Gardener to Farmer

Moving to Chi-Town

To quote the ever-poetic Will Smith, Chi-Town got it goin' on, which is why I am excited about moving from Portland to Chicago! Actually, I will be there this time next month. I've  held off posting about it, because I wanted to be able to share photos of my new place. And it seemed to take forever to find just the right spot.

This is a somewhat off kilter shot of the front of the house. Adorable, right? You'll notice there's a lot of shade. In fact, there's a lot of shade everywhere...that's going to require some strategy on my part. I will (of course) continue to grow edibles...particularly in any patches of sun that exist. Like this one...

This is a nice little paved area off of the back deck. I am sure I can grow containers of veggies here. Then there's the deck itself...looks like mostly shade.

What's great is that there is an awesome shed in the back with windowboxes!

And more shaded borders...

Finally, a blurry shot of the sideyard. What is that, a fairy ring around the tree? Um, no.

For some reason, people in Chicago are overly fond of hostas and yews. You can see there are a lot of hostas at my new place. I'm certainly not against them, but there are other plants that thrive in the shade.

So, that's my new adventure! I hope you all will join me as I dig in the dirt and renovate my new yard. It's been a wonderful 6 years of gardening in Portland...and I am looking forward to the challenge of moving from a zone 8A garden to a zone 6A region.

P Allen Smith and Garden2Blog II

This is the second year that I've been invited to attend P Allen Smith's Garden2Blog event. I kinda doubt I will be invited again. Let's just say that I was a little out of control. I ran amok, if you will...I was on hottie overload. Here's what it resulted in:

• Tag teaming with Amanda Thomsen to catch a live chicken
  

  Taken by one of my fellow G2B'ers
• Getting in to Allen's copper bathtub (while clothed) and having him pretend to bathe me
• Telling a camera crew that Allen should consider making his home into a Dollywood style theme park
• Being a part of a team that created a beautiful container filled with luscious plants, then naming it the "Purple Cram It" (no, it's not for the reason you think, dirty minds, Amanda crammed a whole lot of plants in it...and we won "Best Eye Candy", though I'm not sure if that was for the plants or us girls)
• Made multiple attendees pose for ridiculous pictures featuring my hat. Let me just add that I am sure the alcohol made the coercion a lot easier. 
• Partnered with Amanda to finish the Proven Winners Scavenger Hunt (it's their 20th anniversary!), only to race her to the finish line, up a steep hill that had just been watered. Dude, we had the same answers...we worked on it together...what's up with the running?

Did I have fun, you ask? Hell-to-the-yes I did! And I will post pics of the pretty gardeny stuff too...but right now, I am going to share a video I created called "Garden2Blog II: Revenge of the Hat. Enjoy.

 

Oh and if you want to see the other (probably a lot more professional posts about Garden2Blog, I'll post the links below as I get them. Keep checking back for more P Allen Smith gardeny-goodness.

 P Allen Smith Blog

Dee Nash Red Dirt Ramblings, I

Dee Nash Red Dirt Ramblings, II

Genevieve Schmidt, North Coast Gardening

Carolyn Binder, Cowlick Cottage Farm

Christopher Tidrick, From the Soil

Amanda Thomsen, Kiss My Aster

Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener

Kylee Baumle, Our Little Acre

Linda, Garden Girl

Brenda Haas, BG Garden

Bonnie Plants

Conard-Pyle

Susan Cohan, Susan Cohan Gardens/Miss Rumphius' Rules

Proven Winners

Grumpy Gardener Sings "Ring of Fire" (see, I'm not the only one who did stuff that will prevent them from inviting me back)

"DISCLOSURE: Attendees at Garden2Blog 2012 including myself received transportation, accommodations and meals during the event. Event sponsors provided samples and product giveaways at no cost or obligation. All opinions are my own."

The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener and Proven Winners Plants Contest

My friend and collegue, Niki Jabbour, has written an outstanding book called The Year Round Vegetable Gardener. Storey (the publisher) contracted me to do PR for the book, so I have had several months to peruse its beautiful pages. It is probably one of the most useful gardening books I've read in a while. And when I say useful, I mean pick-it-up-anytime-I-have-a-question useful.

