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The Julie Journal-2012December, 2012 December 31 Well here we are at the end of another calendar year. Are you a resolution maker? Is a new garden part of your resolutions for 2013? This is what I'm thinking. I believe the climate is changing and with that in mind I'm going to try to look for and plant more drought resistant plants this year. Some of my gardens are showing signs of decline and I want to dig out non performers and make room for some new things...(I'm not sure what yet). That's part of the joy, perusing the plant catalogs while I'm looking outside at a snow filled garden. I'm planning a few more articles about specific herbs-cilantro is on my list and probably basil, as these are two of my favorites. Drop me a line. What would you like to see me write about? Happy New Year! May 2013 be you best garden ever! December 21 It is the actual first day of winter and although it is very snowy and windy, I am appreciating where I live right now because we have four very differentiated seasons. For awhile now I've been trying to figure out how to make my articles apply to more regions, but it is hard because the climates vary so much that what works for me in zone 5 more than likely doesn't the farther you live from this zone. So I'm going to concentrate on what I know. I would like to invite other gardeners to by guest authors, though, and perhaps share with us what grows well in your regions. To find an invitation go toFriend and Family Gardens and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Yesterday and today I was outside taking pictures or the snow fall we received overnight. Enjoy my Winter Photo Gallery . It also has some more easy and inexpensive winter decorating ideas to make use of those empty pots that are sitting on your front steps.
December 8 Welcome to December! I' ve been busy lately and have started writing some new articles on herbs that I hope you will enjoy and visiting several herb shops to do some research.
Of course it's also time to prepare our homes and hearts for the holiday season, and I had the privilege recently to take a class at the Baltimore Woods Nature Center in upstate NY led by Regina Lewis-Middleton. We created Christmas sprays using fresh evergreens and other natural materials and they turned out lovely. For directions to create your own Christmas sprays click on this link. I also have to apologize to Regina because I inadvertently left off her name a few days ago when I first wrote the article and I want to give her the credit she deserves for sharing her time and expertise with us and providing such a pleasant experience, too! November, 2012
November 29
As promised I've started writing about herbs. I'm planning several articles on various common herbs and their properties and easy ways to use them. The first, Preserving Herbs is full of ideas for drying and freezing your own herbs. The timing for this is good because as of now my gardens are completely tucked away for winter, and I should have much more time to write. One of the hardest things for me to deal with when the weather is nice, is sitting inside on my computer, when I'd rather be grubbing around outside in the dirt. I suppose that makes sense if I'm writing about gardening, but I haven't felt like I was being fair to you, my readers, when I wasn't writing. So now I plan to rectify that and give you lots of new things to read about. Enjoy!
November 20
I'm embarrassed to admit that besides going on vacation...I've had a terrible case of writer's block. If I haven't lost you, a loyal reader, I promise that I'm energized and full of new ideas to write about. I'm starting with several articles on the preserving and use of herbs-great for winter recipes and planning for next year's garden. Stay posted. They're coming very soon!!!! October, 2012
October 13 Rain, rain, wonderful rain........ It is supposed to rain all day today and tomorrow-hallaluiah! We've had a gorgeous, spectacular Fall, but oh soo... dry. I've never watered trees in the Fall, but I have this year. The vegetable harvest has been good because of the extra days of warm sunlight (if you watered that is), and I'm still picking a small dishes of cherry tomatoes every day. The sweet 100's would just keep going if the weather permitted. I have about half of my perennial beds cut down. I leave a few things standing through the winter-mostly things like purple coneflowers that have seed heads that winter birds will pick at, but we still have quite a bit to do yet. For some tips on your fall garden maintenance click on the links below: Fall Garden Chores We've had frost, but not a hard killing frost and I actually have enough stray flowers to keep fresh flowers on my kitchen table. Lately, though my focus has been Autumn color. Below is the pumpkin sculpture that I made for my front porch. I hope you're enjoying the change of seasons, too! Is it time for chili or pot roast soon?
