Yummy Romaine Garden that was Easy to Grow

While you are out enjoying the amazing spring weather hitting most of the Midwest this weekend be sure to think of gardening in your own space. It doesn’t matter if you have a big space or small space to garden Romaine lettuce is one the easiest veggies to grow this time of year. You can find starter plants of lettuce at most garden centers or I would encourage you to try growing them from seed. I’ve had the best results from Territorial Seed Company Romaine Mix in my garden and greenhouse where I grow lettuce year-round.

In the top image on this blog post I’ve mixed romaine lettuce I grew from seed, Gerbera Daisy from my friends at Costa Farms and Pansies from a local IGC. I love mixing it up because this is what gardening is to me!

Have fun and try growing something to bring to your dinner table this season!

Click On the Image for Recipe Details

At the age of 12 years old if you would have asked me if I liked strawberries my answer would have been a quick to change the subject NO.   My history with the berry started in my preteen days when my parents had recently moved to the ‘country’ and decided they were going to be farmers.   Clearly in their minds it wasn’t the 100,000 acre feed a nation farmer but rather like the movement we call hobby farming today.  My parents grown from seed garden was in the full sun backyard  home on our 2 acre lot located off of a Michigan dirt road.  I love the state of Michigan but the ugly cloud of my parents strawberry garden is always there raining on my happy memories.   You see, my parents planted berries in this huge garden as newbies and sent their four older children ( which included me) out to weed it.   Sad to say, I wasn’t listening when my parents shared what was the actual berry plant and I ‘weeded’ a few of them.  After experience the ‘wrath of my Father’ I was not a big fan of berries not to mention anything to do with growing your own food.

This is the only image I have from a mobile tweet share of my healthy strawberry patch 2011.

As I grew up and found myself growing into a garden that fit my adult life you can imaging my excitement to have my own space to try growing strawberries.  After talking to a few of the local growers I had decided on the June berry variety.   Click over to my post to see the amazing harvest I was enjoying with my family until the ’2011 berry plant massacre’ .  Last summer after my husband finished off his sprayer mix of pesticides in his orchard area in my strawberry patch I couldn’t even walk past my strawberry patch without tearing up.

My June Berry Plants in April 2012

My solution to the pesticide ( name of )  that had basically fried that beautiful green in the image I feature above was to pull out all the remaining green on the surface of this area and begin washing the area with hopes of saving a few plants.   I begin mixing in bunny compost and fresh soil but didn’t expect to get any crop from this area in 2011.  After my husband spent the entire summer feeling really bad about what he had done to my beautiful strawberry patch we don’t bring up the subject.  It is now a given for him to not  come any where near my  portions of our yard with his remedies of growing things.

 Strawberry Top Dressing Mix

Last night I finished up the weeding in the strawberry patch and added a compost mix I put together using what I have at home that is all natural. The mixture in was basically a 1/2 wheel barrow of bunny compost that had sat for a few months, 1/4 wheel barrow full of soil from one of my raised beds and 1/4 wheel barrow of all natural ( organic) peat moss that I use in my seed starting mix.  I carefully worked this wheel barrow mixture in between the plants in the patch.

Berry Patch with Pine Needle Mulching

The next thing I did was rake up some pine needles from under one of our larger trees near the garden to lay in between the plants.  I figure this will help hold moisture ( if we get any rain!) and also help keep the weeds out of the bed for minimal weeding chores.

Generous Sprinkle of Deer Away Mix

The last step before putting the wheel barrow away was to sprinkle a good helping of this Messina Animal Stop product on the bed.  It smells really nice so I’m not sure how this will keep the deer from nibbling on my plants but I will for sure keep you posted on if this works.

My Strawberry Patch 2012

After all my hard work this afternoon I’m  hoping  this will guarantee a harvest later in the grow season  because I really love being able to prepare a few jars of jam and mouth watering recipes with the berries I grow myself!

I was inspired to share this post on Friday to contribute to my friend Glenda’s Fertilize Friday.  Be sure to stop over to her site at check out all the wonderful flowers her friends are sharing on this day.

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Spring in My Ohio Garden

Spring has sprung super early in most of the Midwest gardens this year due to unseasonable warm temperatures.  It has been exciting to see all the green that isn’t usually present in my typical spring photography shares from my garden.  Today to contribute to the Fertilize Friday blogger event that takes place every week at my friend Glenda’s site - TootsieTime.com Ive shared the image above.    I’m excited to see the deep colors coming from that peonies tree in my greenhouse landscaping.  I purchased that perennial while visiting with my friend Danielle in Seattle.  She had taken me to some amazing Seattle garden centers while I was in town for the 2011 North West Flower and Garden Show.  If you’d like to see more of my Ohio Spring Garden please click over to my photo album slide show I’ve uploaded to my website at BGgarden.com/Ohio Spring Garden.

