Behind the Fence

Wednesday, March 10, 2010


Why do I want to blog?

 Because I am passionate about my potager (or kitchen garden,)  I tend to talk about it non-stop. I notice the eyes of my non-gardening friends and family glaze over in boredom. I think I have been hidden by more than a few of my friends on Facebook.  I need an outlet! (Okay, the real reason I want to start a blog is I just watched Julie and Julia and thought "How cool is that?")  I do hope to have interaction with other gardeners and if no one reads it, well I will have a journal, something I have often considered but have never put to practice.  Now to start blogging...........

It is March and my greenhouse is full of young plants and cuttings. Seedlings are emerging under grow lights and the early spring vegetables have been planted in the garden. Bulbs are up, pansies and crocuses are blooming. As Carolyn Roof mentioned in her gardening column in the local paper, March is a "hurry up and wait" month. After a short flurry of activity, we now wait for the weather to warm some more. It is also a move month. Move seedlings to the greenhouse, move plants outside during the day, move plants back into the greenhouse at night until finally they can be moved to their garden spot.

March is full of surprises, like when I removed a row cover from one of the beds yesterday and found arugula, bok choy, beets and Swiss chard had survived the winter. They were immature plants leftover last fall. I put them under a row cover hoping they would continue to grow. They didn't grow any, but did survive the single digit temperatures and snow of the winter. I side-dressed the plants with compost, now let's see if they will finish maturing.


What, you may wonder, is in the black jugs?  Water. I spray detergent jugs with black paint, filled them with water and placed under the row covers for heat. It must have helped as the most of the plants survived.








2 comments:

  1. At first glance this is one of the most acutely detailed, horticulturally accurate blogs I have ever seen. This blog looks like a perfect avenue for me to vicariously sow my own potage while someone else does all the work.

    Seriously, Mom, keep up the good work. Say, didn't you marry into some gardening lineage, too?

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  2. Indeed, my late father-in-law was a landscape horticulturist for the state of Texas. I do regret his passing so soon after Randy and I married. I would love to have his advice and suggestions. I do enjoy having his reference books and using some of his tools. I have brought ferns, poppies and chrysanthemums from his garden in Texas to plant in my garden.

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