Park Seed Garden Journal

Rain Gardens Reduce Your Environmental Impact

One of the best things you can do for your local environment is build a small rain garden.  It's amazing how a small, low-maintenance plot of garden can make such a difference.  A rain garden absorbs large amounts of rainwater during storms, filtering it and putting it into the local water table and atmosphere rather than letting it flow unchecked into the water system to cause pollution and flooding downstream.  A well-designed rain garden can allow as much as 30 percent more water to soak into the ground as compared to a conventional lawn.  If your rain garden is carefully placed in the path of downspouts (where a lawn is often difficult to keep healthy, anyway), this can mean a huge difference in how much water is filtered and absorbed into the local water supply.

The term "Rain Garden" refers to a low-lying area that collects water in heavy rains that has been planted with plants that thrive in such conditions.  This can mean something as simple as choosing better-adapted plants to plant in low-lying areas of your landscape that already collect water, or it can be complicated enough to involve soil tests, landscape architects, and serious construction.  Something in the middle is best for most gardeners.  Any rain garden is better than no rain garden: every bit of runoff that you help to be filtered and reabsorbed helps to clean the water in your neighborhood, city, and anywhere downstream and keeps your local water supply healthy and plentiful.

The best rain gardens use a combination of four things to succeed:

• A low-lying area that collects water from the surrounding area and keeps it there long enough to effectively be absorbed
• Mulch to absorb and retain water, as well as to provide organic nutrients to the plants
• Plants that thrive in periods of flood and drought, absorbing and retaining large amounts of water in storm conditions
• Loose soil that allows water to be absorbed and transmitted into the water table.

Most gardeners have a pretty good idea what areas of their landscape already tend to collect water, and those are usually the best places to start your rain garden (though you can redirect rain to other spots).  It's especially good if water from your roof and lawn drain into this area.  It is very important to build your rain garden at least ten feet from any building (also keep it away from large trees and septic tanks or drain fields).  You'll need to dig the soil and loosen it to two feet deep to give the water room to infiltrate (as with any garden project, be aware of underground lines and utilities before digging).  If the soil is clay-like or very dense, you may want to add looser soil to your garden area or even replace the clay entirely.

After loosening the soil  you will now have have excess dirt.  You can just move this to another part of your yard, or you can use it to build a low wall to block water in the rain garden area (this is called a "berm").  Slowing the water further will allow more water to be absorbed and filtered by your rain garden.

There are a variety of beautiful plants that are excellent for rain gardens.  You'll want to choose plants that are tolerant of both standing water and drought.  Some of my favorites are Calla Lilies, Japanese Iris, and Aster.  Black-Eyed Susans and Cannas are some great choices, too.  Where possible, I recommend using native plants, as they are often more adaptable to local conditions (find other plants that are great for this use here).

The last important step is mulching.  The right mulch will prevent erosion, keep the soil moist, and absorb some water itself.  It will also replenish organics in the soil and discourage weeds, which helps to keep your rain garden as low-maintenance as possible.  Mulch your rain garden heavily (two to three inches) with a heavy organic mulch.  Coarse compost is best, as it will float less than wood chips or shreds.  Do not use grass clippings, as they will overfertilize your soil.

Keep in mind that this information is for a small rain garden.  If you're planning a larger garden, you'll want to do more research than what you find here, and possibly even seek out professional help.  Check with your local university extension offices and gardening clubs to find out more: in most areas these groups will be more than happy to help you out.  In many areas where watersheds are particularly threatened or where flooding is a problem, entire neighborhoods have pooled resources to build large rain gardens or many small versions, and this has made a huge difference in their areas.

Daylily: Some of Summer's Most Unique Blooms

Daylilies (or Hemerocallis, as most of us call them around here) are some of the best summer bloomers you could ask for.  They're remarkably easy to grow and stand up brilliantly to a variety of difficult garden conditions, including poor soil, cold, heat, humidity, and even drought (which is more and more important to many gardeners each year).  They also are available in a huge variety of colors (both single- and multi-colored varieties), which means that there's a Daylily that works in just about any garden color scheme (for those of you with the restraint to stick to one).  The flowers also vary in petal shape and size, especially in recent years, when hybridizing Hemerocallis has become more widespread than ever.

