Coming out of Winter Hibernation

In other years we had the Hartford Flower Show to pull us out of winter hibernation. And, to help us put the finishing touches on our garden plans. I sort of miss the madman running around talking to his plants. Did he really think they would scream, “Take me! Take me!” when he asked who wanted to go to the Flower Show? It became a ritual in February, but it did get us psyched for the coming season.

New Ideas

We usually left the conference center with a handful of ribbons (judges seemed to like the madman’s plants), a bagful of seeds (some common, some not so common), and a headful of ideas. Over the next few days, some of these ideas would be incorporated into our garden plans. Despite a missing flower show, we are busy planning this year’s garden. Hope you are too.

Although we enjoy watching winter’s activity in our gardens, we really thrive on the summer pollinators flitting from bloom to bloom. But, they won’t be there if we don’t plant for them. This is why we fuss now. Anyone can stick a flower in the ground and eventually some sort of a pollinator will show up. But, pollinators are funny. And some are downright fussy.

Planning the Vegetable Garden

Early in our gardening career, we only planned the vegetable garden. At that time, the madman’s philosophy was “if you can’t eat it, don’t grow it.” I on the other hand would grow the flowers and herbs that pleased me. Neither of us really considered the pollinators. We just grew what we liked.

The madman’s vegetable garden was laid out in neat rows – tomatoes here, cucumbers there, eggplants here…you get the picture. Our only break from tradition was that we put the vegetable garden in the front yard. That’s where the sun was. Occasionally he’d plant a marigold because he heard they were good bug repellers. To him, the term beneficial was foreign. Bugs were bugs, and they were all bad. Never once did we think about how that cucumber or eggplant got there.

Insects in the Garden

Not sure when that Eureka moment came, but come it did. I would say it came with the Master Gardening course, but actually, it did start to surface long before that. Maybe our kids had a hand in this. We would watch them marvel at the insects as only a kid can do. Whatever happened, we began to make the connections between insects and garden produce. Without one, the other wouldn’t happen as easily.

As we just said, pollinators are funny and sometimes fussy. Sure, you have to provide nectar for the parents, but you also have to provide food and shelter for the offspring. Some insects only come for the nectar of certain plants; others need a specific plant on which to lay their eggs. This is where the planning comes in and for us, it is fun.

The Garden is Already Started

We started this year’s garden last fall. Remember the madman’s garlic? Right now it’s resting under a layer of snow, but it won’t be long before the madman starts pointing out the rows of green tips. And, last fall while the madman was busy planting garlic, I was digging in some spring-flowering bulbs. Now my work is hidden under the snow although in other years we have had blooms around this time. These bulbs all needed their chill hours and this month, they definitely got them. But, now we have to tweak our final garden plans.

The madman still draws out a vegetable garden plan. But, with a no-till system of permanent beds and permanent paths, this is real easy. He knows where each crop will be planted. All he has to do now is to make sure he has seeds and seedlings. During the quarantine in 2020, we learned the true importance of a steady supply of fresh produce. As usual, this year the madman wants to make sure he has a good supply of seedlings – this process has started. Hot peppers need lots of time to grow. Beyond that he’s working to perfect a system of effective staggered planting in the ground.

Staggered Planting

Some might call this succession planting, we like to call it staggered planting. The madman is moving the cucumbers out of the main garden in an attempt to fool the striped cucumber beetle. Right now the destination is top secret. But, he’s been thinking about what to do with that empty spot.

The cucumbers were grown in a long, narrow row and he plans to use this row for fast growers like greens and radishes. He divided the row into what he calls planting intervals. Each week he will plant a different interval, so hopefully the harvest will be spaced out. As we harvest and eat each interval, he’ll re-plant with a different crop. If I can get him to stick to a calendar, this will work.

If we have the seeds that is. Last year certain seeds were scarce. We did okay because by the time lockdown hit, our seedlings were already started. But, for other people like our friend Bill seedlings were difficult to come by and seeds were the new toilet paper. Already this year we have seen delays, shortages and waiting lists at some mail-order seed companies. Hopefully your seeds are on order if you are going the mail-order route. I have seen the madman rummaging around in his seed boxes, so I know he has his seed situation well in hand. Our vegetable garden is under control.

The Other Gardens

We keep our vegetable gardens organized because they feed us. The rest of the gardens we play around with and it seems we change a few things each year, just to keep things interesting. However, some things remain constant. Perennials form the backbone of the beds. But these dependable plants have one flush of blooms. Sure, with creative pruning, we can extend their season, but this won’t do it for a summer’s worth of pollinators. So we need to fill in with annuals and here’s where the planning comes in since we grow these from seed.

Early in the season, we can count on the trees, shrubs and bulbs to produce the first round of nectar. Our native trees like oaks and maples begin to flower in February and March. As the snow begins to melt, skunk cabbage will poke through providing nectar and even shelter for pollinators. As the flowers of the trees fade, those of spring flowering shrubs and bulbs begin to appear.

Seedlings for After the Frost

By the time we hit May 15, the madman’s last frost date, we need seedlings ready to go into the ground. Last year we tried a bunch of fancy hybrid zinnia varieties – most of them died thanks to cold and bugs. No problem, pollinators prefer the basics, so that’s what we’re growing this year. By the time our seedlings are established in the ground, we’ll direct sow the next round of seeds.

Seed Supply

We have most, but not all of our seeds. Although he did start the pansies in December, it’s still too early to start planting anything. John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds has a nice seed starting timetable. Besides the pansies, for early blooms we’ll count on things like borage, calendula, sweet peas and bachelor’s buttons. These will later be followed by flowers of plants like nasturtium, nicotiana, and California poppies. Next will come the summer blooms of dependable standards like dahlia, cosmos, liatris and milkweed. And, as the season winds down we’ll even rely on the blooms of aster, goldenrods, cleome and rudebeckia to carry us through.

Of course, throughout the season we’ll add a variety of different blooms and textures. Some of these will come from our potted exotics like brugmansia and passion flower. Others from seeds that strike the madman’s fancy like castor beans or Datura. And more will come from the fragrant herbs planted throughout the various beds.

Seed Selection

As you can see, our planning now revolves around seed selection. A couple of things to keep in mind. First, don’t get too fancy if you want to attract a lot of pollinators. Since pollinators evolved along with the basic plants, they may not care for newer hybridized varieties. In fact, most pollinators like the old single varieties and they like a lot of them. Blocks of color are more effective, so we try to avoid mixes and single plants.

Wide Variety of Flowers

And, because different pollinators prefer different types of flower heads, we try to provide a wide variety. The madman suggests that if you want a particular visitor, do your homework and plant accordingly. For example, the monarch butterfly – Joe pyeweed, cosmos and zinnia are among the plants that will attract these butterflies, but they won’t stay to lay eggs if you don’t have milkweed. The Pollinator Partnership has a pretty good guide to get you started.

Sound like a lot of work? We make it fun. Over the years we have found that we like the flowers the pollinators like. We like them even more when the pollinators show up. I don’t even miss those double cosmos anymore.

Another thing to keep in mind, COVID has affected orders and shipping. Get your orders in if you haven’t already. In fact, we’ll be missing some seeds if we don’t hit submit on those last three open orders.

So, while the madman pays, I’ll start the hot cocoa.

By the way, the madman’s seed starting experiment has concluded. Soaking hot pepper seeds in a solution of ½ tsp. Potassium Nitrate per 1 qt. Water for two days gives the quickest and highest germination. Right now we have hot pepper seedlings all over the place.