We just spent six days up in Tonasket at the cabin.  We were treated to a little snow, a lot of wind, and some incredibly gorgeous scenery.

 

When I wasn’t hiking around the ranch, I was planning the 2018-and-beyond garden.  I put two orders together from catalogs that I brought with me.  I’ll be ordering way too many seeds again, but I have plans for all of them.  Whether I can keep up with all of that remains to be seen!

I also did some brainstorming about what I’d like to accomplish in the next 13 months in the greenhouse and garden.  Here are my random thoughts:

Garden Ideas from the Cabin trip 11/26/17

Things to Order/Buy:

12/2  Seeds identified from Pinetree and PHS catalogs

12/2 Seed starting mix from Amazon—Espoma or Black Gold

12/16  Start investigating what Sky has available for manure/compost for the parking strip bed and potting mix for delivery for all the big potting on that needs to be done

12/16 Order organic fertilizers for potting on and garden projects from Amazon smile

2/16 Order large 3-gallon pots to move Clivias into

2/16 Order orchid bark and moss for potting on Clivias and Cymbidiums

3/16 Get compost tea bags to add to water trays for the GH and shelf plants

Start looking online and at thrift stores for patio pots to use this summer—will need more of them, as will be adding some of the small trees/shrubs to patio pots this year

Wish List Plants and Seeds for the Future:

• Nicotiana sylvestris seeds
• Acanthus spinosus seeds
• Centaurea dealbata “John Coutts” seeds
• Geranium psilostemon seeds
• Incarvillea delavayi seeds
• Linum narbonense seeds
• Oenothera missouriensis seeds
• Agapanthus “Headborne Hybrid” seeds
• Cyclamen coum seeds
• Cyclamen hereifolium seeds
• Erythronium revolutum plants
• Lilium regale seeds
• Nerine bowdenii bulbs
• Gentian septemfida seeds
• Ceratostigma willmottianum plant
• Daphne mezereum seeds
• Mahonia “Charity” plant
• Philadelphus “Bouquet Blanc” plant
• Rhododendron “Yakushimanum” plant
• Ruscus aculeatus plants (male and female)
• Nothofagus—various species, seeds

Ideas to try in 2018:

• Buy or make some window boxes to hang on the fence by the compost bins and around—with vines like Thunbergera and Nasturtium
• Try growing vines up the summer-boring shrubs, like Clematis viticella hybrids up the camellia, the honeysuckle in the corner of the orchard bed, and the witch/winter hazels (4 vines needed)
• Put some sort of netting on the wall behind the tree peony seedlings and plant Eccremocarpus scaber to grow there and maybe another fancy vine—Trapaoleum speciosum, maybe? Or morning glories.
• Find another aucuba, preferable a female, to plant in the Doug Fir bed near the other one. They grow well there and not much else does!
• Plant the Paulownia tomentosa out in the garden and use it for coppicing once it settles in.

Garden Projects for 2018:

The theme for 2018 is Purge and Organize

• Sort through the outside shelf seedlings
  • Pot on the newest ones individually
  • Repot the older ones
    • Root prune with new soil, or
    • Move to larger pots
  • Determine a purpose for each plant
    • Bonsai
    • Patio pots
    • Garden
    • Sales/give-away
  • Identify, document, and label the bonsai plants
    • Photos
    • Labels with estimated start dates
  • Sort through the greenhouse plants
    • Clivias
      • As they bloom, photograph and label them so they can be identified later
      • Sell/give-away any that are no longer wanted/needed
      • Repot the remaining Clivia plants into new soil and larger pots
    • Cymbidiums
      • As they bloom, photograph and label them so they can be identified later
      • Sell/give-away any that are no longer wanted/needed
      • Repot the remaining Cymbidium plants into new soil and larger pots
    • Repot the older ones
      • Root prune with new soil, or
      • Move to larger pots
    • Others
      • All hardy plants get moved to the garden permanently
        • Eucomis
        • Sinningia tubiflora
        • Ferns
        • Daphniphyllum
        • Persicaria—move some outside
      • Repot and divide the big Pleione pot when it is finished blooming
      • Repot the Impatiens into a much larger pot—divide it if possible
      • Repot/top dress all the streptocarpus
      • Remove pots with no signs of growth (some were kept in fall just in case something is dormant in there)
      • Get rid of multiples and non-performing plants
      • Be RUTHLESS
    • Clean-up
      • Move the Clivia, Cymbidium, and Holiday Cacti to the Doug Fir bed for the warm months
      • Totally clean up under the greenhouse shelves throughout the greenhouse
      • Get rid of poisons
      • Get rid of old tubs of dirt
      • Organize pots and trays in the GH and the potting area
      • Organize the space to better use the sunlight and lower light levels
    • Greenhouse crops
      • Try to raise some crops in large pots in the greenhouse
        • Organize the space for best light and trellises where needed
          • Cucumber (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Peppers (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Melons (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Tomatoes (2 3-gallon pots)