In the Cottage Gardening State of Mind

Cottage gardening is an attitude, not a location.

~Sunset magazine

When I read that sentiment about cottage gardening, I immediately identified with it.  As a busy mom, I tend to just plant the things I love and enjoy and then let the garden do its own thing.

Some describe a cottage garden as artful chaos, another sentiment I like. Chaos I have definitely nailed. Artful?  Well, as they say, art is in the eye of the beholder.  I try to at least keep colors somewhat harmonious.  (Matching colors is an art thing, right?)

'Spanish Eyes' Black-eyed Susan Vine growing on veggie garden fence

For some reason, when I call what I do 'cottage gardening', I feel a little less guilty about my lack of weeding this hot and droughty summer.  Weeds or no weeds, the bees and butterflies still come, which makes me happy.

Monarch butterfly on 'Miss Molly' butterfly bush

My goal is to have all of the garden plants fill in so fully that there isn't any room for the weeds to grow, another inclination right in line with the philosophy of cottage gardening.  (Though I have to admit that in certain areas the dense planting is going a little too well, and I have to keep pruning the cosmos so that visitors can reach the front door.  Cottage gardening bonus: I don't get any door-to-door salesmen!)

the plant gauntlet

There is definitely more weeding and pruning and editing to be done in the garden, which I am starting to do now that the weather has turned cooler.  But more than anything, I'm just enjoying the garden...

...which I think is definitely in line with the cottage gardening state of mind.

bumblebee on native Azure Blue Sage

Happy gardening!

The Bounty of 2015

My first love in the garden is flowers, but over the past few years I've found myself adding more and more edibles to the garden.  Nothing can beat the taste of fruit and veggies just picked from the garden; I actually never liked tomatoes until I grew my first tomato vine a few years ago.  When I tasted that first sun-warmed cherry tomato I knew my mother had been right.  It's true, the store-bought ones don't quite taste the same.

Two years ago we built a nice, big 20x20 fenced veggie garden, and, after some lackluster success, this year we added raised beds.  It took us quite a while to build and fill all those beds, carting free compost from our local dump, so we didn't get most of the veggies in the ground until June, but it was still a great harvest this year.  Raised beds are definitely the way to go in New England!

The final totals (for future posterity and so I have a shot at remembering what all I planted this year)?  Well, between the veggie garden and the Tomato and Pepper plants that were in the greenhouse, we ended up with:

18 pints Tomatillo Salsa (salsa verde)
6 half pints Tomatillo Salsa
several large grocery bags full of Tomatillos to give to friends
Tomatillos coming out of my ears
Tomatillos thrown in the compost because we just couldn't look at another...well, I think you get my drift.

Needless to say, no one should plant three large beds of tomatillos.  Ever.  Unless one wants to go into the Salsa Verde business.

Tomatillos and more tomatillos.  And a couple cucumbers.

The rest of the bounty included:
8 pints Tomato and Ground Cherry Salsa
6 pints Tomato Salsa
4 quarts Arrabbiata pasta sauce

and for random consumption/cooking (and including the most scientific way of measuring for future reference):
Snow peas (oodles)
Ground Cherries (bushels)
Green Beans (lots)
Cucumbers (maybe a dozen, which was too many for us)
Jalapeño peppers (a few handfuls - not totally sure, since Mr. Red House was constantly picking them whenever he could)
Carrots (a good amount)
Horseradish (awaiting processing still)

Ground Cherries and Green Beans from the garden

I like to choose different Tomatoes to grow each year and try.
The Tomatoes of 2015 were:

Amish Paste - a nice Roma type paste tomato

Chocolate Cherry - small dark cherry tomatoes.  Flavor was superb - I don't think hardly any made it into the house, as we just ate them all straight off the vine.

