Twiggybet1's Blog

Before we left to go visiting for the holiday weekend, we managed to get the sweet corn planted.  I think we squeezed in 6 rows.  I am SO excited!  I absolutely love corn-on-the-cob, and we have never tried to grow it before.  I decided to wait until we returned to plant the squash, since it's going in containers.

We had a very nice visit.  We stayed with my sister and her family.  They had lost their house in January (due to foreclosure) and had been staying with friends until a couple of weeks ago when they found a decent house to rent.  It's on about an acre, and there are several raised beds for planting.  Not as large as the property they lost (10 acres) but it will do until they can buy another place.  The property is for sale, so if someone buys it, they will have about 30 days to find somewhere else, and because of the temporary nature of the living arrangements, she wasn't sure she wanted to plant anything.  So, I told her I would go through my seeds when I got home, and find some stuff that grows pretty fast.  I have a small box with an assortment of veggie and flower seeds ready to mail to her tomorrow.  I think she plans to plant the fast growing stuff in the raised beds, and use containers for stuff she would want to bring with her if they have to move before the growing season ends.

We came home yesterday afternoon (Tuesday).  I had to make it home before dark so I could check on my garden.  We've got radishes ready!  LOTS of radishes.  Amazing how much happens in a couple day's absence!  No, my corn didn't sprout yet, but everything that was sprouted made some progress.  Of course the weeds made the most progress.  So I spent a bit of time today clearing the weeds out of the areas that don't have mulch.  First thing I did in the morning was to water the garden.  Our sprinkler (which we bought last year , but looks as if it's much older) wasn't working properly.  Hubby bought a new one on his way home from work today and tried it out.  Works great, and he bought a better quality one, so HOPEFULLY this one will last more than one year!

I got some containers planted today.  There is one for hubbard squash, Texas Sweet Potato (this is a new one for us, we will see how it does), one for watermelon, one for cantaloupe, and one with bushel gourd.  I need to get a couple more ready so I can plant some pumpkins and cucumbers.  I planted a couple of things in the garden, but I'm not sure which they are, so I want to be sure to have some of everything I want.  These containers are going next to the fence, with some trellising for support.  I have no idea how well this is going to work out, it's our big experiment this year. 

The maple trees and elms are shedding their seeds right now.  When we were kids, we called the maple seeds "helicopters." They were fun then, but now they just make a mess for me to clean up!  I swept up the big piles from the drive way and patio.  It's not pristine, but hey, I wasn't going for perfection, the trees aren't done yet. 

I also spent some time on Creeping Charlie (and friends) patrol elsewhere in the yard.  I hate that stuff.  It grows everywhere, and is practically indestructible.  Funny story about ole creeping charlie.  Right now, the stuff is in bloom.  I noticed it growing at my sister's newly rented place.  When she had everyone over on Monday, my mother spied the tiny purple flowers and proclaimed "oh, how pretty, I'm going to pick some to dry!"  Mom does stained glass, and one of her projects is jewelry boxes with a section of dried flowers between panes of glass on the lids.  I told her to come on down to my place and pick as much as she wants, even dig some up, and she will have a never-ending supply!  She doesn't have it growing in her own flower beds, and didn't know what it was, apparently.  I don't know how she ever escaped an acquaintance with ole creeping charlie, she loves flowers and has always had beautiful plantings in her yard. 

Tomorrow I plan to plant some flower seedlings I started, moonflowers and bright-eye daisies.  I'm still debating where I will put them.  One of the beds out front, rain garden, or back corner?  Hmm, I guess I will sleep on it...

Between yesterday and today, hubby and I managed to almost finish planting the garden.  Yesterday we planted the potatoes, and readied the row for the sweet potatoes.  The sweet potato starts probably wont come for a couple of weeks yet, but that will give the black plastic mulch time to warm the soil.  If it weren't for that, we probably couldn't grow them this far north. 

This picture shows the potato trench between the sweet potato row and the peppers.  Looks kind of messy yet. 

Yeah, I know the rows aren't all that straight.  But once the veggies fill in, it won't be as noticeable.  I put down the black plastic and put the bricks around to hold it in place today while hubby was at work.

