Take your flowering kale into winter with style

Flowering kale in October

The flowering kale has been transformed into Christmas planters with the cold weather coming in.  Our temperatures have been extremely mild in Wisconsin this year so far.  The kale made it through the normal fall frosts and freezes.  The color has intensified as it should.   The addition of evergreens and curly willow twigs has added to the beauty of the display.
There are lots of natural items that can come together to add to your landscape enhancements.  If I had power in this area, you can bet I would also have lights.  Use your imagination when foraging for your own decorative touches.

Nature's fertilizer

The rabbits leave my flowering kale alone all summer and fall (it was suggested that they cannot digest highly cruciferous vegetation).  Once the weather gets deathly cold and the plants have been frozen for a couple months, they start to nibble away at them.  This spring I will have a flower bed full of rabbit droppings to turn in as the kale filled this bed last fall.  I hope rabbit droppings are good for tomato plants headed here this summer.

A quick Google search and I have my answer.  Rabbit manure is good in the garden.  How nice to have a tool that my grandmother never even dreamed of while she did her own farm garden.  Although, I bet grandma could have told me that from experience.

Grandma in her rocking chair in the old log house-thanks to my cousin, Lynn for sharing!

Still gardening even after the first snow.

While the rest of the crew went hunting, my oldest sister and I set out with leaf blowers to clear off their lawn before the first snow.  It is a pretty big yard, so it was nice to do it together.  

My own yard is not such a monumental task, but there are the beds to clean up and all the corners to clean up.  I mulched the healthy leaves into my compost bin.  The tar spot on the maples, apple scab on the crabs, and black walnut leaves all went to the curb.  The weather forecast for this past week was not good.  My goal on Sunday was to get it all to the curb to make the November 15th cut off for city pick up.  I was so sore at the end that I had to push through.  A hot shower followed by ibuprofen and a heating pad were so welcome.

When we got our snow on 11/11, I was glad to have it done.  The rest of the week was pretty cold and windy.  The flowering kale pulled through but it was pretty frosty after the snow.

The leaves droop and sag with the cold, and perk up as the temperatures come above freezing.  It is fun to watch them come back each day as it warms up just enough.  I still have some edible kale in the garden.  This cold should add sweetness to the plants as they produce more sugars as anti-freeze.  There is also parsnips and carrots to dig up.  I need to get the garlic in the ground this weekend as well.  I regret that I did not get my pot washing done this fall.  It is time to put away the garden tools and make room for a car for the winter months.

A little bit of gardening in the little bit of light after work

The time has come for cleaning up the yard a bit.  I made my first cuttings of the season so the coleus can make it into next year's garden.  I put a few other plants in the garage so they don't get hit by frost until I can cut them back and take them in.  I always soak them through to make sure I don't bring a mouse family into my house again.

The light is growing short after work so I have to get things done a little bit at a time.  With the remaining light I had after the other jobs I did tonight, I started cleaning out the flower garden.  There are still some everlastings that will take a bit of cold so they get to stay.  The zinnias were still blooming so I cut a large vase of the best flowers.  I have opted to purchase seeds next spring and get just the two varieties I liked the best,  Benary's giant and cactus flowered.  Both are multicolored varieties.  The benefit of pulling out the zinnias and cosmos that have gone to seed is now you can really see the flowering kale that I planted behind all the rest.  The plants have grown up to two feet tall and are really starting to color up with the cooler weather and shorter days.  The wedding flower garden has taken on a whole new look by pulling out the brown and mildewed stems and letting a fall crop take the limelight.  I will have to add a photo when it is light enough to take one!

Flower Garden Pictures

This garden has asters, Alysum, larkspur, and cone flowers that reseed themselves

I potted up all the flowering kale and assembled all for easy watering.  My husband commented that he liked it all together.

Three Mandevilla vines grow as one.  These I take in for the winter.  Cut back hard for easier storage.

