The 2021 Garden has begun!

Scabious tall red

I am trying a few new things this year to have a more successful garden (I hope). First, and most exciting, I have increased my grow-lights supply exponentially. I had just purchased a new 2-foot grow light at Veseys, for an exorbitant amount (over $60 with taxes), and got it set up on one of my metal IKEA "Hyllis" shelving units. This made my total number of grow lights 7, with two I had borrowed from my sister. 

Then I got the Princess Auto flyer. They have 'shop lights', LEDs, and they were going on sale for $38.00 for two, four-foot ones. How to best take advantage of this? My metal shelves are about 2 foot by 9 inches - and I only have three. So...I set 2 of them up parallel to each other, about three feet apart, and put miscellaneous bits of wood and rigid insulation between them (temporarily) to make shelves.  I bought three packages of the lights, and now have four of them set up over the new enlarged shelves. Except for the top one, which is screwed into the ceiling joists, I am still able to use magnets (magnetic hooks, also from PA) to suspend the other three lights from the metal shelves. When we are able to travel again, I plan to set up another, similar, unit at right angles to this one (this is all set up in the basement where we were storing our firewood, most of which is gone by now). Maybe not for this year, but certainly for next year. PA is amazing.

PA shop lights and lettuce-box petri dishes 

  

Another innovation is using the "petri dish" method of seed-starting...but I'm not bothering with the tiny little condiment serving-sized plastic dishes with a few seeds in each. No sir. I am using these big plastic boxes that salad leaves come in, with a wet paper towel in the bottom. The sweet peas I did this way were great - once they germinate (and they do so VERY quickly) it is really easy to pluck them up and pop them into seed trays, nice deep ones from MacKenzie's seeds, and this way every cell has a plant - rather than planting the soaked seed into the soil and having gaps because some of them didn't germinate. 

This was so successful I have - I think - 10 trays with 20 or 21 cells in each (I just couldn't stop). I have used this method for tiny seeds as well...I put some campanula medium seed I had saved from my own plants into a lettuce box, and when they germinated, I transplanted them into cells - five in each because they were so tiny. I used toothpicks to pick them up and pop them in. They just had seed leaves when I did that but they now have true leaves. (They are biennials so they will spend a year growing on in the cutting garden. I've had a lot of success with doing this with biennials now - particularly with echinaceas and aquilegias.)

Campanula medium under lights

And they are under the new lights so I expect some major flourishing very quickly. The Method worked with a package of Johnny's Galahad tomato seed (15 seeds, 13 plants now pricked out into cells) so I am doing another tomato variety now. The hot peppers I sowed conventionally are just now raising their heads from the soil, and I have 8 so far - no idea if there will be more or not. The Method removes the mystery!

The sprouted sweet peas move on from the basement 'hothouse' to the frost-free garage, which is where I installed the other two PA lights. above a big old corner shelf unit rescued when we had our kitchen cupboards rebuilt. (Another wonderful thing about the lights is that they can be ganged together - up to 8 of them - which means that I just need one plug for each setup.) The sweet peas need warmth to germinate but prefer cold for growing on, so this is working well for me - I can now use the warm

Sweet peas in the cold under lights       

spots for more tender things. I have done a bit of winter-sowing as well, the usual flowers for the cutting garden mainly. We'll see what comes of them. It has been a way for me to test germination and seed viability, but now I think that the petri dish method is better for that. Only problem is that I would have to plant them indoors using this method, and can't have them outdoors taking care of themselves. Perhaps if I had started all this sooner... who says there's no gardening in winter??

The third innovation is with carrots - I have long whined and complained about the fact that I can't seem to get carrots to germinate. And fellow gardeners look smug and say nothing. But with covid-induced time on my hands I have found the answer on the You Tube. Other gardeners, too, have problems with this!! And the solution I am planning to try is: soak the seeds in lots of water for 5 days or so, until they start to sprout (I am already good at this) and then put them in a zippy bag with a cornstarch paste (which keeps them hydrated), cut a tiny hole in the corner and squit them into wetted rows in the garden. Their problem is they need steady moisture when germinating, and all of these things should help. I may invest in soaker hose as well.  Carrots!

