MORE ABOUT THE QUEENS

A little more about my favorite topic, irises! Photo at left is "Dusky Challenger." An award winner that has been on the favorite list for quite some time. Most peoples response is "wow, look at that color!" This one will also be for sale this year. Let me explain how the field 'open house' works. Iris are blooming from mid May thru mid June for the late bloomers. We will post the open house dates here on the blog. I also plan to have some banners in the field stating whether we are open or closed. When we are having the iris open house, you can take a self guided field tour thru the iris plants, about 1 acre of them. I will have clipboards with order blanks for you to order as you tour. Then, mid July thru the first part of August the iris are dug and divided, and you will be notified when you can come to pick them up. If you live out of the immediate area I can ship them.
When you come to pick up your iris, we will likely have bouquets and other garden items for sale. Also at that time...the daylilies (my second garden love) will be blooming and for sale. In order to see all 752 varieties of iris blooming, you would need to visit once a week during bloom time, as they have different bloom periods. I plan to post events as they unfold on this blog site, so it's the best place to check for what's next. The iris above is "Thornbird." On the ends of the beard notice the 'horns.' Iris with unique features like horns or spoons are called Space Agers, usually abbreviated as 'SA.'

Yes, this flower really has this awesome color, it's not just the camera, it's "Swingtown." Beautiful. This flower is also on the larger size. How do you care for iris? Their needs are fairly simple. Good drainage is essential. If your soil is heavy they need to be planted on a ridge or more shallow. In a mixed flower bed, combine with daylilies, achilleas and other low maintenance low water plants. Overwatering will rot the roots. Iris should be dug and divided every 3 or more years or once they get crowded. Give them one square foot to start with, they can multiply quickly. A planting and care sheet will accompany the iris orders. When an iris is all one color like Swingtown, the color is described as Mulberry 'self.' Likewise an all blue iris like 'Breakers,' would be described as Blue 'self.'

This above iris is "Wine Festival." What's different about this one is the speckled pattern on the falls. It is called 'plicata.' Some iris are rebloomers, abbreviated as RE. This means of course they bloom a second time, usually in the fall. Personally, I can't appreciate their fall bloom, I love them most in the spring. The fall blooms are not nearly as robust or plentiful as the spring ones.
When the iris are blooming, we will be selling bunches of cut stems, but leaving plenty in the field for you to enjoy.

This iris, "Mind Reader," is what's called a 'Luminata.' The white lines and highlights giving it a lighted within look. When I first came across these, it was love at first site. They are so cool. I have about 8 varieties of these, but not enough to sell until next year. When will your iris bloom after planting?

Maybe the following year, surely the year after. They are not a quick flower fix like a marigold, you have to wait for the reward. The variables are: how robust is the new rhizome, did you replant it right away or did it sit in the garage for 2 weeks, did it get the proper care and water after planting, did we get a nice long fall or an early winter. Establishment of the root system is key to blooms the next year. About 75% of mine have bloomed the following year, usually only the small ones or unweeded ones didn't! If you take care of your iris patch, it might outlast you! I have about 200 more varieties to add this year, afterall, I want YOU to have a great selection, it has nothing to do with how out of control my iris habit is. Can you have too many???

OOPS!

Dont' throw rotten tomatoes at the beginner blogger. THOUGHT I had deleted (cuz I had been doing some of that) my garden class outline, so retyped the whole thing, (I like the 2nd version better) then I realize that I have blogged so much how could it all fit on one page. hmmmm.
Found it! Anyway, if you read it twice, you will be doubly encouraged to join!

GARDENING CLASSES

Since I accidently deleted my class outline, I will post it again. =(

Where? Fellowship Hall @ St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Parking lot is at Grace St.
& South 4th Street, St. Peter, MN My cell if you are lost is 507-382-9337
When? Monday nights starting April 20 &27, and May 4, 11 & 18.
You can attend all classes or only the classes you are interested in.
Time? 6:30 - 8:30
Where do I sign up? email me at ddenise58@msn.com or call 507-931-0882 & leave message
and speak ssslllooowww if leaving numbers. There is also a sign up sheet
in the front of the church.
Do I have to sign -up? Please. This year I am doing more advertising and want to have enough
handouts for everyone. Class limited to 65, with 30 already signed up.
Treat sign up sheet: will be passed around at the first class. Anyone who would like to bring
treats or beverage for the first class, let me know. thank you

Instructed by - Diane Selly, Horticulture Instructor (retired) Master Gardener (inactive)
Lakeshore Landscape Specialist (inactive) Woodland Advisor (inactive)
And Minnesota Master Naturalist Instructor (inactive)
Flower Farmer (ACTIVE!!!!)


