WINTER IS FOR PLANNING

     Thomas Jefferson was one of many prominent Americans who kept garden diaries. For some time I have been eager to urge my readers to "be like him." Unfortunately, I have not been able to get it together to start one myself. So it hardly seems fair to urge one on you.

     I can, though, suggest something more modest. At the end of the season, when there is no more we can do outdoors, we should be able to find a day or even half a day during which we can review the previous year in the garden (before we forget it) and make some modest plans for the season ahead. We can put our notes in a notebook or type something on our computer, or simply throw our notes in a file folder. So long as we can can find them again in March.

     At our house much of the planning centers on our 22' x 28' vegetable garden, but it could just as easily center on an annual flower garden. Annuals start from scratch each year. So, if you let them, they can make you re-think parts of your garden every spring. Do we really want impatiens again this year? Were they too much work, or did we wish we had more? Should we try a new spot?

     Any spring planting requires making decisions. The absolute easiest decision is to do exactly what we did last year. Nothing wrong with that if it works. But we will have more fun if we escape the clutches of habit and consider alternatives. And once we actually try something new, we are engaged in an experiment and we will be tempted to take a note or two on the results so we can do better the next year. Voila! Jefferson would be proud.

     Our next post will discuss the sometimes haphazard planning that went into our vegetable patch over several years. We might follow that up with an account of the evolution of our plans for perennials.

     Now that we have finally broken 0 Degrees once more I can relish how many nasty bugs this freeze has killed off and look forward to implementing this year's plans.

Best Wishes

Best Wishes for the

Holiday Season

We Was Robbed!

     Winter arrived three weeks early this year -- much to my dismay. The temperatures in Chicago in mid November are the coldest they have been in 20 years. This is grist for the mill of my North Carolina friends, who are offering to mail me some of their tomato plants. I hope they get plastered by the big storm heading their way.

     I got caught in the middle of putting my yard to bed. The essentials were accomplished. I drained my rain barrels and brought my pump indoors. With a heavy heart I harvested all of my Brussels sprouts. They do fine in temperatures in the '20's, but I was not sure about 14 degrees and did not want to find out. So we now have enough Brussels sprouts to skip the turkey tomorrow.

     I also managed to dump my compost tumbler into the garden. The partially composted material is still sitting there in a heap, but at least it is not frozen in the drum for the rest of the winter. My snow peas -- a great source of nitrogen -- are lying about on top of the soil as well. I usually till both the peas and my compost into the soil to decompose over the winter.



     I did not have time to get in my hoses, but I at least took the various nozzles off so that any water inside that expanded as it froze would have a place to go.

     This year I found myself with a dozen or more shrubs that I did not have a chance to plant. They would be doomed to an early demise if exposed to the winter winds. Fortunately, I did have time to plant them, pot and all, in what had been my pole bean bed. The top of the pots are even with the soil surface and I have a layer of mulch spread over all. So far they are doing well. I just need to find them a home before the beans need to be planted next spring.

     I still have hopes for a winter thaw. I can then bring in all the hoses and till in all the compost scattered over the garden. I might even be able to plant a few shrubs, though I suspect that is the Utopian in me speaking. Meanwhile we can dream of an early spring, and a spring that is not too wet, and .... Hope springs eternal.

     I wish all a happy Thanksgiving.

MORE BARRELS

     A few weeks ago I mentioned some of the limitations of rain barrels, mainly limited capacity,  limited water pressure, and, frequently, ugliness. We discussed how you can increase your capacity by hooking up more than one barrel in series and how you can increase your water pressure noticeably by raising the height of the barrels. You are also less likely to be disappointed if you keep any hose from the barrel short.

     I am too lazy to fill watering cans over and over if I don't have to, so I like to use soaker hoses. In the picture above my front rain barrel is attached to a soaker that runs along 4 Catawba Rhododendron in front of the house. Since my eaves are quite wide, the plants get less water than they should. In this case I keep the valve at the bottom of the barrel open, and all the water from the downspout leaks out the soaker to the back half of the shrubs.The barrel never has a chance to fill completely.

                  

     My vegetable garden is behind the house, and for that I could use more water. For this I used two barrels and added a small submersible pump inside the barrel on the left. Buy a pump designed to power small pond waterfall -- at least 500 gallons per hour.  If you really want to use your rain barrel a pump makes all the difference. I irrigate my tomatoes using these two barrels and a soaker hose.

     For the "ugly" issue there are many alternatives. The simplest is to paint the barrels to match your house color and hide them in plain sight. Many barrels have built-in planters that can distract the eye. Or you could add a small fence or screen to hide them.

    Or you could unleash the artist hidden within you and come up with a barrel like this.

     Given the current weather it behooves me to mention one last thing about barrels:

     Do NOT do what I did the first year I had one. I forgot and let my barrel stay completely full going into our first hard frost. It's sides were soon splitting, and not from laughter. I keep the water level fairly low this time of year and drain the barrels completely after Thanksgiving. Then I remove the pump and leave both the faucet and bottom drains open for the rest of the winter.