All this seed-starting and so on doesn't make for a very pretty post, but I myself am very excited. Little green leaves are very hope-filled. And we all need that right now. 

The 2020 Garden Review

It's not over yet, of course, but we are in an official drought and there is no rain in sight, so many, many plants have given up the ghost, despite my daily watering. 

Cherries, again, were a disaster - I sprayed with dormant oil and sulphur, but the results were the same as last year. I don't know where to go next for assistance. So disheartening. Strawberries were also poor - honestly, a 2m x 2m bed and I didn't get a quart of berries. They had been well manured and protected with bonus straw too. Many of the ripe ones were eaten by bugs, but they didn't even get as many as I did. Raspberries were better than last year but still not great, mainly due to the drought I suppose. Apples are coming but not as many as last year. Still can't seem to grow rhubarb. What is the matter with me??

Tomatoes are looking good. I got the kale covered so it is clean, lovely garlic crop is drying on the shed wall. Cukes and squash were late going in but they are producing. Some good news. 

Any more good news? Quite a few hellebore blooms this year, lavender was great, even little rooted cuttings took off and bloomed. It's the Mediterranean climate kicking in, I suppose. Hydrangeas are looking good too, even the new ones from last year, although the macrophyllas do need a load of watering. I even have blooms on three of the Nikko Blue ones I propagated, though there are none on the mammy plant at all. The PG types are looking good, lots of bloom on Phantom, Vanille Fraise, and the lacecap Bluebird. The little Glowing Embers only has one bloom this year, but the plant is looking healthy.  

Looking back through the photos I see that the roses did well - we still had rain then - and I fell in love with an old favourite from the Rose Mound - Celestial. This is her in bud and I'd forgotten how lovely the blu-ish foliage is as well. Must get her out of that congested and light-less space and put somewhere more prominent.   

Other roses did well blooming - I decided to make 'Alba Meidiland' into a pillar rose - inserted a cedar post beside her and tied her up as well as I could - the thorns are merciless - and she did well, but of course by the time blooms came along she was pretty much buried in the bed. I think Pillars are a Good Idea - just need to find the right place for it to happen. Also, I used a half post - 4  feet - and I could easily have gone for the full 8. Good to know. 

 Peonies did well too - many bloomed for the first time. I have three 'Garden Treasure' Itohs that have bloomed now, and even one 'Cora Louise'.  They were gone too soon but they were lovely when here. 'Hillary' bloomed too, and the many lactifolia ones were prolific. A standout was 'Charles White', just two blooms but a giant of a plant, big leaves and flowers. Going to be a winner.

The two kalmias bloomed well, although I would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between them. One is 'Heart of Fire' and the other is 'Sarah' and I couldn't see a tiny bit of difference between them. My next kalmia has to be REALLY DIFFERENT.  This is the older one, 'Heart of Fire'. They really give you a long bloom season, and the blooms are so unique.

The peony at the top is hiding under a rose so it lasted quite a while; I haven't yet figured out which one it is (have to go through back copies of the Vesey's catalogue). It is great, and the photo also shows buds of the 'Alba Meidiland', which is bound to its post very close by. A success to end off on. 

 

This makes it 200!

