Dear Friends and Gardeners, March 29, 2010

Dear Carol, Mary Ann and all of our friends,

Good Morning Sunshines!

That’s how my mother would greet me nearly every school day.  I, not a morning person, found her greeting disingenuous, but I’m reminded of it as I watch the sun spread his rosy fingers over the landscape outside my window.

Another day begun.  Another chance to get outside and garden.

This week sizzled lightning fast because there was so much to do.  I planted part of the potager with cold weather veggies:  red swiss chard, red cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and collard greens.  In Oklahoma, with our early onset of warm weather, these must either be started inside, or bought as plants.  I noticed several nurseries still had plenty of potatoes, onion sets and early spring vegetable plants.  Why not get some for your own garden space?

I also planted some herbs around the edge:  lemon thyme, rosemary, flat leaf parsley and regular chives.  I will NOT be planting any Allium tuberosum (garlic or Chinese chives).  I once bought one plant a hundred years ago, and they’ve gone forth and multiplied everywhere.  The only cure is to dig them, and their roots are very deep.  Unfortunately, they now migrated into the pasture where they continue their march on tangled, fibrous roots.  We mow them regularly to keep them from setting seed.  To the man who sold them to me, I would like to . . . well, I better not say.

In the other potager bed, the purple onion sets are starting to break ground along with the pak choy.  In the back garden, I thinned the turnip greens and the radishes.  I also noticed the Alaska shelling peas are about an inch high.

HH and I drove about an hour to Yukon last Saturday searching for the fountain to be placed in the center of the potager.  We found it, and it’s not blue, but instead red with a splash of yellow.  The color just called to me, so out with the old idea and in with the new.  I think I’ll put blue Indonesian river rock around the bottom.

I also bought a large container which, at first, I was going to use as a basin, but now, I’ve changed my mind.  Instead, I’ll place it at a corner of the garden and put something else in it.  Around the bottom of the fountain at the edges, I think ‘Gold Mound’ lantana should grow to highlight the splash of gold around the urn’s rim.  After writing this, I went outside, and I now like the basin if the urn is lifted upward with stone.  I’ll think on it some more.

It’s okay to change one’s mind.  Still waiting on the grasses to plant at the edges of the garden to soften the hardscape.

For everyone in Oklahoma, it’s still too early to plant tomatoes.  Just wait.  I know it’s hard, but they don’t like cold nights.  In a week or two, you can set them out.  Hang in there.  It is time to feed your roses which I’ll be doing later this week.  I still have a few to prune.

This week is also a busy one culminating in Easter. Hope you’re getting started in your gardens.  Write and let me know how spring is treating you.