The Escaping Onions!

   I have a habit of cutting the root end of any onion that I use deeply so I can replant the thing.  Onions are some of those fine plants that will happily grow from just a severed root.  These plants are not in a row in the vegetable garden but sit in any vacant spot in ANY garden.  I like onions.  Not only do they make food tasty, they have lovely blooms, to my way of thinking.  So...there are onions in just about every flower garden in the yard.

  I noticed this morning that one onion plant was going to seed.  That is fine by me but I promise this particular onion must be kin to one of those "walking onions".  That type actually does not need to ever be replanted.  Once the tiny bulblets form on the top of the stalk, it bends over and lets the bulblets take root.  The stalk dies off and the old plant continues life.  The newly rooted bulblets start their new life as full blown onions about a foot away from the parent plant.  These things are escaping the confines of the gardens!  Onions are everywhere!  They are taking over the yard and send up the most pungent smell when I cut the grass.  This all came from one white onion from the grocery store.  

  It has become apparent that I need to get rid of a whole slew of the onions, chives and garlic in the gardens.  I hate wasting the things but since neither Mark nor Son care to eat them, something has to be done.  Onions, onions everywhere!

Zinnias, Zinnias Everywhere!

   On a whim a few years ago, I bought a pack of zinnia seeds from the local dollar store simply because they reminded me of Pop and his lovely gardens.  I had no idea if the seeds would even sprout since they were so cheap compared to other "name brand" seeds.  Well, every last seed sprouted, grew and bloomed for the entire summer.  Being who I am, I saved seeds from those blooms.  In fact, I saved far too many seeds since so many people remarked "Oh, I love those!  Save some seeds for me!"  Long story short, no one came to get the seeds so, the next spring, I planted even more zinnias.  The saved seeds did remarkably well and, as before, I saved seeds...far too many seeds.  In fact, when I went to plant this spring, I had an entire gallon of zinnia seeds!  Oops!  That is an awful lot of seeds when you consider how flat they are.  Needless to say, I planted more zinnias this year than in previous years.  Once again, the flowers are outdoing themselves and I find myself hating to toss the spent blooms aside.  So, the saving has commenced.  Who would have thought that a one dollar pack of seeds could bring so much brightness to the gardens for so many years??

  Of course, all of those zinnia blooms attract a myriad of nectar seeking critters.  The zinnia bed is a literal kaleidoscope of butterflies, moths and bees.  At any given time, fifty or sixty different insects can be found flitting about the blooms.  I am beginning to think that was the best gardening investment ever made and plan on never buying seeds from any other place.  The zinnia bed is going to be extended to twice the size this next year and will be home to hundreds of plants.  In fact, since the vegetable plot has already gone the wayside, my plans are to sow the remaining saved seeds (from last year) in that space.  The ground will not sit idle as I await for time to plant the fall garden.  The critters will be happy campers and the yard will be a blast of color!  (The photos only show half of the existing zinnia bed!)

About As Perfect As It Gets

   The past few months have taken their toll on the Small Gardens.  What with neglect, hurricanes and freezes, things have gone from bad to worse.  There is not much hope for flower gardens until springtime so the best I can do is mulch the beds to keep them weed-free and add some much needed nutrients to the soil.  This mulching is from the ground hurricane debris which can still be found in huge mountains in the lower yard.  This idea came highly recommended and is working well.

  This morning, after another round of torrential rains, tornado warnings and high winds, I surveyed the meager offerings of the Small Gardens.  While the veggie plot appeared well-kempt, the flower gardens appeared as bleak, barren spots, except for one spot!  A bright spot of pink appeared just above the six inch deep mulch padding.  A tiny zinnia bloom greeted me after the rough night.  Is it a perfect bloom?  Not as far as some folk's standards but it appears perfect to me.  In fact, the brave little flower seems mighty exquisite.  It is hope at its best.

  The tiny plant was a volunteer from the spent blooms I had discarded from the earlier gardens.  It had wormed its way to the top of the mulch and put forth a tiny (1 inch) blossom.  I knelt next to the wee plant and thanked it for being the "pick-me-up" that I so needed.  

