Bienveue a Lafayette

We recently visited Lafayette (pronounced ‘Laugh’ Fayette), LA where our son and his lovely wife toured us around. What a cool place to live. It’s like going to a foreign country without leaving the states. I never thought I would be telling folks I’m from the North when I live in Tennessee. Everything is new and different…flora, fauna, food and French weaved throughout, turning every outing into an adventure. The people are easy going and fun – loving as evidenced in the culture of southern Louisiana.
First stop was the welcome center where they had of course tons of information about the area but also, a small garden area, and a lake that boils with fish and turtles when you toss a slice of bread over the walkway railing.
Black-eyed Susan vines, knockout roses, trumpet flowers and agapanthus were blooming in the garden. We saw agapanthus in bloom throughout the area…it must be hardy this far south.

A music festival was going on in Opelousas, the heart of zydeco (in fact they’re claim to fame is “Zydeco capital of the world”. We danced a few steps when we realized we can’t dance like the natives…they’ve got some moves!

A trip to Lafayette would not be complete without a bowl of gumbo with roux the color of chocolate – yum. We went to a Sunday brunch at “The Blue Dog Café” where the mimosas flowed while the zydeco band (Hadley Catille and the Sharecropper) played on. Crawfish enchiladas and oyster stuffing were new to us and the creamed spinach was spicy. In fact most everything is spicy!
Drove a short distance to the country and toured an organic farm that grows and sells tilapia, veggies, fruit and a myriad of other natural products. The Grotreaux have a delightful family – 10 children between the ages of 5 and 12 who work, study, and play hard.
I had never seen a tilapia operation before. The fish are raised in ponds housed in greenhouses, fed four times a day and harvested once a week (2,000 lbs.) for market. Organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers are harvested and sold at the local farmers market. Folks can also come to the farm and buy fresh fish and produce.
A short drive to St. Martin Lake proved successful in the hunt for gators to photograph. They are unique critters that I enjoyed watching from the window of a truck. Oh yeah, the cypress trees with their knees exposed and hanging with Spanish moss where also a sight for Deep South newbies. One final drive to see what I believe is a type of agave that my son had noticed and couldn’t wait to show me. You can see from the picture that it is ginormus – taller than the house! If anyone knows what this monster is, please tell…

Growing Right Along

May was a busy month in the garden. We (okay, I) had projects galore. After a huge arbor, expansion of my "hobbit" house garden shed, including a living roof and a new kitchen garden, I have promised my husband no more "Cindy projects" for the rest of the year (pray I can keep my promise).

The kitchen garden consists of nine raised beds in the front side yard. Three made out of concrete blocks and six are untreated pine which I stained a cedar color on the outside to match the fence and blend a bit.

With the help of some great friends and my son Trevor we hauled composted horse poop (manure for you technical gardeners) and filled the beds 3/4 full then topped them off with leaf mulch. I worked in some wood pot ash since we had such an abundance from our newly installed wood stove.

Planting took place around the middle of May. I grew many of the plants in my greenhouse and purchased some from my neighbor, Joe Toni of Green Valley Greenhouses. As you can see everything is growing right along.

I am harvesting sweet banana peppers and some of the tomatoes are the size of golf balls. I'm trying to recycle materials for trellising beans, cucumbers, gourds and mini-pumpkins without looking too tacky...after all this garden is in our front yard.

I found a metal arbor at a yard sale and have installed it as the entrance and have lots more to do. I'm planting sunflowers, herbs and cut flowers to add color and encourage beneficial insects to stop and munch on any plant destroying suspects and pollinate.

Plus I want it to look as nice for neighbors and passer-bys. I have met a couple of neighbors who stopped to looked and compliment. A biker passed by yesterday and yelled "beautiful garden" which was very encouraging...especially when a neighbor told another neighbor my garden looked like a cemetery with cute little plots. What do they expect from a 'cracked pot gardener'?

Kitchen garden as of June 2nd...

The Cracked Pot Herb Book

Willows on the 'Cheap'

In these days of belt tightening, it can put the hurt on the garden budget...or maybe that is only in my family. Besides lets face it, most gardeners love to brag about their latest plant, gardening tool, pot or garden accessory bargain.

