Posts

Posted on

Indoor Vegetable Gardening

I’m gonna be busy tomorrow. by Josh Kelahan

TheGardenLady has written numerous posts about vegetable gardening.  See here for example.  But all of TheGardenLady’s recent posts on vegetable gardening have been about outdoor vegetable gardening. Vegetable gardening can also be done indoors.

The idea of having fresh salads in the middle of winter seems like a nice reward for this effort. Many vegetable plants like pepper plants are easy to raise indoors. Most herbs will grow indoors (above is a photo of vegetables and herbs growing indoors under grow lights). Some of the herbs may grow indoors if you have very sunny windows. But since most vegetables and herbs need lots of sunlight, when one grows vegetables and herbs indoors, it is best to grow these plants under grow lights, designed to stimulate plant growth.

And if you are really handy, you might want to build your own benches and lighting systems to grow these plants.
Continue reading “Indoor Vegetable Gardening”

Posted on

More vegetable suggestions for the flower garden

Edible Front Foundation Planting by Chiot’s Run

When plant breeders want to discover new plants to breed for the flower garden, they will go all over the world searching. They will even look at vegetable plants they think they can breed into pretty flowers or show pieces. Then they will work to develop some aspect of the plant that will be most interesting for the flower garden often at the expense of something else the plant might have had. So, for instance, if they see a pretty leaf that will lend garden interest, the breeders will work to create larger or more interesting leaves; sometimes this will change some other aspect of the plant.

Garden vegetables like kale, when developed for their pretty colors that make them more ornamental, make their leaves tougher when eaten -unless you eat the leaf when it is young and tender. That was why TheGardenLady suggested planting the vegetable form of kale in the flower bed instead of the ornamental variety if you want to truly landscape with vegetables and eat them, too.

Continue reading “More vegetable suggestions for the flower garden”

Posted on

Landscaping your garden with ornamental cabbage or ornamental kale

Julia’s Garden by Allie’s.Dad

You have decided that you do want to landscape your front yard with vegetables. You know it is permissible in your neighborhood. But do you wonder where to start?

How about starting with ornamental cabbages or ornamental kale? These are easy choices because these days ornamental cabbages are very popular as plants in the fall flower garden. Ornamental cabbages are edible; but since they are bred for the showy qualities they tend to be tougher.  So if you want to eat the foliage, you will have to eat the leaves when they are very young. (see here)

Continue reading “Landscaping your garden with ornamental cabbage or ornamental kale”

Posted on

A short visit to the Okavanga Delta

TheGardenLady has written about her good friend Lynne (she’s the one in the photo above with the blue bandanna), who is doing Peace Corp work in Mmathethe, Botswana.  She went on a short visit to the Okavanga Delta and below she writes about her experience and shares some of her photos.

Seven Peace Corps Volunteers traveled 10 hours by an African bus all the way up to Maun where we stayed at the Old Bridge Backpackers for 4 days. Many PCV’s stay there because it is very reasonably priced. From the website it looked nice, but often those photos don’t live up to the expectations. This one did though!

The camp was situated on the river going into the Okavanga Delta. Across the way, there was an “Old Bridge,” lots of beautiful foliage, wildflowers, and the safari like tents were clean and perfect. The food was very good for a place like this, and we sat out every night dining under the bright stars and sounds of the hippo. The food was casual backpackers food, but very well done for the price. Old Bridge will schedule you a day safari, so we were picked up at 6am to travel a little over an hour to Moremi National Park. On the way in we saw giraffe, then after getting through the gate, we had a lovely breakfast at a picnic spot. After breakfast we immediately spotted a rare leopard in this park. He was healthy, strong, shy, magnificent! And then moments later, a rare cheetah leaped out in front of us. My friend got a great photo of this!

Continue reading “A short visit to the Okavanga Delta”

Posted on

Rotting Cedar Gazebo

Morning Fog by donsutherland1

TheGardenLady received this question from Sandy.

We have a windbreak of 11 100′ Northern spruce trees with a cedar gazebo nestled among them. The roof of the gazebo is built of cut, trimmed cedar branches. We are noticing some of these roof branches are starting to rot. Is it because of the acidic needles falling from the Northern spruce trees and collecting on the gazebo roof?

