Rosemary in my Courtyard

I am planting this lovely Rosemary plant in the decorative pot you see between my hot pink geranium and Double Delight roses. I think the silver gray stems will look stunning in the pot, and contrast nicely with the colors of the other leaves. The placement was not easy to decide. I knew it would look lovely anywhere in the courtyard, but I wanted to make sure it received enough direct sunlight during the day to stay healthy.

Too little sunlight would result in a weak plant. Herbs need about six hours of direct sunlight each day, hard to come by in a courtyard boarded on all sides by the walls of my house and garage. I watched this spot for several days. It seems to be fine.

I will put potting soil into the pot, of course, and then the transplant. I know Rosemary likes some moisture, but does like the soil to dry a bit. I’ll keep that in mind. I hand water the plants in the courtyard. So I can keep an eye on the plant.

I bought Rosemary specifically because I thought it would be yummy on baked chicken. I’ll look up some other recipes once the plant is established in the pot. Since I don’t cook for many people, I won’t need to snip much from the plant, and not very often. I don’t intend to cut sprigs and let them dry. I intend to use it fresh. I’ll only cut what I need right then.

I have not grown herbs for decades, way back when I was a gonzo gardener in Rancho Cucamonga. Not likely I will do that much gardening ever again. Just a pot or box of flowers, vegetables and herbs here and there. I have three more types of herbs to plant. I’ll get to them in a few days. Everything in moderation!

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Flower Power instead of Veggies

I admit that patience isn’t my strength. Neither is putting up with frustration. I have been reluctant to plant vegetables in the flower boxes I bought, although that was the plan. I do not want to go to all of the effort to scoop two large bags of soil, plant vegetables, water, and care for the plants unless I am able to harvest lots of vegetables to eat.

So I have opted for the instant gratification of flowers. I went over to the local Armstrong store where they treat customers so well and bought three six-packs of pink Impatiens. They are three different colors which complement each other. I watered the Square Foot Gardening soil which I had placed in the flower boxes and waited until the next day to transplant the flowers.

I put the deepest pink in the center of each box as a unifying element. Then I planted a lighter color on each side. The two on the ends are the same color. Since there are three boxes on the right side of my short wall, and three on the left, I alternated the colors to create a pattern. Why not? It was fun and easy.

The picture above was taken the day I planted the flowers while I was standing on the patio itself. I can also see the flowers from inside the house. They look gorgeous from the kitchen, dining room and living room. I can even see them when walking down the hall. Maybe I won’t turn these boxes into vegetable planters next season, as I had planned. I still have two large pots and wheeled saucers I bought before the plumbing disaster. I can fill them with soil and plant tomatoes, zucchini and/or lettuce. I don’t really need to use these boxes.

I can put the two large pots on the patio where they receive full sun most of the day, and filtered sun until about five o’clock. This spot is not visible from inside the house. Maybe I would prefer that. But while I was at Armstrong, I saw their herbs. Hmmm. I still have four empty pots in my courtyard. I think I should put herbs in them. After all, this spot is right next to the kitchen, perfect for herbs.

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Planters on the Edge

I realized that the courtyard wouldn't be such a good idea a little while ago. I bought planter boxes similar to those of a neighbor and intended to fill them with Square Foot Gardening Soil. But then I stopped. I had to leave my home for a few weeks while a plumbing issue was resolved. So everything just sat and waited for me.

When I came home, I had to unpack my bags, of course, but also put everything that had been in both bathrooms back in place. Then I had lots of laundry to do, not just what I had been wearing, but all linens and towels in my bathrooms and master bedroom.

So what you see above is what I have been able to do since coming home. It isn't much, but something is better than nothing. I am just concerned that I have lost much of the spring growing season. Oh, well.

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Chunky Plant Markers are Best

 

While roaming around my local Armstrong Garden Center I almost fell prey to an impulse buy. I saw the cutest ceramic plant markers. They had white backgrounds and painted pictures of each type of vegetable or herb, plus the name. They weren’t cheap, but I figured they were permanent. The problem was that they didn’t have all that I wanted. So my garden markers would look hodge podge. Then, of course, I would have to buy the metal rods to hang them. Lots of expense here, if I was to do it right. 

Then sanity reigned. This is just silly. Put down the cute plant markers. Think of something else. So I did Popsicle sticks. I even mentioned them in an earlier blog post. They are super inexpensive and you can find them at any chain big box store, Target, Wal-mart, etc. But they are so tiny, and I want my plant markers to be big enough to read without getting down on all fours. 

