Preparing for next year 2008

There are far too many, Eleanor.

It's just rotten when you ask someone to come outside because you want to show off your garden and someone says: Do I have to?

pirl....Searching around Gutenberg last night for old gardening books, I ran across a collection of the Minnesota Horticulturist. This poem is from Vol. 22 July, 1916, No.5:

My Neighbor's Roses

The roses red upon my neighbor's vine
Are owned by him, but they are also mine,
His was the cost, and his the labor, too,
But mine, as well as his, the joy their loveliness to view.
They bloom for me, and are to me as fair
As for the man who gives them all his care.
Thus I am rich, because a good man grew
A rose-clad vine for all his neighbors' view.
I know from this that others plant for me,
And what they own, my joy may also be.
So why be selfish, when so much that's fine
Is grown for you, upon your neighbor s vine!
—Anon


It's large file so beware but for more from the Minnesota Horticulturalist click below:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18183/18183-h/18183-h.htm

The business side of gardening before and during World War One in Minnesota is quite interesting. Tomatoes had a net return of $3,000 per acre. You could buy a house for that! The mark-up on apples was 100% to 250%.

Very nice David. Thank you.

That did my heart good, David, and I thank you.

Recently the adult daughter of a neighbor came over with her 8 year old to pick more raspberries. She lives in NYC. She could not have been more complimentary about the garden. It makes up for some other people. She said the neighbors should be thankful for all the beauty we have, similar to the poem.

Another good experience was our neighbor. who's allergic to flowers, looking at our gardens with her daughter, who's in her 50's. They, too, exclaimed over everything.

This end of Long Island was once mainly potatoes and duck farming. Now there is only one duck farm left, not near us, and still a few potato farms. Those farmers get 6 cents a pound. Compare that to supermarket prices. No wonder they're selling the farms!

Loved the poem David_Paul. When I'm out walking and I see a well kept garden that someone has obviously labored over, I make sure to let them know I am enjoying it. Eleanor

That really brightens a day, Eleanor.

What a great poem, David. Reminds me that, although gardening can be a solitary occupation, it is also performed "for others."

That poem makes all the work worthwhile. We love it, too, when a car will stop and the driver or other occupant will comment on the garden. Or when a jogger jogs just a bit slower past our house with 'eyes right'!

My DDH used to grow just veggies. I always exclaimed that I wanted to 'garden for the soul; he can garden for the tummy'.

For Candyce:

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

poem by Moslih Eddin Saadi

That's perfect, pirl. Thanks. And so me! (And my DD, Anna)

I've always loved that one and it does feel so good to share.

Anna and I were just discussing the 'newest' garden before she went off to work. She's got the whole layout in her mind, of course - that's just her! Then we discussed where we will be putting in another garden ... just behind the mailboxes. Can one ever have too many gardens? I don't think so! LOL!!!

Makes for less lawn to mow, right? And, I just love the thought of people driving by and enjoying our riot of color every day. I remember when I used to drive off to work everyday, and how much I loved 'watching' other people's gardens as I drove by to see what was new and what was blooming. It always helped get my day off to a good start.

Love that poem pirl. On a more silly note, the only gardening poem I know goes like this:

I used to love my garden,
but now my love is dead
For I found a Bachelor's Button
In Black Eyed Susan's Bed.

When we we had a new female minister at our churchShe came to visit mie and I invited her come out and see my garden, She replied "Whatever for?" I didn't attend church while she was here.

Cute, Harper!

Joy, how unfortunate she missed out on your lovely garden and the serenity you have. I'd have done exactly what you did - miss out on her sermons.

David, your pic of the "asters" under the tree are really False Aster, or Boltonia. I have them, too!

Eleanor, I just showed your "light shelf" to my husband and he said, "Oh, I have a couple of those shelves in the barn." Yea!!! (He's one of those people who picks up every free thing on the side of the road "just in case".) The past few years, I've hung a shop light with those daylight tubes over a table in my "playroom". Before that, I just put my seedlings on every available windowsill in the house - got leggy plants, but it was better than no plants.

