The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

This post is a kind of catch all post of my thoughts. I post 5 Things Friday on my fb page each week, so that is where this idea came from as there will be no Sunday Bits this week. Sorry, sorry! I know some of you love it the mostest. Thank you for that! I love it, too!

My 5 Things Friday is a post about anything that is on my mind at that time, on that day. It really can almost be anything at all. I have tried to keep all of these 7 Things Saturday gardening related though, as that is what is really on my mind this weekend, as the end of the growing season nears ever closer.

It’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. I love this celebration of harvest and family. Pretty much the entire meal can be made from the garden. Except the turkey or ham, for most of us. As a vegetarian, I will be eating mushroom puree with my vegetables instead… also not harvested from my garden ; )

We usually host the dinner at ours, being as hubby/dad/grampy is a chef. He cooks, I clean the house and set the table, we host the entire clan, and love every minute of it.

This year, we are going to my son’s new home in Saskatoon and celebrating with his wife’s family. We are delivering some of my parents’ antique furniture from the farm, enjoying the weekend with them, and bet of all, I get to see the new home. I fell a little bit in love with Saskatoon when we went there in the summertime, so am looking forward to this weekend. I’ll try to get over to the co-housing and take more pictures of their amazing gardens to share with you guys.

We would also be doing a lot of yard chores, if we were home, but instead I tried to do a bunch of them last week, and will finish off next week. We have lots of nice weather in the forecast yet and the leaves have just barely started to fall, most trees have just started to turn colours.

So, if you are at home, here are 7 things that you might want to do this weekend, while the weather is still fine.

Thing One. Take cuttings of any annuals you want for your baskets and pots next summer. I only took cuttings of the trailers, the vines that I always hate to spend money on in spring, but are crucial to making any planting look finished, full, really nice. To take cuttings is super simple.

• snip off the last 4 inches of the vines.
• remove all the leaves, except the very top ones.
• you want to make sure the bottom of the cutting does not have a tail on it. The new leaves will come from the nodes where you removed the leaves. If there is a bit of a tail after the bottom node, snip that off to just below the node.
• Dip into #1 rooting powder. This step is optional for these fast growing trailers.
• Make a deep hole in the potting soil, stick your cutting into the hole so that the leaves sit just above the soil’s surface. Your cutting will not thrive if you do not plant it deep.
• Water in. Keep an eye on the moisture, you do not want your soil to dry out. You also do not want to keep it soggy or your cutting will rot.

You can also take cuttings of rosemary, lavender, geraniums, etc, but you really do need the rooting hormone for best success. These half woody stems require rooting hormone #2.

Thing Two. Take in any annuals that you want to overwinter and keep them as houseplants till spring. You can also take cutting of them now but I prefer to leave them as plants for now (easier to care for) and then take cutting in spring.

• I took a small slip of the English Ivy, with roots on it, and potted that up.
• I took in 2 geraniums, the only two that I like the colours of. Will be on the hunt for those elusive blush pink geraniums again in spring.

• I kept a couple of the tradescantia. I love their pop of purple in planters. Tradescantia is super easy to propagate. Just take a cutting, remove a few leaves, stick into moist soil. It will root in and start to grow. Not only do they make beautiful house plants, but they work in both sun and shade planters. They come in other colours, too, but I just happen to have, and to love, this purple one.

To keep your annual over as houseplants, you want to make sure they are bug free before you bring them in. Swish them in a bowl of soapy water. If you think you may have fungus gnats in your soil or roots, swish the roots clean, too. I’m fairly certain that my soil is fine, so I just dropped the top into the bucket and let it sit while I prepped the pots.

Use fresh, new potting soil so avoid bringing in bugs or fungal issues. Add a bit of worm castings for nutrients and they will fine till spring. No other feeding necessary.

Place your plants in a bright, indirect light location till spring. Water well after planting and then only as they dry out. Just as you would for any houseplant. Do not overwater. They prefer to be kept on the drier side.

Thing Three. I recently read an article about creating an indoor greenhouse to house your indoor plants and anything you want to overwinter. I thought it was great idea. Looks nice, holds all your plants in one area, adds greenery and colour to your home during the long, dull winters, and keeps plants away from pets for their safety, and the safety of the plants, too. What a great place to grow your cooking herbs, too.

As for the mini greenhouse, I thought this one was cute, and this one that is shaped like a little house. This is the one that I have. I use it indoors, in the greenhouse in spring, and then on the deck in summer to hold herbs, flowers, and even candles, hahaha. Alternately, this affordable, glass fronted white cabinet is similar to the one in the picture above.

*Disclaimer – As an amazon affiliate, if you shop one of these links, it does not cost you even one penny more than if you had gone to the item on your own, but I get a (very) small percentage to support my blog, and I sure do appreciate you! Oh, and it does not have to be the exact item I have on the page. If you get there and do not love it, shop other items or styles and I still get the commission. Thank you for your support.