Not a good blogger at all this year, but the garden survived anyway. It was another hot summer, but the frost dates were farther apart, so that was good. Fruit-wise, again no cherries - it seems to be a fungal problem, not frost! So I bought big on chemicals for next year - dormant oil spray and a fungicide. I am determined to have cherries, especially as I now have several more shrubs...the three I started with have produced progeny, and late in the summer I bought two tiny, tiny sprigs - 'Cupid' and 'Valentine' so now I have five varieties and about 8 or 9 shrubs. Raspberries were a washout this year - I usually can count on them, but I think they really need a big manure feed for next year. Apples were terrific! Had an enormous crop on the golden delicious, and a good few on one of the cordons (don't remember the variety), probably 2 dozen. And one of the pears, planted last year, produced 8 pears! They were delicious too.  We made tons of apple cider, over 40 litres in all. I tried making 'apple cider syrup' because I had so much cider that I had no room for it all in the freezer! So, to make it, you boil down the cider for HOURS, like making maple syrup....I started with about 8 litres and it made 6-1/2 cups of syrup. It tastes nice, but I am not entirely sure it was better than just drinking the original cider! It does make the house smell nice, though.
The Veseys sale was in early November; I bought mainly tulips and crocus, managed to get them planted as well! I potted up the plants to spend the winter in the garage as that worked out well last year- got 4 hellebores (2 'Confetti Cake', 1 'Blushing Bridesmaid', 1 'First Dance') 6 peonies (Itoh 'Candy Stripe')

And that's a Wrap!

              Gardening has been all about being outdoors this year, rather than in on the computer. Lots of progress to report, and some failures. Just as you would expect! Another very hot and dry summer, with a very late frost (June 6) and a very early one (September 24). Challenging for gardeners.
An example:

Glorious flowers on my 'Juliet' hardy cherry bush.











 Two weeks later:

        Killed by frost. I had a few cherries develop, but none ripened. And I was so hopeful of having a really big crop this year! All three of them, even though they bloom at different times, were the same.It was a bad year for apples as well - my big 'golden delicious' had very few fruits, and the three oblique cordons (added a honeycrisp this year) didn't have any. I planted three pears this year, also oblique cordons.  Raspberries were good, though. Some year I am going to have all the fruits. 
        The Veseys sale was great as usual, and this year I was able to get some actual plants. Five different hydrangeas: Let's Dance Blue Jangles (I know, I said I wouldn't buy any more macrophyllas, but this was in the heat of the moment at the sale!), Bobo, Fire Light, Limelight (all panicles) and Incrediball, a smooth hydrangea, an improved 'Annibelle'.  Also 'Fluffy' a Western arborvitae and a heptacodium micronoides, small tree with white blooms and red in fall. All were $5 each and were quite small, so I potted them up and kept an eye on them until July, when I planted them out - all but 'Fluffy'.

All the hydrangeas went into the 'hydrangea' area - I now have 28! - but there are some I don't have names for, as I propagated them and didn't keep a great record of which went where. I did find a propagated 'Glowing Embers' hydrangea this year, it is just on the lower left in the photo. It identified itself by blooming at the same time as the parent plant, and with the same bloom. The renewed bark path is looking well, I think! Can't wait until it is all overhung with hydrangeas, blooming. 

         Then, in August, visited Kent, and they were having a 75% off sale on all their remaining shrubs and trees. Got a Cornus Kousa 'Venus', a chamaecyparis nootkatensis 'Pendula', and four rhododendrons: 2 Kalinka, Helsinki University, and Aglo. Also a clematis, Multi Blue, for a total of $82.  Two of the rhodos went on the west side of the path above, to join 5 others, and one went into the gap in the spruce hedge and the last one in the woodland garden. We have increased the light levels in there this year by cutting down several pinus niger which have gotten too large and ungainly. This will make things interesting in the spring, as I see what difference it makes to bloom times on some of the snowdrops and other bulbs in there.






A new project this year: I made a cutting garden.

Took one of the beds from the vegetable garden, and made a new one beside the path, and then divided each bed so I had four, with carpet paths between.  I grew all the plants from seed, except the gladiolus. The orange cosmos were great, EXCEPT that they only lasted about a day in the vase before dropping petals. They were much more prolific than the usual pink-and-white ones, though, so I saved seed again for next year. The white centaurea were good; but I got seed from Stokes for centaurea 'Sweet Sultan Mix', and they were simply wonderful. The nicotiania 'perfume mix' were much too small to pick. I had two kinds of zinnia, State Fair, which were tall and gorgeous, and Zahara Raspberry Lemonade, which, again, were too small to cut. On the trellis is perennial sweet pea, which have no scent but look like orchids! Looking forward to more bloom from them next year.  The glads were still producing, but I had to get them indoors, so I dug them last week. Next year, more staking for them! There are still dahlias, killed by frost of course, but I haven't got them out yet. The garage is going to be full when I'm done. Another great plant was the euphorbia marginata, I have saved seed from that one as well. I just had five survive to adulthood, but I plan to have many more next year. They are lovely on their own and will make great foliage if I get enough!

