Planting Trays

So we reviewed warming mats and lights for seedlings, how about we dive into seed cells or pots for the seeds.  I have tried various methods to starting seeds inside and found the seed trays with a humidity dome to work the best.  You can find the trays really anywhere.  I purchased mine from The Greenhouse Megastore, Seed Trays.  There are many to choose from, I would make sure they have no holes in them (you can buy ones with holes). 



Then I purchased the humidity domes.  These help keep moisture and warmth in for the seedlings.  Especially when the weather is cold the dome and the heating pads help jump start your seeds.



This picture shows the humidity dome on the tray.  You can buy them both at the same time.

Here is also a new site that I have come across that has seed trays, you may want to take a look, Unbeatablesale.com.

So we have the seed trays and dome, now we need to decide what to use for the seed cells or flats.  I use a 6 cell flat, I like this size as they are not overly big but not really small to get the seedlings out.  I have tried smaller cells but is is difficulty to try to remove your new plant.  With these I can use a hand weeder to get the seedling out with damaging it. 

The flats come in as 8 connected- 6 cell units, which is a total of 48 cells, but they are perforated so you can easily snap them apart.  You will want to have them smaller to work with, it is way to difficult to re pot seedlings with such a large tray, hence the six pack is easier to work with.

So this sounds like allot to purchase to start out growing seeds indoors, but there are some pros to the situation.
1.  If you check in with nursery owners or places like Home Depot, sometimes you can get some of their potting equipment- especially if they are going to throw them away, ChaChing for you.
2.  You can use these over and over, providing they don't split, which I think of the 100 or so that I have 2 have fallen apart.
3. Once you get the seedlings to a state to transplant- you can start another batch and keep going.

I would shop around and see what you can find from local nurseries, neighbors and friends.  If you buy online Amazon, Greenhouse Megastore have about the best prices, but if I have the time to scout around sometimes I can find good prices with other places.  I am a true believer in free shipping so I always look for that.

If you are in the Salt Lake Valley, Western Garden is a good place that you can go in and see allot of the items, to get a feel for what you want, many times they will also have deals going on.  Since I live about an hour from Salt Lake, I rely on on-line shopping.  Western Garden Locations

Fun Indoors- Keeping Warm

So I talked about bit about growing lights in the last blog, now I think we should move onto warming mats.

What are warming mats.  They are simply a mat that you place underneath a growing tray to provide warm to the soil and seeds to "kick start" the germination process.  Now it is not a requirement to have these, if fact if you are starting seeds inside your house and have a warm place for the trays to sit, a warming mat is not really a necessity.  I do start all my seeds in the greenhouse and did an experiment with the warming mat.  I placed one of my seedling trays with half of it on the warm mat and the other half with no heat added.  The heated area started sprouting seeds 2 weeks before the other non-heated seeds. 

The mats come in several sizes, and if you are wanting the most bang for your buck I would go with a mat that will hold at least 2 trays at a time.  There are many places to buy these little items such as Amazon, 48 inch Seedling Heat Mat.  or the Greenhouse Megastore has quite a few to choose from, Greenhouse Megastore heating mats. 



This is a small picture of what a seedling mat looks like.  You will need power for this.

There are also windowsill size mats that are not to expensive, the Greenhouse Megastore has them for 17.00, and Amazon has them for 15.65 with free shipping option.
 

Indoor Growing

Since it is freezing cold outside, I thought this might be a good time to talk about indoor planting/growing.

My husband and I (I think I should say, my Husband & Father InLaw- Dave) built a greenhouse about 4 years ago.  We thought our growing season is so short that if we had the plants ready to bloom right before we take them outside we might have better luck especially with our tomatoes.

Keep in mind the growing of various seeds inside is an on going experiement, and does require allot of patience.

One great tool to have in a greenhouse for winter growth is a Grow Light.  We purchased a Hydrofarm JSV2 2 foot jump start T5 Grow Light system.  There are many out there to choose from, but I found a great deal on Amazon and liked that it had stands so went with it.  They are not to expensive and will really jump start the growth of seeds.

Jump Start Grow Light

Not sure if you can see in this picture, the grow light?

Here are a couple of pictures of our greenhouse.  The green house is connected to a very sturdy "Kicking Wall" that we put in place so our daughters can practice soccer kicks, throw softballs and so forth.

