HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!
The first day of Spring is mostly symbolic when it comes to gardening. Most gardeners do it all year long for gardening is comprised of many activities. Yet, I rejoice all the same.
A friend who read my post about the Composter 2000 asked what was the "peeing in the composter" all about. I think I read somewhere that if you pee in the compost you add Nitrogen to the mix. Urine has a component called Blood Urea Nitrogen. This component, if I remember right, comes from the breakdown of muscle in the body and it gets flushed out by the kidneys. Apparently, in the compost, the Nitrogen gets extracted by the compost goblins and voila! Nitrogen in the compost, which is good for the plants. We'll see how I do with my bucket.
Also, I have been reading more and more blogs from gardeners, farmers, and others who have embraced the growing of plants and I am more and more excited about growing flowers.
When I started growing plants, I concentrated on growing things I could eat. I don't know why.
Last year, I planted the first flowers ever. These were Marygolds that I planted because I heard that they kept some bug away from my tomatoes; and also, I planted them becacuse I got a free packet of Marygold seeds with my order of vegetable seeds. I guess I also planted a few giant Sunflowers to provide seed for the birds (they loved them and ate every little seed out of the heads)
This year, I am growing Lavender, Pestemons, and Irish Eyes Sunflowers.
I think it may be too late to plant any other flowers from seed this year but next year...
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It may be too late to start some from seed, but it's not too late to pick some up at the store. Flowers do two things. They attract bugs that eat other bugs, and they attract the bugs that pollinate fruiting plants of all types (from squash to tomatoes). Without these two functions
ReplyDeleteMarigolds are a good start (and there's lots of beautiful ones at the garden centers right now on sale), so are daises and coneflowers. Cosmos are great attractors of bugs if you can find them. Snapdragons do really well in my climate.
I started a bunch from seed this year, but learned too late that I should have planted them last fall in the ground. Oops. I'll know better for next year...