Free Water!

Ahhhh...rain barrels!

I've been meaning to blog about ours since we installed it a few weeks ago but I always come home & forget to take pictures! I assume tonight will be no different so the pictures shown here are from the manufacturer's website.

That's right folks: We went fancy & bought one pre-built. This was a "Mr. Radish"-task & I let him do it his way. Other options include the workshop in Arlington County (or for Fairfax residents, this one) which is a cheaper option. You could also 100% DIY. There are enough websites out there telling you how to do it.

However, these are things you need to keep in mind with the rain barrel:
-Food-grade plastic. If you've got a veggie garden, you definitely don't want anything leeching into that soil! If you don't, the stuff that lives in the soil would prefer it to be toxin-free. Recycling a food barrel is great idea.

-Spigot near the bottom. Mr. Radish couldn't quite understand the barrels that had the spigot 6 inches from the bottom of the barrel for "easier bucket filling." I mean, are you supposed to tip the barrel to get at that last 6 inches of water? Because, ya know, it's kinda attached to your drain pipe... Let's just call it a "design flaw". Also, the filling of the bucket issue is easily solved with putting the barrel on cinder blocks.

-Keep mosquitoes out! As the picture below shows, our rain barrel does not have an open top. A connection to the downspout and a pour spout are the only openings & they have caps. Other barrels with open tops have fine-mesh tops. Some with this kind put a layer of oil (oil rises to the top) to keep mosquitoes from laying larvae. But it's important if you have this kind of rain barrel to...

-...Have an overflow hose a few inches below the top of your barrel. This also prevents mosquitoes from having access to your rain water so they can lay their eggs. For those with rain barrels like mine, this is also important as the barrels fill up quickly in a rainstorm & you don't want all that water pressure to build.

So far, I'm loving ours! I only wish we could run a soaker hose on it, but I think that might be solved by a submersible pump. I'm also considering maybe getting another one. With us reclaiming our yard from wilderness (well, as "wilderness" as Arlington gets. I guess "years of neglect" would be a better term), we're going to need more water for the dry summer months. And I'd hate to have to pay for it!

Most Awesome Plant Finder Site of All-Time

Most of the plants I lust after are full-sun. Which would be fine if even a (non-veggie garden) corner of my yard had something even *close* to 6 hours of sun per day. But, I don't.

sigh.

Instead, I'm constantly on the search of part-sun/shade plants that look cool. It's even better if they *sorta* look like sun plants I love. It's hard, though. Many site, you're lucky if you can sort by zone and *maybe* sun tolerance. Then you're left to your own to wade through the shrubs, annuals, perennials, and biennials yourself. The sites that do allow you to search by plant type, zone and light requirements are often nurseries so the selection is limited to what they carry (and for part-sun/shade plants...it can get really limited).

Enter National Garden Association's Plant Finder. Whoa. You can even search by color of flower! Color of foliage! Special features! Bloom time! My search of zone 7, part-sun, perennials yielded FOUR pages of results.

It's like a dream come true...

Review: Book About Bugs

I have been looking for-ev-er for a decent books about bugs. And I mean, ALL sorts of bugs: the good, the bad and those outside the garden. I scoured the library and the local bookstore. Nothing.

Well, tonight, the stars aligned. I had looked on Amazon for a bug book & found one highly rated. It looked promising. Then, after dinner, I went to a different bookstore & lo! there it was. Of course, I could have saved a few bucks via Amazon but the instant gratification was just too much for me. So I bought it: Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs.

And, it's truly awesome. Lots of pictures. Easy understand info. The only downside to it, from my perspective, is that it's almost entirely identification information. It does not have how to get rid of bad bugs nor how to attract good bugs. That, I will have to look up elsewhere once identification is made. But, I'm stoked with it, nonetheless. There are these weird looking bugs that, thanks to this book, I believe are lady bug larvae.

RIP

Despite reading everything I could find on seed starting, attending a seed starting class, AND talking to all the veteran gardeners I knew, I had some pretty horrific casualties this year. The moisture pads that I bought to keep the plantlets watered during our vacation worked for many of the plants but notably, not my bergamot (sniff), parsley (sniff) or one of my thai basil (sniff). I have planted the scrawny surviving bergamot (which I had initially planned to discard) and a half-revived parsley, but I have little hope of them surviving.

Let's move on to peppers that were looking terrible BEFORE I even went on vacation. Three out of the 6 (or more. I've lost count) hot peppers survived unscathed: 2 cayenne & 1 thai pepper. One Kung Pao looks a bit pathetic (thanks aphids!), but I planted it anyway. My sweet peppers? Mostly gone. And I had like 8 of them! I think I was able to salvage 2. I've also bought additional sweet & hot pepper plants to get me up to my desired number.