Redoing Flower Beds

Have you ever looked at one of your flower beds and thought, That bed needs a makeover.  Well I had that thought this summer.  I have a nice bed in the front of the house, but it is all one level, so you can't always see the flowers that are smaller.  So after a visit with my Master Gardener Aunt Janice, I decided to redo mine.

I wanted to redo the bed with a little interruption as I could to the plants already there as well as not raid my bank account in the process.  So here is what I did.
1. First I took our work trailer and picked up so good size rocks from the roadside, pastures and other vacant areas- Please get permission if it is private property.
2.  The I started with the first layer, a large ring of rocks about 12-16 inches from the already existing boulders we had in place. (as seen by the picture)

3. After the first ring was in, I then had to pull out the existing plants and quickly re pot them, in case I did not finish this project in a couple of days.
4. I went to the local Nursery with my work trailer and bought top soil ($60). 
5. Then I filled in the inside of the first ring, wet it down, to see if I had any areas that were not level, and moved onto the next ring.
6.  I made about 4 rings of rocks and filled them in, so I now have elevation in the flower bed.
7.  Then I went back to work and planted what I had taken out.

This bed took me a couple days to complete from start to finish, I did gather up the rocks prior to the actually bed building.  For this size of bed and elevation I was working towards, it took me a couple days to find and deliver enough rocks for the project.  Keep in mind if you want to use other items to build up a bed, you may want to consider rail road ties, old drift wood, etc, it is all up to your imagination.

Depending on your water source to your flower bed, if you elevate,  you may want to consider putting risers on the water heads as to get the plants/flowers at the top portion of your bed.

Also if you have any trees in the bed, you will not want the soil up high on the tree, they do not like that, so where I had a tree I placed rocks around it and no extra soil, I did not want to make them mad.


 

Master Gardener Program- Summit County, UT

Summit County has the 2013 Master Gardner Program set up and you can sign up for the course.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about our climate and what grows best here.  I am signing up and if you are wanting to carpool or need a partner so you can sign up as a "couple"  let me know, I might be able to help out.  Hope to see you in the class.
Sign up for Master Gardener Course- Summit/Wasatch County


The classes begin February 7th and run through April 25th, 2013.  The class times are  from 1:00pm-3:30pm every Thursday.  The location of the classes alternate from Heber to Park City.  The registration deadline is JANUARY 25, 2013.   If you can not get the application from the link above, email me and I do have it saved as a file, sometimes it is tricky to get to open.   You can also call Sterling Banks @ 435-615-3217- He is very helpful as well as the staff in the office. 

Not to Dread the Dreads

Dreads- as I call it.

This is a real beauty for any flower garden.  Funny story, I initially bought the seeds for this in the clearance area on the Park Seed Website.  They looked cool in the pictures and they were cheap so I thought I would give it a try in the greenhouse.  The first seeds only produced 3-4 nice plants, which were really tall, even taller than what they say in the description of 3-5 feet tall, one of the first ones was about 6 feet.  They formed a large dreadlock which was loaded to the gills with seeds. 

In the fall I cut off the dreads and placed them in an area to dry and around January I extracted the seeds- now keep in mind, their seeds are very small and are like beads, so this turned out to be a time consuming task.  However, I thought it was worth it as I liked how gigantic and colorful they were in the summer.

So with my hand picked seeds, I planted them in the green house for a second year, this time they produced like crazy- I was giving away Dreads to anyone who wanted one.

Funny thing, the year before, when the plants were in the flower beds, they had dropped a tremendous amount of seeds as well, so you can guess with the birds help I had these everywhere this year, but they are so pretty I did not mind.

When I trimmed them back this fall, I thought I should just drop the dreads in the flower bed and see if they will reseed again, so will have to see.  I did save some of the larger dreads for seeds this winter, they are so pretty and tall I thought I had to.

Not sure if you can tell, but can you depict the long dreads on these?  Crazy



A little bit about the plant- Their name is the Red Amarathus Caudatus- but like I said I call them Dreads- as they look like dreadlocks.

They will grow from 1- 5 feet is the average.  One plant may range from 12-24 inches wide- depending on the area they have.

They like allot of sun and a moist area to grow, but I will have to say if they do run dry on the water, you will start to see the leaves turn brown before the Dread does, but as I said they like the moisture, but not soggy.