The cool thing about this contest is that Proven Winners is kicking in a box of their 2013 plants. Yep, 2013...stuff that no one else has yet. Personally, I think it would be great to gloat about that to all of your plant geek friends. Here are some of the plants you could win:

• Superbells® Lemon Slice Calibrachoa • Senorita Blanca® Cleome • Luscious® Berry Blend Lantana • Blushing Princess™ Lobularia • Supertunia® Watermelon Charm Petunia • Colorblaze® Marooned Coleus

The contest starts today and a winner will be announced by 5 pm PST on May 11th. Entering is simple! Just ‘like’ the Proven Winners Facebook page and/or Niki's Facebook page and then return to the Proven Winners Contest Blog Post and leave a comment saying you did so. You can enter up to two times. The winning entry will be chosen at random.

But that's not all....there's more...a whole bunch of Garden Gurus, as well as Storey Publishing, are writing about it. So head out and check out these awesome blogs. They are always a good read...and I kinda like these folks:

www.punkrockgardens.com

http://yearroundveggiegardener.blogspot.com/

http://www.cowlickcottagefarm.com/

http://reddirtramblings.com/

http://www.kissmyaster.co/

http://www.jpetersongardendesign.com/

http://www.northcoastgardening.com/

http://www.gardenertofarmer.net/

http://www.thedandelionwrangler.ca/

http://insidestorey.blogspot.com/

 

My favorite Proven Winners Plant: Snow Princess Lobularia

 

The Top 5 Hottest New Plants for 2012

Recently, Proven Winners sponsored me on a trip to see their trial gardens. I've been writing about it on the Proven Winners' blog (where I am the National Garden Guru). While I was there, I saw the most gorgeous new introductions for 2012. And rather than ramble on with words (as I usually do) I am going to show you with photos:

1) Colorblaze® Keystone Kopper™: Alright, I have to start by admitting that this first one won't actually be out until 2013. But I am so in love with it that I can't wait to tell you about it! This gorgeous coleus can grow in sun or shade...and even as a houseplant. The combination of copper and purple hues makes this a real standout!

2) Sweet Caroline Raven Ipomoea: First of all, I have to say that I LOVE sweet potato vine! It is wonderfully lush and colorful. I am planning on combining Keystone Kopper with Raven for killer container color. Here's a shot of Raven with Superbells® Plum Calibrachoa.

3) Hibiscus Summerific™ Cranberry Crush: The deep red of these flowers make this an absolute must have. They are so dark when in bud form, they look almost black.

4) Decadence™ 'Lemon Meringue' and 'Dutch Chocolate': I'm cheating and including two plants for #4 because they are both so yummy. 'Lemon Meringue' is a gorgeous shade of yellow that can be a challenge to find in a perennial and 'Dutch Chocolate' serves as a great companion plant. It has beautiful chocolate flowers with yellow throats.

5) Sunsatia® Lemon Nemisia: This little beauty is extremely floriferous and can be used in sun or part sun. It's color is so bright...a great combination plant for a container that includes Sweet Caroline Raven.

If you'd like to see more 2012 introductions, check out my Proven Winners plant trials video from last spring. You'll see lots of gorgeous varieties!

Carrot Seedlings: A Tiny Sign of Spring

About a month ago, I started to notice signs of life amongst the brown and decayed leaves of last fall. And one of the first things I saw was this tiny, tiny carrot seedling that had taken root in a succulent container on my patio. This tiny ferny thing, poking its head above the rim of a blue ceramic pot that had taken up residence on my patio last summer.

            Volunteer Carrot in Succulents

I don't know why I felt so hopeful seeing this volunteer carrot, but I did. I don't actually know how I came to notice it. I am nearly 6 feet tall and the container maybe 8 inches tall...filled to the rim with green succulent leaves that never changed colors. Yet, there it was...and there I was...both of us happy to be alive and to have survived winter.

I love little volunteer seedlings. The unexpected joy of seeing a random bean sprout or lettuce leaf fills me with parental joy. It is one of the main reasons I let some of my plants go to seed, rather than harvest them all, at the end of the season. When you grow multiple varieties of some vegetables, including carrots, the plants can cross pollenate, resulting in unique characteristics and types.

