What is it about May that weaves such a spell over us?  There is such enchantment in the air!  And what beautiful air it has been.  Can you believe the string of sunny days we have had?  I am thoroughly enjoying them.  So is everyone else.  It is nice to see that many people have gardening on their mind.  We have been very busy with customers in the last two weeks.  We thank everyone for their continued patronage.  We are as excited as you are that spring has finally arrived, with summer nipping at its heels.

The latter half of May is the time to plant our gardens and flower beds.  That is what I am seeing our customers purchasing and that is what I most want to plant.  I started beans indoors and it is now time to transplant them outside.  I didn’t provide enough light and they are stretching out.  If I don’t get them in the ground in the next 2 days I will never extricate them from my orchids, or one another.

Tonight, our family was discussing what we wanted to plant in the large container garden by my parents’ house.  I have 2 small raised beds at home.  Each year I plant the vegetables that I like to harvest and cook on an almost daily basis.  These include beans, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and lettuce.  Throw in some kale and swiss chard and I am set.  I always have veggies on hand to eat.  The “other garden”, where there is more space needs to be planned out a little better.  For a few years it was in ground.  However, the weeds were impossible to rise above.  One year we tried a weed barrier and drip irrigated cloth over the area.  That worked better.

Last year we were persuaded to plant in pots.  It had been awhile since I had done a container vegetable garden.  The last time I did, I planted a cherry tomato, a zucchini and some basil.  Maybe a pepper, too.  I think I must have aspirations of being a country woman: growing my own food, cooking and preserving, then writing about it.  Anyway, I seem to have bigger dreams than I can turn into reality.  So I looked at what my dad was planting and what I wanted to grow and I planted 4 different varieties in each pot.  Some things worked well and some things didn’t.  I actually harvested a head of cabbage (a first for me) but I never ate it.  Pretty pathetic.  Many plants didn’t do as well in the containers.  Was it being planted in pots, overcrowding, or the generally miserable growing season we had?  I missed my tomatillo crop from the previous year (although I still have some frozen).  The tomatillos did not fare well in the containers.  So this year, I am determined to cut down on the number of items that I grow and to plant more sparsely in the containers.  Perhaps I will even manage to find a stray corner of weed free garden space to plant a few tomatillos.

My husband and I have started to add more vegetables to our diet and at the same time decrease the amount of processed grains.  Okay, it’s called low carb, but what’s in a name?  I’m not sure why it gets the bad rap that it does, but the low carb/paleo diet thing has worked well for us.  Still, I am looking for ways to get the flavor of foods that I enjoy, while still being low carb.  I love spaghetti and pizza.  I have found green beans and zucchini peels to be a great substitute for pasta.  The pizza thing is another matter but I do enjoy tomatoes, basil leaves and mozzarella cheese.  It’s a good thing that I genuinely like vegetables.  My other favorites are greens such as Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale and Collards.  You can steam them, sautee them and even bake them.  Add a little garlic or onion and finish it off with vinegar or rice wine.  Yum!  Of course salads are the ultimate diet meal.  I am funny in that I like a contrast of colors in my salad.  I like Buttercrunch lettuce and red leaf lettuce combined.  I just love the punch of red color in my salad.  It is hard to find all red lettuce in the grocery store.  So I like to grow my own.  I will admit to never having successfully growing head lettuce.  Often, I will buy buttercrunch or romaine lettuce in the store and add my own colored lettuce that I have grown.  Throw in some slice carrots and a few tomatoes and you have a great side dish to a grass fed beef steak.  Delicious and healthy.

Now that I am thinking about it, I need to remember to plant eggplant.  I quite enjoyed making baba ganoush last year.  It was wonderful.  Also, I enjoyed trying out various salsa recipes, my favorite being a green salsa with tomatillos.  Plus I really should try out something new this year.  What should it be?  Celery perhaps?  Or spaghetti squash?  What about…We’ll see what happens.  I hope you have as much fun planning and planting your vegetable garden as I do!  Happy Gardening

Are you a gambler?