Green Moldovan - a bright, citrusy-tasting green beefsteak tomato

Minibel - small cherry tomatoes that grew on foot high bushes, great for containers.  These plants were incredibly productive and hardy! They just wouldn't die.  Even when I wanted them to.  Because the tomatoes tasted that bad.

variety of tomatoes from the 2015 garden

Of course, there were challenges.  We had a Zucchini crop fail, as my plants were decimated by Squash Vine Borers, Cabbage Worms turned my Bok Choy into Swiss Cheese, and Potato Beetles started into the Tomatillos.  But still, not too bad of a year!  I also started planning for some future fruit harvests, planting patches of Rhubarb, Raspberries, and Strawberries, and several little Blueberry bushes this past summer.

It's been a bountiful 2015, and I hope that this coming year will be just as blessed.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year!  

And, as always, happy gardening!

p.s. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you of the demise of the Red House Garden computer.  It finally groaned to a stop at the end of the year, weighed down by the excessive amount of plant photos.  A new computer has been installed, but connected to an old monitor, and of course with totally different photo editing software.  Thus I can make no promises as to the quality of photos or to my sanity for the immediate future...

Round of Blogger Love

Holy Slugbait, where did summer go?!  We got back from spending a wonderful time at the beach a few days ago, to the delight of my garden - and to the dismay of all the crabgrass that had been having illicit parties in the flower beds.

Thankfully all that crabgrass makes the lawn look green?

I was flattered to find out that, while I was away, I had been nominated for a Liebster Award by Kevin from the amazing blog Nitty Gritty Dirt Man.  I enjoy his garden blog and always learn so much from it and was thrilled to receive a blogging award from him.  Thanks, Kevin!

According with the rules of this blogging award, Kevin gets to ask questions of the bloggers he has nominated, so here they are, along with my answers:

1. What is a favorite garden memory?
My favorite garden memory is when we dug up the (very compacted) area around the mailbox at our last house for a mailbox garden.  I first started out digging by myself with my shovel. Then my two young girls decided bring out their trowels to 'help' me.  Then their little friends across the street decided it looked fun, grabbed their kid shovels, and started digging.  By the end of the morning, almost every the kids in the neighborhood had turned out and were having a great time digging and playing in the dirt around my mailbox.  I returned them probably far dirtier than their mothers would have liked, but boy, did they have a ball - and my garden was nicely dug!

the little mailbox garden, dug by the neighborhood kids

2. What was your biggest gardening disaster?
While I have killed many a plant, usually due to putting the wrong plant in the wrong spot or not amending the soil enough, the disaster that sticks most in my mind is when I planted a hill full of Crocus bulbs one fall.  The next Spring, I was puzzled when only two out of the hundreds of bulbs I had planted came up.  Apparently, that hill was home to a family of voles, who thanked me for feeding them through the winter by making lots of babies.  Of course, all the babies felt so welcome in my garden, they proceeded to settle in other parts of the garden and eat all the roots of my most expensive plants.  It was the disaster that just kept on giving...

3. When you travel, are you someone who sightsees, goes on extreme adventures, or hangs out on the beach with a good book?
When it comes to travel, I like it all (though I don't care for my adventures to be too extreme!)

4. What meals have you tried to re-create from your travels?  (Feel free to include the recipe.)
While I can bake practically anything (and by anything, I mean anything detrimental to my waistline), I'm honestly not a great cook, so no meal re-creation here.  The only thing I've tried to make is Indian coffee, but for some reason it just never tastes quite the same as it did when I was vacationing in India right next to a coffee plantation.

5.  Why did you start blogging?
At the time, I had no friends who gardened.  My poor husband was tired of me talking his ear off about plants, so he oh-so-gently suggested a blog.

6.  What is your personal favorite post that you’ve written (and be sure to add a link)?
I do love my first Mission Impossible Squirrel post.  I'm pretty sure that these type of antics go on in my yard on a regular basis whenever my back is turned.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Since I don't really want to be experimented on by governments, manipulated by powerful syndicates, or spend all my time fighting crime, I'm going to go with none.  I might watch too many sci-fi shows, but if you really think about it, you know it's true...  (Though maybe the government wouldn't find out if I had the ability to eat all the baked goods that I make without it being detrimental to my waistline?)