Well, I would never stoop to that kind of bragging...but, while meandering through this year's Lawn and Garden show in Nashville (a great annual display of gardens and garden wares) I noticed a vendor selling red curly willow sticks and pussy willow twigs for a dollar each.

I was thinking I would love to have a RED curly willow in my yard and who doesn't just adore early springtime pussy willow twigs? I told my friend with me, "I bet I could root those sticks and for two bucks have them growing in my yard by spring".

We both got so excited at the prospects that we each bought a twig of each. I trimmed the ends about 1/4 of an inch and filled a five gallon bucket with good chlorinated city water and let them sit.

In about 8 weeks both willows had grown sufficient roots and leafed out. I planted them with a good measure of compost and just before the past three days of rain set in. I will have to keep them watered well through the hot and dry summer months to ensure their success since willows love wet areas. A great plant for a wetland type area in your landscape. Not a good idea to plant near septic lines though as the roots will head for water.

I wish I could brag I have the greenest of green thumbs but in all fairness, willows (in the Salix family) are about the easiest plants in the world to root. If I was really on my game, I could have just gotten a twig cutting from someones willow tree or cut pussy willow twigs in the wild and saved a couple of bucks. Yes, I probably would have asked for permission first...or at least forgiveness after!

And, they don't even have to be rooted in water. I have cut curly willow twigs and just stuck them in the ground in early spring or fall when rains were regular and they grew just fine.

Pussy willows are really a large shrub which can reach about 15 to 20 feet without pruning. They are dioecious though which means to bloom and form the soft catkins a male and female plant is needed. Which one did I root? I guess I will figure it out when it blooms next spring!

Red curly willow will become a small tree about 20-30 feet tall with contorted branches. Curly willow trees seem to be short lived...or maybe they die young in my garden (just can't take any more?) The last curly willow just passed and it was probably around 15 years old. (young for a tree). We ground the stump and I planted this twig there to start the circle of life once more. Being a 'red' curly willow I'm sure this new tree will be a real asset, adding much needed color to the garden in winter.

The Scent of Days Gone By

As I picked my first bouquet of Lily-of-the-Valley this week, I breathed deeply to get every little bit of scent. This incredible fragrance unlocks memories of a small girl growing up in Northern Michigan gathering Lily-of-the-Valley flowers for my mom. They grew just outside the back door in a nice neat rectangle mass.

A few years back I stopped by that old farm house and dug a few from the back door patch. Okay, so my family doesn't own that farm any longer but no one was living there at the time and I doubt anyone will every notice!

I packed them back to Tennessee and planted them at Hyssop Hill where they were very happy and reproduced nicely. When we moved to our new location, I was careful to dig a few to bring with for my new garden. I felt like a pioneer woman bringing slips of plants to the unknown so that when she got homesick there would be something familiar in the garden. Carefully I put tucked the little roots in the edge of the shade garden and waited for spring.

When spring came I was so happy that the family -Lilly-of-the-Valley plants pushed their way up through the soil and were displaying their lovely new shiny green leaves. As I admired my handiwork (well God's handiwork really - I only transplanted them) I noticed a foot or so away some other leaves that looked very similar. In fact there were many many leaves throughout that shady area with those leaves popping up.
You guessed it. The folks who gardened here before obviously loved this plant as well. In fact, as I started working my way through various beds they were everywhere, in every cultivated space. Yes, the joke was on me. But what a great plant to have in abundance. I can pick bouquets to my hearts delight and dance in my mind to the tune of happy girlhood memories of days gone by...but not forgotten. Happy to share if anyone would like some :)

With a Little Help from my Friends

I’ve been humming this song since Saturday when my sweet husband and friends Tom and Jodie all pitched in to help build some raised beds in my new kitchen garden.

We completed nine beds in all. Three are made out of concrete blocks and the rest out of untreated lumber. Now I know what you are thinking…concrete blocks?
Yes in deed…concrete blocks and I have my reasons which I will reveal as this new adventure rolls along.