September, 2012
September 21 We had a threat of frost last night and so I brought all my tropicals that have been summering on my porch or my patio inside. Now I have to make room for them in the house for the winter-this is when I really wish I had a three season room or a green house! I also covered several other pots that are looking too good to let them turn into cold mush over night. We didn't get the forecasted frost, but it is only a short matter of time now. Part of me hates to see the warm summer go, but another part of me is already anticipating the change of seasons. There are so many things I love about Fall-wearing jeans again, wool socks, crisp apples, the earthy smell of moist earth and fallen leaves, cold hands hugging a warm mug, wood smoke, red cheeks.... Enjoy every moment of being outside! The time is limited!
September 15 Everything is starting to look a little bit like Fall, so today I went to the Farmer's market and bought several miniature pumpkins, a few gourds, some ornamental peppers, and an ornamental Kale. I'm going to use them to refresh my container gardens and give them a fresh new Fall look. You can too! Look at your containers critically and maybe remove one or two or the stringy things that are past their prime. In their place, add one of the small pumpkins or gourds you just bought or maybe a new pansy and a fall ribbon and presto...you have a new look for your container garden that might give you another month or two of DIY pleasure. See my ornamental pepper basket below.
The next picture is yellow lantana. There wasn't a lot of room in the pot so I just set a pumpkin next to it. Awesome Fall look! Some of your pots could even be consolidated and then you can use your now empty container for a brand new garden full of cool fall stuff. It's cool enough now to plant new leaf lettuce and maybe chards, or beets (all of which would look great mixed with yellow, brown or purple pansies. Have fun creating your own little Fall creation and Thanks for gardening with Julie, today!
September 5 OK gang. If you have been feeling lazy and just enjoying the end of summer and the bounty of your garden...or just sitting and looking at all the labor that is waiting for you, the time has passed for reflecting. It's time to get out your loppers, shovels and gloves. Many of the perennials are past their former glory and some (like my garden phlox) are looking downright sad. They can be cut down to their crowns now with out fear of hurting them. If the leaves look diseased don't add them to your mulch pile but dispose of them in garbage or better yet burn them if it is possible in your area. Now rake, weed, and mulch to prepare your garden for winter. If it is very, very dry as it has been here all summer continue to water evenly and thoroughly once a week. Do not fertilize, though as you don't want to encourage new growth now, that could be killed be an unexpected early frost. If you have a vegetable garden, your harvest may be starting to overwhelm you about now. Start looking up all you recipes that use large quantities of zucchini and tomatoes! (Hint: zucchini can be put into a blender and then added to all kinds of things from brownies to stew). I do it all the time-but don't tell my husband! The weather here is cooler and rainy today so I'm thinking chili, or beef stew or vegetable soup- all good ways to use up surplus vegetables.
Now I'm thinking salsa and hot pepper jelly! It might be a busy afternoon!
August-2012 Out summer continues to be hot and dry. Most day lilies have finished blooming and now would be a good time to cut them back and divide and replant them if necessary. Peonies and iris can also be cut down and transplanted now. If you have been fertilizing your perennials you should stop so they can start to go dormant before it gets cold. Annual containers should continue to be fertilized with a weak water soluble fertilizer to keep them blooming until the end of the season. Pull out stringy tired annuals and replace them with small chrysanthemums or ornamental peppers or kale to make fresh baskets for Fall. Enjoy a bouquet of sun flowers and rudebeckia which are both in full bloom now. (See below)
July-2012 July 27 Fortunately, we have received rain off and on for about three days. What a difference a little rain makes. Watering just doesn't achieve the same results. Many people have already given up on their annual pots for the season because it has been almost impossible to keep them thriving. Recently, I've had to water the perennial flower beds in addition to the containers which is fairly unusual because once established many of my perennials can take care of themselves, but I've seen purple coneflowers, hollyhocks, and several of my prairie flowers wilting this year, but with the rain you can already see a visible difference. Everything is greener and seems to be standing up a little taller. Beautiful! July10 We are experiencing one of our hottest and driest June and Julys on record. It is supposed to hit 100 degrees today and we've had several high nineties already. That is practically unheard of for south east Wisconsin. I spend part of everyday watering-trying to save my most valuable trees and bushes. The grass is dormant and it''s probably better to leave it that way unless you are prepared to water a lot and continuously because spotty watering may do do more harm than good at this point.
