I’ve heard from a couple fellow bloggers who can’t find the place to “Like” or comment on this post. I’ve learned that readers need to first click on the title above and open the actual post to view comments, etc. If a reader stays on the main page of the site, comments don’t appear. Also, on the Propagator’s site in the Six on Saturday comments, if readers click on the link provided for posts and not on the author’s profile pic, it will take them to the actual post and not to the main page. Confusing? I hope not.
Hello to all, and Happy New Year, finally! Four weeks have passed since I last posted with Six on Saturday. The Propagator faithfully hosts this weekly garden update and welcomes all contributions. Coppertop gardens are slumbering, but there are signs of an early spring.
ONE – Hellebores or Lenten roses slowly awaken, sending up their first blooms. I’m especially eager to view blooms of three new varieties of doubles I planted last fall, but they aren’t up yet. The below ones are!
TWO – My last Six on Saturday chronicled devastation from a December windstorm, including the destroyed greenhouse. We recently purchased a beautiful, new, glass greenhouse, and installation of the steel foundation began earlier this week. I couldn’t be happier with the work our installer, Pete, is doing. Next week the work should be completed, and I’ll share the new greenhouse.
THREE – Vegetable garden cleanup has continued into winter. I always allow the runner bean vines to dry out fully before removing them from their trellis, a repurposed chainlink fence panel. This week I unwound the vines and dug the stalks. The roots were enormous, each like a grouping of carrots. It’s fascinating that each is from just one small bean seed. I began to wonder if they might be edible and researched it to learn that yes, the starchy roots are fit for consumption. One never knows if during a lean year or a zombie apocalypse these knowledge nuggets might prove useful. FYI – I did not serve them for dinner.
FOUR – Besides snowdrops, some of the first bulbs to make their presence known are crocuses I decided to leave in pots all of last year. I’m on bulb patrol each day looking for signs of green. Others are Hyacinth orientalis, tulips left in soil in barrels last year, and many daffodils.
FIVE – Winter hours spent in the garden shed planting seeds, transplanting seedlings, watering, and feeding plants have been productive. Lupine and salvia have new, larger pots already. I’ve filled all my available surfaces indoors, so some 1-gallon containers have a temporary home beneath the poly tunnel in the veggie garden while we await the greenhouse. I’ve only started perennial and annual flowers so far, but will begin vegetables next week.
SIX – Hubby has a long history with bamboo. He and bamboo have been arch rivals since we purchased a home bordered by a bamboo forest in 1993 in Virginia. Everyone knows running bamboo doesn’t actually “border” anything, but invades like crazy. Clumping bamboo still spreads, but not as voraciously. Hubby tolerated an expanding clump by our patio waterfall for the past five years. I went away last weekend and while away received a text something like “Ding dong, the bamboo is dead!” The first photo is from November, and the second photo reveals a beautiful gap in front of the Cryptomeria — the result of many hours of digging out bamboo. Isn’t he the best?
Gardens at Coppertop 
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