A Writer’s Garden–Serendipity in the Garden with Morgan K. Wyatt

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A Bark in the Night, Catherine Castle's A Writer's Garden, Cozy Mysteries by Morgan K. Wyatt, elephant ears, Garden blog, garden serendipity, Morgan K. Wyatt, sunflowers

Today Morgan K. Wyatt is visiting A Writer’s Garden talking about serendipity in her garden. I understand that, especially this year with all the rain we’ve had. I have tons of flowers that I didn’t plant popping up everywhere among the weeds. Can’t wait to see your serendipity, Morgan. Welcome!

Thanks, Catherine.

All winter long I dream of gardening, especially when it snows. In my dreams, everything goes right. Reality is an entirely different matter. Each year, I learn something different. Travel, weather, and online seeds challenged me this year.

Yes, I do use seeds for my annuals and some vegetables. My first mistake was ordering seeds online. I ordered dozens of seeds through a well-known company that starts with an A. Seeds are in general tiny and some of my tiny packages never showed. Other showed up late into the season, I still planted them. Still, others showed up in unlabeled plastic bags. Most did not germinate. It may have been the torrential rains that started in February and haven’t let up. It also could have been that items coming from abroad are often irradiated to kill harmful toxins and bacteria that could be traveling with them. This process started after the anthrax scare.

It became obvious that all my sunflower seeds were not growing, but something amazing happened. I usually keep four bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds and the birds were dropping seeds everywhere with the result being that sunflowers popped up. The cheap bird feed sunflower seed provided great flowers.

Travel chewed into my gardening plans too. In particular, I had to decide between going on a writers’ retreat or attending the annual master gardener sale where I usually buy a trunk load of plants. The writer retreat won out and I missed getting native plants. I resorted to buying plants at the chain gardening and home repair stores. I especially took all the plants that were placed on the clearance bin. Most did fairly well, although they all had to deal with constant rain and standing water. The winners in the weather category was the vegetables, wild flowers and elephant leaf bulbs.

Every year I also have a wild life visitor who appears to like my gardens as much as I do. Last year, it was a vole colony that I finally chased away with garlic. This year it is toads. They especially like the lemon balm bush that they hide underneath. Most gardeners try to attract toads to deal with insects. My secret is the marshy area of the yard that has never dried out due to the weather. The swampy bottom of our yard has also attracted blue dragon flies, which is always a plus too.

Every year teaches me something different. Be careful when planning trips around the prime growing season. Epsom salts can help any struggling plants. Make sure to use seeds that come from a reputable company within your country. Take a chance on discounted flowers and bulbs. Be on the lookout for new friends in the garden.

Make sure you get outside before the weather turns cold.

About the Gardener/Writer

Plants are both a mystery and a blessing. I can’t imagine what the world would be like without them, but when I’m not digging, weeding, or picking produce, I work in some writing. This summer I’ve released two cozy mysteries, Caribbean Catastrophe, which takes place on a cruise line, and A Bark in the Night, which takes place in my stomping grounds, Indianapolis, Indiana. They’re both available on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

 

Through A Writer’s Garden with Morgan K Wyatt

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bee bath, bees, butterfly garden, cozy mystery, Drop Dead Handsome, M.K. Scott, Morgan K. Wyatt, sunflowers, vanishing bee population

BEEing Responsible

 

The vanishing bee population alarmed me enough to research the subject. There isn’t one cause, but many, including insecticides and lack of appropriate flowers. This inspired me to create a bee and butterfly garden.

The first thing I did was used no insecticides. Second, I used no herbicides. Many of the wild flowers, thistles, and clover that herbicides kill actually feed the bees. Natural fertilizers, such as crushed eggshells for calcium, coffee or tea grounds for growth spurts, and chopped up banana peels for potassium, replaced commercial ones.

An insect house installed under the eaves of my shed provided a quiet place for the bees to rest and escape the weather. Two bees of the bumble variety took up residence. I could no longer visit the house without the aid of binoculars since bees will leave if disturbed.

Now, I was ready for the planting part. I did have some butterfly bushes, roses, and coneflowers from the previous years. I quadrupled the number of sunflowers I usually plant to line the fence. The local master gardener sale supplied the rest of my flowers at a remarkable price.

Marigolds and daisies of the single bloom variety grow side by side with the wild flowers. Single bloom plants provide more nectar than the showy double bloom type. Once committed to the idea of a bee garden I needed flowers that bloomed from spring to fall. Crocus in the spring, coneflowers and Flavia in the summer, among others, sunflowers in the late August and at the end of the season the late blooming goldenrod, asters, and sedum would serve.

Herbs also provide food for the bees and butterflies. Some I harvested, but others I allowed to bloom and go to seed. This year I skipped the tropicals and exotic plants and went for native flowers such as columbine and bee balm.

When I water the flowers, liquid settles on the broad leaf ones creating tiny ponds that attracted bees. This inspired me to make my own bee bath by using a shallow dish filled pebbles and rainwater. The saucer stays in the same place on the picnic table making it easy for the bees to find it.

As for the bees, I have dozens in the yard. The bees pollinated my garden earlier than the previous year. Colorful butterflies visit almost daily. The unexpected plus of my bee garden are the hummingbirds that visit.

Now, I don’t want to mislead and give the impression that everything was easy. Some of my young plants suffered a bunny invasion, which I used fox urine to deter future hop-by feedings. The spring bulb plants were the winter food supply for voles. I’ll be replanting with less vole-friendly bulbs this year.

With so many plants and the spotty summer rains, I installed a rain barrel to help with the watering. The fifty-five gallon drum waters the entire bee garden once. In retrospect, the bee garden is a personal triumph for both the bees and myself.

 

About the Author:

Morgan writes under the names of Morgan K Wyatt and M.K. Scott. The Morgan K Wyatt novels are traditional romance and romantic suspense, which means they’re the PG variety.

The M.K. Scott books are cozy mysteries she co-writes with husband, Scott. The most recent cozy mystery is Drop Dead Handsome.

When not writing, Morgan can be found in the garden spring, summer and fall. Winter allows her time to plan next year’s garden.