Plants

I’ll Show You My Plants, If You’ll . . . (Part I)

/ Kevin / 42 Comments

Everyone I know keeps asking me, “What are you growing in your greenhouse?”  So for this post, I thought I’d try something different: less words and more pictures. 

First, this is the greenhouse/potting shed.  I started most of  the seeds in February.  This, of course, depends on the seeds.  I will break up the planting schedule based on germination time, bloom time, and last frost date.  See the Library page for my guidebooks.  There is a space heater in there, as well as heat mats for the seedlings.  I have hung plastic to keep the heat in the growing area; the other area is for storage of yard equipment.  The best times are when it’s snowing outside, and I’m in the shed in 75 degrees.  There is no running water, so I carry water in. Continue reading →

Friends Reunite In The Garden

/ Kevin / 8 Comments

This weekend, I hosted a reunion of sorts — removing  tender bulbs out of storage and reintroducing them to the garden.

Newly planted elephant ears. They started to sprout while in storage.

Each fall, right before the first frost, I cut back my tender plants, dig them up, cure them, and place them  in paper bags along with peat moss to cover.  It’s actually a tough thing to do.  The plants are still full of life.  We’ve spent so much time together.  And then I have to be the mean girl, decimating the friendship just when they thought they could trust me.  Cold and heartless doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

Once hacked and packed, I carry them into the bomb shelter.  My house was built in the ’60s, and behind a closet and under the front steps, there is a cement crawlspace, a bunker which we refer to as the bomb shelter.  It’s cool and dry all winter, conditions that allow the tenders to go dormant.

My effort to trick nature and turn Long Island into a summer tropical paradise began several  years ago when a friend gave me a brown paper bag with canna rhizomes.  She said just keep them in the garage and plant them in the spring.  That didn’t work.  The garage was too cold and too damp, and when spring arrived, I had a bag of smelly and shriveled canna. Continue reading →

To Plant A Seed And Wait, Is To Believe

/ Kevin / 16 Comments

A few years ago, a friend gave me a plaque with this inscription and a bag of muscari bulbs.  I was struck, because I am by no means a holy roller, but I did hang the plaque on a wall in my potting shed.  And each day when I worked in the shed, I stared at that nine-word phrase, and I gained a greater understanding of why I enjoy gardening.  So, as my first post, I again look to that plaque as a starting point, because what better way to start than with a seed.

I love seeds.  They come in all sizes and shapes, and each one holds so much promise of growth and color and bounty.  My favorite part of winter is actually after Christmas, because that’s when the seed catalogs arrive.  I spread everything, including myself, out on the living room floor, surrounded by pages and pages of color photographs and plant descriptions.   I am like a child again studying the Sears and Penney’s Christmas catalogs.   And after I go through the catalogs once, I start all over again.   And let’s not forget about the free gifts.  I would never purchase my own tomato seeds–but a free sample??  That’s a gift for me and for my father on Father’s Day.  I make a wish list, and then edit it down to something that’s more manageable and realistic.  In my head, I am a LAND owner.  In reality, space and time are very real limitations. Continue reading →