January Blahs

January 25, 2010

Well it has been warm lately but very, very dreary.  I have been looking through gardening books and catalogs. Getting ideas and plans for the garden. What has become of my garden this winter, well when we fenced in the garden we did so with winter in mind.  Since the garden was nice and flat, and a nice wood fence was there , why not put some boards up around it and fill it with water. Whala you have a hockey rink.

If you need a little shot of warm and want to smell the moist air come in to the garden center and watch the progress of the Easter crops.  The Lilies are growing along with Hydrangeas, Gerbera Daisies and more.

Make sure to say hello to Baby as you stroll through. He is always around to say hello.

Getting through the Winter

Jan 11, 2010

Winter has a firm grip on us this year.  It has been cold and blustery outside.  So lets take a walk around the greenhouse and see whats going on. The poinsettias are gone and that means it time to start getting ready for spring.  Geraniums are being planted into their final pot sizes. The benches are filling up with lush green.

Pillar geraniums are planted with stakes to grow up on.  We keep the flowers off the plants while they are growing and we are taking cuttings but every now and then you can find some geraniums blooming. It makes you feel like spring is just around the corner, even though we know it is still months away.

We will take cuttings off of these plants for smaller size pots. 

Spikes  (dracaena) are also being grown.  These are some of the slowest growing plants they take almost a full year before they are ready to sell. They are started from seed, transplanted several times before they are in their final pots.

At this time of the year it is nice to just walk through the greenhouse and take in the smell.  Stop in and just walk through, it refreshes your senses when it is below zero outside.

Last Minute Christmas Preparations

December 21, 2009

Everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas.  Just a few reminders.  Don’t forget to water your tree!  If the water goes dry just once, your tree will seal up and won’t take in any more water.

Water your Poinsettias or other Christmas plants.  They will stay nice well into the next year if you give them a little care.  Poinsettias make a great hostess gift.  If you need a last minute little something, bring a Poinsettia. 

 Don’t forget the birds at this time of the year. We get so busy sometimes we forget the small things.  Birds are great to watch in the winter so keep the feeders full.

 Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

What to Do on a Snowy Day

December 9, 2009

 The weaather outside is frightful! So I am going to get my ice lanterns going. Ice lanterns make a wonderful outside decoration. I start with an Ice Lantern form.

Fill the lantern with water.

Put the form outside to freeze.  Make sure you keep an eye on it. The time it takes to freeze will depend on the temperature outside.  I made some last week and I left them out overnight. They were just right, but as the temperatures drop you may not be able to leave overnight.  You don’t want it to freeze solid.  You want about an inch of ice to form.  If you look at the top you can tell how thick the edge is.  If it freezes solid it can break.  I know I have done that.  When it is ready bring inside and run warm water over it. Don’t try to pound it out from the bottom, you will break the form. I know I did this too.

The ice will gently fall down.  Take off the form and you have your ice lantern. Put in a candle, put outside and you have a great decoration.  I line my sidewalk with these. I love the old fashioned look and they are fun to make.

Enjoy the snow!

Still Planting Tulips

November 30, 2009

Wow what a November we have been having.  I had some tulips left so I got out and planted them.  You can plant tulips as long as you can get a shovel in the ground.  I had a couple of spots I wanted a nice display so I dug out an area, dumped in my tulips and covered them up.  You don’t need to dig individual holes for tulips, I just spread them out a little and they were good to go.

I also put up Christmas lights.  I think that was the first time I wasn’t freezing as I was putting them up.  My spruce top pots are all done, so now let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Sprucing Up Pots

November 14, 2009

Well what a lovely November we are having.  I usually tackle my pots when they have already frozen so this is quite the treat.  Halloween is over so it is time to change from pumpkins to Winter plantings. Andy helped me pull all the plants out of my pots.

He had fun smashing the pumpkins out in the field for the critters to eat.  We have lots of pine trees so I trim a bunch of trees to get pine boughs.  I usually start with a couple spruce tops that I get at the garden center and work around them.  I like to use several different varieties of pines.

I just keep adding boughs until the pot is full.

Once that is done I go around the yard and find other things I can put in the pot.  Red Twigged Dogwoods make a great accent, I have several of those.  I also use Hydrangea flowers that I have either dried earlier or you can just cut off the bush now.  If you dry them earlier before they freeze they have more color to them. You can also use berries, sedum, many things in your yard can be used.  Another tip I got from a friend, she sprays some of the things in her woods gold before she cuts them and they make a pretty accent.

Once it is all finished you have a great looking pot that will last all winter.

Just have fun and you can make a beautiful arrangement.

