A Dark and Rainy October
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: www.kaxe.org
Topic: Fall Monsoon?
We are waiting for the sun here in northern MN.  I am tempted to start piling up some leaves but am certain that more will fall.  We have gotten five inches of rain in the last three weeks. Time to keep thinking Sunny! I have been collecting seeds in my loyal kayak when we are not planting shores and yards.  At least I don't have to water the plants in! I have a new view from my new drawing room window in our loft we had built above our garage.  I was cramming in too many plants in the root cellar.  It will be fantastic to have 9 new sunny windows that is when old Sol decides to shine again!  Come on Sun!

Dog Daze
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Peace and quiet
Topic: monsoon continues

Tis the season for more weedin' all right.  There must be some zen in weeding involving getting all the muscle groups working together like a well oiled machine.  Some of the jewelweed in the raspberry patch are approaching 7 ft.  tall.  Off with their heads.  I prune them off at ground level and use the tops as mulch.  Thankfully they have not gone to seed yet or it wound be a jewelweed forest. 

Planting some late season turnips, spinach, carrots this week come hell or high water...

Jasmine our Jack Russell/Rat terrier cross is ten months old this week.  We had a super early morning treat together yesterday.  She sat patiently waiting on a downed log next to the most abundantly loaded serviceberry trees I have ever seen. Jasmine likes serviceberries or saskatoons better than any old dog biscuit. MMMM  they taste and look sort of like blueberries only they can be picked standing up. They are right next to our power line right of way.  If I had not put up that no spraying herbicides sign Crow wing power sprayers probaably would have sprayed the beautiful fruti bearers.  I can get rid of the trees that will grow to block the right of way myself and leave the yummy saskatoons along the edge.

Get ready with the neti pot in hand.  I just visited the roadside of a client's home down in brainerd and found my nemisis ragweed about to pollen out.  We only got 1/2 inch of rain last night. still raining now.  Humidity 100%.  Got a new de-humidifyer for the basement office area.  New plant room addition going well.  It is getting floored this week.  I will be speaking at the Emily City hall at a picnic there.  Bringing some of our plant friends, a raincoat and that summer picnic appetite for sure!

Sum Sum Summertime is here with the monsoon
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Natalie Merchant mother nature on the run in1970's
Topic: Tomato takeoff

"Hoping for a replacement when the Sun burst through the sky" Natalie  Merchant sings.  Taking a bit of a rain day from gardening for others and hoping for the energy to do my own garden and house keeping today.  "...All in a Dream.  Flying mother natures silver seed to a new home  in the sun"  I have quite a few Joe Pye flowers but need more so time to do some more seeding of those butterfly magnets and others like Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Weed and Liatris aspera Button blazing star need to be seeded now in order to have plants for this time next year.  Brings new meaning for the phrase plan ahead eh?  Golden Alexanders are in bloom(pictured below) among the hostas, azaleas and Ninebark shrubs making our east side bed a veritable butterfly haven with a few hummingbirds thrown in for good measure.  If we build it, they will come back.  If we leave our habitats sterile that is all they will be.  Forking our  quack grass to make way for the 2' tall all ready 'maters in the main garden.  MMM can almost taste them!The butterfly gardens bring the pollenators around for a larger tomato crop, Ya follow?

Wearing Long Johns In June
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Sunshine On My Shoulders
Topic: SummersWaiting2arrive

We are still transplanting tomato seedlings today along with potting up an endangered species called Shooting stars.  They look like tiny cyclamen flowers.  Young shooting stars bloom white.  As the plant ages the blossoms turn pinky lavender. 

Leaves are up early and go dormant shortly after blooming. They like living in prairie or savanna areas.  I have them on the Southeast side of our house where they receive most of the day sun.

Pretty pretty pretty!

