Autumn Already?

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

The calendar says it is May 22. However, I have already received three catalogs with fall merchandise and delivery dates.

My first catalog arrived in April. My ordering from it was limited. The second to arrive was an iris catalog. Beth and I picked out three selections from it. We are aiming for height, fragrance and color. Our choices were one blue, one white, and one gold. I have submitted the order, and the labels are Brailled. An August 27 ship date is expected, which means delivery in early September–a fine time for planting iris. 

The third catalog is large, and contains over 50 pages of tulips, plus other spring bulbs for fall delivery and planting. So far, I am a little disappointed in the hyacinth selection, but with at least six catalogs still to come, I am far from worried. In previous years I have told Beth “I’m not going to force so many bulbs next year.” I did not make that promise this winter or spring.  In the current catalog I am reading, I have found the paper-white narcissus Beth enjoys, along with the Dutch Master daffodils which should bloom indoors by Beth’s birthday. Also in this catalog, Beth has found some blue allium I will order for her. I will not force them. Three cultivars of hyacinths are also on the order list.

The main emphasis in the garden over the past two weeks is water, water, water. Beth watered a variety of flowers last night and this morning, and I will water any potted plants she did not get to after work. This effort will continue until we are blessed with rainfall again.

What’s New?

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

It is always an adventure reading the seed catalogs, gardening magazines and touring the local greenhouses for new plants. Many catalogs have their new entries prominently displayed toward the front of the catalog. Magazines have new items featured in their winter columns.

Seeing pictures, or reading about the new plants does not compare to actually going to the greenhouses to see what is available. Two new items displayed at a greenhouse where Beth and I went for the first time on May 8 caught our eye.

Beth does not like peonies. In our small area, peonies are not a priority for me. Many of the neighbors have them, and if I have a hankering to smell their flowers, I can walk along a sidewalk near 73rd and Willshire to have my fill. I do have a fern leaf “Mother’s Day Peony” given to us by a friend. It has a favored place in the north part of the old perennial bed. Its flower petals are silky smooth, and its ferny foliage unique. Although everything else was exceedingly early, ours bloomed fairly close to its scheduled time, near Mother’s Day in mid-May.

Traditional peonies come in red, pink, white, or a combination of these colors. They also come in single or double forms. When I lived on Seneca, I had a little of all of these varieties.

Imagine Beth’s surprise when she saw a bright, sun-yellow peony blooming at this greenhouse. Its flower form, fragrance and leaf form were traditional in nature. I figured it was a pastel yellow, but Beth assured me it was bright, more like a yellow daffodil. The plant was healthy; the price was healthy as well. Later Beth saw more of these at another location, at even a higher price.

Even though our gardening budgets were stretched, we purchased this new cultivar. I do not know its cultivar name. A lilac bush had died in the perennial bed, and I was looking for a shrub called “Rose tree of China” to replace it; my attempts were unsuccessful. The peony was planted out immediately upon its arrival at the house. It has not rained since then, but it has received two 2-gallon watering cans of water from me, and will continued to be babied throughout this year. 

When I planted the peony, all the roots and soil tumbled out of the pot in a loose pile. It was in a large container, so my fear is that I planted it too deep; this may mean no blooms in subsequent years. Over-watering is not a concern of mine at this time.

And only a few feet from the yellow peony was a pastel pink iris, which was unique to Beth. Its cultivar name is “magic returns” and we’ve since seen it in an iris lover’s catalog that arrived a few days after we purchased the plant. The iris had two long, tall stems that required immediate staking. I can imagine colors, but there was no imagining its magnificent flower form, and its strong iris fragrance. Form and fragrance for me, visual beauty for Beth–definitely a winner! Iris are planted shallow, as their rhizomes are prone to over-watering and rot. A crabapple tree that was dying was removed last fall, leaving a sunny spot in the back; tailor-made for this sun-loving beauty. While I planted (with the iris leaning against a fence for support) Beth got a wooden trellis and string. The trellis was “planted” along with the iris, and when I stood up, Beth tied the flower stalks to the trellis before they could fall over. These flowers will die soon, but I’ll leave the stalks as markers for next year. If the old flowers form seeds, I’ll cut them off, so the energy goes into the leaves and rhizomes. 

One of the Shasta daisies I purchased is new to me, but not to the trade. Its cultivar name is “banana cream”. Beth tells me the daisies open light yellow, but will fade to white. Their large flowers are what attracted me to this cultivar. I checked on it yesterday (with watering can in hand) and it continues to do well.

