3rd Annual New North End Plant Sale

at Bibens Ace Hardware

Ethan Allen Shopping Center, North Ave.

Burlington

Sandy would like to help you load up some plants.

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

9 am to 2 pm

The proceeds from this sale help scholarship applicants of the Burlington Area Community Gardens secure a garden plot for the season. Come and help out your neighborhood gardeners!

For more information, please call Dan Cahill at Burlington Parks and Recreation, 802-863-0420

This mother’s day is especially important to me, because for the first time in four years I actually get to be in the same time zone with my mom! We get to celebrate our birthdays and holidays together this year, to make dinner dates and plan our gardens and do all the things we missed so much, and I feel so grateful to have her back in Vermont. Sometimes, just like the Joni Mitchell song, we don’t realize how important things (or people) are to us until we don’t have them around. So here’s to the time we get to spend with our moms, and the chance to say thanks for their boundless love and for being just amazing.

This year we’re pulling out all the stops to spoil the moms in our world – with a new play area to entertain the kids, with gooseberries, currants, hazelnuts, and quince (plus all the traditional favorites), with rose bushes and strawberry baskets, herb planters and gift cards, three new greenhouses, and too many flowers and vegetables to name. It is truly a gift to work in a place so filled with beauty and life, and to see people enjoying it is the icing on the cake.

Sunny thunbergia baskets

Finally, red verbena!

Glorious cosmos

'Dreamland Mix' Zinnias

Tons of cold-hardy veggies ready to go into the garden

'Salvador' dahlias

Gorgeous calibrachoa baskets

Tulips (my mom's favorite flower) blooming in our garden

Yum! Everbearing strawberry baskets that will produce ALL summer

Take your pick - climbers, shrubs, or rugosas

Geraniums (in lavender)

This is the place Eric has fondly dubbed "Tomatoland"

And now for a tour! We begin in the retail house...

Walking down from the retail house we find Sandy (fittingly) hanging out by the sandbox

Lots of great perennials in front of greenhouse four

Greenhouse Four, now open to the public and filled with annuals, perennials, peppers, and herbs

Inside greenhouse four...bright stripes of annuals

A sea of impatiens

If we walk outside again we pass a silvery display...

...and into "Perennial Alley"

There are some amazing plants in the alley, like these sedums...

...and this sweet flag

At the end of the alley we come to the new shade perennial greenhouse (affectionately "Baby Shade")

...and beside it its brother ("Baby Clear"), filled with herbs and veggies

And just for the heck of it we'll see what the production folks (Bobby and Jen) are up to...

...potting up tiny tomatoes!

And look! There are some lovely baskets in here

And floriferous fuschias

Happy Mother’s Day!

Here are a few of the general tips Charlie shared with us…..