Despite the warm weekend, we are still experiencing showers, wind and seemingly cool temperatures.  Although it is not particularly warm during the day, it is not frosting at night.  Normally at this time of year, when it is overcast it is mild at night but when it is sunny during the day we get a frost at night.  Our average date of last frost is April 21st.  The latest recorded frost is May 11.  When I first began gardening the average date of last frost was April 15th.  I remember a frost being on May 11th.  I think it was in the last 5 years.

So are you a gambler?  The old wives’ tale in the area is you don’t plant your vegetable garden until the snow if off Mary’s Peak.  I’ve also heard that you should wait to plant tomatoes until seedlings from last year’s fruit volunteer in your yard.   Normally, I wait until May 10-15th to plant my tomatoes, beans and corn outside.  Squash is another matter, needing soil warmth to prevent the plants from simply keeling over.  However, I often go by my gut.  And this year my gut is telling me that we are not going to have another frost.  I am seriously thinking about planting all my vegetable crops this weekend.  Now granted, if we do get a frost and we have to replant, I am in a better position than most people.  So am I daring you?  No.  Prudence suggests that you wait until May 10-15th.  But if you are a gambler and you have spring fever…I dare you!

What’s happening at the nursery?  Our tables are filling up.  We have Black and Blue Salvia and French Tarragon.  We are anticipating at least 60 varieties of tomatoes.  We hope to have 45 by this weekend.  We are bringing in everything as it becomes available.  For some reason it seems that plants are not on the availability list exactly when the customers start asking for them.  But keep on asking.  We will get them as soon as we are able and we would love to get your phone number and notify you when they arrive.  Our tomato list is available.  Don’t see your favorite variety there?  Let us know and we will try to track it down for you!

A funny aside.  I ran out of praying mantis egg cases.  People were wanting to buy them and I couldn’t find any.  Our inventory indicated we should still have 2.  But I could not find them.  So I listed them as missing.  A few days ago, we began to encounter baby praying mantis in our office.  This morning, a staff member discovered the two missing egg cases with an alarming number of hatching praying mantis.  I do not know how this happened but it is a wonder and something worth talking about.  Praying mantis are amazing and they love to eat other insects that destroy crops, a very worthy proposition.  Thank goodness we have now moved the egg cases out of the office somewhere that the emerging hatchlings can do the most good.   And a story may be told!

Anything else?  We are excited that people seem to be redoing their landscapes.  There is a definite increase from last year.  Also, we welcome the trend we are seeing in edible gardens.  It is great to grow your own food and be in control of what goes into it.  Also, we are surprised and happy at how many of our customers have embraced the GreenBed raised beds.  They are made by Shelter Works in Philomath from recycled materials.  A great company with a great plan. Check it out at http://faswall.com/greenbed/.  We’re completely enamored.

Sunshine on the weekends, a Gardener’s dream

We sun starved Oregonians are enjoying this month’s weather.  It rains, while we toil at our jobs and it is sunny and glorious on the weekend.  (This is quite the opposite for those of us in the nursery business but I am not complaining).  Another fine weekend is predicted.  There are so many things to do.

Garland Nursery is celebrating it’s 75th anniversary.  We invite you to join us.  We have a nice line-up of activities.  At 11 am we will be inviting you to wander through our renovated rock garden.  Built by my great-grandmother and great-grandfather, it had fallen into disrepair.  Over a 2 year period, we have been revitalizing it.  It is a lovely space, with many old plants and a lot of new plantings.  Please enjoy this pleasant environment.  Following that, my dad, Don, will be leading people on a tour of the “heritage” trees on the property.  His grandfather, William Schmidt planted them and Dad has lots to share about them.  My dad is a wealth of knowledge and he is the connection to the family past.  I’m excited to steal away and go on the tour myself.  Not wanting to walk the grounds?  The Vicki Stevens band will be filling the grounds with groovy sound from noon to 3 or so.  Sit down and enjoy their great sound.

