Things have kept me busy at home! We had a fabulous 77 degree day on Saturday with sun, glorious sun. The horses were vaccinated and had the day off... so I played in the garden. I am a beginner gardener and I like to leave all the dead stuff on my plants/flowers through the winter because I think it helps hold moisture in (when we get any moisture that is) and helps insulate against cold and wind. I dunno if I'm right or not, but it seems to work out o.k. for me. Saturday I started cutting back all the dead stuff and any remaining seed heads from my flowers were gathered and put in a
ziplock baggie. I used to buy seeds - which is sort of how my very first flower boxes started - I sprinkled a mix of native/
xeric seed, watered and waited until they were big before I pulled weeds because of course I didn't know a weed from something I was
trying to grow. Every year I save seeds and re-sow them in that area if it's sparse or I sprinkle them in other places and it really works! And it's fun to wait and see how the area changes with whatever seeds take root ... seems to be a little different every year. I love anything aggressive and spreading... I have a larger yard and never know how to fill it. Anything that isn't bind weed or
kocia weed is welcome at our place! I'm in the plains - zone 4 and maybe even 3? - dry - clay soil - lots of wind and hot, hot, punishing sun. I think my favorites are: * Mexican hat - a native that loves hot, hot, hot, full sun and it reseeds readily, is cheerful with it's long, slender cone center and pretty yellow, orange and rust colored flowers underneath like the brim of ... well... a Mexican hat!
* Blue flax - love this flower. One year, the entire flower box (8x4 foot) was ALL blue flax. It was gorgeous and I could see the blue flowers from the end of our road as I made my way home. Now they sprout up in all sorts of places from seeds blown in the wind and I let them grow wherever they show up!
* Blanket flower - they use this flower to help reclaim harsh areas along roadsides.. it's a 3-4" tall plant with daisy like flowers that are reds and yellows... I have a ga-zillion blanket flower seeds this year!
Of course Saturday was sunny and 77 but Sunday was cloudy, snowing and 30 degrees with 30mph winds. Hmph. Well I guess ya take what you can get when it's springtime... fickle season that it is.
Of course Saturday was sunny and 77 but Sunday was cloudy, snowing and 30 degrees with 30mph winds. Hmph. Well I guess ya take what you can get when it's springtime... fickle season that it is.
1 comment:
it sure is hard to be inside when the weather warms up even a little now. We haven't had any days yet above 60 but its gotta happen one of these days...RIGHT!!??? This is getting pretty ridiculous when it just teases us with a tiny bit of sun then snow again. Oh and I think I know the day you had that wind, as it blew for a solid 24 hrs with gale force hurricane winds over the weekend. On gardening, I used to have an easy time of growing things when we lived on the east side of the missouri..now I think the soil out here is all alkalie and I try try and try every year. I get a few half decent plants of tomatoes but I think it would be better if I just stuck with bluebells and cactus. Its not going to stop me trying to raise a little something but now I don't stress as much.
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