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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Mrs pj bought a packet of sunflower seeds. When she plants them, I'm going to lay out a layer of wire mesh over them, else the squirrels will dig them out. Little furry bastards.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Weird spring here, cold and wet. Gardener's worst nightmare because you can't work the soil. Got my first batch of bareroot alpine-ish strawberries a couple of days ago. Mara des Bois strawberries I decided to plant them in some hanging pots I had hanging around. The plants are kinda tender (they started sprouting tiny leaves that are all white because they were packed in boxes and being shipped - no way to make chlorophyll). Nighttime temps have been around or slightly below freezing, so I'm carrying in the potted strawberries to protect them for a while. Here they are in the screen room, getting a little daylight and not too much cold; I know, looks like a bunch of pots with dirt in them....  Waiting for another batch of alpine strawberries, black currants, red gooseberries, and jostaberries to arrive. Will pick up tomato and pepper plants in mid-May around the same time I plant the cucumber and bean seeds. Reading up on how to grow potatoes. Doing them in pots. Finished sifting one side of the composter (thank you, Mr wtg!) and starting to work on the other. Starting some regrading work since we haven't had rain for a few days and I can actually dig a little. New raised bed is leveled; I'll fill it with soil I'm taking away from the regrading at the edge of the lot. Slow start but things are rollin'!
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I bought two big glazed flowerpots at a consignment store today. They’re to be the foundation of my herb garden. I want to make a nice arrangement with pots at different heights and if anyone has suggestion as to what I can set them on I’d like to hear them. Right now I’m thinking of building slatted wooden tables but that sounds like a lot of work and the climate will hammer them. I need to figure out what kind of soil to put in them. Potting soil? Garden soil? The local soil is not going to work - it’s a nearly impermeable mix of clay and rocks. That’s a shame because there are huge piles of it down the street where they are digging new basements. There was probably a layer of topsoil at one time (grass certainly grows well) but if there was it’s on the bottom of the pile. I went to fire up the grill last week and found out she’s dead. No spark, no gas to the burners, no Carne Asada.  A new regulator didn’t help which probably means some sort of critter has built nests in the burners. What I need to do is field strip it, clean everything out and reassemble it but I haven’t figured out how to get it from the back yard to the garage. The side yard is a swamp. Right now my plan is to take the sides off of it, run two two by fours through it and carry it like a stretcher.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
For your herb containers....I don't know what kind of pots they are, but you need to consider whether you'll have to bring them in for the winter. A lot of pottery and winter don't mix. A pot that's unglazed (even just on the inside or the bottom) will suck up water and hold it. When it gets cold enough the water freezes and destroys the pot. Sometimes layers will flake off, or if it's really bad, the whole thing will just crack open as the wet soil freezes and expands. As far as soil, go with some kind of potting soil, either purchased or DIY.. Garden soil isn't a good choice. Potting mix is lighter weight and drains better.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Have quit shoveling the snow off my one pickup truck long drive. Warm days come after snow days. Unless we get a big snow the shovel is retired. Maybe next month I drive over the pass to South Park and get some hanging baskets that can be brought in if a hard freeze is predicted. The hard frost date is June 9th. People will lose plants if they plant before then. It happens every year. Don may plant some things in the flower bed. I put some perennials in it because sometimes he does not get anything planted.
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| knitterati Beatification Candidate  |
We had a big wet snowfall on Monday, so my garden project this week was to get the 11 maple branches off the back lawn. some pieces of wood were like spears driven 4 inches deep into the ground. Glad I missed the event. (I was up in Seattle teaching for Vogue Knitting Live.) The arborists will come in a couple week to tidy up the crown of the tree and turn all the branches into chips. Above my pay grade. The bleeding hearts are blooming, and the peonies are coming up. I should pull the bishop’s weed out of the peonies before things get too far along. Maybe tomorrow… I want to plant sunflowers this year, too. I should start them inside!
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Good grief. The flower pots are ceramic, unglazed on the inside. They’re heavy and are going to be heavier when filled with soil. I’m not moving them to the basement and the garage is full. Sounds like one season is all they’ll be good for. Glad they were cheap. “What are we gonna do with these pots? The weather’s gonna destroy ‘em.” “Give ‘em to the consignment store. They’ll find some rube from CA and he’ll never know.” Too bad. They’re pretty. 
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
What if I dig all the soil out in the fall? Will they end up as little piles of rubble like my FLW garden sprite statue? What if I paint the inside with Thompson’s or something?
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Just flip them upside down in the garden in the winter if you are worried about them. I have a zillion of them, glazed on the outside, not on the inside - huge, filled with soil and none of them have cracked. The only ones I flipped over are two of the smaller ones that go way in at the top, they almost look like spheres. the big ones like that are fine. As long as there is a hole in the bottom so they don’t fill up with water, they will be fine. I’ve had them for years - some have been moved since we lived in Ferndale.
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Jodi| Has Achieved Nirvana |
And fill them with potting soil. Not garden soil, it’s too heavy. I grow tomatoes in my huge ones on the back patio (the only place it stays warm enough to get tomatoes). I grow flowers in the rest.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
There is hope. Thanks, Jodi! 
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Continuing on. In AZ people plant shrubs 3 ft. apart to mimic the desert. Desert plants arrange themselves that way because there is only enough water to support plants that close together. I get that. It looks right. But residential landscapes here are done that way too, and believe me when I tell you that water is not a problem. Just the opposite, in fact. What passes for local soil is an impermeable mix of clay and rock and so far it’s nothing but mush. I’m told it eventually dries out. Why doesn’t anyone mass anything? Why are there no hedges? Why is there so much empty space backfilled in mulch? There has to be a reason but I don’t know what it is. What’s up with this obsession with turf? Why are there no ground overs? Ivy grows but no one uses it. It’s mulch. Acres of mulch. No vinca, no spreading juniper but juniper seems to grow well. It’s mulch and a hydrangea every 4 ft. No Gazania. No ajuga, gazanias, African daisies or geraniums. It’s tough little shrubs (spirea) 3 ft apart. The occasional hosta and maybe an azalea. I’ve yet to see a daylily but JF grows them in Maine. Is this a style thing? I’m lost.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Potatoes in a container: https://www.ciscoe.com/pdf/potatoes.pdf
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
A farmer is busy harvesting potatoes when an idler comes by. The farmer offers him a job helping with the harvest. The idler considers the offer and then decides to decline. “Best you hire the guy who planted them. He’ll know where they are.” 
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Steve, how about a stack of breeze blocks upon which to set your pots? How big are the bases of the pots?
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