Looking for sun in all the right places
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Tornado Bob on www.kaxe.org
Topic: Let there be Light

After Easter Greetings!  We spent the weekend with relatives celebrating the usually warm spring opener by observing Lake Andrew at last turn dark and open up a bit in the center.  We had several evergreens that have been blocking the light that gets to the greenhouses so we cut them down.  We had heavy hearts about it but will plant nannyberries, elderberries and other shorter than the evergreens shrubs in their place.  The greenhouses are now even brighter places to be.  Plants inside enjoy daytime temps of at least 75 degrees before the vents are opened.  The evening thermostats are set at 55 degrees.  This encourages stocky not spindley growth.  Folks now raising seedlings in their homes can turn the pots seedlings are in a 1/4  turn to encourage balanced not leaning growth.  If plantlights are being used they are raised up to twoor three  inches above the tops of the plants, raising them as the plants grow .  Timers allow for a daylength of sixteen hours.  In the greenhouse where Basil and more heat-loving plants are grown Lamps extend the day-length to that sixteen hours.  The presence of some aphids is reminding me to decrease Nitrogen and increase phosphorous and potash and trace elements in "foodilizer" applied to plants.Aphids are knocked off with a strong spray of water followed by a spray of insecticidal soap or Pyrethrin/Rotenone , or Neem oil spray mixed according to label directions.   Apply every week for three weeks in a row  to knock out future generations of the aphids. 

My mother in law was pleased to be presented with Marilyns salad mint that bears her name as well as a couple pots of sunny blooming daffodils. 

Don't forget to spend some time on the garden bench!

Some Kind of April Showers!
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: Kieth Urban
Topic: Spring is in the air !
We are transplanting Joe Pye weed today.  I don't like to call it a weed because it is truly a flower that butterflies adore.  This photo shows it growing with Big Bluestem Grass in the background, a great shoreline holding combination I see on the Whitefish chain in Crow Wing County, MN.  This spotted Joe Pye was used by Native Americans as a treatment for Typhoid out east.  Joe Pye likes having wet feet but grows voluptuously along with Queen of the Prairie (Fillipendula rubra) on the South west corner of our main veggie gardenwith perennial "wings".  We will be transplanting Pansies and wild roses next.  It had better warm up soon as our three greenhouses are filling up fast!

Aga-what?
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: www.kaxe.org as usual
Topic: What's Growing On

I just got an E-mail from friend Bennie near Dallas.  She sent me a few pictures of the Montana street gangs: At least I don't have to worry about the Elks getting into our gardens, thank God!  When I speak for groups as I did in March for the folks at the Crosslake Chataqua, a sure question  is what can I plant that the deer do not like to eat?  Agastache foeniculum is always one of my first replies.  Aga-What they say?  Anise or blue giant hyssop has a bit of a licoricey flavor to it's leaves and flowers making it distasteful to deer.  They would much rather go down a row of hostas and munch munch munch.  Have you ever tasted a hosta?  In Japan where hostas came to us from, they are used as a wrapper to cook seasoned rice in to retain the flavor  while not imparting a flavor of its own. 

     Many Agastache are not hardy here in our USDA zone three gardens, and even the foeniculum is a re-seeding biennial.  This is not a true hyssop like the one mentioned in the Bible.   Maude Grieve's book A Modern Herbal first published in 1931  identifies the Hyssop of Scripture with Marjoram (origanum).  Dr.  J.F.Royle declares Bible Hyssop as a member of the Caper family, Capparis spinosa.  This Id is supported by Canon Tristram and others.  The true hyssop of the day is Hyssopus officinalis.  Distilled oil of H.  officinalis is more appreciated by perfumers than Oil of Lavender says Grieve.  That hyssop would probably deter deer as well.  Dwarf blue hyssop,hardy to -30 has a more bitter flavor than Agastach.  I like a licoricey flavored tea so it's Agastache foen.  for me.  Make sure to spend some time on the garden bench!

Basil Blessings
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: I'm On Fire at www.kaxe.org
Topic: Time For Planting O Green

Basil Brightening!

