Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary

1/3/03 - I am always surprised to see how much that we do daily, weekly, monthly or yearly is cyclical. I decided this week to begin trimming, cultivating, and fertilizing the plants in the glass room. Afterwards, I read last year's "Weekly Diary" in preparation for writing this week's, and there it was in the first paragraph: a description of "gardening" in the glass room. This year, I have mostly Geraniums to deal with, and they can be cleaned up and cultivated easily--the biggest problem with them is that they drop their petals everywhere. I also prune dead branches or yellowed leaves. I usually do four pots at a time and now have eight of them done--they are filled with buds ao that I will have a fine showing soon.
         We have had warmer weather with less wind since Christmas so that I am able to get out into the garden when it is sunny. Today I brushed and shook leaves out of the Azaleas in the rock garden, and cleared some from the bottom of the Lilac at the corner of the garage. I put the leaves in a trash container and then empty them into a plastic bag to put out with the trash--not a very inspiring job so that I do it a little at a time.
         I replanted Wings Begonia seeds this week. You will recall that the initial planting damped off because I used left over planting mixture. I still think that I will get some of these seedlings to grow large enough to transplant, but I don't want to take the chance of not having enough Wings which I count on for many of my plantings. Next week, I will begin planting White and Yellow Star Zinnias and Impatiens. From now on, I will be planting regularly, generally the smallest seeds first and the larger ones later.
         As you can see, my glass room is in its Christmas mode. The red Poinsettia on the table is trying to outdo the blooming Geraniums in color. To the right you can see my little Alberta Spruce decorated for Christmas; next week I will remove the decorations and find a spot in the glass room where I can keep it until spring when I will plant it outside with those from other Christmases. I have six Poinsettias around the house. I don't throw them out when I take my other decorations down, but keep them as long as they look nice. When all of the colored leaves drop off or when they begin to look untidy, I will throw them on my compost pile. I have tried in past years to plant them outside when the danger of frost was over, but it is not worth the effort. The best that I ever got was a Poinsettia that never regained its brilliant red color; it is better, therefore, to think of Poinsettias as you do of cut flowers. Next Christmas the greenhouses will fill the stores with them again.

ntgates@worldnet.att.net