The First Full Day of Spring

It's the first full day of spring, and I started 400 zinnia seeds under lights in my dining room today. I took a quick stroll around my gardens. Compared with gardeners south of here, I have few blooms. I appreciate the infrequent ones I find: crocus, hellebore, and (today) Pulmonaria's pretty pink and blue flowers. I have considerably more snowdrops this year -- thanks to Frank of Sorta Like Suburbia. Daffodil tips are appearing everywhere, and even a few tulips. Spring will be fabulous when it ultimately arrives at Astolat.

Garden planning is well underway for the new gardening year. I began, as always, with an assessment of last year's gardens for what worked and what didn't.

Four gardens that worked well in 2022. Clockwise from top left - Serenity Garden, Rain Garden, the all-white Stone Garden, and the bountiful Kitchen Garden

Although the Serenity Garden is working well, I plan a few changes: Adding more foxgloves and some lavender and replacing the lamium. The lamium ground cover is pretty in spring when blooming, but the leaves turn black when the temperature soars in July. I ordered some hardy plumbago (Ceratostigma) to begin the replacement process.

I planted more annuals in the Cottage Garden last year and the zinnias were lovely. This year I want to remove some of the aggressive gooseneck loosestrife and add the native Babtisia 'Twilight Prairieblues.' Of course, I ordered delphinium, a cottage garden must have, that behaves like an annual in my garden. In addition, I am increasing the hollihocks plants. There were few blooming last year.

 

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 My most successful garden in 2022 was the new meadow:

I will reseed the meadow with annuals and hope some perennials make an appearance this summer.

This year, I gave seed purchases, plant purchases, and my garden design more thought than usual, as my garden must be at its best for the photo shoots for my book. I sometimes tell clients, 'Do as I say, not as I do,' but now I'm trying to match what I do with what I write in the book. For example, I include companion planting in a chapter on vegetables. Although I always rotate my crops, I am generally haphazard with what I produce and how I mix plants. This gardening season, I will grow nasturtiums in the zucchini bed because I'm writing that nasturtiums reduce the squash bug population. 

I made my kitchen garden plan. I organized seed packets according to planting dates.

My plan shows where I am companion planting, interplanting, relay planting and succession planting.

I haven't started the spring garden chores because it has been too cold to venture out. As I age, I can no longer tolerate cold and dampness. I have plant stalks to cut down in flowerbeds and the meadow, shrubs and trees to prune, and weeding to do. I plan to start this week as temperatures rise.  Have you made a start yet?

Wishing you a Happy Spring and the BEST gardening year!

Love,

Pamela x

 

 

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February Snow and Sorting Seeds

Astolat Farm, February 2021

 

My blog became a teenager this week. I started my first post with a picture of our house, February 21, 2008. There was no snow in the picture that day. This year, however, we were in a three-day snow storm when the month began, and it seems to have snowed every day since.

Some highlights of the month: the rest of my seeds arrived, I had a lovely Valentine's Day, I finished planning my spring vegetable and cutting gardens, and I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count again. I'll start with the seeds. (Those of you who have been following this blog for the past 13 years can just scroll down to the bird and snow pictures as I write much the same every year. Sorry.)

PLANNING THE 2021 KITCHEN GARDEN

I followed my usual procedure for sorting seeds and planning the new season's kitchen garden. For those who don't know me, I have a fenced-in kitchen garden with picket fencing on two sides and pasture fencing on the remaining two sides. (I wish the picket fence went all the way around, but we cannot afford it.) The area is approximately 35 feet x 37 feet. The focal point of my kitchen garden is my potting shed, which has an acrylic glass roof and cold frames on the south side. In the kitchen garden we constructed four raised beds 8 feet x 4 feet each and several grow-boxes. A 'lasagna' bed along the picket fence is my cutting garden. I grow my vegetables and herbs in raised beds for several reasons: they provide better drainage, I can more easily control the growing medium, they heat up faster in spring (important in the short-growing season of the Pocono Mountains), and they are not effected by toxins from the walnut tree in the vicinity. Also, when the soil is shin level, weeding and harvesting is less hard on the back. My kitchen garden is located in an area of full sun.

 

The Kitchen Garden and Potting Shed

 

There are four planning steps.

Step 1: I begin by separating the seed packets into flowers and vegetables. I then divide them into 'start indoors' and 'direct sow.' These directions are on the seed packet. For example, larger seeds such as beans and corn, do best if you sow them directly into the garden.

