Betty Sharpless | thesofiamagazine

Treat Yourself to Year-Round Fresh Flowers

by Betty Sharpless | Jan 31, 2020 | Asheville, Gardening

By Betty Sharpless

February is the perfect time to begin planting flower seeds. These seeds will grow into flowers to fill your vases and to gift to friends throughout the year. Instead of spending your dollars on cut bouquets from the grocery store, you can spend pennies–and just a little time–to grow your own cutting flowers in flower beds, porch or deck pots, or raised beds. An added benefit to planting flowers is that you are feeding honeybees and other pollinators necessary to create all of the vegetables and fruits we eat every day.

Why not invite the bees and butterflies into your yard?

You will want to plant your seeds in a sunny area that gets at least six hours of full sun each day. It’s a good idea to place your garden or flower-pots close to a source of water like a rain barrel or a faucet. If you are planting in the ground, use a shovel to turn the soil and remove any existing grass or weeds. If you are planting in pots or a new raised bed, be sure there is adequate drainage by having one to two inches of rocks or pebbles at the bottom. Use a packaged raised-bed soil or potting soil to fill the containers.

When planting seeds, the rule of thumb is to plant them twice as deep as the size of the seed. Little seeds, like poppy seeds are simply sprinkled on the top and patted in. Big seeds like nasturtiums, need to be poked into the soil about ¾” deep. Starting in February, is the time to plant seeds for poppies, nigella, bachelor’s buttons, and larkspur. All of these seeds are the kind you will pat into the soil. Leave some space for the seeds to follow: zinnias and cosmos will bloom from late spring until the first frost in October. If you have a lot of room, consider adding bigger flowers like sunflowers and tithonia (also called Mexican sunflower). For smaller potted gardens, consider marigolds and nasturtiums.

When cutting bouquets, try to cut in the cooler times of the day. Have a bucket of cool water handy so the cut ends go right into water, avoiding wilting. Make sure the vase has plenty of water to support the flowers. If you refresh the vase with clean water every few days your flowers will last longer. Almost any watertight container can be a vase. Experiment with jars, buckets, old pitchers and even old watering cans.

All of the above seeds are sturdy growers called “annual flower seeds,” because they die at the end of each season. Once you have succeeded with annuals, you might want to branch out into trying perennials from seeds such as black-eyed Susans or purple cone flowers.

I hope you enjoy giving yourself fresh bouquets as much as others will enjoy receiving flowers from you.

Betty Sharpless is a professional free-lance gardener, writer, and quilter who loves firecracker alliums–magic wands in the making! Follow her on Instagram @sharplessbetty

It’s Time to Winterize Your Garden

by Betty Sharpless | Dec 3, 2019 | Asheville, Gardening, Landscaping

By Betty Sharpless

If you are a gardener, you may think that wintertime is a good time to take up an indoor hobby. Nope! Take advantage of the next mild day to upgrade your garden.
This will result in a much stronger, brighter garden for the year of 2020.

First on the to do list: cut back old stalks and leaves that have turned brown in your flowerbed. A really easy way to know what to cut or prune is, “prune after it blooms.” In other words, don’t cut your azaleas in the fall or you will be cutting off all of the buds for next spring. In the fall, prune your crape myrtles, butterfly bushes and hydrangeas. Next spring, get into the habit of following each bloom season with a decisive trimming.

Once the bushes are tidied up, snip back the remains of flowers and greenery that have gone dormant. As you go, deadhead (snip off the former blooms) flowers back into the garden to encourage more blooms in the following year. Conversely, if you already have too many Black Eyed Susans, cut those stalks with their seed heads on and remove them from your garden beds. This is also a good time to share seeds with friends so they can have blooms in their gardens.

When you have cleared off the old stalks and leaves, use a rake to remove leaves and debris. If you have a compost pile, add your leaves to decompose into amazingly rich soil to top dress your garden beds next spring. If you would like to have annual poppies and larkspur, now is the time to sprinkle the seeds over the surface of your clean beds.

When people ask me why their garden is not blooming the way “it once did,” my first question is, “When was the last time you fertilized?” Generally speaking, you should fertilize with a balanced fertilizer such as Plantone, twice each year. I recommend feeding your garden and shrubs in October and March. The October feeding is for your spring blooms, the March feeding is for your fall blooms and general health. Give each shrub about one cup of fertilizer. Azaleas, rhododendrons and evergreens would like Hollytone fertilizer even more than the Plantone. If you have perennial beds, sprinkle them with Plantone instead of trying to feed each plant. These two fertilizers are organic, safe for pets and will not burn your plants if you overfeed.

After a hard day in the winter garden, nothing tastes as good as a hearty soup. One of my favorite winter soups is made with winter greens or spinach, potatoes and onions. The attached recipe may
become your favorite winter soup too!

Green Soup

In a large soup pot, add 1/3 cup olive oil or butter, 1 large chopped onion, 3 cloves of garlic, chopped. Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft. Add 5-6 yellow potatoes, chopped into ½” cubes. Add chicken stock and water just to cover, and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add 4-5 cups chopped Swiss chard, kale and spinach. Cover tightly and turn off the heat. After the greens have wilted, use an immersion blender (or potato masher) to blend about half of the soup, leaving the other half as chunks to add texture. Serve soup topped with shredded sharp cheddar or tortilla strips.