They will start blooming from spring to fall and if you take it indoors will last allot longer.  This is classified as an annual.

I will have to say this is an attention getter in your flower bed, visitors will always ask what is that, or wow that plant is cool, and the birds love it for the color, unfortunately humming birds like it but there is not allot of goodies for them.

Experiment with this one, I think you will love it.

This is one of my runts from this year, but by mid August it was actually doing really well.

Looking Towards Next Spring,

Now that the freezing weather is here and the snow has covered the flower beds, I think it is due time to think about what we can add to our flower collection for next year.  I start by perusing through many websites that sell seeds and or plants.  This is a good time to experiment with seeds to see what works for you and what does not.

As I mentioned in a earlier blog, to save the seeds from your flowers, well now that there is not the outside weeding and general lawn care, it is a great time to organize the saved seeds.  Here are some thoughts on the process:
1.  Check the seeds to ensure they are dry, if they feel or look moist- let them dry a bit longer.  Placing them in a sunny window will help the process out.
2.  I have saved several small containers from food products as well as small medicine bottles.  Remove labels so that you can add labels of the seeds you are putting into the container.  Do not fret, if you don't have bottles, small paper bags, such as we used to use for school lunches will be fine, (not plastic ones).
3.  Remove the seeds from the flower stack, place in your labeled container or bag, and there you go.
4.  I usually place them in a refrigerator, as the cooler temps ensures you will not have any sprouting going on.

Now I had a good friend who actually picked out select seeds and placed them in cute little bottles or envelopes and gave them to people for Christmas presents- just an idea.

I will have to say that one part of this process I don't care for are the little seeds such as ones from the Dreads flower, they are really tiny, so I get the tweezers out and I try to have a white plate to work on, so I can see the tiny things.

This can be time consuming and you may say "Bag This" I am going to buy mine at the store or on line.  I have found a couple of places to order from which I like, Park Seed and High Country Gardens.

Next we will start discussing planting inside.  See you next blog.

Ground Cover- Ice Plant

Ice Plant

I have always thought the name Ice Plant was a strange name for this ground cover, sometimes I wonder who comes up with the names and perhaps what was going on at the time, the name was created.

Well anyway, this is a nice ground cover for those areas where you need some low lying plant to fill in some color.  This plant is a perennial, so bank on even after the most severe winter storms, it will come back.

Ice Plant does like allot of sun but not beating down sun, and moderate amounts of water, not soggy but perhaps an every other day watering. 

The plant will come in array of different colored flowers- now I have not seen any flowers on mine yet as it is rather new to the Eiting collection, but hoping next year we will see some of its flowering beauty.

I did receive a few pieces of this from a neighbor and stuck it in the ground, kept is moist for a couple weeks and it has now made a strong hold.  This little plant was doing great, until the neighborhood kids as well as my kids played "Night Games" in my yard one night.  Now I am not completely sure how this "Night Games" works, but I know the kids say there are many places to hide in my flowerbeds.  I am guess from the increased amount of "Night Games" that have occurred at my house/yard, it must be a great place to play.  Well anyway, the Ice Plant was stepped on several times one night, but you know it came back in full force, so I think it is safe to say it is a hearty plant.  I did make a new rule, do not step on my flowers or the game is off, HAHA  I know it is dark outside when they are playing so they can really see what they are stepping on, what do you do?  I think to myself, I love my flowers and spend countless hours tending to them, but I always said to myself that I would not be the cranky old lady that shoos the kids off with a broom, as I don't want them to come back and T.P. my house.

Even though we have had several frosts so far this fall, the ice plant is looking good, oh yeah we even had snow and it is still looking good.

Give this one a try.

Ground Cover

Ground Cover

There is a plethora of ground cover to choose from, I say try them all.  They add color and fill in especially in hard to grow areas.  Ground cover will also grow in around plants and rocks, making your flower beds look wonderful.

This is one of my favorites- I call it the "carpet" or I have heard others call it snow carpet, or snow in the summer.

This particular ground cover will grow pretty much anywhere, comes back year after year, and very hearty.  Sun or shade it grows.  The plant will produce white little flowers in the summer. 

You can cut pieces of this and stick in moist soil and it will start growing, I love how it grows over the rocks.

