Fenton Friday: And Speaking of Spinach...

I braved the cold winds to start up my plot for a third year at the Fenton Community Garden. I'll be posting every Friday about what edibles I'm growing in my 10x20 plot. Hope you join me and also let me know what you are growing too!

And speaking of spinach... (see our last blog post for the Spinach growing tips video), I took off the cover cloth to reveal my spinach plants not only overwintered, but looks pretty darn good too. I tasted one leaf and it was nice and sweet. I have enough to make a decent salad with, so I'll save them for when my niece's visit this Easter weekend as they are big green eaters.

Under the cloth as well were six big Calabrese broccoli plants. They were full of small heads and just on the verge of bolting (going to flower and then setting seed). I ripped them all out and now have a big pot of tender heads that I'll have with pasta and butter sauce tonight for dinner.

I weeded a bit then out in two types of sugarsnap peas. Both varieties I had been sent to trial. One is Renee's Garden 'Sugar Daddy' snap peas and the other Peaceful Valley 'Oregon Sugar Pod II' peas. I put one on one side of the trellis and the other opposite it. One is bush-forming and the other should keep on producing new peas until the heat of summer moves in.

To label the peas, I made my own new signage. I go to a lot of meetings so collect many plastic badge holders (if the event doesn't recycle them). I use them for our annual Seed Exchange and other events, but still have plenty extra. So I took a few and pulled off the bulldog clips, then I inserted the now-empty seed packs. I then took the sticks off some political fans I got this summer at various local parades and inserted them inside to act as stakes. I hope they last as long as the plants do.

Video Wednesday: Growing Spinach All-Year-Round

 


Here is an excerpt from the "Growing Greens All-Year-Round" talk by Cindy Brown of Smithsonian Gardens speaking at the Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchange 2013 on Saturday, February 2, 2013, at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA.


If you missed this year's Seed Exchanges, don't fret! Mark your calendars for next year: January 25, 2014 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, and February 1, 2014, at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA!

See Washington Gardener Magazine at the Washington Home & Garden Show

The Washington Home & Garden Show is better than ever with more diverse exhibits, more categories, and more presentations on our fabulous stage! The show offers a unique and broad selection of home improvement-related businesses. You’ll enjoy various entertaining features and special guest speakers including local master gardeners. Get ideas, investigate new products, gather information and meet the professionals to help you make your next remodeling, renovation, or decorating project a breeze! To find out more, visit their web site: www.washingtonhomeandgardenshow.com.

Be sure to see Washington Gardener Magazine at Booth 605!
Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher,  Washington Gardener Magazine, will be speaking on Saturday and Sunday on Local Gardening Challenges (Deer! Clay Soil! Drainage Issues!).

Video Wednesday: Community Harvest

Community Harvest celebrates the natural and cultural harvests of our community, documenting the dramatic transformation of a forgotten vacant urban alley in our Nation's Capital into a majestic public garden and collaborative green space.

Win Passes to the Washington Home and Garden Show

For our March 2013 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away several pairs of tickets to the Washington Home & Garden Show at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. The show runs from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24. Tickets are $12 each at the door or $9 if ordered in advance online.

      The Washington Home & Garden Show is better than ever with more diverse exhibits, more categories, and more presentations on our fabulous stage! The show offers a unique and broad selection of home improvement-related businesses. You’ll enjoy various entertaining features and special guest speakers including local master gardeners. Get ideas, investigate new products, gather information and meet the professionals to help you make your next remodeling, renovation, or decorating project a breeze! To find out more, visit their web site: www.washingtonhomeandgardenshow.com.

      To enter to win one of pairs of show tickets, send an email with “WHGShow” in the subject line to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5:00pm on Wednesday, March 20. In the body of the email please include your full name, email, and mailing address. The ticket winners will be announced and notified by Thursday, March 21.

