Visiting New York Hostas

My sister-in-law's visiting New York hostas have established themselves well in my garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Visiting New York Hostas

I was talking to family and heard my sister-in-law say she missed seeing her New York hostas. I can understand why. These used to grace crape myrtle trees in her front yard in Virginia, the varigated leaves a nice contrast against the grey crape myrtle trunks.

Variegated hostas have white, cream or yellow in their leaves that may look like solid patterns, blotches or stripes. ‘Marginate’ variegation is when variegation occurs on the margin of the hosta’s leaves. ‘Medio variegation’ is when variegation is in the center of the hosta’s leaves.

According to the American Hosta Society members' rankings, in 2008 variegated hostas made up 8 of the top 10 and 17 of the top 25 hostas. 

Turns out the varigated hostas with white centers can be touchy to grow. Without enough sunlight, white-centered hostas lack chlorophyll in the main portion of the leaf. In more sun, the green portion of the leaf can often produce the extra food needed for the hosta to thrive.

Some white variegation hostas can tolerate full sun without burning. Generally, a hosta with thicker leaves can tolerate more intense light.  White variegated hostas with thin leaves should be restricted to partial shade, bright shade, or early morning or evening sun to look their best. Direct sun exposure is often too intense for the white variegated hostas and may cause them to burn or turn brown, which isn’t harmful but can certainly make the plant unsightly. 

I don't have all of them, I just hand-carried a dozen or so home when I flew back from a short visit. I also had daffodil bulbs and some crape myrtle starts in hand but the hostas travelled in my carry-on, their leaves waving in the airport as I hopped the flights.

When I first planted them in a shady part of my garden, they were bedraggled and looking a bit tired, somewhat akin to being munched on by deer. Deer love to eat hostas so I would not have been surprised to see my visitors nibbled on. So far only rabbits have made a little visit to the flower bed.

Here they are now, looking brand new and quite happy on their little Missouri vacation!

The varigated leaves add a lot of interest to these visiting New York hostas. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

They will remain in this lovely shady flower bed until my sister-in-law wants them back. I will only be too glad to personally deliver them!

Charlotte

Where to Find Missouri Gardener Magazine

Missouri Gardener Magazine now available at Walmart Garden Center check out. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins at Rolla, MO store.)

Where to Find Missouri Gardener Magazine

Every time a garden feature I've written is published in Missouri Gardener Magazine, I try to find at least one outlet where the story subject can find copies of the magazine. It was easier said that done.

For many years, the only local source for this wonderful gardening magazine was local book stores. 

Now the bi-monthly glossy magazine is available through Walmart stores in their garden center section. I stumbled upon this development as I was checking out in my regular haunt, our local garden center. There on the check out counter, taking up space for where I was placing my sale plants was a pile of the magazines.

When I queried the clerk, she said she was told the chain is now carrying the magazine, a wonderful development for gardeners looking for Missouri and regional-specific gardening information.

In addition to interesting garden features, the magazine has regional updates from University of Missouri Extension horticultural experts, something we no longer can easily access since those positions are no longer available at the county level. Although books by gardeners like Jerry Berry are interesting - he was the master gardener who made a name for himself concocting gardening mixtures from beer mixed in with other kitchen products - the advice in this magazine is more reliable.

If you don't want to buy individual magazines, you can also subscribe to have it mailed to you, an annual subscription is $19.95 per year. No, I don't get a cut on the subscriptions, I'm happy to be associated with a gardening magazine that provides good advice and pertinent information.

These were the events for fall 2017, what do you know is scheduled for this fall? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

You don't see me listed?

Leaf back to the back, every issue features a calendar of upcoming gardening events that I collect and edit, it's a great way to get a sneak peek at what is coming up. I'm collecting September-October 2018 events so if you have something to share, email me by May 25. Thanks!

Charlotte

May Gardening Chores

f you want more daffodils, don’t cut off the fading flowers, the green round heads are full of seeds that will scatter and form more daffodil bulbs. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

May Gardening Chores

How does it feel to have lived through Missouri’s coldest spring in recorded history going back to 1893, this past spring? Or maybe I should say this attempt at spring still or whenever it finally arrives.

I had mixed feelings wondering what this meant in terms of forage for my honeybees and what gardening chores I would have to double-up on in May on my limestone hillside garden in USDA Hardiness zone 5B.

