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for the end of this day and its chores. I have 3/4th of the bank out front mulched. My son in another town is going to have to borrow our truck for a week or two, so any more mulching will have to wait.
Doesn't hurt my feelings a bit, as I have so many other things I want to do before it begins to be hot all the time. Lots of digging and moving and weeding to do. Plus the seed bed screen to make and I keep forgetting that I need to finish cleaning out the fence line. After all I did buy that chainsaw to help me with that job. At least I have not planned any more new beds. Just getting the existing beds ready for summer.
I am really seeing plants peeking up all over. It is just so exciting this season called Spring. I am going to take a few pictures tomorrow. That is if I can still walk around after eating Easter dinner at my sons house. The son that is borrowing the truck will be here to eat with us as well. So it will be a very good day for this ole mom/granny.
Received my Astilbes from Spring Hill this week and got them right into the ground. Also ordered some of those plant holders. A big circle with three legs to keep bigger plants from falling over. I think I will enjoy them. I have been making use of some old tomato cages until now. These may look a little prettier.
Going out to visit friends that have a greenhouse over flowing with veggie and flowers. They began growing in the greenhouse to support their gardening hobby. They sent pictures and it is hard to believe they have all those wonderful plants growing. They have over 300 tomato plants alone.
I am hoping he will let our Master Gardeners know when he is going to start selling. He has a little sign that he puts out at the end of his driveway, a small table under his carport that holds a scale for weighing the produce as it comes in during the summer. He has it all down to a gardening science.
Happy Easter Everyone, hope you have a great day. See you on Monday.
More to Come Later
There is life outside here in SECT! I found it, spring IS coming!
Spending the last part of the winter planning out the garden and dreaming about getting outside and digging in.....literally has been a build up to spring that only brought me down. The graphed out garden beds showing where each plant will live, the pile of seeds waiting to be planted, the tumbler that sits next to the garden, the pile of newspapers and bundles of peat moss, the pot maker......they are all indicators that I should be gardening!
Stuff is in the tumbler, and I keep adding to it but I must confess there were a couple of days I didn't get out there to add and turn because the ground was so wet I would need rubber rain boots to slosh around in out there=sloggers just don't cut it!
I love reading the blogs here and seeing the photos. It is all very encouraging and enjoyable to see the progress of my friends yards, seedlings and learning experiences. It is enough to say that the last couple of weeks have been difficult ones and I really NEEDED some food for my soul.
The other day I jumped out of my pity party and took a muddy stroll around the yard and discovered many signs of life. Additionally, it occurred to me that if I collected all he stems, old leaves, cut down the grasses etc off the plants I may very well have the green matter needed to fill the tumbler and really begin the two week process of composting. While manure, I thought, would be the easy solution, the reality of getting it to the back corner [because of the mud] made this a non-option.
After walking around a bit I decided to get the camera and document. When that was finished I came inside reviewed my start seed dates-putting into perspective where I was-and then my daughters and I made the seed starting pots out of newspaper. DH and daughter are planning on putting up the greenhouse today so even if it rains, as planned, I can still get outside and get things started. These were all good things.
His morning I am posting the photos that will serve as a record of where my babies are now and serve as proof that spring really is on its way.
We have had some wonderful weather here lately and I have been taking advantage of it in the garden! Over the past couple of days I have been doing bits of weeding here and there. Always doing a little at a time helps me keep up on it over the growing season. My girl and I took advantage of the beautiful morning and spent some time enjoying the garden :)
She likes the Daffodils:
We also took some time to examine the dianthus buds:
Here are some more spring happenings I caught along the way:
Baby Peach Tree Planted last spring is flowering:
Viburnum is leafing out very nicely:
Clematis Armandii is starting to bloom:
Carolina Jasmine is doing its thing:
And last but not least...we have a surprise crop of kale growing from seeds that we planted last fall that never germinated due to the drought and total outdoor water ban. We have had so much rain lately that they decided to grow :) LOL
Thank goodness! I've discovered I've become the 'wuss' I've teased Rick and my in-laws about being in regards to the cold. I HATE it! Don't much care for the extreme heat either, but at least the heat doesn't cause me no end of agony. Been having a hellacious time with my arthritis, spending a lot of painful days and sleepless nights. I'm looking forward to warmer weather and less pain.
