The Ornamental Vegetable Garden

May 05, 2024 at 9:14 AM 0 comments By: m

Last post for this blog

I've had to move from my country home in Missouri to a city home in Illinois. I'll have some gardening ability here, but it will mostly be landscape beds, so I don't plan to blog about it.

I tried to plant carrot, chive, and lettuce seed in pots here, but the squirrels immediately dug up the carrot pots and waited for the lettuce to germinate before digging in those and the chive pots. I did put some dill and cilantro in a flower bed, and so far, they've not bothered those areas.

I managed to dig up and transplant a number of flowering plants which, thankfully, seem to be thriving, except for the coral bells and coneflowers, which the rabbits are eating. I've ordered some repellant spray.

I planted five new varieties of tulips last fall before I knew I would have to leave, and it being the wrong time to transplant tulips, I don't know if the ones I dug and brought with me will survive. It was worth a try, though, as I'll never see them in Missouri again anyway. (In fact, I postponed my move until after the tulips bloomed so I could see them at least once.)

This last post, then, will be essentially a photo dump of what I took and what I left behind. I thought I'd be able to load plants onto the truck with my belongings, so I dug up lots before I found out that wasn't going to be possible, as the truck would be in transit for a week.

'Sylvestris' (species)

'Slava'

'Quebec'

So, instead of taking personal belongings in my car, I loaded it down with plants.

One must decide what's important!

Prior to the digging and moving, early spring plants in the tulip and daffodil bed were in full glory.

First to blossom is always the crocus.

'Ruby Giant'

Following soon are the mountain lilies (Ixiolorion).

And the daffodils.

'Orangery'

'Pink Charm'

'Cassata' (and creeping phlox)

Pasque flower and rock cress are among the earliest bloomers.

Then come the tulips.

'Shogun', a species variety

Not all tulips are perennial. In fact, most aren't. The lily flowering and species tulips are, as well as the Darwin hybrids. Fortunately, one of my favorites, 'Slawa', is a lily flowering type.

'Slawa'

The new ones for me this year were all lily flowering types, because I finally learned what would last best. And then couldn't stay to enjoy them in subsequent years.

'Request'

'Quebec'

'Sonnet'

'Quebec' and 'Thalia' daffodils

'Mariette' (lily flowering) and 'Peppermint Stick' (species)

'Ballade'

I did get some beautiful bouquets before I left.

I shall miss my garden.

If you're gardening, keep at it, and enjoy every minute.

October 21, 2023 at 10:57 AM 0 comments By: m

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

UPDATE 10/25/2023:

So, that's the end of the season then! See you next spring.

ORIGINAL 10/21 POST:

Now that we're at the end of the gardening season, my tomatoes are still coming on and ripening. And they will until it freezes. If that happens soon, no problem this year, because I've had tomatoes out my ears, which is what I wanted so I could put up juice and sauce to last me through the winter months. The plants grew out over the tops of the cages and back down to the ground. So, hurray for tomato weather, even if it was hard on other things.

Some daily harvests...

'German Johnson' and 'Speckled Roman'

'German Johnson'

'German Johnson', 'Speckled Roman', and 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes

This year's planting of 'Brunswick' cabbage is now being harvested. The heads are huge, and the taste is very peppery. I probably won't plant them again. (Although I have a fall planting of a mix from Pinetree, and I don't know what varieties they actually are.)

I'm trying to make some sauerkraut with a very simple recipe from Pioneer Woman. So far (about two and a half weeks), it's really salty and not peppery like the raw cabbage. I have to admit I did forget the part about screwing on a plastic lid and instead used my metal canning rings. I don't know if that has caused any problems. If so, I haven't noticed. Next time I'll use plastic to compare.

I made some cabbage, kielbasa, and potato soup, and the peppery taste mellowed out.

A volunteer dill plant has become quite large in my cut flower plot.

And a parsleyworm caterpillar has taken up lodging on - of all things - the parsley. If it holds out and forms a chrysalis over winter, it should emerge as a black swallowtail butterfly next spring.

A couple of volunteer basil plants are showing their different flowers. The thai basil has a greenish-white spike, and the cardinal basil has lovely dark purple pompons.

I had some seeds fall out of one of my packets, but I don't know which and didn't recognize them. I planted them recently and am looking forward to discovering what they are. Hopefully it doesn't freeze before I find out. *

For four years, I've been trying to get some Korean angelica going and have had absolutely zero luck. This year, I finally got one seedling up, and I'm trying my best to keep it alive. It's very slow growing, and very sensitive to changes in soil moisture, which has been a problem since I've been gone on dog-sitting jobs so much of the growing season.

Korean angelica

The roses are still performing. I managed to keep them from being destroyed by both Japanese beetles (not a big population this year) and aphids. I'm attributing it to using a systemic insecticide and being home at the right time to spray aphids with Sevin (sigh) before they could get a good hold.

'Razzle Dazzle'

'Shazam!'

'Shazam!' underbellies

I'm guessing there might be one more post before the season ends, but if we don't get a freeze before Christmas (hahahaha), there may be two.

UPDATE : Dang. There may be none! The 10-day forecast:

*UPDATE 11/08/2023:

That, I believe, is 'Seaside' spinach.

It survived the 4-day freeze (no snow), as did the celery, both of which I covered. At last look (November 8), it looks like this (surrounded by poppy seedlings that fell from a field poppy plot earlier in the year):

I hate that late October freeze that seems to happen every year before the temperatures rise again. If not for that, I'd have tomatoes and roses at Thanksgiving this year. Such is the gardening life.

What a waste.

I did find patches of new bright green grass after the freeze. Going with the definition of a weed as a plant in a place where it's not wanted, this qualified. It was growing in gravel, and I pulled up bunches like sod and laid them in the paths where I'm about to succeed finally in getting rid of weeds and growing grass.

I also scattered some seed in the bare spots, so I'm looking forward to next spring to see what I've got. Fingers crossed.

September 20, 2023 at 10:30 AM 0 comments By: m

Cabbages and things

This may be the first year I actually have fall plantings, even though every year I think I'll do it.

I purchased a seed packet from Pine Tree that was a mix of various cabbages. As yet, I can't tell what varieties are growing. They all look alike right now.

This spring was the first time I tried 'Brunswick' cabbage. I think it's a common one. It's quite large, and since I've been pet sitting through a number of gardening weeks, it's a bit chewed. Not too bad, though. Also, it looks like it could be grasshopper feeding, and if so, the non-chemical Bt I spray for caterpillars wouldn't have stopped it anyway.

I had some 'Ruby Perfection' seeds left over from previous years. They never performed well, so I'm not expecting much from them this year and certainly won't plant them again. I only have two plants. They make pretty rosettes, but I'm still waiting for a head.

Baker Creek seed company normally sends along a free packet of some surprise with every order. The last order included a packet of 'Yedikule' lettuce seeds. They're very pretty plants, but they were also very bitter. Even when small.

'Yedikule' lettuce

Fall peas I planted are up now, and tomatoes are still slowly ripening. They've also completely outgrown their cages and are on their way back to the ground again!