Vacation Planting

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

I took the week of May 7-11 off for vacation. The weather was beautiful, and I spent a considerable time in the garden. We had 1.2 inches of rain on May 6, which was of great benefit.

I had purchased seven large tomato plants on April 28. I potted the cherry tomato earlier. On May 5, I planted the six large plants. Since they are along the west edge of the eastern leg of the garden, I had two corners to help me begin the row. My trusty Braille yardstick was again at its job, along with a large trowel. Beth read the labels, I planted them in a row, north to south, as I desired. I had them in a large pan of water on the patio, which meant they were very wet. I like to set my plants in wet, as it will become dry in the garden soon enough, and any water boost I can give them will be helpful. The plants were easy to set in their holes, and soil replacement was also easy. I did not use a row of string for this purpose. After planting, I went near the patio, found 6 tomato cages, and set them up on that same day. I placed the tomatoes 2 feet from the west edge, and placed them 2 feet apart.

Eggplant and ground cherries were planted just east of the tomatoes–two feet to be exact. I used an old row of string that was still intact to achieve this task. Again, the Braille yardstick measured the distance of one foot between plants. This time I started at the south end, working north. I had a little space on the north end of this row, where I placed cucumber and summer squash seeds. They are too close together and too thick, but we’ll see what germinates, and I’ll thin as need be.

I noticed that there was plenty of room further west, on the eastern edge of the old perennial bed. It was off to a garden center on May 7, to purchase acorn squash and pumpkin plants. Four additional sweet banana peppers were also purchased to go into pots. They were planted on the 7th, even though the soil was a little wet. I knelt in the well-mulched perennial bed to prevent compaction.

May 5 was also the day for a box of perennials to arrive from a mail order catalog. They were immediately placed in the water bath as well, and planted on the 7th in the afternoon. Since they were placed in the apple tree and pine tree gardens, for the most part, I knelt in the grass to dig their holes. I did not use a yardstick, string or sticks for this purpose. Their placement was random, wherever there was room. Three of the plants went into the old perennial bed to replace plants that had not survived earlier plantings in previous years.

Tuesday, the 8th, was the day to go to 3 out-of-town garden centers. Two of them were new to Beth and me. One had a few sweet woodruff plants left, which I purchased, and planted under the magnolia tree that afternoon. Another had some nice Shasta daisy plants, and some good-looking raspberry plants which went into the car as well. The third had some new items, which I will discuss in a subsequent blog. After time in the water bath, the daisies went into the apple tree garden. The raspberries were not planted until Thursday, along the south garden fence. Again, I placed them where there was the most room for them.

Late on the morning of May 9, I set forth to plant green beans–one of Beth and my favorites. These were planted west and south of the tomatoes, on the south side of the garden, south of Beth’s bench and footstool. I started on the south end, and worked north. I used the tomatoes for my eastern border, and in large part, the apricot tree determined the western border. I began 14 inches from the south fence, placed my sticks and strings in place, dug a furrow with my hoe without a handle, and went to work. The north row had the fence behind Beth’s bench as its northern border.

As I write this, it has not rained for twelve days. Many of our plantings this spring are in the hurt bag. We have never seen it dry out so fast! We thought there was plenty of subsoil moisture, but we may have been wrong. Timing may be a part of this as well, as our long-established plants don’t seem to be suffering yet. Our water bill will definitely be higher next month. All forecasts indicate that rain is not likely for at least the next two weeks.

Weekend Planting

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

As I figured, the ground was ready for planting by Saturday afternoon at 3:00. I knew the garden was too wet to walk in, but there were plenty of other areas that needed attention. The grass was dry, the soil was damp, and I was off and running.

I had purchased two giant raspberry plants a week earlier, and I was dreading their transplant, due to their size, and the soil in the area where I planned to put them. However, the recent rain had made my life easy. I knew where I wanted to place them, and had carried the pots out to the area during the previous evening. They were just on the south side of the garden fence. One area was marked by a wooden trellis, the second by a tomato cage. With trusty spade in hand, and fifteen minutes of hard work, they were both planted in the ground at their proper depth, over a foot deep. When I thought I was close to the right depth, I took the berries out of their pots, and placed them in the hole. If the fit was comfortable and snug, the soil went in around them; if not, I just dug a little deeper. I placed the extra soil in a pile to their right when I planted them. Since these plants will grow in an area that is fairly weedy, the extra soil hurts nothing. If I’d planted these in a flower bed, I’d have placed the extra soil in a five gallon bucket.