My favorite trait of Hemerocallis is how they bloom.  Each bloom lasts only one day (thus the name).  The plant blooms more vigorously than all but a few others, though, and each bloom is replaced so quickly that most Daylilies will never be without beautiful blooms throughout their entire flowering season.  And, since they blooms are constantly changing, it makes for one of the most interestingly dynamic plants I've ever experienced.  Your Daylily really is a noticeably different plant each and every day during the bloom season, which can be one of the greatest joys in a summer garden.

Pruning Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vines

I got an email today from a man in Indiana asking when he should prune back his out-of-control Lonicera (Honeysuckle vine)and Trumpet vines.  He knew that both plants are most often pruned during dormancy, and he didn't want to prune too late and kill the plant.
Well, the great thing about both of these vines is that they're remarkably hard to kill once they get going strong.  The best time to prune both is during dormancy, since they grow their flower buds in the spring.  If it's very early after dormancy, you might be able to prune them and still get flowers this year, but I don't recommend it.  However, if you miss pruning them at the best time but still want to cut them back for summer, I would say that cutting them back after they are done blooming should be fine, so long as they are established vines (about two years old should be plenty).

What are Wave Petunias®?

I've gotten a few emails from readers in the past week asking what exactly "Wave Petunias®" are.  Television commercials for these flowers have been running lately on the gardening and lifestyle networks, and that has piqued a lot of interest in people, so I thought I would quickly address the question here.

Wave Petunias are a hybrid cultivar of petunias that was introduced several years ago.  This series was among the first of the true trailing petunias that spread effectively as a ground cover.  Waves spread quickly and with little care in full sun, making them excellent as border plants or even in large beds.  They are also special in that they produce flowers all along the long, low stems, which makes for an impressive display of blooms (generally from mid- or late-spring until first frost).  The low, trailing habit of most of these Petunias is also excellent for containers, especially hanging baskets.  New Wave Petunia varieties come out almost every year, too, which means that an impressive variety of habits and colors are available.

Earth Day: Gardening for a Smaller Carbon Footprint

Earth Day is tomorrow, so today seemed like a good day to talk about how a little gardening can change the World.  In his piece in the New York Times Sunday, Michael Pollan makes a very convincing case for gardening to save the world.  Research indicates that growing some of your own food is one of the best things you can do for the environment, especially if you grow organically.  Modern agriculture methods use mammoth amounts of energy to produce our food.  Pollan's argument is that growing your own food is great for a variety of reasons.  First, it uses far less energy to produce the same amount of food.  Second, it doesn't need to be transported great distances (unless you have a very, very big yard).  Third, and, according to Michael Pollan, most important, is that growing your own food makes you realize just how capable of self-reliance you really are.  Once you grow your own vegetables or fruit, it's amazing how much easier other things that can make a difference start to seem.  You might start eyeing your rain gutters and envisioning easily-made rain barrels.  You might start thinking of building a compost pile or getting a composter every time you take out the trash.  You'll be amazed at how much difference you can make with just a little effort once you realize just how powerful you are.

Spring Cleanup in the Garden Made Easier

As you gardeners know, spring cleaning isn't just for in the house.  When the world starts to warm up, most gardeners like to spend almost one whole weekend getting their spring chores done.  While this is extraordinarily satisfying, most of us tend to be pretty disorganized about it and waste a lot of time and energy.  I for one find that my first weekend spent gardening is usually unexpected: the weather is great, and I am inspired to go out there and get something done.  And, while I do get a lot done that first warm weekend, it usually isn't nearly as constructive as it could be if I had planned my time a little better.  What I like to do is make a list of the things that need doing and break them down into small, easily manageable tasks.  This way I can slowly get my garden and yard cleaned up and prepared for the real planting to start.  I usually try to get one task finished every day after work.  This way you can make twenty minutes of great time spent in the sunshine every day turn into a beautiful, ready-for-planting garden over the course of just a couple of weeks (if it even takes that long).  Then, when that perfect Saturday rolls around and you feel the spirits move you to garden, you'll be able to do the most satisfying parts of gardening: planting!

For more on planning your gardening tasks, check out our selection of Month-By-Month Gardening books.