The good news is that the soil should finally be warming up enough this month for seeds to sprout, even if some crops like corn and wheat may be a few weeks behind their usual growing schedule. Where I live in mid-Missouri, the last frost date is usually Mother’s Day, which this year is May 13.

If your spring crops didn’t make it, try again; there still should be time for at least one sowing of lettuce, spinach and radish seeds.

There is always a good time to plant onions, I grow several crops throughout the growing season. Onion sets planted around roses make good bug deterrents and are fun to harvest as long as you remember to leave a couple on bug patrol.

Give tree seedlings a long drink of water before planting into their permanent garden location. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The forecast is that we will have a wet May so take the opportunity to get tree seedlings planted. This is also a good time to divide and move perennials. Be careful of disturbing newly emerging, self-sowing annuals, learn to distinguish the sprouts of bachelor buttons and other carefree annuals so you don’t disturb them.

Mark daffodils you want to dig up and move later this fall.

As daffodils and tulips continue to fade, don’t mow the leaves down with the lawn mower until they turn yellow or the bulbs will gradually become smaller and you will not have any more blooms next spring. Leave the leaves so the bulbs can recharge.

See ants on your blooming peonies? Gently shake them off if you want to bring cut flowers inside, otherwise leave them alone. The ants help the flower buds open.

If you don’t compost, this is a good month to start. Place a small grocery bag in your freezer and add kitchen scraps. When full, take outside and bury in a garden corner. As you get into the habit of saving kitchen scraps, it will be easier to then make your own compost area or buy one, then start adding leaves and grass clippings to the kitchen scraps, some water, and mix. After a few weeks, you will have black compost ready to add to your flowerbeds.

Summer plants started inside in containers can start to spend a few hours a day outside on warm, sunny days before you transplant them into your outside garden.

Shop for natives to add for mid to late summer flowers. Good choices include Purple Coneflowers, Black eyed Susan, Salvias and any plants with low water requirements.

If you don’t have grass planted, plant clover instead. If you do, consider how to minimize the golf course-look greenery and add more varieties of blooming flowers through the growing season.

Did I mention take time to enjoy the beauty of the May flowers like iris, peonies and roses??

Charlotte

Good Garden Visitors

Opossums are good garden visitors, they keep ticks and snake populations in check.

Good Garden Visitors

As spring pops up, it’s time to welcome good garden visitors and set aside pesticides and insecticides. Although I understand those are used because they are conveniently available, most home gardeners do more harm than good. Let’s look at more environmentally friendly, and less costly, alternatives:

Birdhouses. Besides being fun to make and even more fun to add to a garden, birdhouses provide shelter to a variety of attractive garden visitors. Some birds feed larvae and caterpillars to their young and by doing so provide bug control. These homes are also good shelters for paper wasps, which are good pollinators for fruit trees. Having alternative housing also keeps paper wasps away from your house doors and windows.

Birdbaths. Add rocks and sticks to provide safe landing spots for small insects and keep the areas filled with water, especially when there are dry periods.

Provide other water areas with shallow dishes, pebble areas and sand for butterflies and other smaller insects. All living creatures need water.

Toad houses. Use old broken ceramic pots turned upside down as long as there is a space underneath that creates a cool spot for a toad to sit in. Toads like cool, damp spots and will eat more than their share of destructive insects.

Hover flies are 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch long with black and yellow stripes. Some people call hover flies sweat bees since the flies enjoy a little tasty drink of sweat periodically. However, hover flies don't sting and actually can't sting even if they had the urge. Hover fly young are ravenous predators of garden pests such as aphids, thrips and small caterpillars. The adult hover flies do not eat other insects but feed on nectar and pollen

Rehabilitate well-used bird houses by adding new holes and wire to be able to rehang them.

Plant a variety of flowers. Many predators and parasites feed on pollen and nectar or use flowers to supplement their food supply if they run low on pests. To attract the good bugs, also called beneficial bugs, add plants in the carrot family and mustard family. Use plenty of plants with small flowers such as sweet alyssum, dill, fennel, garlic chives, coriander, cilantro and white lace flower, cultivated version of Queen Anne's Lace. Other popular plants for good bugs include: blanket flower, coneflower, coreopsis, cosmos, tansy, yarrow, goldenrod, sunflowers, yellow alyssum, sweet clover, buckwheat and hairy vetch. Let a few of the broccoli plants go to flower.

Plan a season of bloom. Gardeners enjoy having flowers all season as much as the beneficial insects.

