Quote of the Day: David Culp
Sometimes the most memorable garden moments are the most fleeting, as when a single leaf, backlit by the sun, is transformed from opaque to a translucent tracery of veins more beautiful than any stained glass. I hate to leave my garden for any length of time because it means I miss these moments, or the more predictable blooms of favorite plants.
David Culp from The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage
A couple weeks ago I was looking through my photos of the old garden back in Ohio. It’s bittersweet for sure, I’m sad that I’ll be missing so many wonderful moments this spring. I’ll be missing the thousands of tulips, narcissus, bluebells, crocuses and other flowering bulbs I planted. The 15 varieties of peonies and 30 varieties of hydrangeas will also bloom without me seeing them. At least I have thousands of images of my old garden.
What plant or flower is most memorable to you?
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Evergreen Amaryllis
Last year I purchased a few different varieties of amaryllises from Van Engelen. My mom has a knack for getting them to rebloom year after year, I figured I’d try to do the same. Around Christmas, when my mom was visiting, we were looking at the leaves emerging from the bulbs and were debating whether or not they’d bloom or not.
A few days after she left, flower stalks started coming up. These bulbs received no special treatment, the pots were put on my front porch last spring when the weather warmed. Every so often I’d give them a watering with Neptune’s Harvest. I’m slightly amazed that they bloomed this year.
These beauties are ‘Evergeen’ amaryllises, not your typical pink or red varieties with big showy flowers. I’m rather fond of them and hope they continue blooming year after year! I guess I’ll try giving them the same treatment again, which is pretty much nothing special.
Do you grow any flowering bulbs as houseplants?
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Library Learning and a Podcast
On Tuesday, Mr Chiots and I headed to the Belfast Free Library to listen to Lauren and Bill Errickson’s seminar, The Permaculture Process: Creating an Edible Landscape. Not only did we attend to listen and learn, we actually recorded their talk for Cultivate Simple, our podcast about all things gardening and simple living.
Topics of discussion:
- setting goals for your property
- promote healthy ecology, wildlife, and pollinators
- minimize landscape inputs
- generate income
- evaluating and assessing your existing landscape
- how permaculture principles can be used to expand existing landscape assets while reducing “trouble” spots
Lauren and Bill Errickson own and operate Singing Nettle Farm and Conscious Elements Permaculture in Brooks. They both hold M.S. degrees in Natural Resources from the University of New Hampshire and Advanced Permaculture Design Certificates from Humustacia Gardens. For further information, visit their website: www.singingnettlefarm.com
If you’re interested in permaculture and how to incorporate it’s methods in your home garden this is the talk for you. Tune in the Cultivate Simple this coming Monday to hear what Bill & Lauren have to say.
Do you ever attend local workshops & seminars about gardening?
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The End
Last Thursday we officially no longer owned a house in Ohio. After much hassle and paperwork for their VA loan, the new owners signed papers on Wednesday and they were filed on Thursday. It all became real when the money showed up in our bank account that afternoon.
With this, our lives at 247 E Mohawk Drive are in the past, 100% over, the end. It’s a bit sad, but also very exciting. We certainly loved our little house and miss it a little. That being said, we’re settling in quite nicely in Maine and starting to put down roots here.
It feels really good to officially close this chapter of our lives and to finally be able to start focusing on the new chapters ahead. With this final piece of the puzzle in place we have much less on our minds. We’ve cancelled insurance, utilities, and it’s nice to know we now only have bills for one residence.
Breathe a deep sigh of relief with Mr Chiots and I…..
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The Organized Gardener
The longer I garden, the more I realize the need to be organized and to keep good records. If you only have a small garden, it’s not as important as if you plant a wide variety of vegetables and try to incorporate succession planting along with fall/winter gardening. As I sit down and spend time planning out the 2013 edible gardens, I realize there’s a lot of organization that needs to take place.
I’ve been working on coming up with a year-long calendar to make sure I know when to seed all my various crops for production throughout the year. Not only do I need to think about the spring/summer garden, I’m trying to plan my garden so I have greens to harvest in winter and roots in the cellar as well. There are also cover crops to think about, that need to be worked into the crop rotation to improve soil and mitigate disease/pest issues. It’s all getting very complex.
Each evening, I spend time with books and charts planning the entire gardening year. My next step will be drawing out a big garden plan and figuring out where everything will be planted. I must say, I don’t mind this side of it, I rather enjoy that it gives me something to do during the winter months.
What’s your biggest organizational challenge when it comes to gardening?
