Calgary Garden Coach

disappointed in chocolate cosmos

I planted these because they supposedly smell like chocolate, so I thought they'd be a fun plant for the kids.

Ummm, not.  If you stick your nose right into the flower and inhale very deeply, you might catch a faint whiff of chocolate.  But it smells more like the fake-chocolate of the smelly stickers I collected when I was young, rather than a real chocolate fragrance.  No wafting of scent from across the patio, that's for sure...

Also, these are in a terra cotta pot and need watering every day or else they wilt in the heat.  Too much maintenance for me.

Still, I do like the flower colour and I don't give up easily.  Maybe I'll try overwintering them in my cold room just once and if it's not too much effort, I'll keep them and put them in a glazed or plastic pot (more moisture-retentive) next year.

a fast-growing bean teepee for kids

Here's my first attempt at a bean teepee.  I realized when I made it that in order to make the base wide enough for 2 kids to fit under, the tee pee was going to be too short.  Next year I'll invest in some bamboo stakes at least 8 ft long.

Anyway, scarlet runner bean is a fast-growing vine, but it still takes until the end of august for it to fully cover the teepee.  Maybe I should have planted more densely?  I'll give it another shot next year before I decide if the whole effort is worthwhile...

The flowers are finishing now and the beans are starting.

backyard harvest

Speaking of enjoying the garden, we have been enjoying the fruits of my labour, literally as well.�Call me crazy, old-fasioned, a Martha-wannabe, or maybe I've read too much Michael Pollan lately, but I just love the fact that my kids go out in the backyard�every day and pick lettuce leaves, snap peas,�berries and tomatoes to snack on whenever they like.� Is that cool or what?�

The spinach and strawberries are finishing,

the raspberries and tomatoes are starting,

the snap peas really snap,

the carrot thinnings are delish,

and the scarlet runner beans and pumpkins are in blossom.

In fact, my little veggie patch has been so successful that it was no problem convincing my husband to dig up some of the back lawn to make more space for veggies next year!� Yay!

mosaic pathway - check!

Way back in the winter, when I had too much time and energy, I had the idea to make this pathway.� It incorporates some rocks and shells I've collected from various trips, glass left over from other craft projects, and of course, hand and foot prints of all our family members.� I briefly considered trying to get the dog to make a paw print, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort on my part and the stress on his part.� The kids love the path and they also loved helping make it (I think the key is to not ask them to help, then they jump in!!)

I'm not totally sure how long some of these stones will last.� I have a fear that water will get under some of the glass and rocks and eventually crack the concrete.� But for at least�a few years it will be neat for the kids to check how much bigger their hands and feet are getting.� And I did put a 3" base of compacted gravel underneath and surround the stones with sand, so I hope that will help with drainage and make the stones last longer.

I am going to let this settle for a while, then add some soil and creeping woolly thyme in some pockets and around the edge next spring.�

This completes the gardening projects I wanted to get done this summer, and it's only August!� Except a month or so ago I decided we needed to make a little more space for veggies for next year, so I'll be digging up a little grass this fall...� Anyway, time for a break to just enjoy the garden.

a magic wand from the garden

... the seedhead of allium (ornamental onion) 'Purple Sensation'.   

Performs magic best while still green (once dried and brown, the seeds will shake off easily).

how to make a family mosaic pathway

Here are some of the stepping stones I made for our family mosaic pathway.  According to the directions I got with the mould, you can actually make the stones in place.  Just fill the mould with concrete, lift up the mould, rotate it, place it down again next to the finished stones, and repeat.

But I wanted to mix up colours, so I made the stones in the garage and will put them together in the path later.  The best tip someone gave me was to rent a concrete mixer - it made the project a snap!!

I used bits of whatever I had around to make the mosaics with - some leftover glass from other craft projects, some stones and seashells from my family's trip to Florida in 1985 (can you believe my Mom kept them all these years?), interesting rocks from my own more recent travels, and some of my husband's marbles from when he was a kid! 