UPDATE:

The following individuals won our March Reader Contest: 

Arlene Markowicz

Diane Svenonius

Roxanne Sykes

Jeffrey Trunzo

Alyssia Greiner

Dorothy Cichra

Rajat Sarkar

Jessica Bilics

Sarah Lawler

Beth Py-Lieberman

The each receive a pair of tickets to the Washington Home & Garden Show at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. The show runs from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24. Tickets are $12 each at the door or $9 if ordered in advance online.

      The Washington Home & Garden Show is better than ever with more diverse exhibits, more categories, and more presentations on our fabulous stage! The show offers a unique and broad selection of home improvement-related businesses. You’ll enjoy various entertaining features and special guest speakers including local master gardeners. Get ideas, investigate new products, gather information and meet the professionals to help you make your next remodeling, renovation, or decorating project a breeze! To find out more, visit their web site: www.washingtonhomeandgardenshow.com.

Be sure to see Washington Gardener Magazine at Booth 605!
Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher,  Washington Gardener Magazine, will be speaking on Saturday and Sunday on Local Gardening Challenges (Deer! Clay Soil! Drainage Issues!).

Washington Gardener Enews ~ March 2013 ~ No-Stress Gardening

The Washington Gardener Enews ~ March 2013 issue is now sent to all current Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers. It is also posted and archived online at: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener/docs/wgenews-mar13

 INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
~ No-Stress Gardening: Why I Stopped Worrying and Learned To Love the Weeds

~ Top Local Garden Events Calendar for March-April

~ Magazine Excerpt: How to Make Seed Tape

~ Mid-Atlantic Garden To-Do List for March-April
~ Reader Contest: Passes to the Washington Home & Garden Show

~ Washington Gardener's Recent Blog Post Highlights
~ Spotlights Special: "Under the Sea" Coleus

~ Washington Gardener Magazine Back Issue Sale!
and much more... 

You can access it as well as all of the other Washington Gardener Enews back issues online now and anytime in the future at http://issuu.com/washingtongardener/docs/.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Windy March

It has been so windy here for the past few days that this is the only decent photo I have been able to get from all the blooms in my garden for this monthly Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.

This is an Iris Reticulata 'Harmony.'
Also in bloom now in my zone 7 DC/MD border garden are:
~ Viola
~ Primrose
~ Daffodils 'Tete a Tete'
~ Daffodils 'February Gold'
~ Daffodils 'Ice Follies'
~ Hellebores
~ Crocus 'Pickwick'
~ Crocus 'Remembrance'
~ Snowdrops common sp.
~ Winter Jasmine (still!)
~ Heather
~ Nemesia 'Poetry Blue'*
~ Pansy 'Cool Wave Purple'*
~ Pansy 'Cool Wave Golden Yellow'*

So what is blooming in YOUR garden today?


*I'm trialing these cool-season annuals for PanAmerican Seed.

Video Wednesday: Garden Flashback

Local gardener, Deloris Bailey, made this slide show from pictures of her 2012 garden plot in Reston, VA.

Video Wednesday: Philadelphia Flower Show 2013

Big Ben video show of British pop culture music and celebrities from the Philadelphia Flower Show 2013.

Winter Aconite: You Can Grow That!

Winter Aconite (Eranthis) is a small bulb in bloom now in area gardens. It is in the buttercup family and the little yellow flowers are a delight to see on cold, windy late winter days.

They tolerate frost and ice well – looking good even in the worst conditions.

Plant them under deciduous trees and in woodland settings. They are ephemeral so will disappear as other early spring plants are filling in.

You can buy bulbs to plant in the fall. If you want to propagate them, wait until the foliage starts to die back, then dig up the tubers, divide and re-plant them.

Garden Bloggers You Can Grow That! Day was started by C. L. Fornari of Whole Life Gardening because she believes “Gardening is one of the most life-affirming things we can do.…We need to thoroughly saturate people with the belief that plants and gardening are worth doing because of the benefits gained.” Garden bloggers who agree post about something worth growing on the fourth day of every month. Read this month’s You Can Grow That! posts or stop by the You Can Grow That! Facebook page to read all of the posts.