• Trees are grafted, unless you dig them up out of the woods. Which is not a good idea, since you would be getting something not bred for fruit production and possibly disease laden. Trees are grafted in order to provide strong root stock in combination with a “top” that is bred primarily for eating quality. In addition, apple trees are often grafted onto a “dwarfing” root stock which will keep the tree from towering above you, fruit out of reach.  When planting, look for what is called the “graft union” – it is a slight bulge at the base of the trunk where the root stock and the top meet. This union should be about 1″ above the soil line once planted. If you plant it too deeply, you may trigger the root stock to take over the top growth and this would not provide you with the best eating fruit.
• At planting time, use only the native soil in the planting hole. Dig the hole so that it is 2 to 3 times wider than the tree’s container or root ball. Do not go deeper than the container or you risk planting the tree too deeply.  If you add compost to the planting hole, the roots will never have to reach out and search for food in the native soil and the tree’s root system will never develop fully.
• When purchasing a tree, look for even lateral branching (called “scaffolding”).
• The first two years of a fruit tree’s life are the non-bearing years. It is important that the tree puts its energy into being strong and vigorous, not into making fruit. So, sadly enough, you must pick off the blossoms so that fruit does not form.  This difficult task will reward you with bigger and better fruit on a healthy tree in years to come. After Charlie’s talk, I dutifully went home and stripped my plum tree of its recently formed flowers.
• Spacing of trees is equal to their height. In other words, if a tree is going to be 15′ tall, you need to plant it 15′ from its closest neighbor.
• Pitted fruits like plums, cherries, peaches, and apricots do not do as well on clay as apples and pears do.  If you are like me, and live in a clay pit, look for the best drained site and consider digging some trenches to direct the water away from the orchard.
• Amend the soil by layering in compost and other nutrients on the soil surface (not right up against the trunk though) after planting. This should include compost, some additional nutrients based on soil test results, woodchips from hard woods (which promote beneficial fungal activity), and a little woodash (only about 1 cup per tree).  Vermont Compost Company’s Perennial Blend is a perfect material for mulching around the base of the fruit trees. It includes compost, micro-nutrients, macro-nutrients (NPK), and an extra shot of bark, which is high in lignans and which promote the beneficial fungal activity trees love.
• A north facing slope is the best spot for a home orchard – it heats up a little later in the spring and keeps the trees a dormant a little longer. This delays bud formation which lowers the risk of a frost zapping those early flowers.  A north facing slope also has good air circulation and frost tends to blow away before settling into a valley or dip.
• Fruit trees are best planted in pairs, and their planting partner should be a different variety or cultivar. This diversity leads to better pollination which equals more fruit formation.  For example, a Liberty apple, should be planted near a Honeycrisp, or a  Parker pear should be planted with a Summercrisp pear.

I think I will try a few cherry trees and  pears  this year. I have a spot picked out, on the north facing slope outside our kitchen window. And maybe once those are in, I will start to imagine some blueberries and raspberries nearby….closer to the house than the ones I planted when we first moved here.  One thing I am glad about….my years of procrastination with the back yard means that I have a blank slate and the home orchard can be very close to the house; it will be landscape and larder, all in one.

At Red Wagon Plants, our fruit selection includes cherries, apricots, apples, pears, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Soon to come are blackberries, currants, gooseberries, and alpine strawberries.

The first step to creating a cozy outdoor space is to enclose it. Our quick and skillful jack-of-all-trades, Eric, is building us a simple and beautiful fence to make the space more comfortable.

Eric putting in the first posts of a new fence

More fence posts going in

Eric's fence, nearly complete!

We had so much fun making the retail greenhouse look pretty for opening day!

A cascade of petunias

Spring plants on display - heucheras, dicentra, lamium, brunnera, and more

The fabulous textures and colors of coleus

'Wedding Train' Coleus

Marigolds!

Scented geranium! A delicious-smelling houseplant

Flowering quince

The sweet little flowers of Irish moss

Strawberries!

Artichokes

Fern-leaved bleeding heart

Fuschia - your friend in the shade

The gazebo, filled with hanging baskets, blueberries, raspberries, azaleas, and rhubarb

New this year - '3-D Silver' Osteospermum

Annuals, herb planters, and boxwoods

Our new array of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs, grown by Hinesburg's Cobble Creek Nursery

The fruit trees are bursting into flower!

Apple blossoms

'Center Glow' Ninebark

Dogwood and ninebark

Cercis canadensis buds

photo from Johnny's Selected Seeds

You can read more about hardening off  here.

Another great thing to plant now are crops you direct seed and that can germinate in cold conditions – spinach, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, scallions, peas, and fava beans.

If you have a spot in your garden that you are not going to use this year, you might want to consider spreading some cover crop seed. this will help ensure that the soil is fed during it’s fallow period. The cover crop is essentially plants that are grown just for the soil’s on going health. For cold weather sowing, you might want to try a cow pea and vetch mixture or oats or an annual clover .  This will smother out weeds and add lots of organic matter to your garden.

Gardening has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. And with one constant seems to come another… Garden Critters.