I utilize the dining-room table to begin the sorting process.  (Note the miniature rose and the unusual 'hedgehog' card that Duane gave me for Valentine's Day)

 

Step 2: I plan to start seeds indoors so they are at the correct stage of development to move outside after the last frost. On average the last frost in the Poconos is May 23 (the Poconos has a frost-free growing season of around 123 days -- not very long, is it?) If the seed packet says 'Start seeds indoors 4-8 weeks prior to the last frost of spring' I count back on the calendar to April 7 as the date to start them indoors.  I use index cards to separate the seed packets by date, arranging them in a wooden trug that I bought many years ago from Home Goods.

I'll be starting my first seeds indoors on March 1.

 

Step 3: I put the seed-starting and direct-sowing dates on a calendar dedicated to this purpose. I will use this calendar for making notes on germination, potting on, frosts, what worked and what didn't, etc. 

 

I'm almost ready to start sowing!

 

Step 4: The last job is to plan where the vegetables and flowers will be located in the kitchen garden. I try to group vegetables of the same family together then follow a four-year rotation. I rotate the crops to avoid diseases. The long bed on the right of the diagram is my cutting garden.

 

The diagram of my kitchen garden is more or less to scale.

So now I am ready to sow; I'll be starting broccoli indoors on March 1st. How are you doing with your spring planning?

The Great Backyard Bird Count did not bring any unusual birds into my garden, but I really enjoyed lots of juncos, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers, sparrows, cardinals, and a pair of wrens that continue to provide us with endless entertainment.

The hairy woodpecker. He has a longer beak than the downy woodpecker. Both visited for GBBC.

A white-breasted nuthatch

One of two Carolina wrens that visit the back porch every day

 Of course, the squirrels always spoil the fun by scaring away the birds. They look for ways to climb onto the bird feeder that hangs on the porch.  One of them thought he could jump from the top of the jug nesting box there, but it was too far.

The squirrel is eying the seeds in the bird feeder hanging nearby.

 

I don't leave the house often when its cold and icy, but ventured into the garden yesterday to take a few pictures.  I mentioned last time that there are usually some signs of spring by now: the first snowdrop blooms, lots of hellebore buds, and the green shoots of daffodils and of other spring bulbs. I can only trust that Mother Nature is working her magic under the two feet, or so, of snow that remains, and that when it finally melts away, all those glories will be revealed. I have to reassure myself that the snow is providing my plants with a protective blanket from the severe cold. I am trying very hard not to complain because I am not experiencing anything as devastating as that of our Texas friends. As I pray for them, I thank God for my warm home, electricity, and abundant water whenever I turn on the faucet.

The red twig dogwood is a multi-stemmed shrub with outstanding coral-red branches.

A small hole in Froggy Pond allows the fish to get oxygen -- there is a heater there. Froggy is almost entirely buried under the snow

Froggy doesn't look too happy, does he?

I wonder which creature made the tracks under the walnut tree?

The goats grew lovely, thick coats to keep them warm through this unexpectedly snowy month.

I think the three goats are as tired of the snow as I am.

From left to right: Doodles (at the back), Bilbo, and Taz

 

Today was special in two ways: the thaw began and I got my second COVID vaccination!

I am linking with Sarah in Dorset, England at Down by the Sea for a peep over her garden gate at her February garden. I'm sure she will have some blooms already-- giving me hope that mine wont be far behind. 

Stay safe and well dear friends. 

Love,

Pamela x

 

My potting shed this month

 

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Planning My 2020 Kitchen Garden on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

The crocuses are in bloom. They are early this year, as expected during a time of global warming. We are experiencing an exceptionally mild March in the Pocono Mountains -- the pond didn't freeze over and we didn't have snow so far this month, but a lot of rain. I see fat buds on the daffodils already and some hellebore blooms are open. Spring, due to arrive later this week, seems to be here already. I have, however, been extraordinarily late ordering seeds. If I have an excuse it is that I was preparing for a heavy speaking schedule. My talks have now been cancelled due to the corona virus. Also (with my advanced age) I am forced to stay home as I practice social distancing. So I have worked on my seed order at last. Of course, I was browsing the catalogs all winter, so had a good idea what to order. For my modest size garden I choose the vegetables that Duane and I like most, adding a new variety or two. I didn't make up my mind which company to use, though, until the last minute.

Seed Catalog Season -- One of my favorite seasons of the year

I feel it's best to choose a seed company located in the Northeast; they provide varieties adapted to our area. Some of the companies I have uses with good results: Burpee, Johnny's Select Seeds, and The Cook's Garden. I've also used Annie's Heirloom Seeds although Michigan is a Midwest state; I love the idea of heirloom seeds. This year, I decided to purchase from Hudson Valley Seed Company from New York state.  At this taxing time, I am looking for every way possible to de-stress; studies show that one way of doing that is to look at art. Hudson Valley's seed packets are true works of art. I wrote a blog posting about the changing look of seed packets HERE. Many companies' seed packets have become beautiful expressions of creative skill. Hudson Valley Seed Company is in a class of it's own.

