I was 23 when I first started working in the nursery business. Hard to believe it has been over 10 years. That first job was in a retail garden center in Leawood, KS. I had just quit my job with a major greeting card company and was driving aimlessly around town wondering what I had just done and what the heck I was going to do next. At the time my husband was an archaeologist and I’m here to tell you they don’t bring in the big bucks. I was the primary bread winner and I had just thrown that all away. I did it for the good of my health and marriage and it wouldn’t be the last time I did that.
There was a “now hiring” sign in the window of an Earl May Nursery & Garden Center. I liked plants so I thought I would give it a go. In reality I wanted to be an interior designer, but an interior design firm had just informed me that I really needed to go to school for that and I needed a job right at that moment. The nursery seem as good of job as any. I filled out an application, went home and the phone was ringing. It was the nursery calling to schedule an interview. I didn’t have anything to do so I hopped back in the car and had an interview. The assistant manager hired me on the spot. Thus began my career in the horticulture industry. Little did I know how it would change my life.
I worked for Earl May for about 9 months before moving back to Washington State. Once back in Washington I enrolled in school at South Puget Sound Community College. Two years later I graduated from their technical program with a degree in horticulture. In the years since that first interview with Earl May I’ve been a nursery grunt, an assistant manager, a buyer, a landscape designer and an operations manager. Six years ago I gave it all up to try to become a mom.
Now just then you did the math and figured that my “career” in horticulture was only 5 years long. This is partially true. When I gave up working at the tropical greenhouse I did stay home for a while. Once I got bored with that I restarted my landscape design business. I’ve also consulted along the way and then started this blog. However, most of what I did in the nursery business I did when I was in my 20’s.
Earlier this year I decided that I needed something to occupy my time and make a little extra money. Not that I don’t like staying home with my child, but there comes a point when adult interaction is a must. I sought out a job in a retail garden center at the beginning of February. It wasn’t until this week that I finally got started.
I was recently hired by a local nursery and I quickly learned that nursery work is much like riding a bicycle. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to remember the plants or their care. The biggest learning curve I face is the onslaught of new products on the market. Especially those in the organics genre. I garden organically, but I do so by benign neglect. Much of what I was taught in school about organics was soil health, soil health, soil health. While this is a major factor in organic gardening, there are new advances in products to help the gardener along. I have much to learn from these young boys that I’m working for.
I have come to realize that while I am by no means old, a 33 year old body is not a 23 year old body. Let’s just say I sleep well at night. I think it is mostly the standing and the mental stimulation of having to think to answer questions on a constant basis. The questions are much more complicated than, “mom, can you get my legos out of the garage.”
I am loving this new adventure in life. It reminds me of when I was young, but not in a bad way. It gets me out of the house and interacting with people. It lets me flex my plant muscles, both internally and externally. And most of all it lets me meet the gardening community of Tacoma. So if you are out and about and in need of gardening assistance stop by Gardensphere in the Proctor district Wednesday or Thursday mornings or anytime on Saturday to say hello. Of course you could stop by other times too just to shop, Gabe & Travis would like the business.
The sun has come out around here and it is time to get planting. I am in a unique situation because I built myself a cold frame outside so I don’t have to hassle with lights, heating and indoor space. This week I started squashes and cucumbers in the cold frame and planted out a few things.
In the Cold Frame:
Pumpkins, Summer Squash, Winter Squash and Cucumbers
Planted out:
Broccoli, Cabbage & Cauliflower seedlings
Onion starts
Raspberry Canes
Strawberry starts
I was late in purchasing my raspberries and strawberries this season so I ended up ordering them from Raintree Nursery. I drool over their catalog every season wishing I could order on of this and one of that. It wasn’t until this season that I had a need to purchase. I ended up with Cascade Delight Raspberries and Jewel Strawberries. Both are summer bearing and sound wonderful. The quality of the plants I received was outstanding. The likelihood of me getting raspberries off of the canes this year is rather slim, but it was fun putting in a plant that will add a little winter interest in the garden.
What did you plant this week?
Flowering tree season is quickly approaching and we have already been graced with the beauty of the Magnolias. Quick on their heels are the Pacific Dogwoods (Cornus nuttallii). It happens to be one of my favorite trees, but not one that I would elect to plant in my own garden. There is something so majestic about at 50′ flowering tree, but the thought of it getting anthracnose would break my heart.
