All the Dirt on Gardening

Because the weather has been so wonderful, I'm spending 3 or 4 hours 'out there' every day. There are lots of tasks to accomplish inside the shed and the perennial beds had grown out of control since I didn't do much out there last year. Tropicals re-potted The tender tropical plants that are in the shade outside in the summer were desperate for pruning, pup removal, fresh soil and larger pots. Some of the succulents I've been starting with a leaf were ready for pots of their own plus pruning.  Agastache Apache Sunset seedlings The tiny seedlings needed to be transplanted to six packs, separated in the 72 cell trays and checked for true leaves and root length.  Perennial beds Salvia Azurea  Outside, I've been working on two large perennial beds that had become overgrown with phlox and other well-intentioned plants that need to be thinned regularly. I can't put photos of everything here because of space issues, but you get...

Garlic, onions and shallots are planted in late-fall here. Sometimes as late as New Year's Day with pretty good results, depending on how early the first freeze arrives. Shallots with onion If yours isn't in the ground yet, there is still time. Our garlic seeds are in but the onions still remain. We are in zone 7 so short season varieties are the best choices for us. It's based on sunlight hours: short day, 10 to 12 hours; intermediate day, 12 to 14 hours; and long day, 14 to 16 hours. Dixondale Farms catalog just arrived yesterday in the same mail as the shallot seeds from a new vendor I'm trying. Dixondale has a good, online reference for planting at http://cdn.dixondalefarms.com/downloads/OnionPlantingGuide.pdf Park Seed Shallots can be confusing: You can purchase small shallots now and plant them over the winter to harvest in the spring. Or, you can plant seeds now that will become those small shallots. If you plant the seeds in the ground they will...

Our gardening continues! I dug and fertilized a new bulb bed today, planted bulbs in established beds and dug up and potted more tender perennials for the winter. One bag of Earth Smart composted chicken stuff was enough for the entire bed. A lot of the garlic is coming up, feeding those wonderful bulbs for next summer's harvest. After the first freeze kills them back we will give them a thick mulch. In the meantime they are taking advantage of our still 80-degree days. I'm watering, too. All the shrubs that have been planted this month have to be watered until the weather cools more. Don't neglect them; they are developing roots even though they don't look like they are doing much right now. Mothballs saved another bed from the marauding cats. $2 a box at the dollar stores; 2-boxes keeps them out of most of the vulnerable plantings. The neighbors' cats all hunt in our yard. I watched them falling out of trees yesterday as I sat at the kitchen table. They climb the ...