Southwest Idaho may have a relatively short warm growing season, but, with a little planning, the cooler seasons can be used to grow vegetables that don’t actually grow well in the dry, hot summer months.  Now is a good time to begin that planning.  That way good weather days can be used for preparation and the whole process can be more fun and relaxing.

My subscription to Fine Gardening magazine has the added benefit of a 6 month spread calendar that I use for making notes.   Its handy for clear thinking to be able to see several months on the same page.  I’m sure you could achieve the same effect by printing some free calendar pages and taping them together.

January, I go through my seed supplies, order seeds, use my garden charts to plan my planting, and make a tentative schedule for getting things done during the late winter/spring season.  This includes when to begin various seeds.  The packages tend to be overly pessimistic about some plants’ frost tolerance, so I use the experience of watching when my volunteers from last year’s seeds sprout to gauge planting times.  Sometimes the instructions seem optimistic about how long it will take for things like peppers to grow to a size suitable for transplanting, so I begin them a week or two earlier.  It may be because it is just hard for me to keep it warm enough in my greenhouse in early spring for them to feel like growing.  Maybe its because I see the seedlings in the garden nurseries and am always trying to get mine just as big.

February is time to get serious about cleaning and organizing the greenhouse, if I haven’t already.  I’ll check my grow lights, in case I need replacements.  I’ll start buying bags of seed starting soil. (see more about seed starting by clicking here) Mid to late February, I will be planting things like peppers, small flower seeds, and tiny herb seeds that take forever to even sprout.  I’ll see if my spray nozzle in the greenhouse is still functional AND spraying with a fine enough mist for tender seedlings.

In March, things start to get more exciting, as I can actually plant peas, lettuce, California poppies, sweet peas, radishes, and spinach outside.  If the beds have been prepared the previous fall, it might even be possible to plant them in February and they will come up when they are ready.  I always love the burst of lettuce volunteers that signals the garden is really coming to life.

The advent of April means tomato and leek seeds can be planted indoors.  Also, some various flower seeds, like petunias, thunbergia, zinnia, and nasturtium.  (I still need to go through and plan my flowers better.)  Outside plantings can be made of the cole crops, such as broccoli and cabbage.  In fact, early broccoli is often aphid free for me.  However, don’t forget to take precautions against cutworms.  Other things that can usually be planted:  onions, carrots, dill, beets.  Don’t forget a second and third planting of lettuce over the course of the month.  Volunteers that are seen coming up can be transplanted, too.

Potatoes can be planted in early May.  A second planting of carrots might be nice.  I will also start the last of my seeds indoors, things that really only take about 4 weeks to be ready to plant out.  Sometimes I plant things like cucumbers and melons in pots just because I’m impatient, but they often do best just planted directly sometime during the end of May, depending on the weather.

The very end of May and beginning of June are finally the time for all the warm weather crops to be direct planted.  Things like squashes, green beans, and corn won’t sprout until the soil is warm enough anyway, but will simply rot in the ground, so there is no use trying to do that early.  One last planting of lettuce can be made in time to mature before the temperatures go too high.  Peas will likely be blooming by now.

At this point, the planting is done until some mid-summer plantings for fall harvest.   Weeding, watering, and insect control provide a chance to watch the plants grow and enjoy the outdoors before the super hot months at the end of summer.  And, of course, there will be a succession of things ready to pick and eat.

I have a couple of things every year that don’t do well, despite my best efforts.  It is typically something different each season, so I try again the next year.  I am constantly learning, the weather is never exactly the same, life events interrupt inopportunely.  But I keep plugging along, growing my garden in the moments that I have, because it gives me a little taste of heaven.

(Battery operated WorxGT from D&B Supply.)

