Batnavel's Blog

New Photos are up.
Feb 29, 2008 | 4:12 PM PST
All have captions. I was waiting for the wife to get ready, and had time to get this photo album up. Its date night, since I am off the weekend, and she has to work both Saturday and Sunday over night. So, dinner and a movie "The Other Boylen Girl" it is. Check out my photos if you are bored to death!!! Pre-Spring 08 -- The Befores!!

Yeah for warm weather.....
Feb 29, 2008 | 3:29 PM PST

I got to cut down the tree that fell during the first ice storm, and also cut down last years Pampas Grass. Supposed to be around 50 here all weekend, but might rain. I have a major cold/sinus thing going on, or something like it, but I figure if I can make it to work, I can play out in the yard if it does indeed hit 50 degrees. I took a ton of pics of the yard, front, back, side, you name it today. I will post soon in a "Pre-Spring 08" file, so I can show before and afters of each area. Plans for tommorrow, weather permitting, are to divide the Pampas Grass, and transplant a few chunks in the back garden.

On a sad note, I bought some round stepping stones last year at Lowes on clearance, and I noticed the are all cracked up. Now, with the weather here, I really dont thin that should have happened. The ground around them is soft, but there was no weight on them at any time, and it barely froze once or twice here. If they will stay put, pieces and all, I think I will leave them, but I am worried that some of the pieces are too small. I planned on planting some creeping Thyme or something around them, so maybe I will do that, and just see what happens.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend. I have been trying to read everyones blogs, but I worked the last five days, so maybe I will have some time to read and respond to some this weekend.  ^v^

Gifts......
Feb 26, 2008 | 7:57 AM PST

      My wife got me three great books for our anniversary, and it has provided me with a lot of garden related reading these past few, COLD days. You can see in the second picture that I have already tabbed one of the books. The tabs along the top are plants/flowers that I want, and the tabs along the side are ones I already have. I didnt even realize that I had that many varieties already until I saw it like that.

Signs of life....
Feb 20, 2008 | 9:50 AM PST

Here is a picture of the current state of my 12 cell seed starter. All four of the end sections contain Vinca, seeds that I harvested myself from last years plant purchased at Lowes or Walmart. The other cell that has sprouts is Chocolate mint coleus. What I dont understand the most is why the cell directly next to that one doesnt have sprouts, since it was the same thing, from the same pack of seeds. The other cells contain African Impatiens, Lavender, and Baby Duck Petunias, and I am thinking they are not going to grow since the others have been up so long already. I started this kit on Feb 3rd, and by the 7th my vinca were popping through, and the coleus by the 10th. Its now the 20th, and no signs of life for the impatiens, petunia, or the lavender. Anyone have any words of wisdom on that???

Also, a LOT of the bulbs I planted late in the fall actually had sprouted before it got too cold, we had a mild winter, and then the worst weather of all last week, with 3 inches of snow and a sheet of ice over that. How are thise going to fare this growing season??? Anybody?? Am I going to have beautiful irises, tulips etc, or did the whacky weather screw that up for this year???

My beautiful wife.
Feb 19, 2008 | 9:15 PM PST
Forgive me for wanting to share this non gardening related thought. My first anniversary is February 24th. I switched weekends at work so Sarah and I could spend the whole weekend together. We are going to dinner on Friday, and then we have a room in Evansville ( across the bridge from Henderson, no big deal, just means we dont have to cross the bridge at the end of the night, and can get away from the dogs for a bit ) so I am not sure what we will do, or where we will end up. Then Saturday I think we will check out the winery here in Henderson. We like winerys, especially Oliver Winery in Bloomington In.....its one of the most beautiful places around here. Sarah got me a gift certificate for a two day wine making session at the Ruby Moon winery that is here in town that we didnt even know about until late last year, so we will probably check that out in the afternoon, and then its BW3's for dinner, and then bowling. Sunday we are going to cook at home. Need to find some Veal for Veal Scallopini with a saffron sauce.  Here is a picture of Sarah on the bus in Cancun. The busses get pretty full during the rush hours there when a lot of the locals are coming and going from work, so we had to stand. I love this picture.

Testing testing.....
Feb 19, 2008 | 9:18 AM PST

Alright, so I am just testing to see if I can get images in here.

 

I think I have done it, so I am going to post it and see.  Above is the Burpee picture of what I hope some of my Morning glories will look like this year. Have I mentioned that I CANT WAIT FOR IT TO WARM UP SO I CAN START DIGGING??!!??

Holy Crap........
Feb 7, 2008 | 2:17 PM PST
I have Vinca sprouts!!!!!! Thats the most exciting thing since my wife surprised me with an 8 gig iPod!! I will post pics as soon as they are more than dots poking through soil!!!!. Please read my last entry too, and give me suggestions! Major excitement!!! ^v^

Suggestions??
Feb 7, 2008 | 11:32 AM PST
I am doing a little pre-planning, and I need some suggestions from y'all. One of my first projects this year will be to build a "flower box" in the front right corner of my garden, just to the right of the entrance, where the arbor is. I plan on it being about 6 ft long, and 3 to 4 feet wide, and about 3 ft high. This will allow me to make a bench seat on the side that faces the raised part of the garden. I am wanting to plant a pretty flowering plant or two that will "spill" off the right hand side, and drape down a few inches, or almost to the ground. Any suggestions??

Gardening activities
Feb 5, 2008 | 4:31 PM PST

Well, I am back from Cancun, had a great time, and I am starting the garden activities.

The other night I started my "Garden Journal" -- bought a black 3 ring binder at Walmart, and put some blank paper in it, along with my invoice from my Burpee seed order,  and the plans for my "portable greenhouse" ( which by the way, will probably not come to fruition this year, decided to attack things differently. )

Anyway, I plan on putting some tabs in my binder with sketches of the yard,  ideas on future beds etc, sun charts, seed order info, successes and failures, and just plain journaling my garden activities. I think I will probably write blog entries for anything significant too.

Here are the other things I did on Feb 3rd.

• I cut out and attached pictures from the Burpee Catalouge to my seeds. Seeds direct from Burpee come in generic looking packages, with no pictures, and until I am an expert, and can visualize each flower or plant by name.... I need this.
• I bought a 12 cell seed started at Walmart too, the kind that comes with the little dome and peet pellets. I started this in a very sunny kitchen window, with my wife's approval, after striking a deal. I told her I would kill the struggling Vinca ( formerly thought to be inpatiens ) that had been in that window in a blue pot. She accepted the deal, and the Vinca went. The Vinca were struggling because I put them in VERY poor dirt, they needed to die.
• In the 12 cell, I planted ......what do you know, VINCA, Lavender, Baby Duck Petunia, African Impatiens, Chocolate Mint Coleus, and more Vinca.
• I have read up on starting things from seed, and plan to follow everything to a T, in hopes of success.

Thats it for Feb 3rd.  OH, I also bought a book in St. Louis at Books a Million for $5. Its an HGTV garden book, and it highlights some  botanical gardens from around the US. I know of two I will be visiting for sure, ST. Louis, and New York.