This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Dividing Hostas

June 26th, 2019

I’m at the point where all the hostas in the garden are getting mature and are in need of dividing. There are a few in particular that have been planted in the nursery bed that need to be moved. This big blue hosta I got from my mom four years ago.

It’s a nice hosta, really tall and upright in form with lovely blue leaves. It’s a beast of a plant, too big to fit in the wheelbarrow unless we cut it in half, which we did.



After dividing into four pieces, it was transplanted in various spots under the old apple tree up front. We are trying to underplant this tree with losts of hostas and shade loving groundcovers to fill it in and cover the soil.

I always divide and transplant my hostas when they’re in full leaf, they don’t seem to mind one bit. It fact, I tend to divide and transplant all my perennials when they’re in full growth and have never had an issue with loss. They’ll be a bit droopy for a week or two, but with careful timing and a bit of extra care they do quite well.

Are you transplanting anything this week?

Friday Favorite: McLaughlin Garden

June 21st, 2019

Last Sunday, my friend Joan and I went over to the McLaughlin Gardens to see the last of the lilacs. This garden boasts New England’s largest collection of lilacs. Most of them were past prime, but we still got to enjoy a few, here are the ones we were able to see.









I like lilacs as shrubs and the flowers are pretty, the smell however is much too much for me. Any flower with strong fragrance kicks my oversensitive nose into overdrive. Luckily, they look lovely on the plant and I don’t have to cut them to bring them indoors. Here at Chiot’s Run we have a few old fashioned lilacs that are planted around the old stone foundation of the original homestead. There is another dark purple variety planted near the old outhouse. We have purchased a ‘Miss Kim’ as well. This summer, our plan is to plant a lilac hedge around the back of the garage, it should be perfect to help with wind and erosion.

Do you have any lilacs in your garden?

Lettuce, Lettuce, Lettuce

June 20th, 2019

Lettuce is probably my favorite vegetalbe to grow and eat. We love salads here at Chiot’s Run and will eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we can. As a result, I try to have lettuce of various types available for the entire growing season. It has taken me a few years to figure out the best way to go about this, without having too much or not enough. I have found that having fresh transplants every 6-8 weeks is the best method for my garden and climate.


I grow mostly butterhead lettuces that need lots of time to produce their blowsy heads, but I always have romaine and leaf types growing as well to fill in any gaps between the butterheads. For the past few years we’ve been able to eat fresh lettuce from the garden from March through December.

Do you grow lettuce? Do you have a favorite type?

Spring Cutworms

June 19th, 2019

Cutworms are one of those annoying garden pests. They can decimate freshly transplanted seedlings in a few days. Last year, they killed all of my cucumbers, twice over.
This year they seem partial to my beets and purple basil. Each morning, I head out to patrol the garden to look for the telltale signs, seedlings cut off at the stem. Then I dig small circles around the damage until I find the culprit. These pests make great chicken treats, guess I can at least have eggs even though I won’t have beets.

What pests are you dealing with at the moment?

A Tough Winter for Herbs

June 17th, 2019

This past winter was a tough one for herbs and plants that don’t like wet feet. While it wasn’t a particularly cold winter, it was a wet winter. The biggest issue was that we has a spring thaw and then a ton of rain, then it got cold. As a result, many of my herbs didn’t survive the winter. About half of my catmint didn’t survive, lots of the oregano and thyme, tarragon, lavender, the list goes on. Only the perennial dry loving herbs were affected. Luckily, most of them are easy to propagate or start from seed once again. The catmint is one I was most dissapointed by, I had a mass planting of it in the foundation garden under the living room windows. About half of the plants didn’t make it through winter.



Other than looking a little sparce this spring, it’s not a huge issue. This is ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint and can be easily propagated by cuttings. In fact, I’ve already started 10 new plants that will be transplanted in a week or to fill in the gaps and expand the patch.

One reason I grow this variety of catmint is that it doesn’t set seed. Catmint can be a prolific seeder in the garden, given the right conditions. Since these root so easily from cuttings, I expand my patch this way. In fact, my entire patch came from one plant that I brought with me from my Ohio garden. In the future, I plan on keeping a few extra plants growing out in the nursery bed to replace any that don’t make it through the winter. It is pretty rare to have any issue with this plant, it’s typically tough as nails and can live through just about anything, too much water in the winter proved to be too much for some of these beauties.

Did you lose any perennials this winter?

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.

Admin