Summer Dreams

This picture puts me in a dreamy state of mind.  A fellow teacher gave the sunflower to me at the start of the summer in a little pot.  Now it reminds me that school is starting, and my friends are going back to work.  Am I feeling sentimental? Only a bit.  I've loved this summer, and for me I'm counting on several more weeks of it.  I am not feeling the stress of a new school year.  I'm happily contemplating what new adventures my life might hold:

• Should I keep my garden blog going all fall and winter?  I love writing it, but I get almost no feedback.  Is it enough to write it for myself?  Talk to me... someone.
• Do we want to invest in a greenhouse?  It's a hobby both my husband and I enjoy.  He especially likes to nurture plants over the winter. We've been looking online at a lovely cedar greenhouse.  Is it worth the cost?
• Do I want to start a second blog?  I had originally thought I'd write a quilting blog, but thought I'd "learn how" with this gardening blog, since it was summertime.  I have worked on some quilting projects this summer, but winter is the season I really get into that.  And now I have in mind to perfect my cooking skills.  Soups to be exact.  I'd like to perfect my already good soups, and expand my soup repertoire.  Maybe I should blog about that.
• My daughter is Marketing Director for BASC at SUNY Brockport.  She has organized a "Great Plate Challenge" for her workplace. It's a 60 day Eating for Wellness challenge that starts next week.  I've signed on to see if I can further improve my diet. (Yippee:)
• Weekly piano lessons for my grandkids, Brooklynn and Brodie, start up again as soon as school is here.  It's time to get Brooklynn to play in church.

Summer daydreams....  I'm so lucky to have the luxury and the time.

Sauce from Scratch

The tomatoes are starting to ripen.  Now normally, I would be lamenting all the work required to turn them, along with the peppers and onions, into marinara sauce because this would be my "getting ready for the new school year" time.  And once school work starts, gardening has always  been shifted to the bottom of the "to-do" list.  Not this year!  Bring on those tomatoes!  I'm really looking forward to fall in my gardens.  I've got the time; I've got the interest, so let's just see what can be harvested and produced!

Today I made my first batch of marinara sauce.  All day the pot of onions, peppers (both green and red), tomatoes and basil have been simmering on the stove.  The whole house smells wonderful.  It's a rewarding feeling to know that the onions, tomatoes and basil were all grown from seed.  Yes, I had to buy a few peppers from the farmers' market; our pepper plants look lush and full, but have only a few small peppers.  Don't know why...  Anyway, my sauce also has a few more seasonings including garlic, oregano, and red wine.  It's great stuff!

I even roasted 4 red peppers to add to the sauce.  I toasted them under the broiler to char the outer skin.  It worked well, but next time I think I'll try using the outdoor gas grill.  After the skins are charred and the peppers rest in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, the skins slip right off.  Remove the seeds, chop them up, and into the sauce they go. Yum!

I haven't quite decided if I will can or freeze this batch of sauce.  I've done both in the past.  Freezing is easier, but I think the quality is just a tad better when it's canned.  I think I'll use both methods this year for the ultimate comparison.  This might be a freezer batch just because it's now late in the day and I'm getting a little tired.  Like I said, freezing is the easier, quicker method.

August Plantings

August Plantings - that might be an oxymoron.  Or at least maybe I'm the "moron" to try to plant new bushes in the dog-days of summer.  However, I found a nice butterfly bush at the new struggling Farmer's market in town.  I want to support our local growers, so of course I just had to buy it.  Then there is that new "on-sale" hydrangea plant I bought a week ago.  Both bushes needed to be planted immediately, because they were pot bound and needed more moisture than the pots could handle.  So into the ground they went, but even though I have been watering them almost every day, they became wilted and stressed-looking.

How to save my new bushes from the heat and dryness of August - that's my problem. So we made a watering bucket.  My husband drilled 5 very small holes in the bottom of an old bucket.  I placed the watering bucket next to each bush and filled with water from our rain barrel.  The water dribbled out and soaked into the roots of the bushes. I gave each bush 2 bucketfuls. It seemed to work very well.  The water had a chance to go deep, and the bushes got enough water to recover their healthy look.

You might notice that the water is my bucket has a greenish tint.  My husband adds plant fertilizer to the rain barrel, so that all our water is fortified.  It's an easy, although imprecise way of adding fertilizer throughout the season.  It seems to work for us. I'll continue watering my new August plantings with my "high-tech" watering bucket!  It just might do the trick!

Lilies and Daylilies

I'm allergic to the fragrance of lilies.  These flowers are so showy, and so aromatic!  It's no wonder that both my daughters-in-law used lilies in their weddings.  I love them also, but they must stay outside in the garden for me.  And no sticking my nose in for a good whiff.  At least not if I want to be able to breathe the rest of the day.  But that doesn't mean I don't adore them from afar.