The guys at the hardware store where we bought the lumber think I’m crazy for not using treated lumber (don’t you just love it when everyone is trying to second guess your plans) but I really don’t want to think about boards treated with arsenic in the same bed as my organic produce. Besides it is three times cheaper to use untreated wood. I know it will rot (thank goodness for that) eventually and then I will add some new boards. Ideally Cedar would be best and if I can find some at a low cost from a local mill I will use it for the next phase of raised beds (did I just type that?) It was about 100 bucks to build 6 raised four by eight beds – not bad.

I just needed extra space to grow more vegetables. Even though there are only two of us, I like to freeze, can, dehydrate enough garden fresh veggies to hold us through the winter. In fact I’m really planning on growing more vegetables and herbs year ‘round so as not to have to put up so much while having fresh produce all through the winter months.

This is my new place to play and experiment growing vegetables, herbs, flowers, and small fruits in an urban setting. Although I have a large yard, I know many folks don’t so I want to grow more produce in smaller spaces to help others do the same.

Did I mention this is in my front side yard? Don’t tell my neighbors (I’m sure they are wondering what in the world the cracked pot is up to now) I will stain the outsides of these beds to make them blend and look nice. After all, a kitchen garden should be pretty as well as practical.

I did plant 11 Mohawk viburnums (wow what a scent) as a hedge to soften the effects and as a barrier for west winds and to give the neighbors something pretty to look at until the boxes are full of beautiful, colorful vegetables, flowers and herbs.

Thank you Tom, Jodie and Sweetie – you are going to love the results!

Lilacs - Scents of Spring

The scent of lilac blossoms holds a special place for many. Often times a scent is associated with a memory, Grandmother’s perfume (or toilet water), picking bouquets with mom or for me growing up with a white lilac tree that grew just outside my bedroom window.

Warm spring breezes carried the heavenly lilac scent in my room morning till night while the old tree bloomed holding the promise of summer just around the corner.

My pet raccoon Shirley loved that old tree as well, hiding all things ‘shiny’ that she would steal from us when she thought we weren’t looking in a rotted out knot just out of my reach.

When I started renovating the gardens at Hyssop Hill in Franklin, TN shortly after purchasing the 1830’s house and property, I found old plant jewels that were thought to be lost. As we cut and beat back the growth of Mother Time, trees and plants would revive or germinate once they had sun, space and water once more.

One such find was Lilac trees that had been planted by Mrs. Thomas Henderson when she and Capt. Tom lived there. Two different lilac trees came back up along the path to the back garden. One of the Henderson’s grandchildren stopped by one day and told me about Grandmother’s friend, Helen Keller who use to stay with the Hendersons when she came to Franklin to learn about her family who fought in the battle of Franklin in 1867.

George (the grandson) explained that Ms. Keller could identify each lilac by their scent as she would walk out to the garden with Mrs. Henderson. He explained there were several lilac trees at that time and was happy we had recovered two of them.

I left the lilac trees at Hyssop Hill (now Collins Farm) when we moved but I did take a small piece of each tree that had suckered and I’m so glad I did because they disappeared like so many of the historic plants from that estate. Ignorance, naivety, or perhaps a lack of historic importance was placed on the horticulture of such a significant piece of Franklin’s history.

One of the lilac trees seems to be very ordinary in form, color, scent…the other one is incredible in scent, blue-lavender color blooms that seem to be doubled – If anyone can identify these please help.

I have three other lilacs in my current garden. This one was cut back to the ground when a screened-in porch was added four years ago. It has since grown back and in full bloom this year.

A Miss Kim is almost in bloom and is covered this year. This lilac has a compact rounded shape and blooms later than all the others in my yard.

I also have a white juvenile lilac that a friend gave me which I think will bloom next year. (Something to look forward to)

If you are crazy about lilacs make plans to visit Mackanaw (Mackinac) Island in Northern Michigan for their annual lilac festival. It takes place the first part of June. The festival lasts ten days with all kinds of activities and events but the lilacs, many of them planted in the 1800’s are the star of this show. This website gives all the details - http://www.mackinacisland.org/lilacfestival.html