Coneflowers

Coneflowers

Coneflowers are a very easy, drought tolerant, perennial to raise.  The look a bit like a daisy, however when the flower starts to appear in mid summer into fall, it has a "cone" like center.  The Coneflower is not friends with bugs, but will attract butterflies.  As the "cone" dries, birds are attracted to the seeds of the "cone".

The plant requires little water and grows best in full sunlight.  From the HOT summer we had this past year, with little water, this beauty did flourish.  The petals of the flower remained on the plant for a long time, but you could see the sun had faded the vibrant color it once had.

Coneflowers will grow from 2-4 feet depending on the area it has to grow and expand.

At the end of the season I cut it down to about 2 inches from the ground and cut some of the coneheads to dry, so later I can extract the seeds and grow some more in the greenhouse.  I also cut some of the coneheads and dropped in the flower bed to see if they will grow next spring.

The flower comes in a variety of colors, I have mostly pinks and purples.

I also need to mention the cones tend to be sharp and may be more difficult to work with than other flowers, when it comes to extracting the seeds.

 

 

You can see the "cones" of the flowers. 

A Little Composition

There is no time like the present to start composing, I am not referring to writing a song or a letter, rather a composter of sorts.
My wonderful husband gave me a composter for my birthday present a couple years ago, jokingly he said" I have been instructed from other husbands, that you never buy your wife anything that plugs in, such as irons, vacuums, or wash machines for their special day." 
The first year of use, was a hit and miss experiment, and I will have to say I missed more than not.  Even reading the instruction, I could not figure the thing out.  I thought you dump grass clippings, potato peels and such and BAM you have compost.  HAHA not the case my first year or using the composter.
Let's talk about what kind of composter to get or to build.  There are so many to choose from, if you go on line you will find a plethora of composters.  There are a couple of things I would consider if you are going to buy one.

1. Is it easy to open and close- Since you can use this year round, I want to run out, dump my scraps in and run back to the house fast, when it is cold and snowy.
2. Is the composter easy to turn- as you start to add grass, leaves, scraps and so forth, you will want to turn the composter weekly or so, to mix up the goodies.
3. Will it be easy to empty out the composter to the area you want to put the compost?

If you decide to start composting now- which is great for leaves, do not get discouraged if the process is much slower as the best composting temperatures are between 120-150 degrees.

Once you have waste in the composter, ensure you keep it moist, not soaked, most composters have drain holes, so if you give it too much water, it should drain out.

In the fall and winter, you will not have to put as much water in to keep it moist, as with reduced hours of sunlight and cooler temperatures, the process is slower.

Now starting in the spring and summer, it will go into high gear.  The composter will require more water and more turning.

You may notice a foul smell from the composter- you can bet it is working great- you are making Compost!!

This is the composter I use, it is big and roomy, pretty easy to use.  Composter at Home Depot

The Grass is Always Greener

You know the old saying, " The grass is always Greener"  well I always wondered how my neighbors grass is always greener, and I can not seem to get mine to look like that, so I talked to some "Really Green Grass Growers- RG3) and here are some things I walked away with.

1. In the summer, water in the early morning, before the sun comes up, if you have a fair amount of sprayers, then 10-15 minutes daily.  This can be costly if you have a large yard, if you live in Francis, it is costly!!
2. Use Weed and Feed, now this varies on the amount and frequency of use.  For good weed control (dandelions in particular) and a "carpet" instead of grass, weed and feed after every mowing.
3. In the fall, fertilize with a fall fertilizer, try any fertilizer to see what works for you, but I have found Scott's works really well in our Utah climate.  You can get this pretty much at any where that sells nursery items, Wal-mart in Park City carries it.  Scott's Fall Turf Builder.
1. You may ask, why fertilize in the fall, everything goes dormant.  Yes you are right they do, however fertilizing, helps strengthen the roots of the grass, which in turn gives them more stability in the spring and summer.
4. Put grass cuttings in the composter or in your flower beds.  Now I think this is an issue of preference, some say to take the grass cuttings out as it kills the new grass, others say mulch, Potato- Patatoe, Tomato- Tamato.  I would say not to leave grass clipping laying on the grass it will kill it, so Mulch or Compost.
5. When mowing, you do not have to give the yard a "Kojack" haircut (Does anyone remember that show?), anyway, a good rule of thumb is to remember what is showing on top, is what the root look like in the soil. 
6. The one time you can shave the grass, is your last cutting of the season.  If you cut is short, it is less likely to rot from the snow sitting on it for a tremendous amount of time.

