When do YOU say that it's done?

I like swiss chard baked on a cookie sheet with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt until it dries out - chard chips!

Bake it a bit too long and you have charred chard.

We call that Cajon Chard.

Certainly not Cape Chard.

hey - good news - the professor friend that the AA daylily and the Zagreb were meant for came by today and got them, along with that huge red lion amaryllis - yay!

Excellent, Amy!
I bet you're relieved now!

Day before yesterday I was clearing rocks (fist size or smaller) from an area I've been working on lately - it's roughly a 12' circle. I had a large flower pot and moved out 10 or more pots of rocks. While doing this I leveled the dirt out because it was in a hump originally. Now we can re-grass it in Spring.

We've discovered, through several projects, that we live on a gravel pit - a developer even wanted to level our yard for the gravel (we live on a hillside)!

Yesterday, dh and I cleared out leaves and brush to get ready for the it-didn't-really-happen n'oreaster.

Today, I received my last plant shipment - 3 primroses from Big Dipper. I hope I'll be able to get them in the ground this week!

u mmmmm . . . . what is it called when you haven't even started . . . , well, you know - started the fall clean up? I will be digging up the glads tomorrow, and I am still planting perennials and ditch day lilies - and whatever else has to get planted now. I don't think I will be finished before the first snow fall!
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Michaela:

You mean 'procrastination'? Not you!! (chuckling)
Anna managed to get most of the garden beds mulched yesterday. She said she wanted to do that in a wind storm so that she could see where the winter winds would be blowing off the mulch that she laid down for the season. I would have helped her, but she didn't want to take little Miss "M" outside in the cold winds, so Miss "M" and I stayed comfy warm in the house. (Thank you very much!!)

Taelar went out to help, though - wearing all of her winter garb!!

Seandor - it's more important to get things planted than to clean up now. We should still have nice enough fall weather to do any cleanup.

I hope you are rightr in that prediction, pirl.
I am not ready for the Br-r-r-REALLY cold temps.

Candyce - how nice to hear you mention my friend, Little Miss M! How is that darling girl doing these days with her cousin?

Just found this thread and really enjoyed reading how you all approach the end of the season....great idea for a thread, Candyce!

Pirl - loved the pic of Jack in his umbrella hat! That patio & garden are just spectacular!

It really is wierd to hear how you are all transitioning from the garden, and I'm busting my buns to get things in the ground before the heat of the day. LOL

Thanks pirl! It was a lovely day outside - I dug up the glads - have lots and lots of little baby corms, so in about 2 more years if I take good care of these new babies I should have tons of beautiful orange glads!

I planted the ditch lilies, and the rose campion (sp?),

I also clipped some of the perennials, trimmed the catmint (you know, removed the dead undergrowth), and generally tidied up.

Next weekend, I will dig up the dahlias.

Gosh, it was a great day!

Michaela, I don't have to trim my catmint - the three cats do it for me! My primroses went in the ground today - what beautiful weather!

Michaela, about your little glad babies. I brought some little baby corms with me down here from digging our glads up there. Can I plant these little corms here now? We can't find any glads for sale here yet, and we want to get some started. What do you all think? I've not planted the little corms before. Thanks!!

Last year, I still had fresh parsely and rosemary into February and the pansies never died back. At the same time, I was starting some of my plants for next year and forcing bulbs so I'm never really finished.

We do winter-sowing, or at least we will TRY this year. And, we will also start plants indoors, probably in late March. I have been lurking on the WS forum, and can't wait to start doing that!!

Candyce, I'm trying WS this year too, we will have to compare notes as first-timers. I found bins at Lowe's, and I'm going to use the plastic soda cups, not the milk jugs with 100 plants in one because I won't have anywhere to go with them if I have to repot 100 seedlings. I hope to start my WS when we have a break in the weather in February. I got married in the middle of an ice storm in February, and it was 70 a week later, lol.

Gotta love weather like that!!

I'd love to start WS with the plastic soda cups, too, but I am afraid that they won't be deep enough to hold 4" of soil and then the little plants. So, I am collecting the milk jugs and washing them. With our large family we generate one empty gallon jug per day - sometimes two on the weekend!!

Donniebrook, my reference book on propogating plants states that the little corms should be dried just like the big corms. In the spring, we should soak them for a day, then plant in rows like vegetables so the babies can grow big and strong. In the fall dig them up again. Then plant in rows one more year. Some may flower, but by the third year - tons of glads!

