Live Long and Prosper
Spring insinuates itself little by little into the winter and into our awareness, almost like a dye put drop by drop into a glass of water, hardly coloring it at all first, but eventually, by steady additions, changing its appearance and even its very nature.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
Mr Chiots and moved into this house 10 years ago, in February of 2002. That first spring I purchased four primroses at the grocery store checkout that were marked 50% off. They were the first things planted by me in the gardens of Chiot’s Run. I wasn’t a gardner then and can’t remember why I chose to plant them where I did. The next spring two of them came back and bloomed, then the third year I was down to one.
Amazingly, this little primrose is still thriving in the garden. I can always count on it to be one of the first signs of spring in the garden and one of the last flowers to bloom in the fall. If we pack up and move, this little primrose will definitely come with along to our new home. I don’t know if it will survive, but I’m sure going to try.
What’s the longest living plant in your garden?
Share this:
Planting Peas
Traditionally, St Patrick’s Day is the time to plant peas and potatoes here in NE Ohio. I was getting ready to plant peas yesterday and realized that I have a ton of seed for sugar snap peas, but only two small packets of shelling peas.
I’ll definitely need more shelling peas, so an order needs to be placed this week. I’ve grown Wando & Alaska previously, this year I planted a pack of Sabre easy-to-work, short vines bear double sets of well-filled pods each with 10 to 12 peas that shell out easily. Delicious tender peas with great taste. Extremely disease-resistant and productive plants (source Renee’s Garden Seeds)
I had a lot of sugar pod peas and planted:
Mammoth Melting snap pea pods are used like snow pea pods. The thick, stringless, 4″-5″ flat edible pods encase creamy-white peas. A high-yielding, early, uniform, and wilt resistant variety. The pods are excellent for stir-fries, steaming, freezing, or eating fresh. (source: Grow Organic)
Oregon Giant Huge yields of sweet, exceptionally large, five inch crispy snow pea pods on vigorous, disease resistant short vines. (source Renee’s Garden Seeds)
Super Sugar Snap Tall vigorous vines (resistant to powdery mildew and tolerant to other pea virus) are laden with long crisp sweet pods that mature in 60 days (source Renee’s Garden Seeds)
I planted all the varieties listed above, but I’ll definitely need to plant more shelling peas so I can stock my freezer for the coming winter. Even though peas take up lots of garden space and you have to shell so many pods to get any measurable amount of peas – to me they’re worth every square inch of garden space!
Do you have any great varieties of peas to recommend?
Share this:
The Parade has Begun
When I was out washing out the cat litter boxes on Tuesday afternoon I decided the weather was nice enough to check the front yard for crocus blooms. If you remember I planted hundreds of crocus and mini daffodil blooms in the lawn last fall. Low and behold I spotted a few bit of purple in the sea of green. Only about 15 are blooming right now, I can’t wait until the rest of the 500 bulbs bloom. I plated 5 different kinds of crocuses in a variety of colors.
On the back hillside, which was planted with over 800 tulip and other flowering bulbs the snowdrops are coming out in full force, pushing their way up through the mulch of chopped leaves and reaching for the sun.
These small splashes of color in the garden mark the beginning stages of a parade of color that will last until late May. I’m so looking forward to watching everything unfold as the coming months progress. Gardening truly is one of those hobbies that brings much joy.
Anything blooming in your garden yet? What’s usually the first bloom you see?
Share this:
Signs of Life in the Garden
Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny with the highs reaching up into the high 30’s low 40’s. I decided it was the perfect time to sow some lettuce seeds. After spending a few minutes clearing away the mustard cover crops that winter killed, I sprinkled 2 packs of lettuce seeds on the bare earth. This are of the garden has a semi-south facing slop so the ground was already starting to thaw. What kind of lettuce did I plant?
‘Rouge D’Hiver’ from Grow Organic described as: (Latuca sativa) (aka Red Winter) French heirloom described in Vilmorin’s The Vegetable Garden (1885). Produces a compact 10-12″ head with a green heart and brownish-red leaves. For spring, summer, and fall planting. Romaine, 60 days
‘Brune D’Hiver’ from Baker Creek described as: Compact, hardy, French butterhead-type lettuce that was introduced in 1855. Crunchy green leaves are blushed in reddish-brown color. Plants require little space when growing, and are perfect for fall plantings. Hard to find in America.
After sowing the lettuce seeds I took a stroll around the garden to see if I could spot any signs of life. In addition to the snowdrops which are gathering steam and starting to show up in higher number I noticed more green in the garden. There were chives coming up, the sweet autumn clematis is already sprouting new growth, the Pink Mediterranean Heather is blooming beautifully on the front hillside, the daffodils are putting up green shoots. There are still overwintered leeks that will be harvested soon and the wild spring greens will be in season shortly. In fact I harvested some bittercress for a salad last night!
Are there any signs of life in your garden yet?
To read more about using cover crops in the garden I highly recommend this book:
