gardening – Page 2 – simple urban living

February in my PNW Garden

Published on February 27, 2024April 13, 2024 by PrarthanaLeave a comment

We rolled into February with hope for warmer weather and a pile of gardening chores. But first, it was so exciting to see the Iris Reticulata start to bloom as soon as the new month began!

Hellebore blooms are still going strong! Its amazing how long these lasts. I already cleaned up the older leaves, and the flowers look much better now – but still not as “flashy” as I would like. A little confession – though I appreciate the early blooms and the long lasting flowers, I am not sure that I love the hellebores too much. They remain very close to the ground and seem to disappear into the surroundings unless I peer close to them – even though I have 4 of them in my backyard. . They are expensive plants, so planting en masse is not an option for a thrifty gardener like me. I am on the look out for a very early blooming, deep shade plant that will lift the winter spirit.

The crocuses have started blooming too! These are very attractive to rabbits, so I truly treasure the few that manages to bloom in the garden. The ones that I planted in pots are strangely still not blooming. There are a few daffodils starting to bloom but I am waiting for the main show. My favorite pink camellia has started to flower but then again, the full display is eagerly awaited. Same with Primrose Wanda – I overlook this hardy, beautiful primrose but it adds the pop of color just at the right time. I have them as a border in my front yard and also all around the garden.

On the house plant front, the Thanksgiving cactus is flowering again! I missed the flush of bloom during Thanksgiving time as I was vacationing in India, so I am thrilled to see some flowers now. The African Violets I bought last month are still in flower. So happy to see the long life of these beautiful flowers. I forced some forsythia branches to bloom indoors. I love the bright yellow flowers this time of the year which are also very appropriate for Saraswati Puja. If you want to know the process I use to force branches indoors, you can review my post on this.

The tomato seeds (Beefsteak variety) I sowed on 1/21 have germinated and doing well. They even grew tall enough and I repotted them into bigger pots. However, the pepper seeds (Hot Portugal variety) did not germinate. They seeds were very old and I think they were not viable.

Garden chores completed this month:

Cleaned up the two front yards.
The flower beds in the front yard now has nice, crisp edging – thanks to Anselmo who helped me with that.
Hydrangeas and roses pruned.
Hydrangeas fertilized.
Started the pre-sprouting process for Ranunculus and Anemones.
Sowed Swiss Chards seeds indoors on 2/6. Only one out of 6 germinated. I think I am wasting my time on the old seeds.
Spinach seeds sowed indoors on 2/6. No germination on this at all. I will try growing them as micro greens before discarding the seeds.
Sowed Apple Blossom Snapdragon seeds indoors on 2/27.

A short video encapsulating the February Garden is below:

January Garden in the Pacific Northwest (PNW)

Published on January 31, 2024April 13, 2024 by PrarthanaLeave a comment

This month exposes the stark reality of the garden. The clutter, the weeds and the lack of structure in the garden. Amidst all of these, I found a couple of the hellebores blooming! I also noticed that one hellebore that I planted in the front yard is not there anymore. I never lost a hellebore before and so I am really surprised and at a loss for what could be the reason.

Just as my indoor space, I don’t like clutter in the garden at all. This month I can clearly see that I have accumulated a lot of pots, planters, and knickknacks in the garden. I am keeping a mental note of getting rid of these things as much as I can. The temperature is quite low for me to venture out too much these days – it might also be because I am not sure what to discard. While I enjoy the randomness of the cottage garden, I still like clean lines. This month I stepped into the garden after exactly two and half months and the first thing I noticed is that the garden is looking extremely unruly with the debris from last growing season. I have not done any fall cleanup last year. Over the years I learnt how some garden debris is beneficial for insects and worms. However I don’t like how the garden looks with all the dried leaves, and debris strewn around the garden. So I started cleaning up the garden this month.

During a quick walk around in the front yard I saw that the daffodils planted in the previous year’s are coming up. The muscari (grape hyacinths) and ranunculus (planted last year) have come up strongly as well. These got a little beaten up during the cold front that hit us mid January (lowest temperature where we are was 14F). I hope these recover and bloom. The plants that are still looking good apart from the boxwoods, camellia and cypress are the yucca, the potted lavender and surprisingly the Erysimum (Bowles Mauve). Some of the snapdragons are still standing tall. I love snapdragons so much!!

I am never satisfied with the amount of spring flowering bulbs I plant. I planted quite a few daffodils, muscari in the front yard and tulips in pots in October last year. Since I was away the last two months of last year, I asked a friend to buy me some discounted bulbs. I started the year with planting a few daffodils, crocuses and Iris Reticulata in pots on 1st January. At the same time, I also planted 4 purple sensation alliums in the front yard. Planting so late will be an experiment for me this year. Looking forward to seeing how the late planted bulbs do.

