Here’s a nice site:  The Tasteful Garden.  Lots of useful stuff.   In addition to tomato, pepper and vegetable plants, there are onion and garlic, fruit and citrus trees, seeds, herbs and garden supplies.  What sets them apart are the added features.  Check out the Tasteful Kitchen in the menu bar.  There’s an herb usage chart and tips for how to harvest and store fresh herbs.  There’s a page on herbs and antioxidants and a page on canning tomatoes (with recipes).  They even sell both garden tools and kitchen gadgets.  Nice site.  Click on their logo to go there.

Here’s a place for sweet potato.  Lots of varieties, including Georgia Jets, Beauregard, “Bunch” Porto Ricos, Vardaman, Centennials, Nancy Halls, White Yams, O’Henry, Carolina Ruby and Japanese.  They include sweet potato facts,  tips on planting and harvesting sweet potatoes as well as a couple of recipes.  There’s a yam vs sweet potato discussion and a page on color ( did you know that for many years sweet potato meat was either white or yellow instead of the red we know today?)  Click on the logo.

Here’s a catalog with a LOT of variety – all sorts of vegetables with detailed descriptions and instructions.  They also have books, dvds and supplies.  I especially like the “gardening with kids” and the “gifts for gardeners” sections.

“Southern Exposure Seed Exchange specializes in heirloom seeds and other open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds – especially varieties suited to the Mid-Atlantic region.”  They have a print catalog and return cusotmers get an extra 5% off.

Click on the photo to go there.

This final one doesn’t have a print catalog (or a logo), so you’ll have to click on the name to go there.  It’s a mom and pop operation, but a nice one, with varieties that tolerate dry hot summers.  I assume that’s where the name comes from:  Skyfire Garden Seeds. Specializing in heirloom, organic and open pollination seeds.

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Beans, beans and more beans.  All sorts of beans.  Broad Beans, Dry/Shell, Flat Podded, French Filet, Green Bush, Lima, Pole Beans, Purple Podded, Runner Beans, Soybeans, Yellow Bush.  I don’t even know what all of those are.  Plus they have things like asparagus and Jerusalem artichoke as well as other vegetable seeds.  Click on their logo to go there.

This is one I couldn’t resist:  Vegi-Forms.  They say “A Form for every veggie”, but really it’s about 5 different forms.  Want to make a yellow squash look like an ear of corn?  Or how about this nice face for your pumpkin?  In addition to making your veg cute, they claim that they  ”Are denser, which means they’re sweeter and more flavorful too.
Require less pesticide use, because they are protected from many garden pests by the plastic mold.  Grow better and healthier overall.” Again, click on the photo. 

How about chiles?  Try the Tough Love Chile Company?  No hard catalog, but you can order online.  You can even order whole collections of chile seeds, such as the mild collection or the hot hot hot collection or even the ornamental collection.  They even have the Tough Love Chili Bookstore with books about chili and cook books as well.  Cool.

And finally, tomato tomato tomato.  You say tomato, I say… yum.  Here are several tomato sites.  Enjoy.

Tomato Growers Supply Company.

Tomato Heirlooms.

Totally Tomatoes.

Tomato Fest. 

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There are all sorts of catalogs for the Garden Dreamer, both online and off line.  Let’s start with seed catalogs.  And let’s start our look at seed catalogs with Johnny’s Seed Catalog.   What I like about Johnny’s is that they don’t sell any varietal or tool that they haven’t tested themselves.  And their list of seeds is extensive, including vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs, as well as cover crops for farms.  And tools, of course. They also have heirloom seeds, organic seeds and something called pelleted seeds.  Pelleted seeds are seeds that have a coating on them to make them easier to handle.  It especially makes it easier for machines to handle them.

Organic seeds?   Aren’t all seeds organic?  Not officially, no.  An organic seed is a seed grown from a certified organically grown plant.  The theory is that seeds that are organically grown, especially for generation after generation, are superior to those grown otherwise, especially to genetically modified plant seeds.  Here’s a discussion of organic seeds by someone who disagrees with a requirement to use organically grown seeds under certain “commercial” conditions.

Johnny’s has a large heirloom seed collection.  The wikipedia definition of heirloom seed is “a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture.