For obvious reasons, I made 4 1/2 out of 5 1/2 batches while the big kids were at their grandma's house, then we brought them home to each make a few of their own stones.  We each made handprint and/or footprint ones, and each family member decorated their own stones, plus a few extras for the grandparents.  The kids had a blast, and I even got 4 baby footprints made before she started to fuss.  Next step, excavate the path so we can park in the garage again...

getting kids to eat veggies

It works!  Gardening works!  Well, at least today it did.  My almost-5-year-old has been very difficult to feed lately.  Today she refused lasagna for supper which used to be one of her favourite foods... but she ate 3 1/2 helpings of spinach salad because we picked it from the garden today!  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

Freshly picked organic homegrown spinach.  Yum.

Completing two projects is too much to ask

After my husband set up the rain barrels, he took the babe and I started staining the new fence.  This is as far as I got before it was time to go pick up the kids.

It is probably going to look like this for another month or two before we get around to finishing it!  That's the way things go these days...

June cut flowers

When I first started gardening, I almost hated to cut flowers to bring into the house, because I didn't want to lessen the garden display.  But now I have reached that critical amount of plants where you'll never even notice a few flowers missing here and there.

My almost-5-year-old loves to make "posies" so we go around the garden and I help her cut whatever she likes - almost.  There's a few things I still can't bear to cut (giant alliums come to mind) so I tell her they're special to me and she's fine with that.

She chose all these flowers, and I attempted to arrange them for her.  The bouquet includes siberian iris, bleeding heart, sweet rocket, daisies, leopard's bane, iceland poppy, cornflower, snow-in-summer, chives, anemone sylvestris and... a few blades of grass (regular, not ornamental)!!

bean teepee (tipi?)

This year is my first attempt at a bean teepee.  The beautiful bamboo trellis on the right is for peas, and the very rustic, lopsided one on the left is my obviously home-made version for the scarlet runner beans.

I saved 5 straight-ish branches from pruning the lilacs last year.  There is cedar mulch around the inside so the "floor" doesn't get muddy, and I am wrapping string around the outside to give the beans plenty of things to hold on to as they grow (click on the picture for a bigger version and you just might be able to make out the string), leaving a space at the front for a "door".  I planted 5-6 beans around the bottom of each pole.

Scarlet runner beans are very vigorous and fast-growing.  The red flowers are also quite pretty and supposedly attract hummingbirds.  That fits in with my veggie patch / hummingbird & butterfly garden theme (hey, I don't have a lotta space so I had to combine themes!!).  I'm not sure how sturdy my construction is so we'll see how things go this year...

You can also see my trampled raised beds in front.  Seedlings seem to be doing fine!

aaargh!

Gardening teaches patience.  Raising kids teaches patience.  Gardening with kids ... and a non-gardening husband ... teaches more patience!!  I am going to be one patient person by the end of this!!

So I had my hubby make me some little raised beds to plant some veggies in this year.  One of the main reasons for the raised beds was so that it would be easy for the kids to know where NOT to step.  A couple of weeks ago, I put in spinach, beet, lettuce and carrot seeds.  Then it rained for a week and I was happy to have got my seeds in before all that water!  Then yesterday I went out and watered them in the morning and saw lots of little seedlings coming up. 

That evening I came home from work and saw that my raised beds had been trampled and stomped on and had dandelion flowers "planted" in them!!!  My husband apologized profusely - he had let my 2-year-old play in them.  He said he didn't know I had already planted seeds in there.  Fine, but the whole point was they were supposed to learn not to step on the raised beds anyway!!  Grr.

I noticed this morning quite a few little seedlings still coming up so maybe all is not lost.

bird bath

Our birdbath is so popular right now with the robins, sparrows and chickadees, I've decided everyone with kids should have a birdbath in their yard, preferably one that can be seen from an often-used area of the house!  We've been really enjoying sitting in the sun room and watching the birds, especially the big fat robins, splash around (but I'm not a patient photographer, when I went to take a picture, this little guy was the only one willing to pose).

Starting in early May the robins have been putting on a show including mating dances, male territorial wars, berry eating (Mountain Ash tree), worm pecking and gathering old leaves for making their nests.  The whole family loves to watch them.

If you have a bird bath, keep it clean and top it up every day.

Kids' Gardening Party

I found these ideas from an article in Calgary's Child by Tami Oudendijk of funinaboxcanada.com.  I am so doing this when my daughter gets older...

