I Never Would Have Guessed

I've always wanted to plant bulbs but because there seems to be an endless amount of rabbits and squirrels in my backyard it has been pointless.  The bulbs I have planted in past years were just a smorgasbord of tasty delights for the critters that wandered my garden.

Until now!  Last fall I thought I would give it another shot and bought some allium bulbs.  Alliums are part of the onion family and have these huge, happy purple balls on top of their straight stalks. 

This past fall I did something different and a little odd to my bulbs that I had heard would absolutely keep the squirrels away. Prior to planting the bulbs, I got a dab of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on my finger and put it around  the bulb.  I didn't get any  of the jelly on the top or the bottom of the bulb. Then I planted my bulbs; (alliums like to be planted about three times the diameter of the bulb).  Our spring has not sprung yet, but the allium bulbs are all coming up and I haven't lost a single one to the squirrels.

I can only assume that this will work for all bulbs that are planted, but can't say for sure since I didn't plant anything else other than the alliums.  I am, however, thrilled that this petroleum jelly thing seems to have worked famously well! 

Old Wives Tales

Over the years I've heard the odd 'wives tale' about gardening. Some are very like the rhyme

"Plant your seeds in a row, one for the pheasant, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow", 

which just meant, plant more seeds than you'll need because not all seeds will take.  Some new seedlings will die, and some may be taken out by pests in the garden and you do have to thin out the weaker ones to make room for healthy seedlings.

Another favorite - beer makes good slug bait.  And it actually does! However it seems after some studies were made (one study in particular by the Colorado State University) suggests that the beer be fresh (fewer were caught when the beer was flat), that slugs prefer a lager over ales, and they also found, believe it or not, that slugs preferred Bud Light.

Some old ways of doing things were simply wrong.  I was always told to put some stones in the bottom of a clay pot to cover the holes before I put my plant in.  Not a good move.  Since water moves through stones very slowly, the soil at the top of the stones stays wetter causing the roots to rot.  You're much better off putting a coffee filter over the hole to prevent the soil from washing out.

STARTING YOUR GARDEN - and staying on BUDGET

A couple of ideas when you're just starting your garden and want to stay on budget.

To start, decide exactly what you can afford to spend on your garden to start with and stick to it.

Take just part of your garden - (divide up in sections) and begin with one part of your garden first.

Absolutely do the work yourself.  It will save you TONS of money!

Don't ever scrimp on soil preparation - Great soil just makes for healthy plants that you don't have to replace down the road.

Buy plants in the fall (or late late summer) and buy smaller potted plants; like plants in four inch pots for instance.  Small plants grow. All nursery stock goes on sale at the end of the season and you can get some great buys on everything from hardscaping (like bird baths, etc.) to plants.

And last but not least, if you're not having fun, then you're never going to create a space that you enjoy being in!

Engleman Ivy

I've never quite understood how someone couldn't LOVE gardening.  For me, I could spend hours in the garden; actually I can spend hours in ANYONE'S garden and have often been seen in friend's gardens helping them plant, remove, replant, and dig!  As long as I'm digging in dirt, I'm happy.

So a bit about my own garden.  I have a very small garden.  Most of my backyard is taken up with a large deck and because I live in a cookie cutter house on a cooking cutter street, my yard isn't very wide.  The part that isn't deck out my back yard has a border garden.  

Engleman Ivy in full sun


And since in the cookie cutter design of subdivision homes, I decided to plant Parthenocissus quinquefolia 'Engelmannii  a.k.a Engleman Ivy to grow up and along my fence.  It gives a really nice softening affect to hard looking fences.  Plus the birds love it and are always hiding in it and eating the berries that come out in early fall on the plant. 

Engleman Ivy will grow in shade or sun so no matter what part of my fence I put it on, it looks great.  Having said that, the best fall colors are on the part of the fence that is in full sun.  In the fall, the leaves turn orange then red.  Very pretty!  Since it's a crazy fast growing vine, cutting it back is no problem in the fall.  It actually looks much better the following summer when it is cut back.  I usually take at least a foot off the top of it and tidy up the suckers that grow around the base.

The only problem I've ever had with Engleman Ivy.  I did try it once on some arbors that surround my deck, and it actually looked great (for a while) but as summer went on, the leaves started to stress and fall off.  Turned out that because the area was really sheltered. there just wasn't enough air movement to keep the vine happy.

Engleman Ivy in partial/full shade.  Both do great.