Every helpless female needs to have some knowledge of and ability to use power tools.  Especially if she is a gardener.  Especially if her last son leaves home and she has to now figure out how to handle the overgrown edges of the lawn.  Such was my situation and I, with an acre lot, was overwhelmed.  We have a grass trimmer/weed wacker that my husband bought me a few years ago, but I have always felt like I was holding a tiger by the tail when using it.  I couldn’t keep it moving in a straight line and the roar it made set my brain to humming for hours.  Just turning it on was always a challenge, so I couldn’t deal with interruptions, even if I could hear the attempt.  I would use it until my arms were so fatigued they were quivering.  That made the monster even more prone to violent behavior.

I had heard rumors of electrical grass trimmers, but wasn’t thrilled with the idea of dragging a heavy extension cord around the yard.  I was dubious about a cord even reaching my extensive yard.  But, the cost of hiring someone to do the edging regularly was not appealing, so I set off hunting a better option.  I was introduced to the WorxGT at D&B Supply and excitedly took it home to play.

I was a bit concerned when I opened the box and saw some assembly was required.  Assembly often ends up by me humbly asking for help from some engineer minded person in the family.  However, there was also a very clear DVD included and the clearly enunciated instructions carried me through.  I put the battery on to charge and took a short break.

The edges of my lawn were over a foot long is some places, which kept them moist growing under shrubs and flowers.  My new orange friend hummed pleasantly along doing its work.  I found that it worked best to use the rolling edger set-up on the edges first, followed by some more sculpting with the more standard grass trimmer alignment.

I bought one extra battery, but think I might consider getting a third since each battery has to cool of before recharging.  The battery life is only about 20 minutes right now, but the manual says it should gain some longevity if I completely drain it the first 5-6 times.  There were a few minutes at the end of each cycle where I just had to let it run out since it didn’t have enough power to actually cut any grass.

The machine is incredibly easy to turn off and on, and advancing the string is done at the same time, no pounding of the ground necessary.  I had FUN using it and my 15 year old daughter wanted a lesson, too.  It’s not that we won’t miss you, strong son-of-mine, but I am relieved to have found a grass trimmer suitable for helpless females to use.

Our mid May visit to the Idaho Botanical Garden was on the day the Moody Blues concert was canceled. Its a good thing it was canceled, or the Garden would have been closed in preparation. As it was, we were among a very few uninformed who came to the Garden anyway.

The weather was only slightly warmer than during our March visit, but there were many more flowers in bloom.  We followed the same course through the garden, but skipped the “natural garden” path up the side of the hill.  We hike in the local hills regularly and see that sort of landscaping there.  Maybe the following photos will give you some ideas for your garden.  I’ve tried to mention names of what I know or what was labeled, but welcome help identifying the rest (or corrections…).  You should be able to enlarge pictures by clicking on them.

orange poppies and purple columbine

Not that many of us have the space for such a display of wisteria…

A closer look at the deep purple columbine.

Yellow lilies provide color right now in this border.

Unidentified lavender bush.  May have to go back and ask the personnel at IBG.

Formal hedges staging frilly clematis and my blonde brownie.

White clematis with a touch of purple.

Exotic purple clematis.

Giant allium

A peaceful corner for hostas.

Contrasted with these rows of mature hostas.

A well dressed geranium.

Spanish eyes in the grass, but you’ll notice that it hampers the mowing schedule.

Strange bark adds to the visual effect.

My partners in exploration.

Another fun tree.

I never tire of the variety of iris colors.

Snow in summer up the rose garden steps.  Delightful.

Raspberry swirl tulips are a nice addition to this bed.

Am dreaming of the wrought iron support for peonies in my yard.

I have no idea what this is and can’t decide if it belongs in a cave….flowers up close below.

I adore pussy toes and finally got some established in my garden.

Here they are up close with some striking red  columbine amongst them.

And stepping back a bit -

A new twist on the old west theme.

Apparently planted in broken rocks – see the whole row of them below:

It looks like this straw flower has some source of inner lighting!

These girls keep following me. 

We saw this plant sprouting when there in March and it reminded us of a gooey alien life form.

and its flowers now.

The flowering roof over the Lewis and Clark display.

I have not been successful with penstemons in my yard, but IBG has a number of them that tempt me to keep trying.

