Garden Blog of a girl growin' Southern

Beautyberry

2011-09-25T05:53:00.001-05:00

I love the look of Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma) in the fall. The berries look so juicy & yummy, but the birds seem to be letting them alone for now. It's not too exciting to look at the rest of the year, but since it's a neglect-proof bush that provides treats for wildlife, it's a winner in my book. Yay native plants!

Gulf fritillary

2011-08-08T18:28:00.003-05:00

I grew passion vine for the first time this year, and I'm excited to finally have a gulf fritillary caterpillar in my garden!

Who grows the tastiest peaches?

2011-07-31T17:16:00.003-05:00

photo by La Grande Farmer's Market

I loved this article in the NY Times about the rivalry between Georgia and South Carolina when it comes to growing peaches. South Carolina does outdo the official peach state in quantity, and maybe in quality too. But let's not lose sight of the main point- the South grows them best!

Tomato Overload

2011-07-13T20:14:00.002-05:00

Three plants of cherry tomatoes go a long way! This is just my harvest today.

Monarchs on their way!

2011-05-02T16:29:00.001-05:00

The Watermelon Walrus

2011-04-04T18:52:00.007-05:00

According to my 4-year-old, you have to watch out for the watermelon-eating walrus in the backyard. I may have complained a little too much about the groundhog last summer, and then she got her animals a little confused. Anyway, I've purchased some fencing this year. I've heard you need to bury a good foot of fence to deter tunneling. So that's my next project!

Happy Spring!

2011-04-04T18:49:00.002-05:00

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-15T11:08:00.002-05:00

Over my spring break, I finally started sorting through some of my houseplants and the accompanying mess. There's a couple plants I need to get rid of just to make room. But how can I get rid of a perfectly good, green plant? It seems I have these emotional attachments and history with all of them. One I got as a cutting from my Aunt; another I had since college. Sigh.

Does anyone else have a problem of composting alive (or even barely alive) plants?

Herbicide

2011-02-17T10:42:00.002-05:00

I was sad to read today about the Auburn tree poisoning. The loss of those ancient live oaks probably means a lot to football fans and anyone who loves the campus, but I am also disturbed even though I root for the other Tigers.

What kind of punishment do you think the person would receive if they catch him or her? Am I a crazy plant person to think the punishment should be just as severe as if someone poisoned an animal mascot, like the UGA bulldog?

Happy Snow Day!

2011-01-11T16:47:00.001-05:00

White Christmas!

2010-12-26T17:53:00.001-05:00

It's been a long while since there's been snow on Christmas Day here in Upstate SC. What a nice Christmas present!

I was reminded about the resilance of the pansies as I saw this flower sticking up through the snow. This symbolizes a good resolution for me in the new year. I hope to stay calm and strong as life throws new experiences my way.

Monarch caterpillars

2010-09-12T21:28:00.003-05:00

I was surprised and delighted to see what looked like Monarch caterpillars munching away on the butterfly weed this afternoon. At first I was confused since I thought they only dined on milkweed. Then I looked it up and found out butterfly weed is Asclepias tuberosa. Once again paying attention to that pesky Latin can come in handy, since its Latin name clearly shows it's in the milkweed family. Doh!

Mmmmmm...pesto

2010-09-04T16:10:00.003-05:00

Thank you, basil, for not protesting my neglect now that I've been back to work for a few weeks. And thank you for sacrificing a few leaves for the sake of yummy pesto. I couldn't have done it without you.

Sometime soon I'd like to grind up some garlic and basil to freeze over the winter. (Then you just add the pine nuts, cheese, and olive oil when you're ready.) But the whole process always seems to take so long that I didn't do that today. It shouldn't take long, but it always does.

Why did it take me over an hour today to make some simple pesto? I started accounting for my time, and it started to make a lot more sense:

Stopping by to pull random weeds- 20 minutes.
Admiring butterflies- 10 minutes
Surveying vegetable garden and cursing groundhog- 5 minutes
Struggling to remember how to assemble the food processor- 10 minutes
Clearing breakfast dishes out of sink to make room for washing basil- 5 minutes
Cleaning up the pots and pans toddler has strewn across the floor - 10 minutes

And the Winner is...

2010-08-05T13:53:00.003-05:00

Thanks to all that entered the giveaway contest last month! The winning entry was from Mya, who has already received and posted a picture of her prize package.

More butterflies!

2010-08-05T13:42:00.003-05:00

I've gone camera-crazy again this summer a few times, taking lots of pictures of the butterflies that frequent the lantana (Miss Huff). I liked this picture since it's a little different to see the "underbelly" of a butterfly.

[OK, plant disclaimer, lantana could be invasive in your state and doesn't look that great in winter. But if you plant it responsibly, it's great. In fact you might already be in love with it. A drought tolerant butterfly magnet!]

Surprise Visit

2010-07-29T19:32:00.002-05:00

I was pretty shocked to see this gigantic bird hanging out poolside in our back yard. I think it's a blue heron! He was probably disappointed and confused about the lack of fish in our pool, but he hung out for quite a few minutes looking around.

My Big Toe

2010-07-27T21:57:00.003-05:00

You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson about walking around outside in flip-flops. But on the spur of the moment we ended up dropping by a friend's house, and of course I had to walk around outside and enjoy her yard.

Later that night, I awoke with my toe swelled up and throbbing. It's possible I was bitten by a spider, but I'll never know for sure.

What's strange is that after this experience, I don't carry a grudge against spiders, but my fear of snakes has intensified. I guess it's just the concept of unseen, dangerous critters out there. It also doesn't help that I've seen copperheads in our yard, and I've met one person who was bitten by one while gardening here in Upstate South Carolina. As a result, I have procrastinated on a few garden tasks: cleaning up the kudzu in our wooded backyard and weeding some areas.

When does kudzu start loosing leaves? Could I wait on my "kudzu cleanup" until they go into hibernation in October?

What precautions do you use in your gardening? Do heavy gloves protect you?

Sand Garden

2010-07-19T12:59:00.001-05:00

In Northeast Harbor, Maine, I ran across this "sand garden". I love how the raked sand and rocks look like an ocean and islands.

Vacation

2010-07-07T06:32:00.000-05:00

I'm enjoying the natural beauty of Maine right now, and of course the pleasant weather for walking around outside.

I love the ferns and the firs and all the moss, too. It's amazing all the diversity of plants we have in the United States. Another reason to celebrate. Happy belated 4th of July!

Giveaway: Organic Home Pest Control Value Bundle

2010-06-29T18:46:00.003-05:00

EcoSMART is sponsoring a giveaway of their organic home pest control products here at Growing Southern.

Here's the package you could win:

Weed and Grass Killer
Garden Fungicide
Garden Insect Killer
Insect Repellent

If you garden, you have pests. So I know most of you would be able to find a use for some home garden pest control products.

To enter, simply comment on why you need or want the organic pest control products.

I'll announce the winner on July 14th. Good luck!

Garden Withdrawl

2010-06-04T21:05:00.002-05:00

I've been out of town this week, and I'm really missing my garden. My fingernails look way too nice. I need some dirt under them again. And it's just doesn't feel right when I'm not smelly, sore, and really in need of a shower at the end of the day. Then there's the wondering about what I'm missing- wouldn't it be cool if I could Skype with my plants?

Like most young people, I once thought I would enjoy living in the excitement of the big city. But now I realize I can't even stand it for a week. Yes, there's some containers of beautiful flowers on the sidewalk and a fountain in the square, but it's just not the same as having my own little patch of dirt.

Garden "Helpers"

2010-04-30T08:48:00.003-05:00

It's nice that for the first spring in a quite a while, I'm not pregnant (and unable to lift large containers or bags of mulch) or tending to a newborn (and spending all my "free" time napping). So I am really appreciating spending a lot of time outside this spring!

Of course a preschooler helping to "weed" and a baby shoving everything he can find in his mouth makes things interesting. But they are learning valuable lessons these past few weeks in the garden:

Lesson #1: Don't eat the snapdragons.

Lesson #2: Butterfly weed is not a weed.

Lesson #3: Carrots are yummy, dirt and all.

Lesson #4: If you crawl through the muddy water on the patio, it makes a fun mess.

Wildflowers

2010-04-23T22:54:00.001-05:00

Here's some photos of my "muse" from the last post- the wildflowers at Hatcher gardens.

Woodland Wildflowers

2010-04-21T20:56:00.003-05:00

Now that spring has arrived, I have plenty of weeding and mulching to do. So I'm taking it one section at a time and enjoying every minute I can get outside.

I focused on a small shaded corner of my garden today. I was inspired by a recent stroll through the Hatcher Gardens. Josephine Hatcher loved wildflowers, and there is a beautiful section of woodland garden full of delicate blooms right now.

My own little woodland wildflower corner includes phlox, columbine, and spiderwort all in shades of purple and white.

Other suggestions for plants I should add to my little corner?

Where have you gotten your inspiration this spring?

Feeling like spring!

2010-03-14T15:57:00.003-05:00

In Ohio, spring break seldom felt like spring. Colleges usually schedule them smack in the middle of the semester, sometime in early March. Often times there would be snowstorms yet to come after spring break.

But I've enjoyed a spring break that felt like spring this week. I got to take my daughter to the children's park in downtown Greenville early in the week. Then it rained a lot late in the week. I noticed my bulbs are starting to come up, so they must have liked the rain. We used to say "April showers bring May flowers", but maybe the saying should be rolled a month back here!

Mystery Varigation

2010-03-05T11:23:00.001-05:00

I don't think these seeds were marked as having varigation! I'm wondering if stress can bring it on.

Winter wonderland

2010-02-13T08:35:00.001-05:00

Two inches of snow! I guess its a good day for drinking hot tea, watching the Olympics, and starting seeds!

Snow on Magnolia

2010-02-12T16:24:00.001-05:00

Snow!!! Something we don't see very often here!

Bowl o' mulch

2010-02-07T11:27:00.001-05:00

I've noticed a variation on the mulch mound recently- the bowl of mulch. Better than mulch against the crown & trunk I guess, but wouldn't it trap too much water against the tree perhaps ?

Honeysuckle rant

2010-01-31T21:53:00.003-05:00

photo by Anita363

Beautiful flowers, right? I can't stand looking at them! I spent some more time today pulling honeysuckle out of the wooded area in our front yard, where they are smoothering the shrubs and strangling small saplings.

The good news was that now that the drought is over, the soil is much softer and it's a lot easier to pull them out by the roots. I felt like I really made some progress today!

Plant Diversity helps Bees

2010-01-22T14:12:00.001-05:00

I just read an interesting article about the correlation between plant diversity and bees' immune systems. Bees that forage from several plant species, rather than a monoculture, can protect themselves better from disease.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm

It's an interesting thought that by gardening and growing lots of nectar plants (without pesticides), perhaps we are ensuring our city bees are in better health than their country cousins.

Apps for gardeners?

2010-01-12T16:22:00.001-05:00

I've become very addicted to my iPhone lately. Countless hours in the dark spent trying to put a baby to sleep were much more interesting when I could check email and look at facebook. And now I can blog from my phone, too! Hurray!

I'm disapointed that there doesn't seem to be a good plant ID guide. Maybe someday! Right now here's a couple apps for gardeners:

Allrecipies.com
You can search by ingredient, including that veggie you grew too much of.

Weatherchannel.com
More detailed hourly reports help you figure out when to water and when to let nature do the watering.

Amazon
I've spent way too much money on plant books since I started having a mobile wishlist.

BlogPressLite
What I'm using now!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

Southern Hospitality

2009-12-17T15:50:00.005-05:00

photo by happy via

We recently had a family in our neighborhood over to our house for dinner for the first time. I think we all had a good time, but I had some pre-party jitters about being a good Southern host. When I socialize with native Southerners, there's a few things I still am uncertain about:

1) Should I introduce family friends as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" or "Mr. Bob and Miss Sally?"
2) When exactly should my daughter be trained to say "yes m'am" ? After every yes?
3) How do I make the tea? I mean, how should I fix the tea?

From my experiences drinking tea around South Carolina, it seems like true Southern tea needs to be sweet enough that you can feel your teeth rotting as you drink it. And recently I saw how it's done; a lady in the local deli was mixing a big batch of tea, and I swear to you it was one part sugar to one part tea.

I like my sugar in my diet to come in cookie and candy form, so I usually "sweeten" my tea with Splenda. I arrived on a recipe that involves 8 cups of water and 4 packets of Splenda. Recently, however, I noticed the Splenda box had a recipe for "Southern Sweet Tea". The ratio of water to Splenda was 5 cups of water to 24 packets of Splenda! Note to self: just give up and buy some soda. I mean Coke.

The day after...

2009-11-27T14:22:00.002-05:00

For Thanksgiving break, I'm enjoying the scenery of Jekyll Island, GA. I love walking through the marsh, especially. While Grandma complains that the marsh makes the ocean dirty, I think it's definitely worth the price a little mulch in your swim shorts.

Those walks are a good thing right now, since I've already had a full serving of vegetables today- in the form of pumpkin pie.

End of the Line

2009-11-22T23:32:00.004-05:00

I recently discovered the monthly garden photography contest at Garden Gone Wild. It's fun to look through all the entries. So much talent out there! When I heard the topic was "End of the Line", I thought of this picture I took recently when at the Roper Mountain fall festival.