I did attend a garden tour this week end. I wasn't sure what would be blooming because so much stuff is under stress from too much heat and not enough water, but I saw some spectacular gardens. (Some obviously were tended by a whole slew of gardeners), but the viewing was still inspirational and quite enjoyable. I came home and took a picture of my own garden because it's in full bloom right now and even though it's quite small compared to the gardens I'd seen all morning it still gives me a lot of satisfaction and joy.
Notice all the milkweed. My grandson and I have raised and set free over two dozen monarchs this season so far and a new batch of eggs are hatching right now. June-2012
June 26 We have had no rain in June!!!! This is extremely unusual and troubling. The garden is more than a month ahead of schedule and now we are suffering from lack of water. I water twice a day and I'm not keeping up. Every day something else gives up the ghost. It's time to reevaluate the kinds of flowers I plant. I've been taking lots of pictures though so watch the photo gallery for some new pictures and I've had the pleasure of touring several gardens recently. If you have the time I highly recommend doing a garden tour or two. Keep in mind that if you go home with one new idea- it was a success, but don't get discouraged if your garden doesn't look like the one you visited-just enjoy the experience. One of the gardens I visited was the Allen Centennial Garden in Madison, WI. Awesome...lots of ideas for DIYers and urban gardeners. (Pictures to follow!)
May-2012 May 27 I took a picture of the biggest poppy I've ever seen this morning. Check it out!
Isn't that amazing? On another topic I saw some of the most amazing annuals lately when I was making several trips to the local nurseries for new plants. I love heirloom plants, but when I see the baskets and pots of all the new hybrids I can't help but be impressed. I just posted a new article entitled : Awesome Annuals. Check it out to see which annuals I couldn't resist bringing home with me. May 23 Tomorrow is supposed to go up to about 87 degrees. On Sunday it was 91 degrees. That is about 15 degrees or more above normal for this time of year. Typically the recognized time for planting in our area is this up coming week end, but I know hardly anyone who has not already planted everything. The perennial beds look like it is mid June. Blooming this week in my garden: poppies, peonies, iris, phlox, wegelia bushes, spiderwort, clustered bellflower, columbine, a few daisies, buttercup, and sweet William. This is unprecedented. I can't believe it is still May.
May 17 This spring continues to amaze me. it's even more incredible when I look back at last years garden at this time of year. Everything is up and growing in the perennial beds. I have been planting for the last several days and all of my baskets are pretty much done. I've planted seeds, too: cosmos, sunflower, zinnia, snapdragons, larkspur, and california poppy. This year I even saved a little space for two cherry tomatoes, 4 peppers, basil, cilantro sage, and oregano. Below is the first Iris blooming this year. It opened this morning.
May 13 Happy Mother's Day. Make a container garden for your mom. She'll love it!
May 10 The old saying is "April Showers bring May flowers," but this year has been anything-except predictable. We've had about two weeks of rainy weather-the first 10 days of May to be specific. The sun is shining today and hopefully that means a little warmer weather is on the way. I have bought some bedding plants and have spent the last two days making my own hanging baskets and container gardens for the porch and the patio. I have to admit it's one of my favorite activities. It sounds trite, but I love playing in the dirt and the creative outlet of designing my own containers. May 1 When I was growing up we always picked flowers and put them in construction paper cones we'd made in school that day. Then we'd hang them on our front door and surprise our Mom with them. So with that in mind, these are for you, Mom. Happy May Day!
