Quote of the Day: Janet Kilburn Phillips
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.”
-Janet Kilburn Phillips
I was talking with someone recently who was mortified of planting perennials because “Once you put them somewhere they can’t be moved”. I am not that kind of gardener, I move perennials all the time. In fact I often purchase perennials and plant them in a holding area of the garden while I decide where to put them or move other perennials to make space for them. In my garden I move any plant, small trees, shrubs, annual and perennials. As long as you get a big enough root ball and water well for a month or so just about any plant can be moved. In fact, many perennials do much better when they’re dug up and divided every few years. Gardening is the ultimate form of art because there really are no mistakes, it’s all part of the process.
Do you have any gardening fears?
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Quote of the Day: Laura Ingalls Wilder
“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
Coffee, cats, my sweetie, sunrises, camping, flowers, good food, and reading – these are a few of the simple things I enjoy.
What simple things in life do you enjoy most?
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Quote of the Day: Toby Hemenway
“Of course, we want to live in an attractive landscape. But if we can go beyond what plants look like, and examine what they are doing, we can begin to create gardens that have the health, resilience, and beauty of natural ecosystems while yielding abundant gifts for people and for other species.”
-Toby Hemnway Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition
Earlier this week I mentioned planting nitrogen fixing plants in the ornamental gardens for the benefits they bring to the other plants. There’s also a group of plants called dynamic accumulators that bring up lots of nutrients from deep within the soil. Whenever I plant a garden bet I try to add a few of these to my garden, comfrey is my favorite.
Comfrey is not only a wonderfully beneficial plant for the garden, it’s also beautiful as well. The bees LOVE it. It just so happens that many of my comfrey plants came from my grandmother’s house. They were passed on to my mom who passed them along to me. I use comfrey leaves for lots of things, not only do I use them as mulch around plants, I also put a few in the planting holes of anything I add to the garden. They are supposed to help the plants by feeding them and by stimulating root growth. I also dry comfrey to feed the chickens all winter. Comfrey is also nice because it’s easy propagate so you can have it growing all over the garden easily and inexpensively.
There are all kinds of dynamic accumulators, in fact many of the plants we call weeds are in this group. If you are interested in learning about this kind of companion plants I highly recommend the book quoted above. I checked this book out of the library so many times I finally purchased one for my library.
What’s your favorite companion planting group?
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Quote of the Day: Cesare Pavese
“We do not remember days; we remember moments.”
~ Cesare Pavese
My favorites moments in the garden are often those where I am enjoying the fruits of my labor and I find no better time than the golden hour of sunset.
I try to make sure I get out to enjoy this moment at least once a week, usually I have my camera with me. These moments make all the hot days of seeking worth while!
What moments have you been enjoying this week?
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Quote of the Day: Monty Don
“There is a group of plants that grow lustily every year, whatever the weather and however negligent I am of their care. They never fail, and never let me down. Almost certainly they are the same ones that are thriving best in your garden too, because they are all weeds. However you arrive at it, weeds are there in every garden and take up an awful lot of a gardener’s time and energy.
Tackle weeds when you notice them. In practice this means that it is a constant job. But – and I think that this is really important and underrated – weeding is at the heart of gardening. I use it as a chance to get close to my plants and to judge the state of the soil, s well as port of keeping the place looking beautiful. So don’t see weeding as a terrible burden imposed upon you but enjoy it as part of real gardening.”
Monty Don in Gardening at Longmeadow
It’s the season for weeds, which I don’t mind really. I like filling my bucket and then filling the compost pile. Many weeds pull up specific nutrients so they are valuable to have around. I spend a little time each day pulling weeds, this helps me stay on top of them and they never seem to get out of hand. My most prolific annual weed seems to be wild amaranth.
What weed do you pull most in your garden?