See the buds up close below:

A bubbling brook -

With a camas lily on its banks.

Russian stonecrop.

Hot pink Lewisia.

A gentian blue flower

And also in the “fire protection” borders area, red penstemon and a weeping Siberian pea (tree?).

Me looking casual on a well placed bench.

If you are looking for a place for photo-ops, IBG has many opportunities.

This little fellow followed us a bit, seriously dive bombed the girls, then sat on the branch to sing an aria for us.  I think he wanted to play.

Another graceful combination.

A brilliant white shrub behind the covered swing.

Since it is actually June now, it is time to go again and see the roses in bloom.  The rose garden was looking very promising, but there were only one or two roses just beginning to show.

One of my cabbages has had the life sucked out of it.   It is just one in a series of crimes perpetuated over the last few years.  The cabbage or broccoli will sprout, grow to a well established juvenile stage and then, steadily, the leaves change to a sick purple until the plant falls over, limp and shriveled.  Scrutinizing the evidence, I determined there were not any bugs on the plants.  No holes in the leaves, no eggs.  The leaves didn’t curl or have spots.  In fact, in spite of the gradual change to purple, the leaves were thick and healthy until the final demise.  Two of the victims are pictured below:

The only slightly suspicious thing I saw was ants in the raised bed, but no book or internet site I found listed ants as destructive to cole crops.  Time and time again, however, there would be ants circling the base of the cabbage or broccoli that was dying, but none around the adjacent healthy ones.  The stem they were closely circling, and sometimes climbing part way up, always got thinner and thinner.  A closer look revealed that it was uniformly cut away, always below a crisply defined border.

See the healthy stem below for comparison:

I spread diatomaceous earth, which did not have any noticeable effect, but the plants may have already been too far gone;  I also probably needed to wait more than a day…    Then I looked up “ants” in one of my favorite garden remedy books, The Truth About Garden Remedies by Jeff Gillman. It recommended insecticidal soap.  For the few plants I was going to spray, I just used a regular spray bottle, but after spraying the whole section my hand was cramping and fatigued and I wished I had started with a pump pressure sprayer.  The ants disappeared for a while.  Still, I wasn’t convinced it was the ants.  I needed to investigate further.

(See “my” ants below next to a maple tree seed.  These are small ants.)

Rodale’s Garden Problem solver has been the backbone of my garden detective work for years.  The descriptions within are clear and precise.   I have looked up cutworms, but never find them at the scene of the crime.  Today, I dug up the dirt at the base of three terminal plants, and still didn’t find any cutworms.  I did find nearly non-existent root systems and a millipede.  Now, I think the ants are just opportunistic scavengers with a taste for freshly peeled cabbage or broccoli;  the millipede is an innocent bystander.  The cutworm has the means and the motive.  I am indicting the cutworm.

I think it is because I have been studying Chinese.  I think my husband decided that if I can do that, I can be taught anything.  I am dubious about this, but circumstances were in his favor this time around.  But I must emphasize that I was tutored well by him before I went to buy supplies, then helped immensely by the sprinkler guru at D&B.

The deal was that a main line was chopped asunder while a lawn edging was in progress.  No, it wasn’t me.  This was temporarily fixed by the responsible party, only to be broken again by a well-intentioned lawn mower.  Again, not me.  This time, the break necessitated disassembling the line, which lead to the discovery of an OLD repair job that was now also knocked loose.

The dear husband did try a quick, easy fix option, which was neither quick or easy, and didn’t work, but was very innovative.  Besides, he got to use the propane torch.  If he had had the parts, he really could have done it in a quarter of the time I did, but he didn’t.  So, after he turned off the torch, I came close enough again to get a thorough explanation of parts and procedures.  The next day he went to work and I went to D&B Supply.

To give myself some credit, by this time I understood the desired result well enough to ask some intelligent sounding questions.  I knew what the man meant when he spoke of certain joints and clamps.  I knew about pressure regulators.  I came home with a few extra parts, but the better to fill my new orange sprinkler tool and supply box with…

After measuring how much pipe I would need to bridge the gap, I crawled up the ladder into the barn loft with a hacksaw and measuring tape in one hand.   The roll of pipe is on some suitcases and life jackets, all of which are still in one piece.  The roll of pipe is 28 inches shorter.

