Spring Pot Gardening

Lettuce and mixed greens are an excellent spring crop to grow in pots. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Spring Pot Gardening

Besides the sheer fun of saying you have a “pot garden,” growing food in pots is an easy and practical way to get yourself fresh produce.

Growing in pots allows each plant to have its own space, allows for easy pest control and helps you provide the right soil and other unique growing conditions. In addition, you can bring some pots such as herbs inside and extend the growing season over winter. I garden in USDA Hardiness zone 6b so for about 5 months some plants need to be protected inside.

To decide what to grow, here is a list of the basic five for spring pot gardening:

1. Lettuce and mixed greens

2. Radishes

3. Peas

4. Spinach

5. Onions

All of these crops like cool spring weather.

Radishes, from the red bulbous root tot he greens, are excellent in salads. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

A note about radishes. Add the top green to a salad, they are delicious.

If you have a crop you can’t get to, don’t toss it just yet, let it “bolt” or go to seed. If it’s not a hybrid, you can save the seeds for next year and local pollinators will appreciate the flowers.

This spinach is going to seed and will become bee and butterfly flood. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

If you can’t use what you grow, compost. You can start by putting the unused greens in the bottom of the next pot you are making.

Once you pot herbs, you can have them year around. I’ve had this pot of parsley for a couple of years now, wintering it over inside.

Herbs are excellent plants to grow in pots; here I have parsley that wintered over inside. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

One other crop you can grow in pots gets your ready for summer. I grow tomato starts in a pot, then move them to their individual pots to grow more before locating them in their final growing location. Because I have to start them in February, using a pot for their nursery works well.

Start new plants in pots; here cocktail tomatoes are getting an early start. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Once starting to crowd in the pot, I carefully move them to either toilet paper pots or their own pots. I give them a few hours a day outside so they get used to the change in conditions before planting them permanently in my garden or leaving them in pots outside on my deck.

There’s a strategy to this. I have squirrels and chipmunks who have developed a taste for tomatoes. If they decide to eat those in the garden I can then bring in the pots to have tomatoes growing inside.

Cats may enjoy an empty pot for naps and dust baths. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

If you have inside cats, you may find they enjoy having an empty pot of soil to curl up in and take a dust bath.

A few last tips about gardening in pots:

Include a handful of compost at the bottom to keep your soil healthy.

Don’t dig up soil from your garden; start with new potting soil.

Wet soil down before adding seeds or plants.

You may also need small gardening tools to make the process easier.

Pot gardening allows you to grow your own in small spaces and have a healthy source of fresh produce all year. Here’s a quick peek at the start of this year’s pot garden.

For more gardening, beekeeping, cooking and easy home decor tips, subscribe to Garden Notes.

What are you going to grow in pots?

Charlotte

Pot Gardening 101

pots with snap peas, in back, then a variety of lettuce, basil on the front left and radishes front right. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Starting a Pot Garden

If you are getting the bug to garden, here’s a quick and easy way to get started and learn the basics: pot gardening. No, no that kind of pot. I’m talking about gardening in pots.

I have had a pot garden for a couple of decades now, primarily to provide tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce and fresh herbs. Since I started, I also now have a number of fruit trees from key limes to a pomegranate.

There are a couple of considerations when starting a pot garden:

One is providing your plants enough soil to support their growth and fruit production; and

How do you plan to keep the soil moist. Soil is 25% water so it’s important to keep it hydrated so it can keep your plants alive.

Pot Garden Pot Size

For cool spring crops like lettuce and spinach, you can use smaller pots. Depending on how much lettuce and spinach you plan to grow, the crops sit almost on the top of the soil.

As you graduate to deeper rooted plants such as tomatoes, you will need more soil surface to feed the deep roots. 5 gallon paint buckets with holes in the bottom make excellent tomato pots.

Pot Garden Irrigation

Wood chips, old cotton sock and compost in bottom; plastic bottle with holes, will keep soil hydrated. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

The other consideration is how do you plan to keep the pots watered. I include plastic bottles with holes all over them in the center of the pots. That way when I water I know the plant roots sitting towards the bottom of the pot will get hydrated.

I also line the bottom of my pots with broken up wood limbs, wood chips, cotton scraps and compost. The wood will naturally retain water and help keep the soil moist. You can also use new cut up diapers and old socks to form wicks to hold in water.

Compost will feed soil micro-organisms that will feed the plants.

Also plan on having dishes of some sort under your pots to slow down water loss.

Where to Place Pots

I keep my pots on little rolling plant stands so that I can easily move them to get their sun requirements. The larger the pot, the more help I need to move them.

Other Pot Gardens

As our soils get exhausted from overuse and lack of refreshing, it can become more difficult to get anything to grow. I wrote a 5-year plan for our local community garden to help them improve their soil but it was not implemented.

