Nothing But Time
March 26, 2010 – 10:10 amHere we are ready to get growing for another garden season and I’m just getting around to editing the balcony garden journal footage from 2009. I like how my journal has moved from its original large sketchbook format in 1989 to an online version in 2001 to the movie clip version in 2009. That’s 20 years of growing notes.
But no matter how I’ve chosen to track my progress, my journal reminds me of the many plants I carefully selected, planted and nurtured. And a few that didn’t make it. Gardening history indeed.
Seedy Saturday Reminder
March 14, 2010 – 12:10 pmSeeds are like lipstick. A lipstick purchase is the perfect starting or ending point to a full day of clothes shopping – lots of brands and colours available, you can always find just the right shade for the day or time of year and it’s usually inexpensive. The perfect little gift to yourself. I’m finding that buying seeds provides the same type of pleasure. Lot’s of brands and variety available, you can find just the right new variety or more of the same reliable performers, it’s always inexpensive and the perfect little gift to yourself.
So here’s a shopping opportunity for you next week – Seedy Saturday in Calgary is happening March 20.
10:00 am through to 4:00 pm
Montgomery Community Centre
5003 16th Avenue NW – Hwy 1 and Home Road
There are over 20 exhibitors confirmed and if you have 2-3 hours to volunteer, organizers are looking for support – contact information is on their website. You can give away or take away clean pots and trays, other gardening supplies, magazines, newsletters and books at the garden Giveaway Table. Bring your stuff by 1:00 pm to allow time for others to choose something to take. So support buying local, track down those special heirloom tomato seeds you’ve been looking for and find a good home for gardening pots and books that you are ready to pass on. See you there.
Refreshing Refresh
July 28, 2009 – 12:20 pmThanks H for the WordPress upgrade.
And for any of my regular readers, the ‘comment’ prompt is now upgraded and friendlier.
Test driving open.
Journal Journey Part 20
March 8, 2009 – 10:00 amIn 1998 we started to look at condos. We had hired out the lawn cutting, Spring garden clean up and housekeeping and were taking off every weekend to the mountains to ride. The focus was definitely away from the yard and garden.
So one of the last entries in the journal was a plan for the side garden. All of the older homes in the neighbourhood had old sidewalks tucked to the side of the house, with about a 15-18 inch space for foundation plantings. The plan below is for the east side of the house, which got a bit of morning and afternoon sun.
You’ll recognize the old standbys in the plant list – hens and chicks, wooly thyme, dianthus, sedum, liatris and bergenia. Also planned for a pattern of stones and crushed rundlerock. I did implement the plan before we moved, it was pretty easy to do.
So that’s a wrap on the old gardening journal. There were a couple of years where I didn’t make much note of what I was growing, then implemented a simple online journal version in 2001 (to the present) to document the balcony garden. I still keep a paper journal to draw in, make notes, build plant lists and hatch a plan, just as I keep buying books.
Something comforting about being able to bridge old school and new. Or maybe you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks, unless they have tech support.
Journal Journey Part 19
March 5, 2009 – 10:00 am
Ever entered a gardening competition? I did in 1998. The category was Small Rose Garden, 20-50 bushes. I had 2 judges visit and scored a 79 and 77 (each out of 100) to place second in the category.
What I didn’t count on was that if you won, you not only got this ribbon, but you also got to host the public on competition winner weekend. I had 750+ people visit the garden over a 2-day period. Needless to say, a quick warning to the neighbours about the influx was necessary and luckily, they were all understanding.
I scored a 20 out of 25 from both judges for General Arrangement and Aesthetics. Comments included ‘excellent variety’, lovely fragrance as we judged’ and ‘healthy plants’. Full points for Evidence of Overwintering, almost full points for Quality of Bloom, Fragrance and Variety and lowest marks – much to my disappointment for Pruning – as I believe I was born to prune.
Always something more to learn…
Journal Journey Part 18
March 1, 2009 – 10:00 amA final page for 1997. The Hansa in bloom and in it’s final resting place. After 10 years, no winter protection needed, just a healthy Spring clipping and a lot of deadheading throughout the summer.
And I started to add little beds (bottom image) to the outside of the raised beds, to extend the planting area. Green tam juniper, bergenia and purple carpet sedum fill this one. The empty clay saucer served as a robin bath tub.
I miss having robins visit the garden. In the downtown core, you can hear them singing occasionally, but I’d be surprised if one ever visited the balcony.
Journal Journey Part 17
February 26, 2009 – 10:00 amJune 2007 journal photos show a happy garden with a detail shot of flowering bugleweed, johnny jump-ups, pokerface pansies, columbine and iris. I haven’t had much luck for some reason, with bugleweed on the balcony. It never flowers and is a bit of a slow grower – will try a different variety this summer.
The lily bed pictured below was an important part of the perennial border. Lilies could be grown in containers, but they wouldn’t be my first pick. I’d rather recommend planting liatris. Liatris is available in a purple or white flower and prefers sun but can tolerate a bit of shade. The foliage is soft and spiky, medium green and the flowers heads, often described as ‘bottle brush’ in form, would add height to any container planting. The tubers are planted in the Spring.
The last image shows lamb’s ears as part of the plant selection for the bed with dianthus, sedum, fescue and mint. Lamb’s ear would be a great specimen plant for a balcony grouping because of its amazing velvet texture and soft grey-green colour. You might want to clip out the flower stalk to keep the focus on the foliage. If you plant it in with other plants in a container, be prepared to clip often, it grows quickly and might try to crowd out others.
Journal Journey Part 16
February 22, 2009 – 10:00 amBut we always get this special May snow storm – on May 17, 18 in 2007. These late Spring snows are always heavy branch breakers. The journal notes that the Dolgo crab apple was just starting to flower, branches broke off of the maple in the back and the birch in the front.
I had even checked the weather report and had removed all of the straw off of the rose garden. By the middle of the next day (May 16), all the roses were pruned, trellises repaired, dirt dug and levelled. It started to get cold, so I had set up all of my blankets to cover over the roses, just in case it cooled off more than the forecast had predicted. The snow storm hit that evening.
The roses survived.
I was a little reluctant, when I moved into the condo, to finally get rid of those old blankets and sheets that I kept for special weather situations. But I’ve never needed them on the balcony – one of the many benefits of gardening with a view from above. I no longer worry about the hail storms and late winter snow dumps – in fact, I look forward to shovelling the little bits of snow I get onto the alpine troughs, to make them think they are on a mountaintop instead of on the balcony.
Bring it on.
Journal Journey Part 15
February 19, 2009 – 10:00 amDon’t get snowfall like this very often, winter 1996.
