Jenny - Ya Can't Beat Local Knowledge

Well, it's taken me 2 weeks, but I wanted to report on my visit to the local nursery that I mentioned in my last post on the Bonham garden expo. My family and I drove out to Sweetwater Farm Greenhouse in Denison the day after the expo. We wanted to check the place out and see how knowledgeable the owners, married couple Dave and Barb, would prove.
Well, we ended up staying there for about 2 hours! The establishment is a smallish one with one large greenhouse and a couple of outdoor areas beside it. They sell a variety of perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees. Though some of the more mainstream plants, such as petunias and pear trees, can be found at the larger discount stores, I did notice that Sweetwater tended to have a wider color variety. The plants were also in better shape than in the big stores, and clearly treated with more love.
Where Dave and Barb really excelled was in knowledge. They knew their plants. They knew the area. They had experience in planning and planting garden beds, and were willing to share everything in their heads to help you create whatever kind of garden or vegetable bed you had in mind. Have a problem area or a deathtrap garden bed (my front walkway)? Well, bring them a picture and lots of details on the soil, sun, traffic, etc going on there. They'll try to make some suggestions to help you turn that area around.
Their patience with me knew no bounds. After 2 hours of brainstorming, and a truckful of plants, including a lovely butterfly bush and a few very healthy strawberry plants, we went home full of ideas and enthusiasm. If you live in the Texoma area, and need a little collaboration on your flower or veg gardens, go and see Dave and Barb.

Sweetwater Farm Greenhouse
4400 W Crawford St
Denison, TX 75020
http://www.sweetwaterfarmplants.com/

Michele - Buds and Blooms

It's been a beautiful week and we have been enjoying every minute of it. I took advantage of the weather and go outside to plant some of those ever-growing seedlings in the kitchen window. I cleaned out one of the raised beds and put the zuchinni in there. There was just enough room left over for the spinach. That still leaves a load of plants inside, but it's a start. I have another bed that I'm working on, but it's not ready for planting yet. I had watermelon in it last year. The plants were very happy, but got so thick that it was hard to weed in between them. It's hard to believe how much grass is in there now. I'll have it finished by this afternoon and get another batch of seedlings planted.

I have concluded that only seven of the original fifteen blueberry plants are coming back this year. Maybe it is too hot for them, but I'm not giving up. I shall baby these plants and give them vitamins and shade. It may be a few years, but we'll have blueberries yet!

All of he grapes and pomegranates have sprouted and look lovely. Yeah! I have noticed a lot of flowers in the area, but the irises in our yard are not in bloom yet. The are green and growing, but no flowers. In the past, we've had purple and white flowers, but a friend gave us a batch of mystery bulbs last fall and I'm anxious to see what color the flowers will be.

My young gardeners are still ready to help out, so I'm taking advantage of their labor. I'm still looking for ideas to keep their interest up over the long summer.

Jenny - Fannin County Home & Garden Expo

Well, my family and I had a good time today at the Expo in Bonham. It was a smaller sized show, but full of information for our area. It included several talks from experts on things like home orchards, heat loving plants, and tips for growing your own veg garden. The vendors ranged from a very promising nursery that I intend to visit tomorrow, Sweetwater Farm Greenhouse, to an outdoor wood furniture maker, to handmade jewelry and flower arrangements and more. The Fannin County Extension Office had many representatives there to answer our questions (my husband grilled one on fire ant control), and one spent a lot of time with me describing the Junior Master Gardeners program. Being a homeschooler, I was curious as to how I could adapt their programs to our support group. She was wonderful and took time out to help me understand how I could do this. The Extension Office also had gobs of printouts for us on topics like fire ant control, rain barrel making, drought tolerant plants, and water conservation. I have a feeling that all of these printouts are readily available at the office in Bonham for those who are interested in picking some up. A couple JMG kids from a program run at a local school made my daughter a cool-looking hat out of newspaper,and another expo volunteer twisted up a pink balloon teddy bear holding a yellow tulip for my daughter. Fun day. I'm looking forward to putting into practice some of the tips I picked up today, and to checking out that nursery!