Yesterday, while hubby planted the potatoes and made the sweet potato hill, I dug up all my Irises in the back of the rain garden.  They were already planted by the fence before I put in the rain garden, so they haven't been disturbed since I planted them about 3 years ago.  The soil was compacted way too hard, and they hadn't bloomed.  So I dug them up, put them in a pail of water and loosened all the dirt in the area.  I mixed in a couple of buckets of compost and shreddings of twigs and leaves, and replanted them a bit further apart:

Today, after finishing up the sweet potato area,  (you would not believe how long it took to put all those brick pieces around, and try to keep the plastic from flapping in the breeze) I got the next row ready, and planted zucchini that I started from seeds indoors.  The rest of the row I filled in with cucumbers (I think) from the wintersown plants:

 I put milk jug tops over the zucchini for the night, because the temps are supposed to get down pretty chilly, and I'm not sure they hardened off enough for the night temps yet.  Finally, when hubby got home, we had a quick supper and then we planted two rows of tomatoes.  The row to the right next to the zucchini are all determinate except for the last two plants.  These ones are Juliet grape tomatoes and Sungold cherry tomatoes.  The row to the right and the last two plants in the first row are all indeterminate.  These are Better boy (slicing) Bonny Best (salad and canning) and Jet Star (canning)

Tomorrow, we are planning to finish up planting the garden with sweet corn.  This will be the first time we tried to grow it.  I think we have just enough room to squeeze in 4 or 5 rows.  We still have to put together the trellis for the winter squash, and install it next to the fence.  I have some pots ready for the squash, I will probably try to get the plants in the pots tomorrow before hubby gets home.  I really would like to get all the planting done before the weekend.  We plan to go up north to visit family for the holiday weekend, and see the new baby nephew who was born in April.  We haven't been  up north since January, and we have birthdays and celebrations to catch up on!

The weather here has been pretty weird the last couple of days.  Yesterday was the day my daughter had her friends over for a cook-out.  It was sunny and gusty in the morning, clouded up, rained a little bit, sun came back, more clouds moved in, hailed a few minutes, a bit more rain, then remained overcast and windy on and off for the rest of the day.  My daughter managed to get the food grilled during one of the dry spells!  Her and her friends rescued the screen house when it started doing cartwheels across the yard.  Oh, well, it's Michigan.  We have a saying here, "if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes."  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, weather notwithstanding.  One of my daughter's friends is the daughter of my long-time friend, and my friend came too.  So we had a nice visit, which doesn't happen as often as we'd like.  We live almost 2 hours apart (another Michigan quirk, we are more likely to refer to distance in terms of the length of travel time rather than the number of miles).

Today the weather was just as weird.  More sprinkles, clouds, winds, some sun on and off, and another couple of minutes of hail. It was more like sleet, really.  The chunks were pretty small.  Hubby and I spent almost the entire day out in the garden.  We planted potatoes, sweet peppers and hot peppers, and (for the first time in our gardening history) celery.  We had heard that celery is exceptionally fussy, and difficult.  Well, this year, we decided we are up to the challenge! 

My peas are all sprouted, and starting to climb the pea fence.  The green beans are sprouted too.  Radishes are getting pretty big and the beets are coming along.  I'm not sure what the carrots are doing out there, so far, no sign of them sprouting.  We are enjoying the asparagus, we still have a few weeks for that.  I have been getting some rhubarb every couple of days, but, very little, because we just planted it last spring.  We left it alone last year so it would establish, but I'm impatient, and I think I should leave it be for a while.  I don't want to take too much and kill it.  We newspapered and mulched between the rows, using our newly mowed grass clippings for the mulch.  We decided to wait a day or so more before we plant the tomatoes because the temperature is supposed to get down to the upper 30's tonight. 

Tomorrow, I plan to plant some onion seed, for green bunching.  I also need to dig out the black mulch for the sweet potato row.  We hill up a row  and cover it with the black plastic mulch to get the soil nice and warm.  We will leave it on to help control the weeds.  And if time allows, then we will plant the tomatoes tomorrow.  The night time temperatures are supposed to be warmer for the rest of the week.  Oh, and I want to spend some time on my flower beds.  I have a flat of pretty buttery-yellow petunias, called prism sunshine. 

I finished screening the compost pile today also.    And I found the robin's nest.  It's in the pine tree, over the place where we moved the compost pile to.  I have a picture in my albums.  Every time I went near the compost pile, the robin would make some noise and move a branch or two away from the nest.  I imagine she's trying to steer me away from the nest.  And of course, while we were digging, the robin was going right behind us searching for worms.  I think the robin family got a nice Sunday dinner today.  Good for them, my family had left-overs from yesterday's cook-out!

I haven't done much in the garden all week, because I pulled a muscle (or something?) in my leg earlier this week and have been hobbling around like.....I don't know, an infirm person or something.  Dang!  Oh, well, it was raining Tues. and Wed. off and on anyway, so I couldn't go out even if I felt better, and I had some other things to do that desperately needed my attention (read:  paperwork - sorting, filing, paying bills, etc.) However, the weather was just too beautiful to stay indoors today, pampering myself.  The temperature reached the mid-70's, and we have had so few days that nice and warm so far this year.  So, I set out to move the compost pile.