Blueberry Sunshine Blue: The Best Container Blueberry Plants

I suspect that we all love growing our own fruit.  The satisfaction of biting into a sweet, fantastic apple or pear that you've grown yourself can't be beat (nothing's better than fresh).  Blueberry plants are especially popular.  The fruit is not only delicious and extremely healthy, it's also versatile.  Blueberries are not only great raw, alone or in cream, but also baked in almost any way you can imagine.  The problem that many people have with growing blueberries is that many blueberry plants aren't the prettiest fruit plants available out there.  Park Seed has found one, however, that is one of the best-looking plants you'll ever see.  The foliage on the Blueberry Sunshine Blue is a glossy silvery-green color, and it's semi-evergreen to boot!  It's a dwarf blueberry bush with a dense habit that makes it a perfect container plant.  Sunshine Blue is easily attractive enough to stand alone as an ornamental potted plant, but come spring it is covered in bright pink flowers followed by masses of sweet, juicy dark blueberries.

Blueberry Sunshine Blue is also an exceptionally easy blueberry bush to grow.  It's self-pollinating, hardy all the way from Zone 5 to Zone 9, and it's more tolerant of high pH than most other blueberries.  Add to that the ease of container gardening (it's certainly easier to adjust the pH of a couple of gallons of soil than a patch of uncontained ground), and you've got one of the easiest blueberry bushes I've ever seen.

Quick Encore Azalea Tips

Every year at this time Azaleas take center stage on the minds of many people around the world for four days.  This is not because of any Azalea festival, but rather because they are featured so prominently at the Masters Golf Tournament, which is played just about sixty miles from us here at Park Seed.  Even if the announcers covering the tournament didn't draw attention to the famous Azaleas of Augusta National, it would still be impossible to miss the showers of showy, brightly-colored blooms around the borders of so many famous golf holes. 

Of course, as most fans of the tournament (or just of the associated shrubbery) already know,  all sorts of fancy gardening tricks, including brining in plants from other parts of the country, are used to get those particular Azaleas to be in their fullest bloom for the exact weekend of the tournament.  None of that, though, is at all necessary to have fantastic Azaleas blooming big in your garden.  One of the main reasons that Azaleas are so popular is that they're remarkably low-maintenance flowering shrubs, especially the Encore Azaleas.  If you choose your planting location well, your Azaleas should be some of the easiest plants in your garden to care for.

Azaleas do best in loose, well-drained soil.  If you're planting them in hard-packed dirt, just mix in some compost or sand to the soil around the root area to give them drainage.  They prefer slightly acidic soil, so watch the pH around them, especially if there's a lot of cement nearby that could break down and lower it.  Plant Azaleas shallow and keep other plants that might compete away from the root structure.  They'll do best with some mulch down; this will regulate moisture and temperature, as well as providing most of the fertilizer that the bushes will need.  If you prune your Azaleas, be sure to prune after they shrub is done flowering, but no later than mid-summer (around the end of July).  If you keep these tips in mind, your Azaleas can easily provide you many years of trouble-free spring blooms.

Hybrid and Species Tulips: What is the Difference?

Contrary to popular belief, Tulips are not native to Holland.  These beautiful bulbs actually come from the Middle East, from flowers that look somewhat different from the tulips that you are probably used to.  These Middle Eastern flowers are called Species Tulips or Wild Tulips.  Species Tulips are the stock from which those legendary Dutch breeders have been creating Hybrid Tulips, the plants you're most likely used to, for centuries.  Because of the huge variety of Hybrid Tulips that have been created over the years, there are far, far fewer types of Species Tulip available, especially commercially.

For many years it was extremely rare to see Species Tulips in Western gardens, but over the last few years they've started to become popular.  This is partly because of a general movement toward more "natural" plants, but mostly it is because Species Tulips are much closer to true perennials than Hybrid Tulips are.  Most Hybrids become less vigorous from year to year and usually need to be replaced after the second or third blooming season.  Species tulips, when planted in the right conditions, will thrive for several years.  Some will actually spread quite well in more Northern climates with just the right conditions.  Species Tulips prefer very well-drained, almost rocky soil and full sun.  They tend to bloom significantly earlier than their hybrid counterparts, and some varieties of Species Tulips produce multiple blooms on each stem. 