Once back at the work site, I dug out the trench so that the pipes could fit under the edging bricks.

Then I began assembly.  Tightening the clamps was both harder and easier than I had imagined.  There were no special tricks other than knocking off a lot of hard crusty dirt and finally figuring out how to use a short, fat screw driver for proper leverage.  I am quite proud of my t-connection -  I used a scrap piece of pipe from the old set-up for the appendage that goes under the brick.

Voila!

And my elbow connection -

I decided I should probably attempt to fill in the holes, which meant trying to put the edging pavers in place, something I have bad memories of.  In spite of the fact that some of the dirt seems to have evaporated, it turned out decently; and I surprised my espoused engineer, who didn’t even consider that I might try that. That’s the nice thing about being a helpless female.  When I actually do manage some of these type of things, I get lots of attention.

Spring in southwest Idaho brings an exciting wave of green to our yards.  One challenge for me is to separate the weeds from the desirable volunteer seedlings.  These volunteers reseed and establish in unexpected places, teaching me along the way about which conditions they prefer and what time of year I can actually plant my own seeds.  They tend to be much smaller than the weeds and/or their first leaves are often different than the full grown plants that I’m used to seeing for 99% of the growing season. Even after weeding, I must often thin the masses of volunteers.  Sometimes, depending on the plant, I can transplant a few for design reasons, but mostly I just leave them where they are, enjoying the casual air they give the gardens.

Here are a few pictures of volunteers I have had this year.

Balsam impatiens (above) reseed prolifically, but pull easily.  They bloom in the heat of summer on up the stalks of 3-4 foot plants.  Here is a picture of them in my front flower garden last year (Middle back, dark pink and purplish flowers).  Most of this garden gets full sun up until the evening.  I don’t think the balsam impatiens are quite in full bloom yet and none of the lighter pink shades are there.

Below is a volunteer bleeding heart left to grow for now amongst my freshly planted nasturtiums.  This is an example of something that has never in 15 years volunteered for me before.  This year I have a couple of volunteers.  It can’t stay there for long, so the plan is to let another family adopt it.

Next, is the crimson rambler morning glory volunteer.  They need to be thinned as soon as they begin to appear and they NEED something to climb or they will smother the rest of the plants, but they are also easy to pull and reward me with a profusion of dark pink blooms in the heat of summer.  These will be allowed to climb the rock wall just to the left of the pot.

The heavenly blue morning glory does not reseed as heavily and the vines are not as jungle-like, but they are always reliable.  The seedlings are fun, with their blue veins.  The first leaves remind me of drawings of teeth with roots showing.  In the picture below you can also see volunteer petunias that I was surprised with this year.  These were petunias that I had grown from seed myself the previous year.  It seems that volunteers are most likely from plants I have grown from seed myself.

Here are the blooming heavenly blue morning glories just beginning their summer climb; and petunias in a pot.

I started rudbeckia in my greenhouse last year, thinking it was a tender annual.  I was pleased when the plants not only survived our harsh winter, but scattered volunteers about their bases.  Their yellow blossoms are a delicate yellow.  Volunteers in the second photo.

The rudbeckia seedling is in the center with it’s fuzzy leaves.  To give some perspective on size, the round white paper like elm tree seeds are about 1/4 inch diameter.  The succulent seedlings are portulaca, or moss rose.  They are teeny tiny when they first sprout.  I have grown they from seed, but they do reseed easily from plants I have purchased at the nursery, too.  They are some of the last volunteers to appear, but they are fast growing and well worth the masses of heat loving crepe paper flowers.  Below (last year) they are just taking off and still need to be thinned.  They stay very low to the ground, so fill nicely under other plants and like to grow along the hot cement.

