*Our good friend, and frequent contributor, Susan Boehm, is an avid gardener with invaluable tips for the coming months. Below she shares her advice and how to survive the cold and dreary months:
Recently a few friends were celebrating fall's arrival and the needed respite from our very hot summer. The non-gardeners in the group mused that we avid gardeners must be especially relieved to be done with our gardening given the high temperature this year. "I bet even you garden addicts look forward to the break in gardening routines!" "What break?" We gardeners said, with laughter. This is the time of the year that we plan, and dream, and plan, and dream. We write numerous notes and directions for the coming gardening season. The laughter was even greater when we dedicated gardeners admitted to stacks of notes scattered around the house, identifying our visions for the coming year. We also admitted to having hundreds of post-it notes sticking out of garden books and magazines, marking future ideas and plans. Although, sometimes we rarely consult our notes once spring arrives. However, we have found it is a pure pleasure to simply sit back and dream, and plan.
My gardening friends and I agreed that there are essential garden tasks in the late fall and early winter. One is getting your soil tested. Everyone thought that this was one of the best habits we had ever developed. The second task is cleaning and sharp
ening your garden tools. This one was a bit harder to establish. But, after you experience a few springs with tools ready to work, as they should, it is easy to make it a ritual in the fall and winter. I must admit though, that not one of us was particularly good at taking up, draining, and putting away our garden hoses.
One of our favorite fall chores is planting bulbs. We especially enjoy planting in containers. It was fun to hear the lengths that we will go to, in order to place the containers, so that they are enjoyed from our windows. We like to plant a variety of bulbs in one container, to ensure a range of colors, textures, and flowers throughout the cold and sometimes dreary months. One gardener friend of mine plants a variety of small evergreens in her containers and adds bulbs and pansies around the edge. A touch of green outside the window is wonderful during the winter months.
One of my favorite container combinations includes Red Russian kale in one container, and Giant Red Mustard in another. The seeds can be sown in a patch of garden, or in peat pots outside, and then transplanted to the container. I have even added seeds as late as the middle of November. There wasn't much action till later in the winter, but once they sprouted, they kept growing and growing! If you aren't familiar with these plants, they are definitely worth looking up. They are red, tall, regal, and ruffled plants with great texture. It can be quite a show when planted with pink and yellow snapdragons and pansies.
Several of us plant snapdragons, pansies, and ornamental cabbages along a walk or driveway, where they can frequently be enjoyed. It is so pleasing when the flowers look so healthy and bloom their hearts out in early spring! Finally, it was surprising that four of us have asked Santa for the same thing! On the top of our lists is Michael Dirr's book, "Dirr's Trees & Shrubs for Warm Climates".
*Our good friend, and frequent contributor, Susan Boehm, is an avid gardener with invaluable tips for the coming months. Below she shares her advice and how to survive the cold and dreary months:
Recently a few friends were celebrating fall's arrival and the needed respite from our very hot summer. The non-gardeners in the group mused that we avid gardeners must be especially relieved to be done with our gardening given the high temperature this year. "I bet even you garden addicts look forward to the break in gardening routines!" "What break?" We gardeners said, with laughter. This is the time of the year that we plan, and dream, and plan, and dream. We write numerous notes and directions for the coming gardening season. The laughter was even greater when we dedicated gardeners admitted to stacks of notes scattered around the house, identifying our visions for the coming year. We also admitted to having hundreds of post-it notes sticking out of garden books and magazines, marking future ideas and plans. Although, sometimes we rarely consult our notes once spring arrives. However, we have found it is a pure pleasure to simply sit back and dream, and plan.
My gardening friends and I agreed that there are essential garden tasks in the late fall and early winter. One is getting your soil tested. Everyone thought that this was one of the best habits we had ever developed. The second task is cleaning and sharp
ening your garden tools. This one was a bit harder to establish. But, after you experience a few springs with tools ready to work, as they should, it is easy to make it a ritual in the fall and winter. I must admit though, that not one of us was particularly good at taking up, draining, and putting away our garden hoses.
One of our favorite fall chores is planting bulbs. We especially enjoy planting in containers. It was fun to hear the lengths that we will go to, in order to place the containers, so that they are enjoyed from our windows. We like to plant a variety of bulbs in one container, to ensure a range of colors, textures, and flowers throughout the cold and sometimes dreary months. One gardener friend of mine plants a variety of small evergreens in her containers and adds bulbs and pansies around the edge. A touch of green outside the window is wonderful during the winter months.
One of my favorite container combinations includes Red Russian kale in one container, and Giant Red Mustard in another. The seeds can be sown in a patch of garden, or in peat pots outside, and then transplanted to the container. I have even added seeds as late as the middle of November. There wasn't much action till later in the winter, but once they sprouted, they kept growing and growing! If you aren't familiar with these plants, they are definitely worth looking up. They are red, tall, regal, and ruffled plants with great texture. It can be quite a show when planted with pink and yellow snapdragons and pansies.
Several of us plant snapdragons, pansies, and ornamental cabbages along a walk or driveway, where they can frequently be enjoyed. It is so pleasing when the flowers look so healthy and bloom their hearts out in early spring! Finally, it was surprising that four of us have asked Santa for the same thing! On the top of our lists is Michael Dirr's book, "Dirr's Trees & Shrubs for Warm Climates".