Half of the Thunbergia vine in my garden is from gathered seeds. The Hydrangea is in glorious bloom even after taking off many for drying.

The wedding flower garden got a bit of a hair cut to make more light for the varieties I am trying to encourage more.  It is still beautiful and the hummingbirds don't seem to mind.

My grandmother's garden before I came along.  I love this picture of my older sisters.

The flowering kale saga continues

Last fall I had the most amazing flowering/ornamental kale in my garden.  I had grown the rose flowering for a couple years and love the way it looks in a pot.  At Christmas I add greens and lights and it is even more stunning.  Kale, both ornamental and edible, is an extremely cold tolerant crop.  You really have to add some of this to the garden just because it is still looking beautiful when the temps fall below freezing.
I bought additional flowering kale seed to plant more of the peacock red that was in my front garden last fall.  I only had four plants, but they were show stoppers.  I wanted more.  I picked up another more generic variety when a second choice I ordered was out of stock when my seeds came.  Then I lost track of them.  They didn't make it on my seeding list, and they weren't in my seed box.  This "change of life" has not been always kind to my brain.  I looked everywhere logical and then the illogical.  No seeds. 
I broke down and bought plants.  Millager's  Garden Center had several varieties of 3" plants in a 6 pack tray.  I bought three kinds.  Then I went to my favorite little local garden center Luxembourg Gardens and found three more varieties in the smaller 4 pack which made them really affordable.  Lots of kale for this fall.
Two days later, I am putting away some condiments in the refrigerator and a little, plastic bag falls forward.  Yep, it was the kale seeds.  Since the seeds I have are all different than the plants I bought, I put them all in trays to germinate.  They are germinating well.  If all my chickens hatch, there will be a huge flowering kale display on the dead end this fall.
Now, I don't want to put it all in the garden all summer, so my plan is to pot some of it up and hold it for the summer.  I will fill in the empty holes of fall with the pots.  I started the up-grading process tonight to reduce the water requirements on the pot bound plants I bought. It may all seem a little crazy, but it will be worth it in the end.

The best laid plans

I was so excited about getting all my seeds.  I had great plans for what I would have in my garden.  I was really looking forward to three different kinds of flowering kale.  Well,  what did I do with them???  As it happens in my house, things go missing.  How three packages of seeds got separated from the rest is beyond me.  I looked everywhere logical and even some not.  No seeds.

One set of my asters did not germinate, at all, the other variety is fine.  I have seeded both collected and purchased black-eyed Susan vines to see how collected seed performs.  I lost some plants to neglect.  I thought the seedlings were fine only to come home from work to find some plants permanently wilted.  The Celebrity tomatoes barely made six plants because of that mistake.  Luckily I went over-board on varieties so I have other plants to fill the spaces...so far.

Other things I am happy with.  I had good luck rooting cuttings of several plants and was able to successful divide others.  I am rethinking how many plants I want to carry over from one year to the next.  I had all three tiers of lights going this last winter and that is more than I usually burn.  I would like to look at the difference in the electric bills from one year to the next.  It may not be an accurate assessment as we also had a more mild winter last year and we used less heat than the most recent one.  I also don't know if I like taking care of so much in the off season.  If I had a well lit, sunny greenhouse to retreat to rather than a basement, it might be more appealing.  Ahh, to dream...

The spring is coming in slow but sure.  I have been able to quickly move plants in and out at night with my wheeled shelf.  I need to expand operations with a set of stationary shelves for the plants already hardened off.  So far the rotation is working this year.  I have room on the shelves for the seedlings almost ready for transplant.  It is a dance of timing and space.

The vegetable garden is at the fun stage to watch.  Seedlings are popping up in my square foot garden making a patch work pattern of greens in rows and dots.  The onions are starting to show their strength in the way they stand straight.  They are still tiny, but they are strong.  The peas are sparse due to the cold weather following my eager planting.  I will get enough to keep me happy, so I can't complain.  The spinach, radicchio, lettuce and cabbages are all putting on new growth and expanding.  I just have to remember to keep them all watered.