Betty Sharpless is a professional free-lance gardener, writer, and quilter who loves firecracker alliums–magic wands in the making! Follow her on Instagram @sharplessbetty

Plant Now for Spring’s Delight

by Betty Sharpless | Oct 31, 2019 | Asheville, Gardening, Landscaping

By Betty Sharpless

These days, it seems like every season comes earlier and earlier. Halloween costumes are in stores in August, and Christmas décor shows up in September. However, there’s still plenty of time to plant spring bulbs for next year’s delight. I have actually planted daffodils and tulips as late as January with excellent results. The important thing is to make sure that the bulbs are still firm when you are ready to put them in the ground.

By now, many stores will have bulbs marked down for quick sale. It is perfectly acceptable to “squeeze the merchandise” to make sure you are still getting your money’s worth. If most of the bulbs in the bag are firm, go ahead and buy them. If not, feel free to haggle a little.

If you have tried to plant spring bulbs only to have them eaten by voles, deer, squirrels, and chipmunks, you need to avoid these tasty bulbs. Most critters won’t eat daffodils, narcissus, woodland and grape hyacinths, or flowering garlic (alliums). I finally had to make a strategy to co-exist with my yard wildlife. I plant twice as many crocus as I hope to have–crocus are inexpensive. If I do plant tulips, I plant them in the same shades every year. For example, all shades of purple, or all shades of yellow and orange. If I plant similar shades every year, on the rare years when I have a great bloom, they all color coordinate. I also plant a lot of daffodils and narcissus, making sure to have an even mix of early, mid, and late spring blooming varieties. All of this information will be on the packaging.

The depth that the bulb should be planted is three times the size of the bulb. A crocus only needs to rest three inches deep. A firecracker allium will need to be planted nine inches deep to support their three-foot tall flowers. I often suggest using the “Biltmore House” method to new gardeners–plant a lot of the exact same flowers for a really dramatic effect. Each year, you can plant a lot of different flowers to add to the drama.

Then, it is just a matter of waiting for spring to spring up from the ground! I always envision the final effect when planting a bulb. I love planting surprises that will make people smile year after year.

Betty Sharpless is a professional free-lance gardener, writer, and quilter who loves firecracker alliums–magic wands in the making! Follow her on Instagram @sharplessbetty

Southern Gal Gardening– Make your Porch your Local Garden

by Betty Sharpless | Oct 1, 2019 | Asheville, Gardening, Landscaping

By Betty Sharpless

Who says gardening has to be back-breaking hard work? Not me! This time of year I love to empty out my front porch flower pots, and reseed them with greens and herbs that will last all winter long. Greens love cool weather and indirect sun. If you have a porch or deck that faces any direction except north, you can garden in your jammies, and pad out to your very local garden for fresh herbs all winter long.

Greens are super easy to grow. I like to plant Swiss chard, beets, spinach, and either Red Russian or Premier Kale. These all grow well from seeds, making them the most cost effective; you can get six plants or 100 seeds for the same amount of money. Kids love to plant seeds and are more likely to eat something they have grown themselves. Just loosen up the first two inches of potting soil, yes you can use your old soil, fertilize it with an organic fertilizer, and make half inch furrows for the seeds. If you plant too thickly, just thin the new plants out to about one inch apart and eat them. Tiny veggies are all the rage!

Once the seeds are in, give them a good drink, and keep them slightly damp until they come up. The bigger they are the more water they will want. To keep your garden producing all winter long, pick leaves off of the outer edges of the plants, this allows the main plant to keep on growing. I pick leaves for my work sandwiches, for omelets, and for my favorite ‘breakfast for dinner’ go to. (See right.)

Do you know that Swiss chard has more available calcium than any other garden green? All of these greens are high in the B vitamin family, including niacin. They are also a good source of iron. When cooking with fresh greens, remember to just barely steam them to keep all that goodness in. I find a squeeze of lemon or a few drops of balsamic vinegar really heightens the flavors.

Aside from these greens, you can plant an herb pot that will grow year round. Choose a really wide pot as herbs grow like tasty weeds. Year round herbs are: parsley, oregano, thymes, chives and sage. I usually give rosemary her very own pot, as she is tall and glorious and a bit pushy about her personal space. Making omelets for dinner? Snip a few pieces of all the herbs, about two inches of each, chop them finely, and mix with 1/3 cup cream cheese. Use this mix for the filling in the omelet, adding it after the egg mix has started to set up. You will be amazed at how good simple food can taste with fresh herbs!

Happy Barefoot Pajama Gardening!

Breakfast for Dinner

Ingredients:

1/3 onion, chopped into 1/4” pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
Peppers, mushrooms, other refrigerator veggies
1 medium Yukon gold potatoe, quartered and sliced very thin
About 3 cups of greens, washed and chopped roughly
2 eggs
Shredded cheese of your choice

Directions

Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil or butter to a no stick frying pan. Medium heat.

Add onions, garlic and potato cover and let cook until the onions are translucent but not browned.

Add peppers and other veggies, saute for 3-5 minutes.

Add damp greens and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white wine and cover until the greens are wilted.

Use a spoon to make nests for the eggs, then crack one egg into each nest. Reduce heat and cover until eggs are cooked to you liking.

Remove pan from heat. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Add salt, and pepper as desired.

Slide from the pan to the plate, pour a little wine and open a good book.

Bon Appetit!