We all have our stories. The deer strolled though and ate the tops off all the baby beets. The woodchucks chomped cabbage heads in half. The neighbor’s horse got loose and stampeded the entire garden. Rascally raccoons destroyed the corn crop in the night. The squirrels had family feast in the blueberry bushes. Robins pulled out every bean sprout as they emerged from the earth.  I’m all for sharing the harvest, but come on. This past spring was the last straw. I watched my own dog eat the asparagus shoots right out of the ground!

It was time to build a fence.

To install my own fence seemed like an unappealing and daunting project. I was intimidated. I like freedom, ease, and of course beauty in the veggie garden. Alas, I had to make moves. Precious asparagus was being robbed. There was no time to waste. Honestly, the dog was the main motivator. My biggest worry was that my quickie fence would be an eyesore. The final product has turned out to be nothing of the sort.

My garden comrades and I made construction choices with installation time, simplicity, and expense in mind. We decided on very basic materials that were easy to procure. Cedar posts for the corners and the entrance; installed with a borrowed posthole digger. Wooden grade stakes as the perimeter; one every 5-ish feet, pounded in with a mallet. Coated wire fencing with small holes at the bottom to keep out little critters and large holes at the top which is eye pleasing. We paid a little extra for this but I’m glad because the design is truly easy on the eyes (visually I’m not a fan of chicken wire). A staple gun came in handy to attach the fencing to the grade stakes. Lastly, a very simple wooden frame was constructed with the fencing material as the gate.

Looking into Lily's garden

The fence has given the garden a sense of place and boundaries. It is no longer just a plot plowed out of the lawn. There is now a container to hold all the ideas, inspirations, and plans for the garden. In only a few hours we transformed the space! This year I hope to incorporate the fence more into the planting scheme of the garden by creating a narrow bed along the edge. The fence is a built in trellis. Why not plant annual climbing flowers! My favorites of course: Sweet peas, Cobaea, and Painted Lady Runner Beans.

I’ve also been dreaming up a project to build a solid gate. A gate that is structurally sound and provides an identity to the garden. Entrances hold an opportunity to set a scene, create a mood, transition from one thing to another. They are the first impressions of a space. When you pass through a gate or doorway you have the chance to leave behind what you don’t need: a chance to step into the present.

Lily's beautiful garden with fence in the background

Here’s some inspiration for gates and fences…

The Vintage Iron Gate

Stone Moon Entrance

Inspiring Garden

The Branched Gate

I love this and think it would suit my garden, but built with driftwood.

Circle Gate

I love the blue!

The classic rose over the garden gate

Roses and circle gate

Mr. MacGregor's Garden Gate

Sheet mulching is a technique for creating a garden bed that does not require tilling or hand weeding. It is intended to mimic the natural mulching process that occurs on the forest floor. It is also suitable for converting a section of lawn into a garden without breaking the sod. There are a lot of different methods but here is the simplest one:

1. Trample or cut down any large woody weeds.
2. Put down a layer of compost to jump-start the composting process.
3. Create a thick weed-barrier of newspaper, cardboard, or other biodegradable materials over the area you want to convert, wetting with a hose as you go.
4. Cover the weed-barrier with weed-free compost or composted manure at least 3 inches thick.
5. The top layer mimics the materials that fall to forest floor – nut shells, twigs, fern fronds, coffee grounds, wood chips, etc. are all good materials. Create a layer 3-5 inches thick and water in.

Plants can be transplanted directly into this bed and should be closely spaced to minimize the germination of weeds. Note: this method is not recommended for areas that are prone to flooding or waterlogging.
Graphic courtesy of agroforestry.net

Red Wagon Plants Open House

Early morning in the greenhouse

We welcome you to visit our greenhouses on Sunday, April 1st, from 9 am to noon.

We will have coffee, tea, and snacks for you as you peek around the greenhouses and see what it looks like when we are in full swing. Feel free to bring children, see the calves next door, and come armed with garden stories and questions!

We will have some plants for sale as well as Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Come by for cold hardy flowers, herbs and veggies. Bagged compost will be available for feeding your garden beds and, best of all, our staff will be on hand to meet you and talk shop!

We look forward to seeing you,

-Julie and the Crew