My bare-root shrubs that I tucked into pots are sprouting new growth and I even saw some flower buds forming on the kiwi.  I stopped at the garden center for peat pots after work yesterday and left with a Goldencrisp apple and an Alberta peach.  I may have jumped the gun on these but they were 20% off.  I want to make the apple into an espalier so I have a new subject to read up on.  I want to put this in the same spot as our new patio (which is still a pile of bricks next to the garage).  The peach tree will find a spot to stand out in the yard anticipating the ultimate demise of the male mulberry that is growing on the park side of our property line.  With all the hollow spots and cracks, it is only a made of when, not if.  We had it trimmed away from the yard to try and keep it from landing on our garage and shed.  Fingers crossed...

I came up with a pretty cool trellis for my sweet autumn clematis this spring.  I used some of the old wire clothes line and dog tie down to form a frame work.  I used the plastic netting that I ran behind it last year to train it away from the rails and stairs.  The beauty comes in with the grapevine I cut and laced over the rear fence for Christmas lights.  I cut a bunch to length and fastened them to the edges of the frame.  It is functional and attractive.  I think it should hold through the summer especially after the clematis reaches the second floor and grows onto the second set of wires which have carried it to the roof line year after year.

I also got busy with setting out the praying mantis egg sacks yesterday.  The weather has been consistently warm and the timing feels right.  I put them inside upside-down 4" pots with netting over the bottom to keep out predators.  There is one hanging right next to the clematis in the picture next to the drain pipe.  A co-worker orders and sells them every year.  It is an inexpensive and fun project.  Look back to my pictures of the little guys when they hatched last year. 
http://gardeninggwen.blogspot.com/2012/06/praying-mantis-emerge.html

Praying mantis egg case

It has been a busy week in the garden, but the pace has been an enjoyable one.  I was able to mix up the heavy work with some light duty tasks.  I even had the pleasure of going up to the Milwaukee High School of the Arts for their day with the Burpee Grow Anywhere Garden Tour. http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/(S(gf2402r0mzl3vwjqb4vdltms))/Blog/2013/05/07/grow-anywhere-tour--making-milwaukee-smile.html
I came home with a Fourth of July tomato.  They are an early season plant.  I took out my wall-o-water towers and filled them up.  I planted the tomato tonight inside the warm, insulated tower.  It will be fun to see how well the tower works to push the season on the tomato plant.  More on that later.

I certainly spent enough time logging garden time in today, but I love to look back at the digital record to see what worked last year and what didn't.  Once the flowers get transplanted, I may not get back to writing for awhile.  I also have to make at least one visit to the garden centers so I can find some flowering kale plants!

Seeds-Second Round Ordering

I am up at 4:30 this morning because my brain cannot stay asleep, so I get up to make use of my brain while it is willing to work.

This morning's task is to pull the rest of my seed orders together and get them in the mail.  Yes, I could do them on line, but I love the process of writing them all down and putting them in the envelope.  My dad was the postmaster in our town, and my husband also works for the US Postal Service.  I feel some loyalty to keeping the tradition alive.  Gardening is a tradition with such deep roots (no pun intended).  It is only fitting that I acquire my seeds by the same method.

If you haven't read The Land Remembers by Ben Logan (a Wisconsin writer born and raised in our state), now is the time.  It is a great book about farming in the hilly part of our state near the Kickapoo River (love that name) during the 20's and 30's.  Ben's mother would sit down with her saved seed and the new seed catalog and plan the next year's harvest.  Ben was the youngest of four sons.  He was his mother's right-hand-man when it came to planting, harvesting and preserving their summer garden.  There are several great chapters on the process of growing and putting up food for the family.