Hybrid Tulips, on the other hand, are typically much larger plants, producing larger and more well-formed blooms.  The bloom color of Hybrids is often more intense, and many gardeners prefer the broader selection that Hybrid Tulips offer.  Because there are so many more varieties of Hybrids available, gardeners are much more likely to find just the right specialized tulip for their garden.  While most Species Tulips bloom very early, planting a few different varieties of Hybrid Tulips can mean blooms spanning most of Spring.  Many of us also prefer the more ordered, clean look of the single blooms that Hybrid Tulips are known for.  Either way, both Hybrid and Species Tulips are beautiful, easy flowers to grow.  Just consider the particular needs of your garden when choosing your tulip bulbs this autumn.

Spring Daffodil and Tulip Care

One of the coolest things about most bulbs, especially Daffodil and species Tulip Bulbs, is that they tend to be very low-maintenance.  Sometimes, though, people forget just how low-maintenance they are and try to do too much with them.  Because we're in the South here in Greenwood, South Carolina, our Daffodils are pretty much done blooming around here.  With Tulips and Daffodils, what you do with the plants just after they bloom can make all the difference for next year's blooms, so here are a few tips for spring bulb care.

Cut the flowers off once they start to fade, before they start to produce seed.  You wouldn't do wrong to cut the flowers early enough to use them as decoration or as a gift (just cut the stem low).  This is so the plant uses the energy that it would use making seeds to build up its bulb, which means more, higher-quality blooms next year. 

Do not, however, cut any of the leaves off.  Those will spend the next several weeks producing food for the bulb.  Think of it like those leaves are next year's flowers.  The leaves may not be the most beautiful plants (I personally like them, but that may just be me), but cutting them early could very well kill the entire plant.  I had a neighbor whose son accidentally mowed a strip through his daffodil patch just before the leaves started to turn yellow.  The next year he had a nice path through the patch with not a bloom to be seen.  Let the leaves be until they turn completely yellow, which is the sign that they've produced enough food to sustain the bulb.

You can set annuals out among the plants to disguise the yellowing leaves.  However, choose something that requires very little watering, such as marigolds.  If you are watering plants above the bulbs through the summer, the ground will stay moist.  Tulip and Daffodil bulbs don't like very moist conditions, as they can rot or just weaken, meaning fewer good blooms next season.  The best way to deal with the unsightly yellowing leaves, though, is to choose a slightly out-of-the-way area for planting your Tulips and Daffodils.  This way the foliage will be less noticeable later in the season.  When the flowers are in bloom, though, they will do plenty to draw attention to themselves.

Keep in mind that this process may be somewhat different when growing hybrid Tulips.  While Hybrid Tulips have many advantages and are far more popular than species tulips, they do not survive from season to season as well as species Tulips do, and many gardeners grow them as annuals.  Cutting the flowers and letting the foliage yellow will maximize the second-year performance of hybrid tulips, but it is rare to get the same level of performance in the second flowering year from hybrids as in the first year, and generally need to be replaced within a few years of planting, especially in the South.

The Best Light for Growing Your Tomato Seedlings

Once you've got your tiny tomato plants sprouted from seed, it's time to move them into the light.  You'll want to put your seedlings in the strongest light you have available.  For many gardeners this means a sunny window, which will work.  Even better is a strong florescent light or grow light that can be placed just a few inches above the seedlings (an adjustable grow light system can help a lot in this).  The closer and more powerful the light is, the less the light will be diffused, which will mean your tomato plants will grow stockier and not get leggy (tall and spindly).  If you don't have powerful enough light and the plants do get leggy, it's not the end of the world.  Tomato plants have the interesting ability to grow roots along the main stem, which means that even a plant that's too tall to be stable when you transplant it can just be buried deeper. 

When placing your tomatoes in the light, keep in mind that you don't want the light so close that heat from it burns the plants, and it needs to give room for air to circulate over the seedlings (keep them protected from chilly drafts, though).  Around 14-16 hours of this light a day is optimal.  Some gardeners recommend longer, as much as 20 or even 24 hours a day of strong light.  I've never found there to be any improvement with more than 16 hours of light, and in some cases it can even be harmful.  Plus, conserving electricity is a concern for pretty much everyone these days.  If you're growing your seedlings with a directional light source (a window, a smaller light or one that isn't directly above the plants, etc), be sure to change the orientation of your seedlings to the light.  When I'm growing seedlings in a window, I try to turn them around once a day, so that they don't bend over trying to grow toward the light.

Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

It amazes me how often I get this question.  It's an argument that I remember best from elementary school science classes, but it made its way all the way to the Supreme Court in 1893 (Nix v. Hedden).  The highest court in the land gave essentially the same answer that I will here: a tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable.   

The argument comes from the fact that the term "fruit" has two different meanings.  In the botanical sense, a fruit is the fleshy ovary of a flowering plant.  In the culinary sense, though, "fruit" generally refers to any sweet fleshy edible plant part (usually the part around the seeds).  A culinary vegetable, on the other hand, refers to a savory or non-sweet edible plant part other than nuts or seeds ("vegetable" is not really used in botany).  So, a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but it isn't really sweet enough to be considered a culinary fruit, so it is, in the food sense, a vegetable. 

This isn't that uncommon: many of the vegetables that you (hopefully) eat all the time are also fruits.  Squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and avocados are all fruits that double as vegetables.  With so many fruits moonlighting as veggies, I'm really not sure why the argument is almost always limited to tomatoes.  So, what should you call a tomato?  I for one use both terms, depending on the context.  If I'm talking about the tomatoes in reference to the tomato plant, I call it the fruit (as in "cherry tomato plants produce a lot of fruit").  Once it's off the vine and in my kitchen, though, it's a vegetable. 

Of course, the issue gets much more complicated if you want to start talking about accessory fruits, nuts, legumes, and seeds.  That,  however, is a post for a different day.

Container Herb Gardens

In college I learned that I love to cook, but that fresh herbs are painfully expensive at the grocer store.  So, one of the first things that I ever grew from seed was a small pot full of herbs.  It's been long enough ago that I'm not sure what all was in that container, but I do remember Basil Genovese and garlic chives, two of the easiest herbs of all to grow in containers.  Both of which are still regulars in my container herb gardens, along with all of these easy to grow herbs.

Cilantro - For Mexican cuisine, Cilantro is a must.  It is the perfect herb to compliment acidic foods, such as lime and tomato.  It is also called Coriander, and it is both a spice and an herb in one plant.  Use the leaves fresh, dried, or frozen as the herb Cilantro, and, once it goes to seed, dry the seeds (technically tiny fruit, but I digress) in the sun and grind them fresh as the spice Coriander.  Cilantro Delfino is one of the easiest varieties to grow, as it grows quickly, produces lots of leaves, and is slow to bolt, which means that it will produce delicious cilantro for longer, which means more batches of fresh salsa straight from the garden.

Lemon Grass - As Cilantro is a must for Mexican food, Lemon Grass is necessary for many Asian dishes.  The leaves and stems are delicious fresh or dried, and impart a distinct lemony taste to whatever they're used in that just can't be replicated.  Lemon Grass is great in soups, and makes for a unique and wonderful addition to hot teas.

Red-Leafed Basil - This dark basil brings a more intense, spicier flavor to the kitchen than most other basils.  It goes wonderfully with artichoke hearts, or in just about anything with vinegar.  Crush these leaves into hot vinegar or olive oil to make an amazing foundation for salad dressings, or to lend a unique, subtle flavor to anything sautéed in the oil.  It's also a beautiful plant, and our Red Rubin Basil is one of the best, and easiest to grow, varieties around.

Saving Money with Vegetable Seeds

You can't turn on the news lately without hearing talk of a bad economy in America.  Macroeconomics is a long, long way from my specialty, and I'll not pretend to understand the big reasons for what is happening in our economy (whatever that may be).  What I do understand is that people around here are particularly concerned with saving money this year, and gardening is one of the best ways to save money.  So here are a few ways that something so simple, cheap, and readily available as vegetable seeds can ease the burden on your wallet this year.

Eat Well

Probably the more obvious way that gardening can save you money is that growing your own fruits and vegetables can certainly ease the grocery store's footprint on your checking account.  Fresh produce is one of the most expensive things to buy at the store, and we all know just how important a diet including lots of produce is for your health (and your taste buds!).  I'm pretty sure that if I saw exactly how much money I've spent on veggies over the last year, I'd probably have to curl up on the floor for a bit, and the prices for produce are only going up in the foreseeable future.  Even a small garden, or even just a few veggie plants in containers on a windowsill or fire escape, can produce a ton of veggies, fruit, or herbs.  That can save you a great deal of money for very little work.