And tomatoes? A Cherokee Purple just...well...shriveled up & died. For no reason I could really tell. I have little faith in my other tomatoes. They looked awful when we got back from vacation, but did perk up a bit with some more regular waterings. The Sungold Cherry Tomatoes are wicked tall & I don't think that's a good thing. The other Cherokee purple looks pretty sad, as do the Wonder Lights. However, I've planted all of these in hopes that something will come of them with good natural light, fertile soil and some fresh air. My fingers are crossed, but I've got little faith. A friendly freecycler, Karen, gave me some of her tomato seedlings in case mine are worthless. Thanks Karen!

All that said? I'll be starting seeds again next year, more experienced & wiser. I plan to germinate the tomato seeds like I did the peppers, get another grow light so that there can be more air circulation around the plants, try very hard not to let aphids in the house and not get emotionally attached to the plants. After all, I'm going to eat them!

How did your seed starting fair?

Busy, Busy Weekend. Full of Plants.

Happy Mother's Day to all those with spawn! With today being Mother's Day, you know what that means, right? Planting of the summer vegetables! Which, for now, are my babies. :)

It started out with pulling weeds which was infinitely easier given the 10 days straight of rain we've gotten. Most came out, roots & all, with a gentle tug.

Also, with the square foot garden don't-step-on-the-well-draining-soil mantra, I didn't even need a trowel to dig holes! After I dug said hole (with gloved hand), I put some water in the hole & then plopped in the plant, loosing the root ball when necessary. Next up, I surrounded the vegetables with crushed eggshells (most of my herbs aren't something that slugs would want to eat). Then, as another anti-slug measure, I sprinkled the area with Sluggo. Can you tell that I am anti-slug as well as anti-aphid?!? At least there is some preventative stuff you can do with slugs...

Which reminds me, so of my peppers STILL had aphids on them, the rat bastards. I planted some cilantro in the middle of them so hopefully that will eventually attract some ladybugs to the area (ladybugs feast on aphids). So, here's the garden plan(s):
(like the mood lighting?)

The Herb Garden. The middle part's plants are TBA.


And here it is planted:


The Vegetable Garden. Half isn't going to be used this year.


And here it is planted:


I ended up putting a row between the tomatoes & sweet peppers. Not sure if I'm going to plant there or place stones that I can stand on to easier tend the garden. The white pot contains a Old Fashion Rose scented geranium. It will live outside until winter, when I'll take it inside & put it near our sunniest window.

And just for fun the strawberry patch:

About a month ago


And now!


That's chamomile in the middle. Per the instructions on them, I'm snipping off the buds of all the junebearing this year in hopes of a bigger crop next year. I'll stop snipping off the buds of the everbearing mid-July.

Postcard from England: Hidcote Gardens

Last week the husband & I vacationed in the stunningly beautiful Cotswold District of England. Let me tell you, when the English say "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty," they ain't messing around. Seriously. This was the most naturally beautiful place I've ever been (The Alhambra is the most beautiful man-made place I've ever been).

I admit it, I got a little teary-eyed when we were driving away. If only I could find a job there....

*sigh*

Most of the houses in the Cotswolds seem to have the most charming gardens. Their yards, which aren't MUCH bigger than my 1/10 acre lot often include a small green house. Meaning, the English are serious about gardening, which I kinda knew, but then watched Bridget Jones' Diary & thought maybe that was a thing of the past.

One of my favorite places we visted was Hidcote Gardens, a National Trust Site. It was the home of Lawrence Johnston, a famous horticulturist. Hidcote is often described as one of England's great "Arts and Crafts" gardens. The garden itself is divided into "rooms" with each room having it's own theme (there's the Red Border, White, Upper Stream, etc.). I think we spent an hour and a half there and honestly, I could just pull up a tent & set up camp & live there forever. And, it should be noted, I don't really like camping. It's THAT beautiful.

Here are some photos that in no way accurately depict the loveliness that is Hidcote Manor Gardens (click on the photo to see it larger):

Bunny-Proof the Goods

There has been a lapse in my posts, and for good reason, I promise! Pinky-swear even! But, I'll go into that tomorrow (how's that for a cliff hanger, eh?)

So, you may have seen little cute, cuddy, hopping creatures around your garden. I know I have. Yesterday I saw a little baby bunny even! So cute, yet soooooooo not good for the garden given their vegetarian lifestyle and me growing, well, vegetables! What I wanted was something that was relatively attractive, removable and not too expensive.


My genius husband came up with the idea of creating "frames" like this: (Pardon the photo. It's raining outside! This was taken from a window inside)


You'll notice that the back of the bed on the fence side does not have a removable fence. Instead chicken wire is stabled to the bed's boards & support stakes. Basically, this was how this fence was made:


To be honest, it was really time consuming, but I'm happy with the results.