The Mid-March Garden

March can be a crazy month, with the temperatures extremes back and forth, stormy then sunny, and you aren't sure if Spring will stay!  I have been ready to get into the veggie gardens to till the ground, but it is too wet.  So, working hard to exercise patience, I will hold off until the dirt in crumbly in my hand!  I didn't wait last year and the soil became hard pan by the middle of the summer.

The greenhouse plants are still growing.  I have had to trim some of the plants back to keep them bushy.  I know it is cutting off the blooms, but I will have better-looking plants in the middle of April when I can leave them outside for good.  

The 'Homestead Purple' verbena in this clay pot had started to grow and get longer then I wanted.  So, I trimmed it up, losing the first flowers, but I know there are more to come!

The Spring bulbs have done wonderfully this year!  I fertilized them all last fall and it has payed off.  One thing I would like to incorporate next year is planting bulbs in pots with the pansies for a 2-for-1 show.  I  just have to remember to dig the other plants out in the fall that may still look good.  Its a timing thing..

The Forsythia is in full bloom right now.  And my 'layering starts' are hopefully rooting in the buckets.  My fountain is starting to need some TLC.  So this month I want to seal up the leaks and clean it up so it will be in good shape for the whole growing season.

Gerbera Daisies just popping up

 And I have been cleaning and waxing the furniture, and dreaming about future plans, garden brunches, Graduation party, and summer BBQs!   What have you been dreaming of?


So, a few activites to accomplish for March:

• repot tomato seedling after 6 leaves appear, pinching off the old 4 leaves
• Start feeding blueberries each month and set out strawberry plants
• divide and take cuttings of Yarrow
• plant Clematis with an inverted pot ( to keep roots cool)
• Do paint touch-up on outdoor furniture and apply car wax for protection.
• till under 'winter crop' or leaves in veggie patch when soil will crumble in your hand
• Plant Lavender, mint and oregano when ground is cool.
• Divide Shasta daisies as shoots appear and fertilize
• Fertilize honeysuckle as new growth appears.
• Prune forsythia and azaleas after flowering
• Shop for roses
• Repot house plants if needed and top dress
• Cut back all hanging basket plants that you wintered over, fertilize and repot if need be
• keep reading and making plans for the days ahead!

Small vessel surrounded by Iris and Daylilies

February: Starting to burst into color

Narcissus about to "pop"

  It is February and the bulbs are starting to "pop" here in North Georgia. The flowers on my camellia bushes are starting to fade, but the forsythia bush will be all yellow soon! I  love the transformation that starts this time of year.  I would love to have one of every spring-flowering bush in my small suburban yard, but it would look chaotic, I'm sure.

Looking at the greenhouse plants 

  Well, here is what I have been doing the past
weeks.  I have been checking on my greenhouse plants and making sure with nice warm days, the plants have enough water and don't "cook".

new starts from last fall's cuttings

 I still turn on the heater at night when it starts to get lower than 45 degrees.  This "green house" is just plastic wrapped around the posts of our upper deck.  This winter, I just had an outdoor rug over the deck, so the plants received water when it rained, but then I had to make sure they didn't drown! In the Fall, I cut stems off of the plants that I wanted to make more of.  I then took the stems, removed the lower leaves and dipped the stems in rooting hormone.  I made a hole with a chopstick in soil of the container and placed the stem in the hole.  The summer annuals stems I gave extra protection by putting them in my plastic container terrariums.  Most everything has roots now, which is so exciting because now I don't have to buy as many plants to fill the pots and beds!

seed tray in terrarium

tomato seedlings

   I still love using the clear containers taped together as a top and bottom for starting my seeds indoors.  This year I put the seed trays in the containers.  They keep moist and warm by my sliding glass door.  I started different varieties of peppers and tomatoes, lettuce and spinach.  In 2 weeks, the tomatoes were up and growing and the peppers soon after. So easy!  When the seedlings have 2 sets of true leaves, then I will carefully transplant to bigger pots.

Pansies, vinca major, daffadils

   So, here are some things to do for February:

• By seeds and potting soil
• Start summer veggies, like tomatoes and peppers to get a good start before the heat sets in
• When crocus bloom, set out lettuce, cabbage, onions, peas.  Cover on cold nights
• Add lime to azaleas
• Start layering hydrangeas for new plants
• Plant fruiting bushes now.
• Pull mulch away from strawberries and let runners fill in.
• Fertilize spring bulbs after flowering
• pinch back pansies when they get long and leggy: will bush out and new flush of flowers

   I found a book, Sunbelt Gardening: Success in Hot-Weather Climates that helped me understand our Southern climate a bit better.  It talked about the effect of nighttime temperatures, that if there is no respite in high temps, the plants can suffer.  That is why we get tomatoes out early in the South.  It also talked about micro-habitats in your yard and suggested plant 3 of a species in different places and see which on thrives, saying there is a difference between preference (performs best) and tolerance (just survives).  Great read!  Also, Small Gardens: Inspired Plantings for Diminutive Spaces by Becke Davis was great inspiration for garden rooms.   So, keep digging and reading!

African daisy overwintering

January- A Month of New Beginnings

Pansies in a pot on back deck

   Well, I guess I "fell off the wagon" in the middle of 2012, when the garden was in the middle of growing and I was working in it!  Sorry to those who kept checking for updates.  But with a New Year, I want to share my journey of what I am reading, learning and doing in my gardens this year.  I hope you will join me.  It is a journey, just like life: circumstances, experiments, some disappointments, but mostly working in faith that things will progress and reaping joy!
  We have had the most mild winter weather for December and January!  It has sent the flowers into confusion!  Shasta Daisies have been trying to bloom and the mums never really killed back!  Some of the early Spring Irises have already bloomed!  So when this cold front comes through, I hope it isn't too damaging.  I have been trimming back things that were trying to grow, hoping that they will be more compact and bushy when true Spring weather comes to stay.  The Narcissus are shooting up and will bloom in a few weeks. Love to see the dots of bright yellow in the yard.

Narcissus sprouting

          Over the months of December and January, I checked out books from my local Library to glean some more wisdom to benefit my Southern garden.  I was inspired by Classic Plant Combinations by David Stuart.  For me, having some ideas to jump off of helps me think about my own combinations.  Another book was The Colors of Provence by Michel Biehn, which inspired me with recipes and drinking in the colors.  I also got some tips from pouring over the Johnny's Seed Catalog and reading up on some new veggies and flowers I might try.

So, here are some January Activities to do this month.

• Now is a good time to order seed for Spring and Summer flowers and veggies
• Layer Forsythia and Hydrangea stems under ground to make roots for new starts
• Prune cool-weather annuals ( dianthus, snapdragons, pansies) and they will put out new flowers in a few weeks.
• Prune summer flowering shrubs ( Butterfly bush, Barberry, Hydrangeas & Crape myrtles)
• Prune and remove above ground portions of perennials,(Shasta Daisies, Canna lilies, mums, Verbena, Lantana) if you haven't already done so.
• Fertilize Spring-flowering bulbs with 20-20-20 fertilizer and Shasta Daisies before they spring up.
• Apply lime (for pinker color) and Epson salts to Hydrangeas
• Plant Asparagus and horseradish, mulch heavily with compost and fertilizer  

HAPPY  PLANNING!