All week, after work, hubby has been busy setting up the new spot for the cinderblock compost pile. (rain or shine.  he doesn't mind getting a bit wet) We are moving it from the back of the garden over to the side next to the neighbors fence.  They have a pine tree that unfortunately is getting quite large and shades a good sized spot of our garden, all morning until early afternoon.  Last year, the plants in that area didn't  perform optimally, to say the least.  The space at the back of the garden where we  previously had the compost pile receives a lot more hours of sunlight, so this way should work out better.  Anyway, hubby finished moving all the cinderblocks yesterday, so I spent today screening the pile and moving it.  I knew that I would be moving slower than usual due to my injured leg, but it turned into an all-day job.  Actually, I think the exercise did my leg good.  It seemed like the longer I worked the less stiff my leg became.  Of course, it didn't hurt that I hopped myself up before and after on acetamenophren and ibuprofen. 

While I was busily going about the task, along comes one of our resident robins.  (I wonder, do they return to the same area year after year?)  These robins are not particularly shy, I see them out in the garden just about every day, and they often come really close to watch us work, hoping for worms.  So I tossed a few to him (her?) as I ran accross them in the compost, and he seemed to really appreciate it.  I got about 70% of the pile done before I called it a day.  So the rest will be waiting for me tomorrow. 

We have so much work to do!  I have been hardening off the plants I bought at the nursery last weekend, so hopefully - God willing and weather permitting - we can finish planting the garden this coming weekend.  I don't know how much I can do on Saturday, my daughter is having some friends over for a cook-out.  She's celebrating the break between the semester she just finished and the summer classes that haven't started yet.  I promised to help her cook, and to set up the screen house in the back yard.  I hope the weather is nice.

 Hubby has to work Saturday, and possibly Sunday,  which is a mixed blessing.  The o.t. money is greatly appreciated, but I will have to do most of the gardening by myself, and we all know a job shared get done quicker and the time passes more pleasantly. (ideally, anyway!!!!)

Here's a photo of a pair of ducks enjoying the neighbor's pool.  The female was really keeping an eye on me, she seems somewhat wary of people.  But the male just went about his business as if I wasn't there.  He just kept preening himself.  Perhaps he was more concerned with making himself attractive to her than worried about what I might do.  I still haven't determined where their nest is, but I'm guessing it's not too far, because they have been visiting the pool every day.  I know they haven't nested in my yard, and I doubt they nested in the neighbor's yard because she has a very large dog, unless they found a secluded area where the dog can't reach.

Here's the newest resident to the garden.  My hubby found him while mowing the lawn, and relocated him to the garden.  I hope he will be happy there and eat lots of bugs. 

 I cleaned up my bird houses.  What a job!  It took a few days, because I really wanted to make sure I drowned the paper wasps.  I used a large bucket with a lid, and filled it with water and a little bit of dish soap to help remove the nests.  I put in a bird house, made sure it was totally submerged, and quickly put the lid on and left it like that for at least a few hours.  Then I would remove that one, and put in the next one.  I think I cleaned seven in all.  I have some pictures of them in my photo albums.  The area doesn't look very impressive yet, but come june when the ditch lilies are in bloom it looks nice. 

I planted a couple more plants in the rain garden.  I put in another blanket flower, this variety called "Oranges and Lemons".  I'm not sure the one I planted last year came back.  I think quite a few of the things I planted in the fall became casualties of winter.  *sigh* I'll have to fill in with annuals this year, until some of the stuff gets more established and larger.  I need to split some peonies in the fall, which are planted in the front bed.  I promised my neighbor some, but hopefully there will be enough to move a piece to the rain garden. 

Well, I think my wintersowing experiment was pretty much a flop.  Not only did my labels fade so I don't know what is what, but only a few of the things survived.  My indoor sowing also had limited success.  I do so much better with transplants.  I have a favorite nursery that has absolutely beautiful, sturdy, stocky, healthy looking plants.  Everything I have purchased there has done well -  I don't think I've lost a single thing I've gotten from them over the years.  We made a trip there on Friday afternoon, and got some tomato, pepper, broccoli, cabbage, and a couple of herbs, not to mention our Mother's day gifts and a flat of petunias to fill in some bare spots.   

Happy Mother's Day, ladies, and happy gardening to everyone!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!  We had tacos for dinner, and (of course) used our home canned salsa.  I love mexican food.  Yeah, yeah, I know, what we call mexican is an americanized version of their authentic cuisine.  Oh, well, I like it anyway.

