Friday, September 30, 2011

Fall Bulb Weekend!!

My fall order of bulbs/corms/roots arrived today in the mail from Botanus, a mail order company from British Columbia. The post office staff were nice enough to bring the heavy box around to the loading dock, seeing that I probably wouldn't be able to haul it off to my car. That's right, I purchased only a "few" bulbs (though I believe I was not setting any records this year).
One of my favourite perennials: Bergenia's fall colors are starting to show:

I purchased quite a few daffodils, though I've had little success with them since the spring of 2009. I'm hoping the sheer bulk of them will produce at least a few blooms nice months (doesn't that seem like forever?) from now. My order also included some garlic for the herb/vegetable plot, as I found it an excellent deterrent for aphids this year.
Aster dumosus "Alert", a fall-blooming aster:

I am pacing myself with the bulb planting, having planted the minor bulbs today, avoiding the inevitable blistering of the palms thus far. My dear garden friend offered me the use of her electric bulb auger, but I rather enjoyed expending a few calories only to enjoy my supper even more. I used the small handheld bulb planter today, and will probably use the long-handled foot-driven one over the weekend.
Crocuses, Narcissi, Puschkinia, Tulips, and Iris danfordiae go into the flowerbed adjacent the driveway:

A dwarf columbine is reblooming for fall:

I need to take some more cuttings of plants I want to save, and a few lucky others get to move right on into the house. The short-lived herbs (parsley, cilantro) aren't worth bringing in, but I have already got seedlings for new plants started indoors under lights.
The rosemary was brought in for the winter, as it is a long-lived woody herb:

Otherwise, the composting worms got hauled out in the sunlight as I dug the composted product out of the bottom of the plastic bin. The flowerbeds are going to love this. I didn't bother with sorting through the finished compost to save all the worms, since few worms live at the bottom anyhow. They were mostly near the top, where most of the food was located. I have two of these worm bins and they almost have the capacity to hold most of our kitchen's compostable waste over the winter. Excess waste goes to the big pile outside, but I don't use that pile for compost in the garden, as we also throw our weeds in there. I do however get the occasional tomato, pepper, or squash growing out of this worm-compost material.
Worm bin and black composted organic material for the flower beds:

The outer bin collects the compost tea that seeps out of the moist material inside. It's a great liquid fertilizer and I threw most of it around my big rose bush. I highly recommend worm-composting and freely give my worms away to any interested gardener (not that you have to be a gardener, but really, who else would raise a colony of worms in their house?).

3 comments:

Sassi said...

Hi Love your site & all the information you give. Worm bins are sorta fun & take care of a lot of kitchen waste for me, especially in the winter. I think the liquid (lechate) from the bottom of the bin is recommended to use on other than food plants by Oregon State University, & worm tea made from the compost itself is considered safe for all plants. I sometimes put tomato or other seeds in the bin to give them the best start. You will find tiny seedlings in there ;) which is a nice surprise.

Cicero Sings said...

Just got off the phone talking to a friend that has accepted a job up in your neck of the woods ... either as DON or another position. Couldn't believe it. I told her it was mighty cold up there. She laughed. She told me I HAVE to come up and visit her ... I don't know ... will have to give that some thought! Ha.

di said...

You are lucky to get a second bloom from columbine, they are one of my favs. I'd be interested to know how you keep your rosemary, any special tips? When I brought mine in last year the needles were drying up in no time. I'd like to try it again. They are still outside and have toughed out the frosts so far.

di