joene's garden » Techniques

Now you sedum–overwintered

joenesgarden — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:17:09 +0000

Succulent plants, such as sedum and hens and chicks, seem to be maintaining continuing popularity, with good cause. Succulents are easy to grow, drought tolerant, and come in enough varieties and sizes to suit nearly every gardening taste. But did you know how easy it is to overwinter potted sedum and sempervivum, the botanical name for hens and chicks?

Last June I potted sedum and hens and chicks in matching cobalt blue ceramic pots.

The combination was instantly wonderful and remained so until the end of the growing season in my zone 6 Connecticut garden. (Scroll over the photo above to see the botanical names of the succulents used.) I did not want to lose the combination so, rather than transplant these succulents to a garden bed before storing the ceramic pots away for the winter, I stored the succulent-filled pots in the garage near a southwest-facing window. Through the cold winter months the pots only received minimal water when the soil felt good and dry. The plants stayed in a state of suspended animation during the coldest parts of winter – they held their color but did not grow. As the sun became stronger in late winter and early spring the succulents began to grow.

Here's how one of the pots looked when placed back outside this April 13.

Its sister pot looked the same.

This is how the pots look today.

The plants have already begun cascading over the edges of the pots.

The pair adds striking color during a time when plants in adjacent perennial beds are still in early stages of growth.

Best of all, these containers will continue to fill out and look wonderful from spring through autumn as long as the soil remains on the dry side. All this entails is moving the containers off the saucers so rain-soaked soil can drain. Succulents such as sedum and hens and chicks grow best in drier soil, making them ideal container plants for busy people with little time to fuss with watering. With the added bonus of overwintering well, the busy gardener can plant a container like this just once to enjoy multiple seasons and years.

Categories: Gardening, Seasons, Techniques.
Tags: gardening in Connecticut, hens & chicks, potted suculents, sedum, sempervivum, Succulents.

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Seed to Salad in 10 Days–You Can Grow That!

joenesgarden — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:42:09 +0000

Seed to Salad in 10 Days–You Can Grow That!

Need a quick growing fix? Look no farther than a seed packet of micro greens. With minimal effort you can go from seed to salad in 10 days, making micro greens a perfect You Can Grow That! success story.

On the 4th of each month garden bloggers write You Can Grow That! posts to enlighten others of the joys and ease of gardening. I cannot think of anything much easier or more quickly rewarding than a small crop of a micro green seed blend meant to be harvested when about two inches tall.

My small crop grows in two black nursery seedling flats (hoarded for seed starting) filled to about 1/2 inch from the top edge with a container potting mix. I broadcast the seeds across the top of the potting medium then covered the seeds with a thin layer of more potting medium. My favorite method for watering freshly seeded flats is under the light spray of a kitchen sink sprayer. Then I place the flats in a water proof tray with about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom. This allows the potting medium to soak up water from the bottom.

Since I have grow lights set up for spring seed starting, I reserved a spot for these flats. As with all seeds started under lights, make sure the lights are as close to the seeds as possible. Once seedlings reach the lights, raise the lights an inch until seedlings reach them again. This will keep seedlings from growing leggy. Micro greens can also be grown in a sunny window – the more sun the better to keep them from becoming too leggy.

Make sure the flats remain moist, but not soggy, and take special care to keep the top layer, where the seeds rest, moist. This micro green blend, planted on March 24, shows quite a few sprouts on March 28.

Here they are on March 30, just six days after planting.

Today, April 4, this perfect indoor gardening crop is ready for harvest. Using scissors, I'll give the micro greens a hair cut. After a good rinse and a spin in the salad spinner they will adorn tonight's salad.

Then the flats will go back under the lights to see if they will produce a second, smaller crop from the roots that remain in the planting medium. To insure a regular supply of fresh micro greens, plant a succession of flats, say every four to seven days.

The micro green blend featured here is from Botanical Interests. The 24-gram packet contains a mix of beet, Swiss chard, radish, mustard, cress, cabbage, and kohlrabi. There are easily enough seeds remaining in the packet for two or three more similar sized plantings.