One other thing- fertilizing in the fall gives you a head start on your Blue Ribbon yard for 2013. 

My Daughter Cassidy

Freezing in Francis

Sorry has been a bit since I blogged.  The Fall is in full swing.  We have had some good frosts, and I think it is safe to say the the flowers are ready for a winter nap.  I have been out the past couple of weeks tending my flower beds and had a few thoughts to share:

1. Cut down the flowers to a 1/2 inch or so from the ground and discard the foliage.
2. Before you throw your flowers out, if there are dried flowers of flowers on the ends of your stem, cut the flower heads off and throw them in your bed, you may be surprised as to what will come up next spring.
3.  If you are not sure that you want to "toss" the flower seeds in your flower bed, cut them off, store them in a paper bag for drying.  Now if you live in the "High" Country of Utah, you will want to start seedlings inside around March, April May, depending on the degree of your green thumb.  I start early inside, as it give me the opportunity to ensure I have something to plant outside.  Sometimes even under the best conditions a flat of seeds may not produce.

Around the Woodland Area

If you have not taken the opportunity to drive up to the mountains, do so now, the leaves are falling fast.  Last week we took a drive up to Soapstone (the Mountains behind our house) and it was beautiful, however a mighty wind came up and within 3 hours you could see many trees now bare. 

Are you Ready for the Winter??

I have been working on my flower beds as it is that time of the year to get them ready for the cold winter.  I usually start with the flowers.  Cut the dead flowers and stems out.  I save some of the flowers to dry and then in the winter I harvest the seeds for planting indoors.  Make sure you put names on the flowers, as when they dry they do not always look the same.

I do take some of the dead flowers and throw them around in the flower bed, and if possible I try to get the seeds out before I throw them around.  Be careful if you are throwing the marigolds or bachelor buttons around, as they will come back next year like gangbusters.

After you have cut out the dead plants ( perennials can be cut anywhere from 1/4-1/2 inch from the ground), you will want to loosen the soil.



I use a neat little tool called the CobraHead, it runs around 25 dollars but it is so worth is to tear up the   ground.  I would not recommend this if you have a large area to loosen up, but for smaller areas this is great.  You can find this on line , or any gardening store.  I found it on Amazon, but did not see free shipping for it.The Cobra on Amazon. 

Come back soon as we will talk about what to do with the soil once you have it loosened up.

See you soon!!

Veronica

VERONICA- "She who brings Victory!  Also a great song by Elvis Costello- great line is the song- "you can call me anything you like but my name is Veronica"

You Tube- Veronica- By Elvis Costello

Here is a plant that will make you feel Victory as a gardener- Veronica.  With as many as 500 species of the plant, you surely can't go wrong.  Veronica comes in a variety of colors, I went with purple as I am a Viking Fan- okay I grew up in Stanton, Iowa and we were the home of the Vikings/Viqueens, school colors Purple and White!! The picture shows a lighter purple as the summer sun bleaches the vibrant spring color.

Colors
1. Pink
2. Purple
3. White
4. Yellow

Veronica is very easy going perennial to care for:
1.  It will grow from 1-3 feet tall, give it space.
2. Sun lover (will also do well in partial sun)
3. Well draining soil.
4.  Magic potion (Fertilizer)- about every 2 weeks

When planting:
1. I would suggest in the high mountains of Utah to purchase from a nursery, you may not see the beauty of the plant if you sow seeds directly in the ground.
2. If you have a green house or a place to plant the seeds inside during the winter, it would be ready for the spring planting.
3. Do not plant the roots too deep, I would have the base of the plant level with the soil.

Care:
1. Good soil.
2. Sun.
3. Magic Potion
4. Dead Head- cutting the old flowers back will help the plant generate more flowers.
5. After a harsh frost- which we are getting close to in the Mountains of Utah, cut the plant back to about an inch from the ground. 
6. I put grass clippings around the plant for the winter- gives a little insulation.

Nepeta (Blue Catmint)

How about some CatMint?