My next job was to plant “the old plastic bed” as Beth and I now call it. This is a raised bed on the east side of the house. It is a divided bed; Beth gets the west part, I get the east part. With my Braille yardstick and trowel in hand, I began to mark off spots for some annuals. Before long, gerbera daisies, New Guinea impatiens, mixed dwarf border dahlias and tiny yellow marigolds had their spaces, and were planted. The rows are not quite straight, but the plants really don’t care. In addition to this, each plant will grow at a different rate, and nothing will look straight after a while anyway. I snuck some gladiolus around the edges as well. Since the soil was very loose, I just pressed them down. The soil collapsed to a depth of about 6 inches. After this, I just made sure they were amply covered. There is a little room in the front in case I purchase some annuals at the Polk County Master Gardener’s plant sale this weekend.

I still had a few things to place in the new plastic raised bed as well. I have elephant garlic around the edges, which is doing nicely. Along the extreme edges, and in the middle, I planted more gladiolus corms. I finished this bed by placing about ten amaryllis bulbs in the open spaces. Again, the Braille yardstick was a great help here. Since the soil was new and loose, the bulbs were easy to plant.

Late Sunday morning was cool, cloudy and a little windy–again a great time to plant to minimize transplant shock. This time I started in the herb garden, planting four basil, and one cilantro. These are fragrant herbs, and easy to identify. I also took this occasion to do a little weeding. Spearmint continues to grow in the garden at a prolific pace. I’ve placed several transplants near to where I planted the raspberries the day before. It is doing so well that I simply pull all the spearmint out of the herb garden now. If nothing else, it comes up easy, and the leaves are tasty.

My last task on Sunday morning was container planting. I placed the Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant in a large pot. Since it was a little tall, I placed it deeply in the pot, rammed two plastic stakes into the ground along the edge, and tied the tomato plant to the stakes. I have a ball of string in the garage, and a folding scissors in my pocket; these two items frequently prove very handy. This pot was put in the north east corner of the old perennial garden.

A large geranium was the next container planting. I filled the transplant pot quite full of potting soil, and after placing the geranium in the pot, placed a few more handfuls of potting soil around the edges.  It too, was placed near the cherry tomato.

Last, and certainly not least, were the three carnations. I filled this pot almost full of potting soil, as these plants were quite small. They went into the garden area beside the tomato and geranium.

In still another respect, this is a joyful time of the year. Monday evening, while my barbecue ribs, fresh carrots and crescent rolls were baking in the oven, we decided to move some plants out of the sun room, and into the rock area near Beth’s bench and footstool. Hawkeye Bob was there to read, and we made him earn his dinner. We wheeled two large oleanders out in the lawn cart, followed by four large citrus trees. Beth noted a large tangerine hanging from one of the trees. I pronounced it ready to eat, and pulled it off the tree. Too bad–it was too ready to eat. The fruit was shriveled and dry; it was only good for compost. There is also a lemon hanging on, definitely hard and too green to pick, just a bit smaller than a golf ball. Following the four large citrus trees we carried three smaller ones out to this same area. Beth told us where she wanted them, as she’d moved the bench and stool for this purpose. Tuesday night we moved the two clivia miniata (kafir lilies) out into the yard in a sunny area just south of the magnolia tree. Late next week the aloe vera and Christmas cactus will come out onto the patio table. We also have four scented geraniums to take outdoors, into an area yet to be determined. We know they will need plenty of sun, so they may need to wait for a weekend so we can determine their best spot.

Shopping for Plants

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

After a half of inch of rain Friday night, and a cool and cloudy start to Saturday, Beth and I figured it was time to shop for more garden plants. Perhaps if the rain held off for the entire day, it might be dry enough to plant on Saturday afternoon.

Beth and I had planned to make these two greenhouse stops in conjunction with an upcoming vacation. However, since the weather wasn’t fit to work outdoors, we decided to get a jump on things.

I had a small list for our first stop. Customarily, Beth shops around while I get help at this garden center. On this occasion, Beth knew what I wanted, and knew where the plants were located. In no time at all Beth and I picked out tomato plants, one 4-pack of peppers, a dozen plastic stakes, and some marigolds.

My primary purpose at our second stop was for me to pick out a Mother’s Day pot of geraniums, or a large begonia. Beth had an extensive plant list, so I simply followed her around, and looked at the merchandise. I ended up selecting a large pot of violet colored geraniums. While browsing through the perennials, I selected three carnations that looked good. Beth made sure I found one red, one white, and one pink, as I planned to pot them in a large container together.