Today community garden users depend on large pots to grow their vegetables.

Our community garden is one large pot garden. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

To keep your pot garden healthy, compost kitchen scraps and incorporate them into your pot soil before planting.

Compost provides soil residents food to keep them healthy. In turn, those soil microorganisms will feed the plants that feed you. Yes, it’s all interconnected!

Time to get my tomato starts in their pots! (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

When you get this started depends on what you plan to grow. Our last frost date for USDA Hardiness Zone 6b is now mid-April, up several weeks from May 10. If planting heat-seeking plants early, make sure you have a plan to cover them in the event of cold temperatures.

Once you have your pots set up, it’s time to add seeds or plants. I started this pot garden late so it’s safe to get my tomato seedlings in. My first tomato is a cherry variety that re-seeded itself in flower pots that over-wintered inside.

For more gardening, beekeeping, cooking and easy home decor tips, subscribe to Garden Notes.

Charlotte

Protecting Strawberries

Plastic half inch pipes make hoops that keep plastic fencing over strawberries. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Protecting Strawberries

For several decades I have used strawberry plants for flower bed borders. Between June-bearing varieties and day neutrals that produce during the growing season, I can usually find a handful or two of strawberries for my use.

This year, I decided to add strawberries in my Berry Patch, knowing full well it would be a challenge to protect the plants against my local mowing crew of white-tailed deer and rescued rabbits.

My King Kong strawberries with their first growth and green fencing cover. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

I started with this small bed of a strawberry called King King. They are supposed to be large berries and I fell for the name although friends who have grown them said they didn’t like their flavor.

The plants were growing quite well under a green plastic fence canopy.

Deer apparently can push the fencing down and reach the strawberries. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

About a month after the plants were planted, someone came along and ate most of the growth.

Time to go into plan B to protect the plants.

Measuring the plastic green fencing over the half inch plastic pipe hoops. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Taking a cue from another nearby strawberry bed, I installed plastic hoops that now hold the green fencing mesh higher.

They are also attached at the sides so the canopy is more stable and harder to move.

Ok, now to see how will this will work.

Charlotte

Cocktail Tomatoes

Self-pollinating cocktail tomatoes deliver fruit all year. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Cocktail Tomatoes

Sounds like something one eats at a party, doesn’t it - cocktail tomatoes.

“Cocktail tomatoes” where the darlings of the COVID 2020 year. I saw them featured on blogs and home and garden centers, the perfect tomato for that apartment or small space. I picked one up at the end of the season and not for the original $18.95 retail price. I was curious to see how they would weather inside through a Missouri winter.

Cocktail Tomatoes grow 1 foot by 1 foot. They are small, semi-determinate tomatoes that provide fruit through most of the growing season without overwhelming the supply. If they like it inside, they are supposed to be constantly growing self-pollinated fruit.

Not a hybrid, they do grow true from their seeds. I used the last tomato to start some new plants I shared with friends earlier this spring.

In terms of taste, they are nicely flavored for salads and just plain straight munching.

i now have some growing in pots on my deck to see how well they make it through our Missouri summers. I planted them with compost at the bottom of the pot including crushed egg shells, and monitor for even watering.

They were back this year at a lower price point $14.95. The plant tag also had more information, confirming that this is an heirloom, not a hybrid variety.

This year’s cocktail tomatoes are less expensive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Although my fruit are still green, you can see how once they ripen Cocktail Tomatoes have a nice small size.

Ripening Cocktail tomatoes at one of our local hardware stores. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I have grown a number of tomatoes over the years. This one has a lot of advantages starting with its size. It’s handy for small spaces while still providing fruit for salads and other uses. Besides cooking, these plants make for nice growing gifts that will keep on giving.

Charlotte

Clam Shell Guards

My first Bing cherries getting clam shell guards to protect them from birds. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Clam Shell Guards

If you grow fruit, or try to grow fruit, you know it can be challenging to get to the ripe fruit before the birds and squirrels. There are a variety of items on the market to help, from netting to fencing if deer are an issue.

Since I can’t get netting over my trees or get fencing into my limestone hillside, I needed to find another alternative. That’s where clam shells came in.

Small clam shell protecting more growing Bing cherries. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Clam shells are those clear plastic containers that hold grocery store fruit and vegetables. They come in a variety of sizes and can be reused, which i do as guards to my growing fruit.

Reusable clam shells are those with lids that pinch together, right. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Since I buy fruit in small clam shells, I can collect a ready supply to use when fruit is growing on my dwarf fruit trees.

This year, I had my first Bing cherries ripening. One was red and consumed so I gently added clam shells around the rest of the growing cherries. I make sure not to damage leaves when I get the clam shell secured.