Include some permanent hardscapes such as stone paths and decorative rock. These attract lizards, part of nature’s garbage patrol. Lizards consume dead insects.

Don’t be too rushed to escort that opossum off your property. Opossums eat fruits, snakes, insects, snails, slugs, eggs, mice, rats, fish, frogs, crayfish, and carrion. They are immune to Missouri venomous snakes and, through grooming, get rid of a lot of ticks. They are also nocturnal so if you don't want to cross paths, start taking your garbage out first thing in the morning.

Charlotte

What Do You Call These?

Snow bells blooming at the front entrance of my house at Bluebird Gardens.

What Do You Call These?

Of all of the spring bulbs blooming in my garden, I have to confess I love finding these. They are not the most dramatic, or even the prettiest, but their hanging white flower heads that look like tiny white bells have an air of enchantment about them. I imagine the garden fairies are nearby, playing among the green leaves. I have always called them "snow bells."

Since posting a couple of pictures of them in bloom, friends have suggested these have a different name. They grew up calling these "snow drops." For me, snow drops are the low to the ground, also white blooming bulbs that also bloom in spring but have a different flower shape. 

Snowdrops are much shorter than snowbells but share the same flower color. 

Snowdrops do look like they could be cousins to snowbells, don't they. Look how they share the same light green dashes at the edges of the flower petals.

In doing a quick search for the flower pictures, I found these are also called "summer snowflakes," which seems a sweet whimsical name. Leucojum aestivum also is referred to as "dewdrop" another wonderful descriptive word for the way the white, bell-shaped flowers droop. 

Another angle of the "dewdrops" in bloom in the front flower bed.

I suppose at this point there is no harm in adding yet another name so - what would you call these charming white flowers if you could name them?

Charlotte

 

April Gardening Chores

Eastern redbuds welcome April with their lovely pink haze of flowers surrounding my house.

April Gardening Chores

My garden is starting to get serious about growing this month. It’s time to try to keep up:

1.    Clean out composters and add to flower beds and fruit trees. Mix with existing soil for now; you will mulch this later. Leave a good bucket of finished compost as starter for the next compost batch and start adding leaves, grass clippings if you have them, kitchen scraps and water. Don’t forget to mix.

2.    Prune lilacs immediately after they bloom. If you wait until later in the season, you will be cutting off next year’s blooms.

3.    Continue to sow lettuce, spinach and radish seeds every 10 days or so for fresh spring salads in your round foot garden. I would call it my pot garden but that leads you to believe I am growing something completely different. Call it your garden in pots, if you prefer.

4.    If you like to grow peas, this is the last month to plant sugar snap peas and snow peas, they prefer cooler weather conditions. To keep their roots happy, mulch with cardboard to keep them cool, then add a layer of wood chips.

Daffodils in bloom around the corner from the front of my house at Bluebird Gardens.

5.    As daffodils and tulips continue to grow and bloom, sprinkle compost around them to keep the bulbs well fed. As the flowers fade, remove them by snipping off the flower heads. Leave the greenery until it turns yellow; the green leaves help the bulbs store energy for next season’s blooms. Don’t mow the leaves down with the lawn mower until they turn yellow or the bulbs will gradually become smaller and you will not have any more blooms next spring.

6.    If you have a vegetable garden area, this is a good time to add cardboard to kill off any growth prior to summer planting. Don’t till it, the prevailing thought now is that tilling damages the soil ecosystem. Kill the plants you don’t want, make holes to plant the ones you do, or make trenches to plant seeds, and cover. Easy peasy. Who doesn’t like easy gardening??

7.    Start your summer plants inside in containers you can transplant outside later; tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini.

8.    Don’t forget companion plants to reduce crop damage; basil is a good bug deterrent for a lot of plants.

9.    Plant for pollinators as well. I love zinnias and so do butterflies and bees. Native plants such as New England Asters, yarrow and purple coneflowers are good choices for pollinators because they have long blooming seasons. For another good annual, try sunflower seeds. Birds will love the seeds in the fall.

10.  Enjoy the beauty of Missouri’s native trees, these usually bloom this month, redbuds and dogwoods. Better yet, plant a few more native trees along with compact dwarf fruit trees. Although planting native flowers is still good for pollinators, trees provide better, and more reliable, pollen sources for bees. The smaller fruit trees are good pollen sources as well and, when pollinated by bees, will also give you easily accessible fruit to pick. That’s what I call a win-win!

