Category: Outdoors

Did you know those little styrofoam-looking beads in potting soil are actually volcanic glass?

You may not have the time and energy to weed and maintain lovely perennial flower beds, or even to grow a few tomatoes, carrots and beans. But if you love flowers you can have a window box or a big pot of flowers on your deck. They can add a punch of color all summer long. And it’s not too late to start now.

Before you get too excited about planting flowers at this time of year, visit your local garden center, farm stand or other source for plants. Some places sell out by the end of June. Others keep nice annual flowers coming all summer long. And some are already selling chrysanthemums and fall asters, which will provide nice color for the weeks ahead.

I recently visited Caroline Storrs of Cornish, New Hampshire, to look at her window boxes as she told me hers were in their full glory now. Her husband, Peter, is a retired building contractor who built her window boxes for her. He used a synthetic material made from PVC plastic for the window boxes. That material is more expensive than wood but does not rot, warp or splinter. There are several brands available, and from what I can see synthetic wood costs from $10 to $15 per square foot of material.

Caroline explained that their window boxes were made wider and deeper than most commercially made window boxes. She said the more space there is available to the plant roots, the bigger the plants will grow, whether in pots or window boxes. She also pointed out that window boxes should be mounted so that there is an air space behind the boxes to prevent rotting of the wood siding or clapboards.

The potting mix is also important. Caroline’s boxes run all the way across the garage beneath upstairs windows — for perhaps 30 feet. They are about 10 inches deep and 8 inches across, which means that a huge amount of potting mix is needed to fill them all. She makes her own potting mix instead of buying it in bags, which would be more expensive.

Caroline makes a planting mix of one third peat moss, one third perlite and one third compost (which she gets by the pickup truck load), mixing it in a big wheelbarrow. She also adds a slow-release fertilizer as the basic ingredients of the mix do not provide enough of the needed nutrients to sustain the plants all summer.

Not all annuals do well with high-nitrogen mixes, as they can grow tall but delay flowering. Plants grown for their foliage do well with lots of nitrogen but may need pinching back to control size. If you do not use a slow-release fertilizer, you may need to use a liquid fertilizer every week or two to keep your plants happy.

Perlite is the white fluffy stuff in potting mixes that looks like bits of Styrofoam but is actually volcanic glass that is superheated until it pops like popcorn. It helps keep a planting mix from compacting. And although it does retain some water in its nooks and crannies, it does not absorb water.

Vermiculite is another material used in some potting mixes, and this does absorb water and holds it much better than perlite. It holds on to minerals, too, which perlite does not do. That’s important if you use liquid fertilizers, which can wash away quickly.

I’ve read that too much vermiculite can lead to a constantly wet mix, leading to root rot. From my experience a mix of perlite and vermiculite is good, particularly in dry summers. Perhaps one part vermiculite and two parts perlite would be good. Vermiculite is mica that has been heated to a high temperature. Both products have a neutral pH.

In each window box Caroline planted geraniums, chartreuse-colored sweet potato vines and coleus, a foliage plant. Coleus now comes in both sun and shade varieties, and some that will grow in either sun or shade. It does not appear to bloom but has multi-colored leaves that can be striking. The sweet potato vine hangs down and out of the box, while the coleus grows up and the geraniums add bold color in the middle of each box. She repeated the pattern all the way across the front of the garage to great effect.

Watering is important. Because her plants are so big and leafy, they require lots of water. Caroline told me that she waters every day — which means they do not travel in the summer. Peter told me that he drilled lots of holes in the bottom of the boxes to prevent the soil mix from staying soggy in rainy times. The holes can leak soil mix, so it is important to put landscape fabric or screen in the bottom.

I built a cedar window box more than 20 years ago and although it is starting to show its age it is still sturdy. I did not treat it with anything. I recently made another similar box also using 6-inch-wide cedar boards.

My new planting box is made for morning glories. I have a blank wall to which I attached a nice wood trellis and wanted to break up the tedium of the wall. And although 6-inch boards do not provide the depth of Caroline’s boxes, the vines have already reached the top of the 6-foot trellis.

Gardening really is for everybody, even those with limited time, energy and space. Grow a few flowers in a window box or pot and they will reward you with their beauty — and that of the butterflies they attract.