April-2012 April 26 I'm soo... excited! My first catalog order of perennials arrived today. I ordered them two months ago, but they are delivered to your area when the time is right for planting. I bought three new hostas, three astilbes, and three agastaches. These are the first agastaches I've ever had so I'm excited to see how they will do in our area. If you've never ordered plants from a catalog, it's kind of fun because you can get exactly what you want, but the plants generally are very small. I received about half of mine in pots and the other half were bare roots. All of them should be planted in the ground as soon as possible after receiving them, but if you can't immediately put the pots in a sheltered spot safe from strong sun or frost and make sure that they don't dry out. Keep the bare roots in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator in their original packaging. They'll keep almost two weeks.
April 25 Woodland Phlox and creeping phlox are both blooming in my garden today. I love them both. Later, in the summer, the taller garden phlox will bloom. Most of my phlox are in sunny gardens but woodland phlox is a shade lover which I really appreciate so I can enjoy my favorite blues in the shade garden.
Unfortunately, woodland phlox is also a favorite of marauding deer and rabbits so I sometimes have to replace it, but this year is a lucky year and it bloomed before someone ate it!
This creeping phlox is keeping my tulips and daffodils company and I really love the combination. April 20 THE "R" WORDS: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse...and REPEAT! Here are a few more that may get the point across also: Rethink, repair, repurpose, reclaim, refurbish, redazzle, RESTORE AND RESPECT! Sunday is Earth Day 2012. Check out my board on Pinterest for ideas of how you can participate in a special day that honors the Earth we live on. We all matter and even little things can add up to big things. My ideas are not necessarily new, but they bear repeating so check out Earth Day-2012, for a few simple ideas.
April 17 I have been contemplating for a couple of months now how to share more DIY tips with you and some things just are easier to explain in pictures. So I have made a board on Pinterest entitled Garden Tips. I hope you enjoy it. There are many helpful tutorials from many gardeners. It was fun to put together. Here's to more successful gardening experiences.
April 16 The hummingbirds should be arriving any minute now to my back yard! I'm ready to welcome them home! April 10 I read in the paper today that migrating birds are aware of our unseasonably warm and early spring and at least ten species have arrived in the North earlier than ever before recorded. I'm not surprised because even to my amateur eyes, I assumed this to be true. I have filled my hummingbird and oriole feeders to be prepared for the travelers to arrive in my back yard. The one worrisome thing that was noted was that birds coming from South America may come at their normal times, and if so may miss the first hatch of many insects that they feed on which would be disastrous, if there is no food to replenish their exhausted systems. Isn't it amazing that even if we are not aware of it, everything is so interconnected. Everything we do has consequences and everything we do, or do not do to our precious Earth also has consequences. I have posted a board on Pinterest about Earth Day. Check out Julie Tiefenthaler's boards for some Earth Day inspiration. April 8 Happy Easter! 
April 6 Earth Day-2012 is coming up. The official date for this celebration to heal the Earth is April 22, but now is the time to start your planning. What are you going to do to make a difference? We all matter and even little things can add up to big things. My ideas are not necessarily new, but they bear repeating so check out Earth Day-2013, for a few simple ideas. April 4 I stepped outside this morning, and a sense of joy suddenly hit me. It was cold, only about 37 degrees, but the dawn smelled like fresh, cool air, wet earth, and young growing things. The sun was glistening on a heavy dew and the grass varied in color from shades of lime to emerald. I was enthralled and blessed to greet such a day.
April 1 I thought I'd share one of my nicest houseplants with you. It has overwintered in the house and is eagerly awaiting a new growing season:
April Fool's! It actually did try to overwinter, but it didn't make it. Not everything I try is always a success, but maybe next time!