I’m not sure what that white plant is blooming just below the peonies tree so if you can help me out by leaving a comment or tweeting to me at BGgarden on Twitter that would be AWESOME!

Seed Rack Featuring Martha Stewart Basics

As Spring quickly approaches the seasonal isle in my local stores start filling up with seeds.  It seems like more retail locations in my area are catching on to the growing seed frenzy because I’m noticing displays in various new locations this year.  The image shared to the left is the new Martha Stewart collection I snapped while at Home Depot last week.   Marthas’ collection is keeping it simple featuring many of the basic seeds for veggie and flower gardens.

When I think basics while collecting my seeds to start in the greenhouse I’m thinking cold harvest favorites that can be started in March in the raised beds.  As long as the soil in these beds are unfrozen and turn-able, I will be starting various swiss chard, onions, peas, radishes and lettuce.  My favorite spring blooms like allisum and pansies will be started in the greenhouse for a late April planting out in that cold frame bed.
Share Fertilizer Friday

Not Sure What This Would Do For My Soil Experience

This year I’m noticing more gismos like this soil tester collection by Ferry Morris.  If you are reading my blog and can help me or direct me to some information you would recommend about these kits /  tools I would be greatly appreciative because I’m not sure how these would help me and my growing experience.

This large but extremely lightweight bag of soil m alternative by Burpee is labeled eco-friendly and made from coconut fibers.  I mix up my own soil that is mostly made up of broken down compost from our rabbits we raise here in the garden – greenhouse.  I’m curious to find out more about this product so I wouldn’t be surprise if by the end of the seasons I’ve purchased a bag just to be able to cure my curiosity.    If you’ve used this product … I’d love to hear from you!

Before I break into song and dance ‘ these are a few of my favorite things!’…..  I want to recommend these garden treasures that I highly recommend for any garden.  This variety of Allysum was just amazing last year.  The blooms trailed out of my raised beds draping almost 8″ reminding me of the Proven Winner variety : Snow Princess.   Last year I forgot to start my Cardinal Climber and summer in the veggie garden just wasn’t the same.  This beautiful vine pairs up great on a trellis with the Burpee seedless cucumber vine.   When the cucumber is done in early July due to the heat of the summer the cardinal vine will help shade it promising a few more blooms as well as cover up the dying cucumber with its lush green leaves and striking red blooms all the way into the first frost.

Sorry for the dark cell phone images but this time of year from the greenhouse that is what you will find on my site.   While the sun is out and the greenhouse is heating up to the high 80*s I’m too busy cleaning , planting and maintaining the green growing in the greenhouse.   In the image above you will see the new leaves arriving on most of my hibiscus and lime shrub as well as recycled Proven Winner containers being used to winter over some of my favorite herbs and annuals.   The orange crown is a gift from my greenhouse sister up in Canada.  I’ve had this treasure which lights up in the evening as a lucky reminder that there is someone growing along with me up in Canada -  Thank you sister Glenda!

On Tuesday, February 28th I ask that you join Glenda and myself at 6:30 p.m. ET on the Growing Success Webinar being sponsored by Corona Tools.  Glenda of Tootsie Time .com and I will be sharing information about growing year-round.  Stop over at the Corona Tools Website  to register for this event and find out about the other free web sessions that have been  going on this past week.
Webinar ID: 623-367-526 – Growing Year-Round – hosted by Brenda Haas and Glenda Duchak  – 6:30 PM ET

This is the Ball : Durango Flame French Marigold
I think my favorite Fertilize Friday / Flaunt Your Blooms shares that I participate in on my garden friend Glenda’s site take place in the winter. In the summer it is hard to decide which bloom I’ll pick from the garden to talk about. In the winter when the garden is covered with snow it is fun to think Fertilize Friday and share the first blooms that come to mind from summer past.

Gaillardia ‘Mesa Yellow’ F1 : 2010 AAS Flower Award Winner

This Gaillardia was a AAS Award Winning Seed in 2010 and a winner in my garden and greenhouse in 2011.  I grew this bloom featured in the image above from seed.  You can imaging my excitement to see this beauty in many of the gardens I visited this past summer.

Gamolepis chrysanthemoides / African Bush Daisy, Daisy Bush, Paris Daisy

This African Bush Daisy  dances with the shrubs in my new landscape around the greenhouse.  I’m hoping the six plants I moved into the greenhouse make it so they can do the garden dance in 2012.   This beauty is from Costa Farms.

This is my Friday Flaunt for Friday 13.  Friday was ‘bad luck’ because I was too busy to post and this is going live on early Monday.     I hope you will take the time to visit my dear friend Glenda and her amazing growing year-round , interior and garden shares.

Click on Each Image To View a Few Thoughts