Now, everyone reports that carrots are a biennial. And, I know that technically speaking, this is true. However, I often have carrots bloom and seed the first year. Honestly, this makes me extremely happy...because I happen to think that carrot blooms are absolutely stunning. The reason my carrots bloom in the first year is two fold. Some bloom because they are volunteers (like the one above) and the seeds have already experienced a winter. So for these little guys, it is the second year. The same process applies for carrot seeds sown late in winter. If I sow while temperatures are still fluctuating, the seeds are tricked into thinking winter has come and gone. The carrots still produce edible roots and I get the benefit of the ornamental flowers in my landscape (If you listen to my Good Enough Gardening podcast last year, I gushed about their beauty ad nauseum). I will say that with the second method, the plant will expend much more energy in creating foliage and umbrells rather than a large tap root. If you are growing carrots for both beauty and eating, be sure to sow them in succession for the best of both worlds.

Purple Carrot Flower in Forefront with Lacitano Kale in Background

Gorgeous White Carrot in Bloom Next to Flowering Leek

Carrots as Ornamentals with Flowering Leeks and Petunias

 

Have I Mentioned I Love Beets? My New Beet Tattoo!

My love affair with beets is well documented. One of my first posts to this blog (waaaay back in 2008) was "A Beet by Any Other Name Would Taste as Sweet". In 2009, I followed up with "Planting Beets, Lettuce and Organic Fertilzer" (retrospectively, that's a strange title). And in that same year, wrote a book (Growing Food: A Guide for Beginners) with a chapter devoted to beets (you can now buy just the beet chapter in digital format on Amazon). And don't even get me started on the recipes I've posted that involve beets...

But nothing displays my commitment to beets more than my new tattoo:

I got it a couple of months ago from Mike at Skin Abrasions Tattoos in Oak Park, IL. La betterave commune is French for the common beet. I didn't want to share it with the world right away. I've been looking at it and thinking about it...waiting for the right moment to reveal its greatness. 

Yesterday, I stepped outside and took a deep breath....and I could smell spring! My heart skipped a beat (no pun intended) and I started looking around for signs of life. Suddenly, I noticed all kinds of new greenery poking up...bulbs, perennials, vegetables...it was so exciting! I was so excited and inspired that I decided that this would be the very best time to share the commemoration of my beloved beet.

I'm already thinking about my next tattoo...

It Was Really Nothing...

I reach this point every winter where I haven't gardened for several months and I really have nothing to say. For most people, that would prevent them from blogging...but then, I am not most people. Oh no...I intend to use this space to talk about nothing. Really...nothing...(for optimal effect, this post should be read while listening  The Smiths "William")

Merriam -Webster defines nothing (noun) as follows:

a : something that does not exist b : the absence of all magnitude or quantity; also : zero 1a c : nothingness, nonexistence

As gardeners, we often rush to fill emptiness. It's almost as if the blank spaces in our garden are super massive black holes, vacuuming in nearby plant matter in an attempt to eliminate the void. And if we are greedy, we rush out in spring to purchase lots of new plants for which we have absolutely no room at all. This almost guarantees that every nook and cranny will be crammed with greenery.

But what if we left those spaces open...or what if, dare I say, we deliberately created empty space? What if we thought of ourselves as curators of spaces instead of constant creators? Deep. Maybe too deep...my head hurts.

Again Merriam-Webster speaks: curator (noun)

one who has the care and superintendence of something; especially : one in charge of a museum, zoo, or other place of exhibit

Now, my garden is certainly not a museum...it is possibly a zoo. But I consider that I am a curator, in that I have not created every living thing in my yard. I am a partner with nature...and sometimes I create new designs, add new plants. Other times, I appreciate the existing design...including the empty spaces. Without them, there is no contrast, no opposing force that highlights the filled spaces. There are no crisp, clear edges that define plants one from another. Nor is there any space to ponder a singular plant, to study its unique beauty.

And in some ways, winter is the "nothing" of my gardening year. I take time to reflect on previous seasons and enjoy the anticipation of what is to come. In reality, nothing is actually a whole lot of something...if we allow it to be...

my youngest during his first trip to the ocean

Proven Winners Garden Guru: Christmas Comes Early!

Thanks to Proven Winners, Christmas came early this year...I am super excited to announce that I am one of the new Proven Winners Garden Gurus! Frankly, I can't think of a better gift to give a garden writer than the chance to write about awesome plants from an awesome company.

So what is a Garden Guru? Essentially, we (me and a team of 7 other gardeners) are the home
gardener representatives of Proven Winners. We'll be testing out their plants, writing about growing methods and conditions, and chatting it up on Twitter and Facebook. And the new Proven Winners website and blog are fantastic resources for gardeners in every zone. If you are looking for expert advice, we are here for you! (I like to think of us as the Butterball hotline for Proven Winners plants.)

