My Tiny Plot

I always said I didn’t like Roses. Not because I don’t like the flowers but because the bushes look pretty bad in the Winter. My new garden has lots of mature Rose bushes in it and they are all flowering right now.

I have white, cream, scarlet, pink, yellow – fragrant, spray, climbers, ramblers – you name it. I must admit I’m coming around to the idea of Roses. They really are blowing my mind. And such a great cut flower too. My house is literally full.

Tags: Roses

We have been having unusually hot weather here in Portland. It’s been lovely to get out into the garden and start enjoying the outdoors, planting things, harvesting things. But unseasonably hot weather is not without its downfalls. Firstly, you’re never sure when it will end. Did I put those plants out too soon, will it get cold again (yes, probably). The plants in the greenhouse need watering twice a day, at least. And my Tomato plants are so big I’ve run out of pots in which to ‘re-pot’ them.

Also it has been so dry that many of my vegetable plants that were in the ground needed a lot of water to survive which meant turning on the irrigation system for the first time. An exciting event in our house since I’ve never owned (or needed to own) an irrigation system before. Once we had figured out the timer situation we turned it on one evening after the boys were in bed (because we all know what would happen if they weren’t!).

Like magic the tiny watering heads slid up and started to water my garden. Ten minutes later my whole garden was watered and happy. Something that would have taken me at least an hour probably more by hand. I was mesmerised and ran around taking photos like a crazy lady.

Then I noticed my husband with a smug look on his face. He smiled and said, ‘Welcome to America baby.’ That made me laugh.

It’s true irrigation systems are both good and bad at the same time.

Most people turn them on too often and for too little time – say for 10 mins every morning. But actually 30mins once a week for an established garden will be better for the plants and will encourage deeper roots which in turn will help the plant be more drought tolerant. Young plants and annuals (like vegetables) still need regular watering though.

They also blanket water the entire garden which means that you’re watering the weeds as well as the plants. It’s much better to spot water plants or use a drip system that targets the main plants. And… water is expensive.

But there’s no denying that irrigation systems are amazing for watering gardens quickly. Especially, lawns. They are labour savers just like lawn mowers, blowers, chippers. The fact that you can zone them, time them and regulate how much water you use is amazing. And like all labour saving devices it frees me up to do the interesting stuff like sowing seeds, planting, planning and pruning.

I know it’s a luxury but I love my irrigation system!

Back in November (a little late) I planted some pretty special Tulip bulbs that my neighbour gave to me. I didn’t know if they would flower or not or even if the ground was going to be too heavy for Tulips. Well, they flowered and they were beautiful.

Each one was a deep burgundy colour with yellow stripes running through it like ribbon. So perfect.

I’m a cut flower kind of person – I see a flower, I cut it and bring it in. So they all came indoors and looked beautiful in my new McCoy tulip vase. An object made for purpose!

Tags: Tulips

While visiting family in Fort Collins, Colorado I watch Grandpa Roy plant some Potatoes. It was interesting and educational.

He roto-tilled the ground and then added some fertilizer called Bradfield Lawn and Garden.

Then he added some Alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa is about 3-0-3 so provides some Nitrogen and Potassium. It’s also a soil conditioner because it has lots of organic matter in it and expands once it gets wet. Roses love it too and you can even put it in the compost pile to speed things up. Sweet!

There were already some Onions in the ground and they had been planted through black fleece to keep the weeds at bay since Onions resent having their roots disturbed by weeding.

It’s so interesting watching someone else work in their garden. Everyone does it differently. And everyone figures out how to grow successfully in their little pocket of the world. There is no right and wrong way. There is only a good harvest.

Tags: Colorado kitchen garden

Bought these gorgeous Ranunculus for my sister in law. They are a lovely unusual peach colour and look amazing in this Fiesta water jug.

While visiting Papa and Grandma Diane I learned a nice little trick for preparing salads ahead of time using a Mason jar and an air extractor.