Still with the frost! Enough, already!

Corydalis 'G.P. Baker' in Mouse Boat bed

           It has been a frustrating spring. We had a cold, icy, and not-very-snowy winter, so lots of plants were killed, or held back. I was surprised about some - pulmonaria, of which I had quite a few - only one survived. And digitalis, or foxgloves, usually considered bullet-proof if anything is, in a garden - every one of them gone, in the bed in front of the lilacs. I managed to find some self-seeded ones in another bed, and moved them in. And my problem child, the lychnis coronaria, that I had in such abundance - had a whole section of the vegetable patch devoted to growing  them on - all died. And most of the ones I had planted out in the flower beds as well. I noticed a few seedlings in the bed by the driveway, and dug them up, but they are biennials and so won't bloom this year. Curses. They were a nice tall filler.
           I had made a real effort to protect my hydrangea macrophyllas this past winter, but it looks like *that* was for naught as well. Most of them are coming back from the roots, but the last year's wood (which provides the blooms!) is mostly dead. I have cut them down to green on the stems but I don't have much hope that there will be any blooms on *them*. I have decided to buy only types which bloom on new wood from now on, and, to that end, bought a paniculata 'Pink Diamond' last week in Summerside. I hope to put it into the "hydrangea" bed, probably up top where the path joins the upper driveway.
            Rhododendrons have suffered as well - the two new ones on the 'gap' are almost all dead; although the PJM one is blooming on the very bottom tier of the branches, all of the rest of it, I fear, is dead. The 'Catawbiense Grandiflorum' next to it is almost all dead. Insufficient protection there, I shall do a better job in future. I *really* covered up the ones at the top of the path to the west, and they repaid me by coming out almost universally healthy and green.

PJM Rhododendron

I lost a bit on the top of the PJM, but the rest of it is blooming magnificently. Sadly, there's not much sign of bloom on four of the remaining five - despite my watering them incessantly last summer. The Minnetonka one has some bloom to come, and of course it came back very well from being half burnt away by the wind the previous winter.
           We finally cut down the white oak tree to the south of the house, so there is much more light in that area - I expect by cornus kousa to develop much better now - it only has three buds on it for this year! And the common lilacs are not very floriferous either - I blame the lack of rainfall last summer for *that*. 
            Is there *any* good news? Well, my white tree peony has over a dozen blooms coming - and the burgundy one has quite a few as well. I think I must plant something white under the latter, as a foil for the burgundy. I do have a candytuft cutting - they are doing really well in the beds at the moment. And in not-quite-as-bad-as-I-thought news, three of the peonies I planted last fall were not showing any sign of life - and then one of the two Itohs showed up, a tiny sprig, two days ago. I think she is 'Cora Louise'. A few of the peonies I have been scattering around so lavishly over the past three or four years are at last showing signs of bloom. Hurrah! Now I should be able to figure out just what they are.  Not yet sure if any of the Itohs will bloom this year - I am so looking forward to seeing 'Hilary'. I dug up my unknown pale pink peony at the south end of the bed in front of the house - it was infested with grass - cleaned, fed and re-planted the larger part of it in the same spot, and now there are buds coming, so it's not sulking, hurrah! - and I also got four cuttings, one of which is going to bloom this year. I must find places for them all.
           I had a packet of three kinds of blight-free tomatoes, from a friend who was given them. So I planted them, back in March, nurtured them (there were only 4-6 seeds in each packet, very expensive if I'd had to buy them, but they all germinated!) potted them on, put them out in the hoop house, potted them again, and then put them in the ground, caged and mulched, May 28. Two nights ago we had a bad frost, and, even though I had covered them,  they were killed.  And we have another frost tonight! Sometimes I wonder what I am doing, trying to garden in this climate...