The women who comprise Garden Gurus are a diverse lot. We all live in different regions and have different areas of expertise. Check it out, it's an all star lineup:

Jenny Peterson, J Peterson Garden Designs

Amanda Thomsen, Kiss My Aster

Laura Matthews, Punk Rock Gardens

Genevieve Schmidt, North Coast Gardening

Carolyn Binder, Cowlick Cottage Farm

Niki Jabbour, Year Round Vegetable Gardener

Dee Nash, Red Dirt Ramblings

This month, the Garden Gurus are writing about our love for gardening. So hop on over and learn more about your favorite gardeners than you ever wanted to know! :)

Dirr Enclopedia Giveaway

When I was awarded the PR contract to represent the new Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs earlier this year, I almost fainted. An author who is a horticultural legend + an unprecedented encyclopedia = a once in a lifetime opportunity. And this week, Timber Press is giving away a copy of this massive book...so head over and leave a comment to enter the drawing!

I met Dr. Michael Dirr and his wife Bonnie back in August when he was in Portland for his speaking engagement at Farwest. I don't know what I expected...I mean, the man is a living legend. There is no one on the planet with a greater working knowledge of woody plants (the don't call him the "Father of Woody Plants" for nothin'). Through his years of hybridizing work, teaching and writing, he has contributed to the body of horticultural knowledge in an exceptional and singular way. I think that earns him the right to throw a little entitlement around. You know, "take the blue M & M's out, only drape my pre-performance room in white" sort of thing.

But Dirr is anything but entitled. Instead, I found him to be quick-witted, intelligent and self-effacing. His wife Bonnie was full of dry humor and wisdom, in her own right. And, Dirr is a bit of a curmudgeon...something that makes him all the more endearing. As we sat down to dinner, it became clear that I was going to have to bust out my A game in order to keep up with the sheer volume of ideas.

After that meeting, I became a follower in the cult of Dirr. It's true, he inspires a religious zeal in his followers that is unparalleled. And while you might be tempted to consider me a bit kooky, let me tell you this...I would personally buy any book he's written at full cost. And that's saying something, since I generally get free review copies and his books tend to be pricey.

Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs is full of anything and everything you'd need to know about the subject. And of course, there are gorgeous photographs that make identification a snap. But what you likely won't expect, is Dirr's quirky sense of humor. He's a no nonsense, give it to you straight, dead pan humor kind of guy. He infuses this book with "Dirr-isms" that make reading it a joy.

Bottom Line: I give this book two thumbs up...and a wink to Dr. Dirr.

Japanese Maples: A Love Story

I have a confession. I am in love with a Japanese Maple. Yes, I know...human/botanical love affairs can be tawdry things, but I can't help myself. I am simply mesmerized by the beauty she produces from spring till frost. It's funny, I don't even know her name...she came with the property. But, I suspect it's Crimson Queen (Acer palmatum-dissectum). 

Here she is in late spring, flirting with me. Her bright chartruse seed pods peeking out from underneath delicate leaves. While the rest of my landscape is full of polite pastels and soft-hued greens, her rouged leaves demand my attention, their dissected form catching the breeze, waving to me.

As spring turns in to summer, our romance grows. I have the perfect vantage point to keep an eye on her. She sits toward the bottom of the hill...snuggled between the curve of the drive and the lush expanse of the lawn. I look down from my bay window to see her catching the eye of a neighbor. I smile to myself, proud to have her on my arm.

 In fall, my little Japanese Maple pulls out her cool weather wardrobe. Bright crimson, startling yellow, vibrant persimmon...all come to life with the crisp afternoon days of autumn. Here she is, peeking out from behind an evergreen.

Every fall, I pull out my camera and try to capture her beauty. And every fall, I miss the mark. It's not that I don't try. I snap shots from different angles, with different light, in different seasons. But I can't seem to catch the way she looks ablaze when the afternoon sun dances along her leaves. Or the fluttery butterfly seedpods whose movements make her look alive.

Sadly, we've reached the time of year when she starts to slumber. Her leaves fall gently to the ground as she prepares for bed. I watch with a wistful heart, knowing that the long, dark months of winter will be longer and darker without her.