Invitation

• send a mystery package of seeds to each guest with time, date, rsvp etc. written on it
• guests win a prize at the party for guessing which type of seed it is (keep a list in case they forget to bring them)
• mention that they should wear something they don't mind getting dirty

Venue

• use a large plastic table cloth in your home, go outside, or rent the community centre
• give everyone a container to work in (big enough for their pot and soil)

Menu

• theme-related snacks: trail mix with seeds (sunflower, pumpkin); gummy worms/bugs; finger foods served in flower pots and juice poured from a watering can (if it is food-safe)
• open-faced sandwhiches cut with a flower-shaped cookie cutter and spread with different colours of cream cheese

Decor

• fresh cut flowers or potted plants, of course!
• blue streamers for the sky and yellow ballons for the sun
• mini flowerpots to hold cutlery and napkins

Activities

• supply terra cotta pots and paints
• if using water-based paints, have an adult spray varnish to seal them once dry
• supply soil and a flower or vegetable plant or seed to plant (did you know pansies can be put outside in mid-April in Calgary?)

Cake

• cupcakes decorated like flowers and arranged on a tray to look like a cake, with green shoestring licorice for stems, or
• flower, watering can or flowerpot-shaped cake, or
• dirty and worms cake (chocolate cake with chocolate cookie crumbs and gummy worms)

Loot bags

• child's gardening set with a watering can, or
• gardening tools, gloves and a package or seeds, or
• journal with a ruler and pen to keep track of watering and growth of their plant

Easter idea

Don't like to give your kids too much candy for easter?  I have those plastic eggs that split in half - but what's small enough to fit in them that's not just junk??  How about some seeds?  And you can also get some peat pellets that expand when you put them in water - interesting for the kids and easy for little hands (or even new gardeners) to use.  You can find seeds and pellets anywhere that carries garden supplies at this time of year. 

Scroll down for seed suggestions on a previous post.

plants for the senses

Getting kids into the garden is important for their health and ultimately, I believe, for the health of the planet.  If you do nothing else in your yard, plant a few fun and interesting plants for kids (adults will like them, too)!

touch: lamb's ears, ornamental grasses, woolly thyme, echinacea, celosia, snapdragons

smell: mint and any other herb for that matter, scented pelargoniums, chocolate cosmos, heliotrope

sight: giant sunflowers, ornamental artichokes and kale, chinese lantern, bleeding hearts, cosmos and zinnia

taste: the choices are endless but bite-sized, easy-to-pick varieties are especially great for kids: strawberries, saskatoons, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, peas and beans

weird colour: purple carrots and beans, rainbow chard, heirloom tomatoes

seeds for kids

Let the kids learn a little about nature and nurture by letting them plant a few seeds.  Set aside a spot in the garden exclusively for them, or, if space is at a premium, give them a pot or two.  Here are some seed suggestions for plants with easy-to-handle, fast-growing seeds:

• sunflowers
• nasturtiums
• sweet peas
• cosmos
• peas and beans (any kind of edible, watch out-castor beans are poisonous)

planning for a pond

When the kids are a little older, I'd like to have a little pond in the backyard.  I know exactly where I want it to go.

Recently, I decided that this year I would put a pathway through the large, sloped perennial bed so that the kids could meander (or more likely, play chase) through the garden.  Then I suddenly realized that I could make the pathway now with wood chips or gravel mulch, and then easily turn it into a waterfall for my pond later!  More enjoyment now, less work later.

If you're worried about safety with kids and a pond, pondless waterfalls are a trendy and easy alternative.

mosaic path

I like to collect small, interesting rocks and seashells from the places I've been (the only reason they're small is so that I can still carry my suitcase).  I had them in artfully arranged little collections around the garden.  Of couse, my kids are unavoidably attracted to them and spend time moving them around the garden.  I want them to enjoy the rocks too, but I don't want the rocks to get lost.  And I kind of like keeping them all together.

My solution?  This year I'm making a little concrete cobble-stone path with a mold I got from Lee Valley.  I'm going to arrange my stones and seashells in the pathway in a mosaic fashion.  Voila!  A permanent, kid-friendly display.  I'm going to have the kids make hand- and footprints in some of the stones too.