IF you are familiar with my garden networking there is no doubt you will agree I’m a seed addict. I love everything about seeds! How can anyone not love the experience of nurturing your own plants in your home & garden? Saving seeds from the plant and collecting new ones out on the market from various seed companies has helped me collect well over 1,000 different seeds which I keep neatly organized in my Seed Keeper Kit. In this collection I have over a dozen new zinnias to add to my collection this year in the cut flower garden. In this short article I want to share with you some basic tips that will help you plant more while staying accurate on your plant identification.
Basic Number System Identified by a Photograph
Lets face it, there is no excuse for not taking a photograph at least one time a day. Is there a cell phone out on the market that doesn’t have a camera? Why not use the basic principles of taking a photograph to better help your gardening experience?
Here is what you will need for this planting tip:
Sharpy
Seeds
Plant Marker
Camera
Tips on how to identify your seeds making for a quicker growing experience :
Organize your seeds into variety categories. ( Zinnias, Sunflowers, Cosmos, )
Each seed packet will be numbered with a matching plant identification marker (image above).
Take a quick photo of each packet with number clearly visible.
Save images in a file labeled with its category for easy reference as the plant grows.
When planting the seeds be sure to put the correct seed marker in the soil where you planted. ( last image).
No more confusion on which company, variety, color you used in your garden with this simple system I’ve been using for many years. I look forward to sharing some of these fabulous zinnias with you as I prepare to take them to flower shows this summer. This technique of organizing seeds has helped me plant MORE – whats not to love about having more flowers to enjoy?!
If you have a seed identification tip for mass planting that you would like to share I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.
It was a race to beat the storm on Wednesday as I ran out to the garden with my Nikon to capture some of the action. First on the list was to water the greenhouse goodies and move the flats of bedding plants I had waiting to go in the new greenhouse landscape project area. Boy was I kicking myself for spending over an hour of watering outdoor because within the next two hours we received 2 inches of rain in 1 hour!
Iris Fall From The Heavy Rain
Walking from the back deck where the containers of lantana and hibiscus bloom I’ve been building up the wood-line garden with perennials from what has been thinned from other gardens throughout my yard. Over the past two years this garden has totally taken off in size and color. When we first moved to the country I had only a few of the yellow iris. After a few years of thinning and giving each iris grouping room to grow the yellows in the garden have tripled. Unfortunately, as quick as they are opening this year they are falling over from the quick heavy rain storms we have been receiving.
Yellow is My Favorite Color
With a bloom like that yellow iris in the photo above how could YELLOW not be on your favorite list? Ever since my very first bike with the bright yellow banana seat the sunshine happy color has been my favorite.
In the wood-line landscape the newly built bird house that is attached to the top of the antenna tower we used for the wild rose shrub to climb. If you look close you will see what most likely will be blooming next Friday for a Flaunt on Tootsies ‘Fertilize Friday’.
My First Bloom Of 2011 – Proven Winners Cherry Pie Shrub Rose
As I walk over into the split rail garden surrounding the greenhouse growing area I notice a little hint of red coming from with in the lush green. Tucked in the green I find my first rose to bloom for 2011. My friends at Four Star Greenhouse were totally right when they told me this rose bush would not disappoint!
Little Red Lady Bug
I don’t see many ladybugs outside of my greenhouse so you can imagine the delight to see this glimpse of red running on this Indian Mix Bittersweet climber I have next to the rose shrub.
Mystery Native Shrub
I’ve been growing a few of the bush picture above in my landscape for well over a year. I don’t know the name of this beautiful grower but when I brought these to my garden they were little sticks from the County Conservation Group. These lush shrubs have to be trimmed back often because they are quick growers. I have a feeling I will have to move them out of this landscape grouping to grow on it’s own before the summers end.
IF YOU KNOW WHAT THIS SHRUB IS…. Please leave me a comment with the answer.
Verbascum Start To Bloom
A few shades of pink start to arrive in my late May garden.
View From The Bunny Barn
Next stop is into the greenhouse to snap a few photos of what I have yet to plant outdoors. The image above shows the bunnies view from the rabbitry that is attached to the greenhouse. I was anxious to get out and take a photo of those iris in full bloom.
Water The Block Floor to Keep The Temp Down
As you can see from the image above I still have plenty to do in the garden as far as getting the annuals and veggies in the ground. While this sun was out before the storm the greenhouse was well over 100*f. Getting the temperature to drop is very important and a major challenge. One trick I’ve learned is to water the floor to allow the humidity to climb and the temperature to drop at any where from 5 – 10 degrees.
The Raised Beds Just Outside The Bunny Barn Are Filled With Spring
I will admit I often find myself stopping at the door to study the view in the image above. A few spring bulbs and plenty of spring veggies and blooms are what fill these two 4′x4′ beds just outside the bunny barn door.
Iris Before The Rain
I should have titled the image above ‘ Iris Before The Fall’. The quick heavy rain we received in the past few days has knocked many of these beautiful iris to the ground. These are the blooms under the bunny barn windows complete with newly planted window boxes that have been recycled.
Is it just me or does it seem like when we are home with some time to spend in our gardens the time goes by so very fast? This weekend was totally one of those moments for me and my family as we spent most of our time dodging the storms and putting together a new space in my greenhouse landscape area. After the major construction of this project was complete we were able to steal a few moments before the work week began to kick back at the campfire and enjoy some scrumptious smores.