We like Johnny’s.  You can order a hard catalog if you’d like.  Just click on the photo of the catalog to go to their website.

Next is Seeds of Change. Seeds of Change sells organic seeds.  Now, most of these “seed” companies sell more than seeds.  Seeds of Change is no exception, since they also see seedlings, tubers and the like.  They have large selections of things like potatoes, which are better suited for larger plots, but they also have a section for urban and container gardening, with things like: Beurre De Roquencourt Wax Snap Bush Bean, Black-Seeded Blue Lake Pole Bean, Cocozelle Bush Zuchini, Fino Verde Basil, Forest Green Parsley,  Italian Pole Bean, Little Ceasar Lettuce,  Mesclun Salad Mix, Peacevine Cherry Tomato,  Peruvian Purple Chile Pepper,  Royal Burgundy Bush Bean, Stupice Tomatoe : Sugar Snap Pea.  Pretty cool.  They also have a section on four season gardening.

Next is Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds. In their own words:  “Your source for 1400 heirloom seeds. We only offer open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural & non-GMO!”  White Pumkins, Zebra Tomatoes, cool stuff.  A blog, forums, a magazine, links to other heirloom seed sites.  This is a neat catalog.

And of course, there’s the long established catalogs like Burpee’s and Parkseed.  We use Parks a lot.  Next posting: Vegetable Catalogs.

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What are your favorite catalogs?   Any kind…. seed, plant, heirloom, vegetable…. you name it.  We’d like to hear from you.  The next posting will be about OUR favorite catalogs, but first tell us about yours.

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This isn’t us. We just used a large pair of tree sized pruning shears.

The weather got nice enough to actually do a little gardening today.  It was really nice to get out into the garden after so many weeks of cold, cold, cold. 

There wasn’t much we could do.  The ground is still pretty hard, after all, but we could do a little tree trimming.  This is the perfect time for it.  You don’t want to be cutting on your trees during the warm months.  It’s best to cut off that unwanted branch between when the tree has just gone dormant or just before it starts waking up again.  “When the sap’s not running”, as they used to say.  Of course, you CAN trim trees during the growing season, but when and how depends partly on the type of tree.  There are even some good reasons for trimming, say, a flowering tree right after the blooms have passed (you’ll be able to see where the buds are for next year and avoid cutting them off).  But for the most part, trimming during winter is best. 

We toured the whole yard looking for things to trim, and we found quite a bit.  One thing to watch for is a branch that will eventually rub another branch as it grows.   When branches cross (and touch) the motion of the wind can make them rub the bark off of the branches.   Not good. 

We also trimmed those branches that were going to start hanging too low, blocking either views or paths.  And we nipped (in the bud, so to speak) any branches heading toward power lines.   It’s much safer if you get there before they get to the lines.  The same applies to trees near houses.  Get to them before they start touching the house.  It’s bad for the tree and bad for the house (but good for varmits that want a bridge to your attic).

And of course we trimmed for looks.  We want our trees to be attractive, provide the right amount of shade in the right places and be symetrical.

For more information about how to trim your trees, click HERE  and HERE and HERE.

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Thank you for taking the time to visit “A Garden in the City”.   We’ve been gardening for a long time and thought we might write about it.   We hope you’ve enjoyed it. 

But we have other interests as well.   For one, we love to travel.  True, we often visit gardens wherever we go, but we love traveling in general, so we don’t limit it to gardens.  Over the years, we’ve stayed at everything from a houseboat to a plywood  “cabin” to a suite overlooking a Mexican city to a balcony cabin on a cruise ship.  Hotels, B&Bs, tents – we aren’t particular.   It’s nice to have a view, though.   And although the ad may say the place has a great view, how do you know if that’s true?   So we created “Rooms With Great Views”, where the photo is of the VIEW, not of the room.  Folks send us their photos and we post them, on the average of one per day.  We have over 200 wonderful views now, from well over 50 countries.   If you, too, like to travel, then check out our site.  Be forewarned, though.  Looking at these photos will make you want to go somewhere.  When you get to the bottom of the first page, click on “see more views”.   And don’t forget to check out the map.  It’s at www.roomswithgreatviews.com.  You might even want to send us a photo from your last trip. 