Charlotte

Garden Ornaments Add Interest to Bird Baths

Garden ornaments add interest to bird baths in my garden.

Garden Ornaments Add Interest to Bird Baths

Here's a quick way to turn a mundane cement bird bath into a unique garden focal point; add a favorite garden ornament. Or two.

Now it's not as simple as I make it sound. Finding this little squirrel holding a pinecone took months to find, in part because I could never quite find the place where these were made open when I was driving by. When I finally did, they were out of the more natural wildlife ornaments so I waited to go back in a couple of months.

Good thing because on that same day, I also found the larger than life acorn. Years ago, a very young squirrel I nicknamed "Balboa" ended up in my den. I had left the door open so my cats could go out on the porch and Balboa had decided to take a peek inside. On the coffee table was a small bowl of unshelled peanuts, leftovers from the night before.

By the time I heard the crunching sounds from the den, Balboa had started his own party and was throwing shells all over the room, totally disregarding the disdainful looks from my matronly cat Margaret sitting on the nearby sofa. If Margaret is anything, fastidious is her middle name.

Balboa had several other adventures as a youngster under Margaret's watchful eye so the giant acorn is a tribute to his first discovery of those den peanuts which must have seemed huge to a pup of a squirrel.

The squirrel statue itself is charming but adding it to the bird bath adds a nice touch to that part of the garden and quickly makes it a focal point. I added the real tree twigs to give my bees a safe place to land when they visit to get water.

The giant acorn is sitting on a rock that will soon be covered by nearby greenery. That way the acorn won't be lost when other garden sampler plants grow up around it.

This charming frog keeps another bird bath company in front of my living room window where more bees visit him every day.

And the best part?

You can easily customize any bird bath with a garden ornament, making each one into your very own unique story with very little effort. Assuming you can find the right ornament to add to the bird bath!

Charlotte

Round Foot Gardening

The beginning of my deck garden at Bluebird Gardens.

Round Foot Gardening

You have heard of square foot gardening, the practice of dividing up a garden plot into squares and carefully planting each square with a desired crop?

This is round foot gardening, what I used to call pot gardening but because that leads one to think of Colorado and that one is planting marijuana, let’s just be a little more square about it all. Most of my pots full of soil are at least one foot around and no one I know has a foot that looks like a circle so I think we should all be good with this new terminology.

I have been planting basic herbs and vegetables in round pots on my deck now for several years; enough years that I prefer it to trying to tend a full garden. I keep telling you, I am basically a lazy gardener. I like this option because the pots are easily accessible from my kitchen. I can also see them out my dining room windows, just in case I have forgotten a garnish or some other last minute fresh ingredient I need to add, and my squirrels look at least guilty as they sneak by stealing a cherry tomato.

Some basic gardening principles from full gardens apply here as well:

1.    Don’t plant the same crops in the same pots more than 2 years in a row so make a note and rotate. I cheat: I take photos and date them to remind myself of what I planted when and in what pot. I also use certain sticks and stakes, moving those around from year to year.

2.    Be kind to your soil. Don’t let it dry out. Keep it healthy by adding compost, mulching, keeping it watered and planted with something when you are not growing something you want to eat.

3.    If weeds grow and you haven’t planted anything else, leave the weeds. Volunteer cover crops are welcome and will keep the soil nourished in between your plantings.

4.    Frost free dates are the same. Although Mother’s Day is our traditional USDA Zone 5b date, we may be mid-April this year. If you can’t wait and get an early start, make sure you have something to protect your outside crops on those nights when temperatures dip. Other pots, plastic, even old winter coats will work to give your tender greens a little protection.

5.    Water daily. To make sure my plant roots are kept moist, I add plastic bottles with holes buried into each pot and use them to keep pots well hydrated.

6.    Add crushed soda cans, old packing peanuts, broken terra cotta pieces to pot bottoms to help lighten the weight. Keeping the bottom lose also helps water to filter through more easily.

7.    Mix vegetables with flowers to make pretty arrangements. Many herbs are edible so mix vegetables with flowers for pretty arrangements. Add violets and basil to a pot with a tomato.

Plastic bottle with holes buried in pot helps keep soil moist. Red onion is liberated from crisper.

8.    Go to your refrigerator and clean out your crisper of sprouting onions, potatoes, celery and carrots and you are well on your way.

