Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere,
Greetings from the beginnings of spring in my garden. It’s amazing how there were no blooms last week and now this week there are crocuses blooming everywhere. Out in the vegetable garden, henbit is starting to sprout and grow everywhere, too. I see some weeding in my future!
On Saturday I went outside in the afternoon and looked over the raised bed vegetable garden, pictured above. There are at least two beds that need new wood around them. The wood that is there, even though it is cedar, is pretty well rotted. Any ideas on something other than cedar boards to edge those beds? I don’t want to spend a fortune on them, but want them to look nice and last a while.
I also made note while I was outside that its time to cut back the grape vines. When I do that and am out there with my pruners in hand, I’ll look around for other stuff to cut back because it is just so darn fun to prune, isn’t it?
On Sunday I went to the Indianapolis Home and Flower show at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was much more home than flower, but I still managed to find HarvestMan Sweet Corn selling seeds and bought a package of ‘German Giant’ radish seeds. Yes, I had my seed list with me so I could check to make sure I didn’t already have that particular variety before I bought it. Their real specialty was sweet corn seed, but they only had very large packets of seed, much bigger than I’ll need for my 4’ x 8’ plot of intensely planted sweet corn, so I didn’t get any.
I missed hearing Carolee from Carolee’s Herb Farm talk about herbs but did meet another Purdue horticulture grad who was representing the Indiana Daffodil Society. It was fun to talk to her and compare notes. She has a blog called “Cool Things for the Garden” and is starting a nursery.
Other than that, like I said, it was more home than garden, but it did give me a chance to see Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, up close. It’s an impressive facility.
Next weekend, I hope to go to the Indiana Flower and Patio Show, which will be much more garden-y. I’ll give a full report in my next letter.
Until then,
Hortifully yours,
Carol
P.S. I’m meeting with the garden designer this evening for the first time. I’m looking forward to meeting her and seeing if she can help me out on a better design for my garden.
P.S.S. The show on the football field at the stadium…
I wonder how old your cedar was that it finally rotted? The 'not spending a fortune' part is so tricky; we have a good source of garden stock cedar, but I'm hoping it lasts us for 10+ years, which may be wishful thinking. Rocks? That sounds like a lot of work…
I suggest thicker cedar. Another alternative would be boards made from recycled plastic. I think Gardener's Supply has some examples, but the material may be available at local lumber yards or home improvement stores.
When the H&F show is in the big new stadium you can get a birds eye view of the show. Will the flower and patio show be there too?
I would dearly love to have some weeding in my future. Instead, I think we're getting snow. I wish I had some ideas for inexpensive board for your raised beds but my choice seems to be rotting, too.
We used spruce last year. Who knows how long they will last…
I did some weeding of Henbit and its friends last weekend. On Sunday evening I could barely move, but it was a great day. Sounds like your week was great too.~~Dee
I know that weeds are looking under the leaves~~but I'm not ready to remove the only protection the garden has for a few week or so~Nashville had it's lawn and Garden Show…A few interesting gardens were on display and lots of stuff for sale~ Carol, it does sound like you had a full weekend of good gardening activities. gail
I don't think you need a garden designer. Me, on the other hand …