     Finally, a reminder that my crew is available for anyone who would like help getting their holiday lights and decorations up.

CHEATED

All that is left of our poor impatiens.

          Last year frost left us alone until November 6 -- a little on the good side of average. No breaks this year. After a warmer than average first half of October, the frost descended on our tender annuals like a guillotine on October 16 -- about two weeks early.

Our very frost-bitten basil.

     In previous years we have rushed to throw tarps over all our tender plants when the frost comes early. It can be worth the effort, depending on how many times you have to do it, but this year we could not be bothered. The afternoon before the icy execution we picked the last of our cucumbers and green beans and filled a 5 gallon bucket with basil for freezing.

     In earlier times when I had more conventional tomato cages, I used to pull up my plants entirely and hang them upside down from the joists in the basement. A surprising number of fruits matured over time -- as long as I didn't forget they were down there. Now I am too lazy. I just pick all the fruits -- no matter how green -- and put them in a single layer in a cardboard box away from the sun. We eat some of the larger green ones and then use the others as they begin to turn. Our simple box can extend the season several weeks.

     Meanwhile a full half of the garden is continuing to produce. Now that our beans are gone (many of them into the freezer) we particularly enjoy the peas that are still thriving. Wan plans to harvest our very  first Brussels sprouts tomorrow.

     While many of the early bloomers are a bit bedraggled, we still have eye candy in the yard as well -- even before the peak of the fall color season.

The blooms on this hydrangea are just now turning a pale pink.

     One of the reasons I like Knock-Out roses is that they just keep blooming.

     Meanwhile, there are many things we can do for next season. You still have time to buy and plant bulbs for next spring. And the coming month is an ideal time to plant trees and shrubs -- even when they are leafless.

One of my staging areas for shrubs to be planted in the next few weeks.

     Finally, this is not the time to stop watering -- especially if you planted this season. You want your garden soil nice and moist before the first hard freeze locks things up.

      A bit more on rain barrels next time.

RAIN BARRELS

A "wood look" plastic barrel.

     The City of Chicago and many suburbs are marketing rain barrels as an almost painless step we can take to contribute to the ecology while saving on our water bills at the same time. Many homes are still connected to over-loaded city storm sewers. Installing a barrel also cuts you off from the municiple system and hopefully can help prevent future installments of the massive and expensive deep tunnel system that protects the city from flooding and the lake from pollution.

     The barrel boosters are a little less frank when it comes to the costs and  benefits for homeowners. Many homeowners have become frustrated as a result. Rain barrels can save on your water bill, for example, but you will not notice much of a change. Barrels cannnot be used in the winter and are frequently dry in summer. A 55 gallon drum is equivalent to the water in one old-fashioned shower -- or two showers in a brand new bathroom.

Most of us would prefer something smaller.

     So don't expect miracles. We don't get paid to recycle either. The city does, however, provide serviceable rain barrels in a choice of four colors for about $60.

Genuine paintable (but not yet painted) Chicago rain barrels.

The first thing you notice after hooking up your rainbarrel is that gravity water pressure is nothing like your faucet. The pressure is very low and the flow stops altogether if you lift your hose too high. It is a good idea to raise your barrel as far off the ground as seems reasonable. Even then you are never going to put a nozzle on the end of your hose. You can, however, at least make sure it is easy to fill your watering can, and I like to use mine with soaker hoses. More on that later.

  

   A good rain can quickly overfill your barrel, and most barrels now come with overflow tubes that can direct excess water away from the house. A better solution where you have space is to use two or more barrels hooked together. 

This set up both provides height and doubles capacity.

     More on rain barrel tricks in my next post.

     

     

The Butterfly Bush

     Buddleja davidii, or the butterfly-bush, is a shrub I have planted many times for clients but have never had in my own yard. It's biggest virtue is that it attracts butterflies. But to me that was not enough to make up for  its rather awkward look, its odd fragrance, and the fact that it has no fall color and has sometimes died to the ground after harsh winters.

     This shrub's status has been improving lately, however. There are new cultivars out now that are smaller and have smaller leaves and daintier habits. I suppose we can also thank global warming for the fact that die-back is a far less frequent problem than it once was here. Buddleja is essentially a Zone 6 plant, and we have moved from Zone 5 to Zone 6. The mountain has indeed come to Mohammed. The shrub is still quite late getting started, however, so do not worry prematurely. You do want to cut the shrub down to less than a foot high before growth begins in early spring.

     I experienced a change of heart concerning Buddleja this summer. A friend gave me two of her plants this spring. The two shrubs did indeed attract more butterflies to the yard. But the big treat for us came this August when we found a hummingbird stealing nectar from the flowers. (Thanks, Pauline.) Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate here from Central America in the summer to mate. This was probably a juvenile fattening up for the flight home.

     We tried a number of times to catch our thief in the act but he was too fast for us. I had to make do with a file photo.

     Butterfly bushes like full sun and don't care for heavy wet clay. The stems are easily broken The blooms last almost as long as a Knock Out rose if you dead-head them regularly.