At 2, Willi Galloway will be be talking about her new book, Grow, Cook, Eat.  I had the pleasure of meeting Willi on Monday.  She is approachable and endearing.  Her writing is great as well.  Take a minute to peruse her blog: www.digginfood.com.  She is a master gardener, writer and cook.  She will charm you with her discussion about using parts of vegetables we don’t normally think about eating and some plants that we don’t think of as edible.  I am a big fan of vegetables.  I really enjoyed that Willi wrote about eating the flowers of kale and broccoli.  Kale and Broccoli raab is yummy!  So come listen to her ideas for getting the most out of your vegetables.  She’ll be available after her talk to sign her new book.  I’m excited to get an autograph!

Speaking of vegetables…I am really looking forward to this year in the garden.  And from what I’ve seen from the people shopping at the nursery, so are you.  I mentioned in the previous paragraph that I love vegetables.  My husband and I have been trying to eat healthier lately and my love of vegetables has been helpful.  We are following a low carb diet.  You can sum up our diet by saying we eat meat and vegetables.  Before anyone takes offense, let me say that we are not strict adherents to anything and I am trying to buy local, sustainably produced meat and vegetables.  We are really enjoying our diet.  One of my pleasures on the diet is the vegetables.  I am eating kale, chard, lettuce, tomatos, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli raab, rapini, spinach, beans and more.  I even bought beets, although I have not cooked them.  I’m using a lot of herbs, too.  So I am most looking forward to planting my vegetable garden.  Already, I have onions, shallots, chard and lettuce planted.  I am hoping to increase the amount of lettuce and add in kale and spinach.  Then I am looking forward to planting tomatos, zucchini and beans.  I have written in the past about my raised beds and the garden at the nursery for what doesn’t fit in the beds at home.  This year, I am planning on trying some earlier tomatos, like Black Krim, Willamette and Juliet.  I really like to grow pole beans, as that maximizes my small space.  I like straight, small beans.  I haven’t decided whether to grow Emerite, which I planted last year or to try Kentucky Blue.  Customers have praised Jade as well.  It will be a tough decision.

I enjoy learning wherever I am.  It is surprising what you can learn and where you learn it.  I had heard from a wonderful French chef that Tarragon was an annual herb.  But I knew for a fact that “French Tarragon” lived through the winter, thereby making it a perennial in my view.  I wondered if what I was selling as French Tarragon was mislabelled.  So it was with surprise and humor that I found out from another wonderful local chef that French Tarragon only retains its spicy flavor during the first growing season, thereby explaining the need to plant it yearly.  So now I am on a quest to replant my Tarragon.  It is such a wonderful flavoring in spaghetti and on green beans.  And I am so glad that I love to talk with all the wonderful local chefs that we have in our area.  You never know what education you will receive.

What else am I loving this month?  The fact that what I consider as a March Azalea, Hino Crimson is blooming beautifully in April.  Okay, maybe the month is not important!  We have had a wonderful, slow fashion show of flowers this spring.  Every flowering plant and tree has held onto its beauty for the longest amount of time possible.  Each plant has taken center stage for its bloom and then the spotlight moves onto the next plant.  I’m sure that as soon as it turns warm and stays warm, we will see a “fireworks finale” of blooms but until then I am enjoying the show!  Happy gardening.

 

Musings on a snowy night

It was odd to awaken on the second day of spring to find a blanket of snow.  Odd that in such a non-snowy place like the Willamette Valley, we are cold and white while the rest of the country is basking in unseasonably warm weather.  You can blame me for winter hanging on.  I haven’t gotten around to cleaning my work office and getting organized for the year.  It seems like something is conspiring against me to get this unpleasant task done.  Oh well, I’ll just put it off with something a little more fun, musing about the snow.

The sight of the beautiful pink plum blossoms coated with snow I saw this morning seemed foreign but stunning.  German engineered cars just run better in the snow.  We waited to move our plants out of the hoop houses until the danger of snow was past.  Foolishly we thought it was and moved them out on Monday.  Our greenhouses are filling up with lots of pretty spring and summer flowers.  They’ll be waiting for the weekend, when I hear it might warm up and the sun come out.  The falling snow that seemed bleak and depressing in the light of day is charming in the glow of evening.  Early spring flowering bulbs poking their heads out of the snow are a common sight in the bulb catalogs.  It is much more charming to see them in person.  Did you know even the most fragrant sweet violet does not emit an odor in the cold?  I have confidence that spring will arrive in Oregon.  I just hope it makes up for the wild weather of the last two months.  Until then I have a lot to do: cleaning, organizing, planning and dreaming.

