The Weekly Gardener Volume 8 January-December 2015

By Francis Rosenfeld

Collected articles from The Weekly Gardener - January through June 2015.
For current articles visit The Weekly Gardener blog

• Language: English
• Publisher: Francis Rosenfeld
• Release date: Nov 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310554377

Francis Rosenfeld

I started learning about gardening from my grandfather, at the age of four. Despite his forty years' experience as a natural sciences teacher, mine wasn't a structured instruction, I just followed him around, constantly asking questions, and he built up on the concepts with each answer.As I grew older I applied this knowledge, experimented with new plants and learned a few things from my mistakes. That was fifteen years ago, and since then I was blessed with a thriving perennial garden. Half way through the journey, the micro-farm concept developed, a yearly challenge to figure out how much produce twenty square feet of dirt can yield.I started blogging in 2010, to share the joy of growing all things green and the beauty of the garden through the seasons. Two garden blogs were born this way: allyeargarden.com and theweeklygardener.com, a periodical that followed it one year later. I wanted to assemble an informal compendium of the things I learned from my grandfather, wonderful books, educational websites, and my own experience, in the hope that other people might find it useful it in their own gardening practice.The blogs contain many stories (I am a writer and couldn't help myself), but also practical information about plant propagation, garden maintenance, working with your site, making preserves and keeping the yard welcoming for beneficial insects and local wildlife.

Book preview

THE WEEKLY GARDENER 2015

by Francis Rosenfeld

© 2016 Francis Rosenfeld

Smashwords Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Week 1 -January 5th - Seashells on the Seashore

Week 2 - January 12th - Growing Strong

Week 3 - January 19th - Patterns

Week 4 - January 26th - Oh, Joy!

Week 5 - February 2nd - February Activities

Week 6 - February 9th - Dreaming in February

Week 7 - February 16th - Garden Giggles

Week 8 - February 23th - Painted Skies

Week 9 - March 2nd - Finally Flowers

Week 10 - March 9th - Inside and Out

Week 11 - March 16th - Rain

Week 12 - March 23rd - Green Spring

Week 13 - March 30th - Pretty Flowers

Week 14 - April 6th - April

Week 15 - April 13th - True Blue

Week 16 - April 20th - Back to the Garden

Week 17 - April 27th - Garden Jewels

Week 18 - May 4th - Rushing into Summer

Week 19 - May 11th - Mid-spring

Week 20 - May 18th - Roses

Week 21 - May 25th - Medicinal Herbs

Week 22 - June 1st - June Brought the Rain

Week 23 - June 8th - Produce

Week 24 - June 15th - Under the Weather

Week 25 - June 22nd - With Love

Week 26 - June 29th - Pretty Pink

Week 27 - July 13th - The Streets of Bucharest

Week 28 - July 20th - Building on Water

Week 29 - July 27th - A Stroll on the Meadow of Miracles

Week 30 - August 3rd - The Eternal City

Week 31 - August 10th - Fresh off the Vine

Week 32 - August 17th - The Good Herb

Week 33 - August 24th - Blessed Rain

Week 34 - August 31st - September Color

Week 35 - September 7th - Lavender and Blue

Week 36 - September 14th - Purple Shades

Week 37 - September 21st - Fall Equinox

Week 38 - September 28th - Waiting for Pumpkins

Week 39 - October 5th - Warm Autumn

Week 40 - October 12th - Bright Orange

Week 41 - October 19th - Fall Leaves

Week 42 - October 26th - Hot November

Week 43 - November 2nd - First Frost

Week 44 - November 9th - Of White and Shade

Week 45 - November 16th - The Garden through the Seasons

Week 46 - November 25th - How to Take Care of Plants in Winter

Week 47 - November 29th - Water in the Landscape

Week 48 - December 6th - Growing Conditions

Week 49 - December 13th - Winter Green

Week 50 - December 20th - The Water City

Week 51 - December 28th - Pacific Gate

WEEK ONE

January 5th - Seashells on the seashore

Thirteen below

The year started bleak and frigid, the freeze of Saint John regaled us with temperatures that amount to thirteen below, considering wind chill. Ice, snow, bitter weather, the works. I'm not complaining or anything, after all it's January, its supposed to be cold.

Looking for a silver lining in the desolate landscape, well, for one, snow protects the perennials from freezing, so that's a good thing. Snow also provides regular amounts of water, so necessary to the dormant plants, as it melts. And that's all I have.

The image of seashells and sunny beaches brings up thoughts of summer, and this reminds me that I have to start planning next year's garden; since the year promises to be a very good one, it's even more important to be very selective about the new plants.

I wait to see some of the perennials I planted two autums ago come back from their roots, even if they died back in the summer, especially the Jack-in-the-pulpit and the honey scented bugbane, with its white and rose candle shaped inflorescences.

The spring garden will be a dream in yellow and blue, compliments of the out of sequence December daffodil planting and the abundance of cheerful violets and grape hyacinths that never disappoint.

I can hardly wait to see how the herb garden overwinters, all the herbs are perennial, including the lemon balm, I learned, and quite robust. Even though the lavender tends to be frost tender, its sunny, sheltered location bides well for its chances to thrive next year.

One herb casualty, I forgot to move the potted rosemary indoors and it succumbed to an early frost, so that's one plant that needs replaced.

As I look out the window, I notice that the bitter cold mellowed a bit and gave way to a monotonous freezing rain. Lovely!

