It’s hard to get fired up about gardening when you’ve got 4 inches of snow on the ground, the sanding/de-icing truck goes by a couple times a day and the weather forecast calls for a Winter Storm Advisory. What’s a girl to do?
1. Paint pictures of flowers and ponies.
2. Look at seed catalogues and drool.
3. Book your plane and hotel for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. (It helps that I need to be there to do a seminar).
More tomorrow.
Pardon my dust and technical difficulties of late. It’s been 3+ weeks since I posted. I am deep into a new manuscript for vegetable gardening in the Rocky Mountain/Intermountain region and a lot of time is spent staring at the computer screen and being frantic. This too, shall pass.Then, the gremlins of the internet made the whole GWWW go away for a few days. We found GWWW and brought it back into the light. Thanks for staying with me.
I stopped into the radio station (the River, 94.9) on Wednesday last to talk about Christmas trees. If you aren’t into Christmas, look away now. Clickety click. There are several ways to go:
1. Chose a fresh, live tree in a bucket or balled and burlapped from a local nursery. These need to be left outside and brought in only at the last minute. Keep them in no more than 4-5 days MAXIMUM if you are planning on keeping the tree alive to replant. The warm indoor temperatures cause evergreens to break dormancy, giving them false hopes of spring, only to have you haul them back outside to deep winter temperatures.
OPTION: Don’t bring in the live tree. Position the tree outside but where you can see it from in the house. Maybe that’s the front porch? The patio? Light it up and enjoy it for months. I once did a tree like that, starting with Christmas lights, going to all white for January (winter snow), red and white for Valentines (just switch out some bulbs), and green and white for St. Patricks. I was headed for pastels when my husband threatened me.
Keep a live tree alive by watering it deeply at least once a week.
2. Cut a fresh tree from your local national forest or tree cutting farm. Permits in Idaho are $10, and you can cut a tree up to 12 feet tall. Check w/your local National Forest Office, here. The office will assist you with directions and instructions.
3. Purchase locally or Idaho grown Christmas trees. Oregon and Washington are close by, and grow wonderful trees. North End Organic Nursery has terrific Fraser Firs from north Idaho, $35-95. Fresh, fresh, fresh!
As the days get shorter and shorter, colder and colder, its nice to sit in here and ponder some of the finer things in life. Here’s the short list for this week:
We made a little detour on our road trip a couple weeks ago. Neither of us had seen the creepy sounding Devil’s Tower of Close Encounters fame. It was awesome. Shrouded in fog on an almost snowing day, at the edge of Wyoming
Devil’s Tower
Great chick flick. Catch it while he’s watching football.
Came across this on Pinterest. Might have to try each one as the season of merriment progresses. Oh, go ahead!
Ooooooooh la lah!
I am late to the party but I got here all the same. In the last few years I’ve started lusting after lilies. Asiatics, Trumpet, Orientpet, the bigger, the better. Here’s the latest from B&D Lilies. They arrived last week, and will be planted tomorrow. In Boise, with our hot hot hot tamale summers, the blooms last longest when the bulbs are planted on the north side of the house, with morning sun, and shade from about 2 pm on. The lilies I have in full sun do very well, but take a beating when the temps get up to 90+ and they go fast! Check these out.
Clockwise, from top left: Red Hot, Black Beauty, Scheherazade, and Red Velvet.
Click anywhere for a better look at the pics
Doin’ the Hokey Pokey, That’s what it’s all about.
We’re expecting a good freeze tonight. Well, good only if you’ve had enough gardening for the year. There’s still clean up, still bulbs to be planted, more compost to go on the beds, plant those last 4 shrubs that have been hanging by a root stem all summer. And the last few days were positively glorious. UNTIL. Until the wind changed direction and brought the smoke back to the valley. I woke up w/a headache and all congested. So, stayed in most of the day. Tomorrow is set aside for making dill pickles and a little more garage clean up.
Here are some things that blew my skirt up this week. Enjoy.
A big box of bulbs arrived from Longfield Gardens. In the spirit of full disclosure, let me tell you they were a gift. Yes, a gift from the folks at Longfield. I was allowed to chose what I wanted so I’m giving some new varieties a trial run here at Ranch du Bois. Tulips, Narcissus, and Snowdrops.
Counter clockwise from the top left:
1. Artwork from the incredibly talented Lulie Wallace. I want several of these happy paintings. And how cool is this? She’s from Charleston and her work is even sold by Anthropologie. Crush on crush on. Lulie also has wall murals for sale at Urban Outfitters and a Tumblr blog & website. Shop.
2. Gardens Illustrated the garden mag to which all others are measured. Brits love gardens and this is the best. I have every copy that’s ever made it to this house.
3. Ordered this sewing “sleeve” or helper or whatever you want to call it. From Alabama Chanin. I’ve read about Natalie Chanin for years. Now I can try my hand at her wonderful sewing techniques. Yeah, since I don’t have to work in the garden every single day. Please Mr. Postman hurry up with my package.
4. I am so moved by this photo. Please Lord, let me be this old, this wonderful someday. And sitting in a wheelbarrow to boot! From the beautiful Tumblr blog, Pale.
5.6.& 7. Three of those tulips I was mentioning: (right to left) National Velvet, Purple Lady and Daydream. I’ll let you know how I decide to use them. Again, a gift from Longfield Gardens, LLC.
8. This week I took a minute and moved all my barn owl pins onto a new board, over on Pinterest, and I named it “The Original Hooters.” I love barn owls.
Rock on until next time!
All winter squash should be harvested after the first light frost in our growing area. To harvest winter squash, cut them from the vine leaving a 3 to 4 inch stem on each fruit. Cutting the stem too short or breaking it off may cause problems during winter storage. Most of our growing area is quite dry, but if there is a lot of moisture in the air or the fruits are muddy, you will want to wipe them down with an inexpensive, bacteria prohibiting “wash.” Mix a gallon of cool water with a tablespoon or two of white vinegar. Dip your cloth in the solution and then wring it out until almost dry and carefully wipe any debris from your squash.
When you cut the pumpkins from the vine leave a nice handle for lifting them.
Pumpkins and squash have a firm rind, but they still benefit from “curing”. After cutting them from the vine, dry them in the sun for a few days. Remove them to a warm garage, covered patio, porch or barn. Allowing them to dry cure in a well ventilated area for up to 20 days will increase their sugar content and prolong their storage life. Store in a cool –but not cold- dry place with good air circulation.
It’s best to put the spent vines in the trash vs composting in case they are harboring diseases and insects. In winter, the compost pile may not get “hot” enough to dispense with the uglies and the bugglies. 
This gallery contains 4 photos.
I guess I better start calling this my almost weekly column, Stuff That Works, since I let more than a week go by and am just now getting around to size up my list. But it’s a dandy! Bought all … Continue reading
Folks, I’ve been suffering from a nasty NASTY case of cabin fever and thus, you will be subjected to a new weekly column titled “Stuff That Works.” Yup, stole that title from a favorite song by my other boyfriend, Guy Clark: (on the album, Dublin Blues, 1995) . Mind you, this is stuff that works for me, this week.
Stuff That Works, September 21, 2012
1. Grow it: Tulip, Gavota for 2013, plant in big groups of at least 15 and plant several groups.
2. Wear it: Killer gorgeous ring from Midwest Alchemy, on Etsy
3. Hear it: the new Brandi Carlile CD: Bear Creek
4. Make it: tomorrow we are messing w/epoxy and old found bowling balls.
5. Drink it: Black Cat Martini
6. Pin it: from Design Sponge, via my pinboard. The coolest screen door ever. Dog is pretty lovely, too.