of lobelia's dreamy deep blue.

The last one in the row is Dusty Miller. It's silvery foliage will make a nice filler for the flower boxes. This is the first time I'm trying this one from seed.

Planting Larkspur

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Warmer weather beckoned me outside over the weekend to plant a few seeds. It's still on the early side to direct sow vegetable seeds (though I'm queuing up my President's Day peas), but now -- late winter -- is a good time to start larkspur flowers.

Larkspurs do best in cool weather and can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked. In fact, I learned from past experience that if you plant larkspur seeds too late in the spring, they won't bloom until the following year. Larkspurs are easy to grow from seed, and, though they're listed as an annual flower, they reseed readily here, which makes them seem more like a perennial.


Along one side of our deck is a built-in planter. This is where I transplanted my perennials from the community garden last fall, and it's where I plan to add more flowers this spring. It's the catch-all flower garden for now, until I dig in new borders around the house.


In went the larkspur seeds, and I topped everything off with the clippings from our Christmas wreath. The pine boughs are there partly for recycling, partly to add a little green to all that brown, and, also, to provide some protection for the plants in case we get walloped with a snowstorm yet this winter. Some of our biggest snowstorms in the past have come around President's Day. I wonder what's in store for this year? We were up to around 70 degrees here today, so who knows. I've marked Washington's birthday - February 22 - as the day to sow peas, regardless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related Post: The Larkspur Meadow

Pruning Roses

Sunday, February 03, 2008

A rose by any other name, sure it would smell as sweet, but it would also have thorns that prick and jab mercilessly and make me think pruning is going to be one of my least favorite gardening chores. Ouch, those suckers hurt!

The house we bought came with five shrub roses in the back, and I'm going to do my best to keep them going. I never had roses of my own to care for, so this is all new territory for me.


The current issue of Organic Gardening had a short piece on the basics of rose pruning, so I used that as my guide. It said to prune when the buds begin to swell, and that looks to be right about now.


I clipped the branches at about a quarter inch above the buds. Then I removed some of stems that had no buds at all. There were also a few canes that were dead, so I cut those down to the ground completely. Reaching in to get to the base of the plant was the worst because, man, those branches really do like to cling. I was wearing a down jacket at the time and I thought there'd be feathers flying at one point. Scrape. Rip. Ow!

Pruning helps improve air circulation around the plants, and that, in turn, supposedly wards off common rose diseases. Let's hope so anyway. Those bushes are full of new buds right now. I can't wait to see how they'll do this summer, now that the beastly pruning task is crossed off the list.

February sprouts

Friday, February 01, 2008

February came in with sheets of frigid rain and pools of water welling up in my yard. On the inside, tender new seedlings pressed mightily toward the light.

Micro greens planted on 1/27/08

However unmerciful the weather may be, my garden inside starts stirring to life this month.

"February arrives cold, wet and gray, her gifts disguised for only the most discerning spirits to see." - Sarah Ban Breathnach