Let me tell you about my "playroom" . . . when we put up our new house (after our fire 5 years ago) I decided that, instead of a dining room (we don't entertain) I'd take that room for myself. It's 15x13, southeast corner. I put the washer/dryer in there, covered one wall with "pantry" shelves, and the east wall has 2 windows with the computer table inbetween them. On the south wall I had a door with top-half-glass put in instead of a window - that goes out to the back yard. Also on that wall is the table for plants which, the rest of the year, gets used for home school stuff and my (very modest) ebay sales. I painted it a sunny yellow and, besides the outside door, it has two inside doors for privacy - which helps when we do have company because this room is NEVER clean!.

It has an overhead fan, which I run (pretty much all day) when doing seedlings, but I still get damping off - any suggestions?

Water ONLY from the bottom and don't overwater.

I've heard putting vermiculite on top of the soil will help too. Have you ever tried that Pirl?

No, Victor. We don't have the damping off problem.

So . . . vermiculite on the top, water on the bottom - wish me luck!

Don't mix that up!

Primrose Sue...interesting you mention that! I was wondering if that is what I had as I just read about "false asters" (Boltonia) in that 1916 Minnesota horticultural publication which had the poem in it. A very big crop up there before World War One. See it is usually tall. Mine just short because its in the shade?


False Aster, Japanese Aster, Oriental Boltonia, Ghengis Khan Aster
Kalimeris pinnatifida:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1535/

To make it easy on DH (besides they would be dead when I got back from Martha's Vineyard any way) I'm throwing away my container plants over the next few days. Going to try and cut back and save anything that is not buggy and bring them inside to put under the lights. I have a few cuttings of things that I have started. I could not put the shelving unit in the basement as it was too tall. I need to get it out of the kitchen cause the south window was too hot so it ended up in my bedroom. The lights are on a timer - on at 6:00am and off at 9:00pm. Is that enough time? Eleanor

Please wash them first with Insecticidal Soap before you bring them inside. A dunk (pot and plant) and a swish, then air dry, then they're allowed inside.

Yes, that's enough time under lights. Houseplants can do with less than seedlings.

Thanks for the insecticidal soap advice. Should I do that with cuttings also? I didn't go near plants that had bugs when I took cuttings. All of my pots are being washed in clorox before I'm planting anything in them but should I still wash the pots in insecticidal soap or can I swish the plants, plant them in the sterilized pots, dry them, and then bring inside? Eleanor

Swish plants and cuttings. Yes to the sterilized pots, dried. Rinse well after the Clorox. You can dip entire plants in their pots to make it easier. NOT HIBISCUS!

Can the plastic pots be microwaved to sterilize them? I'm too lazy to do the Clorox thing.

Never tried that method, Victor. Just fill the sink with warm water and a cup of Clorox and let them soak. Then garden. Then wash out the pots and see how nice and clean your hands are.

Madge would be proud?

Very!

Next thing you know victor will want to microwave the plants!! Just finished all of my pots and my hands are so clean I could make meat loaf for dinner!! Eleanor

And for the fingernails!! It really makes them look cleaner!!!

They not only look cleaner, they are cleaner! So white!

Guess the microwave is not a good idea for the fingers. Doesn't the bleach cause drying / peeling of your hands?

"Madge would be proud", he he. Victor, how big is your microwave? As big as your kitchen sink? I'd go for whichever I could fit the most pots in at once. Well, that and aren't you afraid the plastic might melt? ...or were you joking around like usual?

No - many plastics are microwave safe.

I know, but they probably don't label that flower pots are, or do they? I usually go for ceramic.

I doubt the quality of typical nursery pots would stand up in the microwave, Victor. Your hands will simply come clean and not be dry - have no fear. Just don't go crazy with the bleach and don't use HOT water, just warm.

Anyone tried nursery pots in the dishwasher? That might work, Victor.

Well, today I 'unplanned' for 2008. I went out to move two plants to the new bed I made (in pic, the space with the butterfly bush in it), and ended up making two smaller ones below the stone wall in the pic - one to the left of the big rock and one to the right, between the rock and steps.

This space in the pic is between my back door and the stone wall - "someday" my husband will put in a brick or cement patio. Right now it's just sand and 'crap' dirt, and some wildflowers that I let grow there. On the metal cart to the right is the makings of a little 4-1/2' garden bridge. I Kilzed it, and now I need to put the white deck paint on it; but I've lost interest - I'd rather have my hands in the dirt than around a paintbrush!