If it’s not going to be winter, can we go directly to spring? I’m ready – I bought seed-starting mix yesterday, my grow-light will be hung tomorrow, I just finished perusing my seed catalogs and have put together an order and I have a really bad case of cabin-fever! So what’s the hold-up? Oh, yes, it’s January – bummer!
Well, in that case, I’ll have to be content with dreaming while I sip on a newly brewed cup of tea in the late afternoon while the sun still shines over the valley…
I have already decided that the majority of my gardens this year will be devoted to annuals, especially the ones that self-sow (I just love volunteers), and the only perennial I MUST get established is asparagus. Some of the annuals I have selected can be direct-seeded in the garden after all danger of frost has passed, but some I will start indoors to give them a head-start for the new season.
One beloved annual I never try to grow myself is the smaller version of the pansy – the viola. It takes about 9 weeks to grow them to transplant size, and by then I have become weary of the task of caring for them – much better to stimulate the local economy and buy the fruits of someone else’s labor. So many varieties are on the market now that I like to see them in bloom before I buy, but then the decision is still fraught with indecision. Violas require full sun to part sun, will need to be cut back when they become leggy, will languish in the hottest part of the summer, but will bounce back again when the temperatures moderate in the fall. Leaving the last flowers of the season to set seed will ensure an encore presentation next year! Did I mention that violas are edible?
Cleomes or spider flowers, are best direct-sown in the garden where they are to grow – namely at the back of the border due to their 4-6 foot height. These are wonderfully structural plants with long season blooming, interesting seed pods and carefree culture. All they need is full sun and room to ‘explode’ just like the fireworks they resemble.
Nicotiana or flowering tobacco, is another annual to sow in place as it is quite difficult to transplant. These plants are also a bit rangy, so I usually plant them close together to be self-supporting. If you have never enjoyed the evening perfume of nicotiana you have missed a heady experience and as the colors coordinate nicely with cleomes they make excellent bed-fellows – white, pink, lavender and rose.
No annual garden of mine would be complete without zinnias – preferably singles to accommodate the pollinator insects – and I prefer the short, mounding types such as Profusion or Highlight. With minimal effort these zinnias will bloom all season long in full sun, and they don’t mind a fairly dry soil. I will be starting my zinnias indoors along with some tomatoes (when I have decided which ones to grow), and a few herbs – basil, parsley and mint. That should about do it for this year I think…
Incidentally, I just Googled the zip-code 17751 to determine the current growing zone and it came up 6. Global warming? I recommend a grain of salt…
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