This is the fourth year since I started winter sowing. I grow at least a few plants this way each year. This year I sowed White Coneflower (sourced for the first time from Amazon) and Nigella seeds on 2024-01-09. The process is so simple and for the right seeds, the results have been great for me. If you want to know more about the process, check out the post I had written earlier.

January is a month when the itch to garden and see some color gets very real. And this is the time when a potted, forced flowering bulb display truly comes to the rescue. So of course I couldn’t resist the gorgeous pink hyacinth flowers from Trader Joe’s. I also bought myself a beautiful bi-colored African Violet which I was looking for.

January Garden Chore list that I checked off:

Began the general garden clean up including grooming the Hellebore leaves.
Weeding. Of course it will continue through out the year
Winter sowed white coneflower and nigella on 1/9.
Started tomatoes and broccoli seeds on 01/21. The tomato seeds already germinated on 01/28.
Expanded the dahlia bed (yet again!) by ~1 foot. It is a no till bed with cardboards underneath. So it was a low effort job!

You can watch a short tour of my garden this month in the video below:

The Amaryllis – getting them to bloom again!

Published on January 21, 2022April 13, 2024 by PrarthanaLeave a comment

Happy New Year to all. Wishing everyone peace, love and a joyful 2022.

No other flower heralds the holiday season as much as the Amaryllis. I am not ashamed to admit that I have a fascination for these beauties! My day gets happier the day these blooms. But Amaryllises are expensive bulbs. It’s hard for me to discard them after they bloom and justify the cost of buying them every year. At the same time, they are so gorgeous that I can’t imagine not having Amaryllis. With a little bit of care, we can have the same bulbs bloom year after year.

I made a video earlier on how to plant the newly bought bulbs after they bloom. You can watch it here:

In the video below, I show you how these plants bloom after a period of dormancy.

Hope these videos are helpful to you. If you are growing Amaryllis and have any tips to share, please add them in the comment below.

Happy Gardening, friends!

July in my Simple Urban Garden

Published on August 2, 2021April 13, 2024 by PrarthanaLeave a comment

July is when the garden is in its prime. Though this is also the time when the heat of the summer soars, my lawn turns brown and I lose my patience with constantly watering the garden. PNW goes through a dry spell during the summer just when we need the rain the most.

I get most excited about the vegetables I harvest this time of the year. This year, I harvested garlic, peas, beans, lettuce, Swiss Chards and potatoes so far. I am definitely going to focus on growing more garlic. So satisfying and easy to grow them. The new (second) Plum tree bore a couple of perfect shaped yellow juicy plums this year which I harvested in July. The other plum tree which bears dark purple plums has lots of fruits which are yet to ripen. The birds have been enjoying these plums – hoping they leave a few for us to taste. I look forward to a day when the tree bears enough fruits for the birds and us to share.

I am also starting to think ahead and plan for what I want to plant for Fall. I know that this year, I will be sowing carrots and peas for some fall crop.

I captured the highlights of my July garden in the video. The audio quality is not what I expected. I hope to do better the next time. Let me know what you think. Happy Gardening!

Winter? “Sow” be it..

Published on January 12, 2021April 12, 2024 by Prarthana4 Comments

Winter sowing is the technique of growing plants from seeds sown in winter to give them a head start in spring. As any gardener who has ever struggled with a self-seeding plant knows, some seeds do very well when left outdoors in the cold all winter. The seeds that does well in this technique are the ones that need to experience cold, damp conditions either because they have hard shells that are softened by the freezing and thawing or because they are triggered by the change in temperature to sprout. This is called stratification.

So, how is “winter sowing” different than “self sowing? Winter sowing essentially provides a mini greenhouse environment to control the germination of seeds within the boundaries of the container it is sowed in. A quick internet search told me that the phrase “winter sowing” is attributed to Trudi Davidoff, a resourceful gardener who had more seeds than indoor space. Ms. Davidoff sows seeds in covered containers (she uses take-out containers with foil bottoms and plastic tops) and then moves the containers outdoors. The containers act as mini greenhouses, allowing the seeds to experience the chill of winter in a controlled environment. When the temperature warms enough, the seeds germinate and start to grow. I learnt about this technique in the last few months and wanted to give it a try. I sowed Tiger Paw Asters, Monarda (Bee Balm), and Lupine seeds. I am eagerly waiting to see if I am successful in this process. I won’t write about the step by step process I followed, instead I am linking the video here:

My first experience with winter sowing

I will provide an update on this experiment in spring. So make sure to follow me here or in my social media accounts.

