Read more about the article Plants everywhere, part two

Plants everywhere, part two

I love a good plant sale.

Okay, I love ANY plant sale. But I especially appreciate locally grown plants. I know that it is far more likely that a plant raised where I live can make it in my yard with the climate and rainfall and high and low temps. The dirty secret of the PNW is the desperately dry summers. There isn’t enough time or water or patience for keeping too many “outsiders” alive and thriving in my garden. It can be challenging for new gardeners to appreciate native plants, but it can be especially hard for them to find these plants to buy. Big box stores can lead gardeners astray. Google is your friend here, as is locating your local cooperative extension and Master Gardener group. 

The year after we moved here, I discovered that our local Thurston County Water Conservation District holds a plant sale in January. I bought an unbelievable number of bare root trees that year. And I am happy to report that even as a novice, I was successful. Granted, some of these plants are still pretty small, but I can see a big difference this spring. 

This year I discovered the Native Plant Salvage Foundation. They have two plant sales a year, spring and fall. I now have a treasure trove of hard-to-find native plants. (Guess what we have been doing every weekend?)

Our local cat rescue has a plant sale every May as a fundraiser, with most of the plants propagated by local gardeners. If you can find a similar plant sale in your area, I highly recommend it. I bought several things a couple of years ago, including a fantastic pink Columbine that has propagated itself all over my garden.

If you live in the Phoenix or Tuscon area, check out the amazing proliferation of Little Free Plant Sharing Stands. Modeled after Little Free Libraries, these generous gardeners share plants and gardening supplies. See the map of these little gems. There’s a Little Free Garden Stands of AZ Facebook group, too.  

And of course, check your local Freecycle group for plants and gardening supplies. I have received strawberries, roses, a mini-greenhouse, pots, mulch, and more from Freecyclers. 

Continue ReadingPlants everywhere, part two
Read more about the article The Blend

The Blend

Long ago, I attended a master gardener training on container gardening. My big takeaway from that was the idea of soil mixes. I was amazed to learn that many people don’t just use the soil as-is from the bag that they pick up at the garden center. 

The recipe that I learned is:

  • ⅓ potting soil
  • ⅓ peat moss
  • ⅓ pumice

My friend and fellow gardener is the one who I think started calling it “the blend” and the name stuck. Sounds like coffee and I can ALWAYS get behind that!

For a long time, I stuck to the recipe because I thought, “Who am I to mess with a master gardener’s recipe?”

After living in several different regions of the country with varying access to ingredients, I have modified this a bit. Pumice has been impossible for me to find outside of Arizona. There are potential sustainability issues with using peat moss. And that proportion isn’t a hard and fast rule. I’ve learned that it largely depends on the quality and type of potting soil that you start out with. Also, different plants–indoor vs. outdoor and cactus vs. tomato plants–have different needs.

Also, Google soil recipes and explore the wonderful world of gardening. There are so many soil mix recipes on the Internet; I’ve tried several, and a few were a complete failure for me. 

So I hereby give you permission to experiment. Use this recipe as a guide rather than a hard and fast rule. Explore other mixes or go by feel and texture. Observe your plants and ask yourself, “Are they doing well? How’s the drainage?” If you see issues with plant growth or waterlogged soil, you can adjust the recipe. I have been known to re-pot a plant to amend the proportions of soil, peat, and perlite. 

Now my recipe is probably more like this:

  • ½ potting soil
  • ¼-⅓ peat moss or coconut coir
  • ¼ perlite

This year I purchased some compressed blocks of coconut coir that were fantastic–and I bought a few that were less so. Same goes for potting soil–I have had some bad blends that I thought needed more work than they were worth.

For my vegetable container gardening this year, I added compost to the mix or used a compost-amended potting soil that I LOVED. I wish I had purchased 10 bags of that stuff. So far my plants are doing well, and all the tomatoes and peppers are setting fruit. The eggplants haven’t yet decided if they are going to play. (Pacific Northwest Gardening is an adventure. Especially compared to other places I have gardened, June and July were downright cold.)

My go-to potting soil is Kellogg Garden Organics Raised Bed & Potting Mix. I don’t like it on its own, but when it’s part of the blend, it feels perfect to me. 

