the green things growing,
The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!
~Dinah Mulock Craik
I live in southeastern
Montana where it's been said that we have 9 months of winter and
only one month each of spring, summer and fall. So as you might
imagine, I really like to grow things when those three months
will allow! Here are some of my favorite books and things that
have proven helpful to my northern yard and gardens.
I do grow a full vegetable garden when and if it rains. Since I water from a stock dam near our house, I depend on it being full. If run-off from rains haven't filled it by end of May, I'll have no garden.
One of my all-time
favorite gardeners is Jerry Baker. The book I rely on is called The Impatient
Gardener. In this book you'll find tonics for your lawn,
fertilizer recommendations for your veggies, trees and
flowers...even houseplants! Jerry learned much of his gardening
savvy from his Grandma Putt whom he quotes often in his books. He
is a Master Gardener and a very practical fellow with some very
practical advice ~even if you don't have a green thumb! Check out
his site at: www.jerrybaker.com
Wildflowers...are a favorite of mine.
Why? Well, because they're wild and meant to grow all on their
own. Plus many of them are native to where I live and they are
practical to grow. Where I live, I must work WITH nature rather
than trying to MAKE something work. I love the variety of
wildflowers too...some early, some mid-summer and some for fall.
My favorites are Black-eyed Susan, Larkspur, and Queen Anne's
Lace (which some consider a weed).
Cultivated Flowers...that grow easily for me
are iris, cosmos, bachelor buttons, moss roses, delphinium,
columbine, shrub roses, zinnias, and marigolds. Again, I've found
that the hardy, sun-loving plants work well for me. I do have a
Bleeding Heart on the north side of my house, which is doing very
well. I like planting zinnias and sunflowers with the children
because they enjoy seeing how fast and big they grow. The zinnias
come in so many shapes and sizes and colors, that they are quite
showy and a "pickable flower" for boys and girls!
Birds...My yard and garden
include birds too. I love to keep bird feeders and grow
flowers/seeds for them to eat through the fall. I like to grow
sunflowers, zinnias, coneflowers or anything which will make seed
for bird meals. Common birds to our area are a variety of
sparrows...Crown, Harris's, Lark and Black-throated. We enjoy
seeing the Lark Bunting out in the pastures along with our state
bird the Western Meadowlark. Wilson's Warbler and few Gold
Finches reside here too. We've enjoyed the Rufuos-sided Towhee,
Western and Eastern Kingbirds, Brown Thrasher, Mourning Doves,
various ducks, Canadian Geese, Sharp-tail Grouse and Prairie
Chickens. My goal is to record the birds that reside on our ranch
in my nature journals.
Veggies...are grown here, but the
best growing veggies are harvested underground! Potatoes,
carrots, and onions grow well for me. Above ground, lettuces,
cucumbers, squash, peppers, beans and snap peas work well.
Tomatoes do very well too, but I must grow the early maturing
types due to our short summers...and sometimes these don't have
enough time to ripen. I'd like to try some of the heirmloom
tomatoes, but rarely find them as plants in this area.
Lawn grass...is something that I can
grow! One woman put it well..."Out on the prairie, the best
thing to grow is grass." And she's right! For lawn grass we
have chosen a special park grass mixture which our local nursery
mixes itself. It is thick and deep and carpet-like. It is very
drought resistant and the slightest rain will cause it to green
and grow! I rarely water unless we have severe drought (which
does happen here). With Jerry Baker's special tonics, I mow
constantly!
Tips and Hints
Potatoes and Potato
Bugs...
Potatoes are growing very well in my garden this year and I have an unofficial experiment going on in it. Do you ever notice how whenever you plant potatoes, you get potato bugs? Well, I planted to plots of potatoes this year in different areas. One plot alone and one plot among my yard garden with dill growing everywhere. Now, we've all heard that certain herbs and flowers repell insects and so incidentally, my potatoes are among bug repellent ! Dill ! I have noticed that the potatoes that were planted without dill have considerably more potato bugs than those planted among the dill. A "dilly of a deal" !
Cornstalks and Pea
Poles...
One year I had heard of a neat idea...to plant your peas or climbing beans right next to your corn. The corn supplies a handy stalk for the peas/beans to climb up as well as shade while the peas and beans offer nitrogen-fixing elements to the soil which the corn depletes. I did this with great success!
Little space for crawling
cukes?
Make a small fence of two sticks and some chicken wire along a row of your cucumbers so they will grow up rather than sprawling upon the ground. They will also climb up tall sticks placed next to the plant if you don't want to untangle them from the wire later. This makes picking so much easier too because you can see the "little fellers" sticking out!
Articles and Ideas for you and your garden.
Simplegift Farms a practical gardener speaks.
Stull's Homepage... lots of good information for growing.
St. Francis and God on Lawn Care
Making Living Pots for your plants...
Any tips or gardening ideas to share?
Drop me a note Email Me
Jody
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