March 20, 2014 by Born To Organize

Vernal Equinox, Always on Time

Variety adds spice, predictability keeps us grounded.

I enjoy the novelty of each season, and their predictable arrival. Though it feels like winter passed us by, the planet continues to rotate. Once a year I celebrate the Vernal Equinox, aka the first day of spring.

I found a super-cool site called Time and Date that spells out the specifics if you’re curious. I was. I love learning new things. As gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere welcome spring, green thumbs in the Southern Hemisphere are seeing in the first day of fall.

My celebration is simple: I plant. Nothing says spring like tucking seeds under the soil with optimism in your heart.

I also pulled weeds, topped of the planter boxes with rich soil, checked on the mini-greenhouse *and* remembered to do a good job with my sunscreen. Lindy kept me company, happy to be outdoors on this glorious day.

Lindy-lu

Planter boxes, rotating composter, mini-greenhouse and worm bin

The hummingbirds circled the feeder, jockeying for territory.

Swooping in for some nectar

They’re also drinking from the Abutilon lining the fence.

Abutilon lines the fence near the patio

I heard a squirrel overhead, and noticed activity in the little mason bee nesting house. What a day!

Mason Bee Habitat

How is this for serendipity: the lovely Boomdee sent me several packets of sweat peas, and they arrived yesterday! Perfect timing. She sent a purple variety as well so that my sister, Sharon can enjoy them when she’s here.

Goodies from Boomdee

To round out the day, I popped in to SummerWinds Nursery and picked up an EarthBox™ and some potting mix. I’m planting assorted lettuces in the front of the box, with the sweet peas in the back. The trellis from the now-deceased Hardenbergia is the perfect size. I’ve placed it at the edge of the lawn near the patio for easy viewing. I can’t wait to watch them grow.

There is much more to do, as their always is this time of year, but I enjoy it all. Wishing you the best of the new season, be it spring or fall.

February 25, 2014 by Born To Organize

How to Plant a Garden

There are three ways to plant a garden.

You can start with seeds, gently coaxing them with warm soil, water and light.
You can buy established starter plants from a local nursery or garden center.
Or…you can get out-of-the-way and see what the earth has in store.

We refer to them as ‘volunteers’ around here, tiny seeds that make their way into the soil by a variety of methods and grow up to be the healthiest plants in your garden. Volunteers are the handy work of the wind, the birds and in this case a little self-control from the organized gardener. I like things tidy, even the garden, but have learned to show restraint.

It’s one thing to pull out weeds or cut back dying branches. That helps the garden grow. But dead-heading flowers isn’t always best. When I sat on my hands and let my annuals go to seed last fall, wonderful things happened.

For starters, lots of birds. It was a joy to stand at my kitchen window and see them visit throughout the day. They ate a few, dropped a few and now I have a self-seeding patch of annuals ready for a good soaking from tomorrows promised storm.

Don’t you just love nature?

Small garden patch near the sidewalk
brimming with tiny seedlings

Look closely: sprouts galore

Variety is the spice of life

March 2, 2013 by Born To Organize

A Day in the Garden: Made to Order

If you like to garden, today was made to order. The temps climbed into the 70’s F (24C) with just the stirring of a breeze. Can you believe it? After a day in the garden, I have a sore back but a happy spirit. My perfect husband had plans for the afternoon, but still took time to dig a few holes before he left, voluntarily and with no complaining. Coincidentally, we met 19 years ago today. I’m so glad I had the good sense to make sure he danced with me first that night. 🙂

The Man of My Dreams

Where was I…

Oh yeah…digging holes. A few months back, I decided to thin the overgrown shrubs around the fruit cocktail tree, originally thinking I would re-plant with a few annuals. Today we removed the last three overgrown shrubs, making enough room for the two new raspberries. There was also enough room to transplant the blueberry plant, which after three or four years is just limping along. Hopefully the blueberry likes its new home. I’ll be filling in with annuals if not.

Raspberry Cane

Promising new growth on the blueberry shrub

I tamped the dirt into place and stepped back realizing we’d created a micro fruit orchard. I’m using the word “orchard” liberally; with our tiny suburban lot, it all needed to fit into about 6 x 8 feet (1.8 x 2.4 meters) of space. Our micro-orchard has blueberries, raspberries, plums, nectarines, peaches and apricots. When you garden in a tiny plot, every bit of dirt counts.

Since rain is forecast (oh how they tease) I figured I would make good use of the day. I pulled out the last of the broccoli plants, now covered in green pests, before they could multiply further. We dug out some old raspberry canes, and moved them away from the raised beds. Moving them gives me more space to plant vegetables and herbs.

I finished the day raking, pulling out dead twigs, watering the pots (yes…the hose in early March…sigh) and sweeping the walkway.