I buy huge bags of perlite from Home Depot or a local garden supply center that I like that has perlite in sizes that I didn’t know existed before I walked through their doors. Wow.

I do add a cactus soil to the blend when I am potting cactus and succulents. I don’t know if it’s essential to do this–maybe adding more perlite would be sufficient, but I tend to rely on the bagged cactus mixes as an ingredient and that works reliably. 

A note about perlite: You absolutely don’t want to breathe in perlite dust. Wear a mask, or better yet, wet it down completely before handling it. I spray it down in the bag or as I am pouring it into my soil can. (I used a large lidded trash can with wheels for my blend.)

If you used compressed coconut coir, put it in a wheelbarrow or a trash can to soak it and give it time to expand. Give yourself time to soak it, tease it apart, soak it some more and repeat until it expands to its full size. (A coir brick the size of a large paver will expand to about two cubic feet.) It’s an easy and satisfying task to tend to while you are doing other things.

Experiment with your soil mix so that it suits your plants and your growing environment. 

Keep going and keep growing!

Continue ReadingThe Blend
Read more about the article 5 Easy Houseplants

5 Easy Houseplants

Plants are my weakness. I love plants and I love them outside AND inside. I meet a lot of people who when they learn I am a gardener, insist that they have a black thumb and can’t grow anything. This post is dedicated to all the black thumbs out there. It’s time to turn those thumbs green! We can do it!

Right plant, right place

The secret always is selecting the right plant and right place. The right plant for you is a plant that matches the space, room temperature, available light and your style of neglect or attention. If you tend to overwater, then it’s best to pick a plant that can survive occasional over-loving. If you often forget that you have plants, pick a plant that prefers to be on the dry side.

Here are some of my favorites.

  1. Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum): This is a plant that seems to endure anything that you can throw at except for cold temps and no sunlight. It’s fantastic in a hanging basket. For me, they have survived both underwatering and overwatering. As long as you have a sunny spot that’s above 55 degrees, please meet your new friend.
    The last spider plant I bought was about $9 bucks at Lowe’s. Spider Plant
    Pro tip: Once you have one spider plant, you never need to buy another. These plants reproduce well, sending out shoots that will bear tiny replicas of the mother plant at the tip. Wait for the babies to get large enough, 4-6 inches and then snip them off and place in a small pot with good quality potting soil. You will need to keep these watered until they root. The babies do need babying. OR – keep them connected to the mother plant and root them in soil by placing a small pot nearby. Plant propagation is a huge thrill and once you learn to make your own plants, you’ll be set as a gardener.
  2. Golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum): This beautiful trailing plant with golden green leaves that will light up a dim corner. It doesn’t need a lot to stay happy and will tolerate occasional overwatering. I purchased a large hanging basket at Home Depot for about $20.00. That seemed a little expensive to me but it was large and beautiful and it made an immediate impact brightening up a dark corner.Golden pothos
  3. Sansevieria (also called snake plant and sword plant and another not-so-nice name): Sansevieria is a beautiful sculptural plant that is a perfect fit for modern decor. There are lots of varieties from very small to very large. This is a plant that seems to like to dry out between waterings and watering once a month in the spring and summer–less in the winter– is often plenty for this tough plant. Do not overwater.
    Pro tip: I have propagated this plant from a cutting as well as division and both worked surprisingly well. I have three completely different-looking varieties at the moment, all from IKEA,  which is a great place to buy plants. I just walk through and see what I like.
    I have sansevieria cylindrica and a mini sword plant that I haven’t been able to ID yet.