The days are sweetly lengthening and all our spirits seem to be rising with the temperatures.  Don’t get too excited and jump the gun about starting seedlings until March first or later unless you have plant lights or a greenhouse.  If you are where your seedlings are all day and are very dedicated like my mom was as I was growing up, you may move the plants window to window as the sun moves East, South, West.

 

The first seedlings we start are the ones with the tiniest seeds.  Check out

 www.botanicalinterests.com for a timely chart of which seeds to start first.  Petunias, Lobelia, Celery, Coleus, Joe Pye , Monarda and Rudbeckia rank high on my list of flowers to start under our plant lights.  I always like to have some flowers in bloom for mothers day.  This year the Alysum, Dwarf Lemon Drop Marigolds, and Torch Mexican Sunflower will be started for early blooming.  I also start herbs like fifteen kinds of Basil.  (Yes, I am a Basil-aholic!)  Fisher-people eat Bass, Walleye, Perch, Northerns, etc.  and those are all different kinds of fish right?  No I really don’t need to justify planting that many kinds of basil.  I do it because like the mountain climbers say, because they are there. 

 

Check out www.richters.com if you would like to see just how many kinds of basil there are!  I used to plant just the basic sweet basil but then I found two very compact basils,  Greek Mini Yevani, and Spicy Globe .  Both are perfect to edge the beds I plant with Tomatoes and the interplanting or companion planting keeps the potatoes in the next bed safe from those pesky beetles besides!  Napoletano basil is so great for making Pesto and comes by its alternate  moniker Lettuce leaf , or Sweet salad rightfully as the leaves are huge.  Replace the lettuce you might want to put on your sandwich with this more flavorful variety.  Genovese comes from Italy and who can resist it on pizza or pasta.  Lemon and Lime basils give the afore mentioned fish a less fishy flavor.  Cinnamon, Sacred, Holy, Purple and Red Rubin are flavorful tea plants without caffeine I find myself more sensitive to as I get more advanced in years.  The other three basils are tasty for container growing and combining with flowers in beds or pots.

 

With travel being more expensive I have been planting more “staycation” plantings for our clients so they can just invite family to their own paradise gardens and stay home themselves cooking up a storm.  All these flavorful basils as well as other herbs make our gardens much more deer resistant too.  Don’t forget to spend some time on the garden bench! 

Sunshining Today
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: MPR story by James McWilliams The War On Pests
Topic: Root Cellar Ho!

Bright day with ice in the trees so why am I heading to the root cellar?

Because I have been gone visiting the Grand Girls inND for the last 5 days and everything is thirsty!  Everything the three catsin the house left not tipped over anyhow.  I am training the newest member of our critter family.   Jasmine, a Jack Russell/ Rat Terrier cross we got from Samya Peterson on Hermantown road near Duluth on Friday the 19th of December.More pups born Oct 13 remain to be adopted...  Barney, a JR terrier we only had for a month Nov 8 til Dec 8 when he went on a walkabout with adventurous big brother Cosmo.  Barney didn't come back.  Cosmo came back wet and icy.  I walked many miles following tracks and a leashed Cosmo's lead but no luck.Jasmine takes over in our hearts where Barney left off.  

Check out www.lymefighters.org and www.Igenex.com if you even remotely think you may have Lyme Disease and get treatment asap.

 Enjoy your seed catalogs and web sites but don't forget to take an inventory of the seeds you have left over from this and previous years.  That is another thing I will be doing in the root cellar this week.

Cheers!  Bonnie The Plant Lady

See you next year!

Fall Cursor
Mood:  blue
Now Playing: Yikes!
Topic: Tuesday Sept. 30th frost?

The evergreen  Balsam Fir  near the bedroom window points at the sky like our computer’s cursor points at the weather screen indicating a frost Tuesday night. There is a reason they call it a cursor... The tree is ever ready for chilling temps but as usual for this time of year, I am not.  As  I   race to spread row cover over the tender plants in anticipation of a long indian summer I gather yet more bowls full of the Cupid and Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes who were so obliging to gather the sun’s rays and store them for my fervent use.