Live Well

Possibly a less obvious way that gardening can save you money is by giving you something to do that doesn't cost a ton of money.  It's easy to spend hundreds of dollars going to the movies twice a week, or renting movies all the time, or buying video games at sixty-five bucks a pop.  In fact, most entertainment these days is pretty expensive, and this is, again, something that isn't going to be getting any cheaper in the near future.  Gardening, on the other hand, is a great hobby that can cost very, very little.  My first year of gardening in college cost me a whopping twelve dollars for seeds, soil, and containers (I've still got the receipts, one of which is from the Park Seed Garden Center).  With a little planning, you can spend as much or as little time gardening as you want, too.  Anywhere from thirty seconds each morning watering your herb container in the windowsill to hours every day can be dedicated to gardening, all depending on how ambitious your gardening projects are.  And every minute that you spend in the garden is a minute that you aren't out spending money.

Feel Well

The third way that gardening can save you money is more of a "long run" sort of thing.  Health care is expensive.  Really expensive.  Gardening can save you money on health care because gardening is actually really good for you.  It gets you outside in the fresh air getting some exercise, which can have huge health benefits, both long-term and short-term.  I've also found that, when you grow your own vegetables, you're way more likely to actually eat them, partly because you're proud of them, but mostly just because home-grown vegetables just taste so much better.  And, of course, if you eat more fruits and vegetables (especially home-grown), you'll be much healthier.  Gardening is also a great way to get kids interested in eating their veggies, which can be a Godsend for parents.  Another advantage of growing your own food, especially from seed, is that you know exactly what your food has been exposed to.  If there's to be pesticide or fertilizer around your food, you'll be the one who puts it there, and as such you can choose organic or even just more diluted solutions, which could have far-reaching health benefits that scientists are only just beginning to fully investigate.  Another health benefit of gardening is that plants are the best natural air purifiers in the world.  Just a few houseplants in your home can make the air far cleaner and more oxygen-rich.  I had a roommate in college who'd been in poor health off and on for years until I moved in, and brought with me a variety of plants.  Living in that far better, cleaner air made a world of difference for my roommate's health, and he hasn't lived without plants since.

These are just a few of the ways that simple, little vegetable seeds can save you money this year.  I'd love to hear from you on how gardening has changed your cash flow for the better.  Comment below or email me at tandrews@parkseed.com

African Daisies as Annuals or Perennials

African Daisies are fantastic flowers.  They bloom profusely over a long season, they're easy to care for and will tolerate quite a bit of mistreatment, and over the last 25 years or so they've become extremely popular, especially as bedding plants.  The more common genus of African Daisies, Osteospermum, is made up of perennials, but because they're native to Southern Africa, they're generally grown as annual flowers in most of the US.  Like many non-hardy perennials, though, African Daisies can be grown as a container plant and overwintered somewhere that is protected from the frost, and many Osteospermum enthusiasts swear by this method.  However, because they require a great deal of sunlight, it is unlikely that they would do very well as an indoor plant year-round.  I haven't yet tried this method with African Daisies (my overwintering space is limited), but I might give it a try this year.  I love the shape of Osteospermum flowers, especially those with semi-quilled petals, such as the African Daisy Flower Power Spider White Purple, an unwieldy name for a truly unique flower.  One of the great advantages to Osteospermum in our area is that they don't mind drying out, and our summers are drought-prone (especially over the last several years).  With the intense sun, we can easily go through a great deal of water trying to keep the soil moist in full-sun areas, and it's really convenient to have at least a bed or two that will stay great-looking throughout the summer without daily attention.

On a side note, I've always found the name Osteospermum interesting, as it is a combination of both Greek and Latin.  It means "bone-seed," from the Greek "Osteo," for bone, and "spermum," for seed.

