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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

August 11, 2017

Have you noticed that I’ve not shown you much (or maybe anything) from the vegetable garden this year? That’s because I got so late planting stuff that even my kale is only a few inches tall. The only variety I grow anymore is lacinato, which, as you can tell from the photo above from Mackinac Island makes a pretty great ornamental, as well as being so tasty!

If you’ve read much on this blog you know I can’t resist a good alliteration, which makes me even more excited to be one of the “Garden Gurus” contributing to the Proven Beauty blog. My first post there is about how to get your garden ready for your vacation. I’d love it if you checked it out and maybe even left a comment. Thank you in advance!

Most people in today have never stood under a majestic elm tree, but a huge effort to bring elms back has been underway for years. This story about the process of reintroducing Dutch elm disease-resistant cultivars and getting elms back is fascinating.

The size of the landscape projects Deborah Silver works on is astounding to me.

Warning: This next bit has a couple of Amazon affiliate links in it. Thanks for supporting The Impatient Gardener!

I have found a product that seems to keep the rabbits from nibbling! It’s a spray by Plantskyyd. But oh my lordy, it smells so foul. The smell goes away as soon as it dries, but it will clear your patio if you spray it. It’s also made of blood and it looks like it, so the garden takes on a bit of a murder scene look. The staining (unless you get it on your clothes) also goes away. BUT I just found out they make a granular product that I’m going to try. Seems like it would be a lot nicer to use. I’ll report back.

By the way, I still swear by Messina’s Deer Stopper II for the deer situation. And it smells like cinnamon and cloves, so you’re basically spraying Christmas on your garden.

This is such a lovely podcast episode by Margaret Roach and well worth a listen, but I warn you, it will make you hungry!

We are actually going to be social this weekend! We have a very large party (it’s sort of a work thing but also all of our sailing friends will be there) tonight and then we’re having people over tomorrow (I have a bit of last minute weeding to do for that). That’s quite a lot of socializing for us so some time in the garden on Sunday will be lovely.

Do you have gardening plans this weekend and if you’re growing food, what are you harvesting now?

Have a great weekend!

kale mackinac Proven Winners
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
2 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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Comments

  1. LINDA from Each Little World says: August 12, 2017 at 12:00 am

    Hope the granular rabbit product works as well. Sounds so much better. Only doing herbs but so wonderful to pick fresh basil. I am old enough to remember elms and when they were cut down when I was a kid.

    Reply
  2. Lisa Greenbow says: August 12, 2017 at 11:54 am

    I only grow a few herbs and tomatoes. Nothing better than basil and tomatoes from the garden.

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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I had a rather unpleasant realization last night w I had a rather unpleasant realization last night when I remembered that I’d not yet ordered tomato seeds. And I’m not going to rectify that until I dig into my seed stash, because I don’t go through tomato seeds quickly so there are definitely some lurking down there. 

I never used to grow tomatoes from seed because there are great varieties to be had in garden centers (including many heirloom varieties). But it’s almost non-negotiable for me now that I’m a convert to dwarf tomatoes. If you’re not familiar with the #dwarftomatoproject championed by @nctomatoman and others, these are heirloom varieties that are crossed with dwarf varieties to create plant that produces all the flavor and interest of an heirloom in a short (usually less than 4 feet) plant. 

They are particularly great in my tall raised beds. Of course I leave room to try new non-dwarf varieties every year (I loved Sun Dipper from @panamseed last year and I’ll grow it again).

Last year was a good tomato year and the photo shows some of the varieties I harvested in one day. I hope this summer will be equally good for the tomato harvest. 

One of my favorite questions to ask gardeners is: What is your favorite tomato variety to grow? So have at it in the comments because inquiring minds want to know!
And this is why I leave my winter containers assem And this is why I leave my winter containers assembled until at least March. A dusting of snow gives them a whole new look (even if it’s shades of gray). Also, I think I love my Limelight hydrangea even more in winter. Fabulous winter interest!
I’m going to look for opportunities to add more I’m going to look for opportunities to add more ferns to my garden this year. They are such interesting plants and often real problem solvers, bringing texture and color to places that many plants aren’t interested in. Athyrium niponicum (Japanese painted fern) ‘Crested Surf’ grows well for me in part shade (even pushing a bit into part sun) and looks great next to Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’.
Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled o Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled on) foliage, and texture galore. I can’t wait to have moments like this again. The star, by the way is Hakonechloa ‘All Gold’ which looks so good with the bold foliage of Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ next to it. 

With the new path, this area will be getting a small revamp. It’s the next spot I’ll be focusing my planning on.
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