Growing Lavender

As I have decided to forgo planting a garden, I planted a few container pots instead.  On the deck, I wanted to try planting lavender.  I’ve never planted lavender before.  Just an FYI, I found my lavender plants in the perennial section of the greenhouse.  I was going to buy smaller lavender because it would have been cheaper but I asked a worker and the larger plants took 3 years to get to that size.  I decided to opt for the larger plants even though they were more expensive ($35 each) because I was only planting 2 pots on the deck.

I planted the lavender at the beginning of June.





I planted Hidcote Blue Lavender.  As it is a perennial, I’m hoping the plants will survive the winter. 





The lady working at the greenhouse told me that lavender is hard to keep over winter because our winters can be harsh.  I might try bringing them into our covered deck area for the winter.  Since they were $35 each it would be great if they could last more than one season!

They are just starting to flower now.  They don’t have a fragrance yet that I’ve noticed.






As Always,
Sandra

Update:  Check out how my lavender turned out for the year...click here.

No Garden

So this year I decided to not plant a garden.  And I don’t miss it!  All the weeding and caring for the garden was a lot to handle.  Especially, when we would pick up and take off and leave the garden plants to fend for themselves for a week at a time.  I would come home and the whole garden would be over run with weeds!  It is a very defeating and frustrating feeling.  I’m sure anyone who has a garden can relate.  Here is my garden from last year at the old house…

Garden 2012

When we purchased our new house we just recently moved into, the previous owners didn’t have a garden.  And there was no really good place to put a garden so it would get the sun exposure it needed.  It was kinda strange because I found this to be a huge relief.  I wasn’t going to have a garden and I was more than OK with that.

I thought about not having a garden some more and I realized I don’t really like gardening, and I was left wondering why I had a garden in the first place.  I think I felt pressure.  No one was saying “plant a garden”. But while I was growing up my mom had a garden and I just always thought that one day I would have a garden.  My husband’s family also had a garden growing up.  In a weird way, I didn’t want to let anyone down.  I know how silly this is to say but it is how I felt.  I know that no one will really care if I have a garden or not.  But I am a perfectionist and a people pleaser and this has really warped my thinking!

So this year, I decided to plant 2 tomato plants for the kids in planters, 1 small planter by the front door with a white flowering annual in it (I think it is lobelia), and 2 lavender planters on our deck.  I’m very happy with my decision.  Much happier than I have been in the past with planting a full sized garden.

Garden 2012

I can’t be certain that I’ll be done with gardens forever.  I just know that right now having a garden is not a good fit for me.  I have other things I want to focus my attention on besides pulling out weeds!

As Always,
Sandra

Garden Labels ...Update!

This spring I made some garden stakes to label the plants in my garden.  Click here to see how I made them.  I promised you an update, here it is...

I'm proud to report the labelled stakes have been working wonderfully!  They are holding up in the rain and elements.  I definitely recommend taking some time to make these labels for your garden. 

The labels add the finishing touch to the garden!
 

As Always,
Sandra

Garden Labels

This spring, I will be putting in a garden.  In previous years, I have used scrap pieces of wood or whatever was handy at the time to label the plants in the garden.  Not very pretty!  

One year, I got a little creative.  I labelled a recipe card with a name of garden plant using a Sharpie.  I then inserted the card into a Ziploc bag and stapled the bags to wooden stakes.  I thought I was protecting the recipe cards from moisture by placing them in the Ziploc bags but stapling them to the stake made enough of a hole for the moisture to find a way in and ruin the labels.  Some of the bags made it though the season but many ripped off in the wind.

So this year I'm trying a new idea...

I've already bought my seeds for spring.  You can see my seed organizer idea here.  Since I knew the names of the plants, I used excel to make some labels.  I used the same process for the hallway labels.  After printing the labels, I cut each label out and placed them in the laminator sheet.  Next, I ran the sheets through my laminator.  Cutting out each label after laminating, I made sure to keep the seal around the outside.  Hopefully no moisture will get through this time!  

I bough some little white plastic garden stakes from Home Depot and used some heavy duty double sided tape to stick the laminated labels on the stakes.  Soon I'll see if the tape will hold up to the elements.  Fingers crossed!

The picture above has a pair of scissors in it for a size comparison.  The stakes are small and will be low to the ground, so hopefully the wind won't rip the labels off the stakes.

I'll let you know how these garden stakes hold up this year!  (Click here for an update!)  What do you use to label your garden?

As Always,
Sandra

Seed Organizer

I've decided to organize my seeds for spring planting.  Hard to believe that spring is a few months away since we just got a foot of snow here on the weekend!  

I used to keep my seeds altogether in a cardboard box.  I'd take the box out to the garden and it would get damp or wet sitting in the grass or on the ground. The seed packages would end up scattered all over the inside of the box because it was too big to hold the seeds.

This spring, I will be trying out my new solution...

I've used old Huggies wipes containers to hold the seeds upright.  This should also work better because the containers are plastic so they can easily sit on the ground or grass without having to worry about them getting wet or damp.  

I've split the seeds into two containers.  The first container has the garden seeds, sorted alphabetically.  The second container has garden seeds (approximately the last quarter of alphabet) and flowers and herbs.

I sorted the seed categories alphabetically and used small bits of card stock to separate the categories (eg, carrots, corn, peas...).  I labelled the card stock categories with my labeller to easily locate the categories.  Now instead of hunting to find my seed package, I will be able to find the one I need quickly!

How do you organize or store your seeds?

As Always,
Sandra