by Christie Purifoy | Mar 6, 2020
It’s one of the questions I am asked most often: what can I do about deer (or rabbits, or groundhogs, or squirrels, or …)?
And I get it. Sometimes garden making can feel like fighting a losing battle. I rarely feel a sense of deep hatred, but I admit to feeling exactly that for the groundhogs who devastated my dahlias and the deer who feasted on my baby Franklinia tree.
It’s enough to make you cry.
Sometimes it’s a matter of finding the right solution: investing in a tall fence with wire mesh buried a foot beneath the soil, for instance. You might try weekly spraying with a homemade garlic solution or growing certain prized plants–like tulips–only in high-traffic areas near the house. But more than solutions, I’ve learned that what I need most in my garden is perspective. Instead of zooming in on the “problem,” I need to take a step back and look for the bigger picture.
I might lose my lilies to rabbits, but those baby rabbits are the cutest things in my yard. Japanese Beetles are an annual nightmare, and I will never forgive them for eating up my rosebuds, but there’s no getting rid of them completely. They are a fact of my gardening life. Instead, of wasting more energy on hatred, I adjust: planting more antique roses that bloom once in profusion before the beetles show up, and avoiding white roses, which they seem to particularly love.
Taking time to seek a more holistic perspective also helps me to be patient and observe the natural balancing tendencies of my garden, rather than swooping in to spray and control. I can’t have the beneficial bugs and birds in my garden if there are no pests for them to eat. I’m learning to look at some pests as a food source I actually do want in my garden.
Meanwhile, I am also planting more things in the garlic / onion / and chive families. It seems that very few animals want to have garlic breath.
by Christie Purifoy | Mar 3, 2020
Why should you consider starting some of your garden plants from seed? Here are my top reasons for starting seeds:
- Save money: a seed packet might contain 50 zinnia seeds for the same price as one zinnia seedling from a nursery
- Variety: many unique or heirloom plant varieties can only be found as seeds
- Garden success: some plants must get an early start if they’re going to flower or fruit this season, and some seedlings are too small or fragile to thrive without a little time to grow in a protected place
Starting your own plants from seed doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Use what you have: recycle those plastic yogurt pots or clamshell produce containers. I use a kitchen knife to add drainage holes to the bottom of my container.
- You’ll need a tray to hold your pots. I love Perma-Nest trays (pictured above) because the heavy-duty plastic can be washed and re-used year after year.
- Your tray will need a cover: Seeds germinate best in humidity. Cover your tray with a ready-made plastic lid or dome, or use plastic wrap. Just don’t forget to remove the lid as soon as seeds germinate. Otherwise, rot and disease might set in.
- Seed starting compost: Seeds don’t need chemicals or fertilizers, but they do need a fine-textured, sterile mix, especially if the seeds are small.
- Heat: most seeds germinate best with a little bottom heat. A radiator top works, but it’s worth investing in a plug-in heating mat designed for seed starting.
- Light: a sunny, southern windowsill will do. I use inexpensive shop lights from the hardware store, strung up with chain in my basement. One cool and one warm fluorescent bulb in each light is best.
A few final tips:
- Read the seed packet carefully: some seeds need light to germinate (do not cover them with soil), some germinate quickly, and some need a good, long wait.
- Consider a soil blocker (pictured above): I love using a tool to make soil blocks. Once you’ve invested in the tool, there’s no need to buy pots, and soil blocks promote healthy seedlings through something called “air pruning.”