It is not difficult for a blind person to pick out preferred plants at a greenhouse. I knew what cultivars of tomatoes I wanted, and I knew I wanted large plants. Here were my criteria: tall and straight plants, no wilted leaves on the bottom, and leaves that were large and firm. My cultivars this year will be 1 sweet 100 cherry tomato, one whopper, two big beef and three big boy. Most of them will wait until the ground warms up just a bit more.

I wanted sweet banana peppers, and when Beth found them, I picked out the 4-pack I wanted by touch. Stout and straight plants with plenty of leaves were what I was looking for. Tall and lanky plants were left at the store.

I used the same criteria for the marigolds. They are a small variety, so I wanted small, sturdy and bushy plants. It was easy to feel various plants and pick out the packs I wanted. In this case color didn’t matter, and I left that up to Beth.

There is an ongoing debate as to whether your annuals or perennials should be blooming. I really don’t care. In all likelihood, I’ll pinch off the flowers anyway. It is the general health and vigor of the plants that are my first points of interest. The carnations were bushy, and the ones that were in bloom were really past their prime, in my opinion. But the carnations in bloom did have an advantage–they sure smelled good. The smaller, sturdier ones will bloom in good time, so no real problem here.

Cloudy and cool weather makes for a great planting environment.  It did not rain from Saturday morning until after lunch on Sunday. I’ll write about that in future blogs.

Weekend Work

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

It was a cold, cloudy and misty weekend; but the outdoor work continued.

Fortunately, by Saturday afternoon the mist had ended, but it was still cloudy and cool. I was debating as to whether to have a long nap, or work outdoors. I had promised Beth I’d plant two potentillas for her in her new front yard beds. I agreed on a compromise–plant the bushes, then nap.

Beth placed the two plants in her gardens where she wanted them. Finding them was easy. Before I dug the hole with my trusty spade, I made a trench around the pot then put the pot in back of me to get it out of the way. I also had a 5 gallon bucket to collect extra soil. With the trench in place, I had the assurance that the hole I dug would be wide enough. When I was done, the width was not a problem, but the depth was. I determined this by placing the pot back into the hole. Its rim was still above the ground, so I simply dug deeper. All of these steps can be done by touch. Once proper depth was achieved, I simply turned the pot upside down, and the bush came out. Like most nursery stock, these two plants were root bound, and they came out in one big hunk.

After placement in the hole, I dumped about half of the soil from the bucket and surrounded the new planting with it. I tamped it down with my hands, and poured some more. After the hole was full and leveled, I watered it in with a two gallon watering can. This was also on site before I began digging.

The second potentilla was easier, as I could guess at the proper depth I needed. When the hole was dug, I placed the potted plant in it, and pronounced it “perfect.” I watered it in, and took the two empty pots to the back, as we may need them for a raised bed sometime in the future.

Friday I received a box of daylilies from a new supplier. When ordering this stock, you never know what might arrive. I know I paid a pretty price for them, and in this case, it was “you get what you pay for.” There were five bunches of daylilies, all plainly tagged for Beth to read. There was a fifth bundle, and this must have been a “free gift.” These were excellent plant specimens. I had four labels already made up, and I placed each lily and its Braille tag in a separate bag. The fifth one was placed in a bag without a label.

After planting Beth’s potentilla, I felt energized. I had plenty of places for the daylilies in the apple tree garden. The clumps were shallow rooted, and with a large trowel, they were easy to plant. Since their planting, I have prepared a fifth Braille label, and the next time I am in the area, I’ll search for the one without a label, and place it accordingly. Since all five cultivars are planted in the same general area, this will be an easy task.

From another mail order catalog I received a shipment of eight elephant garlic bulbs and three tuberoses. I couldn’t wait–the elephant garlic was placed in my new raised bed Friday night; the tuberoses remain in the garage, as they are not hardy enough to go outdoors yet.

We don’t just plant this time of the year. It is mostly transition time between the cold hardy plants and the ones which require warm weather like tomatoes and peppers. So, late Sunday morning, despite a cloudy sky, drizzly weather and a stiff wind, we decided it was time to do a little fence mending. Beth opts for pretty, I opt for functional. As a team, we both get our way. We finished shortly before noon, and although it isn’t pretty, it is much better. Some of the plastic posts were bent; some of the wood posts were broken. In addition to this, part of the fence was uneven and was a couple of inches off the ground; this gap would allow rabbits in–definitely a no-no. When I mulched, I placed some of the mulch too close to the fence, and this is now corrected. This will be an ongoing task that Beth and I will attend to from time to time.