There are so many other people out there that are in love with the Dogwood. I would have to say that in all of my years working in retail nurseries the “pink flowering dogwood” is the best seller.
Some time around the end of March customers would start coming in asking for this very specific tree. The actual name is Cornus florida and more specifically they were looking for Cherokee Brave, Cherokee Chief or Cherokee Sunset. Those were the most common in the nurseries.
The flowering Dogwood is a lovely tree. It grows to about 25 feet tall, flowers in late April to early May, fairly easy to care for and has vibrant fall foliage. It is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect tree… on the surface. However, like it’s northwest native cousin Cornus florida is susceptible to anthracnose. An awful canker that kills the trees.
Despite this death sentence we still sold out of the trees. The nursery owners (and later me as a buyer) would bring in 40-50 dogwoods and sell out of them in a matter of days. They sold for $40+. Today they sell for much more and nurseries still sell out. Like a fuchsia basket everyone wants to buy one for mom. On Mother’s Day weekend I would take no less than 20 calls from people, “do you have any pink dogwoods?” They were all met with the same response, “sorry, we sold out in April.”
Luckily, I was able to convince a few people (ok, maybe more than a few) that Cornus florida wasn’t the tree for them. I had a better solution. Don’t be like Dick and Jane next door. Be an individual and buy a dogwood that would stun your neighbors. Cornus kousa was a much better choice.
Like Cornus florida, Cornus kousa comes in a pink flowering variety. The difference is that it blooms after it has leafed out in late May to early June. When most trees are now big and green the Korean Dogwood (also known as Japanese Dogwood) puts on a show and is center stage. What’s more, the Korean Dogwood is disease resistant. The other features that make Cornus kousa the better choice is that it has a more upright habit rather than the sprawl of the florida and it produces large red fruit that are edible (and quite sweet and tasty).
Some people have their heart set on the old fashioned Cornus florida. I applaud you for your stick-to-it-ness. However, next time you are digging out a dead dogwood consider and Cornus Kousa. You’ll thank me for it.
My schedule for planting this season has me planting something every week from the last week of March through the middle of July. I have to stop before the 15th of July because I will be leaving for China for 2 1/2 weeks and I’m not sure my husband will have time to harvest food, plant food, work and take care of our house and son. I’ll set him up with plenty of fresh food and the boys can have at it.
The reason I have something scheduled to be planted every week is that I want to have constant food. Items like lettuce and arugula don’t keep so I’m spacing out the plantings to have a continuous supply. I intend to plant lettuce and beets every two weeks and beans and carrots every two weeks. The theory is that I will be able to harvest a row and replant the next week. Of course this is only for the quickly growing items such as lettuce. I also prefer my spring beets small for salads and then I let the summer beets go for storage. Same with carrots.
I also intend to keep a record of what is planted each week and then update with germination rates and harvest dates. Unfortunately, I doesn’t look like anything will be planted this weekend since I happen to be suffering from a freak roller skating case of owwee.
I did get a few things thrown into the ground last Saturday.
Arugula
Carrots – Chantenay Royal & Amsterdam Minicor
Beets – Choigga (my favorites), Bull’s Blood, Ruby Queen & Early Blood Turnip
Spinach – Giant Thick & Bloomsdale Savoy
Lettuce – Ruby, Kagraner Summer, Tango, Summer Bibb, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead, Buttercrunch, Flame & Salad Bowl (my favorite)
I still do not have peas planted. I know that is terrible, but my Tagro pile is a long ways away from my pea bed and I simply cannot push the wheelbarrow that far. Hey, I can’t even bend over to tie my shoes. Cut me some slack.
Five yards of crushed gravel was delivered Friday afternoon and we spent the weekend laying landscape fabric and shoveling gravel. My husband also made a trip to the lumber store to purchase the cedar for the beds and those were also constructed. All but two that is.
Our Tagro was delivered Tuesday afternoon after I frantically spent an hour laying down cardboard and wetting it down. I then spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday shoveling Tagro. I did have help from my husband and son.
I didn’t have the opportunity to take photos yesterday, but this is the progress by the end of the day Tuesday. One half of the garden is complete and two of the beds are filled. I am go to go with planting the lettuce, beets, carrots and onions… finally. Theoretically I could plant pumpkins too since that bed is done. However, the weather is not that nice.
As things progress I’m noticing that I have much more space than I thought I would have. I’m considering designating a special part of the garden for my son to plant whatever he wants. I go back and forth between “oh dear lord what did I get myself into” and “holy cow look at how much I can grow!”