Another interest of ours is Spanish.  All things Spanish.  We love the language, and we love the Spanish Speaking countries we’ve visited.   We have long looked for a site where someone could find all the information they needed about each of the Spanish speaking countries AS WELL AS all the resources they would need for learning Spanish.  But we’ve never found such a site.  So we built one – Learn Spanish, Travel Spanish.   If you have an interest in all things Spanish, visit www.learn-spanish-travel-spanish.com.   There are pages for learning Spanish (click on the Learn link), a Blog (written by yours truly), as well as a page for each country and many of the cities of the Spanish speaking world.  For those, click on Travel and then the individual place.  Where else can you find EVERYTHING about a country, from the usual hotel finder, weather and currency converter to the CIA report, the “bathroom diaries”, the CDC report on diseases, the State Department report on safety, as well as pollen information, travel with kids, being a vegetarian traveler, tips on electricity etc, and details regions, including maps.  You can find it here:  www.learn-spanish-travel-spanish.com. 

And in the coming months we hope to do two more websites.  The first is Travel Over 60.  The title says it all.  We’ll examine all aspects of traveling for people over 60.  Did you know that when you reach a certain age, that certain car companies won’t rent you a car?  Also,  we’re taking a cruise soon, and I noticed that on some of the excursions, there are age limits.  Not fitness limits, but age limits.  I know quite a few healthy seniors who could run rings around some of the unhealthy 30 somethings we know.  Go figure.  Anyway…. coming soon.

Also coming soon:  My Nice Little Life.  This one’s more personal.  Subtitle:  How to be happy without being rich.  I’m happy.  With many fits and starts, I feel that I’ve built my life.  Lots of mistakes, but Sherry and I have made a very happy life for ourselves, at working class wages.  This site will examine How to Be Happy through my very personal lens.  

And before I forget, let me mention one other thing.  All of our designs are available on mugs, tee shirts, posters, aprons, what have you.   If you would like to see them, look for the revolving images in the sidebar on the left, about half way down, just under where it tells how many spam comments have been blocked.  Double Click either there or here to our Zazzle Store. Who knows, you might find a nice mug with a Garden in the City Logo.   Thanks. 

And  thanks for visiting THIS site.  Let us know what you’re thinking.

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The bones hold the body in place.

Our garden has several defining elements that govern how the garden looks all year long.  At the back of the yard, along the property line, are several Leyland Cypress trees that are at least a dozen years old.  They serve as both background and barrier, effectively blocking out the view of the houses behind us, giving privacy to both us and our neighbors. 

 At one side of the Cypress is our “path to nowhere”.   It’s a short path leading from the central part of the garden through a small arbor.  After passing under the arbor, there is a concrete pad with a compost bin, but that’s as far as it goes.  The arbor, wedged between the Cypress and a Japanese Cherry, defines that corner of the garden.  It also makes the garden appear larger by suggesting that there’s more.  I love to hear people say, “Where does that go?”  Nowhere.

Down one side of the garden is a series of privacy fence,  rose trellis and shrubs, all lending privacy and defining the space.  The opposite side has three Japanese Dogswoods, interspaced with hollies, for the same effect. 

The center is a circular “patio” with a series of paths (3) leading to it.  It’s rough stone with moss growing between the stones.  A two foot high stone wall follows part of that central “patio”. 

Attached to the house is a long arbor that supports Carolina Jasimine (or Jessamine).

These things define the space.  They suggest, even in the dead of winter, a lush, green garden.  You don’t have to imagine a garden while standing here in the throes of winter.  It’s already here.  You can see it.  All that’s missing are the colors and smells.  And thanks to the evergreen aspects (Cypress, Jasimine, Holly), we still have privacy, color and shelter and food for the birds.  

Those are our bones.  Tell us about yours.

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Gus guards the garden, even in the dead of winter.

   Garden catalog time is upon us.  We sit by the fire and look at all the beautiful possibilities that await us, come Spring.  But we rarely even visit the yard this time of year, especially when it’s as cold as it has been lately.  Certainly no early evening tours with a glass of wine in our hands. 