Nepeta (Blue Catmint)

Here is a great perennial for almost anywhere.  This little number grows great in Full and Partial Sun.  The great thing with this little plants, rather I should say Large plant is it requires less watering than most plants.  With saying that, if you water it daily in the summer months, the thing will grow crazy.  Every year I see my plant getting larger, and I know I should cut it back but when the flowers come on it is so pretty.  It has lavender flowers and will keep producing if you cut back the dead flowers. 

Plant experts say cats like this one, however I have yet to see any of the neighborhood cats enjoying it, the cats just use our horseshoe pits for a litter pan, HEHE!

After a year or so, the adult plant will start to generate baby plants, if you want, dig them up and plant them somewhere else, great way to grow the garden, or even swap with a neighbor. 

Catmint really requires low maintenance, in the late fall, I cut it back to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch to the ground and bid it a happy winter nap.

I started mine from a neighbor who had some off shoots, but you can find this in any nursery or Home Depot/Lowes/Wally World, etc...  Enjoy

Nepeta- Blue Catmint

 

 

Holly Hocks

Let's talk Holly Hocks.  Holly Hocks are a pretty easy flowers to grow, meaning requiring minimal care.  This is a perennial (they come back year after year), but they are a short lived perennial, probably 2-3 years and you may have to replace them.  Now that is not always the case, they will last longer if you ensure they have good soil and the flowers are are cut once they start to look sad.  In the late fall I usually cut the stalk to about 1/2 inch from the ground.  I like to keep a bit of stalk showing in the fall so I don't accidentally dig it up.

Starting Holly Hocks- well as you know living in the Kamas Valley of Utah, we can't plant much until after the last frost, which I mentioned before is usually around Father's Day.  I would suggest growing them inside and plant after the last frost. 

The Holly Hock plant kind of looks like a Zucchini Squash plant at first with big green leaves.  They really kick in the growth spurt around mid August.  Now while the Holly Hock enjoys sun bathing, it does not fair well in HOT weather, such as we experienced this summer.

Miss Holly also enjoys moist soil and to be watered from the base up.  I like to give her some, what I call Magic Potion- (Fertilizer), about every 2-3 weeks. 

When Fertilizing there are many varieties to choose from in any store you visit that has a garden section.  I have found the Miracle Gro Liquiafeed is one of the easiest to use and really not too expensive.  I bought the handy applicator which hooks onto your hose, and the refill bottle hooks onto the applicator.  No mixing, just turn the water on and go.  Check out this web site for pictures.   Scott's Miracle Gro and Hose Feeder

(the refill bottles can be recycled but not refilled)

If you are thinking of Miracle Gro  next year, as the season for us is about to come to an end, watch your sales, the average price for the refill pack of 4, runs around 11-12 dollars.  Home Depot and Wal-mart both carry it.  If you frequent Costco, Stock up on it, the have good prices, but only carry it until the stock runs out.

Home Depot

When you trim the Holly Hock flowers, keep the seeds, let them dry through the winter, and then around February-March start them inside, and by June they will be nice green plants ready for your flower garden.

I usually give them 18-24 inches apart, as they will fan out and grow really tall.  If you can, plant them in a place that will be protected somewhat from the wind.  Sometimes the July winds can be vicious to our Holly Girl.

This one is my favorite, they are great container plants to spruce up your house or deck in the summer.
 

Start thinking about Fall

The weather is starting to cool down and I think you know what that means, Fall is around the corner.  We did experience a slight frost last week, but checking out the neighborhood it does not appear to have caused harm to our precious vegetables and flowers.
As I worked in the yard this weekend I had allot of thoughts of what to do with the flowers that are starting to show their tired side.  When flowers start to dry, I cut the flowers and lay them in a place where they can dry.  Around December, January depending on the flower, they will be dry enough to separate seeds from them, for next years planting.
One thing to note in our short growing season it is best to start seeds in the house, garage, greenhouse or any other place that you may have space.  I will go into growing indoors in another post.
Keep in mind that annuals such as tomatoes or petunias, will keep growing, on and on and on.  Last year I was given a nice basket of petunias and was sad when the first frost came as I thought they were finished.  I took them inside and Bam the crazy things kept growing.  I kept them inside all winter and this spring planted them in a bigger planter and they look better than last year.

These are pretty easy to start as seeds inside and then plant outside in the spring, okay in Francis, Utah it is usually safe after Father's Day, unless you want to bring them in and out everyday.