9. Don't forget to dream about your garden, even one in small pots!

Charlotte

How To Add Planting Spaces

If you garden in the Ozarks, you know our biggest crop is rocks. But if you want to grow something else, you need soil.

One of the ways to make rocks work for you is to use them as garden borders. The rocks will hold in soil, fallen leaves and mulch as well as slow down rain water, which eventually will all turn into soil.

In addition, you can use the rocks to soften soil areas for planting. This won't happen overnight but it will make planting a little easier later.

This is one of my garden spots with rocks as borders:

These rocks have been a flower border for a couple of years holding in soil, mulch and moisture.

After some time, rocks will kill grass, weeds and other unwanted plants and you can easily move them to expand a flower bed. The remaining holes will be perfect for planting, especially if you add soil and mulch.

Rocks used as borders help break down soil for easier planting.

Another view of a flower bed I expanded by moving out the border rocks.

To help rocks form the planting areas, dig a trench to initially put them in and remember to use gardening gloves when moving rocks, they can damage your hands. You also want to have a good grip on the rocks or they may roll where you don't want them to go.

How do you use rocks in your garden?

Charlotte

Last of Seven Gardening Mistakes - Pesticide Over Use

Homemade insecticide with dishwashing or antibacterial soap and water in a spray bottle.

Pesticides are a leading culprit of bee and other pollinators declining. Most of the overuse is by well-meaning home gardeners who may not realize the pursuit of garden perfection is at the cost of links in our ecosystem.

Easy Bug Repellent

Beekeepers use a few drops of dishwashing, or antibacterial, liquid in a spray bottle for most unwanted bugs. Spray again after a rain. If you want to ramp it up, add a few drops of hot sauce. Use glove when applying.

Know Your Bugs

Those caterpillars on milkweed are Monarch butterflies so get to know what are good and bad bugs. Ladybugs, praying mantis and parasitic wasps are all good friends in the garden.

Use Your Hands

Hand-picking bugs off plants also works well. Wear gloves if you don’t want to touch them and enjoy the time you get to spend outdoors doing it.

Companion Planting

Companion planting is another technique that works well to reduce bugs in your garden. Some plants are a natural bug deterrent such as marigolds, and basil.

Hang Bird Houses

Birds are bug eaters so add a few bird houses to your property to encourage birds to nest and patrol your property.

Charlotte

Six of Seven Gardening Mistakes - Rotate Crops

My new Bluebird Gardens strawberry bed refreshed with compost and new plants.

Lost any strawberry beds? I did last winter, and it was a mild one. My best guess is that the soil was tired and could not support the plants, which are heavy feeders.

Why Rotate Crops?

Rotating crops breaks lifecycles. Many fungal blights, rusts and spots are host specific. Their spores remain in the soil and affect the next batch of plants. Most caterpillars, beetles and borers and some nematodes also show a definite preference for certain plants or plant groups. Their eggs and larvae are in the soil awaiting their host plants.

Rotate Every Third Year

Another reason why crop rotation is important is that different plants have different nutritional requirements. A simple rule of thumb is plant the same crop only two years in a row.

Last but not least, one of the biggest mistakes home gardeners make in their gardens.

Charlotte

Five of Seven Gardening Mistakes - Compatible Plants

Yellow onion sets planted next to roses help keep my Bluebird Gardens roses bug-free.

In this seven-part series, I am going over the biggest mistakes I see gardeners make and how to address them. I have made far more mistakes but these are the main ones I see repeated in questions readers of my weekly gardening column "Gardening to Distraction" email or call me about.

Plants That Get Along

This one is not so much a mistake as a missed opportunity for natural pest control and bigger yields. It's called "Companion Planting."

According to Amazon's book description: "Plant parsley and asparagus together and you'll have more of each, but keep broccoli and tomato plants far apart if you want them to thrive. This classic companion-gardening guide outlines the keys to creating a harmoniously varied and bountiful garden. Utilize the natural properties of plants to nourish the soil, repel pests, and secure a greater harvest. With plenty of insightful advice and suggestions for planting schemes, Louise Riotte will inspire you to turn your garden into a naturally nurturing ecosystem."

Three Sisters

The "three sisters" planting concept is the same thing, some plants are more compatible than others. I plant onions around my roses to keep bugs off the roses and to more easily find onions when I need them. I guess I could also eat my roses but I prefer them in flower vases!