Thoughts at the beginning of the year

This year's plans revolve around developing the tiny gardens that have started taking shape around the foundation walls and in the shade of the deciduous trees.

A shaded corner isn't usually the gardener's dream, but the challenge of creating abundance in an otherwise barren and uninspiring spot is impossible to resist. Fear not, eager green thumbs, for the effort you put forth into finding out what would grow in less than ideal conditions brings with it the prize of a relaxing nook for the sweltering summer days.

Contrary to my initial expectations, there is a wide array of plants that thrive and bloom in all kinds of shade, so let me list a few that I a had great experience with in my clay soil; all plants are low maintenance and grow healthier from year to year.

Sweet woodruff - beautiful texture, will grow anywhere, just like ivy and vinca, with the added benefit that its foliage is fragrant.

Bugleweed - a plant that looks great all year long, with very dark leaves that sometimes pick up a coppery sheen. Its bloom is surprisingly abundant, even in full shade, and its candle shaped blue and lavender flowers last all the month of May and half of June. It spreads eagerly by runners, and if you let it, it will quickly cover wide areas, which makes it useful for ground covers.

Sweet Violets - they bloom with abandon in anything other than deep shade. Careful, they will take over if you let them, but with the heart shaped leaves and the heart melting flowers, you won't mind.

Coral bells - the young plants start blooming in spring and keep the garden lush with pink flowers till the end of fall.

Navelwort - beautiful foliage, dreamy baby blue blossoms, like those of forget me not, spreads freely, virtually no maintenance. Great for tree underplantings.

Foam flowers - really thrive in full shade and can be used to populate impossible dry northern corners with heavy soils.

Last, but not least, the faithful hostas, whose fragrant flowers often compete with the scent of the lilies.

All the plants above are fast growers and respond very well to dividing, so you can put together a charming shade retreat from plant stock you already have in no time at all.

The gifts

I walked on the beach and took pictures of the boundless offerings the ocean dumped onto the shore, occasionally startling the water birds who checked their yummy treasure eagerly, excited about fresh delicacies.

Such an abundance of life was teaming at the water's edge, in the salt water marshes, the bird habitat, the ocean, the sky!

Of the sea

Believe it or not, this is not a clam shell, it is a miniature habitat, there are several varieties of tiny mussels and water snails embedded in the thorny shell, nature's way of bedazzling its work.

The spiny shell and its tenants are completely fused together, and I stared wide mouth at the ensemble for a while, wondering what processes facilitated the making of this curious treasure.

WEEK TWO

January 12th - Growing strong

Turning five

My beloved cyclamen must have decided it really likes its pot and its location on the window sill, because it gets bigger and blooms more abundantly every year. This one, year five, must be its best yet

I'm not used to seeing enthusiastic bloom from my potted plants, it's just one of those things I learned to accept over the years, so this glut of flowers took me a little by surprise.

It's worth repeating that cyclamens go dormant and die back to the ground during summer, at which time they're usually discarded. Don't throw them away! As soon as September comes around the healthy heart shaped foliage of their little clumps comes back eagerly, and by the time Christmas comes around again their dark green leaves are topped by a cheerful mass of pink flowers.

This year they've outdone themselves. Why? Who is to say? Maybe it's the sunshine. Maybe it's the Miracle Grow. Maybe they just started liking me more.

The Persian Cyclamen is a native of the Mediterranean shores, where it enjoys mild winters, and it grows in abundance all around this sea's basin, from Algeria to Israel and from Crete to Greece; here they are exclusively indoor plants unless you live in a climate zone warmer than zone ten.

If you do happen to live in a climate like that, you're in luck, because they grow well in dry shade. If not, don't miss out on growing them in your little garden on the window sill. What other plant is going to spoil you with flowers like these in the middle of January?

Holy aloe!

I got this aloe plant for medicinal purposes, since aloe gel is a wonderful moisturizer and a great first aid balm for minor scrapes and burns.

At first I couldn't bring myself to harvest any of its tiny leaves, I thought it needed all of its foliage to adjust to the new location and stabilize what looked like a very unsure bearing, easily uprooted.

It tripled over a couple of years, and now it's growing so strong I can't believe it is the same plant. I still hesitate to harvest its leaves, I don't want to upset its balance. Soon I'll probably have too, just after I repot it into a much larger container, because it is getting too big and heavy for the one it's in already!

If you never used unprocessed aloe vera before, it is nothing like the smooth gel at the supermarket, the one that comes in a bottle and has been homogenized and thinned a little to improve its texture. Raw aloe vera gel is clumpy, slimy and stringy, and it sticks to your hands in a way that is not altogether pleasant, but once mixed into an ointment it is pure health in a jar: it smoothes roughness, hydrates, heals minor ailments, cools sunburn, balances combination skin, tightens and imparts a dewy glow to any complexion.

Aloe vera is as good for your insides as it is for your skin, but between the stringy, mucilaginous consistency, the sharp bitterness, and its laxative effects, I'm probably going to pass on using it internally. It offers great benefits for your health, though, if you are willing to get past the fact that it's really unpalatable: it is chock full of vitamins, helps clean your liver, like any bitter, restores your electrolyte balance, hydrates and alleviates small irritations inside your digestive tract.

I wonder how big it is going to get?

Overwintering

I'm so glad I made a last minute decision to bring this strange beauty indoors at the end of fall.