I am SO excited!!!  The garlic that I ordered from Sow True Seed just arrived in the mail.  We have three different varieties.

 

I know it looks just like garlic from the grocery store, but this is "seed garlic."  It was grown specifically to plant.  You CAN plant garlic from the grocery store, and we have done that before, but sometimes it is treated so that it doesn't sprout.  If you plant that in the fall, and it doesn't sprout in the spring, you have lost the whole season.  I would rather buy seed garlic every couple years to be sure.  In the off years, I can plant the extra cloves, knowing they haven't been treated with ANYTHING!!!  But it's good to start fresh every few years.

 

Guess I'll head out to the garden now. The rows are all ready to plant.  Yoo-hoo!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

See why you need to get your mums early?  We have had this one for about 10 days, enjoying it every day.

 

I thought you'd like to see how beautifully it has bloomed.  We give it a half gallon of water every day!!  It is happy.  

 

So am I!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here are my lettuce seedlings for the fall garden.  They are still in these cell packs because they are a lot easier to keep watered at this stage.  As soon as we get some rain, I'll get them out into the garden where they can grow.  

 

This should be enough lettuce to keep us in salads for quite a while, along with the arugula.  At least until the frost gets them.  Then it will be time to shift to soups.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Do you know this plant?  It is Salad Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba.  It is a perennial and grows about 12" high, and as wide.  The leaves are used in salads and smell and taste like cucumbers.  

 

I planted some seeds years ago, and it just keeps coming back.  It doesn't always come back in the same spot like you would think of a perennial, but we still have Salad Burnet without replanting the seeds.  Sometimes it goes to seed, and then those little plants come up all over the place.  That's ok.  If they sprout in the hills they get to stay, but if they sprout in the walk paths they gotta go.  

 

You can even grow it in a pot;  that's how my sister in Yorktown does it.  We love Salad Burnet.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

See?  I'm not the only one who lets the morning glories take over.  This is my friend's garden, and she has let the morning glories go.  

 

And aren't they pretty?

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you might like to see the flowers on my Arugula.  Aren't they pretty?  The whole patch is in bloom, making seeds all along the stems.  

 

The flowers taste like arugula too, so we sprinkle them on top of our salads.  Not just pretty, pretty and tasty.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Have you seen the goldenrod blooming everywhere?  It is so cheerful;  I love its bright yellow flowers.

 

I hope you see some in your travels.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

 

 

See?  More marigolds. 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I forgot to show you the beautiful mums that we picked out at Gracie's Nursery.  The orange one is in a 14 inch pot, and the two yellow ones are 12 inch.  That means the opening of the pot is 12 inches;  the crown of the plant is 26 inches across!!!  And I bet there are over 1000 flower buds on each plant.

 

This is one of my favorite things about Autumn:  mums on the front porch.  

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know you have seen these mums when you go past Gracie's Nursery.  They are just starting to show color.  

 

See the truck with the open back door?  That's our truck getting loaded up with 3 great big mums.  That is all we could fit into the back seat.  I didn't think they would enjoy a 10 mile trip home at 45 mph riding in the open bed of the truck.  

 

I love buying mums early in the season.  I can see what color they are going to be, and we have the rest of the fall to enjoy their blooms.  No need to deadhead mums, they bloom profusely without any of the work.  

 

So, my suggestion to you is to go get the biggest ones you can fit into your car, and enjoy them all season long.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!