But if I stare at the photograph long enough, I realize it's not really the end of the line, it's a new beginning as the leaves are broken down and provide nurishment for new life.

Expanding my compost condos

2009-11-22T18:27:00.006-05:00

I topped off another compost pile this weekend, so I made another "redneck composter". With all the leaves coming down now, it didn't stay this empty for long!

What you need:

Chicken wire

Wire cutter

Work gloves
Tape measure

I borrowed the wire cutters from my husband's fire gear, who warned me that if I didn't return them, he might end up stuck in a burning house unable to cut himself free from electric wire. Dramatic, huh? In his defense, I do have a habit of walking off with tools. I do have some of my own gadgets, like this awesome promotional tape measure .

Step 1. For a 5' diameter bin, you need to cut about 15 feet of wire. Cut so that you leave the wires poking out at the end (leaving a smooth edge on the roll).

[Note: If you want a different size, length of wire = 3.14 (pi) x desired diameter. ]

Step 2. Shape the wire into a large circle. Use the wires poking out on the end to wind around the smooth end, securing your circle.

Step 3. Jam into place on the ground, using a post to secure if desired.

So simple! I managed to complete this while my 3-year-old was watching, and her attention span is rather short.

Geometery in the Garden!

2009-11-19T23:04:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd be contemplating pi in the garden. No, that's not a typo: get your head out of the pumpkin pie!

I was wondering the length of chickenwire I'd need for a circular compost pile so that it'd fit in a 5' x 5' area. There's a formula for that! Circumfrance (length of chicken wire)
= diameter x pi.

Wow, maybe higher math is useful afterall. Well, somewhat. If calculus has come in handy in your day to day life, let me know.

Merlot Ivy Geranium

2009-11-09T15:32:00.005-05:00

Although I never look forward to my basil becoming black and crunchy or the impatiens withering with the first freeze, one nice thing about annual plants dying each year is that you get to start fresh again. By the end of the summer I'm ready for a change of pace.

Once in while, though, you find an annual that you don't want to lose! I was pleasantly surprised by the Global 'Merlot' Ivy Geranium provided by the Garden Harvest Supply. I'm usually not a geranium person. When I think of geraniums, I think of the much over-planted bright red version that I've gotten bored with over the years. But these were different! The flowers were smaller and a deep velvety red.

This plant did great with minimal care in a container. (I had a newborn baby so I wasn't that diligent with my watering this summer.) I put it in a sunny spot and it just thrived and grew from a tiny transplant to a fairly large plant that sprawled nicely in the container.

So this is one plant I might try to rescue from the first frost!

Woolly worms

2009-11-07T17:42:00.001-05:00

I found several of these guys in the garden recently. We used to call them woolly worms, but they are not worms at all, rather they are catepillars of a moth species, perhaps the Virginia Tiger Moth.

I came up with this identification on a really cool website where you can search by color and other aspects of the caterpillar.
Caterpillar identification made simple!

http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars

Chia Obama

2009-11-05T23:56:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if being "chiafied" is an honor or an insult.

Fried Green Tomatoes

2009-11-02T16:09:00.000-05:00

I'm "growing Southern" a bit more tonight as I'm about to fry up some green tomatoes. I've got all the key ingredients: lots of green tomatoes and my husband has a dinner meeting so he won't be around to complain about my "experiments."

Carolina Treat

2009-10-31T17:29:00.001-05:00

I love the smell of these flowers. Even more, I love that it's Halloween and I still have flowers & it's warm enough to trick or treat without wearing a heavy coat.

5th anniversary

2009-10-25T12:32:00.001-05:00

My hubby got me the best anniversary gift!

Better than gold, silver, or paper!

Haloween cactus

2009-10-24T15:15:00.000-05:00

This looks sort of creepy, doesn't it? A single orange flower and that spider-like shape. Maybe I need to market this.

(This is what happens when you give a "Thanksgiving cactus" mixed-up light signals.)

Who wants bugs in their garden?

2009-10-22T11:20:00.004-05:00

I do! I do!

The speaker at a recent SCNPS meeting asked this question. It made me realize that my attitude towards insects has changed a lot in the few years I've been garden blogging. In the beginning, I obsessed over how Japanese beetles were eating my rose bushes. Now I'm becoming obsessed with what sorts of plants I can provide for caterpillars to munch on.

Accidental Gardening

2009-10-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

Even though I've been busy since I've been back to work, some things are still growing around the house. This morning I found a baggie of "treasures" that my daughter brought back from a hike a few weeks ago. One acorn had actually sprouted . Cool.

2009-09-07T10:19:00.004-05:00

I enjoyed a field trip this weekend in the coastal plain of South Carolina (near Orangeburg). A few things I learned were how to distinguish a Viceroy from a Monarch and caterpillar poop from butterfly eggs. It was fun to see all kinds of butterflies and caterpillars and plants, as well as this tree frog.

The most common caterpillar we saw was of the buckeye butterfly:

They loved to munch on the Gerardia, or false foxglove:

The cats have me trained

2009-08-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

Our cats will drink water from everywhere but their water dish. At least one cat also has the annoying habit of tipping over glasses of ice water and vases of flowers in order to get a drink.

I've given up trying to train them. Here's how they've trained me:

1) I put floral arrangements only near sinks, for easier clean-up.
2) I created a kitty-friendly floral dish (see above picture).

Compost Experiment

2009-08-18T11:20:00.005-05:00

In the left corner, we have the defending champion, the Redneck Compost Pile. In the right corner we have the Urban Composter.

Will the Urban Composter be quicker on its feet?

Or will the Redneck Compost Pile win because it's in a different weight class?

This should be a great fight!

WYFF4 Interview

2009-08-17T21:41:00.006-05:00

For those of you who missed my live interview yesterday on WYFF4, our NBC affiliate in Upstate South Carolina, it's now available anywhere you have an Internet connection.

I was asked to share some general gardening tips and to dicuss what makes adjusting to Southern gardening so difficult yet so rewarding.

You can view the first interview and second interview on the WYFF4 website.

Interview at wowOwow.com

2009-08-17T20:54:00.005-05:00

My garden tips are featured, along with the advice of six other garden bloggers who I really admire, in a recent article on wowOwow. This is a website for women and written by women, founded by several famous and fabulous women including Whoopi Goldberg and Lesley Stahl, so I was honored to contribute!