Rebuilding

So now you know that Garland Nursery is celebrating our 75th anniversary this year!  We’re excited.  In 1903, my great-great grandparents bought a farm.  Or they bought a piece of property and started a farm.  My great-grandparents, William and Corlie Schmidt bought the property from his parents not too long after that.  They grew filberts and prunes.  Apparently there is some connection to other farmers and a prune drying barn near the current HP campus.  (I’m a little shaky on the details about that, however, I have seen the old drying trays.  Some of those may still be upstairs in the barn unless my sister, who does not have the hoarding tendencies that I do, threw them out).  That might be something to research in the future, but for now I’ll just write about the details with which I am more familiar.  They had cows, for milk I believe, and grew hay to feed the cows.  We still have some of the milk cans and the barn that houses the gift store now has remnants of that working past.  They had horses as well, to haul in the hay.  The hay loft is still evident in the barn.

In 1937, William and Corlie applied for a nursery license.  William had the idea to import Turkish filbert rootstock to graft domesticated varieties onto.  The Turkish filberts didn’t sucker, which was a plus.  However, that idea didn’t pan out.  William and Corlie must have enjoyed cultivated plants, however.  They planted a great number of trees on the property that are still alive today.  Also, they planted what we call the rock garden.  It was referred to as Corlie’s garden and the sunken garden.  It is still in existence.  If you drive in our official driveway, the smaller of the two that goes in front of the large house near the highway that we grew up in, it is on your right.  There are several lovely Japanese Maples and Magnolias, a pretty hardy fuchsia and a number of Rhododendrons and Camellias.  I remember miniature roses growing there.  And a Monkey Puzzle tree with its unusual prickly cones.  It finally died quite a few years back.  In late winter, the snow drops emerge from the ground with their pristine white nodding blooms.  Around May Day, the English Bluebells (or Scilla) take over.  There used to be “Naked Ladies” that bloomed without leaves in the early autumn.  I haven’t seen their flowers for quite a few years, although it sure looked like their foliage was there just last week.

For so long the garden was tended first by my great-grandmother and then my grandmother, my dad’s uncle Claire and finally several loyal staff members, including Kennith Haight and Stuart Fraser.  In the last 10 years, it was obvious that the garden had seen better days and was in serious need of renovation.  The family was very busy and the rock garden wasn’t a top priority.  We talked a lot about making it over but it never seemed to happen.  About 3 years ago, we began a serious renovation.  Over the years several weedy ornamentals had crept in.  English ivy that once was revered for its hardiness, now showed its true colors as a plant thug, taking over many beds and climbing many trees.  Also, we had a problem with Jack in the Pulpit (as we were taught to call it-although there is another plant by the same common name that is not so aggressive).  Finally, there were a few blackberries.  Surprisingly, the blackberries were far outnumbered by the first two weeds.  The first two weeds are very difficult to eradicate.  We spent the first 2 years, removing the weedy plants as well as the less attractive understory ornamentals and then treating any weeds that regrew with an herbicide.  Finally, we deprived the weeds of water.  If you’ve driven by this desert landscape, you may have wondered what was going on.  It didn’t look like much.  Oh, we added a hedge of boxwood along the drive and some annual color, but it really looked rather desolate.

Now 2012 has rolled around.  We are 75 years old in April.  Finishing this renovation in time for our anniversary celebration became the top priority for my sister and me.  My sister, Erica, is great at making things happen.  Me, I’m more of a girl of planning and thinking and not so much action.  So I really appreciate her ability to drive things.  That is until my husband and I are out there on our day off, pruning and laying edgers.  Okay, I really enjoy pruning, so….We’ve had great help from Ham/Mock and Associates.  Two of their crew came in and laid pavers, installed rock columns and made a fountain in “the sunken garden”.  In a couple more weeks, the hardscape should be done and we’ll be ready to plant the understory plants.

