Despite the lofty title, "Herbaceous Ornamentals" are just the plants many people think of when gardening. If it's not a tree, and it's not food, it's probably a herbaceous ornamental. But depending on who you talk to, and how they're arranged, edibles can be ornamentals too.
So last night's class covered a lot of what we've covered before just with a focus on annual flowers, perennial flowers, bulbs, grasses, etc. The surprise is what I really want to write about.
How can you grow a garden with virtually no soil? Even in a place like a parking lot? The answer is in hay bales.
A guy named Joel Karsten wrote the book on straw bale gardening and started the trend. I hope he made a ton of cash, because it's a brilliant idea. With about 2 weeks of feeding with water and cheap fertilizer (kinda like culturing a sourdough starter), you can turn a straw bale into a high-quality growing medium.
The promises of straw bale gardening are almost too good to be true -- no insects, no disease, great yields. The only special equipment you need is a compost thermometer.
Here's a great writeup from TN Magazine. And here's a video from Volunteer Gardener:
I think I'll be sticking with my raised beds for now, but I could really see exploring a straw bale in certain areas.
So what's growing in my garden right now? Not much! Carrots and a rogue onion are the only things growing in my raised beds. My tomato seedlings are doing well. They've all sprouted, and I thinned out the weaker ones. All of the seedlings are past the cotyledon stage and have their first true leaves. I need to put a little more soil around them and possibly get them out in the sunshine this weekend.
We had a couple days of frost earlier this week - right around the start of April. I covered up everything and brought in my new windowboxes that are full of annuals. Everything seemed to make it through well.
Camellia bushes are still blooming well. Oak leaf hydrangeas are bursting with leaflets. Hostas and ferns seem to be liking their shady corner between the deck and the house. This weekend's chores may or may not include installing another raised bed. We'll just see.
(Those aren't herbaceous ornamentals... just some scenes from the garden.)
So last night's class covered a lot of what we've covered before just with a focus on annual flowers, perennial flowers, bulbs, grasses, etc. The surprise is what I really want to write about.
How can you grow a garden with virtually no soil? Even in a place like a parking lot? The answer is in hay bales.
Here's a great writeup from TN Magazine. And here's a video from Volunteer Gardener:
I think I'll be sticking with my raised beds for now, but I could really see exploring a straw bale in certain areas.
So what's growing in my garden right now? Not much! Carrots and a rogue onion are the only things growing in my raised beds. My tomato seedlings are doing well. They've all sprouted, and I thinned out the weaker ones. All of the seedlings are past the cotyledon stage and have their first true leaves. I need to put a little more soil around them and possibly get them out in the sunshine this weekend.
We had a couple days of frost earlier this week - right around the start of April. I covered up everything and brought in my new windowboxes that are full of annuals. Everything seemed to make it through well.
Camellia bushes are still blooming well. Oak leaf hydrangeas are bursting with leaflets. Hostas and ferns seem to be liking their shady corner between the deck and the house. This weekend's chores may or may not include installing another raised bed. We'll just see.
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