This round of ordering has more to do with flowers than vegetables.  I sat down with my oldest daughter last week.  The two of us picked out some good possibilities for growing her wedding flowers.  She found that many things she found pretty have a seasonality to them and would not be available in early fall.  We have had conversations about locally grown and organic flowers before.  She has written articles for Veil magazine regarding such flower choices.  Yep, we have a real writer in the family.  Michelle has been always particularly good at expressing herself in the written word.  Four years of college, and she has made a career out of it.  I'm just the hobby writing hack in the family.

I am also making sure that I order some different types of flowering/ornamental kale.  The four plants I had in my rain garden last year were show-stoppers.  When everything else was fading the flowering kale was absolutely brilliant.  I am going to start this in my own basement this year so I can have some different varieties.

Now that I hear my husband moving around, it is time to get my seed order done.  See what happens when you sit down at the computer to research one little question??????

My Cold Weather Crops

 All the tomatoes have ripened and are not going to wait for us to eat them all fresh.  Tonight, they became spaghetti sauce with one lone tomato on the window sill as a tribute to all the tomatoes that have gone before.

I am still holding on to my lettuce and cilantro.  The late crop of radishes that I put in have a couple sets of leaves, but I doubt that the gamble I took will pay off in late radishes.  I have a double cover on the bed of row and frost cover.  The rain has been getting through, the sunlight is too low to really push any growth at this time of year.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The two varieties of kale that I grew for eating are powering through this time of year.  Kale thrives in the cold weather and the flavor improves.  I have to get out and get some of this on our plates soon.

There is still some Swiss chard and radicchio hanging in there.  I haven't prepared as much of the chard as I have in years past (not one of John's favorites).  The radicchio is a new plant for me.  My coworkers enjoyed the first crop preparing it in different ways.  They shared how well it worked in their cooking.  I think this will be on our plates soon.

 Parsnips are just starting the process which makes them best in cold weather.  The starches start to turn to sugars making the plant fused with anti-freeze qualities.  It also makes them very tasty.  I used a couple in some beef pasties a few weeks ago.  They are only getting sweeter as they get colder.

The Alpine strawberries are still trying to put on some fruit.  It is taking so long for them to turn red.  Sunlight is waning and so it the ripening power.  They are still a delight whenever I find one on the plants.  I think the squirrels have been beating me to the picking, though.

 On the other side of cold weather plants are the ornamentals.  The sedum in the background is a lovely back-drop to the Sunrise flowering kale.  The sweet alysum fills in with a bed of snowy white flowers.  Right behind this bed are the stars of the garden right now.

As everything else has died back, the 4-pack of flowering kale I purchase this spring is just glowing!  While walking back from voting on Tuesday, I was astounded at how vibrant these are even from the distance.  It is no wonder I have had so many people stop and ask what they are.  They are like the neon signs of my fall garden.  I apologize to those wondering what variety it is since I did not have a tag with them.  Next year...more flowering kale.  They really do look best when in full sun.

My pot of Sunset flowering kale is also looking pretty good.  The plants brightened up after moving them into brighter light.  I will tuck a few evergreen boughs into the soil to fill it out and take it into the Christmas season like I did last year.  Maybe some lights as well.

Cold Weather Coming...preparations part 1

Things to get done in preparation for a possible frost night:

• Cover lettuce and other crops I am still holding that I don't want "frosted"

• Cut back the plants that I am bringing in for winter so they fit through the door (and then some)

• Put cold sensitive plants in the garage for the night

• Harvest the rest of the peppers

• Water the root crops that are staying in the ground a little longer

• Take some pictures of the garden as it goes into a new color season (the sugar maples and flowering kale are really kicking in this week)

• Cover my lone tomato plant that I am going to see how long I can keep going next to the house

• Start using only rain barrel water so they are empty by the time it freezes

allysum, flowering kale, sedum and sugar maple

Heliotrope and lemon verbena
I wish you could smell this planter right now