On Monday nights, I have a reader who stops by for dinner. This gives Beth a night off, and I get to hear lots of sports stuff that does not interest Beth. So, before I made dinner I snuck in a row of kohlrabi. Beth had found some seeds at Menards during a previous visit. The sticks and string were already in place, and fortunately, they had not moved. It didn’t take long to prepare a small trench with my hoe without a handle, rip open the seeds, spread out with my hand, and fill in the trench. I moved the markers a foot west, where they will be ready for the next row. While planting the kohlrabi, I felt a couple of feet to the east and found the potatoes are starting to pop up nicely. The Brussels sprouts and broccoli plants continue to do well.

Beth bought a sweet spire bush for the front of the new gardens in the front yard. I hope to get it in this week. While we were shopping on Sunday afternoon, I found two beautiful raspberry plants in two large pots. The weekend promises to be rainy and cold, but since I will plant these south of the south garden fence, I hopefully can plant them between the raindrops. Then if the weather warms next week, I’ll start planting out the hardiest annuals.

Weekend Garden Duties

By Roger Erpelding
Contributing Writer

After the 0.8 of rain I dumped from the gauge after Friday’s rain, and all the rain in the forecast, I wondered if I’d get anything done out in the yard and garden. Despite the forecast, and the Saturday night storm, lots of things got done.

The soil was wet, but not muddy, on Saturday morning. I was full of ambition, so by 8:00 that morning I was out in the yard. I had noticed that the Baby Iris were not doing well under the lilac bushes. Too much clay in the soil and too much shade were the likely culprits. What a great time to grab the large trowel, get under the plants, place them in a bucket, and transplant them somewhere else.  Their long, narrow and sword-like leaves made them easy to find. They were transplanted to a sloped area, just south of the south garden fence. This is a drier environment with poorer soil, and with more sun; hopefully, they will do well.

The ground was wet, and so was the foliage; be that as it may, it was a great time to dead head the hyacinths, tulips and daffodils. I only broke off the tops of those spring bulbs with seed heads on them. These were easy to find by touch, and they came off easily by hand. I had clippers just in case, but in this instance, they were not needed.

Last summer a neighbor gave us soil, as he was clearing off part of his yard for a patio. This soil was wet, but not muddy–a perfect time to fill up several large pots with this loose soil. They will hold peppers when the plants arrive later this spring. In the meantime, I placed them in the garden where they will remain until freeze up next autumn.

A friend and fellow Master Gardener had brought by three pots of sweet woodruff on Thursday evening. Again, this was a perfect morning to place them in a shaded area under the magnolia tree. Beth put the pots where she wanted them, and I quickly placed them in their new home.

Part of our program to remain certified as Master Gardeners is to have at least 6 hours of volunteer work. This will increase to 12 in 2013. Meeting this requirement has been easy, as Beth and I agreed last year to take over the “Sunshine Plaza Garden” at the Demonstration Garden in Urbandale. A clean-up day was scheduled for 9:00 on April 14. Due to the above activities, I was a little late, but no one was keeping time. Our duties on this occasion consisted primarily of weeding. There were weeds in the garden, around the shed, between the plaza bricks, and along the fence. The daffodils also needed dead heading. An hour and a half later, our mission was accomplished.

The big rain and wind storm of Saturday night caused a little more work on Sunday. A large limb from the magnolia tree was felled. This wood is rather soft and brittle, so after lunch on Sunday I broke it up into small pieces. I sawed the main limb with a small hand saw. This debris is now in two bundles, is tied up, and ready for pick up at the curb whenever pick up occurs, probably on Friday. The afternoon work was concluded by transplanting 7 Lily of the Valley clumps into small pots for the Windsor Heights plant exchange on May 12. If they don’t survive, we’ll dig up more that are growing in the lawn. Their thickly matted roots, and limited space, made this a tough job, but Beth and I got it done. The 2.8 inches of rain which fell Saturday evening did aid in getting this task done.

Late that morning, while it was still too wet to work in the yard, we ventured forth to a greenhouse that had told me they had sweet woodruff plants. By the time we got there they were sold out, but they will be getting more in; we are now on their “call list.” However, while we were there, I did pick up some plants for one of my flower beds–marigold, New Guinea Impatiens, and gerbera daisies. I said I wouldn’t do it, but there was a magnificent geranium that I bought–I just couldn’t resist. I had expressed “geranium burn out” to Beth earlier in the spring, but this one had my name written all over it. Beth tells me that it is a salmon pink. I will place it in a larger pot later this spring. In fact, before I quit outdoor work yesterday, I did pick out a nice clay pot, and fill it half full with potting soil in preparation for this event.