The South is represented well for all you southern gardeners out there, and it's an informative read and definitely worth taking a look at no matter where you live, male or female. Here's some of the questions they asked me to tackle:

1. What’s your number one gardening tip?
2. What is the biggest mistake gardeners make (that they don’t know they’re making)?
3. What are recession-friendly ways to enhance your home’s curb appeal?
4. What are your seasonal tips for summer, fall, winter and spring?
5. What is the best way to have a healthy “green” garden?
6. What are some fool-proof flora you can grow — even without a green thumb or time?
7. Does organic gardening have to be expensive?

Tune in Sunday!

2009-08-10T20:45:00.004-05:00

Those of you living in Upstate South Carolina or Western North Carolina, you can watch me discuss this blog on WYFF4 this Sunday, August 16th during the 7 AM news.

For those of you in other parts of the world, don't despair. WYFF4 posts the weekly interviews at Sound Off South!

Cilantro Conundrum

2009-08-06T22:32:00.003-05:00

Last night I made fresh tomato salsa with the tomatoes and peppers from my parents' garden. Ah, the perks of house-sitting!

I had to pick up some cilantro from the garden center, though. I'm trying to grow it indoors this time. I have had absolutely no luck growing cilantro in my herb garden. My friend's mom, from Charleston, told me that cilantro likes cool weather and doesn't do well for her in South Carolina.

From what I've read, it's true that cilantro likes some shade and cooler temperatures.

What I really don't understand, though, is how cilantro can be so popular in Mexican food. It's *hot* in Mexico, right?

Eastern tiger swallowtail

2009-07-25T11:03:00.003-05:00

A tiger swallowtail stopped by yesterday at the lantana, as if to prove my point from the previous post. From the time he spent on these flowers, I think he loves lantana almost as much as I do. I'm pretty sure it's a "he" from the lack of color around the "tail".

Love affair with Lantana

2009-07-22T20:58:00.005-05:00

(Lantana "Sonset")

I've fallen hard for Lantana. It started as an innocent crush as a teenager visiting my grandparents in Georgia. I had never seen it as a child growing up in the Midwest, so the pure novelty of these beautiful flowers got me hooked at first.

Now I love lantana for a myrid reasons. Let me count the ways:

1) Attract butterflies
2) Tolerate hot and dry conditions
3) Thrive in the full sun of my backyard patio
4) Bloom consistently through spring, summer, and fall
5) Look great in beds and containers

What else can you ask for? Well, actually there are a couple things...and certain lantata cultivars have even more to offer.

How about a perennial lantana? Look no further than "Miss Huff". I've been amazed at how quickly these plants have grown since I first tried them out this spring. I've been warned they can become large shrubs after a while! They have the classic gold/orange coloration and are hardy even in Upstate South Carolina, zone 7.

How about pastel colors to suit my obsession with pink? Try "Sonset". The flowers are yellow at first but mature to beautiful coral and pinkish-purple shades.

The Compost Caper

2009-07-13T13:55:00.002-05:00

My neighbor piles up his yard clippings in his backyard, forming large mounds with no apparent purpose. Meanwhile, I have this fantastic urban compost tumbler, plus an old-fashioned auxiliary compost pile, to fill up. Last night I actually contemplated using the cover of darkness to steal some grass clippings. Don't worry, I have not gone totally crazy; I'm planning to knock on the door and ask permission first. I still feel a little crazy.

Contain yourself when it comes to containers!

2009-06-21T21:17:00.003-05:00

After several months of regular afternoon thunderstorms, I think it's safe to say that we've survived the drought here in the Southeast U.S. Our local water resovior is full again, and the only remaining signs of the drought in my backyard, several container plants that didn't make it, are now compost.

I love the look of lots of containers, but when you live in a hot and dry climate, they require a daily dose of water. That gets old quick. So here's some lessons I learned from the drought about container gardening:

1) Seek out drought-resistant plants. I found that lantana and salvia were two perennial flowers that could take the heat and keep on blooming.

2) Aim for shade. The impatiens in containers on my shady walkway didn't need water nearly as often as plants on my sunny deck.

3) Keep it simple. I have cut back the number of containers this summer. I've decided to focus on gardening right in the ground this year and to start investigating drip irrigation.

4) Water plants don't need regular watering! OK, so this sounds counter-intuitive, but my container with the water lily could survive a week with the water down three inches without suffering. I can water it when I have time.

Furry Friends: The Petting Garden

2009-05-31T18:10:00.012-05:00

Wouldn't it be fun to have a corner in the garden just for plants that you and your kids love to touch? Mixing in a few scented and colorful plants would make a very kid-friendly garden. Below are some examples of furry plants. The first three I've grown in sunny, hot conditions in my garden, and I've heard the others also will tolerate that kind of treatment.

Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)

Silver Mound (Artemisia schmidtian)

Salvia argentea

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

Photo by John Tann

Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa)

Photo by Van Swearington

Interview at Fixr

2009-05-26T20:08:00.002-05:00

If you are interested in finding out more about me and why I love garden blogs, check out the interview that posted this week on the fixr blog!

Doing the interview reminded me how much I appreciate the community of garden bloggers on the Internet. If you've read and commented here, I appreciate it! And if you have a garden blog of your own, I know I'm not keeping caught up with everyone, but I appreciate your bits of wisdom and entertainment when I get time to read them.

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-05-26T16:26:00.003-05:00

Two species of snails have invaded my water lily plant, which I'm growing in a container. Also, I've noticed crows "fishing" for tasty tidbits in the container. What started as a purely ornamental piece has ended up as an established food chain. Isn't nature interesting?

Although snails are known as pests that munch away at vegetable gardens, in a water garden they can actually be useful as they eat mostly algae and dead plant material. So far I've seen my snails mostly on decaying leaves, and no holes are apparent when they gather under living leaves, so I don't think the snails are hurting anything. But I'll keep a close eye on them. The clear jelly-like eggs under the leaves indicate that my population of snails will probably continue to grow.

Another added benefit-- it's kept my toddler endlessly entertained to hunt for snails!

(Photo by Munki Deluxe)

The Benefits of a Neglected Garden

2009-05-04T20:17:00.002-05:00

With a new baby and a jealous toddler, I haven't had much energy for routine garden chores this spring. So while my in-laws visited and watched the baby today, I took the opportunity to go on a weeding frenzy in the herb garden. Meanwhile, I noted that there were a few benefits to "letting things go" once in a while.

1) Since the weeds got really big, I felt like I accomplished a lot more. The big pile of large weeds in the compost pile looked impressive. And the garden looked significantly better afterwards.

2) If the weeds are getting really large really fast, then I reason my garden must have decent soil. That makes me feel good.

3) I realized the benefits of perennials. I haven't had time to purchase and plant any annuals, so it's nice to see the oregano, chives, fennel, mint, rosemary, lamb's ear, and lavender show up and start growing and blooming without any effort on my part. I'm now seriously considering scaling back on the annuals.

