Behind in your garden planning?

Behind in your garden planning? Hey, me too, what a coincidence!

I have awoken along with the daffodils that are blooming and the tulips that are sprouting.

Maybe I need that sense of urgency. I am working on finding a new full-time job, taken a part-time job, started a small business and working on a certificate in web development at my local community college so I am doing other things that have a higher priority-like earning a living.

Enter gardening which for me is a fun hobby that gives me a really important break from the stresses of life. Secondarily, it is now allowing me to procrastinate the assignment I have due this week.  

Garden Plot Spreadsheet

Here is one of the ways I plan my garden, specifically the 4 foot by 8 foot raised bed. It’s a simple Excel spreadsheet that I use to identify what is going in each square foot and what is coming up next in that same spot for the summer plot. The spinach will die off when it starts to get hot, but it can share the space with the carrots because they will grow into the summer. I have column with a list of the plants and the date I want to either start indoors or direct sow (put the seeds in the dirt outside). It is really helpful to keep notes like this to refer to next year. I am happy to share this spreadsheet, send me an email and in the meantime I am going to figure out how to share on Google Docs or something similar.

Spring vegetables like spinach, lettuce, arugula and radish will not continue to produce when it starts to get too hot, but growing these things in the spring is so rewarding. Salad alone is my goal. And planning for summer at the same time does not take all that much more time. So bundle your planning.

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Grow herbs on your window sill

Fresh herbs can really boost the flavors in a salad, your favorite soup, fish and chicken...really anything that you prepare. And they have multiple health benefits on top of containing vitamins and minerals. According to Ellie Kreiger's blog, herbs have "plant compounds with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Piles of studies show that polyphenols in herbs help combat such diseases as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and more. Polyphenols are anti-microbial, so they can help protect us from harmful bacteria as well."

Oregano and parsley growing in a sunny window.

But they can be really expensive in the market, particularly when you don't use the whole bunch and it rots in the fridge. I have been growing oregano and parsley in my sunny kitchen window for a couple of years now so I have access to at least two varieties of herbs all year long. Last week we had some really cold weather but I rescued the parsley from the summer vegetable garden and stuck it in a small pot for the kitchen window. I have also seen whole herb plants in the produce section of my grocery store. They are perfect for putting in a pot and growing in your house all winter long.

Time to plant garlic

According to the University of Maryland extension, now is the time to plant garlic so roots can develop before the cold winter.

Last week I planted hard-neck garlic that I got at the Silver Spring (Maryland) Garden Club's October meeting. Tony Sarmiento, a local garlic grower and evangelist, shared a head with everyone at the meeting.

• He advised that your plot get 9 hours of sun a day and be grown in well-drained soil that has organic matter. 
• Break up the head and plant the individual cloves 6-8 inches apart at a depth double the height of the clove. 
• It is recommended to dip the cloves in a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water before planting.
• He also advised covering the patch with mulch after the ground has frozen.

Easy, right?

I have grown garlic in the past with mixed results so I am eager to see what happens when the winter is over. The garlic will be ready to harvest in early summer.

Seed Saving Season

It’s fall in the Mid-Atlantic zone 7a, the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees in the past week, and for me this is the time to start saving seeds for my garden next year and for sharing with other gardeners and friends.

What to save

When I grow flowers that I really like, saving the seeds allows me to grow the plants again next year without spending money buying seeds over the winter. One flower I love growing are zinnias. They are really colorful in the yard, come in so many varieties, attract butterflies and make beautiful bouquets throughout the summer and early fall. They are really easy to direct sow in the spring. If you have a sunny spot in your yard, give zinnias a try!

This year I tried four new varieties-Button box, Green Envy, State Fair and Benary’s giant purple.

Clockwise: Green Envy zinnia, Benary's giant purple zinnia, state fair zinnia, marigold 

I keep it simple. Zinnia and marigold seeds are really easy to harvest because the seeds are so large. If you have a flower in your yard that you love, do some research to learn the best way to harvest the seeds for next season. Some flowers have really tiny seeds that take a little more care to harvest, but it’s worth trying if it’s a plant you really like.

How to harvest seeds

In order to harvest flower seeds, you have to let the flower die on the plant. I know, it’s kind of ugly, especially in the middle of the summer then the zinnias and marigold are looking their best, bursting with new flowers. That is why I wait until this time of year, when the plants are starting to get leggy and are starting to die. Let the flowers die on the plant until they are completely dried out and crunchy. It has been really rainy here so I have left the flowers on the plants for them to completely dry out. You don’t want mold growing on the seeds.

Here is a short video I made with the basics of saving zinnia and marigold seeds.

Sometimes the birds will eat the flower petals, see the photos, but I am okay with that. I am happy to be a food source for the goldfinches – they LOVE zinnia flower petals. I see them all summer flitting in and out of the beds.

A warning, though; if you have an unexpected hard frost that kills the plants, your seed-saving will be impacted. This happened to me last year. The flowers were zapped overnight by frost so they did not have a chance to die naturally and develop seeds. This spring I only had a handful of zinnia seeds available.

Storing and sharing

Be careful to mark the seeds you are saving and keep them separated. I have many varieties of zinnias this year. When the flowers are dead, it can be hard to tell what is what. And the seeds all look exactly the same! One year, I left the some trays holding the seeds out on the patio and stiff wind came up and blow they all over the place. Second lesson learned – bring the dead flower pods inside.

Color in the garden - Yellow

Yellow is everywhere in my garden this year - florals and edibles. In the past I have been known to really over-do the yellows so I am much more aware of bringing other colors into the beds to create visual interest. Purple and yellow next to each other in the beds create tension because they are contrasting colors, or complimentary colors, meaning they are opposite each other on the color wheel. This creates tension to the eye and makes you want to look at it. My watercolor painting background comes in handy in the garden, too!