  It has been a rough six months...no year...for all of us but if we only look, there is beauty to be found in every day.  Folks, don't despair.  There are brighter times on the horizon if we only we make the effort to create it.  Think positive.

The Queen Has Spoken! More Zinnias!

  The "Queen of the Small Gardens" has a new thought!  Since the zinnias are doing so well and since I have a about a bucketful of extra seeds and since I cannot push a lawnmower to keep the yard clean, I need to broadcast the seeds with wild abandon!  Perhaps, I should just mix all of the saved flower seeds in a pail and scatter them!  The seeds could plant themselves wherever the wind blows them!  How pretty would that be??!!  How nice to not have to watch the grass grow to knee-high!  How colorful?!! How happy?!!  How immensely mesmerizing would a sea of color be?!!  Just a thought.  Perhaps Hubby and Son have other thoughts but...mehh...I am Queen of the Small Gardens and I am just expanding my realm!

  To be honest, the zinnia seeds are some I had saved from past years.  A while back, I bought a pack from DollarTree.  I was not even sure if they would sprout but, here years later, they are still doing well.  As the blooms start to wane, I snip them and toss them in an old cardboard box in the greenhouse.  There, they dry and sit until I get a chance to box them for the next season.  The plants in the garden keep blooming and blooming until they finally succumb to the winter's cold.   

  The flower gardens back on the farm always contained zinnias.  Pop saved the seeds from year to year just as he taught me to do.  Now, I find I am mimicking so many of Pop's actions.  That pleases me as I figure the man knew his gardens.  Maybe, just maybe, a bit of that rubbed off on me.  Now...the Queen of the Small Gardens has made her decision!  More zinnias!  I need more zinnias!  (Yes, I am bored being limited.)




 

"Hippie Gardening"

  "Hippie Gardening"!  I had never heard that phrase until a good friend used it to describe a method of gardening he had come across during a shopping expedition.  Perhaps he knew it long before but he mentioned it when telling of the vegetables and fruits at a market.  Hippie Gardening was the words he used to describe the habit of using co-planting or at least that was the way I understood it.  Co-planting or companion planting is a nifty idea  about planting flowers or other aromatic plants in the vegetable garden to cut down on pests.  This goes on to knowing which plants do well as neighbors or which do better far away from the others.  The idea of planting flowers such as marigolds and nasturtiums around vegetables that are attacked by bugs is an old one that many folks had forgotten.  In recent years, there has been a huge resurgence of planting "old-style" and that is a good thing.  "Back in the day", folks did not use insecticides or chemical fertilizers so companion planting was a method that came in handy.  Knowing which plants would tolerate being next-door neighbors and which preferred to be off by themselves was a necessity.  Another long-forgotten bit of good farming was crop rotation.  To keep the ground from becoming depleted of certain nutrients, crops were never planted in the same spot year after year.  Crops were rotated to assure that nutrients were replenished before replanting.  For instance, Pop would never plant peas in the same field year after year.  The pea rows were alternated with other crops and after harvesting, the dead stalks were plowed into the soil to replenish the used nitrogen.  Plowing old plants of any kind into the soil added organic matter and kept the garden soil from becoming too hard.  Methods such as these can go a long way in having a healthy garden.

  At first, I giggled at the term "Hippie Gardening" but then I realized that I was snickering at myself.  I do companion planting.  My gardens are filled with vegetables, flowers and herbs.  The tomatoes are grounded by marigolds, the bell peppers are best friends with the basil plants and the cucumbers were in love with the nasturtiums!   Not only are there flowers in the vegetable plots, there are vegetables stuck in the flower beds!  The whole garden space is one mishmash of plants...but they are happy plants.  

  I never thought of this as any certain "type" of gardening, I just followed along with what Pop taught me as a kid back on the farm.  It worked then...it works now.  It is all a matter of knowing which plants can coexist and which are detrimental to the others.  Getting back to some of the old ways is not all bad no matter what it is called.  Co-planting, Hippie Gardening, Commonsense....whatever works.

