Waiting for Spring.....

In the Winter I am always looking forward to spring, but this winter has been a test to my gardening soul. I cannot believe how much snow we have had and that it doesn’t show any sign of letting up.  Oh well… I am hoping the old adage is true “In like a lion out like a lamb”!  In February it helps me to rethink my garden; what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I want to try for fun this year.  I have got some great ideas for my annual planters that I am going to experiment with and I am trying out some new seeds one called...

                                              “Gremlins for the Garden”

It's for the kids because these gourds looked awesome!  I had to order “Orange smoothie pumpkins” again because they truly are the absolute perfect pumpkin.  I am really hoping that spring will be warmer and that my cucumbers will do better than they did last year.  Here’s Hoping!

Happy gardening!

Kirsten

P.S. Here's a picture of some of the planters at my house last year….

Tulips in a Planter

A Fall Project

Have you wondered how other gardeners grow tulips in their planters without freezing over winter? I’ll let you in on a secret..... They don’t leave them in a planter they put them in the ground over winter.

Here is how they do it.

Step #1 fill an icecream pail with 5 quarter sized holes in the bottom 1/2 full with either a potting soil mix or soil from your own garden. Plant your bulbs (hairy side down) into the soil and cover the bulbs up with soil to the top of the pail.

Step #2 - find a sunny side of the house that defrosts earlier in the spring an plant your pail as deep as the pail but exposing the top ring (this helps for finding it in the spring)

Step #3- As soon as the frost is out of the soil pull out the pail and plant the entire pail into the desired planter. At this point you can watch as your tulips awake and flower.

Step #4- When your tulips begin to die down (lose color and wilt ) dig the pail back into its original sunny spot where it can stay until next spring.

These pails can be done any time in the fall until the ground freezes. One year I had some bulbs hanging around that I hadn’t got a chance to get them the ground right way so I planted them the first week in December!

Happy Gardening!

Kirsten