The Birthday Tree

2009-04-11T15:32:00.001-05:00

Our baby surprised us all by coming almost 3 weeks early, but he is healthy and we are both doing well. I think my little sprout will like having a spring birthday. I celebrated many May birthdays in the Midwest, which is probably equavalent to a late March birthday here in the Carolinas. My grandfather planted a flowering tree in our front yard on the day I was born, and it flowered each year around my birthday. I came home from the hospital last week to find this tree in bloom in our front yard. So someday, like my grandfather told me, I can tell him it blooms especially for his birthday.

Almost Spring!!!

2009-03-14T07:10:00.004-05:00

In the Midwest, we might be lucky enough to see a crocus poke through the snow in late March. So I'm always amazed every February to see the early signs of spring. These photographs were taken a few weeks ago at the SC botanical gardens near Clemson University. I was looking for their annual amazing display of camellias, but the early frost had nipped those. There were plenty of other blooms to enjoy, though!

Growing Sweet Potatoes

2009-02-15T18:06:00.007-05:00

If you're a gardener here in the Southern US, you are probably shoving your W-2's in a drawer and ignoring them, but you can't stop drooling over seed catalogs and dreaming of your spring garden. Well I'm here to encourage you to keep procrastinating on those taxes and start planning ahead for other, more important April 15th deadlines. According to my planting chart, April 15th is also the date to transplant tomatoes here in the Piedmont region of SC. And in the coastal plain of SC, April 15th is the date to plant sweet potatoes!

I can live without fried okra or collards, but sweet potatoes are one Southern tradition that I've wholeheartedly embraced. Personally, I think they're are tastier than white potatoes, and they have the added benefit of exceptionally high levels vitamin A. If you are diabetic, it's also interesting to note that sweet potatoes are a little better than white potatoes on blood sugar levels. (If you can resist heaping on the butter and brown sugar!)

If you are thinking of growing sweet potatoes this year in a Southern state, you might want to take a look for disease-resistant options such as the Centennial cultivar. Also keep in mind that they need well-drained soil, so if you live in a region with lots of red clay, it helps to plant them on raised ridges. Also be aware that sweet potatoes need a curing period at high temperatures before cooking or storing them.

For further information, the Clemson Extension has a great fact sheet on growing sweet potatoes.

Salmonella in the home garden?

2009-02-05T21:20:00.008-05:00

Photo by Lisa Norwood

An article in Scientific American speculated that bird droppings might be the source of the recent salmonella problem in peanut butter. This leaves me with some disturbing logic:

1) Birds carry salmonella
2) Birds poo in my garden

ergo..

3) Bird poo in my garden could harbor salmonella!

This is not so far fetched as it sounds. A couple years ago there was an outbreak of Salmonella in wild birds in the western region of Washington state. There were warnings at the time that people could become sick from salmonella after coming in contact with bird droppings.

OK, so I doubt anyone would eat anything from their garden with bird droppings on it! But from now on I'll be sure to wash my hands after refilling bird feeders or cleaning birdbaths.

Confused Cactus

2009-01-30T21:41:00.006-05:00

photo by wa1ti

When my husband's aunt gave me cuttings, she said it was a "Thanksgiving Cactus." The first year it flowered, the peach color reminded me of autumn, but the timing was off a bit. Was it really a "Christmas Cactus"? This year, it decided to be a Martin Luther King Jr. cactus, just like my other seasonally-confused cactus. Will I end up with a "Valentine's Day Cactus" next year?

I was surprised to learn today that the Thanksgiving Cactus and Christmas Cactus are two different species! If exposed to natural light, the Thanksgiving Cactus should bloom a month earlier than the Christmas Cactus.

BUT...I keep my plants under artificial light in our semi-heated garage. The cold nights are good for setting buds, but since the day length is always set at an artificial 12 hrs, my cacti never know what time of year it is! (By the way, this is the same way trees know it's time to drop their leaves; they detect the longer nights in autumn.)

Mystery solved! For further reading, the Clemson Extension has an excellent page about the seasonal cacti.

KnockOut Roses: a rose for the rest of us?

2009-01-12T21:04:00.010-05:00

A Knockout Rose in Texas (photo by ladybugbkt)

I've vented in quite a few posts here about my struggles with roses. I'm engaged in an on-going battle with blackspot, and the Japanese beetles also do their part to aggravate me every summer. In the past year I've been on the brink of giving up on roses entirely. Then I started to hear the buzz about the new knockout roses .

The knockout rose is advertised to be extremely disease-resistant, cold-resistant, and long-blooming. Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it?!?

From what I've read in the gardening forums, however, the knockout rose appears to live up to these claims. The knockout rose was especially bred to be resistant to my arch nemesis, the black spot, by William Radler. He actually would take leaves from diseased rose plants, grind them up in a blender, and spread the slurry of spores on his test plants. Then he went even further and watered his test plants with a sprinkler from above to make sure the leaves were nice and moist. (As you probably know, these conditions are a rose gardener's nightmare since it's the perfect environment for the growth of fungi, like those that cause black spot.) From this rigorous selection process, the black-spot resistant knockout rose was born.

Since William Radler developed the knockout rose in Wisconsin, the cold-resistance trait was obviously selected for from the very beginning. The knockout roses are advertised to be hardy in zone 4. They are also advertised to do well in the hotter climates, however, up to zone 10.

I've personally seen the knockout rose survive the hot summers in a friend’s yard here in 7b. And the knockout roses have proved to be neglect-resistant for her, also. She has two young boys and works full time as a nurse, so needless to say she doesn't have much time to pamper her plants. In fact, her knockout roses were conspicuously surrounded by weeds the last time I visited her house, and she admitted she hadn't done anything to them since her father-in-law planted them. And they were still blooming aware cheerfully!

Maybe roses aren’t just for retirement after all!

I tend to think of the knockout rose as more of a landscape rose, but the new double knockout roses might make for some nice cut flowers. Unfortunately, I hear they do not have much fragrance. Well, you can't have it all!

Double Knockout Roses (photo by Amy the Nurse)

Of course, Japanese beetles will still also pose a problem for the knockout rose, as several readers pointed out in a previous post. I'm looking for some ways to deal with these pests without the typical toxins. I'm trying to go as organic as possible, since insecticides also kill the good insects, like butterflies. Oh, and I also have a kid, and another on the way, and poisons are not so great for kids. I've heard that a soapy solution of water can work well to suffocate Japanese beetles- has this worked for you?

Babies and Houseplants

2008-12-02T21:25:00.005-05:00

I'm happy to announce we are expecting a baby boy next spring! As a plant addict, that means I have to give up the spare room I've been using to shelter my houseplants from the cats and Nelumbo Jr.

