Forget-Me-Not Homestead

Mom's Garden

Sharing a few photos from my garden.

My 13 year-old youngest son gave me this "Mom's Garden" rock for Mother's Day this year.  It's so sweet, just like him.  Nestled in a patch of perennial geraniums, it cheers up this shady spot in my garden.

I love purple lupines.  I think they're simply lovely.

In the background of this photo is a 10' tall, dense thicket of wild salmonberries that will make delicious jam later this summer.

My dear husband and sons gave me this pretty little Miss Kim Lilac several years ago for Mother's Day.  They were so delighted to find a flower at the nursery with my name on it!  The memory of that day is so sweet.  The scent is light, but absolutely heavenly!

I am so grateful for God's blessings of love, beauty, joy, and abundance in my garden and home.

"Who loves a garden, still his Eden keeps."  ~ A.B. Alcott

Rain

"God created rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."

I'm not sure who said this, but it certainly has been true for me this week!

Carrot Seeds

Today is a beautiful spring day.  A nice day to plant my favorite seeds - pelleted carrot seeds.  I like pelleted carrot seeds because you can plant a single seed at the correct spacing; there is no need to overplant the tiny carrot seeds, and then thin them out later.  Pelleted carrot seeds are a little more expensive.  I purchase mine from Territorial Seed Company; 250 seeds are $3.25, 1000 seeds are $7.45, 5000 seeds are $23.00.

For the last few years I've been purchasing Mokum pelleted carrot seeds for my square foot garden beds.  I like Mokum carrots because they're delicious, and because of their shorter time until maturity - only 56 days.

Here's a photo of a bunch of Mokum carrots from last year's harvest.

They look short and stubby because my raised beds are only 6" deep and the carrots have hit bedrock.  They look funny, but they taste great!

Garden Pleasures

"God Almighty first planted a Garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man..."

~ Francis Bacon

Cottage Gardening

Spring is just around the corner, and I would like to share my favorite gardening book.  The Cottage Garden by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Bird is a well-written, comprehensive book for anyone seeking a cottage garden.  This book was written in England for English gardeners; but it can easily be read, enjoyed, and used by American cottage gardeners as well.

The Cottage Garden covers all aspects of cottage gardening, including; traditional cottage garden plants and plans, cottage garden features such as pathways, gates, and arbors; and tending the garden and using its produce.  Cottage garden history is covered as well.  My favorite aspect of this book are the dozens of inspiring color photos of beautiful cottage gardens.

In my own humble cottage garden I grow a variety of colorful perennial flowers, vines, and wildflowers.  I have a kitchen herb garden and square foot vegetable gardens.  The wilder areas of our little homestead have been abundantly blessed with wild blueberries, huckleberries, and salmonberries.

I have several good gardening books that I refer to throughtout the growing season; but The Cottage Garden is the one I pull out every spring for pure inspiration and beauty. 

Overwintering Fuchsias

Last night the temperature dipped to a chilly 33 degrees at my house.  That means it's time to overwinter my 2 hanging baskets of fuchsias until next spring.  A common sight in my neighborhood during the growing season is hanging fuchsias baskets trailing branches of beautiful blooms.  If you'd like to try and overwinter your fuchsias this year; I'd like to share how I overwinter mine.

First,  before you bring your hanging basket indoors, check to make sure there are no pests on the plant.  Then, cut all the branches of your plant back 2/3.  This means you will only be left with 1/3 of your beautiful plant.  I know this might be difficult to do for some, but it will make your plant stronger for next season.

Second, water the plant, but do not fertilize it.  Also, so that the plant can go into dormancy, do not fertilize your plant within 2 weeks of bringing the plant indoors to overwinter.

Third, take your hanging basket out to your outbuilding or garage that stays cool in the winter, but does not freeze.  During the winter, water the plant only enough so that the roots won't dry out.

And finally, when new early growth on the plant starts appearing during the winter, just pinch it back so that it won't grow too leggy.  By spring you should have beautiful, full fuchsias once again.

Square Foot Garden Idea

My dear husband came up with this neat free gardening idea for our square foot garden.

Initially, I began Square Foot Gardening because it was a way to start a small vegetable garden without having to fence our property or our garden to keep deer out.  We have a lot of deer in the area, and as most gardeners know, they can be a garden pest.

Like Mel Bartholomew suggests in his book, we installed 1/2" PVC pipe frames over our raised garden beds, so that we can cover them every night with a sheet of plastic.  The plastic protects the garden by keeping the heat in, the heavy rain out, and the deer out.  Here's where we use my husband's idea, instead of Mel's.  Mel suggests that you use pieces of wood to hold the plastic down - we used rocks from our beach at first.  This seemed very cumbersome to do every night.  So, my husband found an old garden hose, he cut it up into 6" pieces, then sliced the pieces open. They fit perfectly over the PVC pipe to hold the plastic snuggly in place.  It's so nice and quick covering up and protecting my gardens now.  If you have an old garden hose laying around, you might want to give it a try.

Simple Vegetable Gardening

I enjoy the Square Foot Gardening method.  In my square foot gardens, I plant mostly salad veggies.  This year I grew lettuce, spinach, arugula, swiss chard, carrots, radishes, and scallions.  I also planted a beautiful light red nasturtium in the corners of each raised bed box.  Nasturtiums are very tasty, and pretty in a salad bowl.  I had never seen a red nasturtium before, so it's been fun to see them bloom.  They're called Whirly-Bird Cherry Rose Nasturtium.  I purchase all my seeds from Territorial Seed Company.

Square Foot Gardening might not be for everyone, but for anyone with little garden space or a beginner, it is a great method.