Now if the rain would stop and I can find more newspaper I can get it all finished.
Michelle at Michelle Smiles decided last week that she was going to start a vegetable garden. Why do you care? She lives in Tennessee after all. I care. I love it when people decide they are going to plant their first vegetable garden. Secretly because I know if they get at least one edible out of the whole thing they will be addicted for life. Gardening does that to people.
She posted a list of the plants she wanted to try in her garden and I gave her a little advice on each one. Then my husband and I got into a discussion about what veg were the best choices for someone who is just starting out and possibly doing so in containers (as Michelle is doing). We came up with a reasonable little list and I’m going to share it with you.
First and foremost are herbs. That’s a big fat duh. You can grow herbs on your kitchen window sill. I don’t, but you could.
As far as veg goes pick stuff you will eat, but the big ones are carrots, peas, lettuce, zucchini (if you have room) and beans.
Carrots should be planted in a straight sided container and thinned to 1″ apart. Start them directly in the container. They don’t transplant at all.
Peas: start them early in the season and look for a bush variety and not a pole variety. Bush peas, and beans, are stout and well suited for containers with minimal staking. Don’t be fooled. They will still need staking, but you can get away with little bamboo stakes and not the elaborate copper pipe system I have.
Lettuce won’t germinate in soil temperatures above 72 degrees. This will be your spring and fall crop unless you have a partially shady portion of your garden.
Zucchini needs room. Lots and lots of room. Also, you won’t need more than two plants if your family only eats a minimal amount of zucchini. It is prolific. So prolific that I only grow it every 3 years or so since we eat so much of it that my family begs me not to bring anymore into the house. I only ever plant 3 bushes. This year I’m doing a few other squashes to change it up a bit.
Beans and zucchini are susceptible to black aphids. Or at least in my garden they are. Ok, maybe it was just the conventional varieties that were. I switched to an heirloom bean and haven’t had any issues and I haven’t grown zucchini in 2 years so I don’t know. Either way, have a spraybottle of soapy water on hand to tackle the little buggers before they get out of control.
The key is to start small. Keep track of what you are purchasing at the farmers market or in the grocery on a regular basis. Odds are what to plant will right in your basket.
Today we are officially starting the major garden expansion. I am going to start by ordering the Tagro and gravel necessary to lay the foundation for the garden and if I’m lucky I can get my husband to make a run to the mill outlet on his way home from the driving range (which is right across the street) to pick up the wood needed for the raised beds. I am going to take advantage of two days of nice weather and shovel as much garden material as possible.
I am finally going to share with you the plan for the garden. I had anticipated doing this sooner, but somehow I accidentally spilled coffee on my original plan rendering it unreadable to anyone who doesn’t understand coffee stained garden plans. Although, the coffee gave it a nice aged patina.
What you will note from the plan is that it is not your average garden. I do like the nice neat rows of a vegetable garden, but I also would like it to be aesthetically pleasing. This garden is going to be in my front yard so I don’t want to subject my neighbors to anymore boring than I have to. They already wish I would weed the front flower beds.
This garden also has to look nice in the winter so I do plan on adding a few perennial flowers about to add interest. I will eventually expand my blueberry plant collection and that will also supply winter interest.
Please excuse my handwriting. I am very out of practice with my technical writing.
Michele asked what soil amendments we were planning on using in our beds. Primarily I use Tagro. I have a well documented past with the stuff. I did an experiment last season with the tomatoes. I planted 4 in a bed that was only amended with Tagro and 6 in beds that were 100% Tagro mix (not potting soil). The plants in the 100% mix performed better than any tomato I’ve ever grown. It could have something to do with the bed location, but I’m hedging my bets on the Tagro. This a far cry from the girl right out of college who though bio-solid fertilizers were not safe.
This season I plan to use Tagro once again. The expansion of the garden will require us to purchase the mix instead of the bucket method of last year (if you go to the Tagro facility you can shovel as much as you like for free). We are estimating 10 yards to complete the garden. Since our soil is very hard from years of compaction we are taking the lazy man’s way out with building the garden. I’ve been hoarding newspaper and cardboard and I’ll rake all of the Photinia leaves once we are ready. I will lay down many layers of paper and cardboard and then the Tagro on top. We are not removing the grass underneath. This will either work out well or be a very bad thing. I hoping for the former.