Garden Clean Up

October 7, 2009

The garden is done.  I still have pumpkins and a few squash. I will be carving pumpkins soon with Andy. He is very excited to carve the pumpkins we grew.  I have cleaned out most of the garden and put in the compost.  The weather has been wet the last week, my rain gauge had over 5″ for the past week. Wow we needed that. Haven’t done much gardening so I hope we still get some nice weather to clean out all my flower beds.

I am very proud of one particular crop in the garden and that is my celery crop.  My grandfather started as a celery farmer. Since we are the third generation, I am quite proud that I was able to grow a nice crop of celery. My Grandpa came to the USA from Switzerland and started as a celery farmer in 1910. Next year we will be celebrating 100 years tradition and quality. I took the opportunity to show off my celery the same way he did so many years ago.

Garden coming to an end.

September 22, 2009

Well the garden is looking a little bleak, as is Andy. I think he is loosing interest in the garden.   We picked the cantelope today. It was really tasty.  Not real big but lots of flavor. We still have a lot of tomatoes, I think I grew too many.  I will cut back next year.

The pumpkins are still growing and getting very orange. We are very excited to have our own pumpkins to carve. I think these have been the most fun to watch.  They grow so fast that they would change every day.

I have cut a lot of our sunflowers for vases.  They made really nice bouquets.  They don’t last a long time but were really pretty.  I also cut some of my hydrangea flowers to put in with them.  If you have flowers in your yard, cut and bring them inside.  It is great to have fresh flowers on the table.

I have to admit that when it gets to September I think I suffer from garden fatigue.  I didn’t water some of my planters for awhile and with the dry September that we have been experiencing my planters looked pretty sad.  The petunias had dried up but the tall plants still looked okay.  So I pulled out everything that looked bad and replaced with mums. Now I have beautiful planters, with that fall look and that will last until it freezes, as long as I remember to water them.

Remember you can still plant into the fall but remember to keep watering fresh plantings until it freezes. 

Harvesting and Cleaning

September 8, 2009

I took Labor Day literally and labored in the garden.  I cleaned up vegetables that were past their prime.  The cabbage and lettuce went to the compost pile.  So did the cauliflower that never did produce anything. The onions have all been pulled and left out to air dry before storing in a cool dry place and should last through the winter.

I did seed some carrots earlier, got frustrated with the amount of weeds and the thinning I had to do so I pulled them out early in the summer.  I must have missed one, because lone plant matured.  So it got pulled and eaten immediately.

Tanner wanted a bit too but I managed to eat it myself.

We still had a lot of zucchini, so we had a little fun and made a zucchini family. They are pretty fun and the faces show up even at night.

My pumpkin continues to turn orange. I think we will end up with about 5 pumpkins that we can carve.  I have a lot more coming but I don’t think they will make it.  I planted the pumpkins a little late so they won’t have time to mature.

Tanner and Wiley have been a challenge.  They love to help me in the garden but can be a challenge.  After I picked tomatoes they actually ate a couple. Tanner also likes the cucumbers.  We picked quite a bit of produce this weekend.  I still have a lot of tomatoes to pick. But all in all I think we had a pretty good harvest.

I actually got 6 potatoes out of my potatoe failure.  Since I waited too long to plant them I only had 2 plants survive.  The the 6 I got will be mighty tasty.

Harvesting Continues

September 3, 2009

The garden continues to produce huge amounts of produce.  The tomatoes are growing like crazy.  I am so exited that my pumpkins are starting to turn color.  They seem to double in size every day. I think we will actually have some nice ones.  Andy will have a big job carving them.

The Canteloupe is beginning to mature. I love cantaloupe. The cantaloupe will be ready to pick when the stem easily separates from the vine.  The cantaloupe should be a tan color. Mine are just about ready.  They are not very big but I am looking forward to tasting them. Yummmmmmm.

Wow I have Brussel Sprouts.  Brussel Sprouts are a long growing crop. They look like baby cabbages.  They are really cute. You can harvest them when they are approximately 1 - 2 inches in diameter. They should be compact and bright green. Harvest when they are firm. I have to look up some recipes so I can cook them right when I harvest them.  I have been told that is when they are best.  I admit I have never really liked Brussel Sprouts so I will let you know if fresh ones change my mind.

Hydrangeas are blooming everywhere.  I planted some Hydrangea around my garden so I could cut and dry them for winter container gardens. If you have some in your yard they make wonderful dried flowers and they are easy. They can be cut from August to October. They start to take on a pink to burgundy tinge, that is the best time to cut. Make sure you cut them before we get our first frost. Cut the stem, trim off the leaves.  You can arrange in a vase and allow to dry.  They don’t need to be hung upside down but that is another way to dry them.  You can hang individually or tie a couple with a binder and hang in your garage or basement and let dry.  They are great to use with spruce tops.

Enjoy the weather it is fabulous.