All Hands On Deck

At my house, gardening is a family affair.

My 'tiller'

Even 'doggie' gets in on the action

Searching for worms

Jackpot!

Late Frost

Last week we had a few nights that dipped down into the low 30's.  I covered my tomato plants so that they would make it through the low temperatures without any damage.

Signs of Spring

The first signs of spring are popping up in my garden.  

Blueberry

Blueberry

Blueberry

Asparagus 

Pea plant

Grapevine sprouting its first leaves

Try, Try Again

      When I talk to people about gardening sometimes they seem really discouraged by setbacks in their garden that occurred the previous year.  They had one plant that didn't grow at all, or another that grew really well but didn't produce anything, or they had an insect or disease ravage some plants.  Although it's really discouraging to have these things happen, the important thing to remember is that everyone, including the most experienced master gardeners, make mistakes.  The key (as in most things in life) is to learn a lesson from it and remember that your garden will be that much better next year because of what you've learned.

The dreaded Manduca quinquemaculat, or tomato horn bug. 

The internet is a wonderful resource for those of us looking to research problems in the garden and possible solutions.  I have learned so much from my many mistakes or problems (like this one) simply by researching on the internet.

I originally thought this was Greek Aramanth but it turned out to be a huge weed, spreading its minuscule seeds all over my garden.  Years later I am still pulling up the plants from those seeds.

       This past year (2013) was particularly difficult for a lot of gardeners in Charlotte because of the massive amounts of rain we got early in the season.  It made it really difficult for plants to get enough sun to grow properly.  Improper drainage issues were made painfully obvious and many of the plants that don't like 'wet feet' suffered as a result.  

This woolly thyme died last year because of the huge amount of rain we got.  Inadequate drainage contributed to its demise.

This morning glory seedling was not getting enough sunlight. 

Here's to hoping that 2014 will be a good season for growing! 

Seeds vs. Plants

I had a great gardening consultation this afternoon.  The weather was gorgeous and I had a blast doing what I love to do - sharing information about gardening to help people feel more confident in the garden.  As I was leaving my client smiled and said, "I feel excited about gardening again!" Music to my ears.

One of the things we talked about today during the consult was growing things from seed vs. buying plants from the store.  Often people feel intimidated by starting plants by seed.  I encourage people to start small and pick one plant from their usual repertoire and try to grow it from seed and see how it goes.  Once you have success and your confidence builds you can slowly shift over to starting most things by seed.

It's much cheaper to buy a seed packet than it is to buy plants from the store.  Plus you can get more variety from seed catalogues if you go that route.

The nice thing about seed packets is that you are highly unlikely to use the whole seed packet in one season, so you can save the seeds for next year. The seed germination rates will decrease slightly so you'll have to plant a few more to plan accordingly.  Store the seeds in a dry, cool place over the winter.

This picture is from one of my earlier years of starting plants by seed.  

I start my seeds in a basic organic seed starting mixture.  I make my pots out of newspaper.  I purchased a small heating mat to warm the pots until they germinate.  In total, it's really a much smaller investment if you consider the cost of buying plants at the store.

I look forward to when the seed catalogues start arriving in the mail so I can pore over the latest things available and start dreaming of what my garden will look like this year.  I don't expect that everyone will share the same enthusiasm that I do for starting seeds but if you try it you might find it's not as scary or as hard as you originally thought.  Give it a try!

Some impatiens flowers growing in a container from seed.