Clam shells now protecting some of my growing Bartlett pears. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

For the past few years, I have used clam shell guards to protect my growing Bartlett pears from resident squirrels. The clam shells worked well so now I am expanding their use on other dwarf fruit trees.

The clear clam shells allow sun to continue to ripen the fruit and protect at least a few fruits for your enjoyment.

Charlotte

Spring Pot Gardening

Lettuce and mixed greens are an excellent spring crop to grow in pots. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Spring Pot Gardening

Besides the sheer fun of saying you have a “pot garden,” growing food in pots is an easy and practical way to get yourself fresh produce.

Growing in pots allows each plant to have its own space, allows for easy pest control and helps you provide the right soil and other unique growing conditions. In addition, you can bring some pots such as herbs inside and extend the growing season over winter. I garden in USDA Hardiness zone 5 so for about 5 months some plants need to be protected inside.

To decide what to grow, here is a list of the basic five for spring pot gardening:

1. Lettuce and mixed greens

2. Radishes

3. Peas

4. Spinach

5. Onions

All of these crops like cool spring weather.

Radishes, from the red bulbous root tot he greens, are excellent in salads. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A note about radishes. Add the top green to a salad, they are delicious.

If you have a crop you can’t get to, don’t toss it just yet, let it “bolt” or go to seed. If it’s not a hybrid you can save the seeds for next year and local pollinators will appreciate the flowers.

This spinach is going to seed and will become bee and butterfly flood. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you can’t use what you grow, compost. You can start by putting the unused greens in the bottom of the next pot you are making.

Once you pot herbs, you can have them year around. I’ve had this pot of parsley for a couple of years now, wintering it over inside.

Herbs are excellent plants to grow in pots; here I have parsley that wintered over inside. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One other crop you can grow in pots gets your ready for summer. I grow tomato starts in a pot, then move them to their individual pots to grow more before locating them in their final growing location. Because I have to start them in February, using a pot for their nursery works well.

Start new plants in pots; here cocktail tomatoes are getting an early start. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once starting to crowd in the pot, I carefully move them to either toilet paper pots or their own pots. I give them a few hours a day outside so they get used to the change in conditions before planting them permanently in my garden or leaving them in pots outside on my deck.

There’s a strategy to this. I have squirrels and chipmunks who have developed a taste for tomatoes. If they decide to eat those in the garden I can then bring in the pots to have tomatoes growing inside.

Cats may enjoy an empty pot for naps and dust baths. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you have inside cats, you may find they enjoy having an empty pot of soil to curl up in and take a dust bath.

A few last tips about gardening in pots:

Include a handful of compost at the bottom to keep your soil healthy.

Don’t dig up soil from your garden; start with new potting soil.

Wet soil down before adding seeds or plants.

You may also need small gardening tools to make the process easier.

Pot gardening allows you to grow your own in small spaces and have a healthy source of fresh produce all year. What are you going to grow in pots?

Charlotte

Shop Local Plant Sales

This year’s stash from the Phelps County Master Gardener annual sale. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Shop Local Plant Sales

If you’re looking for a reliable source of local plants, try your local plant sales. Master gardeners, 4H clubs and other local groups hold them in the spring usually as fundraisers.

The advantages of buying local include that you are getting plants that will do well in your hardiness zone and you know how they were grown. Chances are the plants have not been exposed to chemicals or overuse of fertilizers to force their growth.

If you are just starting a garden, you will also get a good idea of what garden plants to add to your garden. Most of the volunteers at those sales are experienced gardeners and will be glad to answer questions.

If you are looking for bargains, circle back towards the end of the sale. Most plant sales will mark down remaining plants so they don’t have to take them home.

Charlotte

Grow Strawberries

My home grown everbearing strawberries almost ready to pick. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Grow Strawberries

Summer is officially here when I start seeing locally-grown strawberries, usually several weeks before the official start of summer. In USDA Hardiness zone 5B, where I live, strawberry season begins in June. Or maybe I should say strawberry shortcake season. It continues for several weeks, or months, depending on the strawberry variety.

My family goes back several generations as Hungarian strawberry farmers. That may explain why most of us siblings love strawberries just as they are. Commercially-grown, strawberries usually end up on the top 10 list of plants raised with harmful chemicals so growing them at home is an excellent option.

Types of Strawberries

There are a number of strawberry varieties. Here are the two most popular types of strawberries:

• June-bearing strawberries provide strawberries for 5-6 weeks starting in June.

• Ever-bearing strawberries bloom 3-6 months starting in June.

For example, the ever popular Quinault and Ozark strawberries are ever-bearing strawberries.