CLASS OUTLINE:

WEEK ONE April 20th
- participants will be starting transplants from seed, and potting up seedlings
- Growing Vine Crops : melons, cukes, squash, pumpkins, (& small fruits if time)
- Growing Herbs : using and preserving
- seeds pkts. available for .25 cents while they last

WEEK TWO April 27
-Vegetable Gardening : tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, potatoes, greens, peas, beans etc.
- organic methods, watering, culture and care of crops
- tools of the trade

WEEK THREE May 4
-Flower Gardening
-Perennials, Annuals and bulbs
- designing a bed or border

WEEK FOUR May 11
-Landscaping your yard
- Basic design layout and installation
- perfect turf grass?
- start over or restore an overgrown yard

WEEK FIVE May 18
- Field trip to Earthworks Gardens
- Participants will have an opportunity to plant seeds and transplants
- Demos and hands on with digging & dividing perennials
- Self guided tour of early spring plants, pulling weeds along the way =)
- transplants from week one will be distributed amongst the class. Hopefully every family will
get approx. 4 different tomato plants, and 2 bell peppers plants as Earthworks gift to you!

PLEASE NOTE: If weather is nice wk 4, we may change class 4 and 5. Hate to pass up a nice day and get rained out the last week.

Earthworks Gardens Horticulturists (in training!!!)

Who says it is tough to find a job these days with no experience. I hired this young man right after reviewing his resume. If your seed pack is a few short....don't blame me! Actually, we will have seeds available at the Garden Classes, (see info on side bar)
for $.25 donation per pack to cover the cost of envelopes and to tip the workers. Inventory includes, cukes, zukes, watermelon, sugar snap peas,
snow peas, beans, gourmet lettuce mix, radish, pumpkin & squashes. I'll bring them every week to class until gone, about 15-25 packs of each. Bring your quarters!
Grandson Jace, 2 1/2 yrs. old

This worker is older, but still in his first year. What a helper! He doesn't even mind getting wet, dirty or muddy....go figure. Most of the soil actually gets in the pots. This is my flower/plant shop at the house. One heated garage stall, lights, racks and plants! Before the tornado, I had a solarium that I started everything in. But, after spring it was too hot to use, and too cold in the winter, so we didn't replace it. How old do you think he'll be when helping grandma isn't fun anymore? Hope I have a few years. Grandson Gavin, almost 4.

Learning to bottom water seeds flats, even though it is more fun to splash it over the top. Mostly what I have started now is perennial plants from seeds, like hardy Geraniums, Asclepias, Lavendula, Dianthus etc. Also, some annual and perennial herbs for mixed herb pot sales. I have about 30 flats started right now, adding 20 per week for the next few weeks with the annuals. Most of the annuals we grow will be installed in the field for cut flower bouquets. We will also have curly willow for sale in May at the Farmers Market. Some of the smaller willow bunches are in the above photo, but most are 3-6 feet long.

Organized chaos. Getting set up with racks and shelves. We just moved back in our house then end of October, so for us that is a lot of progress. The 'shop' is basically to start the transplants in the spring, and a shady cool area to design my bouquets in. The rest of the work is outdoors.

At the first garden class we will plant some seeds trays for some hands on experience. I will also bring some pepper and tomato transplants that I will have started for the class to repot to 6 packs. If you have already started tomatoes and peppers.....you are waaaaaaay to early. Come to class and learn why!

Seeds flats all tagged and cozy warm on heated propagation mats. Some seeds like it cool, some warm, some covered, some not, picky picky. Perennial seeds are usually more tricky to germinate than the trusty annual seeds and more expensive too. The trays are usually bottom watered once daily. Once seedlings are 1-2" tall they will get transplanted up to a 6 pk. Most plants with a stem like peppers, tomatoes, & zinnias benefit from having the stem sunk below the soil line when repotting and planting out. Plants that grow from the crown like petunias need to maintain the same soil level. Flower gardening is week 3 of class. When seeds are really tiny, you can mix them in with a little sand to make it easier to plant them evenly. In 4 weeks I will be transplanting round the clock. If you would like a few hours of hands on experience, let me know.

My favorite flowers.....the Iris.

You won't have to guess, I'll just tell you, Iris are by far my favorite flower. That is until the dayliles bloom. But, the iris are the first queens of the garden to bloom. This is a photo of Glacier Kiss. Normally, yellow is not my favorite color, but this plant has won me over. It is very robust, quick multipier, lots of beautiful buds per stem, whats not to love! Most of the photos you'll see early this spring are of course last years. They were taken by my cousin Sheldon.

Another yellow! Well, this is a beauty as well, and I love the flower against the blue sky. When iris are described, there are 3 main parts. The 'standard' are the 3 petals that are shaped upwards, the 3 downward petals are the 'falls,' and you can see the fuzzy 'beard' coming from middle on the falls. So to describe this iris it would be: white standards, yellow falls, and orangey yellow beard.

I will post a list later of iris for sale this year.

Ahhhhhh. This is my very favorite. It is so beautiful when blooming in its group and there are hundreds of these beauties and you want to smell each one, and give each one it's moment! I am definitely a blue, purple and pink person for flowers colors.

What a great orange. I love the blue iris sprinkled in the background of this photo. I have several orange iris. But keep in mind all iris are different heights and bloom at different times.

These are "Tall bearded" iris which start blooming here mid May to mid June, depending on weather conditions. Their leaves generally stay neat during the growing season, and the leaves sword like shape mix nice with other perennials.

