Loving Nature's Garden

How to potter about in your garden

June 16th, 2011 | 14 comments |

Pot-ter (verb): to do things in a slow and enjoyable way (MacMillan Dictionary).

Have you pottered about in your garden recently? It seems to me that pottering about is a neglected, maybe even a dying, art.

What is pottering about?

Online dictionaries describe pottering about with a variety of terms, many of them derogatory. Some say it’s the same as puttering about. I don’t think so.

Pottering about is fun, relaxing, and a gently productive way to spend your time. It’s not the same as mucking about, idling, being aimless, messing around, wasting time, or puttering.

According to The Free Dictionary pottering is to poke repeatedly and comes from the Old English word potian – to thrust. It’s what we gardeners do when tending plants during relaxing moments in the garden.

Why potter about?

Do you have a green thumb? One of the striking differences between those with green thumbs and those who aspire to is the way they garden. To get good at gardening you need to know your garden, you need to take a really good look at it.

The best way to learn the art of gardening is to visit with your garden every day. You don’t need to set aside daily work time for your garden, pottering about is more enjoyable and it’s what you need to improve yourself as a gardener.

How to potter about

The whole point of pottering is that it is not planned- remove a weed here or there, snip off a dead flower, notice any plant damage, look for bugs, push and prod your garden. If you are good at browsing the web you’ll be a natural at pottering.

While pottering defies planning, you do need to develop the habit of visiting your garden. I recommend either the morning or the evening. Plan to go outside right after breakfast, or at some other regular time each day. If you’re consistent it will soon become a habit.

Keep your must-have supplies handy – my shoes are by the garden door; my trowel, hand fork, and watering can are right outside the door on the deck, handy for a few minutes of pottering.

Pottering is therapy

I’m thoroughly convinced that a few minutes pottering about your garden every day is as good as therapy. Most of us don’t get Naked in Eden to connect with nature, but we do go outside. What do you even have a garden for if it’s not an enjoyable and therapeutic place to visit?

You don’t have to see your garden as just another task, just another place to work. Put your shoes by the door, prepare for teasing that you’re just time-wasting, then get outside every single day, for at least a few minutes, and potter about your garden.

Do you potter in your garden? Do you visit your garden every day?

Kid tip: pottering is just like spontaneous, unplanned, exploratory play. Young kids are natural potterers – let them teach you if you don’t know how!

Simple, spectacular, swallowtails

June 7th, 2011 | 4 comments |

Female black swallowtail by Lenora Larson

Swallowtails are some of the most spectacular and the simplest of butterflies to attract to your garden.

To get swallowtails, just know their needs then shop anywhere you find plants on sale.

What swallowtails need

I was fortunate to visit with Lenora Larson, butterfly gardener, and nationally recognized writer, last weekend. Lenora is an amazing source of butterfly information and she is very enthusiastic about sharing!

First, I learned that butterflies aren’t too brainy, but they are able to recognize whether you put in the right plants for them. Second, the easiest, and best, way to attract butterflies is to give them specific foliage plants for their caterpillars, not flowers.

Plant some parsley

The beautiful and spectacular black swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polyxenes, needs plants in the carrot and parsley family to lay its eggs on. When the female black swallowtail lands on a parsley leaf chemicals in her feet detect chemicals on the parsley leaf and she lays an egg.

It’s great news for you. Parsley is easy to grow from seed, and is very available as a potted herb (you’ll find it just about every place plants are sold). In my garden parsley self-seeds; I’ve got rather a lot of it. Sure enough, even though my own butterfly garden is not yet planted, black swallowtails are visiting and there are tiny caterpillars on my parsley.

About black swallowtails

Black swallowtail caterpillar by Lenora Larson

Not only are black swallowtails easy to attract, they are one of the largest North American butterflies.

With a wingspan of up to 4 inches across these swallowtails are similar in size to monarchs.

It’s simple to tell the male from the female, and black swallowtail caterpillars are attractive and interesting.

When small the black swallowtail caterpillars look like tiny bird droppings. As they go through each molt they change color and pattern and end up as monarch mimics.

About parsley

Parsley is an easy herb to grow. It tastes great on soup or salad, and can be used to make parsley butter. Parsley can even be chewed to reduce the smell of garlic on your breath. While kids rarely develop a taste for herbs, parsley is one they might be quite happy to chew on during a visit to the garden.

Attracting swallowtails

It is really easy to attract black swallowtails to your garden simply by planting extra parsley for them. If you prefer to plant a native flower golden alexanders, Zizia aurea, and prairie parsley, Polytaenia nuttallii, are suitable. Golden alexanders likes moist soil in a sunny spot. Prairie parsley likes sun and dry, rocky soil. Both have yellow flowers and bloom from May to June.

Lenora calls butterflies “flying flowers”. They bring your garden alive and I think they are worth just a little effort for the beauty and interest they add to the garden.

Which butterflies have you seen in your garden this year? Are you surprised that black swallowtails are so easy to attract?

Kid tip: black swallowtail caterpillars are easy to raise indoors, as long as you have enough parsley, or fresh carrot greens, to feed them with.

I’m excited to announce that select Loving Nature’s Garden articles will soon be featured at Grandparents.com. You’ll want to check out Grandparents.com for kids cooking, recipes, activities, travel tips, and their benefits club.

Why you should grow one tomato plant

May 27th, 2011 | 8 comments |

I think Courtney Carver has the right idea when it comes to growing food. Earlier this week Courtney posted a mini mission at her blog Be More With Less. A mini mission is a small challenge. Here’s what Courtney had to say.

“Just grow something that you can eat. Even if it’s just one thing. Planting a seed or a small plant and raising it for food will do more than feed your belly.”

I agree with Courtney, starting to garden isn’t really about feeding yourself – it’s about something more. Growing one thing is the way to start. If you’re ambitious grow three things, not a whole, huge plot worth.

How to start gardening

It’s really easy to forget how we gradually learned new skills when we were younger. I think we’ve all felt that temptation to throw ourselves into a new hobby with gusto and to prove we can be great at something new. Now if you’ just retired, or your kids just left home for college, and you have space in your life for something significant, by all means throw yourself into gardening at full speed. Most of us have really full lives though and we’re liable to over-reach. Start small.

Grow one food plant

So, you want to grow food. Grow one tomato plant. Grow one jar of lentil sprouts. Grow one pot of lettuce, or your favorite herb. Just one. If you’ve dreamed of growing food start now, but start tiny. You don’t need to do it all at once. You don’t need to swallow a gardening book whole and digest it. Go to your locally owned garden center (not Walmart, Coscto, Lowes, or Home Depot), somewhere gardeners work. Find a tomato plant, and get advice on how to grow it. If questions arise when you get home, call them up, or come here and ask me.

Courtney has it right

Take a page out of Courtney’s book. Courtney knows her limitations and she’s not trying to grow enough to feed her family. That’s OK. It’s good. It’s great. We all have to start somewhere. Maybe you want to join Courtney in her grow something mini mission. Courtney has the right idea.

What’s the first ever food you grew, or what would you love to grow now?

Kid tip: kids need to see that failures are part of life. Gardening is a great way to make mistakes! Don’t let fear of failure stop you from trying new things.