Its a misconception that cedar will not rot. There are a number of causes for the rot. The elements can wreak havoc on any roofing material. Cedar is susceptible to sun, which breaks down the lignin in wood, causing splitting, cracking and dry rot.

Continue reading “Rotting Cedar Gazebo”

Posted on

Celebrate the Bees – National Honey Bee Day – August 18th

Pollinator by macropoulos

This Sat., Aug. 18 is National Honey Bee Day. Check out this website to see how you can help the Honeybees.

A few things to do

Is your garden a Honeybee Haven? TheGardenLady likes to think her garden is.
Posted on

Planning a Vegetable Garden

 

Though TheGardenLady’s garden has herbs and a few vegetables tucked in the small sunny areas of my garden among the flowers, alas, with all the trees on my property, I do not have enough sun that most vegetables and herbs require. I also have rabbits that are hungry. They love vegetables. And even though I spray with Liquid Fence which says it can be used on vegetables, the rabbits seem so hungry they are nibbling plants. But if I had the sun, ThisGardenLady would love to experiment using vegetables more interestingly in garden design. I can envision leaf lettuces used as border plants snaking around my garden beds.

 

 

TheGardenLady had attended a talk with slides by Lloyd Traven the owner of Peace Tree Farm – a wholesale nursery in Bucks County.  He had used leaf lettuces planted decoratively in planters. One design was of purple and green lettuces planted in half barrels in concentric circles. (see here)  There were other patterns in other containers. These displays were as pretty as any containers with flowers. (see here)

Continue reading “Planning a Vegetable Garden”

Posted on

Creative Vegetable Gardens

vegetable garden by mazaletel

When TheGardenLady recommends making an edible garden instead of merely a flower garden in the front yard, it should be as attractive as a flower garden can be. It should not be the long straight rows of one type of vegetable, the type of field a farmer would make to grow commercial vegetables. Just because you are using vegetables doesn’t mean that the artist in you cannot create a beautiful masterpiece. You can create a landscape with vegetables that are beautiful as well as edible. When one reads gardening catalogs it is apparent that vegetable plants of today are often as pretty as flowers. Go through the Park Seed Catalog or the Burpee Seed catalog or any catalog that has photos of the plants. You will find vegetables as pretty to the eye as they are to eat.

Continue reading “Creative Vegetable Gardens”

Posted on

A Vegetable Garden to Beautify your Front Lawn

Hanging Vegetable Garden by me’nthedogs

I wrote a post about putting a vegetable garden in your front lawn, if your neighborhood allows it . There are horror stories of cities not allowing it. (see here )  Remember vegetables and herbs need sun- a full day of sun, so these are not suggestions for shade gardens.

What would be some pretty plants, plants that have attractive flowers or look like flowers, to plant in your front lawn vegetable garden or among your flowers?  I have a list of some vegetables (I include herbs in the vegetable category) that either have pretty or interesting foliage or pretty flowers or both. I have chosen 10 that I think are particularly pretty. These plants add another dimension to any garden.

Continue reading “A Vegetable Garden to Beautify your Front Lawn”

Posted on

Plumbago – A Great Ground Cover

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides by jacki-dee

Are you looking for a ground cover for  difficult-to-grow spots, like on slopes, or a pretty plant for your alpine garden or just a pretty but undemanding flower for your garden? Look no further than hardy plumbago- Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. 

This perennial ground cover is hardy from zone 5 to  zone 9 blooms from July to Sept. It is deer resistant. It likes sun but seems to do well in shady spots. One website said it will grow in sun, partial sun, partial shade, shade.  Plumbago will tolerate drought and will grow in dry to moist soils.  It does prefers well-drained soil with a neutral pH. It does not like heavy, wet soils. It is the kind of cover that doesn’t seem to let weeds grow through but you can plant it over bulbs like daffodils which will grow through the plumbago plant and bloom earlier in the season and be dead by the time the Plumbago emerges. And did I say that its leaves turn a copper color in the fall?

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (Pflanze) by andreasbalzer

Plumbago is also called leadwort. The genus name is derived from the Latin name for lead, plumbum, I guess because lead gives off a blue flame and plumbago has a stunning blue flower. But it may also have gotten its name because there are accounts of plumbago being a folk-remedy for lead poisoning. Please don’t try it for that.