Gardening - Just Do It

Clean your house, people!  It costs nothing.  - Nate Berkus

This is exactly how I feel about gardening tasks - but the bonus is you get to do it outside!    Some people act intimidated by gardening, insisting that they have a 'brown thumb'.   In reality, much of gardening is simply tidying up.

Whether your garden is large or small or simply a couple of pots of herbs, its fun to work alone or with a pal.   I regularly put my guests to "work" outside.   They have a definite preference for any plant that is blooming, is edible, or that has butterflies flitting around it.    Well, any of those or anything involving power tools.

 There are some wonderful gadgets to help you in your tasks.   This electric chipper/shredder is easy, safe, and inexpensive.  This one cost about $100 and we've used it for 3 years now.   It chips up much of the trimming that we do around here.    A bonus is the green humus that can either be composted or added to your planting beds as mulch.  

As you consider any spring cleaning you plan to do, don't get stuck inside during beautiful spring days.   Water, trim, tidy things up - and before you know it, you're "gardening"!

Bringing in Blossoms

One of my favorite things about gardening is making arrangements from our flowers and herbs.   For the first time in a LOOONG time, we have a "cutting" bed in our "Garden of Eatin'".    It's main purpose is to grow flowers to bring inside.   (Second main purpose is to attract pollinators - that's why we planted these flowering annuals near the edible plants).   Here's what our cutting bed looks like right now - pretty much just zinnias and marigolds.   I think it's gotten too hot for the foxglove we planted after Easter. 

There are lots of perennials that are great for arrangements, but I don't put them here because we rotate the vegetable crops and that would impede that a bit.  

 

I have found that when it's hot outside, it is best to pick flowers and herbs in the morning.   They've had overnight to rest and recuperate from the stress of the summer heat. 

This is my harvest bucket.   Fill it with water and as soon as a flower is cut, it gets dropped into the bucket to rest and take up water.   I try to leave them resting for at least 2 hours and sometimes much longer.  

If I buy flowers at HEB or Sam's, this is basically my same procedure.   Trim the ends and let them sit in a bucket of water for a nice drink.  

Today, we just made small arrangements in glass jars.   Dotted along the dining room table, they will add nice touch for a Tex-Mex Dinner

Thinking Spring

I have always struggled when it comes to growing plants from seed - and nasturtiums were the biggest challenge of all!  I just never seem to get a very good stand.   Well, a few years back, my friend, Jean Anne, let me in on the secret  . . .  in the Rio Grande Valley, nasturtiums need to be planted before Halloween.   The next year,  I followed her advice, planting seed in late October and, wolah, great stand and a gorgeous border the following spring.   I know I have some pictures on my home computer and will try to post some this evening because, if I do say so myself, they were stunning!  

So, here is fair warning -  There are just FIVE MORE DAYS to get to the garden center, grab some packets of nasturtium seed, and get them in the ground!   Nasturtium has a large hard seed.  If my soil is nice and pliable, I like to scatter the seed and then just rake them in a bit.   I water deeply one time and then they get what the rest of the bed gets.   Because they will sort of "overwinter", I don't worry about how many sprout the first few weeks.  Some will come up; some will look puny through the winter - but come springtime, they will explode!  I imagine they are growing a beautiful root system through our cooler months . . . .  

I have been kicking myself for not mulching my planting beds this summer - there's tons of bare soil showing - but, now that's turned out to be a good thing.    I have lots of places all ready to sow next springs nasturtiums . . .   If you're looking for a colorful spring border that is easy on your pocketbook, consider nasturtiums.