How to Plant Strawberries

Strawberries are heavy feeders, which means they take a lot of resources out of the soil. To get ready for my first strawberry plantings, I added both compost and manure to ensure the soil microbes were reinforced.

For those flower beds where I used strawberries as border plants, they also were given extra mulch and compost.

Strawberry plants can easily be used on flower borders. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Last year, I planted a good 60 or so new ever-bearing strawberry plants as flower bed borders. This way I can easily pick strawberries as I walk by.

Strawberry plants in their first year can appear small. It normally takes a year for plant roots to get established.

You should also remove the flowers in the first year. You want to concentrate the plant’s energy in getting roots established.

Here’s another border where I included strawberries. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I also added June-bearing plants in a couple of flower beds. Those are honestly for the visiting turtles that somehow know when the berries are ripe.

Now the more traditional way to grow strawberries is to have separate planting beds. To grow strawberries in beds, they need to be rotated 3-4 years to give soil time to recover.

Separate strawberry beds are the traditional way to raise berries. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After planting, add straw under the leaves. You don’t want the berries touching soil or they will rot.

Charlotte

Delicious Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums come in single and double varieties. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Delicious Nasturtiums

I can’t remember the first time I planted nasturtiums, they have been on my “must do” list for decades. Like zinnias, nasturtiums are easy seeds to grow and give so much back.

First, narturtiums are pretty. Their colors range from beige to a deep burgundy in both single and double varieties with several shades of yellow and gold.

They are also entirely edible, making for pretty additions to salads and to embellish dishes.

These charming flowers are also easy to grow.

• You can start the seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before the last spring frost. 

• Plant nasturtium seeds in moist, well-drained soil in full sun. They can grow in partial shade, but they will not bloom as well.

• Nasturtiums prefer poorer soils and they do not need fertilizers.

Soaking the seeds a good day before planting helps them to sprout. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To get them off to a good start, soak the seeds for a good 12 hours prior to planting.

Plant the seeds about half an inch deep and 10 to 12 inches apart. Water. Plants should appear in 7 to 10 days.

I like to plant them in hanging baskets so I can move them around and enjoy the flowers before i add them to my dishes.

Nasturtiums have a fresh, nutty flavor and add a nice touch to any dish.

Charlotte

Starting a Pot Garden

This year’s pot garden with snap peas, in back, then a variety of lettuce, basil on the front left and radishes front right. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Starting a Pot Garden

If you are getting the bug to garden, here’s a quick and easy way to get started and learn the basics: pot gardening. No, no that kind of pot. I’m talking about gardening in pots.

I have had a pot garden for a couple of decades now, primarily to provide tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce and fresh herbs. Since I started, I also now have a number of fruit trees from key limes to a pomegranate.

There are a couple of considerations when starting a pot garden:

One is providing your plants enough soil to support their growth and fruit production; and

How do you plan to keep the soil moist. Soil is 25% water so it’s important to keep it hydrated so it can keep your plants alive.

Pot Garden Pot Size

For cool spring crops like lettuce and spinach, you can use smaller pots. Depending on how much lettuce and spinach you plan to grow, the crops sit almost on the top of the soil.

As you graduate to deeper rooted plants such as tomatoes, you will need more soil surface to feed the deep roots. 5 gallon paint buckets with holes in the bottom make excellent tomato pots.

Pot Garden Irrigation

Wood chips in pot bottom and plastic bottle with holes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The other consideration is how do you plan to keep the pots watered. I include plastic bottles with holes all over them in the center of the pots. That way when I water I know the plant roots sitting towards the bottom of the pot will get hydrated.

I also line the bottom of my pots with broken up wood limbs and wood chips. The wood will naturally retain water and help keep the soil moist. You can also use new cut up diapers and old socks to form wicks to hold in water.

Also plan on having dishes of some sort under your pots to slow down water loss.

Where to Place Pots

I keep my pots on little rolling plant stands so that I can easily move them to get their sun requirements. The larger the pot, the more help I need to move them.

Other Pot Gardens

As our soils get exhausted from overuse and lack of refreshing, it can become more difficult to get anything to grow. I wrote a 5-year plan for our local community garden to help them improve their soil but it was not implemented.

Today community garden users depend on large pots to grow their vegetables and flowers.

Our community garden is one large pot garden. (*Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To keep your pot garden healthy, compost kitchen scraps and incorporate them into your pot soil before planting. Compost provides soil residents food to keep them healthy. In turn, those soil microorganisms will feed the plants that feed you. Yes, it’s all interconnected!

Time to get my tomatoes in their pots! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once you have your pots set up, it’s time to add seeds or plants. My first tomato, a cherry variety is in and now enjoying rain water.

Charlotte

Dead Head New Strawberries

Strawberry flowers getting cut short of fruiting. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Dead Head New Strawberries

It usually takes one little self-talk, maybe two, before I can make myself do this but I know it’s for the best.