If you bring these inside for the winter, I would give them a good haircut, they will grow back with some water, sunlight and someone to sing to them, just kidding I turn on the radio for them, they would die if I sang.

For tomatoes throughout the winter, I also pick a couple of my outdoors tomatoes and re pot them for indoors.  For a tomato plant give them a HUGE pot and you should get bigger tomatoes also a bit of magic potion (fertilizer) helps also.  The key is to experiment and watch the weather channel.

Marigolds

I added this in because they are beautiful in the fall, they are smelly but the colors are great.  If you want to experiment with growing plants inside, a marigold is a great start.  You can dry these and use the seed and have some fun with them.

Next we should think about transplanting!!

MUMS- Autumn Colors

With the temperatures starting to decrease, I am seeing the flowers and grass, starting to come alive again.  This was a wicked summer for plants, it was brutally hot, there were high winds and to top it off, little precipitation.  I am sure many of us experienced water bills that made your head spin.  But in the last couple of weeks, we are experiencing great temperatures, the downside, fall and winter is on its way.  I know I live in snow country and we have the "Greatest Snow on Earth" at least that is what our license plates say, HAHA!  Don't get me wrong I enjoy the snow as it is a time to organize the house since I don't bother with it during the summer, I would rather be outside.
So as I look at the flowers outside, I notice my Mums starting to come alive, they are a fall plant and look forward to this time of year.  The nice thing about Mums is they have nice green foliage throughout the summer and now they are starting to bud flowers.  They are really easy plants to tend to, little maintenance.

Mum with buds ready to burst

The buds are starting to open

1. The Mum comes in beautiful Autumn colors such as yellow, maroons and orange, there are other colors but these are my favorites which add to your flower beds. 
2. Mums are perennials so they will come back year after year.  Usually after a couple frosts if they are still standing I cut them back about a 1/2 inch above the ground, and they are ready for the next season.
3. Where can you find Mums in the Francis, Utah area?  Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/, Wal-Mart http://www.walmart.com/,  Kamas Valley Nursery http://actionsnowplow.com/nursery.html, or any other local nursery.  If you travel to Salt Lake, Lowes http://www.lowes.com/ may have them as well. 
4.  When you plant Mums, they like to be planted in the morning so they can have the whole day of sun.
5. Mums do not require a large quantity of water, rather watering them every other day is fine, and in cooler temps you could go to every third day.  Check your soil and ensure you have good drainage.
6.  I would fertilize them at least once a month.
7.  Mums also make great plants for the pots, next to your front door or patio.

Easy, colorful plant that comes back year after year.

The Mum is full color

ABOUT ME

Let me tell you a bit about me. 
         I grew up in the Midwest, Stanton, Iowa to be exact, I was raised on a large farm with the works, crops, livestock and of course a large garden to boot.  I can recall when I was young, I was sent out to pick the green beans at the hottest part of the day, and hated every moment of it, funny now I love yard and garden work- but I do not like Green Beans from the garden.  What I do recall, we did not have water systems, or irrigation and the plants would grow like mad, as well as the weeds- another chore I was tasked with.
         Moving along, I lived in Arizona, where water was like GOLD, and cost probably the same, so I grew Cactus and sun loving plants.  There was not allot of grass mostly rock landscaping.
         I lived in Mississippi, where again like the Iowa, the humidity made your garden grow.  I could put out a plant and within a week the crazy thing would take over the yard if I let it.
        Now in Utah, we have a short growing season, which means we are always in fear of frost up to Father's Day.  Then we can pretty much bank on late September to early October another frost will occur.  We have water systems as well as irrigation.  I only have the water system, and unfortunately the water rates continue to escalate.  I focus on plants that do not need allot of water and can tolerate the sun.  Since I have lived here for 10+ years I am having a great time experimenting to see what works and what does not.

My back yard around June time frame

My Garden in Mid August

While yard work is hard, I look forward for the first opportunity to get outside and dig in.

WELCOME

Thank you for joining my Garden Blog.  I am creating this with the help of friends and neighbors to share with others.  I want to share some tips, ideas and etc that I have learned about gardening and landscaping.  I live in a area of the country that has a short growing season, and have found different flowers and vegetables that are suitable for the area.  I hope you will enjoy following along as I add pictures and information.  While gardening can be arduous it is also a great stress reliever and calorie burner, not to mention the beautiful flowers and vegetables you can produce as a reward.