My Epiphany!

I work at the University of Pittsburgh (by the way - the picture is not from Pitt - it's just something I found on the internet to illustrate my story). I ride to work everyday - one hour each way. Most of the time my head is buried in a book, somewhere in my own world. But every now and then, I stop to re-enter the world around me. I typically notice the landscaping of other people's homes, neighborhood gardens, and institutional landscaping. A lot of times, I pick up good ideas. I also realize what I do not want to do.

One example is the law office that is across the street from where I work. They have three beds, approximately 100-150 square feet. A couple of weeks ago they were beautiful. They were filled with tulips. Then one weekend after some rains, all the tulip flowers were destroyed. Soon after all the tulip plants were cut off, covered with mulch, and the beds were made to look like there never were tulips at all.

I was in a state of shock! First, let's give kudos to the landscapers for being punctual in keeping the place looking good. Second, no doubt the law office likes a well manicured flower bed. BUT THE TULIPS WERE TREATED LIKE POPCORN! They were planted. Made to pop. Then tossed.

Tulips like all bulb flowers, after the flowers have died off, need about six weeks of sunshine, air, and water to re-generate their bulbs for next year. My guess is that the landscapers will just replant new bulbs this fall in preparation for next spring. Yea, yea, yea. I'm sure it was just an economic decision.

This insignificant experience produced a real epiphany for me. I now realize some gardening principles that have laid dormant in me for a long time.

I like building self-sustaining gardens that require the minimum amount of maintenance. At the same time my garden should have a dynamic transformation from season to season. I like to see plants traverse a whole life cycle. For perennials and bulbs, they should awaken out of their dormancy in spring - blossom to full beauty in the summer - begin to change color in the fall - and hibernate for the winter.

What I saw in those beds in front of the law office was too man-made and seemed unnatural. I think what I like seeing is the cycle of life for a single plant as well as a whole garden.

So what do my tulips and daffodils look like now that it is the middle of May and the beautiful blossoms are long gone? Like this. . .

Mystery Solved!

My neighbor asked me what I planted in my garden. I answered, "Lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, salad greens, and collard greens." But then I looked down to see something growing that didn't look like anything I mentioned. I thought, "Maybe those are collard greens."

Well those seedling finally began growing real leaves. I said, those are definitely not something I grew. Those are just weeds!

My daughter and I began to pull these "weeds" out and look at what we found: At the end of these seedlings were pumpkin seeds! This vegetable garden began last fall as a compost pile. The old jack-o-lanterns were thrown in and decomposed really well. But not the seeds.

My daughter is trying to convince me that we should keep some of the pumpkin plants. My kids will probably win. I'll keep you posted on our pumpkins this coming fall.

In the meantime, I pulled as many seedlings as I could, since they were taking up the space for my lettuce and greens. So in between the beds we have a pumpkin seedling cemetery.

Our First Salad

We've finally had our first salad from the garden. Mmmm. Was it ever good. Not bitter. It's been too cold and rainy to make the greens bitter.

"As soon as the soil can be worked..."

Here is a helpful pointer I found in a book by some Pittsburgh horticulturers, Grow Organic, by Doug Oster and Jessica Walliser.

"Plant as soon as the soil can be worked" -- a frustrating statement for beginners who wonder exactly when that is. There is a simple test to determine if the soil is ready. Take a shovel out to the garden and turn it over in a couple of spots. If the soil sticks to the shovel, forget it and try again in a few days.

Isn't it great to have good friends with a dog?

What do you do when you have 700 sq. ft. to fill with plants, but no money? Have good friends. Even better, have good friends that have a dog that have been destroying their perennial bed.

Friends of mine have a very large Basset Hound. He is very lovable, but he's been destroying a very large perennial bed with beautiful hostas, ornamental grass, phlox, delphiniums, and lamb's ear.

They just want the bed covered in mulch to be dog-proof. I generously offered to dog-proof their bed and transplant all of their beautiful perennials at my house.

More pictures to come when these perennials are planted in my front hill.

Here come those vegies!

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I'm experimenting by growing my vegetable garden in pure compost, no dirt. They sure seem to be growing well. I'm planning to use a compost tea next.

Strawberries!!!

My family loves strawberries and a big can of Redi-Whip. My wife makes a great strawberry shortcake. The shortcake is on the dry side. But that's the best part since you have to add cream and more Redi-Whip to soften up the shortcake.

Now let's be honest, strawberries from the store rarely taste really good. You just have to pretend that they taste like strawberries, and imagine that they are sweet. So why not try to grow some for myself?

On the same hill that I planted 25 perennials last spring and tulips and daffodils last fall, why not plant 22 strawberry plants to act like a ground cover to the perennial flowers? So that's what I did.

At the nursery on the way to the kids' gymnastics gym, I picked up two packages of of bareroot strawberry plants - June bearing, All Star #1. My potting mix was one part compost from decomposed playground mulch, one part leaf mold, and one part red worm compost.