Growing up on the farm

TheGardenLady’s House on the Farm

We were poor when I was a child growing up on the farm. But so was everyone else in my community and the surrounding communities, so no child felt the poverty. That was how things were. Yet my parents worked hard. Hard physical labor. Especially my mother, who not only worked in the fields and had a small dairy that she took care of by herself, she had two small children at the time and took care of the house.

TheGardenLady’s Mother

My parents worked hard so that we always had food on the table. All summer we had an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and for the rest of the year Mom canned everything. No one had a freezer. The cellar was a dirt hole so it was cold like a root cellar. Foods like potatoes and onions could last a long time down there. And the shelves around the walls were filled with Mom’s canned food in glass jars. The jars looked as beautiful as any stained glass window any artist created.

In spite of all this labor, Mom loved flowers. I never thought to ask who planted the roses, the spirea bushes, the deutzia bush, the ornamental quince bush, the yucca, the apple tree, the lilacs, rose of sharon bushes, the gooseberries, weeping willows and other shrubs and trees that surrounded the house- they were just there. Yet this was a question I regret not having asked.

You see, my parents were the second family household to ever live on the farm. Before that the land belonged to Native Americans. The Leni Lenape Indians lived in New Jersey. And they must have spent time on the property that eventually became our farm. We bought the farm from a family who must have somehow bought it from the Leni Lenape- I wish I could learn more of that history.

Continue reading “Growing up on the farm”

What’s Happening in TheGardenLady’s Garden

Pink Crape Myrtle by BFS Man

Since it is so hot outside, it is difficult even for TheGardenLady to want to be out among my flowers. I do spend a few hours daily watering the flowers, so I am out either early in the morning before or just when the sun comes up or close to eight in the evening when the sun is going down. And it is then that I admire my flowers. What is especially pretty now?

I think the Crape Myrtles- Lagerstroemia are stunning right now. Mine is almost completely covered with flowers. Since my crape myrtle is the shape of a shrub, not a tree, I have flowers from the bottom all the way to the top.

Next to the Crape Myrtle, my Brugmansia is starting to show off. I counted ten trumpet-sized flowers open this morning. Since I give away rooted branches in the fall, I try to keep in touch with the babies. One grandchild of my Brugmansia has been blooming its head off for its owners. Only about 3 ft. tall, it has been having at least 18 flowers at one time. Its owner gives it lots of Osmocote – which seems to be the brand of fertilizer that many nurseries seem to use.  See here.

Continue reading “What’s Happening in TheGardenLady’s Garden”

Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangea Vines by beautifulcataya

When the TheGardenLady was asked for the name of a good vine to grow along the wall of a house, my first suggestion was to check the amount of sunlight that side gets. Depending on the amount of sunlight will determine the vine you want to choose. Also, it would be wise to have a soil test of the area where you want to plant anything. The concrete from the base of the house might leach into the soil to change the pH making it very alkaline. This might not affect the plant you want; but it is best to be sure.

My favorite vine for shade is the climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala petiolaris.  See here.   This is a vine that will grow even in a northern exposure though it likes some sun or dappled sun. It grows in zones 4 or 5 and warmer. It will grow in full sun, too but in the Deep South and in western Zones 9 and 10 it needs shade in the afternoon.

Continue reading “Climbing Hydrangea”

On Weeds

Purslane by A. Drauglis..

TheGardenLady has not spent much time writing about weeds. But weeds are something that TheGardenLady spends a lot of time pulling as well as thinking about. (I have read Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva. )

Whenever I pull the wild purslane- Portulaca oleracea or the Lamb’s Quarters -Chenopodium album or any of the other edible plants that are considered weeds like chickweed- Stellaria species or dandelions-Taraxacum officinale and toss them, I feel really guilty. I know I should really be harvesting these plants not composting them, even though composting means I am recycling these plants.

I have eaten purslane, a popular healthy green used a lot in Middle Eastern cooking.  And one time, I did want to try to make some dandelion wine since I grew up near the Dandelion capital of the world, Vineland, NJ.

Continue reading “On Weeds”