You never know where inspiration is going to come from. For me, it was digging up the potatoes.
Last spring the John Scheepers catalogue offered ‘Russian Banana’ fingerling potatoes in packs of ten. Perfect. I had room for that. So I planted a couple in a big container, the rest in the ground, and they got off to a ripping start. But as the summer wore on, I started to worry my crop was going bust. I didn’t see many flowers, and then the foliage started dying back earlier than I thought it should. Disease? Too much shade from the neighbors’ hedge? Be stoic, I said, but mainly I just got depressed.
As summer meandered on, I’d remember from time to time that there might be potatoes underground, but I didn’t want to check. Better not to know and pretend that all was well. But you can keep up this pretense only so long.
So the weekend before Election Day, as balmy and perfect as we were likely to get until May, I forced myself outdoors to forage in the dirt and face facts. And would you believe it? I had potatoes. Not a humungous number, but a respectable first-time effort. “I can do this!” I exulted. “Next year I can do it better.”
Suddenly inspired, my mind started buzzing with ideas for 2009—get a dwarf golden conifer to go alongside my blue-green nepeta, move the ‘Pinky Winky’ hydrangea to a sunnier spot, try growing astrantia, use Epsom salt on the roses.
But where to keep track of my ideas? Scraps of paper get lost in the piles on my desk. A computer file can disappear just as easily. What I needed was a place to jot down notes to myself, make sketches, store receipts and plant tags, plus a place where I could learn and get even more ideas. What I needed was this edition of Chicagoland Gardening, which we’ve designed as a planning issue with a three-ring punch design that you can use all year.
It’s designed to be super practical and brimming with information. Stories include Jim Nau’s annual report on his favorite new plant varieties, a visit to the Idea Garden at Cantigny, a step-by-step explanation of seed starting, a survey of basic garden tools, and the first in a new series of stories on design fundamentals. And, to help us plan for the future, there’s a story on global warming and how it will affect Midwestern gardens.
In the center, you’ll find a special planning section that you can use as an all-year resource. The key features:
• “Plant Picks,” a two-page chart where we list our personal favorites
for various situations.
• Container planting how-to’s with gorgeous photos plus “recipes”
so you can replicate them at home.
• A handy-dandy envelope for saving receipts and plant tags.
• Two pages of graph paper on which to sketch and try out designs.
• A “What To Do” schedule for the entire year with extra spaces
so you can jot down your own reminders.
I already know what I’ll write for June 10: “Fertilize the potatoes.”