Simply, prepare your salad and build it up layer by layer in the jar. Put the dressing at the bottom so that when you tip it out the dressing pours itself over the leaves. Next put in the meat, cheese, fish or whatever you like. Then the Salad leaves and if you like Tomatoes on top.

Then seal the jar and make a small hole in the lid using a pin tack or drawing pin.

Now the science. You’ll need a vacuum pump. Ziploc does one that looks like a big syringe.

Pump the air out of the jar and seal the hole with tape. These prepared Salads will store in the fridge for four or five days. You could prepare one for each day and store in the office fridge making it easy to eat healthily. Or just store them in the fridge at home to be prepared for the week. Inspired!

One of my Shallots started to wilt around two weeks ago. The foliage turned an unusual light green colour and started to keel over. Over time it just continued getting worse and worse with no sign of recovery and so I thought it was about time to find out what was wrong.

As you can see here it was the only one of the bulbs to be affected in the row.

When I dug up the plant the culprit was clear; Onion Fly. The base of the Onion is beginning to rot and you can see tiny maggots (larvae) wriggling out. These eat the onion and then eventually turn into Onion flies.

You can see how tiny the larvae is in this photo. So what’s to be done? Nothing for this plant. I had to dig it up and put it in the bin. For the others I can just hope that this was an isolated case. I will be digging the soil over to see if I can see any other larvae. But they are so tiny it’s unlikely I will see them. I could use row cover or horticultural fleece over the plants to stop more females laying eggs.

Next year however I’ll be rotating my Onion bed to another part of the garden just in case it’s a problem with that particular bed. Apparently, putting sets in later in the season helps too as you can miss the first wave of flies. There are also nematodes that you can buy that will deal with this situation.

But… as I’m not a farmer and my livelihood doesn’t depend on my Onion crop, I’ll probably just hope that I can harvest most of my Onions and be happy with that.

Tags: Onion Fly, Onion maggot

I spent some time today tying in some plants that need a bit of extra support. My Broad Beans (Fava Beans) were starting to flop over and so I put in a sturdy support and tied them in making sure to loop the string around in a figure of eight to give the plant some give.

I did the same with my Sweet Peas that are trying to clamber up a metal archway but keep getting knocked off by the wind. I love this dark purple twine that a friend gave me. Sometimes I want to hide the string supporting my plants and in this case I’ll use green. But occasionally it’s fun to show it off and make it a feature of the row. With such a bright colour you can see the string from the other side of the garden.

Tags: Broad Beans, Fava

Bought from a garden reclamation yard.

Spray painted with anti-rust paint. Job done. All I need now is a nice cushion and some lollipop Bay trees in pots on either side and what I have is the perfect place for a mid-morning chai latte.

Tags: bench

Spring is really here in Portland. Today was the last frost day and although temperatures are not soaring it’s a great turning point for a gardener new to the area like me. This is how my kitchen garden is coming along. I planted a row of Box bushes to define the edges (and keep the kids and dog off the soil). And then I sowed lots of rows of cool season crops like Radish, Spinach, Arugula (Rocket) and Peas. They have all come up beautifully and have really filled out the whole area under the greenhouse window. I couldn’t resist the sky blue bistrot set infront of the greenhouse. That spot gets the evening sun and is perfect for a nice chilled glass of wine after the kids go to bed.

You can see from this photo that back in February the tree in the background had hardly any leaves, now it is lush and green. And the blossom has bloomed on the peachy-coloured Dogwood next to it. Also the Grape Hyacinth bulbs around the fountain have sprouted and are about to flower.

The weather is still very wet. As I’m speaking there is a serious deluge outside. But the garden is being planted up bit by bit. In the foreground here I have various types of Lettuce, Peas, Cauliflower, Chard and Kale. Also a small Strawberry patch on the left.

It’s a far cry from how the garden looked in the middle of February when the landscaping was finally finished! Hooray! A garden at last. It feels like forever that things were growing here.