The Cottage Garden Begins

Well, it's been quite a week in the garden. Two of my roses started blooming, I've planted a bunch of new things, and two young deer (an unexpected garden "pest") seem to have taken up residence in the neighborhood. Fortunately, they've mostly stuck to eating the weeds in our backyard. They did start nibbling on the beans, though, so we'll be building a cage for the vegetable garden this weekend.

'Knock Out' Rose, and a climbing rose I can't identify.

Yes, that's a deer frolicking in my backyard.

When we bought our home last summer, I decided our quirky little Tudor Revival cottage needed a cottage garden in the front to match.  At the time, Indian Hawthorne shrubs were planted across the front of the house. Indian Hawthorne is the kind of shrub that's planted on roadsides and around apartment complexes because it's hard to kill. It gets nice flowers, but I get so tired of seeing it everywhere--it had to go. I decided to start with the area to the east side of my front door, probably because it was the biggest challenge. It gets shade most of the day, and most beautiful flowering perennials and annuals like a lot of sunshine. But I would find a way.

Front of house, summer 2012

So I started doing my research. I researched what makes a cottage garden. I poured through my plant books, cross-referenced my findings online, and made a list of cottage-garden-style plants that would tolerate shade. From there, I narrowed it down to a few that I liked the best and would look good together, and I drew a loose diagram of my bed to figure out spacing and how many plants I needed.

Then came the real work. We tore out the shrubs and prepared the beds last October. I planted a few things my friends had given me--hostas, irises, and bugleweed. I divided up my lemon balm and planted part of it in the new bed. I found a good deal on a hydrangea that needed some TLC. I added some pansies for a splash of color. I fertilized everything to help it get established.

And then I waited. Most of the plants on my list wouldn't be available until spring, and even the plants I had wouldn't really fill in for a while. Most everything went dormant.

Spring came, everything has flushed out with new growth, and I found the plants I was looking for...and then some. I just finished planting everything this week, and mulched it to keep in moisture and prevent weeds. Here's the final product:

Of course, it's not really final. The hostas and bugleweed will spread more. One of my hydrangeas is only six inches tall right now--it was from one of the cuttings I took last fall. It will eventually grow to about four feet tall and wide. My spindly little climbing hydrangea will eventually cover that trellis and then some. Some things will start blooming, some things will stop blooming. After the summer I will assess what died (if anything), or what just needs to be moved to a different spot, and I might try some new plants. It will always be a work in progress.

For reference, here's my plant list (roughly left to right):

Hosta spp.

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Iris spp. (I have no idea what kind--my friend dug it out of her garden for me, and I haven't seen it bloom yet)

Columbine (Aquilegia caerulea 'Origami Mix')

Endless Summer Twist n' Shout Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla 'PIIHM-I')

Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomola petiolaris)

Coleus (Solenostemon hybrid--I don't know which one)

Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

Wishbone flower (Torenia hybrid)

Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans 'Purpurea')

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)

Happy gardening!

Flowers Anyone Can Grow

My garden is chugging along. The radishes have sprouted, the onions are putting out shoots, and my bugleweed (Ajuga reptans 'Purpurea') started blooming (and spreading) this week. The bugleweed came to me as a clump that some friends gave me out of their garden, and it seems to have established itself splendidly.

My bugleweed has little blue-purple flowers.

 Not only are the plants I planted doing well, but I also have some volunteers! My compost pile hasn't given me any compost yet, but it has a handsome tomato seedling growing out of the side.

A 6-in. tomato seedling is growing out of my
compost pile.