I wanted to share my success with you! I wrote my 101st article yesterday! Entitled Spring Photo Gallery, it's a collection of pictures I took yesterday in this very early spring. Enjoy! March 21 The weather is a huge topic of conversation here. We have had 9 days of very unseasonably warm weather and we've been wearing sandals, eating outside, and gardening. Basically these things are unheard of at this time of year in SE Wisconsin. If a picture is worth a thousand words maybe this will help you to understand how different this spring is from the normal weather we have in March. The picture below was taken March 29th, 2011. Below that is the same garden on March 21, 2012. The third picture is the first flower to bloom in my yard last year (on April 10th-5 days after the last snow melted. It was the first flower to bloom this year also-it's already come and gone. It bloomed on March 15th.
March 19 Well, after 25 years of letting our trees mature, we finally had to have them professionally trimmed today. It was a little traumatic for me and very traumatic for our cats and woodpeckers, but we'll all survive. The difference is startling, and I have to reconfigure our bird feeders, but we are going to enjoy a little bit more sun on the gardens and hopefully on our neighbor's gardens as well. It was long overdue. Tree Pro's LLC in SE Wisconsin did the trimming and pruning and I'm shooting a word out to them because they were very professional and did a wonderful job. Thanks Guy! On another topic I posted two new articles today:Ferns, and Woodland Wildflowers. Enjoy!
March 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day. This is Oxalis, charmed wine. It is frequently sold in grocery stores at this time of year and generally people buy them, enjoy them and then toss them out when they die back, but did you know that's not necessary. Oxalis is actually a tiny bulb or many of them to be exact. They have a dormant stage just like tulips and daffodils. They will come back after a few months rest. They can be grown as an annual in part to full shade and are lovely in containers-especially paired with something white and maybe trailing. They also are adaptable and can be grown as a houseplant. They are fairly drought tolerant and there is no need to deadhead them. They do appreciate regular fertilizer applications about every two weeks or so during the growing season. So enjoy your Oxalis today on the kitchen table and keep watering it and then put it out on your shaded porch and enjoy it all summer , too.
March 16 This whole week has hovered in the high sixties. I wondered a couple days ago if this was spring, but now I think we skipped spring entirely. This is summer. I'm enjoying every minute but I'm also wondering what it means for later this summer? Very hot? very dry? I have been considering researching some more drought resistant plants, and now I am resolved to do it. As for my own garden. I have been outside every day this week. I want to do some , spring cleanup, but I'm hesitant to do too much to encourage my perennials to sprout (they all are any way). I have spent several hours though removing the tops of plants I didn't cut down in the fall and turning over my compost pile-which is having some problems (more on that later too). I am able to pull weeds quite easily because the ground in completely thawed and dry enough to dig-absolutely amazing. I've been pulling grass that likes to grow near the crowns of my perennials and trying to get rid of garlic mustard which has suddenly started to appear under our bushes. Garlic mustard is very invasive and a miserable plant. I don't want anywhere near my gardens. If you were planning on starting a garden this year now would give you a great head start. You could get the whole space prepared and amended and by the time it was safe to plant you'd be already. This would also be a good time to build some raised beds. If your soil is very poor, raised beds are the way to go because you can fill them with very good soil and you don't have to worry about improving your own before you plant.
March 14 It got up to 74 degrees here yesterday and the rest of the week promises to stay in the high 60's. It was glorious AND I BROKE OUT MY SANDALS! The problem is this is uncharted territory. If this is spring, it's two months early and if it isn't everything that is breaking its winter hibernation is doomed. I especially worry about my Lilacs because those are my favorites and I know that a frost will kill the buds and then the trees won't blossom this year. Everywhere I look trees are budding and perennials are starting to green up. It is so tempting to uncover everything, but I'm just not sure I should. I joined Pininterest today. It is an online bulletin board where people can post favorite pictures from the internet. I saw a lot of my own pictures on many bulletin boards so I decided they may as well come from me directly. (If a picture is worth a thousand words, I've posted about 7,000 so far!) I'll keep you updated! March 11 I saw my first Robin of the year today. He flew into our yard and pecked around for several minutes before flying away. It is always such treat to see that definite sign of Spring. We've also been seeing sand hill cranes returning and I noticed yesterday that the ducks and geese have paired off and are setting up housekeeping. Everyone is commenting on the tulips and daffodils popping their heads up and our maple tree has buds and the willows have turned yellow so everywhere I look it's saying spring is coming-get ready! Spring Fever.