8.  Of all the movies in all the world, which is the one film you can watch over and over again and why?
The original Star Wars trilogy.  Because those movies are awesome.
(Yes, I'm a nerd.)

9.  What is your favorite quote and who said it?
The quote that has gotten me through many a crisis is 'time to put on your big girl panties'.  Another quote/saying that I love is 'always leave a place in better condition than you found it.'  I don't know who originally said these things, but I attribute both to my mother.

10.  What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I lived in North Pole, Alaska, when I was a kid.  That surprises all the people who hear me complain so much about the snow up here, but in my defense, that was several decades ago, and I wasn't the one shoveling back when.

11.   If you could redesign your life, what would you choose to do?
I would never actually wish to redesign my life, as it brought me to where I am now.  If I had to pick, though, I think it would have been fun to get a degree in horticulture.  And if I had a redo, I would probably work on being a little less socially awkward growing up.  But wouldn't we all?

We're all a little special around here.

Now I would like to share a little of the blogger love.  While there are so many blogs I enjoy and read for various reasons (see the list I have on the right hand margin for some great garden blogs), there are several that I appreciate due to the more quirky sense of humor of their authors.  When the gardening chips are down, here are some blogs that stay upbeat and might give you a chuckle as well.

Casa Mariposa

East Side Patch

Southern Rural Route

Tidy Gardens by Jane

I hope everyone is enjoying the late days of summer!

As always, happy gardening!

The Wait

The calendar says we are in Spring now, even though it is snowing outside.  It snowed on the first day of Spring as well, ironically.  I think Winter has decided not to go without a fight.

But thankfully Spring has insisted on a few days of her own.  Cold days now alternate with warmer ones, the snow is slowly receding, and, lo and behold, green things are starting to push their way up.

Snowdrops transplanted from a friend's garden into mine (and nearly accidentally dug back up several times) hold budding flowers.  Being planted next to the house brings them into an extra microclimate of warmth.  I never thought I should care so much for white flowers after such a white winter, but I can't help but be excited at the thought of blooms in any color after so many months.

Even with the wintery days, gardeners' faith in a returning Spring is demonstrated in the planting of seeds.  Here at the Red House Garden, we've opened the new greenhouse back up, installed grow lights, and plugged the space heater back in.  It is now an interesting challenge to keep my seedlings from freezing during the night and cooking during sunny afternoons.

Jalapeño pepper seedlings

During a few of the wintery weeks, I winter sowed about twenty different kinds of perennial seeds.  Groups of milk jugs are scattered around my backyard, full of seeds waiting for the right time to germinate.

Hopefully it won't be too long, now.

spring shoots of a Clematis that was overwintered in the greenhouse

Happy Spring to those of you whose gardens have already come to life.

And happy dreams of Spring to those gardeners who, like me, still lie in wait.

Obstacles and Perseverance

Great works are performed not by strength,
but by perseverance.
~Samuel Johnson

I recently looked at some photos of some impressive trees in downtown Boston that I had taken last winter.  I hadn't taken the photos because the trees were impressive in size or in beauty.  They were, however, notable in their tenacity to keep growing despite their harsh environment.

Being next to a busy street and sidewalk was not the ideal situation for the trees.  Litter piled around the roots, something or someone had broken half of its branches, and the trees were stuck in a tiny strip between the sidewalk and a chain link fence.  The fence was obviously an impediment for the trees, as they struggled to stretch towards the sunlight.

But the trees, in their monumental effort to grow towards the sun, actually grew through the fence, enveloping the metal links in their very wood.

Honestly, looking at how all of the branches had been broken off on this side of the fence, the tree was probably safer growing into the other side of the fence.  The other side of the fence promised more sun and safety. This is one case where the grass was actually greener on the other side of the fence, and the tree knew it.

To overcome their obstacle and achieve their goal, the trees must have had to start out slowly.