Featured photo: This small cedar window box is fine for a few morning glories. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Start with the garlic, have patience with potatoes

Those of us who grow vegetables are faced with many questions each year: Will there be a late frost that will harm our tomatoes and peppers if we plant them on Memorial Day weekend? Is it time to harvest garlic now, since they produced their scapes early this year? When should we harvest broccoli — now, with heads still fairly small, or wait till they get bigger? Will the sun finally prevail and give all our veggies a big boost after all this rain?

We have seen more rain than usual — much more. Even a quick shower results in standing water in the walkways between my mounded raised beds. But in addition to the excess water, plants aren’t getting their usual allotment of sunshine. They need sun — strong, bright sun — to grow and produce fruits and leaves. The lack of sunshine is what is causing smaller veggies, yellowed leaves and later ripening.

Is it time to harvest garlic yet? After the plants send up those curly stems we call “scapes,” it is generally fine to harvest garlic. Traditionally I pull mine in mid to late August. But it’s important to pull them at the right time, not sooner or later than needed.

Here’s what I do: I start by groping my garlic. I slip my hand into the soil and feel how big the bulbs are. I don’t pull them if they’re tiny. But to be on the safe side, I pull a few and look at the skin over the cloves. I want the skins to be strong and tight for good storage. If they are breaking down (due to all the rain), I pull my garlic. If not, I let them keep growing, but check them often.

What about potatoes? My advice is to wait. Yes, you will have some small potatoes as soon as they have blossomed. But I wait much longer than that to harvest mine, as I want big spuds. When leaves start to yellow and die back, then I dig them all. In the meantime, I slip my hand into the soil (without disturbing the plants) and grab a few “new” potatoes for a special treat.

Even though a healthy broccoli plant will produce more food from its side shoots than the main head, some of my plants are small and yellowed from lack of sun. I am pulling the feeble ones and planting a late crop of lettuce by seed in the space.

My Brussels sprouts plants are also much smaller than normal this year. Fortunately, they will continue to grow until the end of October or even later. If we get sunshine soon, they should recover. My normal advice is to cut the tops of the plants off on Labor Day weekend so that the plants don’t keep growing taller but instead send their energy into producing big “sprouts.” This year I’ll be lucky if they have stalks at all. So I will wait and see — and I accept that my harvest might be small or non-existent.

Carrots love the rain and are growing nicely. We thinned them in early July and are keeping them well-weeded. Still, little sunshine means they can’t bulk up as they would in a normal year.

Onions are ready to harvest when their tops flop over. Pull the onions, even if small, and allow them to dry for a week or so in a shady, breezy spot.

One bright spot in the garden this year is celery. I don’t usually grow it, as in the past mine has been tough to chew and a magnet for snails and slugs. This year I planted six plants, and although the stalks are not yet thick, the plants are big and so far have not seemed to attract pests. I ate a stalk, and it is tougher than store-bought. But tasty.

I usually grow celeriac instead of celery, and I did start some from seed indoors. Celeriac is also called celery root and has a big bulb that grows above the soil surface. It keeps in the refrigerator for up to six months, and when added in a soup or stew it has the same celery flavor. This year, with little sun? The bulbs are not showing yet.

All this rain inspired me to grow watercress! I got seeds, and the packet says plant in wet soil, preferably in a shady area. I have that. I only did that recently, but the plants have sprouted and seem happy.

The Cornish Fair is always on the third weekend of August and has competitions for everything: who can throw an ax most accurately, who can produce the best strawberry jam — and much more. For me it is a time to compete in the vegetable and flower categories in the gym of the school. Tomatoes generally are ripe by then, but this year — who knows?

Even though I have been picking off the many yellowed leaves on my tomato plants, they are still far behind their usual selves. Do pick off the yellow leaves — they will only spread fungal disease. But only do so when the leaves are dry — if they ever are!

I heard that a study at Harvard found that people who eat a cup of ice cream every day live longer than those that do not. I couldn’t find this study online, but I have my own theory: People who are happy live longer. If eating ice cream makes you happy, have some! Me? I think the study should have been focused on home-grown tomatoes and potatoes and garlic fresh from the garden. I know they keep me happy — and probably living longer than most!

Featured photo: This vegetable garden is soggy at best. Photo by Henry Homeyer.