The weather today was absolutely beautiful!  The temperature here reached 75,  well above the normal average temperature for this time of year here, about mid 60's.  The sun was shining all day, nice occaisional breeze, but not too windy.  I got quite a bit of cleanup, weeding, arranging, rearranging, etc. done.  In other words,  I did a lot of "puttering".  I would have done a few more indepth chores, but I was locked out of the garage.  Hubby has recently replaced the lock, and hasn't gotten around to getting a 2nd key made yet, and he forgot to unlock it for me before he left for work.  So, I couldn't get to my tools and implements, until he got home.  By then, it was time for dinner.  I hope he remembers to get that key made soon. 

After dinner, we lit a fire in the chimenia, and toasted marshmallows.  And watched the bats come out.  We are considering getting a bat house and hanging it on the back wall of the garage, closest to the garden.  But how do you get them to move in? I don't want just another place for the wasps to nest!

My neighbor has a pair of mallard ducks taking advantage of her swimming pool.  I doubt that they have their nest in her yard, though, because she has a couple of dogs.  Actually, she just brought a new puppy home yesterday.  Its a teensy tiny little "tea cup" poodle.  I've seen bigger kittens.  She had the puppy all dolled up in a pink dress with a bow on the back.  It was so cute!

The weather forcast is for a nice morning, maybe afternoon showers.  So I had better get up early (and hope hubby unlocks the garage) if I want to get much done outside tomorrow.  Hubby has been working on moving our compost  area to the side of the garden instead of the back.  The neighbors have a pine tree that shades a spot along the side, and the back gets more sun, so if we move the compost area to the shady spot, I think we will be making better use of our garden space. 

I need to clean up some bird houses.  It seems those pesky paper wasps have made nests in some of them.  I plan to submerge them in a bucket of water to drown them.  (Hey! It's a better option than poison! I think?) And I plan to wear lots of insect repellant before I attempt to go near them.  How in the world am I going to keep the wasps away from my birdhouses? Ideas, anyone?

The weather today has been stormy, kind of matches my mood.  I've been in a weird funk all day....

I tried to get a few things done outside.  I got some soil mixed up for planters, in the wheel barrow.  The planters needed a good scrubbing, which I planned to do when forced indoors by the rain, so on to the next task.  While I wasn't watching, the dog dumped the wheel barrow over.  Great.  While cleaning up that mess, the wind kicked up and scattered the newspapers I was planning to mulch with.  So I chased flying newspapers around the yard.  Got that cleaned up just in time for these great big raindrops to start falling.  So that's all I managed to do.  Not very much progress today.  So I spent the rest of the day indoors, working on some other projects. 

One bright spot.  When my daughter came home from college today, she told me she aced her final exam.  She only has one more class to finish up, and that one ends next week. 

Well, yesterday, I got the green beans planted.  I put newspaper and mulch between the rows and covered the area with a large clear plastic sheet, just in case we get another frost.  Doesn't hurt that the beans just might sprout sooner, too.  Today, I planted my bargain salad greens:  spinach, endive, romaine, butterhead, iceberg, and mesculun mix.  I watered them with the hose nozzle in the "mist" position, since most of them are sown rather shallow.  I also concocted a doggy digging guard with some wire mesh and tomato cages.  I have monitored the dog closely all afternoon, and so far it seems to be working  (keeping my fingers crossed!)

My DH was just too tired to do anything in the yard when he got home from work.  My DD was out dining with some of her college friends, and (oops) I was too busy playing in the garden to think to thaw something for dinner, so hubby and I went for some quick carry-out.  We rarely do that during the week.  Kind of a treat, and hubby's idea, since my idea of opening a few cans didn't appeal to him.  Oh, well.  There's always tomorrow. 

I have a lot of plans of things I want to plant real soon.  Our last frost date for this area is approx. May 10, so I can get most of my stuff planted within the next couple of weeks.  I want to sow some leeks and onions, put in potatoes, and get a row ready for the sweet potatoes.  Although it's hard telling when the sweet potatoes will arrive, they didn't get here until June last year.  I was worried that they wouldn't have time to grow before it was time to harvest, but we did o.k.  Fortunately, I had ordered a shorter season "northern" variety.  To get the row ready, I hill up the soil and cover it with black plastic mulch in order to get the soil nice and warm for them.

I want to do something different with the winter squash and pumpkins this year.  It's probably a dumb idea, but I want to put them in containers, line them up along the fence line, and support them with trellises, if necessary.  I'm trying to make more room in the garden so we can try to grow a few rows of sweet corn.  We have never grown corn before, because we didn't think we had enough room.  But corn has gotten pretty expensive the last couple of years, and we all LOVE fresh corn-on-the-cob!  So...we shall see how this works out.  I hope both the corn and squashes do well.