I mostly worry about the mess they could cause if they got ahold of some potting soil, but there's also the concern that the plants could be poisonous. I do not use pesticides in the house anymore, but of course some plants can be toxic themselves. Poinsettias are the poisonous plants that come to mind this time of year, but there are other poisonous plants common to many households. I found a great website that lists plants poisonous for children. It's worth taking a look. I was surprised to discover, for example, that the green berries of Lantana can be fatal to children! I've already caught Nelumbo Jr. trying to pick Nandina berries, so it's a good thing to be aware of. (Nandina seems to have only slight toxic properties, by the way.)

So when the need to fiddle with plants arises this winter, I'll be focusing on creating terrariums. These are great because they reduce the amount of watering I'll have to do around the house. With a baby and a toddler, I know that watering houseplants will be far from the top of my priority list next year. I have a large ornamental terrarium that I keep inside, and I have room in the garage to house more plants in converted aquariums and assorted glass containers.

On a related note, my husband vetoed several botanical names when we picked out a name for our daughter (i.e. Holly, Jasmine, Lily). Any ideas for boy names? Besides "Forrest", I can't think of any.

South Carolina halloween

2008-11-02T20:10:00.002-05:00

I enjoyed taking out my daughter for her first trick-or-treat this weekend. It's still amazing to me that we didn't have to bundle her up; I remember growing up in Ohio that our costumes always had to include a winter coat. Anyway, it was fun watching her enjoy the halloween spirit, which she seemed to understand since in the car she declared "Candy Day!" on the way home.

And of course a nice thing about walking up to all your neighbors' houses is that you get to check out their plants and creative pumpkin carving close up!

Fall is the new spring!

2008-10-04T19:55:00.002-05:00

During late summer I start back to work, the labor of watering my annuals gets too time-consuming, and I basically give up on gardening for a while. (Despite the neglect, the pink impatiens in a container by the driveway are still looking good, and the pentas are just amazing in their tolerance of this drought!) But now that fall is here, I'm starting to feel rejuvenated. They say that fall is the best time to plant, and I'm raring to go now that I have a newly cleared bed in the backyard.

I think all gardeners get spring fever, as you prepare for your summer garden, but how about fall fever? This time of year seems just as exciting now that I have some room to plant new shrubs and perennials.

I never promised myself a rose garden

2008-07-25T19:22:00.004-05:00

When we moved into our house several years ago, we inherited dated wallpaper, rusty lawn furniture, and a dozen roses in containers that have been plagued by black spot and Japanese beetles. I had no qualms about riping out the wallpaper and giving away the lawn furniture. But give up on plants? Never.

Now that I have recently created more garden beds, I'm debating whether I should toss them in the ground. It would use up some of the space and they would probably do better in the ground than in the containers. But then again, why use up valuable garden space with plants I don't even like all that much?

Then just when I was fed up with them, they do something sweet to try to get on my good side; one rose bush just put out a bunch of fragrant beautiful flowers.

Rain, Rain, come this way!

2008-07-03T16:46:00.002-05:00

Photo by John Morgan

Isn't it odd when you start actually wishing for a rainy day? It's not that I really mind hauling the hose around the yard; I actually enjoy the excuse for time spent with my plants, and it's not so difficult to find the time now that my daughter can tag along. But there's a limit to what you can do (or are willing to do) with supplimental watering. I'm against watering lawns, and it shows. And I was looking forward to juicy tomato-basil sandwitches, but we're raising nothing but cherry tomatoes, and that's not the seeds I sowed!

Rubber mulch : yeah or nay?

2008-06-23T14:17:00.004-05:00

At Home Depot I found out they are now selling bagged rubber mulch (by Vigoro) that looks much like the real thing. It's made from 100% recycled tires, but it's dyed to look like red or brown wood mulch.

There's some pros and cons to rubber mulch, but it basically boils down to this: it will take a long, long time to break down. That's a great thing if you are using it on a walkway or playground and have no desire to replace the mulch all the time. That's not a great thing if you want your mulching material to break down over time and add new organic material to your soil.

For playground use, I think it's a pretty good look and doesn't leave much mess. I hate that most local playgrounds are filled with sand, since little Nelumbo Jr. manages to get really dirty. She also thinks it's fun to pour sand on my shoes. I think rubber is a much better alternative. It's much easier to clean off my sneakers, anyway.

Little Garden Helper

2008-05-15T14:21:00.002-05:00

My 20-months-old daughter was so cute following me around the yard this week. She would carry an empty watering can and water my annuals and shrubs, saying "wawa plants". She also enjoyed picking the pansies, but I wasn't too irritated that she picked them since I'm about to replace them anyway.

It was really neat to also see her touch the angel hair plant I had planted the summer I was pregant with her, thinking she'd like it someday. She seemed to really like it, since she said "soft" and put her face against it ;)

Progress!

2008-04-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

Last season our hatred of the Nandina took hold and I hacked one up with pruners. Then my husband, with the typical male tendency for escilation, plowed down the rest with a chainsaw. Then we realized that bushes have these things called roots, and they were stuck in the ground pretty good.

We finally hired two hard-working teenagers from up the road to do the dirty work. They did a great job. Now I am actually ready to dig in! Just need to add soil and seeds!

Native plants - 2, Invasives- 305

2008-04-02T10:06:00.003-05:00

As much as I get on my soapbox about killing invasive plants and going native, there's been actually very little progress in practicing what I preach. I planted a native fern and shrub last fall, and I'm pleased the fern is coming back and the shrub is still alive.

Another pet project was hacking back all the honeysuckle on one section of fence, trying to make room for a few strands of Carolina jessamine that found their way there. Well, the vines have gone crazy and I have a great display of flowers right now. And they smell wonderful!

It's one small victory for native plants in my yard!

So many nurseries, so long to wait...

2008-03-05T09:45:00.002-05:00

The last frost date here is April 25th, and I'm so impatient! I can't wait to cruise through lots of nurseries, especially a local native plant nursery I recently learned about. Unlike most years, when I buy a ton of plants that end up living in the driveway for a while since I don't really have a place for them, this year I should have plenty of space for new plants. As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband took a chain saw to a long bed of Nandina bushes in our backyard. So after the dirty work of installing some raised beds, I will have a blank canvas.

Does a blank canvas scare the %&$$% out of anyone else? I've built my herb garden and many containers from scratch, but that was on a much smaller scale than my current project.

I'm also excited, though, because I feel like this is my rite of passage to becoming a more experienced gardner. I'm going to have to accept that some plant lives are going to be lost in the process, but it's for the greater good!

