“Despite the gardener’s best intentions,
nature will improvise.”
— M.P. Garafolo
Clearing leaves from planting beds, digging weeds, sowing grass seed, yanking dandelions out of the soil, mercilessly extracting wild onions and raking garden beds while admiring the many new shoots that have come up seemingly overnight, checking established perennials that need to be thinned (daylilies) and divided (sedum) and kept at bay (periwinkle). What is there not to love about gardening?
Your muscles will tell you, but your eyes will sparkle.
I was asked recently how to start plants from seeds. It’s simple — just follow the directions on the package. If that does not give you all the answers, go online and see how it is being done. And if the result is not to your liking, you auto-correct, pivot and go to the garden center. But … there are plants that are guaranteed to flourish from seed, even for a novice. Lettuce, for instance, just begs to be grown, and it grows quickly. So do radishes (an exciting find for young children), all types of squash, and green beans — yes, definitely green beans. Parsley seems to shoot up overnight and will produce into late fall. Swiss chard is a gardener’s loyal companion; it can be harvested several times during the year. Just cut the leaves; don’t rip out the plant itself. Colorful zinnias will germinate quickly, punctuating the green.
Here is a suggestion to those who cannot separate themselves from old, outdated seed packets — myself included. To determine viability of germination, test 10 seeds: Place on a wet paper towel, fold in half three times, insert in a plastic bag and keep at 72-80 degrees for seven days. Then count the sprouted seeds; it will give you a very good idea of germination percentage.
You have heard of Stevia, the “new” natural sweetener for the health- and diet-conscious among us. It is a natural herbal sugar substitute, noncaloric and belongs to a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family. Stevia seeds are easily grown by jump-starting the season indoors. For direct-sow method, wait until all danger of frost has passed, then sow in a row and cover with a quarter-inch of fine soil. When plants are starting to blossom, harvest and hang them indoors to dry. Once the leaves are fully dried, crush them and keep in a glass jar.
One of my favorite summer annuals are nasturtium, with their strong orange, red and yellow colors. Easily grown outdoors, they are not fussy guests. Give them bright sun, and they will thank you by blooming until the first frost arrives. Now is the right time to plant them. The leaves are delicious in salads; so are the blossoms. I use the colorful blooms in herb vinegars.
Keep your eyes open for a new way to grow sedum — not the huge 2-foot-high Matrona or Autumn Joy, but the small, 4-inch groundcover sedums that are now available in mat form.
At the recent Phil-adelphia Flower Show, these mats were used as green roofs on dog houses, on small elfin homesteads, and even on birdhouses. These sedum do not devour food and water at gluttonous rates, but give you an instant, miniature landscape.
Garden myth: Does talking to plants really make them grow better? Answer: Debatable (although I want to believe it does).
What to do now:
Prune spring flowering shrubs as soon as flowering is finished;
Foliage of daffodils may look quite ragged now. Don’t remove foliage until it has browned and withered, as it’s essential for next year’s bloom;
In mid-May, it is safe to plant annuals and tender bulbs, rhizomes and corms. Wait another week until soil is warm enough for tomatoes, peppers, dahlias and canna;
When transplanting seedlings, do it on a cloudy, overcast day;
Mulch plants to conserve moisture, reduce weeds and stabilize soil temperature;
Pinch off buds and flowers to encourage a strong root system;
Prune spring-flowering shrubs as soon as flowering is finished.
Gotti Kelley, a past president of the Navesink Garden Club, serves on the board of the Garden Club of New Jersey and Central Atlantic Region of National Garden Clubs.