Daylilies remind me of the country roads I grew up on. These lilies grew wild in the road ditches.  Daylilies are not true lilies, but in my mind they are all related.  Although their blossoms last only 1 day (hence their name), each stem blooms numerous times providing a constant show for about a month in mid-summer.  Even today there is a local country road I sometimes travel that sports a homemade sign that begs the local road crew "Please don't mow the lilies."  When the blooms are spent, the long reed-like leaves make a very nice backdrop to other plantings. Another positive of daylilies is that they grow so thickly with so many leaves that they crowd out any weeds.  A perennial that I don't have to weed - that's my favorite kind of plant!  A friend gave me a few tubers from her garden and they have worked wonderfully as a border plant at the back of my lawn.  I admit to not weeding them; they choke out competitors all on their own.

The true lilies grow from a bulb, but I still consider them perennial since I've never once dug up the few I have.  These lilies grow just a few tall stems with blossoms that impress all for about a week or so. They usually need staking because the blossoms are so large and make the plant top-heavy.  You can often smell these from across the yard.  I'd probably plant more than the few I have, if my respiratory system didn't object so.

These are the flowers that inspire me to aim for a close-up "artsy" photo.  I think they'd be a great subject for a painting... maybe this winter, when I'm dreaming summer.

Liriope Issues

Two years ago we had our front landscaping redone with professional help.  We needed the help.  Three kinds of plants grew in front of the house - old, overgrown junipers, rhododendrons that threatened to cover the entire front door, and 1 other mystery bush that I called "deer delight".  The junipers were very large, even with my husband's aggressive pruning.  Because of their size and the pruning needed to keep them below the window sills, they had green growth only on the very top.  The rhododendrons were beautiful for 1 week a year when they showed off their huge magenta blossoms.  The rest of the year, they were nice dark green foliage bushes.  The problem was they were growing right in front of the front door.  Rhododendrons get big and tall! Lastly, the "deer delight" bushes would be eaten almost to the ground each winter by the local deer.  It never quite killed the bushes, but each year they looked more and more bedraggled as they struggled to come back.

Now you have to understand my husband a little to know what a big decision it was to have the front landscaping redone.  He never gives up on a plant until it is "deader than a doornail", and even then he thinks "It'll probably come back."  It was painful to him to rip out living plants, even if he could admit they were past their prime.  In the end, I had to allow him to drag 1 huge rhododendron to the back lawn, so he could try to replant it.  (It's back there still... 75% dead.... but it'll probably come back.  :)

Enter the professional landscaper. My requests included a plan that used all deer-resistant plants, used some of the plants I already had available, solved the problem of the front "under-the-eave" bed that struggled to grow much of anything, and was a bit "different".  She designed and built a fabulous "paver" walkway and patio.  The front beds were planted to miniature rhododendrons, crimson bayberry, boxwood, astilbe, hostas, and Liriope.  I'm very happy with the whole project, even though it didn't really jell with our "frugal lifestyle." Sometimes you just have to pay the big bucks.

That's a lot of background info, but I'm finally to my post topic: liriope, commonly called lilyturf.  We picked it because it is deer resistant and grows to be a variegated clump of leafy grass. I was a little nervous because Liriope Spicata is known as a vigorous grower, even to the point of being invasive, as its roots spread via rhizomes. Under the old bushes had been ivy that crept everywhere, and I didn't want to have to fight another such plant. My landscaper assured me that Liriope Muscari would not spread, and was the one for me.  The first year after the new landscaping was installed, I noticed that 1 of my liriope didn't look like the other ones.  It was larger, greener, healthier looking, and beginning to spread.  Yikes! One of the Liriope Spicata had found its way to the bed.  My landscaper said she'd quickly replace that, and she did.  Unfortunately, I can tell that the replacement liriope is a spreader also.  We moved the first Liriope Spicata to the west wall of the house. (Remember, my husband can not get rid of any living plant.  And I didn't really care if it spread here, because this is the side of the house that gets all the storms.  Most plants don't really like it here.)  It has flourished this summer - looks great - large, healthy - and yes, several new babies are sprouting around it.  The replacement Liriope Spicata is doing well also, in fact, much better than the Liriope Muscari that have now been in the ground 2 years.  I'm trying to decide whether or not I'll just go with the spreading variety, and fight to keep it under control.  If anyone has any advice for me, I'd love to hear it.

Coleus Color

No plant is better at providing a splash of color all season than coleus.  Flowers bloom and fade, but coleus just keeps growing and growing.  The leaves are the stars. and as long as you pinch back the small blossoms that try to grow at the tips of the plant, coleus will spread into a mass of beautiful color.

Our coleus this year all came from last year's plantings.  We find this method easier than starting them by seed. My husband took cuttings last fall, and rooted the stems in potting soil.  He kept them in the basement all winter under a couple florescent grow lights. (He's a genius with electrical timers to automatically turn the lights on and off.)  By planting time this spring, the new plants were already anxious to hit the flower beds and spread their wings.  They look great tucked up against hostas, or bleeding hearts, or day-lilly greenery. 

