Plant Talk

I got my nose out of my seed catalog long enough to order, so that's good. Before I did, I went back to the local shop just to be sure the prices were in line and the selection was as bad as I remembered. Bleah. It was worse.

I did buy some spinach and greens thingies to put in my cold frame. My cold frame, for those of you who do not know, is actually Ernest's former enormous fish tank with dirt in it. It's good for growing things with shallow roots which do not have to live very long, like lettuces and so on.

I was going to entirely ignore Dearly Beloved's stated preference for cutting flowers in the garden except that, well, they had California poppies and I just couldn't resist. ANd black eyed susans which I love.

My rooftop garden overlooks the patio below and there is a drop of about, oh, twelve or fifteen feet. I am considering trying a blackberry hedge there, like my grandfather had coming over his fence, but I don't know if it will work with the blackberries in a container. I sort of like the idea for other than sentimental reasons, to wit: covering the drop with thorny vines will surely keep the Wild Boys away from it. Would a climbing rose be as happy going down as going up?

While I was hunting around on the web I found the most interesting thing. There is a website on which people who collect seed and grow from seed trade seed. It appears that if you have seed you just put up a listing of what you have; and if you need it you put up a listing asking for it. I may give it a whirl and see how it works out.

Since anybody who does that is likely to be a serious gardener I may also ask of anybody ever heard of dwarf cherries; I can't find any evidence that they exist in Holland and I would surely like to have a couple.