A First Attempt at Fabric Pot Gardening

Growing Potatoes in Fabric Pots

I first learned about fabric pot gardening while reading a Wizzley article written by someone who also loves growing things. On his page he suggests growing potatoes in a pot made of black fabric or burlap.

Instantly, I loved this idea!  I don’t have to dig up the ground and get it ready to plant – whoo hoo – I hate that part of gardening.  I ordered three yards of compost / loam mix to add to all my garden beds and just used some of it to fill my black bags.  The one on the left in my picture has potatoes and you can see one sprout shooting up through the dirt.  Once the shoots grow to 6 or 8 inches I will add more dirt.

The other pot has carrot seeds.  I figure they might do well in a good bag of soil instead of in my yard.   It’s always a chore to get the garden areas ready for planting.  I started at this house with an overgrown backyard so my first year here was spent clearing out the weeds and blackberry bushes.  Last year I expanded the garden area and added good dirt.  This year I am adding more dirt, but it’s easier to add it to bags and the chance of weeds invading a bag is minimal.

My backyard is quite small and my garden holds vegetables as well as flowers I’ve planted and flowering weeds.  Flowers of all kinds are good for attracting beneficial bugs to the garden area.  I am currently growing cold weather things like peas, basil, and strawberries (from last year).  I will have to wait until the first of June to get the cukes, tomatoes, basil and zucchini into the ground.

This type of gardening is experimental, but I am hoping for good results.  I even bought a large, round fabric bag and will set that up as soon as I get more dirt.  I started my own zucchini plants (5 of them!) this year from seeds I saved last summer and I may have to put a couple into that new pot along with some of my tomato plants.

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A Birdbath For the Robins

An Evening Ritual, Robins Bathing

My car has been on the fritz so I’ve been stuck at home for days. I usually stay home as much as possible and since I work from home, it’s not so difficult. My daily ritual includes getting up early working most of the day until my son gets home from school, then I head outside to dig, plant and shovel dirt into my gardens. After I come inside and shower I sit in my chair and watch Special Report and it’s right around that time of day that the Robins begin their evening ritual of splashing in the birdbath.

It’s a safe time of day for them because my cats have been brought inside for the night. They get busy digging for worms in my lawn (or, non-lawn) and then go get cleaned up in the birdbath. When I am outside watering new plantings I always clean out the birdbath and add new water. They certainly do enjoy it and they are fun to watch. I’m not a very good photographer when it comes to animals, but this shot of the robin has him looking straight at me!

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A Death in The Hydrangea Family

I’ve been waiting, with little hope, that my pee gee hydrangea (grandiflora) would begin to show some green. Of all the new hydrangea additions to my yard last Spring, it’s the only one that seems to have died.
I managed to get a few photos of it’s pretty white flowers last summer, and I had hoped it would grow nicely in the new season, but it’s not to be. By now I would be seeing some signs of growth. My son stepped on it and I think that is what did it in, but maybe not. It may have already died over winter.

Little Pee Gee

The others – the Pinky Winky, Limelights and Endless summer are full of leaves so I know they have survived over winter. I found a Pee Gee tree when I was out at the nursery the other day and those become so pretty. I am jealous of people who have big yards with room to grow flowering trees. Recently the whole area where I live is alive with color. From fluffy white and pink specimens to the gorgeous Japanese magnolias (my favorites), I envy yards with those typed of ornamentals. I hope to get a photo of the flowering dogwood tree I saw last year just down the street. It was a beauty.
Anyway, my attention is turned to the remaining hydrangeas in my yard. I look forward to the blue flowers especially.

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Skittle Finds a Slithering Playmate

Skittle was happy to have a little, squirmy playmate the other afternoon. I guess this is a baby garter snake. I don’t know my northern snakes very well, except that they are not poisonous.
If this was Florida, that little snake would most likely be a pygmy rattler and my cat would now be dead.
I wonder if cats can tell bad (deadly) snakes from good?
She didn’t harm it. We saw the snake later out in the grass.

Skittle Finds a Playmate

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What I Bought at The Nursery

Home From a Trip to The Nursery

I shop for annuals once a year, usually at the end of May or beginning of June – like most other people who live in New England. If we shop too early, the plants have to wait somewhere until all chance of frost has passed. OR, they can go into the cold ground and take their chances. All plants cost too much to risk dying in a freeze, and I can’t be bothered to go out and cover my plants. I just wait and try to get them into the ground at the correct time. And slowly but surely I am learning how to garden in the north.

So on my recent trip to “House by the Side of the Road”, this is what I came home with (my hanging fuchsia was on the front seat):

Mother’s Day Gift: Fuchsia Hanging Basket

My New Fuchsia Plant

Even though I bought this fuchsia plant myself, my kids are going to chip in and pay for it as a belated Mother’s Day gift.  As each holiday comes around my kids ask what I want and I can’t ever say I want anything.  “Take me out to eat” is what I usually say.  Not cooking is the best gift I can think of.

But I recently splurged on this new hanging basket.  I saw it on my gardening expedition to Wilton where the nursery had tons of them to choose from. Some had purple and pink flowers (love those too) and one type had long, white pointy flowers – very different. But I chose this huge, pink and white one.

The only problem is that it’s too cold outside to hang it so it’s inside on a little table. It will have a permanent home out front under the beech trees once we get some warm weather. May began with warmth, but suddenly we’ve had two nights of 30 degrees. In New England we can’t plan on warm weather until about June.

I also bought some small petunia and vinca plants to make my own hanging baskets, which I’ll be doing soon.

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