We are also putting in a meandering gravel path, but we will put landscape fabric under that. We would eventually like to till the garden beds, but not the path.
As for the raised beds in the back we will amend those with Tagro too. In addition I add Soundgro to those and I’ll sprinkle in a little bid of worm castings.
Next year we should be able to rent a full sized rototiller for the main garden and add more Tagro and various manures.
Now the straight Tagro method may not work for the full vegetable garden since Tagro is a little more acidic than I would like, but again gardening is trial and error.
Last year I gave an account of how I went about planning the Sprouting Off vegetable garden. This year was similar to last, only more involved. Last year we quickly realized that 150 square feet was not nearly large enough to feed our family of 3. We ate and preserved more than our fair share of tomatoes, but things like peas, beans and broccoli were not abundant enough. We also didn’t have room for any squash or other large brassicas like cauliflower or cabbage. In addition, we dislike mowing our lawn weed field. Our vegetable gardening area is growing from 150+ sq. ft to over 3600 sq. ft. We are covering the East lawn with a vegetable garden.
My plan for the garden is what factored in to the very ambitious list of seeds that I purchased last fall. I also went out and purchased a few seeds that weren’t available from Heirloom Seeds. I will likely need to fill in with a few others, but for now I think I’m set.
This year I am not going with the square foot gardening method. I didn’t find that it worked for me. It was too constraining. Think me crazy, but I’m a sucker for rows of vegetables. I also like a flowy garden. Contradictory? Probably, but go with me. The new garden is a meandering path with intermittent raised beds. It will (hopefully) allow for both sides of the equation.
I stared (as usual) with my trusty Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades book. It helped me determine which vegetables I could grow or attempt to grow and which to leave to the farmers (I don’t think I could do Celery). I then employed a new program that I found on the internet. I made a list of the veg I wanted to grow and then pulled out my trusty calendar and garden plan. I translated the hand drawn plan into the GrowVeg program and then started laying in the plants. I’ll get to a review of the program in another post, but for now I’ll just say it is worth the money (that I haven’t paid yet because I’m still in the free trial period). I also stuck a few things into spots that won’t actually exist just to get planting dates. Those plants will go into the 150 sq. ft. raised bed garden in the West yard.
GrowVeg will give you a chart that shows when to start seeds indoors, when to start outside and when to expect a harvest. I followed the chart for each month and cross checked it with Growing Vegetables West to get a more accurate indication of when things should be started. GrowVeg is also handy because it tells me how many of each thing to plant so I’m not grossly over planting pumpkins like I did last year.
Now I have my plan, my list and when to plant. I am keeping track of when to plant and when I actually get around to planting. I also don’t start my seeds indoors in a light box or other lighted room 1) because I don’t have either of those and 2) because I have a cold frame outside.
My calendar indicates that I should have started broccoli and cauliflower inside on February 5th. I did not do that. I wasn’t ready. My cold frame needed repair. The beautiful weekend weather allowed me to make the repairs and broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage were all started on Sunday. Peas should have been put in on President’s Day weekend, but I’ve found I have better germination if I wait just a few weeks. Theoretically, I could start trying lettuce right now, but I’ll wait on that one too. First lettuce will go into the raised beds and they have been tilled, but need the addition of more organic material to bring them back up to the proper level.
Hopefully we will be able to start building the new garden in a few weeks and this season can really get going.
I am not the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day. It could be the years of working for one of the companies that made it up. It could be that I despise all commercialism. Or it could be that I don’t need an excuse to tell my sweetie I love him. Whatever it is, we don’t do Valentine’s in this house.
So when some good friends asked us to join them for dinner on Valentine’s Day (at one of Tacoma’s most expensive restaurants) it wasn’t just the price that made me say no. Instead we elected to invite their whole family to our house for a nice dinner (and a just a little kitsch).
For the meal I served:
Avocado Seafood Cocktail with Chipotle Adobo Dressing
Cabbage Slaw with Orange and Pumpkin Seed Dressing
Black Pepper Honey Steak
Melting Greens
All of the recipes were out of the Splendid Table cookbook and I settled on them because of their (somewhat) seasonal nature. Granted, the seafood cocktail did include grape tomatoes and bibb lettuce (avocados are never in season here) and Cabbage isn’t 100% in season, but close enough.
Just the thought of spending a nice evening with good friends and sharing a meal is what makes the day special.
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