WOODY PLANTS - FEBRUARY PRUNING

So you are probably wondering....what is Earthworks Gardens? Where did it all start and how did you get such a cool name?Here are some stats: Earthworks Gardens is a family run farm. The main focus is growing and selling cut flower bouquets, perennial plants such as iris and daylilies. We own & operate a 10 acre parcel at the intersection of Golf Course Road (Cty 21) and Shanaska Creek Rd. Currently we have about 6-7 acres planted in perennials and woody plants for cuts. In this photo, Glenn is cutting down the Coral Bark Willow. It is cut to the ground every year, so it produces nice straight stems for floral work or to sell in bunches. This is 2 yrs. growth! I guess they like the soil.

Our farm is run by myself, (Diane) and my husband Frank. He is my reluctant but awesome weekend helper! If you can do it from one of our tractors...he's in! This year Glenn is also on board to help run the farm as we go fulltime this year. We started sales briefly in 06, then as many of you know we were hit by the tornado in 8-06, and the farm went on stand by for 2 years. Now that I am retired, I am excited to start my new career, playing in the mud, it's been a lifetime passion. This photo is Golden Curls Willow. These plants were 1 yr. old when planted and have grown on for 3 seasons - 12 to 15 ft.! All knarly and cool looking. Fast growers.


These 4 photos were taken in Feb. 09 when Glenn and I ventured out to do some late winter pruning. Many of the shrubs, aka 'woody plants' are cut back to just a few inches. A method called coppicing. This produces long straight stems for willows and dogwoods. This method is not for every plant! Then I was busy with sorting and bunching and getting them ready to sell at the Farmer's Market in Mankato on Saturdays, hint hint.
So when you look at a bundle of nicely bunched colored stems and debate the price, remember there is a frozen person behind the scenes. =)



I know you likely seen the red dogwood, and maybe even the coral, but how about this yellow. It would look awesome paired with spring tulips and bergenia. The woody plants we grow are for either their flowers, like lilacs and hydrangeas, their foliage like Diablo Ninebark and Maples, their berry clusters like American Cranberry and Blueberry Muffin Viburnum (who could resist a name like that!) or simply for their bare stems like curly willow or colored dogwoods. About 3 of our acres are woodies, about 1,600 plants. That is indeed....alot of pruning.
Check out my classes listed on March 16th entry.

Is it true, did I really get one photo posted after about 5 hours of trying to figure this program out?

This is one magnificent, iris named 'Batik.' It will be one of the many I hope to post a photo of, and it will also be for sale this year. It has broken color, so patterns on the flower are not exactly the same.

Check out my garden class information listed below on an earlier post. If the weather is nice for week 4 and continued good weather looks possible, I will likely swap the outline for weeks 4 and 5. Hate to pass up great weather on the 4th week and get rained out on the 5th week.

There was an article in a local paper today that said you could turn $10 worth of vegetable seeds into $300-600 worth of food. Now that's a nice return on your investment!!!!

In the 4th or 5th week of class, we will be planting seeds and plants in the field. If there is interest, I may consider offering a self guided tour once a month if folks want to check on the progress of the plants, and pull a few weeds too!

Okay, just learning this blogging thing, and I don't know how to correct the errors of my spelling ways. Be patient. I am going to try to post some farm photos...we'll see how that goes.

Garden Classes

Welcome to the blogsite of Earthworks Gardens, Selly Farms Inc.

Just getting this blog rolling so I can tell you about the great gardening classes we have starting
in St. Peter, Minnesota on April 20th. On the March 19th blog entry is the outline of the class. The class is limited to 65 people. I have about 30 signed up already. Classes are FREE!!! You can register by calling me at
507-931-0882, leave a message if I don't answer. OR I prefer if you email me at ddenise58@msn.com Register asap. Last year I had nearly 50 each class without any advertising.



Where? Classes are held at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Parking lot located at Grace Street and South 4th St. in St. Peter. Call my cell if you get lost, 507-382-9337.

Classes are from 6:30 - 8:30 pm



Week 1, April 20

-starting transplants (class will be starting plants)

-Growing Vine crops (melons, squash, pumpkins cukes)

-Growing herbs, using and preserving

-seeds available



Week 2, April 27

-Vegetable gardening (tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn, peppers etc.)

-organic methods, culture and care of crops

-tools of the trade


Week 3, May 4

-Flower Gardening

-Perennial, annuals, & bulbs

-designing a flower bed or border



Week 4, May 11

-Landscaping

-basic landscape layout and installation

-managing your lawn

-start over or restore an overgrown yard?



Week 5, May 18

-Field trip to Earthworks Gardens, 2 miles from SE of St. Peter

(I dont' need a note from your mom)

-Self guided tour of early spring plants

-there will be opportunities for you to plant seeds and plants

- instructions on digging and dividing perennials

- tomato and peppers plants will be distributed that were planted in the first week, and some

that I started before class. Every family should get approx. 4 tomato plants - all different types

and 2 bell pepper plants, free!