joene's garden: joene's garden

By joenesgarden, 2 years and 3 months ago

Frost last night, freeze coming soon … but gardening doesn't stop

October 12, 2009. Temperatures fell below 36 degrees last night – frost level - in my south-central Connecticut gardens, so all exposed tender annuals – moonflowers, impatiens, petunias, coleus for example – are nearly done.  Even though a quick look through the gardens this morning showed many of my tender annuals survived last night – likely due to the closeness of stone walls or mature trees – they will succumb to the even colder temperatures forecast for later this week.  By Thursday night I expect a freeze – 32 degrees or lower – pretty much on target for this area.

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By joenesgarden, 2 years and 4 months ago

Get Composting

October 5, 2009.  Anyone who has ever … in the slightest … questioned whether compost is valuable, please take a look at the photo at the top of the New York Times article about the composting practices at Harvard University.  Look at the darkness and richness of the soil plug dug from a heavily walked-upon lawn area at Harvard.  That's the kind of soil all of us should strive for.  It doesn't come in a bag of highly marketed "miracle" chemicals, or from applying the latest/newest/greatest perfect lawn technologies.  Harvard's lawns come from good, solid organic gardening … really.

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By joenesgarden, 2 years and 4 months ago

Volunteers – an avoided Gardening Oops

October 1, 2009.  Normally on the first of the month I share one of my Gardening Oops – GOOPS for short.  But this month my focus is on an avoided GOOP.

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By joenesgarden, 2 years and 4 months ago

Saving hydrangea blossoms

Peegee hydrangea-1 9-09 September 25, 2006.  As you scramble to enjoy as many blossoms as possible before frost finishes them off, don't pass by late blooming hydrangea.  I find these some of the easiest blossoms to save.  Mind you I only have one hydrangea paniculata  tree (the peegee type) and one macrophylla 'Bailmer' (an endless summer variety) in bloom right now, but I cut blossoms off of both, with stems as long as makes sense for each blossom.  I arrange each in a vase arrangement, fill the vase with water, and walk away.  No more water, no more fuss.  The blossoms simply dry in the indoor air … and they hold most of their color.  This technique works when you wait until after the blossoms begin to turn either from white to pinkish or blue to purple/green.  It does not work with freshly opened hydrangea blossoms.

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By joenesgarden, 2 years and 4 months ago

Moving plants back inside

September 23, 2006.  In my house you don't need to look at the calendar to know that fall has arrived – signs of the change of season become more evident daily.

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  • Misjudged collaboration causes an NWF GOOPs:
    • joenesgarden: Jean, I'm glad I could bring you updated news regarding NWF's GOOPs. I agree that the NWF has some credibility rebuilding to accomplish.
    • Jean: Joene, I had seen all the posts about the Scott's-NWF "partnership" but had missed the turnaround news; thanks for bringing me up to date. In these times when ordinary people often feel powerless, it's good to know that popular outrage made a real difference. (I think it's going to take more, though, for NWF to...
    • joenesgarden: Debbie, NWF's GOOPs certainly seemed to be an eye opener for many NWF collaborators. Only time will tell whether NWF's reputation is sullied.
    • Debbie/GardenofPossibilities: Joene, What a good example of a major GOOPs. As Laurrie noted, it's unbelievable that NWF never mentioned the groundswell of outrage as a factor in the decision to end the partnership. I guess regadless of how/why it happened, most people are pleased it's over. BTW, thanks for the shout-out.
    • joenesgarden: Laurrie, The NWF's GOOPs may direct more followers to local wildlife-protecting and environmental organizations. This would be a good thing.
    • Laurrie: Talk about a gardening oops, this was a monster one. Absolute debacle. It's interesting that when they rescinded the partnership they blamed it on the lawsuits and gave no credit to the groundswell of public outrage. Never mentioned that at all. Unbelievable. My OOPS is on my blog today and...
  • Connecticut’s new planting zones:
    • joenesgarden: Jean, I think all seasoned gardeners understand zone map recommendations are no substitute for knowing your property, as your experience with temperature extremes in your Maine garden illustrates. I'm honored you named me as one of your Versatile Bloggers. I would participate if not for the sharing rules ... thanks anyway. I hope...
    • Jean: Joene, I was just looking at the new hardiness zones for Maine, and it brought home your point about knowing your own garden conditions. On the new map, my town has been moved from the boundary of zones 4b and 5a firmly into 5b. But the low temperature for zone 5b is -15F, and I...

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