Finally - Reisentraube!

I know what you're wondering right about now - what on earth is Reinsentraube?  Well, let me enlighten you: 

Sorry about the iffy photo quality - this is about as good as I could do
Photo credit - The Incredible Seed Co. 

Reisentraube is a lovely little tomato that ended up in my stash 5 years ago....waaaaay back in 2017.  It's been on the grow list for almost as many years, but it's never ended up in the garden for one very sad reason.  Every single time I sowed it - even up to 5 seeds at a time - it never once germinated.

Six Varieties of Lettuce....for now

First things first.  In my last post where I spoke about my new nail-biting venture, I also indicated that I was finally changing the email subscriptions from feedburner to Mailchimp...aaaand of course I messed something up.  It looks like not everyone that subscribed under "The Gardening Me" (vs.  those that subscribed under the old website name "Homegrown - Adventures in my Garden") received a notification.  Apologies to those that were affected by this.  I have since fixed it (I hope!) and we should be good now.  Once again, if any of you notice any glitches with the notification, are receiving duplicate emails or have any other issues, do let me know.  Thanks so much :)

Now, on to todays post...

This year, much like with most other veg that I'm growing, it's all about variety when it comes to growing lettuce.  I actually went a little overboard when refreshing my lettuce seed stash and ended up getting a few packets in every single order that I placed.

Last years lettuce starts

Putting It All Out There - Eeek!

Hello my bloggy friends.  Well, I've decided to finally do it - and it's a terrifying step.  I've been thinking about doing this for a few years - literally.  Back in 2018, I was at a Garden Writers conference and speaking with a sales rep about the drip irrigation in my raised beds.  During that conversation, she casually said I should make a video about it.  I shook my head - I hated being on camera.  Even home movies made me cringe and I always shooed the camera person away, be it at a wedding or a birthday dinner.  I much prefer being behind the camera than in front of it - and that goes for photos as well.

That 2018 conversation happened in Chicago
Pictured:  Chicago Botanic Garden

More Coleus Please

 Last year I had the most gorgeous display of shade tolerant annuals on our front steps.

Shady Front Steps Loaded with Annual Pots

While most went into the compost pile at the end of the season, I decided to see if I could keep a few over the winter.

Happy First Day of Spring!

It's the first day of spring and I am raaaring to go!  And while the garden is still a muddy mess from all the snow melt, my plans are in high gear.

1st sign of life in the garden
The gorgeous pink catkins of the Mount Oso Pussy Willow

So Darn Exciting!

I'll be doing a post on the changes to the veg garden in the new year but there is one big change happening as we speak that I am SO darn excited about.  After 10 years of dealing with rickety, makeshift fencing supported by u-posts and a plywood "gate", we are finally ditching the lousy chicken wire and having an honest to goodness fence put in!

These openings are for two 8' double gates that will swing completely open
giving me easy access when dealing with compost, mulch, etc.

Colour In the Fall Garden

I was having my coffee in the garden yesterday morning - a habit that I've recently adopted, rain or shine - when I became inspired to document the colours that I'm seeing in the garden right now.  While we normally think of deep oranges, yellows and reds when we speak of fall colour - and indeed there are a lot of those mixed in here - there are also a lot of other colours splashed around the borders.

Trees are usually top of mind when it comes to fall colour but this post focuses on perennials, although I couldn't help including a couple of my favourite annuals and shrubs as well.

P.S.  I'm really trying to up my game when it comes to including proper botanical names (à la Kris from Late to the Garden Party - she is the botanical name goddess!) as it really does ensure we are all talking apples and apples vs oranges, if you get my meaning.  And while I may never refer to a nasturtium as a Tropaeolum - even if I could pronounce it 😄- I 'm going to try my hardest to at least mention the botanical name in my blog posts.

So here we go - first up is one of the biggest pleasures in the garden right now - Seven Son Flower.  This cultivar is Proven Winners "Temple of Bloom":

Heptacodium miconioides (Seven Son Flower)
'Temple of Bloom'