The volunteer larkspur below is unusually isolated.  Notice that the first leaves are roundish, while the true leaves have a feathery look to them.  These volunteers also fall into the category of prolifically reseeding, but easy to pull.

Here is a bunch of them full grown and in bloom.  They are the tall purple and white flowers:

The first leaves of the annual four o’clock are plump propellers that are fairly obvious.  They will grow into a bush like shape, so definitely need to be thinned.  The trumpet shaped blooms are abundant.

The foliage of the perennial horned poppy, as seen in the young, two inch across, volunteers below, is soon to be graced with cheerful orange blooms.  Keep these  under control early.  I have been able to transplant them if I take a sufficient clump of soil with it and don’t disturb the roots.

Here is what happens if you don’t thin your double shirley poppies at an earlier stage, but I plan on doing it soon.  This is one kind of flower that I have only had from volunteers for years.  I eagerly await the blooms.

One plant turned up with the white edges and I saved seed from it, but have yet to propagate it.

Lastly, here are some ubiquitous hollyhock volunteers, looking innocent at the moment.  I have already thinned huge numbers of these, which grow into beautiful giants.  It is best to get these while they are small, before the root system has developed.  My jalapeno plant wouldn’t stand a chance.

There is nothing quite like hollyhocks along a fence.  Now, you’ll have to excuse me.  I need to go ruthlessly thin some volunteers.

From June to nearly October in southwest Idaho, gardeners cannot plan on any significant rainfall.  If more than sagebrush is desired for the garden, one must have a watering plan.  I do this by using a weekly watering chart.

Each place I have to hook up a soaker hose, water by hand, or attend to a pot or tree is listed with a locational description.  I base my descriptions on how I look at my yard from the house and compass points.  Many times a plant or section has survived only because it was listed on the chart.

Here is a copy of my chart for this year, which won’t do you a lot of good, but may stimulate your imagination and inspire your own chart making.  (keep in mind that I live on an acre)  I frequently reuse the same chart by color or symbol coding for sequential weeks, but it can get confusing if done more than two weeks in a row.

watering chart 2011

Creating one is worth the effort since it frees one from trying to just remember or go around constantly checking soil saturation.  Just make sure to mark the sections off.  Chose a habit that is easiest, like every time you turn on the water for that section or just after you have soaked a pot.  A timer is the next best thing, so that you remember to turn faucets off.

Another benefit is that watering needs are more easily explained to someone when you go on a summer vacation.  More than one person has sighed in relief when given the chart to work with at my house.  Happy watering.

In a wildly unguarded moment this spring, I told my husband that I would learn to fix the sprinklers “by myself” this year.  It was partly to relieve his work load, since he is usually working 12 hours a day, plus multiple out of town trips, while busy with a major bedroom/bathroom remodel.  It was partly because I don’t want my garden to die from lack of water.  But I’m a person who doesn’t set my digital watch by myself.  I had dark premonitions about the whole project as I struggled to fold his new metal ladder to get it out of the yard.  I have warned him to be cautious next time he uses it, as I am unsure about what I have adjusted and I know the two sides are no longer equal in length.

My first challenge was to get the sprinklers to cycle through so that I could see what needed work.  This “went so well” that it took me a week to recover and actually attempt repairs.  A late night pep talk, including phrases like “you are a college graduate” and “I’m so excited you are doing this” nudged me into action last Friday.  Thus began the longest sprinkler repair process in the history of Nampa.  You see, I never did figure out how to do more than turn the whole system on, so had to wait for each section to run.  This was frustratingly perfect because it took me nearly 45 minutes to work on each section of about five sprinklers.  I worked on eight of the ten sections on our one-plus acre yard.

A fraction of the time, I finished a few minutes ahead of the timer and took a short break.  If I went in the house, my innocent girls usually judged it best not to ask me about progress.  They did occasionally risk a loving smile and comment about me being soaked and muddy.  I’m thinking I should have tried it when all seven youngsters were at home.  They would have seen the mess and wanted to join in the fun.