I should also confess I use strawberry plants a lot; as border plants as well as in their own beds. I like the idea of walking down a path, leaning over and grabbing a couple of strawberries.

Planting new strawberry plants, though, requires a little patience. The plants will spend their first year getting their roots established. If they are allowed to flower and then fruit, the strawberry fruits will tend to be small because of the energy it takes to fruit.

If you look at brand new and first year strawberry plants, the flowers tend to be small.

First year strawberry plants tend to produce small flowers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Which means the fruit, the actual strawberry, will also be small.

Ergo the need for a little self pep talk. You need to snip off those tiny flowers, Charlotte. Yes, I know. You will have larger strawberries next year if you do. Yes, I know but these look so good, what can it hurt to leave a few and get more strawberries this year…..and so it goes.

But when I spot strawberry plants from earlier year plantings, the argument is won. Those older strawberry plants have large flowers, promising big fruit.

Second year strawberry plants have larger flowers and fruit. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Strawberries are also heavy feeders, meaning they take a lot of energy out of the soil. Planted in beds, it is recommended to move the plants every 3 years and give the soil time to recover.

If you snip off the flowers, the plants won’t drain all of the soil resources and will produce larger fruits. They can also stay in an area longer especially if you add compost yearly.

Charlotte

Leaf Curl Disease

Leaf curl disease on one of my dwarf peach trees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Leaf Curl Disease

Leaf curl (Taphrina deformans) is one of the most common disease problems found in backyard orchards. This is my first year to find leaf curl on one of my dwarf peaches, one of my earliest blooming spring trees.

Leaf curl symptoms appear in spring as reddish puckered areas on developing leaves. These areas become thick causing leaves to curl and distort. They start as small red bumps on leaf edges, then spread through the leaves.

Disease fungi overwinter as spores (conidia) underneath bark, around buds and in other protected areas. Early in the growing season, during cool, wet spring weather, the spores infect new leaves as they emerge from the buds.

Later, the fungus produces great numbers of new spores which are splashed or blown from tree to tree. The fungus can impact fruit production.

To treat, there are several options. I chose to remove all leaves and deeply bury them so they won’t infect other trees.

I monitor daily and remove any new signs of the fungus on the leaves.

There are a number of recommended fungicide sprays that are recommended for fall use. We’ll see by then if this is not currently contained.

No more leaf curl on the dwarf peach tree leaves a month later. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After a month of monitoring, this peach tree looks free of the fungi and none have appeared on nearby fruit trees.

Monitoring plants so you can catch issues early is the best way to not have to use dangerous harmful chemicals.

And oh, I washed my hands.

Charlotte

Missouri's Wild Violets

Wild Missouri violets in a hillside lawn. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Missouri’s Wild Violets

These lovely native Missouri spring wildflowers seem to be either hated or loved. I love them, all 20 Missouri species in the genus Viola. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden. leaf shape and hairiness, habitat, and other details are necessary clues to determining exact species.

My love of violets started with this ceramic container. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My love of violets started with a white ceramic container I now use to hold make up pencils. Maybe it started before then but this ceramic container is a favorite. I also didn’t know when I first starting collecting Missouri wild violets for my garden that there were 20 different species. Now that I do, the more the merrier!

Two different Missouri wild violets both growing along a path. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Violets are one of the few natives that offer a color close to blue. Blue is one of the most scarce colors in nature so having a plant that pretty much takes care of itself year to year is a favorite in my book.

Violets and Ajuga make a nice spring color combination. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

In addition to growing in shade, Missouri wild violets also work well as border plants, helping to define my hillside garden paths.

And the flowers are edible, high in Vitamin C. Love to add them to a salad, they add an unexpected splash of delicious color.

Charlotte

April Gardening Chores

The south garden close to the Bluebird Gardens apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

April Gardening Chores

It’s “daffodil land” days in my Missouri garden. This is the name one of my former neighbors gave to my limestone hillside garden currently populated by a number of these wonderful bulbs.

Spring came in almost a month early this year so my USDA Hardiness zone 5B chores are getting an earlier start.

Clean out composters and add to flower beds and fruit trees. Mix with existing soil for now; you will mulch this later. Leave a good bucket of finished compost as starter for the next compost batch and start adding leaves, grass clippings if you have them, kitchen scraps and water. Don’t forget to mix.

Put up your birdhouses if you haven’t already. Songbirds are natural pest control and add so much interest to our gardens. 60% of all bird species depend on insects for their food.

Prune lilacs immediately after they bloom. If you wait until later in the season, you will be cutting off next year’s blooms.

Continue to sow lettuce, spinach and radish seeds every 10 days or so for fresh spring salads in your pot garden. Call it your garden in pots, if you prefer.