Garden Expo

The Fannin County Master Gardeners 2010 Garden, Lawn & Home Expo is on this weekend for any who are interested. It looks like it's tomorrow only. Find info here.

Jenny - Bulbs, Bulbs, Bulbs

Well, a trip to the Dallas Arboretum has propelled me into spring craziness. I've bought a TON of tulip and daffodil bulbs. Just a ton. But I dup up nearly everything along my front walk (a narrow, wickedly hard to maintain flower bed runs between it and the house). My intention is to fill up my doorway pots and plant the remainder in the walkway bed.
I've also bought snapdragons for the walkway. They spread beautifully and keep their flowers all the way through the summer. We had a mildish winter the year before last, and the darn things kept their green all through. Cool. So I'm just going to let those go as crazy as they like in that area.
I picked up 2 very large pots to plant my rose trees in. I'll flank the walkway with them. Roses are hard to get wrong around here. I fertilize mine with a rose fertilizer every year, and "rose prune" them throughout their flowering seasons. I'll blog on rose pruning in another post.
And for all of you who think I'm nuts to be planting bulbs that are pretty much already in full bloom, you're right. They won't last long. I'm really just projecting to next year, when these same flowers sprout back and in larger numbers. I'll have some immediate pleasure out of my arrangements now, but the real fun will be next year, when they come up on their own. I've always loved tulip beds. The more color, the better!

Michele - Early Spring

First off, let me say that it is very hard to snip the blueberries off those little plants that you're so proud of! I did follow Jenn's advice last year, did some additional research, and clipped them off. It hurt though. Here's to hoping that the plants grow bigger and better for it this year.

The seeds in the kitchen window are finally sprouting now. The spinach is doing great, and finally we have squash, cherry tomato, and cucumber seedlings stretching themselves toward the sun.

It has been rainy here the last couple of weeks and we have been unable to get the tractor out to prep the garden. The coming week is supposed to nice and dry and we are hoping to plow the garden and prepare for planting next weekend. It is a little early for some plants, as there is still a good chance of another frost or two, but it's high time I got those onions in! Maybe by the time the soil is ready, the seedlings will be ready too. I'm going to miss them in the kitchen window, but will enjoy watching them grow outside.

I'm going to continue experimenting this year on way to get/keep the kids interested in helping out with the garden. They are very eager early on and all of them will help with the initial planting, but their interest seems to wane shortly thereafter. I'll keep you posted on any grand ideas I can up with on how to get them to weed the garden!

Jenn - More Words on Blueberry Bushes

I had 2 lovely blueberry bushes back in New England where they're easy to grow. My success so far with them out here has been dubious. I planted three. Only one has survived so far, and he's sad. I have very little shade around my house, and the sun just burns them up. Michele has had better luck with this. I do have a couple of tips to add to hers though.
For starters never just buy one bush. Buy at least two, and vary the strains. Blueberries need to cross-pollinate, and they do a better job of it when the bushes are not all the same type of blueberry. Check the plant hardiness zones carefully. You don't want to buy a plant that's suited to a colder climate than we have here. I've had some plant hardiness charts put us in growing zone 7A, but I often find zone 8 to be a better fit for our corner of Texoma. Once you get them home, look for a planting spot that isn't going to have the sun blazing down on them all the day long. That's how mine got burnt to a crisp. This wasn't a problem in Connecticut. It's a problem here.
If you're within 2 years of planting a new blueberry bush or if your bush is spindly & slow-growing, you should really pinch off the blossoms and not allow the bush to fruit. That sucks. I know. But bearing fruit actually puts a large strain on the plant and can keep it from getting nice and bushy. And if your bush isn't bushy, it won't bear much fruit in general. For a really long time, if ever. So though it breaks your heart a little, pinch off those blossoms on the new or struggling bushes. Give it the time it needs to grow in and widen out. You'll thank me later for nagging you now! :)