Hudson Valley Seed Company's seed packets. They are true works of art

I splurged, buying art packs that cost a little more than regular packets. I can't wait for them to arrive. I made my 2020 Kitchen Garden plan.

In the meantime, I have several 'growing' projects going on indoors. As well as the herbs planted by my friends from C.A.R.E.S. (a social services program for recent graduates and adults that have special needs) we now have an AeroGarden with heirloom lettuces. An AeroGarden is a hydroponic indoor garden; the C.A.R.E.S. folk helped me put it together. They are also helping me repot the houseplants. Unfortunately, their Monday visits are curtailed due to the virus, so I'll need to finish that task alone. 

Some of the projects I've been working on with my friends from C.A.R.E.S.

C.A.R.E.S. people setting up the hydroponic indoor garden.

The heirloom lettuces in the hydroponic indoor garden are sprouting already.

Love my new pot for the snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata)

 Outdoors, as well as crocuses and hellebores, I spotted some vinca blooms (Periwinkle, Vinca minor). The snowdrops in the Serenity garden seem to be lasting longer than other years. As I sit in my favorite chair in the garden room, I enjoy the birds and admire the snowdrops in my immediate view. I am linking with Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I apologize for being a day late. Carol has crocus and hellebore, too.

View from my favorite chair - can you see the clump of snowdrops?

 

Black-capped Chicadee

My last garden talk until the crisis is over was for the University Women's Garden Club at State College, PA. I showed them how I created an English-style cottage garden; I described the photoshoot that took place there last year for Country Gardens magazine. The club photographer took the picture below. My garden will be featured in the Summer 2020 edition, that should hit the newsstands May 1.

I am holding Country Gardens Magazine Spring 2020 edition -- My garden is featured in the Summer edition, coming soon.

As the pandemic causes anxiety all around the world, remember that gardening is the perfect anecdote to stress.

Stay healthy,
Pamela x

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The Changing Look of Seed Packets

Has anyone noticed how different some seed packets appear these days?  They are actual works of art.

We expect a lot from that little seed packet: the plant description including its common and scientific names, its height at maturity, how many days to harvest or bloom, and its habit, such as climbing or upright. We expect it to tell us when and where to grow the plant and planting directions. A picture, of course, is a MUST showing the plant at its best in flower or at harvest time and identifying the type and color of the flower, fruit, or vegetable. In addition to all these requirements of the humble seed packet, now we can also contemplate its role as a beautiful expression of creative skill.

Seed companies traditionally have used photographs or simple paintings on their seed packets

Annie's Heirloom Seeds may be the simplest - with all the sowing information on the front of the packet.

I don't purchase from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange as they are especially suited to the Southeast; my garden is in the Northeast, as most of you know. I do enjoy their seed packets, however. And just take a look at the details in the cover design of their catalog:

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog

Southern Exposure Seed Packets

Botanical Interests, located in Ohio, redesigned their packets in 2018 with updated information and more vibrant art. Incidentally, I've been tempted to join their affiliates program, providing a link on my blog to their website. Every time a reader would make a purchase from my link, I would receive 15% commission. I have never monetized my blog and would be interested to hear the opinions of other bloggers. Please let me know your experience or thoughts, dear blogger friends.

Botanical Interests seed packets with updated artwork

Botanical Interests Seed Collections

HUDSON VALLEY SEED CO

The seed packets of Hudson Valley Seed Company (HVSD) are in a class of their own. The company was founded by Ken Green in 2004 in a public library. (He inspired more than 400 seed libraries in the country.) Nowadays, HVSD claim to produce 'one-of-a-kind seed packets for one-of-a-kind gardens.' At the Philadelphia Flower Show last month, HVSD had an exhibit of their 'Seed Pack Art.' They say their newest collection tells '12 colorful new seed stories told by 12 new artists.' The artists include a coloring book artist, woodblock print maker, botanical illustrator, and encaustic painter. Here is a taste of the art work they displayed at the Flower Show:

I am full of admiration for the artwork on these seed packets.

Before purchasing seeds for 2019, I made a plan of this year's kitchen and cut flower gardens as I always do. I decided not to try any new varieties for 2019, but would stick with the 'tried and true.' Thus, I'm embarrassed to say (having written this article) that I ignored all those beautiful new seed packets and purchased from Annie's again.

As always, I checked last year's plan and rotated my crops.

I organized my seed packets (by date of sowing) in the old wooden tray. I set up a seed-starting station in the dining room

I also have seeds started under lights in the potting shed. These are zinnias for the cutting garden.

Those beautiful seed packets with their original artwork are begging the discerning gardener to buy them. I'm sure that next year I will succumb. What about you? Have you been tempted by beautiful seed-packet art?

Happy gardening,
Pamela x

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