Is Your Garden Dolce Venti?

Hey, gang!

My regularly scheduled posts will be coming along shortly, but I wanted to share an important exchange with a fellow blogger, for all your benefit. Kimbathewhite, who's discovered the Midnight Garden through Blog Catalog (see link in the right column), recently wrote:

"Loved the bird post - I can see that you passionately enjoy the out-of-doors, as do I. I have a question: Do you know whether coffee grounds mixed in with the soil will actually help flower and/or veggie plants? I had heard this and am considering trying it this year. I hear Starbucks gives theirs away for free. But I'm wondering if you've ever actually TRIED this and noticed a difference in the quality and/or quantity of your plants?"

I wrote back to Kimba that I do regularly add some coffee grounds to my garden soil, usually just scratching a little in as top dressing or with an addition of fresh soil or compost in the springtime. I've been doing this for years, but never really knew why, exactly. I'd heard years ago that the coffee was attractive to earthworms, who are never unwelcome in my garden...and it sort of made good sense in a simplistic kind of way: since coffee helps me to be more productive in my workday, why wouldn't it do the same for them?

I've had noticeably increased bloom counts from roses and azaleas (and pretty much any acid soil loving plant)side dressed with grounds. I've added grounds to compost with good results, as well, but I never knew why, or thought to ask. It just worked.

So, I decided to do a little research (as little as possible, since I'm at work, to be honest) and discovered this page from Starbucks, which confirms they do indeed offer their grounds to gardeners gratis, and also lists the composition of the grounds, and why it is they work so well in the garden.

Anyway...turns out we may have just found the best justification for there to be a Starbucks on every corner! Don't forget to go grab some grounds--your garden will thank you!

Thanks Kimba, for bringing this important bit to our attention!

Happy gardening, all!!

Autumn Blooms and Some News

Well, even though much of the garden has gone to sleep or to seed (or both), there are still a few pretties to share with you, thanks to our continuing late summer-like temperatures. Today another mum is heard from (one of my favorites!), and here's a shot of the butterfly flower preparing to colonize any open ground.




The cosmos seeds I planted mid-summer are bearing blossoms now, too, though they are on the small side. No less lovely, though.

So, here is the news for you faithful readers. It is now official: we will be moving to Harwich over the course of the next six weeks. Here's a look at the new place (more to come shortly).

While it's not a wilderness preserve like this last place has often seemed, it's still a great place, in a nice quiet neighborhood. There's a nice chunk of conservation land and a kettle pond not at all far away, and the commute to work is about the same, just from a different direction.

We'll miss Eastham, but we think the trade-off for proximity to Dairy Queen and the possibility of pizza delivery makes up for that!

Here's where I'm planning the new garden bed. There's a pair of roses on the fence already and a clematis that climbs the light post, and soon they'll have plenty of company!

We've called the good folks at DigSafe and they are marking all the underground utilities now. If you're moving a garden, or even just moving to a new property, this is always a good idea: its such bad form to get electrocuted or blow up a gas main before you've even met the neighbors!!

Many of my garden pals have been relocated to pots this past week, as I begin the process. We'll be moving later in the month, but I wanted to get these guys relocated before any real wintry danger sets in. We've had a nice warm fall so far, but it can't last forever!

As you can see, these pots are doing double-duty: not only housing some daylilies (actually, these were a recent addition to the garden, from a friend's yard renovation, so they've not actually been in the ground here yet...thanks, Vicki and Craig!!) but also an assortment of solar lights.

Another point in favor of the new location is the closeness to the ocean: we found this view of Nantucket Sound after about a five minute drive!!