Charlotte

Four of Seven Gardening Mistakes, Plant Bare Root Plants

Rooted elderberry starts getting potted before being planted straight into the ground.

There are many gardening mistakes; I have made most, if not all, of them. When I dream about my garden, I don't necessarily think about these mistakes but they do determine whether my garden turns out the way I imagined it. In this series, I am highlighting the seven gardening mistakes I hear from friends and readers of my weekly gardening column "Gardening to Distraction."

Planting Bare Roots Requires Perfecting Planting Conditions

We have all done it, ordered bare root plants and stuck them immediately in the garden. It can work if the conditions are just right; soil is moist, roots have been hydrated, temperatures are warm and these conditions continue for several weeks until the roots establish themselves. 

Most of the time, however, those perfect conditions are not available for the needed length of time.

Plant Bare Roots First in Pots

To make sure bare root plants get a good start, plant them in potting soil in pots. You can recycle pots after washing, or make pots out of common household items that are clean.

Make sure they get regular watering and are growing in conditions that will help them succeed, such as protection from wind and hot sun. Even sunny plant seedlings need a little cover until they get used to the conditions.

It does take a little more time but it's well worth the effort.

Charlotte

Second of Seven Gardening Mistakes - How to Water

A two-gallon watering can and $20 watering wand are essential garden watering tools.

We all make them, or develop them. Habits that stand in the way of being successful gardening. This is the second of seven gardening mistakes I certainly have made and share to remind both of us to stay away from perpetuating them.

Forgetting to Water or Shallow Watering

Either one of these are guaranteed to kill off plants. Soil needs water to keep resident bacteria and microorganisms alive and healthy. That miniscule ecosystem is what feeds plant roots so without water, the ecosystem dies and there are no nutrients to feed plant roots.

Although I have killed off my fair share of plants by forgetting to water, I now water as I plant. I carry a watering can whenever I am planting so I don’t forget or get distracted and then forget to go back.

Deep Watering Better Than Sprinklers

It is also better to water deeply with an in-ground watering wand than a sprinkler, especially when temperatures are 100F and higher. The tops of plants may die off in those temperatures but if watered, roots will survive and come back next year.

I watched a lady sitting next to her above ground sprinkler last summer. The water evaporated by the time it reached the highest point in the arch so it wasn't doing anything but giving her a cool mist. Maybe that's what she wanted but it wasn't helping her plants.

Invest in a watering wand and water deeply. They run about $20 and are the best investment in terms of water management. Not only will you have to water less frequently but your plants will have a higher survival rate.

Next, a basic practice critical to successful gardening. Do you have a favorite?

Charlotte

First of Seven Gardening Mistakes - Good Soil

Trying to scrimp on good soil is one of the most common, and deadly, gardening mistakes. Start with good soil, it will make all of the difference!

Over winter, I lost my strawberry bed. I don’t have a clue what happened but a friend said he also lost his strawberries so we are comparing notes to see if we can figure out what happened.

There are other gardening mistakes that are easier to fix. As we all jump into full-time gardening, here is a reminder of seven basic gardening mistakes:

Planting in Poor Soil

Tempting to use that old bag of soil in the garage but the millions of microorganisms that feed plants are dead.

Don’t try to sneak a shovel-full of soil out of the backyard, either, that usually turns to concrete after a couple of months in a pot.

Bottom line is soil has to be healthy and rich for good growing conditions. Start with fresh soil that has been amended and is ready for use. If you know how to mix your own, even better but most people don't want to be bothered, or don't know how. It's easier to buy a bag of ready made to start, then you will be encouraged to do more soil work.

Compost Needs Time

Don’t add compost one week and plant the next, it will take a good six months for compost to get incorporated. If you start now, you should have excellent soil for fall planting.

Coming up next, another basic gardening practice that one has to follow to be successful.

Charlotte

Keeping Cut Lilacs Fresh

Old-fashioned lilacs are a spring favorite but they don't always cooperate in a vase.

Whether they are hybrids or the old-fashioned variety, lilacs grow on thick, sturdy stems that need a little help. Some recommend hammering the cut end so water can more easily keep the stems hydrated. I have tried but I managed to smash my fingers more than the stems.

As an alternative, I cut the end off with scissors every couple of days. Sometimes I cut straight across, other times I have angled the cut. Not sure it made much of a difference in term of direction but cutting the stems did rehydrate lilac stems I would have otherwise composted.