If you like to grow peas, this is the last month to plant sugar snap peas and snow peas, they prefer cooler weather conditions. To keep their roots happy, mulch with cardboard to keep them cool, then add a layer of wood chips.

As daffodils and tulips continue to grow and bloom, sprinkle compost around them to keep the bulbs well fed.

As the flowers fade, remove them by snipping off the flower heads. Leave the greenery until it turns yellow; the green leaves help the bulbs store energy for next season’s blooms. Don’t mow the leaves down with the lawn mower until they turn yellow or the bulbs will gradually become smaller and you will not have any more blooms next spring.

If you have a vegetable garden area, this is a good time to add cardboard to kill off any growth prior to summer planting. Don't till, the prevailing thought now is that tilling damages the soil ecosystem. Kill the plants you don’t want, make holes to plant the ones you do, or make trenches to plant seeds, and cover. Easy peasy. Who doesn’t like easy gardening??

Start your summer plants inside in containers you can transplant outside later; tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini.

Don’t forget companion plants to reduce crop damage; basil is a good bug deterrent for a lot of plants and grows easily from seed.

Plant for pollinators as well. I love zinnias and so do butterflies and bees. Native plants such as New England Asters, yarrow and purple coneflowers are good choices for pollinators because they have long blooming seasons. For another good annual, try sunflower seeds. Birds will love the seeds in the fall.

Enjoy the beauty of Missouri’s native trees including Eastern redbuds and the state tree, flowering dogwoods. Better yet, plant a few more native trees along with compact dwarf fruit trees. Although planting native flowers is still good for pollinators, trees provide better, and more reliable, pollen sources for bees. The smaller fruit trees are good pollen sources as well and, when pollinated by bees, will also give you easily accessible fruit to pick.

Charlotte

Home Pot Garden

One of my past pot gardens growing on my back deck. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Home Pot Garden

Some people are calling the resurgence in gardening Victory Gardening 2.0, a reference to the gardens US citizens grew during World War II. I think “Pot Garden” is more appropriate. These pot gardens can grow almost anywhere and still provide fresh produce and herbs.

I have grown a pot garden on my southern facing deck for many years and here are my tips to getting started, with the help of the National Gardening Bureau:

1. Know your hardiness zone, which is an average over 13 years of the coldest temperatures where you live,. This will determine what you can grow. I am in USDA Hardiness zone 5B. If you don’t know your growing zone, enter your zip code here to find your zone.

2. What do you and your family like to eat? No point in growing something no one will touch. Make a list of what your family likes to eat and research their harvest times. Right now snow peas, lettuce, radishes, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower are good to grow, they prefer the cooler spring temperatures.

   Also consider growing favorite herbs you use in cooking, there’s nothing better than fresh herbs out of your own garden.

Herbs are excellent to grow in pots and great to add to cooking. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

More on Setting up a Home Pot Garden

3. Seeds or Starts? If this is your first foray into gardening, get plant starts, those will grow faster and encourage you to plant more. Seeds will work as long as you read the packages and plant at the appropriate time.

4. Know Your Soil. If you are sowing, or adding starts, to soil, make sure you know what kind of soil you have, your local Extension office can run a test and tell you. One test costs $15.

5. Plan where you will grow. If you are making a pot garden that’s easy. If you are growing directly into soil it helps to have an area planned.

6. Grow both vegetables and flowers. Flowers attract pollinators that will make your vegetables healthier and more abundant. Mix vegetables and flowers, don’t plan them separately.

7. Start Composting. If you don’t already compost, start composting. You will repurpose kitchen scraps and help keep your garden soil healthy.

Keep gardening tools handy, here I have children’s tools close by. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

8. Punch holes in plastic bottles and bury them in your pots to help keep plant roots hydrated.

9. Stake plants. Some plants like tomatoes and peppers will need support to grow. Find straight garden sticks and consider tomato cages for vining plants like peas.

10. Monitor for pests. Check under leaves; remove by hand. Some garden pests like rabbits and deer will tend to stay away from pot gardens.

Pot gardens are not only easy to establish but work well through the growing season and don’t require a lot of space. Good luck and have fun!

Charlotte

Darling Daylilies

These are descendants from the original immigrant daylilies. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Darling Dayliies

We don’t appreciate them as much as European settlers, who among their few possessions made room for Hemerocallis fulva, today’s common orange daylily, when they first arrived in North America. How did we forget how valuable these plants used to be?

When I worked for several weeks in Southampton for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day, several of our English counterparts talked about their tiny gardens. One of the staple plants they continue to grow in their kitchen gardens is daylilies because all parts of the plant are edible.