Last fall I wrote an article about foliage shrubs. I thought you'd enjoy seeing the red twig dogwood now that had such pretty leaves in the fall. I absolutely love the red branches-especially when everything else is still wearing its winter brown.
March 10 I had the great pleasure of attending the third annual "Rooms of Blooms" at the Paine Art Center in OshKosh, WI. yesterday. It featured over 100 fresh flower arrangements by 20 designers from the area! What fun! I also attended a presentation by designer Leanne Bloedow from Hrnak's Flower and Gifts as part of the Paine Experience, and I came home eager to create my own fresh flower arrangements for my dining room table. Spring is coming! It's starting to bubble up in my mind if nothing else and I'm even more excited since yesterday's adventure! I hope you too will try to take in a local flower show. You'll come away brimming with new ideas and excitement for the upcoming season.
March 6 I have been researching some new plants lately and am becoming very interested inAgastache. It's a new name to me. Being raised in the North East, it's not a plant that I'm familiar with , but since I'm always looking for plants that attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees this is a plant I want to know more about. The other thing that interests me about this plant is that doesn't need a ton of water and likes hot weather. Both are things that I think we'll be seeing more of this summer. High Country Gardens, is a catalog I receive that is based in the southwest and they always feature many varieties of agastache. I am researching a variety right now that will survive well in zone five and I'll keep you posted!
March 2 It is grey and raining today and it is supposed to turn to snow later today. In Kentucky they are expecting severe storms and possible tornados today. I was feeling a little down and ended up at my local gardening store. Hope springs eternal because I came home with a Jiffy Professional Greenhousewith the hope that this year I'd be more successful at growing seeds than I normally am. Now you have to know that I'm notoriously bad at starting seeds inside. I don't really have a good light source and my window seats (which could possibly be a good place to set my seed trays) are always hogged by two territorial house cats which have claimed the window seat as their own. In fact, last years' seeds died when one cat sat on my newly germinated seeds for several hours when I was not home, so why I think I'll be more successful this year is a mystery even to me, but I just could not resist this cool little self contained tray with 72 grow pellets and its own clear plastic top. I can't wait to fill it and watch the little miracles that take place. I started Julie's Journal a year ago yesterday. I had recently retired and I wanted to keep current with computer technology and so I took an on line class in web development and in my first class I was told to write about something that I enjoyed-and gardening with Julie was born. Today a year later I'm rather amazed where it's taken me and I'm still enjoying my new hobby! Thanks for traveling with me!
February-2012 February 27
I continue to peruse my many plant catalogs and they're getting very marked up. When I added up the total of circled items though, I was horrified. It's time for a little Budget Gardening! I definitely have to do some serious consideration before I order anything. Everything always looks good in a magazine, and it's tempting to think it would look as well in my garden but being realistic I know this is not true. So I'll look again and winnow out the duplicates of things I already own and the ones that just have never grown for me- as much as I want them to! February 21 Oh what a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was talking about spring fever and trying to pull weeds. This is what we woke up to today! The roads are messy, but if you can see it through the eyes of a child it's beautiful and miraculous!