On the left: Pumpkin that appeared out of nowhere. Top left to right: Lantana, mouse melon, sunflower, blackeyed susan, State Fair zinnia, tomato.

What’s Growing in mid-July in the Mid-Atlantic

I am astonished that the lettuce (Burpee gourmet blend) has not bolted in this prolonged heat near Washington, D.C. I was planning on using the space for tomatoes when it opened up. It’s going strong and I don’t have the heart to pull it out. I have planted the tomatoes among the lettuce as it gets taller and taller. Mind you, the arugula and the spicy lettuce mix bolted weeks ago.

Clockwise from top left: Pumpkin, lettuce, mouse melon, tomato

I was able to collect mouse melon at a seed swap in February. Two plants survived from seedling and they are growing like mad. Must like the heat! They have tiny tiny flowers now and I am excited to see the fruits develop.

I got a couple of heirloom tomato varieties (German Johnson and Rinon Rippled Delight) at the seed swap and also grape variety. I had not started tomatoes from seed before but I was up for the challenge so I was seeking tomato seeds at the swap. I do not use lights or other contraptions, except for the light from the windows, and I was able to grow about 12 seedlings and get them in the ground in mid-May. Most survived – I have birds that really enjoy snapping seedlings in half in the spring and they found a couple of tomatoes and marigolds to decapitate. Because heirloom varieties can tend to grow very slowly and not bear much fruit, I also bought a couple of hybrid plants a few weeks ago to ensure a good harvest this year.

Stuttgart onions were set on St. Patrick’s Day and are going strong. That will be an empty area at the end of the summer in the raised bed. Beets? Spinach?

Green and wax beans are being planted in succession which means as space, any space, opens I put some seeds in the ground. I will continue that through the summer, curious to see how late I can plants seeds and see them through to fruit. I suspect the daylight will determine that. Bean freeze really well so I try to grow as much as possible.

Surprise, it’s a pumpkin growing in the backyard. It must have come from the jack-o'-lantern carcass I threw out there last November. I grew pumpkins intentionally last year, although I don’t think they were pumpkins at all, and they did not survive. Stay tuned!

Clearing the decks for fall crop

Was I overly optimistic when I declared "There is Still a lot of Summer Left"? It bothers me when the stores and media start rushing fall in August. Halloween candy in the isles at Safeway, the start of meteorological fall, my friends in northern New England reporting a tinge of color in the leaves. Makes me crazy.

Fall Plot Prep
Alas, yesterday I cleared out the beans, pulled the rest of the carrots, picked some kale (my spring plants are still going strong). The Brandywine tomatoes are still really green. Actually all of the tomatoes are still really green. I am now going to remove any flowers that form on the tomato plants in order to direct all of the energy to ripening. And I started the plant list for the fall crop:

• Spinach
• Carrotts
• Radish
• Kale
• Beets
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Onions
• Garlic

When Are Carrots Ready for Picking
I ask myself this question every time I go in and pull them out. I have been relying on the size of the leaves. Yesterday when I picked all of the carrots that remained in the ground, I discovered that the size of the leaves do not correlate to the size of the carrot. I had one PERFECT beautiful carrot (pictured on the right) and the leaves were quite small. I have other kind of smallish carrots with very large leaves (pictured on the left). Good experiment!

On the left, skinny carrot, dense leaves. On the right "Perfection." Large carrot, no splitting, evenly tapered, straight. Very skinny leaves.

Find a Listserv of Local People for Gardening Advice and Community

Who do you turn to online when you have a garden problem or question? There are so many resources out there, but how do you know how knowledgeable the site is?

Find a Local Listserv

I like listservs because there are a lot of voices to offer advice.

I had a question this past week about my tomato plants that seem to be growing really slowly this year. This has never happened to me before! The plants look healthy and they have started flowering but they seem to be only about 1/3 the size they should be for late June/early July.

Left Brandywine heirloom, right Jet Set.

My trusty resource is a Yahoo group I belong to, the Washington Gardner. It is described as a “Free, open discussion list for Washington DC area gardeners -- DC, MD, VA, WV, PA, and DE -- to share gardening information specific to our region. Hosted by Washington Gardener magazine. www.WashingtonGardener.com” The group is so helpful and knowledgeable. Even when I don’t have a specific question, I learn so much from reading the posts.

Here’s my question (cumberland68 is me) – and you are never alone when you are having a gardening problem!

Every day Kathy Jentz, the group manager and edit of Washington Gardener magazine posts here “Gardening Tip of the Day.” So she answered my question with her tip yesterday.

 

This is trusted advice, off to Home Depot I go today. I will report back on how the fish fertilizer did.

I also am a member of the SilverSpringGardenClub and takomahort listservs that serve the Mid-Atlantic. Take a look at Yahoo Groups, there is probably a gardening listserv in your area.

Social Media

I really enjoy looking at pictures of gardens from around the world. Social media makes it so easy to share your garden pics right from your smartphone or tablet. Download the app from your app store to your phone, create your account and you are ready to go. I really like using the Hootsuite app to follow Twitter (@advncingtheplot) and I just started posting to Instagram (advncingtheplot). For ideas and inspiration I use Pinterest. It is a good medium for flipping through photos and archiving my garden’s progress.  

Hashtags make finding certain types of posts easy. I like to follow #gardendc, #gardenchat and #growyourown. Make sure you add hashtags to your posts, too.

What are your go-to social media resources for garden advice and inspiration?