George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

My Mini-Meadow: Underwhelming So Far

October 25th, 2022

   When we last left the new “mini-meadow” experimental planting on my backyard bank in late May, the seeds were just sprouting.

The mini-meadow as it looked on Aug. 8.

   Germination of the 27 different seed varieties was good, and the bed looked promising.

   By the first week of June, most everything was up and growing at about two inches tall. And by late June, I had my first blooming wildflowers – a few annual yellow coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria, I believe).

   As the summer came and went, I got a smattering of this and that but never any more than maybe a 10 or 15 percent bloom coverage at any one time.

   Despite my anti-weed bed-prep efforts, some thistle, mugwort, and other weeds were already elbowing their way into the planting.

   In short, I’d rate the performance as just OK during year one. I’ll be curious to see which way it goes from here.

   A little background and some more details…

My Most-Favorite Gardening Jobs

October 18th, 2022

   Last week I zeroed in on my list of gardening jobs that I’m not too crazy about doing – the ones that will be the first that I farm out as age forces me to scale back.

I really don’t mind weeding that much. It’s like harvesting compost.

   This week it’s time to look at the seven jobs that I like most – in order from “least-most” to “best-most,” starting with…

   7.) Weeding. Like watering, this is another job that isn’t particularly heavy labor and can be done on autopilot. My mom actually liked weeding best of all gardening jobs.

   On the plus side, weeding removes competition from the “real” plants and makes a garden look so much better. I also like to think of weeding as “harvesting” compost. It’s a way to turn your enemy into an asset.

   On the down side (literally), weeds usually require you to go down there after them – bad news for my 100-bend back quota. And if you don’t mulch or fill all space with your own plants, the weeds keep coming and coming and coming.

   I’ve been compromising lately by spending more time with my long-handled Winged Weeder, which at least lets me slice off most weeds without bending.

Read George’s post on Winning the Weed War

   6.) Pruning trees and shrubs. I like the idea and process of cutting selected branches off of trees and shrubs. It’s art in a way, and it’s helpful to the growth and look of these long-term, high-profile garden plants.

   Things turn out so much better and so much more satisfying with well timed and well done prunings… not to mention being far less expensive than hiring a crew with chainsaws.

   The parts I don’t like are occasions when I have to get up on a ladder (a danger even for non-old-guys) and when the job generates a lot of removal with the subsequent pick-ups and lug-arounds.

My Least-Favorite Gardening Jobs

October 11th, 2022

   As I was finishing off the last few bucketfuls of my most recent 10-yard load of mulch, my back reminded me why I’m not a fan of this labor-heavy activity.

I’d rather have this spread on the ground than be king of the mulch mountain.

   Mulching might be great for discouraging weeds and keeping moisture in the soil, but it’s not much fun.

   “Brutal” better describes it when you have to carry five-gallon buckets of the stuff up steep slopes.

   The experience got me thinking about the gardening jobs that I like a lot better – ones that don’t involve ibuprofen.

   That led me to make a list of 14 gardening jobs and to rank them by how well I enjoy doing each of them.

   That was a worthwhile exercise because as I age, I realize I’m going to have to start reducing, eliminating, or hiring out some of the work. And I’d prefer to start by getting rid of the jobs I don’t like (or have a harder time doing) while hanging onto the jobs I like best for as long as possible.

   Your list might well be very different, but here’s how I rank the 14 jobs – from least favorite to most favorite. I’ll give you my seven least-favorite below and finish up with my seven most-favorite jobs next week.

   14.) Mulching. I like the look of newly mulched beds in addition to the weed-fighting, soil-feeding, and moisture-retaining benefits, but it’s just getting to be too much for an old guy.

   I seem to have a quota of about 100 bends in my back per day these days. Beyond that and it starts to hurt, as if warning me that something bad is going to happen if I don’t knock it off soon.

   Mulching puts me over the 100-bend limit before the first cubic yard is down.

   This is a no-brainer as the first job I’ll hire out.

Read why it always rains five minutes after George gets a mulch delivery

   13.) Emptying the compost bins. Composting is at the heart of good gardening. It’s an important thing to do, and I don’t mind the making part at all.

2023 Philadelphia Flower Show Is Back Inside, and the Theme Is “The Garden Electric”

October 4th, 2022

   Those of you who wanted the Philadelphia Flower Show to go back inside after two years of COVID-forced outdoor shows will be getting your wish.

“The Garden Electric” is the 2023 Philadelphia Flower Show theme.

   The 2023 Philadelphia Flower Show will take place March 4-12, 2023, inside its former home of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12^th and Arch streets in center-city Philly.

   Show officials announced on Friday that the 2023 theme will be “The Garden Electric,” a topic that aims to capture the “spark of joy” that often comes with giving or getting flowers.

   Lowee’s Group Tours and I plan to host five day trips each weekday to the “shocking” 2023 show. We’ll “plug in” the details as soon as they’re ready on both my Talks and Trips page and Lowee’s Garden Series page. (OK, no more electric jokes. Promise.)

   The 195-year-old flower show, which is America’s biggest and the world’s longest-running horticultural event, had been staged over 10 acres of the Pennsylvania Convention Center since 1996.

   The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which operates the show, was happy with that arrangement and was drawing some 250,000 visitors from around the world to see each year’s show.

   But then came COVID, and show officials had to decide whether to go to a Plan B or scrap the show altogether. They chose Plan B and held a pair of June shows outside over 15 acres of south Philly’s FDR Park in 2021 and 2022.

   Some people really liked the outdoor version and actually preferred June shows in FDR Park to end-of-winter indoor shows at the Convention Center.

Three More Deer Failures

September 27th, 2022

   Deer-plagued gardeners employ lots of tricks that supposedly work to keep deer from devouring the landscape.

This low-to-the-ground fishing-line barrier didn’t work for me.

   I’m here today to cross three more of them off the list.

   I don’t know if my deer are smarter, hungrier, or more persistent than the average deer, but my furry eating machines seem to be unstoppable short of everything but serious fencing and the religious application of proven repellents. Even then, I have to quality that with, “So far.”

   I’ve been trying all sorts of anti-deer measures for nearly four years now since moving from my deerless Cumberland County yard to the deer haven of the Pittsburgh suburbs.

   Despite selecting plants low on the deer-preference list and doing my best to discourage browsing, I’ve had a lot of surprising and seemingly random deer damage.

   My latest effort involved three strategies that at least some people say worked for them. All failed for me. Here’s what happened…