I live and garden in Connecticut. Gardening is one of my all-time favorite things to do. Once upon a time, if you couldn't find me here at the computer then you'd just take a walk out my back door and you're sure to find me puttering around in the herb garden or the veggie garden or one of the flower beds. However, lately, my hands hurt from carpel tunnel and I find myself not going outside as often as I would like as my agoraphabia progresses. I work on that last one but it isn't always easy.

Being in the gardens brings me peace and tranquility. I can't describe to you how I feel when I'm out there among the plants. The connection I feel with the Lord and Lady is so real I can almost see it. In fact, I have been blessed to see it once.

I was out in the herb garden one evening pulling weeds and talking to my plants..I always talk to them and tell them how pretty they are and how well they're doing sometimes I even tell them my problems... anyway I was just out there alone and I felt this overwhelming sense of calm and love. I looked up and there was a beautiful woman standing upon the rock...the moonlight shinning down upon her lovely face and bouncing from her long black hair. She looked down and smiled at me, waved Her hand down over the plants and smiled wider. She nodded to me as though She was very pleased and happy with me. Then from behind Her appeared a striking man. Both of Them appeared to glow with a wondrous inner light that I could only hope to have.

He smiled at me, took Her hand in His, they kissed softly and then they were gone. It was an experience I shall never forget. I just stood there among the catnip and vervain starring, wondering if I had really seen what I had seen, my mouth hanging open. I literally had to shut my jaw with my hand. I know They were there and I know They were pleased with me and what I was

Wether you're Wiccan or not...there is no more Magickal a place in or around your home than your nearest garden...be it your garden or your neighbors. This page is dedicated to all of you gardners out there...wether you're growing herbs, flowers or veggies it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you grow in containers, boxes a roof top garden or a ground garden. It doesn't matter if you have two plants or two hundred.

As I said I live in Connecticut, now I know a lot of you are thinking "Well, there's a rich woman. Probably got a few acres of land in the woods somewhere." That's not true. I'm not rich by anyone's standards and my land is roughly a half to 3/4 of an acre with the house taking up some of that space. AND I live in the middle of a small city. What's the point? This is the point..no matter who you are or where you live you can find the space for a garden.

When I first started growing plants, trust me, no one had a blacker thumb than I did. Everything I tried to grow died...quickly. Many a poor house plant met its untimely end at my hands. I can't say just when that black thumb turned into a green one all I can say is I stuck with it and it happened. I'm not really one of those Go Out and Buy a Book type of people either...all of my growing techniques are good old trial and error. There have been plenty of trials and errors! But I kept at it and while I can't say that I can grow absolutely everything now...witness the rosemary's which keep dying on me winter after winter no matter what I try...I can say that I can grow a lot of things. Hopefully these pages will help you to say the same thing!

2008 Gardening Season

The front deck. Look at all that trash! My house is the place where all the kids hang...mostly here on this deck as you can probably tell.	Front view of the house. More junk collected over winter. Gotta get rid of that lillac tree, yeah that stickly/sickly thing right there in the right front.
Left over Jack O'Lanter from last year!	Broken pots hanging around. The place is a mess!
My boat and all the weeds its collected over the winter.	Poor boat.
Side yard	Something's coming back in these pots...not sure what yet!
	The boat after a little clean up. Transplanted a few tall phlox from the back yard into the boat. That stuff overhanging the side doesn't look like much now but in a few weeks it will be loaded with little pink flowers. If you look in the background you can see I cleaned up all the junk by the deck and raked that out too.
Much to my great and wonderful surprise these two mini-rose bushes are coming back like gangbusters! I thought for sure they'd die over the winter but, well, it was a very screwy winter here in Connecticut.
Bleeding Hearts are poking up through the soil	Lilly of the Valley are also poking through
In the herb garden the Rosemary is coming back nicely. Go figure.	Lemon balm is making a come back
Oregano is also coming back.	My Yard
Poor veggie garden	The toilet tank is showing signs of life
Full shot of the toilet. I need to find something to plant there that won't be tasty to the critters.	The box under my daughter's window before raking
The box after a quick rake	The side yard by the garage and the remains of Daniel Jackson's Penis
Live Forever is coming back nicely	Foxglove is showing signs of life
Star Magnolia in full bloom	The Sugar Bush Cherries survived their move last year
Johnny Jump Ups are blooming	This guy here, cute as he is, is one of the banes of my existence

SEEDS & SEEDLINGS

Seeds are cheap and you can buy them almost anywhere, you can also join a seed swap online or through various gardening magazines if you're looking for something hard to find. Of course the best way to get seeds is simply to save them. Harvest them from flowers after the heads have died away, dry them out well and store in zip-lock bags once they're fully dry. Vegetables are easiest if you buy seeds or seedlings at your local nursery.