A year that was : highlights of the garden 2020

Published on December 30, 2020April 12, 2024 by PrarthanaLeave a comment

2020 was a year like no other. Stepping into the new year, I don’t think anyone anticipated the lifestyle changes that we all needed to make this year. With the surge of COVID-19 cases globally, there was an impact on almost every aspect of our lives, including how much time we spend at home. Even with the worry for the safety of all, I was happy that I now had some extra time I could spend in the garden. So when the “work from home” directive came, I went into “do as much in the garden as you can while you can stay at home” mode. Little did I know that I will be spending the rest of the year working from home.

The primroses were beautiful. I only have the perennial kind – this is one “thrifty” gardening tip I have. I only buy hardy plants. They come back stronger and better each year and after a few years I can divide them and get free plants or share with my gardening friends.

I am very unimpressed by my hellebores. They look sparse. I added one more to the bed. Hopefully it will look better. I also have to remember to fertilize this bed.

The star of the spring show as always is my beautiful Camellia. Covered with pink blooms, she is a sight to behold for weeks.

The spring bulbs provided the colors they promised! However, I need some daffodils/narcissus in my life. The ones I had finally gave up this year.

I am so glad that I put Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) in so many parts of the yard. The flowers brightens up the spring garden. But more importantly, the evergreen nature of this plant makes it so attractive year round.

How stunning are the Plum blooms in spring? Sadly, I got very few fruits this year, but the flowers makes me so happy! And I added one more plum tree in the backyard. More to look forward to.

The Azaleas and Rhododendrons did their thing!

The purple Erysimum Bowles Mauve is one of the first flowers to bloom in the backyard and continues to bloom till the temperature goes above 70F. The red and yellow variety of Euphorbia were beautiful.

Left : Red Euphorbia, Top right : Erysimum Bowles Mauve, Bottom right : Yellow Euphorbia

I love clematis. The ones I have, have been in my yard for a very long time. Except the clematis Montana, I think I need to replace the others as the blooms are getting less profuse.

The ever reliable peonies were gorgeous! The white one is Mr.Ed which was a Mothers Day gift from Rishi in 2019. The pink with double shade is a new addition in 2019 and came from a plant exchange. I added a Shirley Temple peony this year but it didn’t bloom. Hopefully it will in the next season.

I have always said that roses are not my favorite flowers. Not because they are not gorgeous – they sure are – but because of the fuss it takes to ensure disease free, prolonged blooms. The dark red (almost maroon) rose is a new addition to my garden. Planted in 2019, it was given to me by a gardening friend and it was a huge success. Huge dark red flowers bloomed continuously for the longest time. My six year old knock out rose also survived the bunny attacks this year and bloomed profusely all season. I moved an orange rose from our old house to the backyard. Fingers crossed, I will get the gorgeous blooms next season. This rose is particularly special for its intensely sweet fragrance.

My hydrangea collection did not disappoint. I added a new mop head variety earlier in spring and it surprised me by giving a gorgeous pink bloom. Hydrangea Paniculata “Fire and Ice” which I added last year, bloomed beautifully.

The surprise performers of the season this year were the dahlias! I did not buy a single new dahlia and grew them from the tubers I had saved from previous years. And what a performance they put on! It was the best year of dahlia blooms I had so far.

The pansies, lilies, petunias, begonia, salvia, hollyhocks, daisies, crocosmia, coreopsis, nasturtiums, asters, phlox, Japanese anemones (one of which I grew in a pot this year), gladioli, rudbekia, perennial sunflowers, and zinnias all put on their show. Special mention to the Jasmine I bought this year and also to my first experience growing mimulus and astrantia!

This blog is running embarrassingly long, so I won’t mention the usual foliage attraction that I grew which brought so much joy to me!

I am often asked if I don’t grow food. Of course I do! And I do wish to grow a lot more. Due to the pandemic this year, I did not venture out to buy seeds/plants early in the season. I did buy 2 blueberry plants and was surprised to get a reasonable yield of fruits from them. As mentioned earlier in the blog, I added one more Italian Plum tree too. I also got a good harvest of strawberries from the crop I already had. I got 8 tomato plants (Green Zebra variety) growing from my compost pile which were a very welcome surprise. The best crop that I grow each year are the scarlet runner beans. I got awesome harvest of these beans this year as well. I grew Swiss Chard as always. And tried growing radishes and beets both of which I will mark as “failures” since I got a minuscule amount of crop from them! Got only a few potatoes from the seed potatoes that remained in the ground after last year. We really enjoyed fried pumpkin blossoms from the plants I grew this year from seeds.

I hope to blog more and add more details of my gardening journey in the new year.

If you read this far, you are amazingly patient! And I thank you sincerely for following me along. Please leave your thoughts in comments or contact me via email. Until next time then….adios!