I was at Green Thumb nursery talking to an employee who showed me what they sold for this function when a better idea showed up. Wooden tongue depressors. They look like larger Popsicle sticks. They would function in the same way, but be bigger. That’s the ticket. I looked online and found several medical supply stores that would ship me a massive amount of sterile depressors. No, thank you. Kept looking until I found exactly what I wanted, just in a rather large quantity.  

In two short days I was the proud owner of a box of 500 very inexpensive wooden, non-sterile tongue depressors. I found a smallish box in my closet and scooped up a bunch of depressors/plant markers and sent them to my sister. She has four square foot gardens in the backyard of her house. I still have more than I could use in my lifetime. Perhaps I will share them with someone else who likes to raise their own veggies. 

Now I have an ample supply of wide, smooth wooden plant markers. I’ll use a permanent marking pen and write whatever I like on them. I’m thinking the front should be plant identification, and the back should be the date I put the plant in the ground. This way, I won’t need to keep a notebook. All the data will be handy and in plain view.  

Until next time, 

Elizabeth

Simple Solution to Low Sunshine in a Square Foot Garden

I was disappointed when I realized that I would not be able to grow vegetables in the courtyard planter in front of my house. It was the obvious place. It’s close, has water handy and is even rectangular. I worked out how to put in a grid despite the garden edge being brick. Unfortunately there just isn’t enough sunshine however “perfect” it seemed. So I gave up and went the easier route…roses.

But then I went for a walk. It wasn’t the first walk I took in my new neighborhood. The view of the coastline is spectacular here, making it a good place to go. Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice my neighbor’s patio. But this week I did notice. They have a wall like mine with a cover like mine. Their patio even faces the same direction as mine, and it’s in full sun! Look, they have flower boxes on the top of the short wall. What a great idea. I even know how long the area is sunny, because I have been adjusting my window coverings on that side of the house during the day to protect my new floors.

When I turned the corner and walked by the front of their house, my neighbor was outside. Good timing. I chatted with him and asked where he bought the flower boxes on his patio. I told him I thought the location would be great for my vegetables. He thought it was a good idea too, and asked his wife where she bought the containers on their patio wall. Target. Terrific. There’s one not too far away. When I went home I called them. No luck there, so I asked about other Target locations. She talked to her supervisor who informed her that all Target stores removed their garden departments.

That started a search that took three days and lots of driving to complete. I looked online first, of course, but only found very small or very large rectangular boxes. They were either inappropriate due to their size or very expensive. So I got in the car and went to an Armstrong Garden Center, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and two Home Depot stores. I didn’t have any luck until I visited the Green Thumb nursery in Lake Forest. Bingo! They had exactly what I was looking for. It even came in three sizes. I bought four of the medium sized boxes and drip trays for underneath. My mistake. I’m going back for two more.

Here’s my lesson for lack of sunshine in a square foot garden, look elsewhere before giving up. Take a walk around your neighborhood. See what they are doing. Talk to them, find out the solutions they came up with for the “not enough sunshine” problem. I’m new to this area. My neighbors are not. Later this morning I’m going back to the Green Thumb nursery and buying two more flower boxes and drip trays. Then I’m going over to Lowe’s for two bags of square foot gardening soil.

Tomorrow I’m going to the nearby Armstrong Garden Center for vegetable transplants and marigolds. They are having a 15% off sale this weekend. I also like the people there. They have been extremely helpful. They are the ones who located my small copper garden hose pot when I couldn’t find anything the right size. They also had beautiful Double Delight roses, two of which are sitting in my front courtyard awaiting planting in what was going to be my square foot garden. I guess that’s another lesson. Although I will be at two other stores where they sell vegetable transplants, I’m making a separate trip to the store where the employees went the extra mile and helped me out.

Although I have grown my own food in a huge raised square foot garden in the backyard of a suburban home in the past and gardened in containers on wheels on the third floor of a condo, this is the first time I have planted a square foot garden in flower boxes on a short wall. It will be much easier, I think, since there is water right there, abundant sunshine and I won’t even need to bend over to harvest my vegetables. This may be the easiest way to garden yet. I’ll keep you informed.

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Keeping Gardening Simple

In the last few years I have tried to redefine my living situation by making everything as simple and easy as possible. This has been a pretty painless path for me, since solving problems is what a public school teacher does for a living. Sure, we all teach the curriculum, but anyone who has children, or remembers what it was like being one, knows that if you have children around, you have problems.  The Square Foot Gardening method makes growing plants of all sorts really pretty easy by eliminating many of the usual problem causing suspects, like weeding, fertilizing and repeated dirt moving. But, the basics still apply.

