Buddy Garden

I can hear them! Never thought I would have baby birds born on my patio! Hmmm I wonder why they chose my patio? Especially the grill is right underneath the bird house. Every time the mother bird flies into the bird house I could hear the little ones chirping.  The parents always bring back something for the babies to eat, it looks like some kind of bug.  I had my camera on a tripod and waited and waited for the perfect moment.  I wish I could see through the birdhouse, the baby birds must be so cute! Too bad I can’t tell what kind of birds they are.  This is the bird house I got for free at the Annual NYC Grows Garden Festival.

Happy July 4th everyone!

I think I’d like to skip Spring altogether if it means nonstop raining.   I mean not just a day of downpour, the kind of rain that just hang on for days and weeks.  I’ve lived in this neighborhood for five years and have never seen a wild mushroom growing out of flower beds.  The rain really put a damp on things in the garden, plants are more prone to foliar disease when they are constantly under moisture and cloudy weather.

Here’s a great article about Tips for Gardening After Heavy Rains. A few important points in the article:

1. Use preventive fungicidal sprays to prevent foliar disease especially for roses.

2. Deadheading - remove all dead leafs and cut the stem back to the closest leaf node or stem.

3. Heavy rain will cause erosion on bare soil and destroy the structure.  The author suggests breaking up the soil after the rain ends and add one or two inches of organic mulch

4. Seeds you planted and have not sprouted are probably rotten at this point.  Author suggests re-cultivating the soil and try again with other vegetables.

With this rain I started thinking about how I can avoid this and still have a good harvest, and avoid the dreaded insects and animals.  Normally greenhouses are quite expensive.  For apartment dwellers like us, you’re probably challenged by small spaces.  The big greenhouses might not  be economical and you might not be allowed to put it in common areas.  Check out these small greenhouses, they’re very affordable and allow you to grow several vegetable plants.

The Seed House Jr. Greenhouse $45

Juliana 4 Tier Growing Rack $59

Juliana 2 Tier Growing Rack $38

Wait… do I see sun? Looks like we’ll be out of the woods pretty soon, the forecast is looking good!

I almost forgot what the sun look like! I didn’t water my garden for the past three weeks.  With the amount of rain we’ve had, I can go away for a month and not have to worry about watering.  That’s how much rain we’ve had for the past three weeks.  Looking at the forecast, it doesn’t seem to let up anytime soon.  On the bright side, despite the lack of sun, plants have been growing faster.

Next time when it rains, grab your camera! The best time to take pictures of the garden is when the sky is overcast, so next time when the weather is bad don’t put away your camera.  Overcast lighting is the best for macro shots, and the rain makes the colors pop.  Hope it’s nice and sunny in your part of the world!

I love spillers, I don’t know why but I love plants that spills over the edge of the pot.  Spillers instantly dress up any containers and I love how they overflow from the container.  Container gardeners are familiar with the phrase “Thrillers, Fillers & Spillers”.  It’s a technique to create beautiful container garden.  “Thriller” is a big, bold plant that you put in the center of the container, this is the focal point and it should catch your attention.  “Fillers” are plants that fill the gaps, they are plants that gives volume to the container.  “Spillers” tumbles out of the pot, they soften the edges of the pot and makes the container looks full.  Here’s an interesting article that talks about different plants you can use for each category.

Examples of plants you can use (taken from the article)

Thrillers

1. Agaves (Agave spp. and cvs., Z 11)
2. Bananas (Musa spp. and cvs., Z 8–11, and Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’, Z 11)
3. Cannas (Canna ‘Pretoria’, ‘Tropicanna’, and ‘Black Knight’, Z 8–11)
4. Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’, Z 9–10)
5. Taros (Colocasia esculenta and cvs., Z 9–11)

Fillers

1. Begonias (Begonia spp. and cvs., annual)
2. Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides cvs., annual)
3. Dusty miller (Centaurea cineraria ‘Colchester White’, Z 7–9)
4. Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus, annual)
5. Plectranthus (Plectranthus spp. and cvs., annual)

Spillers

1. Angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia and cvs., Z 9–10)
2. Cupheas (Cuphea spp. and cvs., annual)
3. Fairy fan-flower (Scaevola aemula ‘Blue Wonder’, annual)
4. Heliotropes (Heliotropium arborescens and cvs., annual)
5. Lantanas (Lantana camara cvs., annual)
6. Pentas (Pentas spp. and cvs., annual)
7. Trailing petunias (Calibrachoa cvs., Z 8–11)

Here are some spillers in my garden:

Million bells

Japanese Hakone Grass  (my new favorite)

Nasturtium

Creeping Thyme (can be used for fillers too, you can be creative with this one)

Purple Oxalis

We stayed at the beautiful Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Phoenix during our recent trip to Arizona.  When we got there, I was surprised to see how beautiful the hotel ground is.  They do a fantastic job with the landscaping, as soon as I walked through the main entrance I was greeted by this amazing floral scent.  It turned out we arrived at a time when the citrus trees were blooming and the smell of orange blossoms just filled the air everywhere.  The hotel was built on a citrus grove back in the 1920s and now the citrus trees fills the resort with grounds.  The scent of the Neroli citrus tree remained in my memory and when I got back to New York I decided looked it up.

The orange blossoms fragrant comes from neroli, the fragrant bitter orange blossom which produces one of the most cherished and expensive oils in the botanical kingdom.  It grows mainly in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and various other areas of southern Europe.  Neroli oil is very precious and one of the more expensive fragrant oils.

Citrus trees

This smells wonderful too but I couldn’t tell what it is.   Any ideas?

Other random pictures around the hotel grounds:

Citrus tree peeking out from a window: