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spring

Garden Logistics

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Spring season is always a matter of logistics when you live in a cold climate. In temperate Ohio we go from cold-can’t-do-anything conditions to hot-don’t-want-to-do-anything weather with only a fleeting spring in between. We can count on two months to get soil prepared and everything planted. Some years there may be some earlier breaks and if we don’t mind working very early in the mornings and watering a lot we can plant later; but two months is what a gardener can count on.

Logistics comprise anything from balancing between open weather conditions to time schedules, to physical energy resources. I always seem to complicate that mix of factors (which is more than enough to make a very busy workload) with tromping off on trips hither and yon. (Mostly Atlanta, to visit my kids and grandchildren).

Needless to say, it is a crush of demands to get the garden going for the year.

The earlier you can get a handle on it, the better.

2 of my Weeding Rules

(1)

Weeding is mandatory in the early part of the growing season. Once roots have grasped hold, it is a much harder row to hoe, as the old adage would word it.

I like to approach weeding with a bit by bit, day by day method if I am given opportunity (vacations and trips out of town wield chaos into that plan). But when regular weeding is done, the accumulated labor yields control over the garden. Conversely I can attest to the sad fact that once weeds gain the upper hand, they will make you very sorry you didn’t get them easily while you could.

Weed early and consistently. Or renovate to your remorse.

Each of us has our own set of bugaboos in the garden. Mine are

  • grass
  • poison ivy
  • burdock
  • Canadian thistle
  • honeysuckle shrubs
  • wild Hemlock
  • ground ivy
  • bindweed

Those are just the worst- I don’t even much care about dandelions.

(2)

The right tool for the right job is one part of this rule, and the other part is to minimize areas that need weeding. So I guess that means ,besides learning which tools best handle your weed, is to customize the yard to your efforts (more of that in the next section of this post). Another way to say that is that by controlling our conditions, we increase our ability to manage our problems.

In the garden there are so many ways this works. When we choose between plants that require pruning and those which do not, for example, we control the amount of work as well as the long term effect on the design of the garden.

When creating flower beds that are easy to mow around by shape and by edging, the amount of work is reduced.

Using materials that last for pathways and arbors, giving more space to permanent plantings, less to those which need replacement or constant care…. these are all ways we control the conditions and enable our maintenance chores to become far more manageable.

Tools for the task?

  • If you have long rooted dandelions or Canadian thistle you should use a long tool with a forked end. Large areas can also be forked up to loosen the roothold and plants then pulled.
  • Burdock and others with a root crown can be dug by a shovel at the crown- no need to get the whole root.
  • Grass weeds can be loosened and removed with a claw type of tool.
  • Most weeds can be dug out with a Cape Cod Weeder, which is most useful in tight places where other tools can’t go.

Of course, you might try to “make-do” with one or two tools. I did, for years. The drawback is how much more labor you will expend and how hard on your body that can be.

Here’s my review of my favorite “Cape Cod Weeder“.

How Do Logistics Need To Change?

Gardening for those who stay close to home is different from that for people who travel. Busy day schedules at work? That may mean weekend-only gardening. Life changes, the garden changes, and we must change.

It is hard to reduce gardening efforts, just like any downsizing, but the goal is to make it not just fit into life, and thus remain/return to being one of the joys of life.

I Was A One Man Band

Once I accomplished the entire amount of work in my garden. As the garden and my family grew, members of the family were pressed into service. Now, I’m no longer capable of handling that type of gardening effort and my “work force” dwindled to almost nil. What to do?

Consider These Solutions
  1. Begin removing plants and gardens. Especially those which require more care than you can give them.
  2. Hire help. Easier said than done for many of us.
  3. Change the style of garden.
  4. Acquire more power tools: hedge trimmers, zero-turn mowers, etc.
  5. Neaten things up with more hardscaping. This might require both hiring others and a bigger budget.

Or you can always move. I hate that last idea, but it may be necessary at some point.

Raised Gardens

raised garden bedI have more raised beds now, but they are sometimes troublesome. Weeding removes soils, which have to be topped up. Pathways have been a problem to maintain.

For me, the jury is out on whether they are worth the time and work -but my husband loves building them, if not working in them.

Summing It Up

After all these years I believe that gardening is a matter of loving both the work and beauty of it and adjusting it to one’s own lifestyle. People tend to give up on those things that don’t fit well with the way they live life.

It is a pity to give up on the health benefits of gardening just because one has become too busy for it. Slowing down one’s pace ( another way to say reducing stress), harvesting and eating freshly grown fruits and vegetables, spending time in close contact with the earth, are all part of the gain to be had.

My own garden logistics plan is to realize that my reach had stretched too far to be maintained. What are your plans for the landscape surrounding your home?

In Touch with the Weather

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Galanthus nivalis
Snowdrops are blooming

A definite benefit of gardening is being in touch with the weather. It’s a necessity, and counters the tendency of a modern life to live in isolation from nature. Of course, mankind has always been in something of a struggle with natural forces; but that is just an explanation for why we complain so much about the weather. (A vestigial sense of our recognition of nature’s importance in our lives).

Funny how the weather in spring sends a message about the rest of the growing season. We can’t always make predictions, but we sure know if we are going to start early, late, or on time. This year in Ohio it has been wet. Despite the fact that neighboring farmers have tiled the fields in past years, a large pond formed in the field across from my house. Gardening and farming will have a bit of a late start in my area.

This is what it looks like. Usually such rains come later in the season.

(This is my main indicator on how saturated the ground is in the entire Central part of the state). Plenty of flooded fields and swollen streams noted between here and the city, too.

The ground is much too soggy to work, but pruning and clearing winter debris is in full swing.

The Spring Walk

I took the “garden assessment” walk the other day. Crocus are starting to bloom, and many other early spring bloomers have popped up and are showing color: Muscari, Scillas, Puschkinia.

Scillas and the P.s are in the family Asparagaceae, I just found out.

snowdrops blooming
Original spot under the Magnolia stellata

I had a nice surprise with the Snowdrops. Planted here very early on, they stayed put in their little places for years and years. Even the crocus tended to rove, but the Galanthus nivalis just seemed content with its little spot.

I finally planted more, because I like them so well, but drew the opinion that snowdrops didn’t particularly like my garden. This year, however, a number have popped up in the grass in surrounding ground. It was one of those unexpected delights of the garden.

Multiplying Bulbs

Every year I tell myself I will dig up some of the bulbs around here and replant them in new places, so maybe this year. And perhaps scatter some fertilizer to give the bulbs a boost.

2017 was the first year, in as long as I can remember, that I didn’t plant bulbs in the fall. If I divide my daffodils this spring, it won’t matter, because I can increase the plantings by hundreds if I want to –  all I need is the energy.

The State of the Roses

My roses go through hell here. The winters winds are so desiccating, the temperatures so low, and the snowcover so nil, that I am reduced to only the hardiest. Each year had picked off more and more of the Hybrid teas, the heritage roses, like ‘Madame Isaac Pereire’, and even the shrub roses like the ‘Königin von Dänemark‘. The real blow came with the advent of Japanese Beetles to our region.

But I have a few survivors. I was worried that my new rose hadn’t made it, but thankfully saw green stems below the snow line. This year there was snow cover during the worst of the winter freeze. I’ll try to coddle it once it gets growing.

It is “Coral Drift® Groundcover Rose“. What I like best about this rose is that it is an everbloomer, and not stingy with its blossoms. It gives autumn roses – the only rose I have grown that will bloom so late. Growing in an exposed position, it truly lives up to the “hardy” designation.

My Poison Ivy Saga

As my garden has matured with trees, shrubs, and organic practices, so has the proliferation of the poison ivy plant. First in little ways and out-of-the-way spots, it now is a thug. My family members are highly sensitive, so it is left to me to wrestle, struggle, and otherwise go to war against it. 

When I was young I was immune to it, a trait I inherited from my Dad. I find that now my body has become somewhat sensitized. I tend to (very carefully) use long handled clippers to remove it.

Well, some very lush growing vines have been a problem and I felt that without the oily leaves I could safely get to work on it. Think again, Ilona. I ended up with a mild case that is over a large part me. I use gloves √ long sleeves √ long pants √ socks and shoes √… and sometimes a hat. Still, even after washing well, the itching developed. I am still itching.

Not a surprise when considering the yards and yards of vine and root, and the many upright bushlike growths that I pulled up and hauled out of the place where it had really taken hold.

poison ivy leaves
The new leaves look so innocent, don’t they?

Things to know about Poison Ivy

  • The offending oil is found in the roots, stems, and branches, not just the leaves.
  • The oil can last on surfaces for years. Wash off the clothing and gloves.
  • When washing up, after gardening or a walk in the woods, scrub off the oil.
  • Never burn it, the oils get into the air and can result in severe allergic reactions.

… Besides gathering up wind blown branches, this is my main activity lately. I had my husband use the chainsaw on some trees. One of my daughters put in a major effort in an overgrown part of the yard.

April in the Garden, One of the Busiest Times

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A photo posted by Ilona (@ilonagarden) on

April is always one of the busiest times in the spring garden season. If perennials didn’t go in during March, they will definitely need to be planted during April.

Getting the earliest crops of the vegetable patch planted, whatever new trees are to be planted, garden cleanup of beds, sowing half hardy seeds in situ, and many more jobs get crammed into my April, between the normal showers and the less normal snow squalls or freezing temperature drops.

It is kind of a crazy time for a gardener.

This year we had some very cold weather with bits of snow and hard freezes, further north you go, the more snow. For me, it might have been sad to see the frost blasted magnolia, but I was grateful for an otherwise early spring that allowed the early bulbs, daffodils, and many of the shrubs their full display of color.

The cold and wet has held up my spring planting, however.

New Boxes

The good news for my garden prep is that my husband has made me the new raised bed boxes he promised! One is a replacement for the old barn wood box that finally disintegrated and the other is new, both made of cedar.

I like raised beds because they warm up and dry out more quickly in spring.

Now that they are built… we just need them to be installed in the garden!

Perennial Divisions

It is also a good time for dividing perennials since they will have time to root and start to get established before the heat of the summer kicks in. I found a source for a plant that I found out later is short lived. I want more of it.

Now I know to get divisions going before the plant looks to be running out. (That is the answer to keeping short lived perennials in your garden).

Blue Mist Flower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

Source found:

The Blue Mist flower in my garden was originally given me by my father many years ago (he has passed on since then). It persisted for a number of years, but was shaded by a large maple which is not an ideal situation. It is also at its northern edge of the hardiness requirements.

I loved that it was one of those fairly rare plants that bloom late in summer. More rare that it was a soft blue color.  Which created my desire to find a source for plants, so that I might try again to create a spot for it.

If you also have certain perennials to add for the first time, or renew acquaintance with, this month is a good window. May is possible, but might require more cosseting through the summer, especially if we have lots of heat or drought.

Getting Seeds Sown

I’ve given one of my friends a garden plot in my large vegetable garden space. She already has sown her beets, lettuce, and peas.

I haven’t sown anything and was just cleaning up my beds when the rain, snow, and hard frosts hit. That will teach me! Now I’m waiting for the ground to dry out a little again…

Most half hardy types of flowers and early vegetables are fine with some frosts if sown early. Peas do especially well under those circumstances, but radishes and lettuce are two early crops that seems okay with the cold.

I try not to pressure myself so much when it comes to gardening. I used to get very overworked in the spring, but not am almost laissez faire: what will be, will be. I decided I wanted to enjoy the process more.

Everyone has their priorities and goals, and for me a garden is a source of connecting, not so much a competition or a production.

How are you faring this season so far?

My Rural Life

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My husband and I bought and started homesteading this place in the mid 1980’s. I had no skills, and plenty of dreams. I never managed to have that flock of sheep I envisioned, but instead raised a flock of children. That became my main crop.

We all worked hard. I sure wish we had used more mechanized equipment. I truly know what the old saying means, ” a hard row to hoe…”

Chickens

It was practical to have chickens, and there were two old coops on the property (everything was old, run down, dismantled or in the process of being dismantled when we moved here.) I used to say the place was within a few years of being condemned.

I started my flock of chickens with Rhode Island Reds. Next added some Barred Rocks, and finally added Golden Buffs.

Someone gave me a couple of their extra roosters. When they fought for dominance- one was given away.

The Rhode Island Reds were the hardiest, the Barred Rocks were less productive layers and the Golden Buffs were the best layers. Originally I had wanted hens good for both eggs and meat, but after the short-lived “meat chicken” fiasco, I learned that our family does better with someone else producing our meat.

We had lots of eggs for many years. I made custards and quiches, gave away dozens to all my friends, and managed to sell a little.

After a raccoon raid left all my chickens dead, I stopped raising hens for many years. Saying for the past ten years or so “Maybe this year, we will get some chicks…”

This year, we finally started with a small flock of six Golden Buff pullets, and added a pair of Bantams.

We introduced the chicks to to the bantams, and they are now all staying in a tiny coop together, in relative harmony. Except for one chick that they all picked on; she is back in the box inside the house to recover, a sort of chickie hospital.

Veggies

herbs and lettuce
A portion of the garage garden with cilantro, lettuces, and strawberry plants.

I have the biggest truck garden this year since those early years when I had something like a 25 x 100 yard garden. In those years we grew corn, beans, greens, head and Cos lettuces, carrots, tomatoes and peppers, raspberries, strawberries, melons, eggplant and zucchini, and numerous other things. I had a separate herb garden.

This year it is tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, cutting flowers, parsley, cilantro, dill, mints, radishes, mixed lettuces, a bit of Chard. I have one conventional garden planted out in rows or blocks and one with raised beds.

I just finished creating the walkways with an experimental weed suppression system of cardboard, covered with wool rug (it got damaged beyond saving) strips, and covered entirely with cypress mulch. As with all new paths it looks wonderful, but time will tell if it reduces the work of keeping that outlying garden.

My friend has started her conventional plot in one section of my old veggie garden. It looks great, and her radishes and beans have sprouted. It is about as big as the one I have closer to my house.

Flowers

I used to grow abundant flower gardens in the English Cottage style. Through the years, my workload with homeschooling and raising kids increased, I entered that limbo where you take care of aging parents and raise your kids at the same time, and kept a very busy Church schedule. Something had to give, and the flower gardens started waning, the food gardens became mostly a few pepper and tomato plants. The native grasses came to claim the abandoned flower and food gardens.

I have always tried to keep a couple borders going, but they tend to get more weedy than I can control. I still try.

Container Flower Pots

Most of my hunger for color is satisfied with numerous container plantings and  now a couple rows of cutting flowers in the food garden.

Some years the containers are painstakingly planned, but lately all is much more serendipitous. I rarely start my own flowers anymore. The garden centers have greatly reduced their variety of offerings, and they continue to put little plants in large pots and price accordingly. I put together the best of what I find.

Still, the spring season is an exhausting crush of tasks, and I am so much slower and less capable. I finally learned that what I picture in my mind must undergo a pruning session when it comes to the actual physical effort my body is capable of making.

I try to control my impulse to apologize for what is left undone.

Changes

Invariably I start musing about the amount of changes… in my life, in the area I live, in society at large.our old house

There are…

Fewer homesteaders who have ambitious gardens, more urban chickens and tiny “farm” plots, creeping development and increasing traffic, fewer animal herds. Many of the old farmhouses are gone, and new homes sprouting up, most of them inferior in architecture- but of course, not all.

My trees now tower over me, and I have lost a number. The ash are all gone, now.