Winter work

2008-02-05T14:41:00.000-05:00

It's time to trim the vitex and butterfly bushes. And time to repot the roses. Unfortunately, it's perfect weather out there to get to work. 74 degrees! Drat, I'm running out of excuses.

Resolution time

2008-01-01T21:33:00.001-05:00

1) I resolve to water my flats this winter so that I actually have more than a couple seedlings to show for my yearly $50 shopping spree from seed catalogs.

2) I resolve to water my houseplants at least once a week.

3) I resolve to water my annuals and new perenials daily during summer's hotest months.

4) I resolve to not beat myself up when I fail to uphold these resolutions and kill a zillion plants again this year.

Native Plant of the Week- The Red Maple

2007-12-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

I’m starting to jump on the native plant bandwagon recently. I’m inspired by the idea of creating a mini-habitat in my backyard by growing plants that nurture wildlife. So where to begin? Trees of course!

Trees are the backbone of any garden. And in the Southeastern United States there are many familiar trees that are native to our region, including magnolias, tulip poplars, and red maples, and dogwood trees. Proclaiming yourself a “native plant” gardener may sound elitist, but these native trees certainly aren’t out of the ordinary. You probably already have countless native trees in your backyard!

So why plant some more native trees? Let’s use the native maple trees as an example. The red maple (Acer rubrum), native to the Eastern United States, gets its name from its brilliant fall foliage. Wildlife find it attractive, too! Birds like to nest in its branches and eat the fruits. Deer also like to chomp on the leaves of the red maple. Therefore, the red maple is not only beautiful; it’s also useful to many types of wildlife.

Thinking this way about your garden may be a completely different mindset. At least it was for me. Instead of just planting what I like to look at, I’m also starting to think about what the birds, butterflies, and other critters are going to think about it, too. Luckily, we can all agree that native trees like the red maple are worth growing. They’re beautiful and delicious. (Well I’m taking the deer’s word on that.)

Poinsettia Rescue 911

2007-12-13T22:14:00.001-05:00

Have you ever said, "Oops, I think I killed my poinsettia!"

It happens to the best of us. While you're frantically shopping and baking for the holidays, caring for your poinsettia can become the last thing on your mind. After a few weeks of neglect, that once beautiful poinsettia plant might look almost dead. But don't panic! You might be able to rescue your poinsettia plant with some special care.

Poinsettia 911 Plan
1. Rush your poinsettia to the sink and water throughly.
2. Leave the poinsettia in a tray of water for a couple hours.
3. Remove the tray and let drain.
4. Place the poinsettia in a sunny window.

Unless your poinsettia is already crispy, it will probably recover within 24 hours.

To prevent a poinsettia 911 call, read my previous post:
How to care for poinsettias

Winter Garden Crafts

2007-12-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Do you ever just get in the mood to craft?

On these days I often end up roaming the isles of Hobby Lobby or AC Moore. Usually I can find inspiration a new baggie of beads for making a necklace or a decorative piece of wood to paint and decorate. Browsing through a craft store can be as addictive for me as a seed catalog or bookstore.

But today I had a new idea- look to nature for my inspiration! Why not combine two of my favorite hobbies? And if listen to some good music while I complete these projects, and write about it at the same time, I'll cover pretty much be doing all my favorite things at once. Bliss!

If you have any ideas, please share! Here's a couple I have in mind:

1. Make a "winter boquet" of dried stems, evergreen leaves, dried grasses, or whatever else I can find outdoors.

2. Press some colored leaves between wax paper and iron to preserve some of the last remnants of fall color.

3. Make some Christmas ornaments by painting pinecones

4. Try making a candle with leaf imprints.

Purple painted poinsettias

2007-11-29T21:04:00.000-05:00

It'll be a blue Christmas for me if I see painted pointsettias at the garden centers this year. I was really hoping that this would be a passing fad, but I fear it's here to stay. I just saw my first purple pointsettia on flkr.

I guess if you're one of those people who like to have a color-coordinated tree and decorations, it's a godsend to have your pointsettia in the same color scheme. Call me old fashioned, but isn't the Christmas color scheme already set as red and green?

Bee Movie and the Waggle Dance

2007-11-02T21:45:00.001-05:00

I was just watching the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee Movie" at Beemovie.com.
I'm on a self-imposed boycott of cartoons right now, since I'm probably going to have my fill soon as Nelumbo Jr. gets interested in movies, but I might have to go see this one. OK, it's a little silly that a bee is having an existential crisis, but it looks funny.

In a world that is largely insect-phobic, why do we love bees so much? Because bumblebees are furry and cute? Because honeybees provide us with honey? Because they are "social" insects with intricate communication skills?

When Nelumbo Jr. gets older, I will have to teach her the "waggle dance". Bees communicate where the best flowers are by doing a little figure eight dance, and the straight portion of the dance is in the direction of the flowers. So you can make a fun and somewhat educational game for kids by having one child hide some candy and then do the waggle dance to show the others the location of the candy.

But I guess she will have to start walking before she can dance!

I was a tree!

2007-11-01T15:35:00.000-05:00

I gave my students a good laugh and dressed up as a tree yesterday. I wore all brown and pinned fake ivy crawling up my leg. Then I attached some leaves to a hat and I was ready to go.

Next year I will have to do something creative with Nelumbo Jr. She was a little young this year, but next year she might be ready for the trick or treat festivities. I really like the idea of the flower costume, Annie in Austin, so I might try it next year! Or maybe she can be a sapling, and I'll be the mother tree.

Halloween Costumes- with a plant theme

2007-10-17T18:13:00.003-05:00

If you're looking for creative Halloween costumes, why not express your obsession for plants and all things relating to gardening? At least that's my ideal when it comes to Halloween costumes.

Halloween costumes I've actually worn in the past that you might like to try:

1. Black-Eyed Peas. Dress in green and tape a label from a box of frozen peas to yourself. Then black out your eye with some eyeliner.

2. Stalk of corn. Tease your hair up really high- this works best if you have long blonde hair- and spray with gold glitter. Dress in beige and tape leaves to yourself made out of golden tissue paper.

Any other fun ideas?

Out with the old, in with the new

2007-10-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

It's always tough for me to get rid of perfectly good annuals at the end of the season, just so the next season's annuals can get a head start. I've noticed I've started to get passive-aggressive and just stopped watering a couple of the countainers.

I bought another flat of violas and pansies today, so tomorrow the scraggly morning glories are going next. Above I posted a picture of a flower when the plants were in their full glory a few weeks ago. It seems like they are staying open later now. Is that due to the cooler weather?

Unfinished Work

2007-10-12T22:39:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I was feeling inspired to finally rid myself of the Nandina that had been driving me crazy since we first moved in our house. These plants are invasive in the worst way- plus I don't think they're all that attractive, either.

