Friday, September 19, 2008

Fall Planting






I have been doing some Fall Planting. Some of my spring/summer flowers were just looking so tired, so, a couple of Saturdays ago, Scott and I drove over to the Growers Outlet and picked out a "few" things. Well, maybe more than a few. I didn't know what they would have or really what I needed. I found some really cheap pots of caladiums, so I bought 4 of them (hey, they were $1 each and each of them had about 5 bulbs!). I split up and planted 2 of them and then I am just keeping the other 2 in the pots so that the bulbs can be planted next year in case the ones I planted don't come back. Also, in case (hopefully) we sell our house and have to start all over with our garden! They had Calla Lilies for $1 or $1.50 according to their size, so I got a few of those to fill in the place in my garden where only 2 of the 4 I planted last year came back. I got two different plants that said they could be annuals or houseplants. I can't remember the name of either of them, but I know the red one was nicknamed "chicken gizzard", which is kind of gross, but it was $ .50 and the purple one I got was only $1. Then, we spent most of our money on some mums. They have large ones 3 for $15 and medium sized ones 4 for $10. So, we got three large burgundy colored ones and 4 medium yellow ones. So, we came home with a truck load of plants for $40!



This was kind of a "spur of the moment" trip. I had gone out into the yard to dead head and water the pots to realize that everything looked so tired and I just couldn't stand it. Even my beloved hanging baskets out front kind of made me want to cry (see that picture to the left, isn't that sad?). But, they are better now, thankfully.






By the time we got back from the Growers' Outlet, we needed to eat lunch, so I kind of lost my steam. I went out there and pulled up all the zinnias (I will never get pink zinnias again BTW, I will only get the orange ones again) and chopped off all the gladiolus. I snipped and pinched everything I could that looked brown from my hanging baskets (I also swapped which side each was on and turned them around) and pulled all the weeds out of my garden areas. Then, I was kind of tired of being outside. So, I decided to "plan" my plantings and "sleep on it". Well, that was a good excuse to not have to dig any holes that day. I paid for this the next day, btw. The picture at the top is not the best picture of our house, but I had to use the "backlight" feature on my camera to be able to see the garden b/c the house was shading it. So, that's as good as it gets. To the left is the picture of the "planning" I did on Saturday. As you can see, I switched the location of the mums, but it is still the same idea. I actually ended up sticking with the original idea I had when I was at the Growers' Outlet.

Instead of planting stuff in the yard, I spruced up some of my already existing house plants by adding the purple thing to one (they had it labeled, but I just can't remember its name) and the red one (the chicken gizzard) to another one, which I had recently bought a new pot for and I repotted altogether. I also potted two of my calla lilies to add color to our basically green house plants, but they are by themselves. I love the way we have our garage set up with shelving and a peg board. My wheel barrow has become my "planting table" when I do a pot. I always keep my big bag of dirt, my small garden tools, my gloves, and my little shaker of fertilizer in there so that when I want to plant stuff in the yard, I can just put the plants in there and wheel everything around. Do you see that spot on the left front of the wheel barrow where my knee pads are? I just moved those and sat my pots in that spot to do my potted plants.






We had our fellowship lunch at church the next day, and I was planning to take a nap and then going out there and planting all that stuff once it cooled off. Well, on our way home, someone called wanting to come that evening and look at the house. This threw us into emergency action. Scott went in after we got home and picked up and vacuumed and put away the dishes while I got on my gardening gloves and planted five mums, two calla lilies, and, once I divided them, 10 caladiums! I was still so full and it was so hot. Oh, I felt so gross out there. I thought I might barf, or pass out, or possibly both. Oh, how glorious my shower felt when I was done. The picture is of the caladiums I planted. They were kind of sad and droopy when we got them home, but now they are pretty perky. I guess they needed some TLC.

Since then, all of our potted plants have perked up as well as my hanging baskets. So, we have two mums that we purchased to be potted plants. So we have LOTS of potted plants for all seasons :o).