I start my work in the mornings, and go as long as I can (a pitiably short time), but am more thankful for what is accomplished.

I am presently sitting on a beautiful deck (which my husband built) in an anti-gravity chair. My life did not turn out as I imagined, but it is good now. Satisfying.

Ambitions quiet, small enjoyments shine, and I see how important allowing the moment to have its due attention is, in the movement of time.

I am returning to some of the roots of previous times, but with a different attitude, and my goals are stripped of competition and restless achievements.

There is a great deal of value in growing content, doings ones tasks, and enjoying the pleasures given in an honest and quiet life.

Living Vs. Writing

During my homeschooling years I discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder. Came to love her books and read everything I could get my hands on by her and about her. Somehow missed her books during my childhood years.

One thing that struck me was that she carefully edited her histories to show the sunny side of life. At times, real life was so trying that this was difficult. When you read of her early married years, you understand how challenging it must have been to give an optimistic view of a long string of tragic circumstances. Even her own early years were laced with what an adult reader understands is a lot of heartbreak.

There is much that is not written of the hardships of life, of how much a toll is taken by unforeseen obstacles and trials.

When we write of our gardens and farms, there is much that is a tradeoff… shall I do the work or write about doing the work? All my life there has been an ebb and flow, time and attention to one area of effort and neglect of another, then taking turns so that all may have something of a balance.

I see why some value a narrowed focus, but I continue to make my rounds (ever more slowly) to try and keep all the tops spinning! We have our choices of how we live our lives and I no longer see a hierarchy of value as much as a diversity of choices in these things.

I imagine that is partly an outcome of the changes in our society. My father might have seen that there are “right ways” of doing things, even though I think it handicapped him… I see there are more ways to deliver the same outcome. Not to extrapolate it too far, but it does help to be more accepting of oneself and of life in general.

Enough personal history and philosophy, I have a few chores to do….

‘Til Later, Friends.

chickcoop

It Is Still Freezing, Cold, And Snowing

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Yes, playing with Picmonkey. What else on the rainy/snowy/frozen days we are having? Housework, you say? What is that?

Yes, the weather again. We are still in the throes of winter. Throes I say! Everyone says they are tired of it, but we really don’t have any say in the weather, do we? It will affect how soon we will be able to plant out our seeds and new plants.

The ground will stay frozen for longer than we are used to in this part of the country.

That is my prediction.

Vegetable plants like peppers, and most especially tomatoes, need warm soil to thrive. This will be one year to not rush the season.

Weighty Snow

One year I had some of my globe arborvitae damaged, but this year it was the canopy and its frame that sheltered the hot tub that collapsed under the weight of wet snow.
That was a first.
I am finding it hard to think about growing things when the world outside looks like midwinter instead of like March.
Normally we would be headed into the mud season. Not likely when the temperatures will dip below zero. Again.

Frozen earth for another few weeks.

Hit The Ground Running

One effect of the prolonged wintry conditions is that a gardener can prepare to get started as soon as the weather breaks. If our tools are ready, plans made, we can get started without delay.

If we have raised beds, we are one step ahead in warming up the soil. I’m glad I made some raised beds a couple years ago. They dry out quicker in the spring, which is a boon in this clay-loam, high water table area.

Have you ever used floating row covers? I haven’t, but this would be a great year to begin. There are a few things to remember, as Colorado State cautions:

“Thwart weeds that may thrive in a covered environment by using a mulch such as black plastic before planting.”

Do We Have Garden Tips For March?

Maybe later in the month we can use the usual tips, but for now, backtrack into February chore suggestions.
  • We can safely start early indoor crops, plants started now should be ready to plant out after the last frost date without becoming too leggy.
  • A late winter means that dormant plants can still be pruned.
  • It will eventually warm up, and when it does remove the old stuff that is still left from last years garden.
  • Don’t pull back mulch from your plants, especially the roses, too early.
  • Check for winter damage- there is bound to be something this year.
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© 2015 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.