Thing Four. Ripening tomatoes.

We have made jars and more jars of pasta sauce and salsa. We have ripe tomatoes sitting on the outdoor patio table waiting for us to get to them, plus more that were removed when blushing… and yet these plants are still totally loaded with tomatoes in varying stages of ripening. They have not been watered in nearly 2 months.

After we get back from our weekend trip, we will be lifting these plants. Taking any blushing tomatoes and ripening them on the patio table, and then will freeze them whole to make into fresh sauces in winter. Wash, core, and freeze. The skins will slip right off the frozen tomatoes when you briefly pop them into hot water.

To vine ripen the last of your tomatoes (we have a lovely few days, and nights, ahead of us)

• stop watering completely to stress out the plant and speed up the ripening.
• remove blushing tomatoes to finish on the table, windowsill, or countertop. We use the outdoor patio table.
• remove most all of your foliage, leaving only 20% of the leaves at the top of the plant
• top your plants, remove the growing tips to put the energy into ripening.
• give the plant a little bit of a tug to dislodge/break off some of the roots, or stick a shovel down about 6 inches from the stem and break the roots that way. They will ripen in just a few days time.

I am pretty happy with the tomato season we have had. It started late, is finishing late, but has been a great year.

Thing Five. Plant your bulbs and your garlic now, if you have not yet done so. The weather this weekend is supposed to be very nice, great time to knock off a few chores, if you are able! Here is a how-to for garlic planting.

Try to source a place for a bale of straw, or start piling your leaves on top when they start to fall. Ours have just barely started falling.

Sprinkle some blood meal over top of your tulips if you have problems with squirrels digging them up. You will need to apply fresh after a rainfall. Do not go heavy on the meal as it is pure nitrogen.

Thing Six. How to save bulbs, corms, and tubers.

• Lift cannas, knock off most of the soil, let it dry for a day or two in the sunshine, or in a dry, warm spot. Place in a pot or cardboard box, dump some peat moss, potting soil, or vermiculite on top, put in the cold room for the winter. Check on it now and then for sprouting, mist if needed. If you have no cold room, a cool spot that does not freeze over. A heated greenhouse, barn, or garage is great.
• Dahlias are similar to the cannas. I wash off all the soil though, let them dry a bit, and then box them up. You can separate the tubers now, but I prefer to do it in spring when they start sprouting as I have a hard time finding the eyes. I will be saving seeds, taking cuttings, and saving the tubers next week so will tell you all about how to I go about it.
• Gladioli corms. Lift them from the ground, lay them on a table, hose off the soil. Let dry. Remove little cormels that have started growing on the main corms. Place in a box or pot as above.

Thing Seven. If your pumpkins or winter squash (spaghetti, butternut, acorn, hubbard) are not quite ripe yet, but you are ready to get rid of those vines, remove them from the vines. Vines can be composted even if they are powdery mildewed, or put in the green rollie bin if you are hesitant to do so.

Wipe down the squash with a damp cloth, or a cloth soaked in a mild vinegar solution. Place them in a warm, sunny spot to finish ripening and cure. In the greenhouse, on a table or bench on the deck, on top of the mulch in your garden. Bring them into shelter if rain threatens, cover if frost is forecasted. They will cure in 10 to 14 days. Can be stored in a dry store room, or cold room for many months.

I want to mention this about the Amazon links. I always try to find the very best priced product for you. Some times it is a smaller container, sometimes a different brand, whatever I can find at the best price is what I usually try to give you.

In some cases, like with the Stim Root rooting powder, I know it is pricier than the others that you see on the page. However, in this case, I chose the brand name because I know for a fact that it works, is the best one on the market. Sometimes you really do pay for what you get. If you read the packaging details on the other rooting hormones, they do not tell you what plants the hormone works on. This sets you up for failure. Your plants will rot instead of rooting in, you will lose the plants and have a useless rooting powder. Big waste of your time and money. Stim root lasts for years and years, if you like to take your own cuttings to save money on plants in spring, it is worth every penny. I can tell you that if I had to only pick one, I would choose #2.

Stim Root comes in these 3 types of rooting hormone
#1 for soft tissue cuttings (fuchsias, geraniums, etc..)
#2 for semi-woody cuttings ( rosemary, most houseplants and tropicals, etc… )
#3 for hard-wood cuttings ( roses, cedar, grapes, etc…)

Okay, there. Those are all the things on my mind today as I get ready to head off for the weekend. I feel a bit guilty leaving as I have so much to do in the garden yet, so many things that I am itching to try, too! The seed saving, the dahlia cuttings… but more on that next week.

Anything on your mind? Put it in the comment section below! Oh, and hey, do not forget to enter to win that raised bed giveaway. It is open to everyone and anyone, except my family members, of course.

Do take care. I sure hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend ~ Tanja