SOIL & MARGARITAS
In the words of the wise and talented Monty Don " You do not need to know anything about a plant, to know that it is beautiful", as I take one of my (very short) walks thru my garden, I get reminded every day about this truth, with the tiny new buds on perennials waking up from the long winter or by the lovely color on spent hydrangea blooms... it is all in the very fine details.
My name is Roxana, and I am a gardener who loves to play in the soil, my garden is located in Central Indiana, I am right a zone 6 gardener.
So with the hopes that one day, when I am old and wrinkly and my hair lovely shades of gray, I get to enjoy looking back to the pages of this, my very own, journal garden.
ABOUT THE GARDENER
I spend more money on my garden than I do on shoes + clothing + take out combined, that's just how obsessed I am with my garden.
I love growing pretty things and things I can eat, and bonus if those things are both, you will find out that I LOVE growing tomatoes probably as much as I like to start flowers from seed. My garden is a combination of both vegetables and flowers and some random things like this year (2023) when I tried growing ranunculus and they all just rotted in their containers. Gardening trial happen here every season!
If there is something the garden has thought me thru the years is that patience is key when dealing with growing a garden.
If you enjoy your garden as much as I do, I hope that this page can inspire you and can help you in becoming a better gardener.
Rox
Xx
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CENTRAL INDIANA ZONE 6
Planting shrubs in fall is basically paying for something you won’t get to enjoy for six months. Anyway, here are my new babies. Please clap for their future selves. 👏🌱
❤️Ninebark Amber Jubilee @firsteditionsshrubstrees
❤️ Eastern Snowball Viburnum @monroviaplants
Here’s the thing nobody tells you about planting for foliage: flowers get all the attention, but foliage does all the work. Blooms show up for a couple of weeks, take their bows, and leave you with a sad green blob for the rest of the season. Foliage shrubs, on the other hand, are the friends who actually help you move. They bring color, texture, and structure from spring all the way into fall, no diva behavior required. And fall is secretly the best time to get them in the ground. The air is cooler, so they’re not getting fried the minute you plant them, but the soil is still warm enough for the roots to settle in and get comfortable before winter. That means while everything above ground looks like it’s given up on life, the real magic is happening underground.
Come spring, these shrubs won’t be starting from scratch. They’ll already have a head start, a root system they’re proud of, and hopefully a little gratitude for me hauling bags of soil around in October like a woman possessed.
I went looking for some Fort Vee Potting Mix from @vermontcompost , I am able to find it locally now and I believe @sundowngardens is the only place where you can find it in Indiana 💪
Unfortunately, they were sold out and now I have to wait until they order more next year (But I did find some other goodies!)
Fall dividing is not about perfection. 🙌
Right now I just want them clean and easy to store.
Single tubers can wait until spring.
Playing it safe means more plants next year, not fewer.
I`m not a teacher, just a gardener who`s done this twice now. 😅 But if you`re dreaming about your own little plant sale, here`s what I`d tell you over coffee.
🌿Check with your city first. Seriously. Rules change from town to town, and you want to know them before you print a single flyer.
🌞I only sell annuals I grow from seed. No perennials, no shrubs, no reselling plants from the nursery. That keeps it simple for me. No inspections at my house and no fees every year or two.
😮Harden everything off. Mine lived outside for two whole weeks before sale day. I don`t want anyone taking my seedlings home and losing them the next day.
❤️Get help. My husband ran the register and my kids moved trays, and there were still moments with ten people in line waiting on me.
🔥Buy the cheap folding tables. I finally got three this year and used them for hardening off and on sale day. Most boring purchase ever, and the most useful.
😭Expect some fails. My coleus took forever and my verbena seeds barely sprouted. It happens to everyone, even after years of seed starting.
🌻And start small. Write down what you bring, count what comes home, and adjust next year. 🌼
Want the whole story? Comment PLANTSALE and I`ll send the full YouTube video straight to your DMs. 📩 It has everything that sold out, what flopped, marketing for this sale, how I price my plants, and how I figure out how much to grow.
☀️ vs 🥶
I don’t know about you, but I rather get this done when it’s still nice outside.
Digging tubers before a frost… yes, it’s doable!
Personally, I wait until my tubers are mature enough and I dig them when it’s still nice outside, and it works!
If you want more info on this or to watch the entire video, just comment “DIGNOW” and I’ll send it your way!
When a zinnia stops me in my tracks, I tie a piece of string around the stem.
A few weeks later every head in the bed is brown and they all look exactly the same. Except the ones with the string, those get a second life next summer.
Do you make your favorite blooms? Or trust your memory? Mine is not to be trusted.