Easy Vegetable Seeds

I got a great question from a reader the other day.  Her daughter's school is planning on starting a garden this year to help give the kids hands-on learning in several fields, and she wanted advice on what vegetables would be best for the kids to try growing.  She wanted the kids to start their vegetables from seeds, but she wanted something that was easy and productive enough to ensure that the kids had a good experience.
I can't tell you how happy this email made me.  I'm a big believer in hands-on learning, and there are few things that teach more lessons than gardening.  Clearly gardening is a great way to learn about biology and botany (how better to learn about a plant's life cycle than to experience it?), but there are many other things that could be learned from this activity.  The kids in this school will be planting butterfly-attracting plants, which will be a great lesson in symbiotic relationships and how everything is interconnected.  Planting (and eating) vegetables is a great way to start a class discussion about nutrition, which is more important than ever in America today.  The older kids could also learn about basic physics and engineering by helping to build a simple irrigation system.  Math could play a big role, having the kids track germination percentages and growth rates.  There are also the less tangible lessons about rewards coming from a little hard work, self-sufficiency, and the environment.  If things go well, this lesson could also make lifelong gardeners out of some of these kids!
In answering the email, I broke out my copy of Success With Seed, and referred to the list in the back of seeds that are good for kids to grow (that book has everything, I swear).  I suggested tomatoes, okra, and garden peas.  Tomatoes are fun for kids because they're so easy to grow, they produce a lot of fruit, and so many kids love to eat them.  Okra is also a really easy plant to grow from seed, and, as this school is in South Carolina, it is almost certainly a food that these kids have grown up eating.  Garden peas are also really easy to grow, and kids absolutely love them.  Plus, what teacher could turn down a chance like that to tie in Mendel and the history of genetics?

Are you a parent or teacher considering using gardening as a lesson, or maybe a student whose love of gardening was grown in a similar way?  I'd love to hear your stories!  Comment below or email me at tandrews@parkseed.com. 

Starting Beans from Seed: Indoors or Outdoors?

With most vegetable seeds there isn't too much argument about when to start them.  With bean seeds, though, the debate rages on.  Most American gardeners sow their beans directly, but many, especially in England, sow them indoors two to four weeks before the last frost date.  So, which is actually better?  Well, there are advantages to both methods.

Sowing beans outdoors after the last frost cuts a step from the entire process, which is, for most gardeners, a good thing.  Bean plants are sensitive to transplant shock to the roots, and sowing directly removes that risk.  Beans are also very quick growers, which means that getting that early start is less important.  Beans are also susceptible to rotting before they germinate, which can create problems and waste seeds when starting indoors.

Starting your beans indoors, on the other hand, does give you a couple of extra weeks growth early in the season.  Even with something as fast-growing as beans, being able to harvest two or three weeks earlier makes a lot of gardeners happy, especially when staggering plantings of determinate varieties.  Starting your bean seeds indoors also prevents squirrels and birds from digging them up, which is a problem that many urban gardeners report.  Root shock can be avoided when starting beans indoors by starting the beans in peat pots.  Plus, as many elementary school students can tell you, a windowsill filled with tiny bean sprouts can be a very fun thing.

The Benefits of Growing Your Vegetables from Seed

Many gardeners are hesitant to start their vegetables from seed.  I'll readily admit that it's easier to just order bare-root or potted plants.  However, there are several very good reasons why you should spend that extra little bit of time to start your veggies from seed.  Here are just a few of them.

The Cost:  Many vegetable plants aren't all that expensive, it's true.  Around here you can buy tomato plants for around four bucks a pop, depending on when in the season you buy them.  If you're buying them at prime tomato-planting time, they'll be more expensive.  Should you want heirlooms, they'll be even more expensive.  Still, even if they're around seven to ten dollars, that doesn't seem all that expensive.  If you only buy one.  Even at four dollars, if you only plant five plants (which is not very many tomato plants at all), you've spent twenty dollars on plants.  On the other hand, you can get a pack of 25-30 tomato seeds from a quality source for what is often less than the price of a single plant.  For many other vegetables, the cost difference is even more pronounced.

Selection:  Even the best garden shop can't economically carry the same level of variety that is available from seed providers.  Those big home improvement stores usually have three or four varieties of tomato plant.  The big garden shop where my mother buys most of her vegetable plants here in Greenwood usually has six or seven varieties each year (and that's a nursery that specializes in vegetable plants).  Park Seed, however, has literally dozens of tomato varieties available right now, including heirlooms and certified organic seeds.  Because I grow most of my veggie plants from seed, I get to try a couple new varieties of tomato every year alongside my standards, and I end up spending far less than my mother spends on her two or three types.

