Plant Talk

Rants/organics/hydrangeas.....

Perhaps it's the eclipses (a lunar eclipse on July 7 and a solar eclipse on July 21)  but, right when life is supposed to slow down so we can enjoy the lazy, hazy days of summer,  everything seems to have sped up. Maybe it's that unwelcome sense of summer slipping away that's made me feel like ranting about:

Scotts Miracle-Gro announced plans to shut down its 56-store Smith & Hawken chain by the end of the year. Remember when Smith and Hawken opened in Bellevue and it seemed like such a big deal? We hadn't had access before to their quality garden furniture and classy accessories...now the University Village store, and even the catalog, is toast.  Watch for what might be the best going out of business sale ever. Small compensation. On a happier note - I hear from several different nursery owners that plant sales are up this season...

I just read about a scientific study from, I think it was WSU, reporting that organically grown fruits and vegetables are more nutritious. It was filled with facts and figures and percentages. Do we really care exactly what percentage of which nutrient is in our carrots? A hallmark of organic gardening is feeding the soil, right? How could vegetables grown in organically enriched soil filled with trace elements NOT be more nutritious? Do you think scientists could look at this a little more holistically? Or perhaps just show a little common sense? Geesh!

A nurseryman was just filling me in on the hype about 'Incrediball' hydrangeas. No one I know has actually seen one of these hydrangeas-on-steroids yet, but it's being marketed as a new and improved 'Annabelle' with "beefier stems and bigger blooms".

Okay, I admit my Annabelle, when her flowers are fully formed, droops after a rain storm. But does it seem to you like every time you get a plant nicely settled into your garden and it grows to a lovely, mature size (this can take years of care), somebody comes out with a new and improved version? And how big do hydrangea flowers need to be, anyway? Here are a couple of photos of my unimproved, old-fashioned 'Annabelle' with her blooms just coloring up.. I'm stickin' with 'er....

It's Time To Plant Vegetables...well, some of them...

Spring is  a frustration of waiting followed by a frenzy of planting. And in this exceptionally chilly spring we're all wondering what to plant when. ...I haven't read Cliff Mass's weather blog so compulsively since the December snowstorms... I'm looking for warmer weather on the way, and there's little reassurance to be found.

Still, we need to get our crops into the ground...timing depends on where you live, how much sun your garden gets, and what kind of soil you have. You have to wait longer to plant in heavy wet soil; raised beds that drain more freely, especially if they're in the sun, can be planted weeks earlier.

We're coming up on the last frost date, which is usually about April 1, but depends on elevation, proximity of water, amount of sunlight in your individual garden.  Even though the forecast is for another week of rain and cool temperatures, now is the time to prepare beds for planting.  As soon as you can pick up a handful of soil, squeeze it, and not have water pour out, you can begin planting. I've already put leaf lettuce and peas in my raised beds.....maybe a little too early, but I couldn't help myself... 

Here are seven vegetables (and a few suggested varieties of each) most suited to early planting - go ahead and get them in the ground in the next  few weeks and you'll be on your way to harvest '09:

Beets: Bull's Blood, Golden, Chioggia
Onions: White Bunching, Walla Walla Sweet, Red Globe    
Peas: Sugar Snap, Sugar Sprint, Little Marvel
Radishes: Sparkler, Gourmet Blend, Champion
Carrots: Scarlet Nantes, Ingot, Little Finger
Lettuce: Red Sails, Gourmet Blend, Mesclun blends
Spinach: Tyee, Olympia

Chioggia Pink beets, photo courtesy of Thompson & Morgan