Once refreshed, it will take a short time for the lilacs to plump right back up.

A sprig of old-fashioned lilacs keep a sprig of geraniums company on my den's coffee table.

So pretty!

Charlotte

Dug Up Daffodils Still Bloom

One of the new daffodil additions to my spring garden dug up from another garden site.

Of all of my spring garden flowers, daffodils are definitely a favorite. And not by design. 

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be given permission to dig up old gardens and bring those plants to my one acre hillside. I have a range of plants that grow in the different seasons but I surmise I have the most daffodil varieties.

I started with the small, old-fashioned bulbs that represent spring to me. They soon get over-shadowed by the larger, hybrid varieties but no fancy bulb can take away their special place as the harbingers of spring.

After some experience digging up daffodil bulbs, I started to bring home bulbs I couldn't identify until they bloomed. I kept the bulb clumps together - most of the time- so they could be replanted.

My latest daffodil haul without blooms has decided to surprise me. I picked one of the buds and placed it in water with my other cut daffodils. It is a variety I don't have, a long, orange nosed-daffodil with a white ruffle.

Can't wait to see what other colors and varieties of daffodils I may soon have blooming. Isn't spring grand?

Charlotte

Digging Up Daffodils

Some of the daffodils dug up from a neighbor's house. My friend Tom has the other half.

Gardening friends have told me over the years it's not possible to dig up daffodils to replant. I enthusiastically beg to differ. With the help of a number of pairs of good gardening gloves, I have done so several times in my gardening lifetime, leaving my one-acre hill side garden a spring "Daffodil-land" according to one of my neighbors.

Best Time to Dig Up Daffodils

Although I prefer to dig up daffodil bulbs after they have bloomed, I won't pass up a batch if they still have flowers. It helps to know what the bulbs are as I re-plant them.

How to Keep Bulb Varieties Together

When no flowers are in bloom, I wrap twine or a vine around the bundle of bulbs so at least I know that grouping is the same variety.

Bulb bundles with loose bulbs go into plastic bags so I can keep the whole grouping together. Nice way to recycle those bags, too.

Transplant Whole Soil Clump

If the soil is soft enough, I dig up the whole clump to separate later. Some of those bulbs still in a soil clump will continue to bloom once moved, especially if they are planted right before a slow spring rain.

It may take one season for the bulbs to settle before they bloom again but they are well worth the wait.

Charlotte

Fashionably Fending Off a Spring Freeze

My compact fruit trees covered with bags, blankets and towels against a hard freeze.

The weather forecaster March 24, 2016 was emphatic. As we were enjoying the early warm, sun-blessed spring days of 2016, he predicted there was going to be a hard freeze. Flowering trees were bound to be damaged, he warned, unless "precautions were taken."

Most freeze-managing advice is for commercial farmers; run sprinklers all night to keep the frost at bay seems to be the most popular solution. As a home gardener on the side of a Missouri limestone hill, with fruit trees scattered throughout my one acre, spraying is not a viable option.

Instead, I started by digging out old empty corn sacks and tied them over my flowering compact dwarf fruit trees. When I ran out of those, I plundered my collection of lightweight beach towels and blankets.

A beach towel keeps a flowering fruit tree covered against a spring frost.

Towels are tricky to use because they can be heavy when draped over small trees. I tried to match the towel cover over branches that could handle the weight in a wind.

When I ran out of towels, I went through my closet and pulled out my spring jackets.

I used some of my lightweight jackets to cover flowering fruit trees to protect them from frost.

Frost notwithstanding, I do think I have the best-dressed fruit trees in the neighborhood!

Charlotte

First Lettuce

There are a number of ways people mark the arrival of spring. Purple crocus; yellow daffodils in bloom; maybe a favorite tree blooming. In my world, it's lettuce.

In addition to a dedicated vegetable garden spot, I keep a series of pots on my back deck where I can easily access herbs and greens. Sometimes the potted garden grows faster. It's on the equivalent of a second deck surrounded on three sides by glass. It also faces west so the soil warms up faster than the vegetable garden.

To get an early start on vegetables and herbs, I usually have a pot share lettuce seeds on one side and an herb on the other. I use shards from broken pots to set up growing guides. This year, lettuce is sharing space with sweet basil.

When I harvest my first greens for a salad marks the official beginning of spring for me.

It's a healthy, delicious and easy way to start!

Charlotte