Clematis 'Blue Bell'

         Another bit of good news: all the clematis are doing well, or at least, surviving. This lovely, 'Blue Bell', has many thousand percent more bloom this year (last year it had one). Its fellow on the other end of the deck, 'Nelly Moser', has many buds. But the real excitement is that  the clematis at the lower lilac bed, buried under wood chips since last fall, and for whom there was no sign of survival at all, has popped up this week. And the 'Don Juan' climbing rose behind it is alive as well. There are four clematis in the upper lilac bed, all doing well, and I have two in pots (including a white montana) for which I have to find places as well. perhaps things aren't so bad, after all.... and the Veseys sale starts tomorrow. Oh my.

A Cautious Hope

My 2017 'bulb bed' has returned!  Mainly crocus so far, and a few squills.

       It may actually be spring soon. It's snowing at the moment, of course, but I have actually been outdoors working in the garden two days this week - one other day I tried, but there was a howling North gale and I just couldn't take it, my most detested kind of weather. The temp was +3 but the wind chill was -10. It was warm in the hoop house, but I couldn't stay in there all day! I have already tidied up and sorted all the pots. I have concluded that I really need to build some staging - high enough to be easy on the back, and with room underneath for storage (of pots and other stuff).  What I have now are plywood shelves balanced on plastic buckets. Not ideal. Anyway, next week the weather is looking better, with actual double-digit daytime temperatures and slightly above freezing night-time ones. I am looking forward to getting some of the seedlings out of the house and into the hoop house. I am willing to hook up the electric heater out there if the temps go below zero again, but I think they really need the light - and I really need the space - if only to start more seedlings. So, once they're out, they are staying out. Unless it goes to -10 or something.

         I have some snowdrops out! Seven or eight small clumps so far. They are the ones that I planted 'in the green' last spring, and I am so pleased to see them! They are all coming up in my woodland garden. The ones I planted from bulbs the fall before that (November 2016) are just starting to poke up out of the ground. Conclusion? More 'in the green' this spring! I shall be going along with my little spade and bucket.
       I had one quite big snowdrop last year under my cornus satomi, it had big leaves and was quite tall. Only one, though, and there is no sign of it this year - so far. I have not yet given up hope. The crocus in other parts of the garden are coming through - when I rake off the leaves, there they are, poking up. Again, much later than usual but none the less welcome for that. The 'Bulb Bed' above, has come along splendidly - it is on the south side of the garden and quite sheltered, so the bulbs are quite advanced. I planted some species tulips there last fall, and they are starting to show up now. I have to do some weeding there, but shall probably just direct seed some annual poppies for after the bulbs. That looked well last year.

              I do have one double snowdrop, bought at the Veseys sale in 2016, and put into a sunny flower bed. It is blooming as well. I expect to have to move it at some point, but not yet as it is still very small. Note: bulb fertilizer! I put it far away from the singles in order to prevent cross-pollination, but I rather doubt I will get to the point of developing new varieties any time soon. I just want the wood to be full of snowdrops - don't care what kind!
     I was quite worried about my beautiful burgundy hellebore - it is just beside the front path, and was covered again and again with snow, and worse, ice.  I took off the old leaves, and there was no sign of anything coming up, until yesterday, when I spotted a couple of hopeful-looking sprouts. This is much, much later than the previous two years - a factor of the winter, which was very cold and mostly snow-less, so the frost went deep into the ground. It is still not thawed very far down, so I am reluctant to uncover my rhododendrons just yet. On the upside, hellebore-wise, I have an actual bud, on a pink hellebore that hasn't bloomed before, in the bed on the right-hand side of the front path. It may bloom next week. No sign from all of the many others. Yet. I live in hope.
      I was trying to move some of my mammoth pile of wood chippings yesterday and it's frozen 20 cm. down. I am scraping off the top and barrowing it to the west side of the house for renewing the paths between the shrub borders. Just ran out of membrane - must acquire more so I can complete this task. I have a big circular seating area that didn't work well when I did it before - a combination of gaps in the membrane and a not-thick-enough layer of wood chips. I shouldn't have that problem this time. 

