grow, marvel, eat, laugh, persevere

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bastard Garden Flower Arrangement

I love reading about Heather's husband's bastard garden and today I was thinking of them as I was ripping out old dead Zinnias. We had our first frost last night and now I understand the significance. These Zinnias were wet and gross looking so I decided it was time to get rid of them. So long first plants I ever grew from seed!
As I was cramming these things into the old rusty metal "yard waste only" trash cans I noticed a bastard garden work of art starting to emerge. Heather - don't you think this would make the perfect centerpiece for the bastard garden??? The bees loved it so much that I couldn't even move it to the alley for trash pick up because they were attacking me every time I went near it.

In other bastard news, I planted all my bulbs this morning and by the time I was out of the shower the bastard squirrel was already digging them up. I am not a violent person but I so wish I had a gun today.

9 comments:

  1. Totally loving the shout-out! That would absolutely be the perfect centerpiece for VPH's bastard garden. Good for you embracing the end of the season gardening chores. I'm completely slacking on the garden front because I hate to see the end of the growing season. I'm so impressed with you!

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  2. Yard waste only trash cans? Why don't you compost those old zinnias in your own garden? The first plants you grew from seed? Save some of those seeds!

    Carol at May Dreams Gardens

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  3. heather - thank ya thank ya!

    carol - this is probably a silly question but can I still save the seeds after we have had a freeze? i did save some but unfortunately they are mixed colors and I was really hoping to save some of the awesome red, cream and green ones but I didnt think I could do it after last night. Also, since some of the zinnia have already gone to seed will I have zinnia popping up all over the place if i compost them?

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  4. Actually, the way the picture is taken, the flowers look really cool. Like some sort of free-form art piece. Yes you can grab some seeds off those zinnias. They will be fine. You'll have tons compared to that little packet you bought this spring.

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  5. Gina, since guns would be frowned on in your neighbourhood, get some hardware cloth (a kind of screening) and put it down over your bulb--just the tulips (and things like crocus, if you got some later--I forget!) as the squirrel ought not like narcissus bulbs and the screen will keep him off your other bulbs. You'll have to remove the screen come spring, of course, but it IS very helpful.

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  6. Hi Gina! I think it is always a satisfying feeling when you have grown something from seed and seen it through it's growth cycle. I'm sure the seeds will do okay. As to the bulbs, you might try using up old spices like chili, etc. and sprinkling some on top of where you planted. Works for me usually. Sometimes I go to the dollar store and buy hotest spices I can find just for this.

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  7. alyssa, jodi, bev - thanks for the advice! much appreciated!

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  8. This post totally made me laugh. Squirrels are evil.

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  9. I hope you harvested some of those seeds. They'll be okay.

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