I wonder if I can use the babies as edges around gardens?

Michaela - thanks for sharing that info with me! You caught me just in the nick of time! I was planning to put some in the ground here tomorrow. LOL.....I think I'll bring them back up to NH and follow your plan! A lot more little babies are still "hooked" to the parents and are in a mesh bag hanging warm and snug in my son's basement near the furnace for winter.

Candyce and Cathy - good luck with the winter sowing! I'll be anxious to hear how it works for you!

Still don't get this winter sowing thing.

I thought about doing it, because I don't have a lot of indoor space to start seeds - but then thought - winter sow them right in the ground.....

That's what I mean.

My Why is I'm starting plants for re-doing a church garden and 2 daughter's yards whose garden soil are being improved this winter. I don't have space inside, so I'm giving it a shot to get more plants for the money.

Makes sense, Cathy! What kind of seeds are you sowing?

Okay - now that makes sense. But most people do the jug or whatever thing to then plant out in their own gardens instead of direct sowing or starting indoors. That's the part I don't get.

Donnie, that is the million dollar question, I'm still changing my mind, haha. One daughter wants a cottage garden, the other needs something with less maintenance without being boring. Both are in new subdivisions, they each have a tree. The church garden is my hard one, whatever I plant I have to maintain. It is a big island on the parking lot, I don't want to look like a box store, but can't spend hours every week on it. What a terrible problem to have, haha.

Any trees or shrubs in the Church one now?

Cathy - it does sound like the perfect late fall/winter challenge!!! Enjoy! And be sure to let us know what you decide to sow!!

This fall I put 12 red knockout rose bushes zig-zagged across the widest part to form the background looking from each side. The entrances come from the left and right, this bed is centered so you see it coming in either way. I'm going to do a mirror image. For fall color I put in 24 yellow mums out a few feet from the roses (mums return nicely here). The rest is still up in the air. Red and yellow will be my main colors, from here I'm still undecided. Any suggestions are welcome! I'm wearing out my garden design and color books.

Are you planning a focal point of some kind? Small tree or shrub, perhaps?

"But most people do the jug or whatever thing to then plant out in their own gardens instead of direct sowing or starting indoors. That's the part I don't get."

Victor, I THINK that one rationale for WS into jugs or cups, or whatever container you use, is that the seeds are more protected, since they are kept under a plastic cover (with some vents to let in moisture) until the weather really warms up in the spring. You get better germination and less washing away in heavy rain, etc.

The reason for WS instead of growing everything under lights is 1) because many of the native and perennial seeds need stratification, and 2) because if one's indoor light-set up is somewhat limited in space (like mine) one can grow a lot more seedlings outside in jugs! It's also a lot less "fussy" and much cheaper than growing under lights, with no damping off problems, no providing bottom heat or purchased potting soil, etc., etc. And you get to recycle things you usually discard.

Just my two cents. And I don't mean to hijack the original thread!!



This message was edited Nov 5, 2007 9:08 PM

I can understand wanting to avoid the indoor business with the lights, etc. That is a pain. But why not just do what Mother Nature does and spread the seed at the same time that plant would be doing naturally? That's what I do with Columbine, Agastache and many others. Maybe the percentage germination is lower, but with so many seeds that the plants typically put out, it's not a big deal. And way less work, and nothing to use or recycle.

Victor, I've left room for a small tree, I'm leaning to a red bud, but haven't decided. I can't put in anything like a fountain, it will walk off.

Forgot to say thank you Emily!

'Forest Pansy' is a great small Redbud. Also, Cornus kousa might work. Or a small Japanese Maple. Do you have a budget to work with? Would people donate towards the effort?

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll put them at the top of the list. The people who are interested in helping have each picked a garden, so purchases have to come from my personal garden budget, thus the WS.

If you go for a tree or shrub, try asking a local nursery to donate it and you can put a small sign or plaque acknowledging their generosity.

". . . But why not just do what Mother Nature does and spread the seed at the same time that plant would be doing naturally?"

Thank you, Victor, and ya got a point here. A good point.

In the final analysis, for me WS-ing into jugs (or whatever) gives me more control--over the initial culture of the seeds, over where exactly I want to plant out the seedlings when they've germinated, and also the opportunity to try out new seeds to see how they germinate even before I know exactly where I want to put the final plants! (A personal failing of mine!)

You've caused me to think about this, and I thank you.

(Sorry, folks, for more hijacking.)