‘Dig’ The Earth

Last Sunday we had a hailstorm that ripped through Northwest Ohio.  It took a full 20 to 30 minutes to pass each place it hit.  This gave it a chance to pummel the trees, flowers, and crops across the region.  It was fun to watch and pretty to look at as it collected on the ground, but what it left behind doesn’t look so pretty anymore.

The field of corn behind our house is visibly cut to shreds.  The hostas and daylilies in my landscaping look like “faldas de Hawaiiana” – Hawaiian grass skirts – as my mother would say.  It’s amazing to still see the resilient plants still with new buds and getting ready to bloom.

This week the weather has been in the low 70′s and beautiful. Not until today have we had rain. All the windows in the house were open until yesterday when the temperature peaked above 80 and the house was getting too warm. The only downside to this is that with all sun and no rain even as mild as it was the plants still needed to be watered. There was a lot of lugging of hoses this week. The water we use in the yard comes from our well and has the distinct smell of sulfur – yuck!

In any event in the front yard the dianthus had finished blooming and needed to be trimmed back. The artemisia shrub that was behind them grew to such an extent that it covered over much of the dianthus, so I decided to move the dianthus. I split the plants and started to get them planted around our cistern top. The cistern top had been a huge point of contention because all the bulbs and corms I planted there last fall didn’t make it through the winter and weeds took over before I was well enough to go back outside again. It really did look like a jungle. That is gone now and I moved a few hostas there and planted the dianthus. I also have some vinca that I’d like to plant around it to brighten the area with some pretty blooms.

The decision to move the hostas to the front in full sun was a hard one. I had always learned that hostas do best in shade and don’t like full sun much at all. The more I look around though I am finding more and more plantings of variegated varieties in full sun and even some full green varieties there as well. The green varieties tend to bleach a bit, but I haven’t seen much in the way of burning of the edges. So, we’ll just have to see how they do.

My plan is to keep them well watered so that even on hot summer days the hostas won’t scorch. An idea I saw was to use old 20 oz. plastic bottles as watering containers for thirsty plants or container plantings. Just by punching a hole in the cap with a hot nail or a drill, filling the bottle with water, putting the cap back on and burying it cap side down up to the bottle collar close behind the plant you want to keep watered you’ll have a constant flow of water when it’s needed. I guess the concept is to take advantage of the vaccuum that is formed when the inverted bottle is buried in the soil. Water only leaks out when there is air from the soil to leak in. I’m going to give it a try and hope that they escape the husband radar .

I learned the hard way that even with proper storage commercially produced seeds lose their viability with time. In 2003/2004 I bought a boatload of seeds and have been trying ever since to get them all used up. Well I think I’ve finally succeeded. I should have thrown them away about a year ago. None of the carrot seeds I sowed in the garden germinated, nor did the chrysanthemum, corn salad, arugula, dill, beets or chard. Thankfully, after years of trying I do have a successful and attractive bunch of cilantro. My mache is growing and so is my craquante de quatre saison. Rabbits ate the tops off all my radishes before I could harvest so they were a bust. You could see their little teeth marks in the top of the radish.

Here is a plan to not get stuck with too many seeds. Find a friend that likes to garden and share your seeds with them. Sometimes one package of seeds is too many for a small home garden so splitting it gives both (or more people) something to share. There are several sites across the internet that offer seed sharing and trading, including, Wintersown.org, Gardenhere.com, and Gardenweb.com from iVillage. There is a plethora of people willing to share their seeds and plants for postage and you can too.

When you buy seeds don’t go cheap. It is tempting to buy cheap packs from Big Lots that offer a lot of seeds, but often their viability is much lower than other seeds thus the bulk just gives you more to gamble with. Really consider your space and pick plants/seeds that will fill but not overwhelm each other and you. Also, think about what your family likes and will likely eat in one season.

If you happen to have seeds leftover at the end of a season that you weren’t able to use don’t fret. Keep them in a cool dry place until the beginning of your next season. A freezer is OK; a small college size refrigerator or a corner in your fridge (if you have room) would be ideal. Put them in small plastic boxes with silica gel packs from your shoe boxes so that no moisture bothers them and causes them to mold and rot. If you visit Trudy at Wintersown.org you will see that she has a number of ways to store her seeds, most of them out of cold storage. You must remember though that she turns over those packets very quickly and will rarely have all of those seeds in her possession for a whole season. In any event, try to get your seeds shared or used by the end of the next season. After that it may be time to add them to the compost heap.