Gertrude's Flower Garden Home Page

I have established this Web site in memory of my wife Gertrude L. Gates (1907-1999) with whom I have gardened for over half a century. My plan is to make weekly diary entries over the period of a year detailing the work I am doing in our garden. I hope that many of the entries will provide helpful ideas for other gardeners. Gertrude was a very giving person, so that I believe this sharing of our accumulated gardening knowledge would have made her happy.

Our home is located in New Jersey in Zone 6, so that gardeners reading this need to adjust planting dates, etc. depending on the location of their gardens. The land on which our home is situated measures 50 x 175 feet, allowing for narrow plantings on both sides of our house, with a larger garden in front and a good sized rear garden, part of which is occupied by a garage and driveway.

The homes in our suburban area were built in a grove of old oak trees, so that we have both sunny, partially shaded, and shaded areas for planting. For this reason, as you will see from reading my gardening notes, impatiens, begonias, and other flowers tolerant of some shade, are among the mainstays of our garden.

Like much of the soil in New Jersey, ours tends to be sandy. The original topsoil was a leafy mulch from fallen leaves, but not far below the surface is a layer of clay. Over the years, by digging in mulch, garbage, etc. we have built a good layer of rich topsoil. The clay base helps to keep this from drying out, but also presents problems if there is excessive rainfall or melting snow.

Ideally, this diary should have begun in the autumn when I gather seeds for growing next year's plants under lights in our basement, but, since gardening is a continuous cycle, we should be able to start anywhere. I hope that what follows will be helpful to beginning gardeners and will provide a few tips to even seasoned gardeners.

5/21/99 - Except for several flats of impatiens which are still rather small, I have finished planting the twenty odd flats of flowers raised last winter under lights in our basement. I always try, however, to save a few plants of each variety for fill-ins--some pesky squirrel always manages to dig up my recent plantings thinking he will find something good to eat, or a weak plant doesn't survive sun or rain.

Now that my annuals are beginning to bloom, I am also concerned with colors and move around plants that don't match a planned color scheme. Star zinnias, in particular, have a habit of reverting from white to yellow--one of the problems when you grow from your own seeds.

The picture is of my oldest and youngest granddaughters holding a sign that reads "You Are Welcome to Walk in Gertrude's Garden."

• 7/3/09 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
• 5/28/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary.

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