    Unknown sansevieria and sansevieria cylindrica
    Unknown sansevieria and sansevieria cylindrica
  4. Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata): This fun and funky plant looks like the long-haired version of its much taller palm cousins and the trunk looks like an elephant’s foot, another common name for this tough plant. This is also a plant that doesn’t mind getting dry but will look better with regular watering. I purchased my current plant at Lowe’s. It’s a  Plants of Steel selection. (I haven’t seen these in the store lately but I thought it was a great idea and good marketing!)Ponytail Palm
  5. Dracaenas: This is a plant that also offers a lot of variety. I have a Dracaena Marginata (Long red-edged leaves on brown branching canes, a star of India with gold and green leaves, and I love the long red and green leaves of this plant. My best specimens have been in a very sunny living room in Colorado that had windows on two sides and outside in Mesa, Arizona on a covered porch. (Note that in the summer, you will need to water houseplants more often if they are outside in a hot climate. Also, plants that like full sun may not appreciate full ARIZONA sun.)  I recently learned that you can prune canes back and I am going to try that with one of the canes that looks like it has a comb-over. All of my current Dracaenas are from IKEA: Song of India, Dracaena Marginata and this unknown little guy. Dracaena Marginata is my go-to plant. This seems to be a plant that will rot if overwatered. Sadly, I have never done well with dracaena marginata tricolor. Someday I’ll figure out the right mix!

    Dracenas
    Song of India, Dracaena marginata and a mystery Dracaena

Watering tips

Add a reminder to your calendar to check your plants. Stick a finger in the dirt at least an inch to test the soil. If the soil is dry, water, if not, wait a few days. For an 8-inch pot, a cup of water is usually sufficient. Resist the urge to soak the plant unless it feels like the best option or that is the prescribed care for your plant. Wet soil provides an ideal breeding ground for soil gnats and soil gnats can kill anyone’s enthusiasm for indoor plants. In general, back off watering in the winter unless it’s a seasonal plant like a Poinsettia.

Fertilizer

I use Jobe’s Indoor Beautiful Houseplants Fertilizer Food Spikes – 30 Pack because they are easy and it’s hard to overdo it and otherwise, frankly, I forget.

Repotting

I used to think that all plants wanted to be repotted but some don’t and I have learned that sansevieria is one of those plants. It prefers to be snug in its pot. Same with spider plants. When in doubt Google your plant and see what others have to say.

Plants grow

So it’s okay to start out with smaller, less expensive specimens. The $1.99 Dracenas at IKEA are the perfect starter plant.

Need more ideas for plants for beginners? Check out this handy chart from Lowe’s.)

If you want to learn more about propagation, I suggest Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation.

Happy gardening! Go grow!

Note that this blog contains some affiliate links.

Continue Reading5 Easy Houseplants
Read more about the article A Northern Nevada Garden

A Northern Nevada Garden

Still dreaming about Reno

I had a website visitor today looking for my Northern Nevada Garden site. I kept the site going for a long time, long after I left Reno, but finally retired it last fall. I loved that garden. I kicked butt in that garden.

I don’t have the website anymore, but I do have photos and a good memory. These are from July 2008. I had an AMAZING crop of squash and tomatoes that year. The garden was so beautiful.

Nevada Garden July 26-27, 2008

If you live in Northern Nevada, I suggest buying a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book and installing raised beds if you want to grow food crops. I used 1/3 peat, 1/3 pumice and 1/3 potting soil in my raised beds. I heard a story on the radio several years ago that explained that most gardeners in most states will have better results with raised beds. After raised beds in several states, I’m a believer!

This is a photo of the raised beds under construction in March. I used large river rock which I had in abundance in my yard. That’s Brin, my gardening dog. She has supervised gardens in four states (and counting).

This is the same garden in May:

I used wall o’ waters from Gardener’s Supply to get a head start.

This is the garden in June. I had irrigation so I connected drip to the existing system. If I were going to do it again, I would add a new valve for the garden. A lesson I benefited from in my Arizona garden.

And here they are in July.

The huge tomato plant on the left is a white currant tomato. It was an overachiever. SO MANY TOMATOES.

Read up on short season tomato varieties, I think you will be more successful. I bought several from Territorial Seed. Zucchini and summer squash did well for me. If I could do it all over, I would have planted more raspberries. More delicata squash. Later, I learned the amazing staying power of eggplant. I would plant that, too.

Also, buy a composter. I had a Steve’s Earth Engine (double bin). Loved it so much–I composted everything. Never threw away a single leaf and believe me, I had a lot of them.

Happy gardening, Nevadans! Spring is coming!

Continue ReadingA Northern Nevada Garden

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