I have friends that keep insisting that they kill everything they try to grow. Well, I'm here to turn anyone who wants to be a gardener into a gardener. I posted last month on the 5 Things "Green Thumbs" Know, and went into more detail about how to put some magic in your dirt and how to plant a plant. I'll talk about how to water your plants soon, but I thought maybe my good readers would like a list of a few flowering plants that aren't too difficult to grow--to increase your chances of gardening success here in the hot, humid South.
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Before you figure out which plants you can grow, the first question you need to answer is how much sunlight you have. There are roughly 3 categories: full sun, part sun, and full shade. Plants that prefer full sun need direct sunlight almost all day--8 hours or more. Plants that like part sun like to be shaded half the day--only like 4-6 hours of direct sunlight. Part sun areas also include areas that get light shade all of the day--like under a pine tree where plenty of sunlight comes through the trees. Plants that like full shade don't need any direct sunlight. If you look at the label on any plant at Home Depot or Lowe's, you'll see a little symbol that tells you how much sunlight that plant prefers. If you're at a local garden center, they don't always have those commercial labels, but the people who work there will be happy to tell you what the plants need.

The universal symbols for the sunlight needs of a plant.

Here in the South, those recommendations aren't set in stone. Sometimes plants that prefer full sun in cooler climates will benefit from afternoon shade here in the heat of summer. They won't bloom as much as they would in full sun, but they might survive July and August!

One more thing before you run out to your garden center--make sure to pick plants that look healthy and don't have too many flowers. While your instinct may tell you to pick the most beautiful plant, a plant with mostly buds and only 1 or 2 flowers will adjust better to its new home than one that's covered in blooms.

And now...drumroll please...The List:

Full Sun
Daylilies (Hemerocallis hybrids)*
Lantana (Lantana hybrids)
Knock Out roses (Rosa 'Knock Out')
Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)
Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)
Verbena (Verbena species and hybrids)
Annual vinca/Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Gaura (Gaura lindheimerii)
Lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus species and hybrids)
Moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora)

Part sun
Everything in the full sun list can tolerate part sun, they just might not grow as big or bloom as much.
Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)
Camellia (Camellia japonica or Camellia sasanqua)
Azalea (Rhodendron hybrids)
Geranium (Pelargonium hybrids)
Begonia (Begonia hybrids)

Full shade
Plantain lily (Hosta hybrids)
Periwinkle (vine) (Vinca major or Vinca minor)
Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans)
Coral bells (Heuchera species and hybrids)

*The words in parantheses are the scientific name for the plant. Since common names can sometimes be confusing--a plant can have more than one common name, or two plants can have the same common name--the scientific name will help you know you're getting exactly what you're looking for.

Are you a novice gardener? Do you have any questions for me?

So much to do, so little time!

Here in Middle Georgia, April is the main month for gardening. Almost everything needs to be fertilized because it's starting to grow like crazy, it's prime planting time for summer vegetables and warm season annuals, and perennials have returned to the garden centers (and need to get planted before it gets too hot). To add to it all, the weeds are growing faster and the plants need to be watered more often. If only I could take the whole month off from work and just work in the garden...

I planted some tulips with my violas in some pots in December. I wasn't sure how the tulips would do. Fifteen weeks later, they bloomed beautifully! The only thing I would do differently next time is plant them earlier, so they'll bloom a little earlier. My violas stopped blooming for much of the winter (I don't know exactly why), but I kept watering them. They started blooming again when springtime arrived.

'Happy Generation' tulip planted with violas

I got most of my vegetables planted yesterday. Since I really don't have much experience with vegetable gardening, I wanted to do a little bit of everything to see what works. I'm doing the square-foot gardening method, where you plant things within a grid of squares instead of rows, so I planted something different in almost every square. So far I have cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, bush beans, onions, carrots, and radishes. I bought seedlings for the tomatoes and peppers (I didn't want to bother with starting my own seeds this year), and planted everything else from seed because radishes, carrots, and beans don't transplant well.

Who says a vegetable garden can't be beautiful?