February 20
I have a bad case of spring fever! This has been the year of the non-winter, but I am still very anxious to get outside and get my hands in the dirt. In fact yesterday (the temperature was only 38), but the sun was out and we have no snow so we set up two lawn chairs and sat there with our winter coats on soaking up the bright sunshine! It felt a lot warmer than 38, but maybe that was our imagination. This strange winter does worry me though because we are getting frequent freezing and thawing situations and since we have no insulating snow cover some of the perennials-especially newer ones without a deep root structure can be susceptible to heaving where part of the roots become exposed to the air which will of course prove fatal. If you have evergreen boughs or straw you might want to cover some of your plants if you have a similar situation. On the same topic of weather- or maybe spring??? we saw huge flocks of geese flying over our house yesterday. They just came coming and coming. It was incredible! Loved it!
February 14 Hello Friends, Happy Valentine's Day! Just Julie
February 9
In honor of Valentine's Day I wrote two new articles today about Red perennialsand Red Annuals Give yourself a valentine and check them out! February 3 I saw the the most incredible video today of the chrysanthemum festival in Germany. All I say is WOW! It is gorgeous. I was especially enchanted by the hanging chrysanthemums in baskets dripping all over the sides and tops of buildings. Google it. It's worth looking at. Chrysantemum_Festival_In_Germany1.pps (6093KB). I also recently saw pictures of the Montreal Gardens. It is overflowing with very imaginative topiary animals. Apparently you have to wait in long lines to see it in person, but on the computer you get close up pictures you can stare at for as long as you want. There are gorgeous gardens all over the world. They make my little garden look puny and simplistic by comparison, but knowing the work that goes into a small backyard garden will even make these gardens more spectacular. I can't even imagine the number of people and amount of maintenance that is required to create these masterpieces.
January 31 It feels like spring today! The sun is out. The sky is clear blue and the snow is disappearing while I'm looking at it. I actually spent 40 minutes outside in the sandbox with my grandson. It was glorious-but January 31???? That is strange!
January-2012 January 29 Well most of January is over and we have had a very unseasonably mild winter. It is common for me to go outside without a hat and sometimes boots. We have a few inches of snow but nothing to complain about. I can't say that i miss it! With that said though, I'm tired of being penned up in the house. I will be very glad when I can out and putter around in the garden again. My father in law and my daughter have bought all their seeds for this year's garden and they are already envisioning a bountiful harvest. (Actually if everything grows that they both bought they could probably feed a whole county!) It is very hard to resist those colorful little packages though. You can almost smell fresh vegetables just looking at their delightful little pictures, and on dreary Monday they look even more tempting. Have you bought seeds yet. What are you anxious to plant this year? For more ideas for this year's garden check out some of these articles. They just may whet your appetite for fresh vegetables, too! Related Articles: Compost Basics
January 26 I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Erika Petterson January 17 The garden is covered in snow and it's quite windy and nasty outside right now. I've been amusing myself by writing about my houseplants. I hope you enjoy reading them and they are helpful or at least interesting! Check them out: Houseplant Basics is the first one and then there are five more:Easy Houseplants, Hanging Houseplants,Flowering Houseplants, and Houseplant Problems.
January 15 My son in law gave me a piece of an angel wing rex begonia last week, and it is presently rooting in a glass of water. I'm thrilled because I didn't know that rex begonias would root so easily. I love getting new plants from other people. Some how it is more special than buying a plant yourself in a nursery. January 12 We got our first snow of the year today. It has been a very unusual winter so far, but now that we have about 6 inches on the ground it is looking more normal. I wrote an article on Secret Gardens. yesterday. It made me long to go somewhere warm and actually walk in a blooming garden.
January 11 Can you believe it? I am beginning my second year of gardening with Julie! I am very excited to share another year of my gardening ideas, suggestions, successes and failures! I started this website as a way to start my retirement and learn something new on the computer. Wow! The learning curve has been huge, but my love for gardening and my joy in writing this blog has remained as strong as ever. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Lately, I have been writing about houseplants, but I've also been reading all my plant catalogs and in my mind the 2012 garden is already blooming and ready to share with you. Please, come along and bloom with me. Thanks, Just Julie
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