Several hours later, I had just three bushes cut down and hauled away. The ground was so hard that I finally gave up on the roots. In the above picture, you can see the gap I made in hedge on one side of the fence.

So I asked my husband for help digging up the roots. Several hours later, he used the chain saw to cut down every last bush. But the roots are still there. Meaning I can't actually plant anything.

And of course I have several plants waiting in the driveway with no place to go. Doesn't every gardener?

Butterfly gardening pays off!

2007-10-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

Caterpillar of the Black Tiger SwallowTail.

I think this is a Monarch Butterfly!

Gardener's Block

2007-08-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

My parents are asking my opinion on landscaping their new house. Like a writer experiencing a block with an empty page before her, I'm experiencing "gardener's block." It's much easier for me to deal with the landscape I was dealt when we bought a previously owned home. I have millions of ideas on how I want to tweak the yard in various areas on the property. On the other hand, a blank slate is just so overwhelming!

And if things look bad you can always say, "that was there when we bought the house, and I haven't gotten around to it because (insert excuse here)."

Golden Years of Gardening

2007-07-22T01:08:00.001-05:00

Look at the size of these cherry tomato plants! My husband's grandfather is nearly 90 and I guess he's learned a few things about gardening over the years.

My own grandfather says there's only one problem with gardening as you get older; with his poor eyesight he sometimes mistakes snakes for twigs. Eeek! But he's talented with plants, too; he got his orchid to re-bloom with double spikes this summer!

So I guess the golden years of gardening are still ahead!

Romance of the Rose

2007-06-26T20:44:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this photo to remind me how great my roses *used* to look.

The roses don't look like this now. They are swarming with Japanese beetles. Every year I swear I will toss them by the side of the road and swear off roses forever. Or replace them with one of those new disease-resistant "knockout" varieties. Has anyone planted these?

Red Hot in the Cool Shade

2007-06-14T18:08:00.001-05:00

I love watching my favorite perennial flowers come back each year, but I also love annuals for a spectacular, frivolous burst of color all year round. Growing annuals in containers also forces you to re-invent a small part of your garden every year. Will I ever plant the same thing two years in a row? I hope not!

Last year, my annuals tended to be pastel, especially pink, as we awaited the birth of our little girl. So what struck my fancy this summer? RED HOT impatiens, begonias, and coleus. I have a shady corner in the front yard, and I liked the contrast of planting really bright colors in the dim light.

Honeybee survey

2007-05-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed a decline of the honeybees in your own backyard?

Fellow SC blogger Grandpakb thinks he has seen a distinct decline. I usually see a few on the salvia or lavender every time I go outside to check on my plants. However, we haven't lived here long enough for me to make a long-term comparison.

Beekeepers are reporting drastic die-offs in the United States this year, and it's still unclear whether this is due to disease, parasites, pesticides, or all of the above. If you haven't heard about the recent decline, here's a couple good articles:
Honeybee article from PBS
Forbes Honeybee article

I'm not overly concerned because:
1) These honeybees are not even native to the US, so I figure there has to be some native pollinator out there ready to make a comeback and do the job.
2) Natural selection! There's probably some resistance gene out there in the honeybee genome for whatever pest or chemical is killing them off. Perhaps they will just come back stronger as a population over time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Bees!

Am I becoming a crazy biologist or what?

Take note, I'm not saying we should ignore the problem. I'm just looking for that silver lining.

The Urban Compost Tumbler

2007-05-18T12:33:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not planning to shoot cannons from my front porch. This is a compost tumbler that my husband and I assembled one rainy day, and it just took a while to make its way off the porch and to the side yard.

I was thrilled when the folks at Organic Compost Tumbler asked me to try their product. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have been an avid container gardener since I've moved south, as I've been avoiding working digging in our "orange cement". Now I've sworn to give up my fears and start digging in. And adding compost is the #1 best way to improve our soil in this red-clay state.

As an eco-freak, I also like the idea of avoiding chemical fertilizers and reducing my contribution to the landfills. And of course it's great for your plants, but I won't elaborate since listing the virtues of compost to an audience of gardeners is like preaching to the choir.

But you might not have thought about using a compost tumbler before.

Why use a tumbler?
Previously my attempts at compost were an unsightly, neglected pile in the side yard. Yes, I know I'm supposed to turn it with a pitchfork and water it occasionally. How often do I get around to it? How about never.

So the advantages for me are:
1. Looks and smells better than a pile of rotting refuse.
2. Much more convenient to turn and aerate (see the picture of the central aeration chamber below).
3. Much quicker than conventional composting.
4. Our daughter won't be able to try playing in it.

Some Assembly Required?
Those three words often strike fear into my heart. But the Urban Compost Tumbler was not difficult to put together. It came with detailed instructions, including plenty of *real* pictures. I'm a very visual person, so this helped out a lot.

As they say, if all else fails read the directions. The hardest part for us was putting together the two halves of the barrel in the tongue and groove connection (see picture below) .

The directions said to add something slippery like soap or vegetable oil. Well since my husband's strategy is to pound things together with a hammer and brute force, and follow the directions only if necessary, I was sure that he was going to break this thing before I even got to use it. But the barrel held up surprisingly well. Whatever secret material this composter is made of, it's very sturdy. I think it will be very durable and last us many seasons.

In the next post: Recipes for Speedy Composting

( The folks at Urban Compost Tumbler say that you can make compost in just *13 days* once you "season" the barrel. )

Hooked on Containers

2007-05-04T14:49:00.000-05:00

My goal for the next year is to wean myself from containers. They line our walkways, our patio, and our driveway. I'm about as bad recently about buying new pots as I am about buying plants. Why do I keep sticking plants in containers instead of directly in the ground?

Three words: HARD, RED CLAY. I was totally spoiled in Ohio and never had to worry about ammending the soil. I've lived here a few years now, and it's time to stop procrastinating. It's time to battle the clay!

How optimistic are you?

2007-04-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

Our last approximate frost date is in two days, and somehow I've restrained myself to only planting up a couple containers of annuals. I've really not that patient, just busy. Teaching is the perfect gardener's dayjob; by the time you're done grading final exams, the watering, weeding, and planting take over.

Mystery Tree

2007-04-14T22:52:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly learning my Southern trees. Can you believe I'd never seen a crape myrtle before I moved here 5 years ago? Anyway, this tree with the pink pom-pom flowers is still a mystery to me. The leaves are simple and not distinctive. Any ideas?

Happy Spring!

2007-04-11T22:49:00.000-05:00

These flowers got nipped by the frost last weekend, but they were beautiful while they lasted. I'm looking forward to starting on planting up some containers of annuals this weekend!