I didn’t know that when I first admired the beautiful orange blooms. I did know they were almost impossible to kill and grow in almost all conditions. When my husband at the time and I had a house built, I used them to hold in the soil we brought in. Some areas today still have the descendants of those first plants, considered a Missouri native wildflower, so thick now I need to thin them out again if I am going to see flowers in that part of the Missouri limestone hillside garden again.

Daylilies Are Edible

I have since learned why daylilies are so darling, they are delicious. Jan Phillips in her book "Wild Edibles of Missouri" calls orange daylilies "another one of mother nature's grocery stores." Phillips confirms the whole plant is edible, from the young flower stalks in spring that taste like asparagus to the tiny, white root bulbs reminiscent of radishes.

The steamed stalks are referred to as the poor man’s asparagus, something I once again forgot to try this year when the stems were young enough.

Don Kurz in his field guide to “Ozark Wildflowers” said these plants have been “eaten in salads, in fritters, as a cooked vegetable and as a seasoning. In China, a root tea is used as a diuretic.”

There is also a cautionary note. “Recent Chinese reports warn that the roots and young leaf shoots are considered potentially toxic and can accumulate in the body and adversely impact the eyes, even causing blindness in some cases. Their studies also warn that the roots contain a carcinogen.”

I like the fresh flower buds. They are a nice addition to a salad or served on their own as a side dish. They taste like green beans with a hint of onion and brighten up any dish when you add an open flower.

Another way to enjoy the buds is to steam them. It only takes a couple of minutes to make the buds wilt so keep a close eye on them so they are not overcooked.

One of the more popular recipes is to fry the buds. If you want to try, use a flour dip in an egg wash in hot oil for only a minute or so, they cook quickly.

If you are going to eat daylilies, make sure you are picking them from a chemical-free area. Wash in cool water, then allow to dry. I keep them on their stems in a flower vase with water until I use them.

You don’t have to eat them to enjoy them, they are beautiful just as they are. Hemerocallis means "beauty for a day."

Charlotte

My Tulip Time

My driveway bunnies now have flowers all their own. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My Tulip Time

When I first started planting tulips several decades ago, I had the worst luck. If it wasn’t some hungry little mouse eating the bulbs, a family relative going through a vegan stage picking and frying them. Yes, tulips are edible although I can’t remember them to describe the taste.

When I moved to the house on my one acre Missouri limestone hill, I swore off tulips, opting to plant daffodils and related natives for spring color.

Last fall, however, my gardening buddy gifted me with a huge box of discounted bulbs including tulips. It was such a lovely, exciting gift that I got to planting them. Also helped that the first hard frost was in the forecast for about a week later.

Winter has been colder than usual but it’s still a bit of a gamble how many bulbs will make it without becoming food for mice and squirrels.

This spring, in addition to the regular spring colors of pink Eastern Redbuds, vanilla white Dogwoods, blue Grape Hyacinths and flowering vinca, I now have a lovely pop of red, yellow and purple color courtesy of these gift tulip bulbs.

Would you like to see them?

This is the flower bed across the driveway from my concrete bunnies. I see this flower bed as I walk up the driveway to my garbage can and down the road to my mail box.

A sprinkling of tulips greet me at the top of the driveway. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I return from my mailbox, I detour to a path that takes me to one of my memorial seating areas.

This one is for my Uncle Tony, who lived in Louisiana. The little pop of red tulips brightens up this corner while other summer-blooming plants get their start.

A group of tulips in my Uncle Tony’s memorial bench area. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Another way to approach my house is through this series of round concrete steps leading to, and from, the front door.

Sometimes I walk down the road and return to my garden through these steps so I lined them with a little pop of tulips as well. Frankly I don’t have large swaths of available soil to plant so I sneak tulip bundles in where I can and still protect them.

Tulips welcome visitors walking down my front door path. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Rainy days mean time spent in reading nooks through my house so I added a little plop of tulips where I could enjoy them from a window seat. This view out one of my windows made me think I really should add one of my Pink Tullp Quilts on my bed, then I thought no, I have enough tulips around me as it is.

A few tulips brighten up the southern flower beds. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This little clay pidgeon has been with me for more than 20 years so I gave her a little embellishment by planting orange tulips around the path that leads to her sitting spot.

My clay pidgeon gets company with orange tulips. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Back to the other side of the garden, where I am walking back to the house from Uncle Tony’s memorial bench.

The path leads by my driveway retaining wall, which now has little bouquets of blooming tulips. You can see staining from how the water perculates through the wall, giving it a nice aged look.

This will be the third year for the retaining wall plantings and I am looking forward to seeing how it grows.

Small bunches of tulips brighten up my retaining wall gardens. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I walk down the path to the back of my house, I added another small bundle of tulips at the bottom. Once they stop blooming, other plants will take over and hopefully give them some cover so they will return next year.