Possibly, you thought this garden was private, a portion of my sister’s yard.  We haven’t publicized it much later as it really had fallen into disrepair.  But we’d like to invite you to check in on the progress, either here on our blog and website or in person.  We are planning a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, April 21st at 11 am.  We’ve even talked dad into guiding a tour of our heritage trees!  So I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.  I will continue to write about our past in upcoming columns.  Happy Gardening.

We’re Old!

Garland Nursery is 75 years old this year.  Hard to believe.  I don’t feel that old.  Even my dad, who is two years older than the nursery doesn’t feel that old.  At least he doesn’t act like he feels that old.  I had a nice conversation with a customer the other day.  He had the same mindset that I do.  He said that most days he feels like he is 25.  Most days I feel like my spirit is 21!  I do have to make sure I say the adult age of 21.  Truthfully, I probably feel like I am 18.  My soul really feels ageless and I feel the same the same feelings, go through the same thought processes and have the same strengths/weaknesses as I have all along.  In that way, I am ageless.  (Of course, my body repeatedly and regularly informs me that I am not ageless.  My body definitely has an age.  And it is past its prime.)  When I did some research and discovered that Garland Nursery is the same age as the Golden Gate bridge and Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge-suddenly I felt truly felt old.  Obviously I haven’t been around all of those 75 years, heck my father is only 77 years old.  But I’ve been around long enough to know, we’re not young.  When you feel old, you suddenly realize-maybe I’m not hip…I don’t really know what’s going on in this world…I don’t know what is important, etc.  So I am going to get very personal today and say that doesn’t matter.  We’re all on this earth together.  The young learn from the old and the old learn from the young.  We all have value. I love and admire my mother.  I could make fun of her, sure.  She is getting older.  But I am constantly amazed by her.  She grew up with a two longs and a short phone and yet she can navigate the internet and our point of sale system.  She isn’t as proficient as a twenty-something and I am often having to save her, but still…the fact that she e-mails multiple people at the same time and is able to look up information in our point of sale system is amazing to me.  There is no fear.  And for her, the basics are the same.  She takes a phone call and wants to provide the caller with what they want to know-basic customer service.  There is simply a different way of finding that information.  She hears a great joke and wants to share it.  Nowadays, the way to share that is via e-mail, but it is still connection.  My belief is that the core values have not changed, just the means to sharing them, achieving them.  I will step out and say I may be wrong.  I may be totally misreading the new generation.  However, I believe some things are universal.  I think everyone wants to be valued.  I believe everyone wants to feel a connection: to one another and to our world-nature.  I think everyone wants to feel some measure of security and some sense of acceptance for who they are.  Does that mean that everyone follows the same path?  Is the same person?  Even has the same values?  Certainly, there are a lot of differences between each of us.  All this philosophical thought led me down the path to wonder, as a business am I (as Garland Nursery) relevant to someone twenty years of age?  The answer is, I’m not sure.  Are we relevant to anyone?  The answer to that is a decided yes.  If we weren’t we would be out of business.   In between those extremes lies the question, “Will we continue to survive?”  Certainly there are many that have gone before us that have not survived.  And survival of the fittest is the core of our belief as a nation.  Those that don’t or won’t adapt go by the wayside.  Tnose that don’t remain vital/viable disappear.  I for one don’t want to disappear.  I enjoy what I do.  I may complain about it a lot but I really love it, I relish it, it is a passion.  As an individual (not answering to anyone else), I believe that we need to be reminded of our connection to nature.  We need to know where our food comes from.  We need to know that the flora of this universe is important, that our survival as human beings is intimately connected to the survival of nature.

So what is the point to my rambling?  I hope that what I have a passion for-nature, gardening, food, cooking and plants forms a connection with the next generation and the next.  I hope that my business, perhaps a dinosaur, remains relevant and vital for those that follow me.  I want to learn about new technology and spark that flame within myself. I want to share any knowledge that I have with someone else.   I wish that I may share my passion with someone new.