Does anyone want a calla lily because I have an extra? Ours are doing great indoors. They like sun and for their soil to stay moist. The one directly in our window in the office keeps leaning towards the sun and I keep having to rotate it. Our mums and caladiums came in the fairly nice plastic pots that kind of look like terra cotta pots, so I'll put it in one of those if you want. You can see if in the picture below, but they didn't come with the saucer. I just happened to have that one already in my stash.


Okay, so this was a really long post about gardening. Sorry. But, I am not done.

I have been reading lately about fall gardening. Apparently this is the perfect time to do fall plantings, but things like mums (and I think bulbs) will only last until the first frost. But, for us, that's like January or something, right? Also, you really aren't supposed to plant pansies until after the first frost, but who can wait that long and who is still selling them by then? I figure that when our potted plants all die, I will replace them with bulbs and pansies (which will take care of winter and the first few weeks of spring). I have our bulbs in the refrigerator. Your bulbs are supposed to have several weeks of extreme cold before they can grow in the spring and since our winters are so short in the South, we have to help them out a little (or something like that, you can google it). I just love mums! I am excited that some of mine are already starting to open up! I also put down a fresh layer of pine straw AND put out Preen because apparently now is the time to prevent winter weeds from growing and both of those help. So, if you haven't done that, you should, for your own sanity, if you hate weeds like I do. (I think that was a run-on sentence or a comma splice, or possibly both; so I apologize for all you grammar freaks).

8 comments:

Andysbethy said...

I love all your plants, but especially the hanging ones. They just look so nice on that lovely hook. I am inspired now to do something with my plants. Unfortunately, it is entirely too early to even consider "fall" plants down here. We will be lucky to have "fall" weather by Thanksgiving! At least I can admire yours from afar!

Erin said...

Wow! I am so impressed!! I love the idea of gardening but am not so great at the execution of it... it seems to come so naturally to you! Everything looks wonderful :-)

Unknown said...

I want to go to that gardening place! How long will they be open for the fall? I like the "look" of plants, but I hate working in the yard, so I am thinking some potted mums would be gorgeous for our porch. Katie LOVES plants so it is a shame she got me for a mom! I really want to go there though and get some mums if they are that cheap, that way I don't have to feel bad when they die. I talked to Bethany today about going out there while she is here next month, will that be too late? Then maybe we could all "meet!"

Unknown said...

I am thinking if I got mums I would just put them in pots. No digging in the dirt for me! ha ha.
If we came, it would be the week of october 19th-24th or somewhere around that give or take a day. Bethany is hoping to come up that week bc it would be a good week for her mom and we are having katie's birthday party that week too and she has a wedding to go to the next weekend. I am thinking it would probably be best for us to come on a weekday if we can find someone to watch all the kids. I think it would be so much fun! Maybe, if nothing else since it sounds so much fun, we can plan on meeting somewhere "in between" if we can't get all the way out to where you are (though I don't know where that is and wouldn't expect you to post that info on your blog!)
We will keep it in mind though...that would be fun!

Unknown said...

did I say "that would be fun" enough times in this comment?!

Unknown said...

I broke down and bought two mums at Kroger today! ha ha. They had some smaller ones 2 for $8, and they are looking nice on my porch steps right now. But, there is plenty of room for more!

Midlife Mom said...

You sure got a lot done! I tend to forget about planting this time of year as we are now pulling everything out before winter. I like my annual beds to be all weeded and ready in the spring so I do it in the fall. My hanging plants on the front porch are still going strong despite the frost that we have been having this week. They won't last much longer though. I hope my mums hang in there, I keep forgetting to cover them up at night! It will be time for us to put bulbs in the ground in a few weeks. We can't put them in too early or they will start to come up and then get zapped with WINTER! So we wait till it's really cold but not frozen and put them in.
Your recipes are yummy sounding, I am now going to print them off! I know I have gained ten pounds since I started blogging! lol!

Amy said...

You are the gardening King & Queen!!! I wish I was that good at keeping up with the seasonal plants!!

Love ya,

A