These annuals look great all season long.  If they get too tall and leggy, I just cut them back a bit.  That makes them spread more to each side.  They can be started from cuttings or seed.  I'm always on the look-out for new coleus colors or leaf shapes.  Let me know if you have an especially beautiful coleus, and I'll be over to take a cutting :) 

A New Bed

I have 3 little Rose of Sharon seedlings in the back corner of our yard.  My husband complains every time he has to mow around them, so... I've decided to create a new flower bed around them.  A larger bed with curved edges is easier to mow around than 3 little sticks.  I'm also looking for a place to move my 3 "non-flowering" hydrangeas.  I have no idea if a move will help the hydrangeas bloom next year, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. This corner is shaded in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Maybe my hydrangeas will like that better. I also bought another Twist "N Shout hydrangea on sale for $12 - couldn't resist - so that's slated for this bed also.

I found some directions on the web for creating new planting beds that seemed reasonable and easier than digging out all the sod. So here's what I did.  First I used empty pots to space out where I want to put my plants.  Then I used a can of spray paint to mark an outline of the new bed.  Next came layers of newspaper covering all the grass within the new bed.  Lastly with some sweat equity, I spread wood chip compost (stolen from the blueberries) over the newspaper. The internet directions say wait 1 month, and then the bed will be ready for planting. So far, so good; I'll let you know how successful this method is next month when I dig up and replant my hydrangeas.

Hostas

Hostas are the workhorses of my flower gardens.  They make everything around them look good, and they just keep doing their job year after year with very little maintenance.  Every time I need more greenery for an area, I just dig and split one of my hostas.  The top photo shows 3 hostas that all came from 1 plant 2 years ago.  They are large and wonderful, even the first year after transplanting.  Yes, they are in bloom right now, but I love them more for their leaves than the blooms.  The leaves come in many colors and sizes.  For me they seem to be able to grow almost anywhere - shade, sun, dry soil, or wet soil.

As soon as the blooms drop, I cut off the blossom stems.  It makes them look so much neater. I will be splitting several of my hostas this fall because they are getting over-grown.  Hear that friends!  I have hostas looking for homes!

Prickly Pear Update

What a surprise!  As I made the rounds through my gardens this morning, I discovered these 2 blossoms on the prickly pear cactus I just planted 3 weeks ago. I also spotted this same plant in a Buffalo, NY garden during the annual garden walk.  Maybe it can survive our winters.  We'll see.

"I Get my Thrill... On Blueberry Hill"

From the second week of July to mid August our patch of 100 blueberry bushes calls forth the birds, the Japanese Beetles, the deer, and (don't tell my daughter) maybe even a black bear this year.  My husband, myself, and a few dedicated visitors diligently pick berries almost every day.  We get all we need, so I guess it's okay to share with the animal kingdom.  Some days we can pick up to 10 quarts of berries; other days we only get 2 or 3 quarts.  I sell the organic berries off a little red cart in my front yard using the "honor" system.  It seems to work fine.  Whenever there are berries left at the end of the day, I pop them into the freezer for my winter stash.  This year I had several quarts of 2009 berries left over in the freezer, so those I turned into blueberry jam.  That's been selling well also off the little red cart.

We have tried several methods to discourage the critters that nibble at the berries.  The first year we were here, we used nets to cover the rows of bushes.  The nets were left by the previous owner.  We didn't like them much.  First of all that's a lot of netting to drape over bushes. They were hard to handle and get stuck on branches.  Second, you have to climb under the netting to pick the berries. But worst of all, birds land on the nets and get their feet stuck in the netting.  Then you have to go out and help release a flapping, hysterical bird or it will die.  Yuck, that was not for me.

Next we tried windsocks.  They're pretty blowing above the bushes, but I don't think they scare any of the critters.  Motion detector owls came next.  Good idea, but the "who...whoo...whooing" got to be annoying to the humans.  A couple water motion detector sprinklers work about the best - at least for keeping deer out of the vegetable garden.  We've used "Have-a-Heart" traps; they're great at trapping skunks, but that's a story for another day. Lastly my husband installed 2 outdoor radio speakers in the blueberries that come on and off in 15 minute intervals.  They might scare away a few birds - not many - but they do make picking very pleasant as our favorite country music station keeps us bopping along.

We are so lucky to have these established bushes in our backyard.  The original owner of the home planted them in the 1960's.  The berries are so good, and all the experts say they are so good for you.  I eat them in oatmeal, in pie, in coffeecake, in salads, and in smoothies.  Of course, this month, I eat them plain right off the bush.  Here's a link to one of my favorite coffeecake recipes.  The Best Blueberry Coffee Cake