Flush with Sweet Peas
I have never grown sweet peas in the past, they’re just not something that has been on my list. This year, a friend and I ordered seeds together and she wanted to grow sweet peas. We split a large pack of seeds and I seeded a 40 foot long row of sweet peas along the back of the main vegetable garden. They started blooming a month or so ago and have been blooming profusely ever since. These are ‘Mammoth Choice’ sweat pea mix from Johnny’s Seeds.
I have so many that I’ve been picking bouquets and sending them to work with Mr Chiots and giving them away to friends. Will I grow them again, I’m not sure. I have yet to see any pollinators hovering around the blooms and that’s one of the reasons I grow flowers. They are nice for cutting and gifting, so maybe I’ll let a few set seed so I can save a few for next year.
What are you favorite cut flowers to grow?
Share this:
Friday Favorite: Scarlet Runner Beans
Today it really isn’t one of my favorite things but one of my mom’s favorite things. She always grew scarlet runner beans in her garden just for the hummingbirds. When I was back in Ohio for her memorial service, my dad gave my sister and I each a packet of seeds so we could grow them in our gardens.
They are scrambling up their trellis and blooming away. Hopefully all the local hummingbirds are enjoying them just as much as my mom’s always did.
Do you grow any plants in your garden because they were favorites of loved ones in your life?
Share this:
Deadheading
I’ve never been great at deadheading, it just slips my mind. Annuals aren’t very common in my garden, I find myself mostly focusing on perennials, hardy annuals, and things that reseed easily but don’t become invasive. There are still deadheading chores with this kind of gardening, but it’s generally shearing off the entire plant rather than cutting off spent blossoms. This year I have more annual cutting flowers that I have ever had and I find that the deadheading part is something I haven’t quite figured out how to work into my schedule. The good thing is that when I don’t get around to deadheading I can save seed for some of my favorite varieties.
Deadheading is a great way to build the compost piles. Since I’m currently using them to build up one side of my main edible garden, I’m always looking for sources to make them grow larger and produce more compost. Earlier this week, I deadheaded my cosmos, dahlias, and a few others plants and ended up with a very large tubtrug filled with flowers. It also makes for a pretty compost pile, at least for a day or so.
The other evening, while I was in the garden cutting spent blossoms off the cosmos, I was thinking it might be a good idea to set a schedule. Maybe Sunday evenings are a good time to spend deadheading and cutting things back. This is how I work my fertilization into my system without having to keep track. Generally, I give the plants that need it a liquid kelp feed on the first and the fifteenth of each month. That way I know when it happens and don’t have to try to remember or keep track.
How do you manage your time gardening to keep up with the weekly chores?
Share this:
Seed Saving
Sometimes I save seed for my favorite plants, this year I’m saving in earnest. So far I have a nice collection of: hollyhock, foxglove, sage, columbine (3 different colors), poppies, and nasturtium.
As the season progresses I’ll be saving seeds for some of my favorite pole beans, tithonia, tomatoes and a few other annuals. As I’m always thinking of ways to help cover the bills of this blog without ads, I’ve been consdering saving seeds to some of my favorite no fail flowers and herbs to sell. Would you be interested in buying seeds?
Do you save seeds from your vegetables, herbs, and flowers?
Share this:
Ombré Nasturtium Blossoms
I found a recipe for nasturtium vinegar in ‘Preserving the Taste’. Since I am flush with nasturtium blossoms this year, I decided to give it a try.
As I was picking, I noticed that my nasturtiums flowers are in a gradient, what most people call ombré nowadays. After crushing the flowers and adding crushed black peppercorns, I topped it off with a little organic white wine vinegar. It’s currently steeping in the pantry and is supposed to sit for four weeks before consuming. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
What are you preserving this week?
