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Quote of the Day: Joy Larkcom

June 18th, 2017

“There will be disappointments (when gardening). The glorious visions that are conjured up when sowing or planting don’t always materialize and the painful memories of failures lurk in my written records: ‘chamomile path engulfed by chickweed; cat scratched up lettuce seedlings; first cabbage lost to pigeons; drought causing slow pumpkin growth; ‘Treviso’ chicory disappeared. There are bound to be highs and lows: no garden can be beautiful all the time.”

Joy Larkcom in Creative Vegetable Gardening

For two years I have had a vision of what I wanted to create in the garden area below the living room windows. A mass planting of ‘Walkers Low’ catmint with lovely purple allium globes towering above it. I had seen a photo at one time of this and found it stunning.


Clearly my alliums are not towering above the catmint, in fact one is being smothered by it. The flowers are also the same color, which wasn’t the plan either. Perhaps the photo I saw used a lower catmint, the version that grows only a foot tall or so. Or perhaps the alliums grew to their normal height. My ‘Globemaster’ alliums are definitely not as tall as others I have seen, in fast they’re a full 8-12 inches shorter than the others I have seen. All-in-all, this ended up being a gardening disappointment.

The one on the edge is pretty tall, this is more what I was going for, but the other two aren’t even close to being tall enough. The one closer in is being swallowed up by the catmint (as you can see in the first photo of the post). In my opinion this is a waste of alliums. Alliums should be showstoppers in the garden, they’re so graphic and bold.

I’m certainly glad I didn’t buy a lot of alliums, I purchased only 3 bulbs to give it a try first. I may try a different type of allium in, one that has smaller flowers and one that is a different color of purple. These alliums won’t be lost, I love them, just not here. The bulbs will be fed, dug up, and then moved to a new spot in the garden where they can shine and be the showstopper they should be.

What gardening fails have you had this year? 

Friday Favorite: Creeping Thyme

June 16th, 2017

In Ohio I had a lot of varieties of creeping thyme, from the super micro variety that grows less than a centimeter tall, to the variety that’s about 6-8 inches tall. I started adding a few varieties to the potager and between the rocks by our front door. They are filling in nicely and providing a lot of interest, for both us and the pollinators.

One thing I love about thyme is that it thrives in difficult locations. The space between these rocks grew weeds and was a bit of an eyesore if not kept weeded or clipped. I figured thyme would be perfect to fill in and thrive in these difficult conditions. I have four different varieties in here so far, purple flowers, white flowers, wooly thyme, and a very low growing thyme was just planted in another section.

Thyme is a favorite plant of mine, I find that it seems to always be of great use in places other plants might not work. The fact that it blooms beautifully, comes in a wide variety of heights, bloom colors, and textures is another benefit. It spreads nicely (without becoming invasive) and divides very easily which means you can end up with lots of plants from one initial plant. When you add the food in provides for pollinators it rounds out as a perfect plant. If you don’t have any in your garden, try to find a spot to tuck one in. If you know a gardener that has some, ask them for a division.

I even planted a few of the taller varieties under the front porch door, it’s a weird spot and grows weeds. If it get enough sunlight, the thyme will love the dryness of this location. Later this summer I’ll post photos if it survives and thrives. At the moment it’s looking good and I have confidence it will be the perfect way to add something delightful where a problem existed, just like between these big rocks.

What’s your favorite hard working plant in the garden?

The Best Lettuce

June 15th, 2017

This year I’ve managed to grow the best looking lettuce I’ve ever grown. Every time I look at it in the garden I’m happy as can be. Perhaps its the varieties I chose, most of them came from Johnny’s Seeds and are selected for specific traits. The butterhead lettuces are amazing, the Salanovas are sizing up slowly, which is nice because they will hold in the garden while I harvest the other types. Here are the lovely mature lettuces in my garden. Butterheads are my favorite types to eat and to grow. I find them to be stunning both in the garden and in a salad. If I had to choose one variety to grow it would definitely be butterheads. Luckily I don’t have to choose, so I grow all different kinds.








They’re so pretty I almost don’t want to harvest them, luckily I love salad more than I love the look in the garden. My second planting of lettuce will be mature as this batch is eaten up. I should have seeded another flat a week or two ago, but I was traveling and then sick so I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Luckily in the summer there is a bounty of veg from the garden and lettuce takes a back seat to all the heat loving crops.

What’s your favorite type of lettuce?

Memorial Gardens

June 14th, 2017

My mom was an avid gardener, her gardens were always full of blooms (and vegetables too). For her celebration of life service, we decided that we wanted to use flowers from her garden to decorate the church. Her gardens are large, thus we had plenty of blooms. There were four large arrangements and four smaller ones. Here are some photos (some cell photos, some real ones, some mine, some my brother’s). They were lovely and just what we wanted, not the typical funeral arrangements. My mom was adamant about her service not being like a normal funeral, including the flowers.



It was nice because some of the flowers we used in the arrangements were from plants that my mom had gotten from her mom’s gardens. The white peonies and the sweet peas were both true heirloom flowers. My mom didn’t have a dedicated cutting garden, but she certainly had plenty of flowers to cut throughout the spring/summer/fall.




In lieu of flowers for her service, we had friend/family make donations to the charity my parents started. The funds will be used to build a memorial garden in at the camp facilities in Colombia. We figured this was fitting, it allows the funds to be used for something that will last. The garden will also be a place for all the people in Colombia to remember her and the work she did there. My dad and I are now starting the design process for this garden, I may be traveling to Colombia in the next year or so to help with the plan/implementation. It’s exciting to think about a lovely garden that will provide a peaceful place at the camp.

What’s your favorite flower?

I’m Back…

June 13th, 2017

For the past 9 months I’ve been spending about a week per month back in Ohio. Because of that, the garden, and the house, and lots of other projects have been put on hold. There were several projects in the works that were halted and this summer my plans were minimal in the garden. Now that we have closed that chapter, it’s time to move on and get things back on track around here.






Of course as soon as I got back home from my time in Ohio I got a wicked cold that laid me up for 5 days. Life seems to be a continual process of adapting and changing as needs arise and things change. Learning to become resilient is definitely a lesson learned when you garden.

How’s your garden growing this summer? What plans do you have for the rest of the summer and this fall?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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