Greetings, Hive Gardeners! This is exciting! Winter in North America is almost over! Every year it feels like the first time and I never know what to do. It can be pretty overwhelming. Luckily, we have plenty of resources on our hands that help us plan(t) and ultimately learn from what we did. That's one of my favorite aspects of the #gardenjournal. It will always be available to look back on! It doesn't hurt to have some hard copies too! But this year, I decided to go digital.
I'm Actually on Vacation
I understand that I may be a little too late to participate in this month's garden journal challenge. I am currently travelling abroad. I left my cold homeland to another cold part on the opposite side of the world and I have 1 more week before I return. Why not take some time to artfully plan what I will cultivate? I do need a creative outlet, after all. So here's what I came up with so far.
This is what all is already there, AKA perennials. Some of it needs to be cut back... ahem oregano. That one, being in the mint family, likes to grow invasively. Thyme is of the same family but prefers to propagate itself via seeds. And last, but not least, the sage plant is just getting more and more bushy every year. So I'll have to make more garlic butter sage pasta and smudge sticks to curb its growth. What fun!
Instead of cutting back the raspberry canes, I think I'll actually just remove the ones closest to the path entirely. They get too bushy and block the way. Besides, this invasive-growing variety will eventually grow back anyway. The pigeon pea deadwood has been there several seasons (remember?) and I will not cut it because beans and things like to climb it. I always leave old cornstalks and things like this. Hey, they're free stakes that are firmly rooted in the ground! The peach stump is actually a full sized dead peach tree which could fall at any moment. Hopefully not during the active growing season. Plants like to climb that, too. I'm wary of removing the vines from the mattress spring trellis because it is mostly wild tinguaraque tomatoes, which I don't think I will grow anymore. They are far too feral and I decided I don't like their taste. Many of those old berries will fall and turn into volunteer plants so I have to be vigilant this year. We have a new public enemy #1.
What About Annual and Other New Plants?
Voila!
Some new arrivals are not included as I still have some planning to do. I do plan to integrate more pollinator-friendly flowers into the edible garden, but I need to finish reading my new book, Planting for Honeybees, first. Perhaps when I'm done, the rest of the space will be flowers and beans.
Of the three new perennials I'll be adding to the mix this year, are another different variety of blueberry to compliment the existing highbush. It will go right behind it.
The second is an actual cultivar of ground cherries, replacing the wild one I discovered, which yielded no fruit. I have a feeling that one will still grow back from underground tubers. Public enemy #2.
Number 3 is rosemary, a delicious herb I keep forgetting about!
Something I've always wanted to try is to plant marigold in a cinderblock that's part of the border. They are trap plants in that they attract the pests, away from your precious foodstuffs. Marigolds, besides having ladybug-friendly blossoms, also attract root pests so it is not advised to have them in your bed, I've heard. Or at least not near other underground produce, I think. Nasturtiums, a trap plant for aphids, will accompany the gnome that stands watch over the garden.
Spinach and lettuce will be interesting. I have several varieties of each. I never had success in the past but that was before I was a horticulturist. Nowadays, I know there are such things as cold weather crops which just bolt at the first sign of heat. Cilantro falls in this category as well. I might start these indoors as soon as I get back.
The shady side doesn't have much else because it's...well..shady! The neighbors' garage blocks that beautiful south sun so anything on this side has to either tolerate shade and cool weather (hence the mushroom bed) or be tall and vigorous like the raspberries.
The cherry tree also provides shade. I tried to minimize this by training it to grow very tall, so it looked like one of those trees from Dr. Seuss' books. That was deemed a hazard so we pruned it down to size last winter. That meant no flowers and consequently no fruit in spring. This spring we should hopefully see flowers again.
The 2 varieties of wild ramps are perfectly at home in their simulated forest floor environment. I want them to multiply!
Once I collect more flower seeds, I can make a more detailed plan of what I want to plant and where. For now, though, this is as far as I can plan at this point in time. It realy helped to organize some of my thoughts and make me (a little) less excitedly anxious about all that's to come.
Thanks for visiting!
You have a book on flowers for honeybees???? Just plant flowers and let things go to seed. Borage and comfrey, fennel, everything. Job done. Send money to my wallet and I'll make some other expertise on flowers and bees up.
Love your response - despite not being home, and adding pictures that look like they've been designed by one of the Mario Brothers circa 1980, your reflection and my inability to meet my own deadlines too means this is an absolutely qualifiable entry.
Oregano, man, it's EVERYWHERE! Try oregano pesto as well, that's goooooddd.
Oh really!!! I thought they were good for nematodes, maybe as they attract them to thier own root system and away from others? Just chuck seeds in where you want thema nd they'll grow like billy-o.
Sooo jelly!
Gardening for bees is that easy?? Who'd've thought...
The book was a thoughtful gift, either way!
You like my artwork, huh? Haha. I was partially pleased with how the strawberries and goji berries came out.
I want to try my luck with some wild Mexican marigolds I found on my last trip (also very popular with the bees). Can't wait to try it because when has intriguing a wild species to my garden every gone wrong?! Er...
And did you say oregano pesto? That sounds delicious! I'm adding that to my list!
With such a small boring rectangular space, you certainly come up with many creative ideas to try things outside of the box.
Especially love the ways you consider using perennials to aid the new annuals.
Last year I had a long horizontal shoot from my grapevine, and it worked well with the other vinning annuals, like pole beans, to climb over. It is so fun to pick off the beans when grown like a string of christmas lights within arms reach.
Last year, my second year sage plants were also over producing. I was just discarding old leaves and completely forgot you can burn them to cleanse the air of toxic stress. The scent of the sage and lavender I have witnessed also calms the air for nearby vegetables by warding the aphids away. Especially helpful beside new plants in the brassica family.
I still have a hard time with cilantro. For me they only sprout in very rich, wet soil kept in the heat, yet everyone says they like the cold and shade. Know any secrets to get strong roots for tall leafy branches? I have tried planting many seeds close together, and they do seem to benefit when young as they tend to fall over otherwise. My guess is they probably need a constant dose of liquid fertilizer to energize the growth, because organics top dressing fertilizers do not spread deep enough into the soil later in the season.
Yes, I definitely need to think outside the rectangle, hehe!
I have some lavender plants I started indoors a year ago. Maybe I plant one outside in the bed, on the herb side but they get really bushy, I've seen, and I don't want it to take up a lot of my precious space but I guess it's worth it, isn't it?
Grape is something else I want to try growing! I had that Christmas light effect too and it was arching over my pathway beautifully. Makes me think I need an actual arch....
I actually avoid planting brassicas altogether out of (an irrational) fear of attracting cabbage butterflies!
As for cilantro, I don't know what to tell you. One gardeners ease is another's bane I guess. I just scatter the seeds on the ground and they all sprout, grow strong, and then go to seed without any supervision or babying. They are so successful that I actually have to cull many of the new year's seedlings to make space for my favorites (I can't even enjoy raw cilantro due to a gene I have).
Let me think. My soil is not particularly rich, I think. I'm trying to build it, but then again I've been saying that for the last few years so maybe it is! They do need water though. The plants that sprout in the corners never do well due to the dryness...
If all else fails, maybe try scattering some seed in the fall before light mulch or even now but I guess you can't really work it into the ground right now if the soil is frozen.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help
Try growing invasive rooting smelly plants in small pots. Then you can move them around to benefit any plant in the garden without worrying about root competition.
Thanks for all the follow-up comments!
Did not know there is a gene responsible for how we taste cilantro. Many people who dislike it believe it tastes soapy, to me it is more like mild parsley. I love it raw too.