Favorite Gardening Magazine

We took a longer car trip today, so I needed some reading material to endure riding in the car two hours to destination and two back.  I reached into my magazine rack on the way out and came up with two of my favorite gardening magazines.  They were both issues of fine Gardening, http://www.finegardening.com/.  I have never thought too much about them except that they are a little pricey for a magazine.  But, when I really started to think about it, they are one of least expensive things that I buy for a great deal of enjoyment.

The pictures are beautiful of real people's plantings, executed on high quality glossy paper.  They are filled with so much information, designs, plants by region and tips from gardeners throughout the country.  I use them like a reference or a cookbook never discarding an issue but referring to them over and over throughout the years. 


  

An Early Spring In My Closet

I had put off way too long organizing my receipts to be filed away in my closet file cabinets.  So, I pulled up my little bench seat and began going through what looked like an overwhelming task.  I used four wire file baskets to sort, and soon I started to come upon my receipts from last fall for all of the bulbs I ordered. 

It seemed like such a long time ago that I was so excited thinking of what my landscaping would look like with all of these beautiful bulbs.  Muscari Armeniacum Saffier, Narcissus Itzim, Narcissus Rijnvelds Early Sensation, were part of my order to Scheepers.  I do remember planting many bulbs this fall, however, I am not too great about putting markers down because I do know the names of most of my bulbs and perennials.

Wow, I went a little crazy this year trying to be different.  I will probably have to look these names up on the internet this year to identify them in the spring!

Rabbits!

Until I let my dog out this morning, I had almost forgotten about the rabbits!  Reggie shot like a bullet out the door in pursuit of the rabbit he saw by the bird feeder.  Needless to say, he is never as fast as that bunny.  I cannot believe I had forgotten about the damage the rabbits bestowed on my daughter's garden last spring, summer and fall.  All of her hosta was chewed to the ground, coneflowers, phlox, ferns and even the rose bushes.

She has a dog, but obviously this did not deter her brood of rabbits.  We sprayed liquid repellants, spread dog hair, even resorted to laying plastic snakes throughout the garden!  We eventually ordered plants from http://www.highcountrygardens.com/ known for it's rabbit and deer resistant plants.  Those rascals seemed to like these even more, chewing them relentlessly until the cold weather hit.  Maybe, the plants will come back since a speck of green was still visible as the snow began to fly.

Well, we are not giving up!  High Country Gardens just sent me an email advising to ring your garden with lavender to keep rabbits out.  Don't they remember that Peter Rabbit's cousin Benjamin Bunny's father (old Mr. Banjamin Bunny) smoked rabbit tobacco (better known as lavendar)?

Start Your Seeds,Get Ready, Get Set!

I received a note from a friend yesterday about mishaps starting seeds and the expense incurred by their failure and having to buy plants from the nursery.  Seed starting can be very rewarding if you experience success.  The first time I practiced seed starting, I lost the whole crop to damp off because I used a regular potting soil instead of a seed starting medium.  Also, I did not have them under lights, and before they all sucumbed they were tall and leggy leaning toward the light.  I realize now that they never would have been healthy plants.

Since then, I have practiced seed starting many times, with many successes and still some failures.  Research needs to be done on the specific plants in regard to germination and the time frame from planting the seed to readiness for outside planting.  Geraniums take a long time, petunias a much shorter time span.  One March, I had 12" full blooming petunias under my lights.  I had to cut them back several times before putting them in the ground.

There are so many products today to start seeds, that it is almost foolproof.  I also found that it didn't seem to matter much in regard to lights just used for seed starting.  I spent much more buying specialized plant lights than for flourescent, and both seemed to work equally well.  If I were keeping the plants under lights permanently the special plant lights might make a difference.

My lights are packed in a box in the basement now, and the only thing that would prompt me to ressurect them would be a most unusual plant that I could not buy at the nursery.  Good luck to all you indoor seed starters!

Gatsbys Gardens: Lettuce Dream

Gatsbys Gardens: Lettuce Dream