Well, we're halfway through April, so I guess it's a good time to see what's left on the April gardening checklist!
     Plant warm-season vegetables
     Fertilize vegetables
     Plant summer annuals
     Fertilize annuals
     Fertilize lawn (late April)
     Plant, transplant, or divide perennials
     Fertilize perennials
     Plant or transplant shrubs
     Fertilize shrubs
     Prune camellias and other shrubs that have just finished blooming
     Fertilize trees
     Mulch new beds or refresh mulch on existing beds

It looks like I have a lot left on my list! Of course, if you're not starting three new flower beds and a vegetable garden this year (like I am), your list may be much shorter. For my friends who live north of me, your time to do all this will come after your last frost date (so you can start planning for it now!). If you're not sure, you can look up your last frost date here.

What are you planting this spring?

Project #2: Raised Bed

Spring is finally here! The hydrangeas and roses started leafing out a week or so ago, and the hostas followed shortly after. The cherry blossom trees bloomed late this year, but mine finally came into full bloom last week, followed by the dogwoods.

The hostas and hydrangeas are emerging from
dormancy (finally!).

Dogwood (left) and cherry blossoms (right) in my yard.

This spring I decided it's finally time to really try my hand at vegetable gardening. Even though I've been gardening for many years, I never really got into vegetable gardening. When I was a teenager, vegetable gardening probably didn't appeal to me because it can be so labor-intensive--preparing the soil, pulling weeds, treating diseases and pest problems. Over the years I made several half-hearted attempts at growing vegetables in pots with little success. My most successful crops in containers were the hot peppers I grew in the summer, and the mixed lettuce greens I grew in the spring.

I've been carrying around my grandfather's copy of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew for years with dreams that one day, when I had a yard of my own, I would have a beautiful vegetable garden like the book promises. A couple of weeks ago I ran across Mel's All New Square Foot Gardening and picked it up with much excitement. After more years of experience, and adapted for the busy modern gardener, Bartholomew rewrote his recommendations, and the new recommendations include raised beds, which I like because they're pretty.

Isn't it pretty?

Now, I will say, if you ask 20 successful vegetable gardeners what their secret is to growing amazing vegetables, you will probably get 20 different answers. The square-foot gardening method, of course, has sentimental value for me, so that's why I want to try it out first. After reading the new book, here's my quick review. Even if the cover looks a little gimmicky, Bartholomew's methods are based on both years of experience and solid research. The book is full of photos and has very detailed instructions, plus a great appendix with information about each kind of vegetable, perfect for the beginner. I think he goes a little overboard on some things (I'm a little lazy if you haven't noticed), and you could probably grow half-decent vegetables without following every step. It's definitely not the most traditional method, but it's designed to grow a lot in a smaller space, which I like.

So, after reading the book, I set out this weekend to create my vegetable garden. I picked a spot that gets plenty of sunshine (which vegetables love), except for some light afternoon shade (which is great in the heat of a Georgia summer). I put it in the back of the yard behind the treehouse (so if it turns out to be a disaster, I don't have to look at it while relaxing on my patio). Instead of following Mel's instructions for building a raised bed frame yourself, I bought an easy-to-assemble kit from Home Depot because I was in a hurry. Also because I was in a hurry, I did my math wrong and bought too much material for the soil mix. But hey, at least I can still find plenty of uses for vermiculite and peat moss--like making the perfect mix for rooting cuttings! I found everything I needed at Home Depot except for the vermiculite--I found that at Johnson's Garden Center here in Macon.

My 4-foot pile of supplies--vermiculite, peat
moss, compost, and a frame.

Instead of using existing soil, Mel recommends skipping all the tilling, soil testing, and finding the right amendments, and just making your own soil mix to fill your raised bed--a mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost. It's full of nutrients, and has the right balance of water retention and drainage. After assembling my pile of supplies, I mixed it up batch by batch in my wheelbarrow with my handy trowel.

It took probably eight batches with the wheelbarrow, but I finally filled up my raised bed.

And there it is, my lovely 4' x 4' raised bed ready to fill with vegetables this week. Stay tuned to see what veggies get planted!