Winter's Rest
Garden Journal Week 3
This time of year isn’t restful. Perhaps next week? Even when I lived in the land of snow and ice, this was the time of year for planning and preparation, before the growing season began to get hectic, first inside and then out.
This is the time to be gathering up what seeds you plan to start (with the exception of winter-sowing seeds, which should already be in the garden in their containers) and plotting backwards on the calendar from your estimated last frost date. If, like me, you live somewhere the ground isn’t frozen, it’s a good time to plant bare-root berries or trees (fall is better for trees, but it’s not too late). If you want to add any raised beds to your garden, now is the time to get them in, although for me that’s a next-week evolution. If there is snow on the ground, it may be time to contemplate what a cold frame can do for you. I have the materials for one, but am unsure it will help here because of the wild temperature swings. One way I’ll say it would be great is to have some of my green onions in it.
Part of planning a garden is deciding what you want from it. Mine is for beauty, first and foremost. This is the Artist’s Garden, after all. Which incorporates the pollinators and myriads of invertebrates that growing and blooming things attract. It also has to do with the culinary arts, and making good food from the garden, but also beautiful food that you savor with eyes, nose, and mouth. I’m planning and building a permaculture system, which will hopefully in time require less care, less water, and will grow more beautiful year in and year out. Plan for the rest times, too, and make sure you include plants with winter interest. Leave the fallen leaves and standing stems for the insects to shelter over winter, and the seedheads for the birds.
This week I anticipated a cold snap, and busied myself with several projects while the weather outside was relatively pleasant. I secured a Red Cascades rose, and a native Mustang grape, for the trellis wall of the sitting area, and planted them. The Mustang has the potential to be very aggressive, so I’ll have to keep an eye on it. But I have a large area to shade, so hopefully it will be effective in doing that. I had ordered in roots of wild violets, which grew like weeds in Ohio, and are also native to Texas, but I didn’t have any… so I found someone in Tennessee who is selling these lovely weeds on eBay. What a way to make some pin money! I love it. I am hopeful the little things will establish under my pecan tree and bring me their bright little faces some spring soon.
I had started some lettuce and bok choi inside, in my utility room which is quite cool, and they were well-developed. I planted these out about a month after starting, under cover into a raised bed. both are at least frost-tolerant, and this should tell me more about the ability of certain plants to overwinter in the garden, or lengthen my growing season.
In the hardscape planning, I acquired material to make a very sturdy trellis for Sanford’s rose. I will have to bolt it together, which may also require having to make holes in heavy iron, but I have some time to work on this, and my son will be home on leave, looking for projects to keep himself busy and working alongside me, in a few weeks. I also picked up two small (50 gal) rainbarrels. I need to create some gutters, and get a much larger water tank, before too long. I don’t see rain predicted anytime in the near future, and I am a little worried about the lack of moisture. Once some of the gardens are established, they will need little watering. Other parts, like the veggies, will always need consistent irrigation. I used to take rain for granted, but no longer!
I also indulged in bare-root plants from a big box store. These can be an economical way to start your garden, or to fill in gaps, but there are some considerations. Only buy them immediately after they are stocked and pick up and heft the plant in its package: the lighter the container is, the less you want to buy it. They will dry out, and die, and the store doesn’t care. So I bought blackberries, grapes, and clematis, because I knew all of them would do well in my area. The store also had raspberries and blueberries, which require an acidic soil (ours is very alkaline, as is the water) and don’t do well in the high heat of the summer here. Again, the store doesn’t care, so long as someone buys them. Poor saps do every year, so they keep stockin’ ‘em in. Try to choose plants which have not yet broken dormancy and have new leaves showing - those will freeze off and stress the plant. When you plant them, remove all the packing material, find the crown of the roots, and plant no deeper than that, having spread out the roots and buried those well. The packing sawdust is often far higher up the plant than it would want to be planted - keeps it safe in transit, but planting to that depth will kill it. Give your new plant a good drink as you plant it, and make sure you water deeply every week until the plant is well established (you can skip if you got at least 0.5” of rain that week). The other thing here? These are generally far cheaper than nursery plants, or mail-order. You can plant several, knowing you’ll likely lose some. I put in four Clematis jackmanii hoping at least one survives. If you don’t have the budget, or a solid local nursery, there’s nothing wrong with the box store bare-root plants, providing you understand they are small, prone to be DOA, and may take a couple of years to bear fruit.
I also spread some mulch, almost to the end of the huge mulch pile I had dropped this spring, now! Started my frost-tolerant brassicas indoors, broccoli, cabbage, and kale. I also started some of the longer-germinating herbs like sage, thyme, oregano, as they will be slow off the mark in my scullery - new fun name for the utility room! - where it is generally 50-60F during the day. There’s no heater out there, but I do have heat mats, which will aid germination of the peppers I’ll be planting next week.
So no, next week won’t be a rest, either. Not when I have potato beds to get ready! I’m also starting some potato grow bags for a friend. Gardening is good for the soul, and great exercise. Shoveling, digging, stooping bending kneeling stretching! It’s nice to come in and rest with a cup of tea, though.