Nevertheless, something good is happening in the garden.  This current longer than usual deep freeze that we’ve been having here will make our work easier come warm weather.  

For one thing, those bulbs we have (like tulips, for instance) that require a cold winter will do better this year.  Most years it just doesn’t get cold enough here (the piedmont of North Carolina) for tulips to do well.  They’ll only last a few seasons, as a rule.  This should help.

AND a lot of typical garden pests won’t make it through the winter, at least for us.   Up North, where the bugs are hardier and used to long cold winters, it won’t make that much difference.  But here in the South, where the winters are usually short and mild, often with below freezing temperatures just at night, our bugs are susceptible to long periods of freeze like we’ve had  these last few weeks.  That should make for easier gardening for us. 

The best news is actually the “hope” that this freezing period reaching so far south will have some effect on those species that are migrating into new territories.  I hope that insects like the fire ant will be driven back by this unusual cold period.  I don’t know that they will, but…  well, that’s why I said that the best news was a hope.  As these foreign species move into new areas, they cause havoc with native flora and fauna (and us).  Let’s keep our fingers crossed on that one. 

So the cold isn’t bad news for gardeners.   Think Rebirth, Renewal, Rejuvenation.   Flip the switch on that gas fireplace and reach for your catalogs (and maybe a cup of warm mulled cider).  Spring is on its way.

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Does your garden have good bones?

When you’re designing a garden, there’s a great way to tell if you’re on track.  Since it’s going to take a few years to fill out a garden anyway, AND since you’re not going to be doing much in the winter, use that time to check out your plan.  I call it the “bones” of a garden.

Your garden should look good year ’round.  I know you won’t be spending much time in it in the winter, but you’ll still see it, and it should give you many of the benefits that it gives you the rest of the year:  calm, peace, satisfaction, yadayadayada.

The bones are made up of those things that stay all year long — the trees, bushes, sculptures, paths, arbors — and anything else that stays.

Take a walk through your flowerless (and maybe leafless) garden.  Does it flow?   Is your eye led from one area to the next?

Do you need some color?  To start, how about green?   As in evergreen.   Evergreen hedges and trees not only provide privacy but do great things for promoting and protecting wildlife.  And how about red, as in berries?    Color and food for the birds.

Arbors and trellises are great year round additions.  Cover them with evergreen vines.

The best gardens are gardens that look good all year long, even without flowers, even covered with snow.

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Pink "snow" from the Kanzan trees.

We planted several trees a couple of years ago.  They’re doing well.  It’s amazing really, how many trees we have on a just fifth of an acre.   We tend to have Japanese trees.  I know we should plant natives, but they just get too big.  So we have Japanese maple and dogwood and cherry trees.  And we added a couple of crape myrtles.

We planted the trees because we want to get away from so much sun gardening and move toward shade gardening.  We’ll miss all the flowers that so love the sun, but shade gardening is easier and has it’s own beauty.  And you can sit in the shade.  Not so much in the sun here in NC.

My biggest challenge (and now by biggest concern) was the front yard.   It’s small.  And it was all sun, all the time.  Now that we’ve planted, there are two Japanese Dogswoods between the sidewalk and the street, and  two Japanese Cherries in the yard, one on each side of the walkway leading from the porch to the street.  We already have three of the Kanzans in the back yard, and we love them.  They get big but not gigantic, and they’re stunning in the spring when they’re filled with pink blossoms.  My concern is their habit.  They spread, especially when flower laden and when wet.   So we have to keep the limbs high enough to be able to walk under them, AND we have to make sure they don’t press on the power lines (this is the city — power lines are everywhere).  We’ll see, I guess.  We’ll be doing some judicious pruning in a few weeks.  Story at 11.   We have to have some sort of tree in the front because it gets too hot to sit on the front porch in the summer.  And we love sitting on the front porch.  It’s the best way to meet and greet your neighbors.  Unfortunately, our porch faces west and get full evening sun.  Hence the trees. We had consider the ubiquitous dogwood, but there are just so many of them around our neighborhood.  Plus their flower, although lovely, doesn’t have the drama of the cherry.

The Kanzan grows quickly.  This is their second year, and by summer should give us the shade we’re looking for.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I must admit I’m nervous about them.

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