Midwinter blues-banishing: Hellebores

       I have been looking at photographs of my garden to try to banish the mid-winter blaghs. (20 cm. of snow yesterday. At least it's bright, and the house is cosy, but we're severely lacking in colour.) I have ordered flower seeds, and am trying to hold myself back from planting them too soon. I also scored big time at Christmas, so am looking into fruit trees - Whiffletree Nursery has an amazing selection. And I'm also going to Cornhill - when they open! But this is all in the future.
           I'm on a few garden groups on FB, and the British gardeners are posting lots of photos of their blooming hellebores, so I decided to post some of last year's photos of my oldest one, and inventory my recent plants. In a few years I'll have many.
               The very first one I bought was at Island Pride Nursery in Wood Islands, long ago - maybe 2011? It didn't bloom the first year, and the second year it was eaten by slugs, so I waited a long time for the first bloom. I think it is called 'single burgundy'. I'm just guessing, there was no specific name on the tag when I bought it.

Here it is, emerging from the earth, looking slimy and pitiful amongst all the winter debris. Date: April 7, 2017.

Then it starts to look more like a flower, though still small, and no doubt tasty to slugs. I don't put out slug killer, but I keep a close eye on its vicinity. I will stomp them without mercy! I don't cut off the last year's leaves until it is properly blooming.
Date: April 9, 2017.

Now it's pushing its head up, although it looks like it's been hit by frost a bit. However, the buds are looking really promising. and there's a second point of emergence! Hurrah! Spread all you want, little Burgundy.
Date: April 12, 2017.

And now, here we are, fully out. There are many more blooms than I first suspected, I think I counted 24 or so in all. Date: April 24, 2017.

        I visited Humber Nursery in 2013, and bought another hellebore, this one is a double burgundy called 'Amethyst Gem', part of the Winter Jewels strain, according to the label. It's in the west garden, and has bloomed a couple of times, not recently. I mulched there really viciously and things have been slow to come back. Later in 2013 I bought two locally (can't remember where!) and they are 'Blue Lady' (another single burgundy) and 'Pink Lady' which has red freckles on a pinkish background. These latter two have never bloomed. I may have to dig them all up and move them to somewhere more rich and suitable, soil-wise. They are all now in the same location, near the dwarf Korean lilacs.

            These three I bought at Van Kampens in the spring of 2017 - potted up, three to a pot, for $9.99 each. I gave two of each away, and kept one - the top is 'True Love', next is 'French Kiss' and the bottom one is 'Rio Carnival'. I went back some time later and they still had a few, so I got another pot of 'French Kiss'. All of these are planted in the edge of the woodland garden, and I'm not expecting blooms anytime soon. But they're so lovely I feel I should just keep them in a pot, so as to have them early. Apparently 'True Love' is in the Wedding Party series, while the other two are from the Honeymoon series. Connected, obviously.
             And then of course, as previously mentioned, I scored big in the hellebore department at the Veseys sale in the fall and got, I think, nine new ones, including 'Dark and Handsome', 'Blushing Bride', 'Confetti Cake' and 'Flower Girl'. (They didn't have labels so I'm not sure which was which. I tried for two of each.) These are all planted up beside the path to the west of the white lilacs. These are all from the Wedding Party series, and there are quite a few more of that series.
The photo of the 'Burgundy' at the top was taken May 10. Still going strong. The black one beside it is 'New York Night', several of which I planted in 2015. This was its first bloom. 'New York Night' is from the Honeymoon series too. There are lots of good photos on the internet, so I shouldn't have any problems identifying them, when they finally come out!