A few tulips welcome you to this garden path. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Thanks to my gardening friend Tom for this lovely gift of spring color, I hope it’s a gift that keeps on giving!

Charlotte

Lovely Wild Violets

Recently-transplanted Missouri wild violets next to last year’s cousins. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Lovely Wild Violets

If there is one native Missouri flower that represents spring to me, it’s wild violets, viola sororia or “sister,” because it looks so much like other violets.

I remember “discovering” these native flowers many decades ago in a field behind where I was living. It was in a neighborhood without street lights so it was easy to sit outside and gaze at stars at night, then walk through the field and try to find flowers.

These Missouri natives are called “common violets.” Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins

Common violets can vary in color from a dark, almost navy color to the light lavender here, which reminds me of the lavender applique cat in our Pastel ABCs baby quilt, which I am currently working on as a custom gift.

There are other Missouri native violets living in my garden. Some have moved in on their own, others have been invited in, such as these white violets with purple accents.

These violets look like they can use a drink of water, don’t they? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I also have yellow violets in one spot - don’t ask, I don’t remember where so I need to wait for them to bloom - and all white violets, which I planted at the entrance to my house so I can enjoy them every day.

The white violets tend to bloom later than the common violets. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These wild violets are not only pretty March-June but the flowers are edible and high in Vitamin C. Since I don’t use toxic chemicals in my garden, I can pick a handful of flowers and add to a salad. Not only is the color pretty but I am adding vitamin C and a little tartness to my meal.

I confess, I also love the look of them on my plate.

Wild violets from non-chemical treated spot in my garden, ready for lunch. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These are also welcome resting spots for bees and other pollinators, and their heart-shaped leaves add a nice contrast to other garden greenery. I tuck these in at the front of flower beds wherever I can. don’t know why some people find these plants to be unwelcome, we have to rethink our standard of beauty being a sterile green carpet. These are the plants we should welcome into our gardens!

Charlotte

Tomato Starts

One of my tomato starts in their own pot near my kitchen. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Tomato Starts

It’s about time to start planting seeds indoors for outside growing after the danger of frost. Where I live, that is usually Mother’s Day, around May 10. But before you start, check your potted plants for any volunteers that have hitchhiked in that soil. If you replanted in previously-used soil or had plants sitting close together, you may already have plant starts growing.

Although I love having fresh, homegrown tomatoes, I don’t grow tomatoes from seed. They tend to take matters into their own seeds and sprout all by themselves and, this year ,they are right on schedule.

Over the years, I grow tomatoes in pots on my deck. The seeds end up in neighboring pots and tend to start growing on their own late winter. This year, I found the tomato starts in a potted banana tree.

Tomato starts popping up all by themselves in a banana plant. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The tomato seedlings don’t show up all at once. The first one is now sitting in its own pot, crushed eggshells in the bottom and coffee grounds mixed up in the plain potting soil, no added fertilizer. This way I can control how much fertilizer is going into the soil.

After noting the first tomato plant, I started to check the soil for any other arrivals. Sure enough, more tomato plants are showing up so I will be potting those as well.

See the little seed on the tomato start bottom left? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I let the little seedling get established before I move it and I take a whole glob of soil around the roots so that it has the least amount of trauma making the move.

When I see these seedlings, I can’t help but think of my Vegetables Baby Quilt with talking tomatoes.

This is gardening at it’s easiest. How many of us overlook those seedlings by pulling them out or piling rocks on top of them?

Charlotte

Finding First Strawberries

Can you see the first strawberries? I have strawberry plants as border plants at Bluebird Gardens.

Finding First Strawberries

For many years I have used strawberry plants as border plants.

It started when I found a patch of wild strawberries and didn't want to mow them over. Once transplanted into my garden, I kept them as border plants so I could easily find them.

When my brother sent me strawberry plants for a birthday, I also planted those as border plants. There is something enticing about planting something edible along flower bed borders, the anticipation of finding something delicious along my garden walks still thrills me every time I think about the possibilities.

As strawberry season approaches, I start looking through my flower borders for the first strawberries of the season. Easier said than done because my resident turtle population also has their eyes on those berries. One day they are there, the next completely gone so I try not to get my hopes up about finding a delicious treat.

For several years, I even had strawberries planted in a raised bed thinking that would discourage slow-moving visitors. Instead, I found a turtle pulling itself up over the raised bed border to get to the ripening strawberries!

These strawberry plants are day neutral so they should fruit several times this year.

Not sure the front strawberries will make it but that one in the back...

Strawberries require rich soil so I add compost every fall around the plants so they have enough time to absorb the nutrients before fruiting. I'm sure the turtles appreciate the extra effort!

Charlotte