Maybe wishes do come true

How thankful I am that there is balance in nature.  Last week I complained about the rain and the lack of opportunity to garden.  The end of this week promises to come through with sun or part sun, no rain (as in 0% chance) and highs around 50 deg.  Wow!  What a turnaround.  There will probably be night time frosts, so I can’t get too carried away, but I should be able to get quite a bit done in my garden.

Before I share my plans in my own garden, let me tell you about the new arrivals at the nursery.  Almost all the fruit trees and berries have arrived.  Most of them are “bare root”, as in no soil on the roots.  We hold them in bins of sawdust so the roots don’t dry out.  Since there’s no pot or soil the price is less.  Planting in late winter gives them a little extra time to root out before the warm, dry weather hits.  Also, the selection is best now.  We just got a large order of blueberries.  They are in containers.  We have found that the selection and value was best in potted blueberries.  Most varieties need another variety nearby to produce fruit.  So you should plant at least 2, maybe 3.

Bare root roses are will be available by the weekend.  There may be one small order that hasn’t arrived.  All the varieties are only available bare root for a short (1-2 weeks) time and you can save a few dollars when you buy them that way.

The first of 2 orders of summer flowering bulbs are here.  Dahlias, gladiolas, and lilies are among the items that arrived.  Also on this order were a few varieties of packaged potatoes, 3 or 4 types of garlic and dry onion sets.  Garlic needs to go in the ground right away.  Also, we have growing starts of garlic.

Our houseplant section is full again in preparation for Valentine’s Day.  We received

Red Anthurium

an order of orchids a week early and there are some interesting types, including one that smells like a chocolate, vanilla dessert.  Anthuriums, with tropical, heart-shaped, waxy flowers are available in pink and red.  There are fragrant jasmine on hoops and blooming miniature roses.  Also, we have the most peace lilies I have seen in awhile and they are all blooming.  Every day I wander into that greenhouse and there is something new.  It’s making me want to take a few home with me.

Finally, we have a number of different types of primroses:  Belarina doubles, fairy

cream Belarina primrose

primroses, obconicas and 3 types of the common primroses.  Not everyone is a fan, but primroses are my favorite late winter flower.  The yellow ones are fragrant!

Now for my personal gardening plans.  As the mornings promise to be chilly, I plan to let it warm up before I go to work outside.   So Saturday morning I’m going to check out the Orchid Show at the nursery.  I missed it last year and I really want to see it this time.  Then in the afternoon I have the following list I am hoping to complete:

1.  Prune the raspberries.  I planted 3 everbearing  varieties and now I have a whole bed of them.  Pruning raspberries is something I have a difficult time explaining to other people because I really haven’t done much of it.  Previously I had one plant that wasn’t contained and “traveled” in my yard and the neighbors.  By pruning to keep it out of the way of my blueberries everything worked.  Now with the forest of canes that I have, I finally get to get first hand experience.  I am told to cut off the canes that have branches as these are the ones that are done producing and are dead.  It’s also a good idea to shorten the live canes to a strong bud.  I’ll report back on how I do.

2.  Cut back all the perennials that I missed in the fall.  Things like daylilies, peonies and Siberian iris.  Especially the lady’s mantle along the driveway.  It’s looking pretty ratty.

3.  Remove the African daisies that I planted to fill in my beds but are now looking really bad.  They may survive and bloom again in late spring, but right now they are so ugly I can’t stand it.

4.  Prune back our monster Morning Light (or is it Yaku Jima) Maiden grass.  Actually, this is my husband’s task.  Last year we waited too late and the new growth had started.  He actually used an electric hedge trimmer on it. Don’t tell my sister that I told you, as she is appalled at that method.  Erica, my sister, prefers to use a sickle to cut back all her perennials and grasses.  Of course, she does not have a 4 foot diameter grass to chop back.

5.  Transplant  an Exbury azalea that got tucked in too shady of a spot.  I have a place where one plant died and the azalea will work well there.

6.  Walk through the garden, look at all the bulbs poking their heads out of the ground and enjoy the plants that are blooming.  I’m hoping to pick a wee bouquet of sweet violets to perfume the house.