To get a jump start plants your seeds indoors about four to six weeks before you plan to put them in the garden. You can get those little tray things from the local nursery or hard ware store. If you're frugal (cheap) or just a New Englander, you can save your yogurt cups, wash them out well and use those to start your seeds. You can also go to Stop & Shop, pick up a pack of 50 clear plastic disposable cups and use those. For the last two, plant one seed per cup, water well and cover with a plastic sandwich bag. Place in an area with good light but direct full sunlight all day. When the seedlings sprout, remove the cover for a few hours a day and then replace. When the seedlings are about 1/2 to an inch tall, remove the sandwich baggie for good, unless the area is drafty in which case you may want to cover them again at night. Get them used to being outside where they're around one to two inches tall and the weather is nice. Put in a sun/shade area for a few hours a day, increasing the time each day, and bring them in at night until the weather is steadily above 50 degrees over night. For spinach, peas and other cold crops, just shove the seeds in the ground in early May and watch 'em go!

TRANSPLANTING

Always, always, always, pick your spot and dig your holes before taking the seedlings out of their containers! Try to pick a day that is mostly overcast to avoid root shock and do not allow seedlings to lay out in the sun with their roots exposed for any period of time. Your goal here is to make the move as easy on the plant as possible so that it will continue to grow and thrive. Pat the soil down well to drive out any air pockets and give a good soaking with a watering can or hose on light spray. Keep a close eye on them for the next week or so, they may wilt for a little while or they may spring right to life. If they look wilty, be a little patient especially if the weather has not been kind. However, if they continue to suffer for a week and a half or more special care and attention may be required. You may need to tent them at night if it's chilly or watch to see if you have any unwanted visitors in your yard in the evening hours.

VEGETABLE GARDENING

My Veggie garden is a rectangle that's roughly 20x8. It sits behind the main herb garden and receives sunlight almost all day long. This past year I didn't grow a damn thing! I've had that garden covered with a heavy black tarp for a year and a half in an effort to kill the weeds in that patch once and for all. My experiement was a dismal failure as all of the weeds returned with a vengence. This coming season I am hoping to get out of my own little world long enough to till and plant the path. I am also hoping to have enough cash to purchase --egads!--landscaping material to place around said plants. I'll let you know how it turns out.

TIP: I put Basil in the veggie garden because it's an annual herb and this saves me from having to make room for annuals in the herb gardens. It also grows wonderfully as a companion plant to tomatoes. For best results when first planting your basil in the ground or a larger pot pinch off any flower heads to promote the growth of a bushier plant. Try and pinch off future flower heads as soon as you see them because once it flowers it dies quickly. We have gotten a very successful harvest from it this year...more than enough to pass around to friends and neighbors.

THE DIRT UNDER YOUR FEET

For veggies and melons you really do want the best soil possible. For most of us this means you will have to spend some time amending your soil. If you don't know the Ph level of your soil go to your nearest hardware shop and pick up a kit for this. The Ph should be between 5 and 7.

You'll know if you have good dirt of not without testing the Ph the first time you begin to dig the garden. If you're finding lots of big fat juicy earthworms...baby you've got gold! The fewer the worms the poorer the soil. The soil can be amended in lots of ways, adding a generous helping of cow manure is always good, you can also use horse, chicken and rabbit manure. Careful with the chicken stuff it's very powerful and too much can actually burn your soil. For the others you can pretty much toss in as much as you want.

COMPOSTING

Humus is also excellent for soil amending. If you don't have one already begin a compost heap. I know a lot of container gardners and apartment dwellers can't do composting, if this is the case with you try to get together with a gardening buddy who does have room for one. Ours sits on the side of the yard in full sun all day, that's very important, it should receive sunlight at least six hours out of the day. Also important to turn it and keep it wet to help along the break down process. You can put almost everything in it, all your kitchen peelings, veggie left overs, fruit leftovers, coffee grounds, eggshells, hair, breads, ashes if you have a fireplace or wood stove. You can also put the leftover manure into the pile. Don't put in any meats or dairy products as they can draw bacterias and all sorts of nasty things that you don't want in your soil. Not to mention wild animals. Keep it well watered in the heat to help prevent it from stinking and bugging your neighbors. If you amend your soil well you will have no need for chemical fertilizers. They're not good for the garden anyway. Good for the plants yes but not the dirty they grow in. They can actually zap valuable nutrients from your soil.

