Winter 2011 Casulaties

I thought I would take a minute to remember those that were lost in the Winter of 2011.

Queen's Tears Bromeliad
I got this, probably from Darren, a couple of years ago.  This photo is from August, but it also bloomed the year before.  I neglected it the winter before, but when I saw this bloom when my sister-in-law was here, I thought it must be fine where it was - I was even planning to put them in our future shade garden.  I haven't inspected my bromeliads (yes, I have/had more), but from what I can tell, they all look dead.

Helianthocereus Trichocereus grandiflorus
I "rescued" this cactus from Lowe's about three years ago.  I was languishing on the clearance shelf in a pot only a tiny bit larger around than itself.  Along with four others,  I potted them together, a small cactus garden, but after a year or so, they seemed crowded and this one seemed to be rotting.  I thought repotting it would help, increasing airflow around it and keeping it dry, but that didn't help.  I had to let it go.

Pachycereus pringlei (left)
Mammillaria pilcayensis (right)
Another rescued cactus, it just couldn't take the cold.  Last winter they were all potted together, and up against the house.

Since then, I had repotted them and moved them a little farther into the yard.  The cold came early this year and I really didn't believe it would last as long as it did.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. hibotan
 This is sort of a strange plant - a Frankenplant, if you will.  In this case it is a red ball cactus (Gymnocalcium) grafted onto Hylocereus undatus, a Dragon Fruit plant.  It was never my favorite and after I learned more about it from Darren, I put it aside to give to him, but it died from the cold.  The read Darren's post on Dragon Fruit, click here.

Euphorbia trigona

We got this at a plant swap two or three years ago.  There are usually a couple of mature potted plants that someone will bring that they just don't want anymore.  At this swap, this was one of them.  I think Robin grabbed it, and it spent the next few years on our front porch.  I would bring it in a handful of times between Xmas and Easter, but it was usually fine on the porch.  The sun would heat up the concrete during the day and that would keep the temperature warm enough at night, usually.  That would not happen this winter.  Extreme cold and neglect doomed this plant - and a smaller one like it.  I'll probably get another one when the opportunity arises, like the next plant swap.  I think they're interesting and if I start small, I'll appreciate it more when it gets this big.

Aloe Vera
Another front porch plant that didn't get brought in when it got too cold.  I'm not too upset about this one.  I've divided a number of times and given some away or taken to plants swaps - I know I can get more at the next one in the spring.  Actually, I'm not convinced it's completely dead.  I have a feeling that some of the "leaves" are alive in the center of the plant.  I'll wait until spring and find out.

Euphorbia tirucalli "Fire Sticks"
I got this plant as many smaller plants on sale at Lowe's a few years ago.  I potted them together to make a larger plant, and I subsequently divided it several times to give away as gifts.  It was another front porch plant that lived through last winter with minimal attention.  Maybe I shouldn't have so many tender plants - with the weather becoming so crazy these past couple of years.

Pinguicula
You've heard this story before - I got this butterwort plant on clearance from Lowe's - in this case, 48 cents to be exact.  I really didn't have any expectations - I thought I would put in the bog with the other carnivorous plants and hope it liked being there.  And it did.  It thrived until the demise of the bog.  Once that started leaking I had to cut it off from the pond, or risk drying up the pond.  It was only a matter of time before I had to do something with all of the plants.  I repotted the other carnivorous plants and moved them to a temporary home, but the butterwort didn't like the transplant and it got neglected and dried out over the summer.

Stapelia gigante
Last, but not least, is my corpse flower cactus.  I got it from a plant swap several years ago, and it finally bloomed this year.  The flower is supposed to smell like rotting flesh, but I didn't really smell it - maybe I had a cold.  Anyway, we got to see it bloom twice this past summer, but it did not survive the porch this winter.  I'm going to have to rethink next winter - either have a plan and remember to put it into action, or have hardier plants.  I'll probably get more of these plants, and I'll have a plan, but maybe I'll forget when it gets cold.  I'm only human.

Spring Cleanup

I know it's not spring yet, but I feel like it motivates me to think like that, when I have pre-spring chores to do.  I needed to get out in the yard and clean up some dying plants from the dose of winter that we've been having.  I planned to tweak Ella's green roof project, pull up the onions and broccoli that were damaged recently, and start planning for chickens - I don't know when that will be, but I can plan, right?

