Garden Vines

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Lord,
Make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith:
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

-  St. Francis of Assissi

Are you dreaming of spring and starting seedlings? I am!

Here’s a great video about one way to make your own seedling starter pots out of newspaper. Before watching this video, I had never heard of such a thing, but I’m definitely going to try it this summer! (Check out the original E-How post that also gives the written step-by-step instructions.)

How to Create Seed-Starting Pots From Newspapers — powered by eHow.com

These are my mother-in-law’s plants.
She does much better with houseplants than I do.
She was very excited this year that she got the plants to bloom for Christmas.

Here’s what she did:

• In October she simulated desert conditions.  Very cold at night and sunny in the day.  She actually put the plants in a spare room with an open window at night. (We’re in zone 5)
• In December she brought them back to their regular spot in the kitchen window.

Shepherds Fields, Bethlehem, Israel

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:
and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,
Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day
in the city of David
a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.

Luke chapter 2 verses 8-11

P.S. I’m stretching it as a garden quote because they were in the field. Merry Christmas!

Since springtime is just around the corner (really it is…in a couple of months…after the snow and ice and freezing temperatures), some of us are starting to think about next year’s flower beds.

The seed catalogs are arriving in droves and our dreams are filled with luscious gardens. But how do we know what colors will look good together? Would the purple petunias look okay next to the red salvia?

If you have a background in color (art, graphic design, interior decorating), these dilemmas aren’t hard. But, if you forget your elementary art classes, here’s some help…

Using a Colorwheel to Create a Beautiful Balcony Garden

Backyard Living Magazine recently asked 100 Master Gardeners to give their best  gardening tip, and I thought I would share a few of them in the coming weeks.

Master Gardener tip #2 is to use a color wheel if you need help figuring out a color scheme for your garden. I thought this was a great tip for people who feel a bit paralyzed when it comes to making color choices, but many people don’t know how to use a color wheel, so the tip is kind of incomplete. It’s too bad, because in such a small space, such as the typical balcony garden, a color plan can really help the entire garden look put together…

Continue reading at Life on the Balcony.

Heap on more wood! The wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.

~ Sir Walter Scott

Finally got to start a small herb garden.

It’s in my windowsill and it helps with the gardening urge.

There’s just something calming about planting.

Here’s my 3 new plants:

Basil on the left, aloe vera in the center, and oregano on the right.

We bought the 2 herbs for 99 cents at the nursery where we bought our Christmas tree.  The pots were on sale there also.

The aloe vera is from my sister’s plant via my mom.

So for about 6 dollars I have a little herb garden.

Now I hope I can keep them alive!

Here’s a post from Organic Gardening about the 10 Best Herbs For Indoors.

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; 
The spirit of Christmas which is peace; 
The heart of Christmas which is love.
-   Ada V. Hendricks

Last week, my parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, and they brought us some gifts for our housewarming. Two of the gifts contained spring bulbs - tulips and daffodils!

I’m very excited because I wasn’t able to transplant my old daffodils when we moved and I never had tulips before.

So last week, on what turned out to be the coldest day of the week, my mom and I trudged outside, bundled up like eskimos, and began to plant. In the ground went 36 tulips, 18 daffodils, and 10 something-that-I-can’t-remember-the-name-of.

While planting, I learned quite a few things about tulips from my mom. Here’s what she told me…

• When planting, the point of the tulip bulb must always be pointed straight up. A tulip will not “right” itself and grow upwards. It will also stop growing if it encounters a rock or some other object above it. Daffodils, on the hand, will turn to grow upwards and grow around things.
• To guarantee blooms year after year, add bone meal to the dirt around the bulb. All tulips will bloom the first year after they’re planted, but few will bloom the following year, and even less the next. The bone meal provides the necessary nutrients that these finicky bulbs need.
• Once the tulips are done blooming, do not cut back the plant prematurely. The greenery provides nutrients for next year’s plant. Wait until the greenery turns brown before cutting. To hide the ugly brown, plant tulips under another perennial like lilies.
• If you want a striking display, mix the colors of the bulbs. We planted four groups with eight bulbs in each - 3 yellow, 3 purple/red, 2 pink.
• For extended flowering, pay attention to bloom times. Mix early spring bulbs with mid and late bulbs.

What tips do you have for tulips?

(Tulip Tips reminds me of a series of books, Smart Chick Mysteries, where the main character writes a newspaper column titled Tips from Tulip with household cleaning tips. The mysteries are hilariously funny.)

Photo courtesy of istockphoto.com

The snow is lying very deep.
My house is sheltered from the blast.
I hear each muffled step outside,
I hear each voice go past.
But I’ll not venture in the drift
Out of this bright security,
Till enough footsteps come and go
To make a path for me.
-   Agnes Lee