CONTAINERS

I didn't start container gardening until a year or so ago. I'm getting older and getting out there to weed and tend large patches is not getting any easier. My favorite container is a small two person row boat, which I have in my front yard. Two years ago it was filled with strawberries and this year (thanks to a deer problem) it was filled with juicy red tomatoes. I also do large five to ten gallon pots in the front yard, small pots around the back yard and to cover an 'ugly spot' on the patio, I build a small wall with red cinder blocks, two high and about ten long. I filled with good potting soil and planted marigolds, snap dragons, dusty miller and red salvia in it. The wall is really pretty to look at and was a snap to put together, no mortar, no cement, just the dirt and make sure to balance and position them well. It's November, 2004 as of this writing and those annuals are still busting out all over the place, one of the last vestiges of color left in the yard now that the trees have lost most of their leaves.

FLOWERS IN THE YARD

We have flowers growing everywhere in the yard but I do maintain several flower gardens and patches but I have two main flower gardens. One under our bedroom window and is filled with tulips, daffodils, (actually I've got the daffs all over the yard, they give really nice color in the early spring just when you need it most!) gladiolas and hollyhocks. This year I added two Sugar Bush Cherry Trees. In a few years, next year perhaps, I'll be able to open my bedroom window and munch on a handful of fresh cherries. There's almost always something blooming in that garden from early spring through the summer. Some people don't want to fool around with bulb flowers, especially if they live some place where the winters get really cold because that normally entails digging the bulbs up every year storing them and then replanting them in spring. I used to drive myself crazy doing just that. But I've found if I treat the bulbs the same way I do the herb garden in the late autumn then all works out well, even here in Connecticut...even if I'm growing Dahlia's. I just cover that flower bed with a generous helping of fallen leaves and let it tend itself during the non-growing season. It's worked out very well, all the bulbs have survived and produced daughters. And daughters, and daughters, I can't rid of them now!

The other flower garden is my favorite place right after the herb garden. That's my wildflower garden. It may seem silly to say that you actually maintain a garden of wildflowers, after all wildflowers are supposed to be...well...wild, aren't they?I have found that a wildflower garden is not just among the most beautiful of gardens but also the easiest to maintain. Just allow the plants that naturally grow in an area to grow and develop on their own and toss in hand fulls of seeds of plants native to your area and watch it go! In that garden I put my mints and pennyroyal..they do like to "spread their wings" and there they allowed to just that. Also there's Queen Anne's Lace, Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Foxgloves, Celandine, Red Clover and Blood root.

If you want something you'll never have to worry about that will take over an area, get yourself some back house lilies...otherwise known as Tiger Lilies. There's a big patch of them growing on the side of the herb garden as well, I never do anything for them and they come back year after year bigger and better. They're so hardy that you don't even really have to plant them. Last year I decided we needed some color in front the front deck so I dug up some of the backhouse lilies to put there. It started to rain and I forgot about the fact that I had dumped the bulbs in front of the deck. This year...Lo and Behold...they came up like gangbusters right where I had dropped them last year.

We pulled the hedges in front of the house two years ago and I was left this big bare spot come spring. I hemmed and hawed over just what to do with it and finally decided it should be a little wild too. I took handfuls of seeds that I had harvested and purchased a few tubes of wildflower seeds. I've had color in front of the house all season long, in fact they're still out there. California Poppies, Mallow, Mullen, Straw Flowers, Bachelor Buttons, Red Clover, Mugwort , and many others. It's been truly wonderful, but a bit unruly...I've had to allow the grass to grow there so I did not disrupt the plants, but even the grass has it's beauty once it reaches a certain height and flowers. That was last year. This year new additions to the 'front meadow' included wonderful purple lupines, forget me-nots, wild chickory and wild violets. The grass is still a problem and I'll probably end up pulling the whole thing to make a more...ah...neighborly presentable picture. (How's that for phrasing?) Personally, I've always liked things a bit more on the wild side than the tame one, but to each their own.

Since the plants began to seed I've been readily collecting them and tossing them out all over the place. We should have a very interesting mix of flowers all over the yard next year. I kept some of the seeds to sow in the spring, I put them all in a big bag and labeled it "Auntie Moon's Wildflower Mix", there's enough in there to give some away as Yule gifts...hummm...not such a bad idea, hey?

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