Just like a home I firmly believe a garden is never complete. We are always adding new extensions that make our surroundings accommodate our forever changing lifestyles. This section of the greenhouse landscape that we are creating in this project was anticipated from day one as we drew up the master plan. The idea of a trellis was introduced recently after talking with Melissa of Costa Farms arranging the #gardenchat schedule. The topic of May 23rd was set to be mandevilla’s and I couldn’t help but envision how these would be in the landscape project. After all, my Sun Parasol were amazing all winter long in the greenhouse this past year. wouldn’t it be great to plant a few in containers that would climb on the trellis in the summer and then be moved to the greenhouse for the winter? My husband constructed a heavy duty trellis out of treated 4″x4″s and some recycled fencing. The structure took 3 of us to move from the barn to the garden location. Safe to say: This structure isn’t going any where regardless of any spring storm!
The containers I chose for the the Mandevilla’s needed to be fairly large. I purchased a few 48″ round containers from a local garden center at a reasonable price. In the collage above I share what makes up my containers in this landscape project. First off be sure you use only the healthiest soil. I mix up my own blend which consists mostly of peat moss & bunny composting. I also save on soil by using the Ups-A-Daisy in my larger containers. This allows me to move the container much easier then if it was full of heavy soil. I would love to hear your container planting soil secrets so please share some thoughts at the bottom of this blog post!
Preparing the soil and planting the containers for the Mandevilla’s was super fun and easy job to do in this project. The next step was finding the right perennials and shrubs to go in this bed. I have a few white Knock-Out Roses and mini barberry shrubs that will go in this bed but I have a feeling I will be adding to this area of the garden most of the summer.
The Project via Mobile Uploads
It is my passion to share gardens ( including my own!) and learning from others on the social networks. The photo collage above are a few of the mobile upload shares during the project this weekend. I can’t wait to share these blooms as they grow this summer and hope to have inspired someone out there to try the mandevilla in their landscape.
And The #gardenchat Winner Is……
Three lucky participants in the #gardenchat / @costafarms giveaway were announced on Tuesday morning via the video below.
Congratulations to the winners of the #gardenchat giveaway!
I’m looking forward to documenting these Mandevilla’s as they grow this summer on my site. I hope you will share your climbers with me and if you add this spectacular plant to your landscape.
I can’t believe I’m sharing this snapshot – look at all those weeds! The rain and cooler weather has been keeping me inside for most of the week. Thanks to all the rain, the beds I had cleaned out are getting new growth as well as some new weeds popping up. This image above is just outside the mudroom and I have yet to do the clean up in this area for 2011.
Asian peas began their climb in the raised bed as the weeds in between the lettuce are easily removed in the collage above.
Rainbow Chard left to go to seed
Experimenting with this chard that I planted in the raised bed just outside the greenhouse. It really should have been harvested a week ago but I’ve let it go to see what would happen. After all the rain the past week I notice it appears to be getting ready to bloom. Could this be the start of seeds?
I would love to hear from you … how are you surviving all the cooler rain? Have you ever let lettuce or chard go to seed and been successful at using it?
Last year was the first year to experiment with growing a garden in raised bed structures. One of the hot topics on #gardenchat / Twitter was planting potatoes. With a little help from my friends online I was educated about how easy it was to grow all types of potatoes. After a successful season of growing my own Irish and Idaho spuds I must say it was super easy and as exciting as a surprise party! When I googled for information about planting potatoes I didn’t find one mention of how rustic and rich with flavor those spuds would be. The flavor in some of my family recipes were just amazing and I can’t wait to try more dishes and ways of preserving potatoes this year.
My girlfriend Rhonda stopped over the other day while I was attempting to plant potatoes again this year. I had some questions about planting the entire potato rather then cutting them in pieces and if I could reuse the potatoes that were coming up from last years harvest. It was a split vote when I asked on the social networks if I should leave those old potatoes in the raised bed to grow this year so I took all I could find out and planted them in a corner of the raised bed. Rhonda shared some tips with me on what her Father had taught her about growing potatoes and you can read that information by clicking on the image above.
More information about my soil by clicking on the image collage above
An important tip is to be sure that you plant your potatoes eye UP and use loose soil in your container or structure you are planting the spuds in. Last year we had a blast harvesting these potatoes finding more potatoes then I ever imagined could come from one location!
The greenhouse and landscape project is coming together quit nicely this spring. It is on our to-do list to get the left side of the landscape filled with another split rail fence featuring a trellis. I hope to have that in by early June. My hubby and I celebrate our 18th Wedding Anniversary this next weekend maybe I can some how tie that into our special day?!
Last Night on #gardenchat we welcomed Katie and Justin from Better Homes & Garden. I got to meet Justin in person this past March on my trip to Costa Farms for the Social Summit in Miami. I had a blast talking with him about his garden projects, the greenhouse / garden center he owns and operates in Iowa and all the fun things going on at Better Homes & Garden. IF you missed last night #gardenchat which was all about the latest plants for 2011, the transcript is located at#gardenchat transcript web page. Sometime today Better Homes & Garden will be announcing a winner from last nights #gardenchat. I can’t wait to see who will win the fabulous book collection featuring : Garden Doctor: Advice from the Experts,Yard & Garden Projects, Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book, Gardening Made Easy,Yard & Garden Owner’s Manual I will share more when the winner is announced.
WOULD LOVE TO HEAR from you if you clicked over to this link : share a comment or suggestion below!
Basic Number System Identified by a Photograph
Here is what you will need for this planting tip:
The high school band march to the ceremony down Main Street 
Rainbow Chard left to go to seed 