Botanical Interests sent me, as a member of Garden Writers Association, complimentary packets of seeds to try. This micro green blend was part of the package. To comply with full disclosure regulations, you should know I received this packet from Botanical Interests for free, but I am not being paid to write about the company or its products. If I did not like the product I would simply say nothing. In the past I've grow micro green blends, similarly sent in a complimentary mailing, from Renee's Garden, and they were just as good.

Try growing micro greens as an ideal You Can Grow That! crop. Now head to the You Can Grow That! website managed by C.L. Fornari at Whole Life Gardening, the creative brain behind You Can Grow That! to read the diverse group of You Can Grow That! posts from other bloggers.

Categories: Gardening, Techniques, You Can Grow That!.
Tags: Botanical Interests, gardening in Connecticut, micro greens, Renee's Garden, You Can Grow That!.

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Snow + solar panels + deer fencing = A Gardening Oops

joenesgarden — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Snow + solar panels + deer fencing = A Gardening Oops

Welcome to the first day of March 2013 – Gardening Oops (GOOPs) day here in Joene's Garden. On the first of each month I share a gardening faux pas hoping you can learn from my experience, and give you the chance to share a faux pas – or GOOPs - of your own. My March 1, 2013 tale is the result of three, seemingly unrelated, objects. When combined the three became a gardening oops.

Study this photo to see if you can predict what happened.

This GOOPs tale begins with two rhododendron planted, about fifteen years ago, as small shrubs on either end of our front porch. With time they grew to over six feet tall and about 5 feet in diameter because each autumn I install chicken wire fencing around each shrub to prevent winter browsing by resident white-tale deer. Each spring I remove the fencing at about the time deer move deeper into the woods to fawn. Using this method, I've had no deer browsing on either shrub … until now.

A couple of years ago we had roof-top solar panels installed over the garage and along the roof-peak of the central section of the house. The panels were installed well after I planted the foundation shrubs.

During the first winter, when we had small snowfalls, we learned that snow slid - with considerable force - off the garage roof panels and landed on the boxwood shrubs planted below. Fortunately the shrubs incurred no damage from the sliding snow that first year. To prevent shrub damage from heavier snowfalls my husband built a-frame forms that I now place over the boxwood shrubs before the first predicted snow. Our observations also told us that most snowfalls would slide off the solar panels with enough force to miss the rhododendron and its protective winter fencing.

All was fine until the blizzard of 2013 hit our south-central Connecticut region. In less than 24-hours we received a period of powdery snow followed by a period of sleet and rain followed by another extended period of snow. Snowfall amounts totaled three feet, snowdrifts reached 5-6 feet.

We had one day to clean up as much snow as possible before leaving for a pre-planned vacation. We left home suspecting that snow falling off the solar panels might flatten the fencing meant to protect the rhododendron. We returned to find this,

and the previously fully-leaved rhododendron looking like this.

Here's the deer-browsed rhododendron (left) compared to it's sister shrub (right) still protected at the other end of the front porch – under the section of the house without solar panels.

GOOPs!

During my younger, less seasoned, gardening life I would have been devastated at the sight of this rhododendron. My more seasoned self has learned to go with the punches. Rather than mourning this turn of events I see this as an opportunity to plant something more deer resistant and less likely to grow out into the solar panel avalanche zone.

What can we all learn from this GOOPs?

Roof-mounted solar panels present unique hazards to plants directly in the line of avalanching snow.
Deer will take advantage of any opportunity to munch on greenery during the winter. This is a lesson northern gardeners in deer territory learn again every year.
Instead of crying over munched leaves look at the bright side … the chance to try new plants that better suit the conditions.

I have a few rhododendron replacement ideas but would love to hear any you may have for my zone 6 garden. I'd also love to learn of any snow-related or deer-related GOOPs you've experienced in your gardens. Share your suggestions and/or your GOOPs in a comment below or share your GOOPs on your blog, leaving a teaser comment below.

Garden thoughtfully,

Joene

Categories: Creatures, Gardening, GOOPs-Gardening Oops, Seasons, Techniques.
Tags: deer damage, gardening in Connecticut, gardening oops - GOOPs.

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