Fixing the green roof project didn't take too long, and I pulled up the onions and some of the weeds and got bored - I've had a long week and it was a little colder than I wanted.  When I moved to the beds with the cold-damaged broccoli, I was surprised to find very nice heads on these plants, despite the dying foliage all around.  I pulled some weeds from the beds and decided we're going to have to eat some broccoli this week.

We've been talking about getting chickens for a while now.  We(I) finally got a dose of what it would be like to have chickens when neighbors went out of town for Xmas and asked us to take care of theirs.  They have five hens, two of which are laying.  I've read a lot about chickens, so I think I know how all of this works, in theory - reality is a different thing.  I had plans to build the perfect coop and henhouse with nesting boxes, etc, but the chickens hardly used the henhouse, didn't like being cooped up - they liked being free range in the yard, and they laid their eggs next to the A/C unit.  It was an eye-opening experience - now I just have to take in all I have learned when working out plans for chickens in our yard.

After the Freeze

The new year is a time for starting over.  In some ways I mean that literally around our house.  I can't say I was taken by surprise by the cold weather that hit us in early December, but I was surprised how long and how cold it was.  I could say that I was preoccupied with Ella's green roof science fair project - which I was - but the fact is, I would have been unprepared even if I hadn't been doing something else.

The extended cold really did a number on all of our winter vegetables - broccoli, onions, lettuce.  I've pretty much given up on them - I just haven't pulled them out of the ground nad thrown them into the composter yet.

I also had tender and somewhat hardy houseplants outside - only a few might live when warm weather comes around again.  Other plants I'll hold onto and see what happens to them as well.  So, I am making a sort of fresh start.  I need to get out in the garden and pull up the old vegetables and I think I'm just going to plant lettuce and spinach - it'll be more low maintenance and I can easily cover it when I have to - if I remember.

My New Edger

When it comes to gardening, I wanted to do things as cheaply as I can. I have trouble spending a lot of money on things - that has caused problems for me recently - I've been wanting to lay out some new beds and spruce up the yard a little bit, but it all seems like a lot of work for little reward.

Take edging, for example - after we bought our house, I needed to make sure I kept the yard looking nice, so I decided to buy an edger. The last thing I wanted was another noisy tool. At one time, leaf blowers were possibly my biggest pet peeve. No, I was going to buy an old-fashioned half-moon edger. Actually, I was lucky to find one. I thought it would be good for me, the environment, etc. It was fine for the first couple of years, but it's gotten to the point where I edge 3-4 times a year - that's become a lot of tedious work. It's also how I spent edging and laying out all of those beds the last couple of years. So when it came time for me to get off my butt and start this shade garden, I needed a real edger.

Gas-powered was out of my price range. I've had other yard tools that were either corded or have a rechargeable battery. I wasn't sure which one I might want. My experience with hedge trimmers is that the battery might die before I finished with the hedges, but the electric, we've cut the cord a number of times. It turns out my only choice was one with a cord.

I took it out of the box and tried it out on Sunday - laying out the new shade garden and edging the driveway and walkway. It has three different depths, 1/2 inch to 1&1/2 inch, calling the deepest "trenching". Not much of a trench, but probably the only one I'll be using it on, especially to get through tough sod.

The Winter Vegetable Garden

I've been pondering the winter vegetable garden recently - rethinking it. I planted two beds of broccoli, two beds of onions, and a bed of greens - lettuce and spinach. We rarely eat broccoli - especially from the garden, I haven't successfully grown a really good onion, and our greens are nonexistent - the spinach never came up and something must have eaten our lettuce - I don't think it just died.

I need to rethink our fall planting more - I don't want to give up on onions, but I may limit myself to a half of a bed, and only one type of onion - yellow granex hybrid, also know as a Vidalia. I'll stick with the broccoli, though I'll try to grow more from seed. Robin says she's trying to sneak more vegetables into meals. I think my focus during the winter ought to be on greens. We will get the most out of them - they're usually easy to grow, cheap, replenish-able and I really enjoyed all the salads I ate last spring.