Satisfaction:  This may just be me, but there are few things in the world to me that are as satisfying as the accomplished feeling of taking a little foil packet of what appears to be tiny specks of chip crumbs and turning them into a huge basket of the freshest, juiciest tomatoes you'll ever set eyes on or tiny peppers that'll send even the most serious of capsicum addict running for water.  For my money you just can't beat that amazing feeling of accomplishment from what is really not that much work at all.

Growing Tomato Plants from Seed

I get emails nearly every day looking for vegetable seed starting tips, especially regarding tomatoes.  Gardeners want all the benefits of starting tomato plants from seed, but they worry about the difficulties of getting the plants started and caring for them until it's time to put them in the ground.  They look online for tips, and the whole process seems a bit overwhelming.  The fact is, though, that it's remarkably easy if you use the right tools.

Once you've chosen your tomato seeds, the next step is to figure out when to get them started.  It is best to start your plants indoors during late winter.  You could sow your seeds directly outdoors once the growing season comes (after night-time temperatures are remaining above 55 degrees), but that will mean weaker plants and a much shorter production season (and thus, fewer delicious home-grown tomatoes).  To figure out when to start your tomato seeds indoors, you need to figure out when the anticipated last frost date for your area is.  The best way to figure this out is to contact a local extension office, garden club, University, or Agriculture Department.  Once you've figured out the last frost date, count back five to seven weeks, and that's your start date (if you're starting later than that, that's OK, but you'll have a shorter season).

Once you've got your tomato seeds and you know when you'll be sowing them, you need to get your seed starting mix.  You could use soil for this, but I strongly recommend using sterile starting mix.  This will protect your tomato seedlings from competition, disease, and pests that will almost inevitably be in non-sterile soil.  Another option is to invest in a seed starting kit.  Starter kits that have individual cells for each tomato plant and a built-in watering system are the easiest way to start seeds of most types.  If you go that route, follow the instructions that come with your kit. 

To minimize work later, you may want to start your seeds in individual containers.  This way you don't have to go through the trouble of splitting the plants later on.  Mix your starter mix with warm water until it is moist all the way through, but not soggy or wet.  This may take a while to mix, because your starter mix should be very dry out of the bag.  Then sow your seeds and cover lightly with about a quarter inch of moist starter mix.  Then put your seeds somewhere where they will stay relatively warm.  Temperatures between seventy and eighty degrees (F) are optimal, though if it's a bit cooler, your tomato seeds should still germinate, though it could take a good bit longer.  If you don't have a good warm spot (like on top of a refrigerator), a seed starting heat mat can be an inexpensive way to keep your seeds warm.  Keep in mind that it is warmth and moisture that trigger germination for tomato seeds, so be sure to keep your starting mix warm and moist.  I've found that, if you're not using a seed starting kit that controls watering from below, misting very thoroughly with a spray bottle can keep your tomato seeds sufficiently moist without disturbing them with flows of water.

If you keep your seeds warm and moist, and you're using quality seeds from a reputable source, your tomato plants should start to sprout after between five and ten days, and it will be time to move your seedlings into the light.

Corkscrew Vine to Brighten Your Mailbox

Everyone around here at Park Seed knows that I'm a huge fan of flowering vines.  There's an appeal to climbers that I just can't quite explain.  The problem with many vines, such as climbing roses, is that many, if not most, of them are perennials, and that is a commitment, especially with a vine that you're unsure of how it will look.  That's one thing that I love about our Corkscrew Vine (Vigna caracalla): It's an annual outside of zones 10 and 11, so you're only committed for a year.  It's a fast grower, though, so you'll get the benefit of a full-sized flowering vine for a single year.  It's perfect to grow over a mailbox or up a trellis, and the mounds of flowers that it produces from mid-summer to early fall are not just stunning, but really interesting.  The nautilus-like blooms are also wonderfully, but not overpoweringly, fragrant (I love having fragrant flowers over my mailbox, so that I get to smell them whenever I go to get the paper and mail in the evening after work).  Also, if you prefer, you can grow Corkscrew Vine in a container and overwinter it indoors to keep it as a perennial.  Just be sure to water it lightly during the winter, and you can enjoy this amazing flowering vine for years to come.