Zinnias and Memories

  Every now and again, something strikes a chord and memories start flooding back in wild abandon.  This morning as I strolled about the storm battered gardens, a lone zinnia held its head high and wafted on the gentle breeze.  The purple bloom was in its full glory with the bright morning sun beaming down on it.  In its center, the flower wore a circlet of gold which proclaimed it as "Prince of the Garden".  (I figure I have enough queens and princesses and a sole "king" skink so it is about time for a prince to appear.) 

  This purple zinnia started the memory flow and from there, it just took on a life of its own.  For the rest of the walk through the gardens, memories of Pop filled the brain.  Good memories...happy memories...times I never wish to forget.  You see, being a farmer, Pop always had lots to do with plants.  His fields were always impeccable and lush but his passion was his flower gardens.  He loved flowers of any sort and zinnias seemed to be a favorite.  These and petunias could be found in beds around the yard.   As a youngster, I walked with Pop as he tended the gardens.  He showed me the ins and outs of planting and caring for each plant.  He taught me the names and planting times.  He instilled in me a love for all growing things.  It is still there.

  Zinnias are some of the easiest garden flowers to grow and, once you get a start, the seeds can be saved for future plantings.  In fact, the seeds usually stay viable for several years after harvesting.  Also, as long as you dead-head the spent blooms, zinnias will fill the summer and fall with their colorful blooms. They make great, long-lasting cut flowers, too.  So...plant some zinnias and start some of your own memories!

Flowers and Veggies!

  I have a bad habit of planting flowers in the vegetable gardens and veggies in the flower gardens.  Here on the Bayou, the gardens are one big mishmash of whatever!  Anything goes.  If it grows, then it grows wherever it wants.  I have morning glories and moonflowers in the tomato patch.  I have squash in front of the moonflower fence row.  There are nasturtiums in with the radishes and bell peppers in between the tea olives.  Chives blend right in with the roses and zinnias!  Marigolds are everywhere!  Wherever there is an empty spot, there is a plant of some sort.  That suits me to a capital T!  Perhaps the gardens are fine and it is me that is discombobulated!

  It is this habit that caused one good thing and yet one bad thing.  Bad thing first.  After I put in the new garden fence, a bright idea struck. On one side, tomatoes were planted and on the opposite side, four o'clocks lined the fence.  Wow!  That looked nice! All was well until some moth decided to lay her eggs on the four o'clock leaves.  About a week later, caterpillars were turning the leaves into a lace!  Holes were everywhere!  Not good as these caterpillars simply took the jaunt across the fence to attack the tomatoes.  Oh, no you don't!!!  While I do not mind spraying flowers with insecticides, I am a stickler about keeping the veggies pure.  I do not want to eat a bunch of chemically laden garbage.  It took a while before the answer came.  Wasps! Yep, those same critters that make the nests up under the eaves of the house seem to love caterpillars. Paper wasps were feasting on the tiny leaf-munchers. That was good enough for me!  Wasps are now off the bad list and onto the good guys of the garden list.

  The good thing about my four o'clock/tomato arrangement is the early morning/late afternoon blooms sure make the place smell delightful regardless of the copious amounts of cow poop lying around under the tomato plants.  The sweet-scented blooms fill the air and mask the stench quite nicely.  If you do not know, cow poop stinks when wet.  The nighttime hours on the Bayou are rather humid which gives the manure the idea that it is ok to start reeking.  Thankfully, the four o'clock blooms have that covered.  Four o'clock blooms are stronger than poop!  Their scent completely blocks the otherwise stinky garden smells.  Four o'clocks for the win!

  I am sure Pop looks down from Heaven and cringes when he sees my patchwork gardening style.  His fields were impeccable and his flower gardens were to perfection.  He probably wonders where he went wrong when raising me!  Nah, Pop was easy going and would certainly agree about the four o'clocks.  He may have something to say about the morning glories that have their own tomato crates in the garden but, all in all, he would enjoy seeing the plants regardless.