Each day they needed to reach for the sunlight, growing just a little bit closer, melding and inching slowly into the fence, 

persevering over the days and weeks and even years...

...until finally making it to the other side.

Looks almost like Nature is demonstrating some sort of lesson, doesn't it?

Common Milkweed

With the great migration of Monarch butterflies in serious danger of becoming extinct, I knew I needed to have milkweed in my new garden.  I started seeds, ordered seedlings, and ended up with a few dozen milkweed plants clustered around the garden.   Apparently I didn't need to worry so much about planting milkweed - while exploring the back wild edge of our property, I found that Mother Nature had beaten me to the punch!

cluster of milkweed flowers, starting to bloom

I found an entire stand of Asclepias syriaca, otherwise known as Common Milkweed, in my back yard.

The pollinators were in love.

I'm just going to lie here and drink some nectar...

I had never smelled Common Milkweed flowers before.  Beautifully fragrant, they smell like lilacs to me.

The nickname of Common Milkweed shows how plentiful it used to be.  This plant was considered a terribly fast-growing, hard-to-control weed by farmers (and still is, oftentimes).  

One of the few herbicides that works on it is glyphosate (known often under the brand Roundup), which one of the reasons why Roundup-ready crops were so welcome by farmers.  Finally this weed and many others could be easily gotten rid of with what (at the time) seemed like minimal impact on the environment...

In 1996, 3% of corn and 7.4% of soybeans grown in the US were herbicide-tolerant.  By 2013, 85% of corn and 93% of soybeans were herbicide-tolerant, much of it grown in the Midwest, the corridor of Monarch migration.  Of course, the increase in herbicides led to a sharp decline of milkweed...

...which led to a sharp decline in the population of Monarch butterflies.  I'm sure other wildlife populations are affected, as well (and we won't even go into the evolution of Roundup-resistant weeds that are now spreading.)

Skipper butterfly on Milkweed

It is interesting how many plants we think of as weeds, really turn out to be important in the ecosystem.

A noxious weed to farmers that invades their crops and can affect their livelihood?  A necessary plant to survival for a butterfly?  It is hard to strike balance when talking about this one small but impactful plant, but it certainly can't be healthy to lose such large numbers of wildlife.

So I will do a little gardener's dance at the fact that I have Common Milkweed weeding it up in the back yard and plant a few more milkweed seedlings in the front.  I haven't seen any Monarchs yet..

...but I want to be ready for them and any other native wildlife that might need a helping hand.

Where Have All the Bees Gone?

In my last garden, I remember stepping out into my backyard and hearing a hum rising up from all the bees enjoying the clover and other flowers.

honeybee on clover

Two years later, I now have a new garden and a nice big patch of clover, but...

where are all the bees?

are the bees hiding from me?

Oh yes, if I search I can find a few bees..

Bumble bee on salvia

But it is worrisome.  

Is it because so many bees died off after the hard winter?

Am I seeing the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder?

Or is it because my garden isn't as established yet and hasn't been 'discovered'?

a tiny sweat bee, covered in pollen

There seem to be a lot of factors affecting bee numbers.  It is a perfect storm for bees and other pollinators out there - pesticides, pathogens, parasites, loss of habitat, and a harsh winter on top of that.

label on a bottle of Tree & Shrub 'Protect & Feed' granules
Imidacloprid and Clothianidin are Neonicotinoids, pesticides that absorbed into the plant and are suspected of being harmful to bees

In good news, though, the topic has been getting so much attention that pressure is being put on law makers.  Last week, during National Pollinator Week, the White House announced a Presidential Memorandum to address the loss of bees, monarchs, and other pollinators.  The memorandum established a task force to look into the problem and come up with a plan.  It also ordered pollinator-friendly practices to be put into effect on federal lands in order to build up habitat.

Bumble bee on holly

Well, we all know government, so we'll see how effective this will be, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

miner bee on clover

As my rather empty patch of clover knows,
the pollinators need all the help they can get!