Garden Bloggers: Old & Young

Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening asked Why Don't More Older Gardeners Blog ? It seems to have sparked a lot of discussion, along with the question where are the under 30 gardeners? Being under 30 myself, (I'll be 21 in a couple weeks) I started running through my list of friends and trying to recall if any of them enjoyed gardening. What I came up with was that the friends who go to college don't have time for gardening, while the ones who don't go to college tend to have more interest in and time for gardening. It doesn't seem to make much difference if their parents are gardeners - it appears to be more of an individual thing.

As long as I'm blogging about young gardeners, I figure I might as well share my journey to becoming a garden blogger. Up until my family moved in January 2005, I didn't do a lot of gardening. I did have two little beds though; one was a perennial/annual, and the other focused more on herbs.

After we moved, I still didn't have much interest in gardening - I kind of wanted my own flower bed, but in my opinion (at the time) all the good spots had been taken by my Mother and Sister. You'll be glad to know my opinion has since been revised. I did tend to a couple of tomato plants and some garlic from the old house. The tomatoes were a success, but the garlic was too old. That fall, my Grandma offered us some plants, and I asked for a few figuring now I would have to have my own space. That was how the perennial garden got started. I planted a bunch of pinks, and the few bulbs I brought with from the old house.Also that fall, we got an note in our newspaper box from 'The Plant Lady' who was having her annual sale. We went, and I got Valerian, Yarrow, Bee Balm, and some seeds from her. Next I needed a garden space. I chose the area under the tree, and my Dad helped (ok, he did most of the work) me dig up the area.

The next July (2006) I finally decided to keep a garden journal. I don't really remember why, but I'm thinking it had something to do with needing an excuse to buy a really cool Cars notebook. The notebook was a good idea, because that year my seed collecting hobby took off full swing. If it had seeds, I gathered 'em. My experience up to that point had been limited to garlic, Cosmos, Calendula, Cleome and Salvia. As a result, I grew the same plants over and over since I knew I could get seeds from them. The previous year I had grown and saved seeds from an heirloom tomato; that was how I got started growing and saving tomato seeds.

By Spring of 2007, I had picked up Patricia Lanza's Lasagna Gardening Books at the library and the veggie garden we'd been talking about became a reality. In April I started this blog with hopes of eventually connecting with other gardeners. I now enjoy reading many many many gardening blogs, and interacting through comments.

As for why older gardeners don't blog, I came up with a few answers;

1. They don't have/know how to use the internet
2. They're too busy
3. They aren't aware that blogging is something they can do.

Well, that's my 2 cents worth.
~Sarah

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

The rain started yesterday, and has continued today. Just what the flowers and veggies need. Everything (including the weeds) is getting a good soaking. This quote seems to fit me perfectly: "God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done." (Author Unknown) Since I'm stuck inside it's the perfect time to do the cleaning that has been neglected, update this blog, update my online photos and organize the rest of my digital pictures.

On Tuesday I figured out why the Japanese beetles I'd seen in my flower garden weren't doing much damage; they're feasting on the Japanese Maple tree. I set up a Japanese beetle trap and it seemed to be attracting them. It should solve the problem; if it doesn't I'm doing some research on the internet for other ways to deal with them.

In the vegetable garden: Dad put the chicken wire around the bottom of the fence to keep the critters from squeezing through and enjoying my vegetables before I can. Mom and I decided it would be way to much work to try and mow the paths, so we decided to kill the grass and put down some mulch. It's a little like lasagna gardening: I started with a layer of wet newspaper to kill the grass. Then I put down a layer of straw and soaked it well with the hose. The straw should keep the paths from getting muddy and slippery once the grass dies. We haven't decided on a mulch yet, and will probably wait until next year to put it down. The straw should work until then. It's not done yet - I ran out of newspaper - but hopefully it will be done by the time I go on vacation next week.

Farewell ~
Sarah

Veggie Garden: Coming Soon!!

This will be the first vegetable garden I've had in 2 years. There will be 2 8x4 raised beds. My family started Square Foot Gardening many years ago, so we will continue doing that and we are going to try 'Lasagna Gardening'. I picked up the book at the library, and was very intrigued with the methods described. The last frost date for our area is May 18, but we've always planted on Memorial Day weekend. So, before then I have to clear the area chosen for the garden, set up the bricks for the beds, fill the beds with soil, and build a fence to keep out all the little critters. (So far we've seen rabbits, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels, and foxes).
Our soil will be in layers (this is where the lasagna gardening comes in). We will start with layers of newspaper. This will keep the weeds from coming through 8" of soil, and will eventually decompose. Then alternating layers of compost, grass clippings, straw, and anything else that sounds like it would be good for the plants.

My perennial garden is doing nicely this year. It has snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, and 2 rose campion plants. I saved seeds from the rose campion last year, and have started 2 more plants. I'm not sure what else to put there. I need to find something that will bloom or continue to bloom after the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths have faded.

In my flower garden, my Bee Balm is spreading - I pulled some up, and hopefully it won't take over too much space. My Yarrow is coming up, and so is the Valarien. So far the Anise Hyssop hasn't done anything, but I'm hoping it just needs a little more time to start growing.

Farewell -
Sarah

PS: The books mentioned are Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
And Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces by Patricia Lanza, Available at Amazon.com