Somehow, I managed to correctly diagnose replacing sprinkler heads on risers, being grateful that there wasn’t a leak in the line underground as I had originally thought.  I found that rubber jar openers are useful for unscrewing them, but rubberish garden gloves work better.

I was near to tears adjusting the fancy new pop-up Orbit heads in the lawn, but remembered the internet just in time and looked up how to adjust sprinkler rotation.  I had, in my altered state of mind, attempted every language on the Orbit pamphlet that came with my sprinkler head, but it did not tell me how to change the rotation starting point that somehow reset itself over the winter.  Many thanks to Hunter Irrigation Innovators for their clear, concise instructions.

Parts were needed from the store before I was done.  In an effort to legitimize myself as a sprinkler repair person, I went wearing clothes containing three times their weight in water and dirt.  (You should see what humidity and a breeze does to my somewhat curly hair… or maybe not.)  I may have just looked like a half-crazed middle aged woman in Havaiana flip flops, but everyone was friendly and helpful.

Almost every thing is getting water now.  Next on my sprinkler list is drip irrigation in some outer regions.  I have a new empathy for the mad scientist inventor types.  It gets in your blood.  Bwahahahaha.  If I, some day, I appear to be lost in a private world of sprinkler calculations, I suggest my loved ones take me by the hand and show me some of my flowers.

After barely missing the star role in a slap stick comedy/tradgedy, as the shovel set in flight by the airborne straw bale came close to whacking me, then narrowly avoiding poking out my left eye with the branch of the butterfly bush I was pruning, my front driveway area is looking much nicer. So much for peaceful gardening. It was more like “Momma’s Day Out!”… which is why the kids try to keep close tabs on me.

I’m adding two more straw bale gardens this year, in locations that needed a boost. Since they were filled and covered a with soil dug from the chicken pen, I’m not worrying about letting them compost before I plant. One of them already has potatoes in it. The other will get some flowers or lettuce while it waits for squash.

I also divided and planted some comfrey in the area of straw bale garden 2. My chickens think it is candy, and I think they are nice looking plants. I had a panic moment, however, right after I had transplanted. The chickens’s necks exhibited amazing elasticity and they began to eat the small plants. The plants were going to be ingested within a matter of minutes unless I acted quickly.

The new straw bale garden had some loose, available leaves of straw on the end of the bales. I managed to fit thin sections between the comfrey and the fence. Fortunately, chickens have very small brains. The moment they couldn’t see the comfrey, it didn’t exist. Once the plants are large enough, they will provide a nice snack for the chickens, as well as add softness to the fence lines.

I have also spread straw in between some of the raised beds to help keep down weeds and provide a dry floor for my ripe tomatoes to rest on. I’ll add more later in the season. I find that the ripe tomatoes keep much longer which they aren’t hitting the dirt. I also seems to help keep the pill bugs away. They don’t seem to like to crawl through straw.

Most of my girls and a dear friend visited the Idaho Botanical Garden with me on Melody’s birthday this year.  I had never been there before, always wanting to, but never able to drag myself away from my own garden on a sunny day.  This year I bought a year long family pass.  I hope to visit regularly throughout the season as part of my gardening.  That is, I see it’s potential as a source of ideas, as well as a nice place to stroll.

This particular day was crisp and cool.  Not much was blooming, but I found much enjoyment in the bare bones design that can make or break a garden this time of year.  Everything was organized, but without rigidity.  The staff was friendly and the layout was flowing.  (However, the map we were given still has us puzzled.)  We discovered plants we had never seen before.  The ubiquitous sage brush of arid Idaho deserts was used tastefully throughout, in some places being pruned in a way that lent it a stature in landscaping hitherto unimagined.  Of course, being on site of the old penitentiary had it’s effect, too.  Here are a few photos of the beauty, fun, and creativity.

(The wisteria arches)

(“Guard Dogs On Duty”)

(Prison walls)

(winter jasmine)

(box elder beetles, I’m told)

(comparative grasses)

(mountain kittentails!)

(had the word “spider” in the name somewhere….)