Spring Planting

All is done.  The Mankato Golf Club pots are out, the annuals planted and the retaining wall full of shrubs.  The veggie garden I did in Nicollet is complete with toms, cucs, carrots, lettuce, green onions, onions, radishes, jalapeños, and green peppers.  At our home, the pots and window boxes are done, the veggie garden complete and a few annuals dropped into the perennials for constant color. What did I plant?  Pots of coleus, million bells, the new sweet potato vine, and the window boxes are my favorite with a sample of some special plants.

Here's what's in these window boxes that sit out my kitchen window.
Verbena, Superbena Dark Blue
Petunia, Glow Forest Fire
Angelonia, Angelface Blue
Cuphea llavea, Totally Tempted
Osteospermim, Orange Symphony
Heliotrope, Blue

Phygelius hybrid, Red Alert Cape Fuchia
The last one is my favorite.  A few days after planting a hummingbird flew in for some nectar from it while I was washing dishes.

In this one is Nicotiana, Saratoga Red

Sweet Potato Vine, Illusian Emerald Lace

Carex trifida, Rekohu Sunrise

Vinca Vine

Coleus

A mix of Coleus

Coleus, Snazzy

Coleus, Splish Splash

Calibrachoa hybrid, Superbells Red

Petunia hyprid Surfina Lime

More pictures on the golf club plantings to come.  We'll wait until they fill in some.

Composting

Did you know 26 percent of U.S. garbage is from yard trimmings and food residuals?  This equals 32 million tons a year!!  Not to mention the hazardous chemical (methane) that is released from breaking down of the rotting compostable material.  The U.S. is responsible for 34 percent of all methane emissions making us one of the major contributors to global climate change.  Huge, right?!  And how silly that it's all because we throw so much food and yard scraps in the trash!  So why not throw those veggie and fruit scraps in a pail, bring them out to the compost bin and let them turn into some good stuff for your garden?  


If you want to try something quicker, try worms.  I haven't tried these yet, but it looks interesting after you get over the "yuck- worms" feeling.  Here's a story of a lady in Mankato using little red wigglers.


I have a compost bin on the south side of our house (in the sun).  I keep all my trimmings from fruits, veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds (even the paper filter) in a pail under my sink.  Lidded is a necessity as it does get quite smelly when you open it if you haven't dumped in a few days.  In the summer, I dump it in the compost bin nearly daily.  Ideally, we'd water and turn it once weekly.  However we don't, so our composting takes a bit longer.  Below is some more reading on composting.  Besides composting, maybe we could all work harder to buy what we're going to eat.  Keep track of what we buy, so we know what we have to eat in the next couple of weeks.  I make a list of what meals we have to eat after getting home from the grocery store so it's there when I'm ready to start cooking.  


Happy composting!

The U of MN extension has recommendations for building your own compost structure here: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG5553.html

If you want to read up on composting, here are some blogs:

howtocompost

composting101

epa.gov

Also, here are a few of the many books about composting that are available:

"Backyard Composting: Your complete guide to recycling yard clippings" by Harmonious Technologies

"Let it rot! The Gardener's Guide to Composting" by Stu Campbell

"Rodale Guide to Composting" by Jerry Minnich and Marjorie Hunt

"Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof

Garden Girl

Wow, check out Garden Girl.  It's all about urban sustainable living.  I want that gig.  It's exactly what I'm into.  Learning about and trying new things and talking about it to help others. What's the newest thing you've tried in your garden and loved?  I love my rain barrels.  I can't believe my husband and I forgot about them until after it froze.  I'm really crossing my fingers and toes that they did't break.

Growing Vertical Veggies

Here in Minnesota, it's the dead of winter, but I hear people talking about planning for their gardens. We all know it's really cold, windy and snowy out there now, but give it a few months and we'll be getting our hands dirty in the gardens dreaming of our fresh vegetable crops.

 Here's an idea for this year: growing veggies vertically.   My mom did this a few years on the farm when she had her lasagna compost raised gardens.  Many of us who live in town have limited space for vegetable growing.  Why not grow those that'll grow out, up?  Maybe you already do snap peas and pole beans on a trellis, so why not grow winter squash, melons, cucumbers and zucchini on a trellis too?

The benefits?
increase usable space
increase dry time after rain
better air circulation reducing mildew and mold
greater access to sunlight
easy harvesting

What to use for a trellis?
You can build your own out of wood.  Be sure it's strong (wood & metal), tall (5+ feet) and well anchored (at least a foot into the ground).
You can also use a trellis, fence or A-frame.  Wide-mesh fencing, reinforced with additional support from iron rods or stakes, can also be used. 

There are also some ready made you can buy online or at your nursery:
Veggie Wall
A-Frame Support


Once you are ready to plant.  You can either put your trellis in the middle of your garden to plant on both sides.  Or put it along the north side of your garden and if it's a raised bed, you may utilize the extra support.

Plant your seeds in groups.  Peas together, squash together, etc. paying attention to the recommended distance to thin your seeds after they come up.  This will lead to healthy, full plants that produce more than cramped plants.

Water seeds as needed.  They may need to be watered in the morning and after supper to help them germinate.  If you wait for rain they will most likely get started a little later.  Hopefully there is plenty of sun to help them along in growing.

Once your plants are growing, guide them up the trellis by gently turning the vines through and around the supports.

Let it grow and water as needed.

Watch for buds to appear.  Let the bees come!

Watch for your harvest to ripen!  If some of your heavier veggies could use some support, put some old pantihose (not sure I even have any of them around and I can't even tell you how to spell it!!) around the squash/etc. tie it to the trellis until it's ripe. Then it won't fall of before it's ready.

Pick when they are ripe!  Yum, you have fresh veggies! Congrats!