The location of any garden must provide the basics in order for gardening to be both simple and easy. When I grew my produce in containers I had plenty of sun, but no water nearby. So I moved water to my garden once a week and stored it in large plastic buckets. It was simple and even easy, but annoying. In my current home, the watering situation is perfect, since there is a hose right next to the planter in my front courtyard. But there is still the nagging question about the amount of sunshine. My courtyard is, of course, surrounded on all four sides by walls. That is the nature of a courtyard. The planter is tucked up against one of the walls.

This past week, I was stuck inside because of the poor air quality where I live caused by the fires in San Diego County and the wind coming from there. I have been able to watch the movement of the sun in my courtyard. Although the geranium in the large planter near my proposed square foot garden is doing well, and is covered with blooms, I’m not sure there is enough sun for vegetables. When I spoke to an expert at a local nursery, he was certain that my success with the geranium meant that the location received enough sun for a good harvest. I’m not so sure.

Simple and easy is my overall goal. Moving forward with putting in vegetables where there may not be enough sunshine could result in lots of activity, but poor results. I cannot control the amount of sunshine received in an “in ground” garden. With containers, I could and did move my plants around to follow the sun. I just put the pots on little trolleys with wheels. It was both simple and easy. But this planter is built into the courtyard. Gardening with good results is fun. Gardening with poor or no results is not. I remember a few years ago when the weather shifted unexpectedly and my beautiful bean and pea plants gave me almost no harvest. That was no fun at all.

In order to keep my life simple and easy with a goodly amount of fun, I will continue to buy my produce instead of growing it. It doesn’t taste as good as home grown, but I may not get home grown, so what’s the point? So once again, what to do with this lovely brick planter so visible from three rooms of my new home? Cutting the first roses from the bushes I discovered at the side of the house and putting them in several rooms to enjoy reminded me how much I appreciated them in the past.

My favorite rose is Double Delight. I had one in my rose garden in Alta Loma, along with twenty-three other varieties. Although I took pleasure in the entire rose garden, she was my favorite bush. The colors are beautiful. Each of the blooms is unique, and the fragrance is intense and sweet.

I’ll return the materials I purchased to make my square foot garden grid and buy two Double Delight rose bushes, if they are available now. If not, I’ll fill the bed with annuals and remove them when my favorite rose is in my local nursery. But even with two bushes, there is plenty of room for other perennials. I’m going to research companion plants. I’ll find something that will look good, encourage hummingbirds and discourage pests. Most of all, I will keep it simple and easy.

Until next time,

Elizabeth

Too Hot and Windy for Gardening? Shop Online Instead.

The Santa Ana winds showed up in Southern California early this year. The temperature reached over ninety degrees (ninety-nine yesterday). It’s too hot to be outside, let alone plant anything. If I tried to set up my square foot garden grid, I would burn in the sun. If I tried to put in transplants, they would wilt and die. None of this sounds like the way to go. So I have spent the last few days inside, in the air conditioning.

I’ve read and refined the plans for my food and flower garden. I also took stock of what I have on hand in my new garage. When I moved to Hawaii last year, I gave all my garden tools and supplies to my sister. I didn’t need them anymore. Now, I have a patio, a courtyard (with my square foot garden in it) and a rose garden. I could use some tools. But, since I was starting over so to speak, I decided that I would not just be practical. I would also treat myself to what I really want. What I want is pretty and practical tools.

I looked online and found this set of Bloom garden tools. I don’t need most of them for my square foot garden, but I do for the rest of my home. I could use a hose out on the back patio. There’s a faucet, but with nothing attached. A new hose and nozzle would take care of that. I want to protect my knees when I am putting in transplants (once it cools off), so a garden kneeling cushion is a good idea. I did buy a pair of pruning sheers when I first moved here, but the handle is red, not my favorite color. I don’t know if I will ever need the shovel that comes with the set, but if I do, this one is my size. That’s how I justified spending the money. Most of the items in the set are practical. I definitely don’t need another pair of gloves, but hey, they match everything else.

As you can see, the new tool set arrived before the cooler weather. I haven’t done anything with them yet. In a couple of days, I will switch out this new hose and nozzle for the ones in my front courtyard, and put the old, white hose and nozzle on the patio. I’ll go buy two pieces of scrap two by fours and a sheet of peg board and attach them to the garage wall. I intend to display my new colorful tools there to enjoy even when they are not in use. The only thing I am doing outside in this unseasonable, horrid heat and dusty wind is to make sure my potted plants have the water they need. Then I dash back inside, where I can enjoy viewing them from the comfort of my air conditioning.

Until next time,

Elizabeth