What are you doing with the time freed up by WS

12 years ago

The flower beds are packed so tightly my first year winter sowing that there is no need to weed. The weeds just do not grow - or maybe they just don't show!

With all my free "gardening time" I have started a new project. Since I am on Cape Cod I thought it might be nice to have a Seashore garden. I am 3 miles inland so I created a waterless beach! Cleared an area about 150 square feet, planted rosa rugosa, sea grass and had 2 ton of crushed shells and native stone delivered - a beach in the making. Locally it was easy to find a used pier piling, a lobster pot and decorative sand pipers. I searched the internet and found a sand coated resin sandcastle. Now when I get weary of walking around my newly created garden park and I go to the beach!

What a wonderful summer this has been (despite the heat)! If I ever figure out how to post a picture, I will post some.

Many thanks to all who provided the seeds and handholding during the cold months.

Dorothy M (Meadows)

Comments (10)

gardenweed_z6a
12 years ago
I haven't reached the point yet where I have any free garden time, especially with this terrible heat. I've been watering and with the ever-growing number of new perennials & shrubs I've planted thanks to winter sowing, it takes several hours a day to be sure everything is hydrated sufficiently to survive the heat. My hydrangeas that get a little sun were badly wilted by 5 p.m. yesterday but I'm guessing they'll have recovered overnight. They get watered deeply every second day so they should have been able to survive yesterday's 103 degrees. A few coral bells looked crunchy by suppertime so I set cat litter jugs close to those and filled them with water. A pinhole poked an inch from the bottom lets the water pour out slowly in a thin stream right at the base of the plant.

If I did have free time, I'd be doing more summer sowing. So far I've got both dwarf & regular Shasta daisy, sweet William, Cupid's dart, gaillardia/blanket flower, helenium & perennial flax that have sprouted in recycled containers. The containers are on a small shelf unit at the west end of my shaded breezeway where they get just an hour or two of late afternoon sun. The sweet William & Shasta daisy sprouts are already sending out their first true leaves--in less than 2 weeks!

I'd love to see pictures of your waterless "beach" when you have some to share.
drippy
12 years ago
Meadows, what a lovely idea! I sure do miss those Cape Cod beaches. As for time, I have a long way to go with this yard before it gets into "maintenance" mode.
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northforker
12 years ago
You must post a picutre! That sounds so perfect for Cape cod. We use to camp with the kids in Brewster and I sure miss Nasut beach!

Free time? None. Like Eileen, I keep grow seedlings. And the heat is oppressive. Even though we broke down and got a irrigation system in my 3-4th year of WSing, it does not get to everything (especially pots, but also some spots in some garden beds) and so I am still watering every day.
loisthegardener_nc7b
12 years ago
What free time? Wintersowing has allowed me to grow so many things and I have branched out from roses in all directions. Currently I am a tomato slave, keeping the tomatoes watered and patrolling against the birds who are pecking holes in them. Making sure the birdbath stays full seems to help discourage the avian attacks.

I would never have gotten involved with growing tomatoes or other food items if wintersowing hadn't made it so darn easy to start almost any kind of seedlings.
trudi_d
12 years ago
Free time? I've yet to draw a salary so I guess I have lots of free time for Winter Sowing, lol. There's little spare time when you need to tend a garden loaded with tomato plants, but ahhh, that's my own self-inflicted duty. Sigh.
mnwsgal
12 years ago
I agree with Trudi, who has free time with all the winter sown plants to care for and new beds to make in which to plant them?

Now that DH has retired we want to travel more so I am working to get all my plants in beds and to cull plants that need extra care.
pixie_lou
12 years ago
Yes - we need beach pictures! We own a time share on the Cape so visit regularly.

I'm spending my time clearing more land so I have a place to put the fruits on next years WS efforts.
tomva
12 years ago
wintersowing tomato's has caused me to have to work hard everyday this past month and it's hot,and I'm tired and I'm getting cranky,lol,just kidding,I dang sure ain't gonna starve to death this winter..:o)
girlgroupgirl
12 years ago
Ha Ha! I'm with Tom. Wintersowing makes me work HARD all year around.
I spent some time after the initial plantings and potting up for future planting, making a whole new garden area. It was a LOT of work: all raised beds, all the soil needed to be heavily amended. Then I planted it all, mulched it well (and am watching the squash die......).
Beginning to get some harvest from that area now, so I have to process it all. Then I have to build shelving in the shade to hold all the plants I am not planting until next year.
Right now I am summer sowing heat lovers. Fall is a great planting time for us and so many warm germinators love the heat and humidity to get going!!
bakemom_gw
12 years ago
Free time you say? Sow more.

I also just put together a small lasagna bed on one of my curbside corners. With rain, watering, and high temps, this baby is going to cook up nicely.