Sunday Notes From the Garden

The last flowers have now been harvested from the garden. I have a hard time letting go this time of year especially when the dahlias were late and were doing their darndest to keep blooming in warm sunny weather. But, next years seedlings needed to take their place, staking needed to come out so covers can be put on. Fall is a time for planting, planning, and tucking things in for the winter. Having limited space means there is no time for cover crops, and we try to practice a no till/dig to help with our soil health. When amending the soil for the next crop I don’t pull the old material out , I simply cut it to the soil level and let the old roots decompose naturally. Built in compost as it were. I also add some organic compost on top. Dahlia tubers are the one exception to this practice, and here in zone 6 Ohio I pull my tubers out for storage over the winter months.

This year was exciting for zinnias! I was delightfully surprised by the new “Agave” zinnias from Johnny’s seed as well as the “Ballerina”and “Aurora”varieties. What I wanted to show here was just how big the Agave zinnias can actually get in a garden setting. In the production beds we are harvesting for market and they need to be at their peak best for bouquets. Beautiful as they were, they were a bit smaller. If they are left to do their own thing however they will get much bigger than my hand! Benary’s giants are also known for this as well. These were grown in the borders around the cutting garden so that I could trial them and so that I can enjoy some flowers throughout the season as well. The reason we don’t harvest them for market at this gigantic stage is what you can see here in the photo. The flower is absolutely huge and gorgeous but the edges are weathering and darkening from age.

The same flower when seen from a distance as you would strolling through your garden looks stunning and you don’t even notice the darkening under petals. A bouquet of flowers is like having a close up photo of nature right in your hand however, and the dark aged petals would be highly noticeable. For that reason we harvest them slightly smaller and younger at their peak for market bouquets. I love these delicate twisting spaghetti like petals on the cactus type zinnias and the Agave colors went well with everything all season! If you love coral pinky oranges these are your gals for the garden!

Happy Gardening,

Xo

Shari