Working on planning my garden for the coming season. Since my space is so limited I've decided that I'm not bothering with vegetables this year. The yield is just so not worth the hassle. I'm going to focus on flowers and herbs instead. One or two plants of any of the variety of herbs I use on a regular basis will be plenty for two of us, but 8 green beans do not a meal make. I'm thinking of doing plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. And since both are usually attracted to the same plants, it'll work well with my limited space.
My main concern with that is I know a lot of butterflies like to lay their eggs on herb plants. Last year I lost my dill and cilantro to caterpillars. I'm thinking about having Rick help me make some kind of screen tent to cover the herbs I want for cooking ... the man can rig up just about anything. I can add some dill and cilantro and other herbs to my flower plantings for the butterflies to lay eggs on, then herbs for everyone!
I ended up having the day off today....so my little girl and I spent a while playing in the garden this morning (once it warmed up a bit).
I noticed some more signs of spring (just when I was beginning to wonder if some of the things I had planted and moved survived).
The globe allium blubls are emerging!!!!!! That is SO exciting. I got them on sale, but even then they weren't so cheap. Also, the autumn joy sedums that I divided last spring seem to be coming back nicely. And, the iris that I divided in the fall is starting to show itself again. So fun when things work out the way you hoped!
Of course, things don't always work out...one of the coreopsis that i got during a summer sale and looked great until frost is not showing any signs of regrowth and the other ones are. I will give it a bit more time before I give up on it completely.
I have been slowly working away at getting all of my ornamental grasses cut back and ready for spring. Its quite a chore when you have a decent number of them. Well, today I finished cutting all of them back and mulching them. I have 11 or so Variagated Miscanthus, and 2 Zebra Grasses. It feels great to have this chore done - and it looks so nice and tidy. My little girl also helped me with some more clean up....
We Dug up 2 cast Iron Plants that were planted in the azalea bed but were somewhat hidden and not doing too well, so I divided them and moved them to the Hydrangea/ Hosta Bed:
Once I had them in the ground, I top dressed each one with a shovel full of compost. Hopefully that will help green them up a bit.
Also pruned back the artemesia, transplanted a mahonia that was in a bad spot, cut back the clematis jackmanii, cut back the liriope seeds, and deadheaded the camellia. Once the little one went down for her nap, I worked on getting more brush to the curb. I also noticed that a lot of things are starting to come out of dormancy and get ready for spring!
The daffodils in the front are starting to emerge, a couple of the things I bought on clearance in the late summer are showing signs of coming back (the butterfly weed and some hydrangeas most noteabley) The creeping phlox and veronica are also starting to bloom :) The roses I purchased from the Antique Rose Website are showing new growth, all the trees and shrubs have their buds, EVEN the weeds are coming out of dormancy! HAH! So fun watching it all unfold!
Here is what the front of the house looks like today:
My view from the front porch today:
I really am enjoying getting the yard all tidy and ready for spring...very gratifiying!
Well, the steps survived! It wasn't a torrential down pour, but it was more than a drizzle....the great thing is that the rain helped clean up the creek even more and the steps look more settled in.
I spent the afternoon dragging more brush to the curb. I also pruned my crepe myrtles and autumn ferns.
But, most notably, I did a lot of garden planning. I have been reading a book on companion planting lately and I really want to use this system in my spring/summer vegetable beds. But, its a lot to think about and my usual method of buying what sounds fun and throwing it in the ground was just making my head hurt...so I needed to plan.
First, I made my wish list of things to plant, then I jotted down their appropriate companions according to my book, then I made my shopping list. And, finally, I got it all down on paper!
Shopping List:
Seeds
:
Spinach
Radish
Carrots
Beets
Cosmos
Onions
Calendula
Plants: (Due to the drought...I plan on starting a lot less from seed this go around)
Cherry Tomatoes
An Heirloom Tomato
Big Boy Tomato
Eggplant
Bell Pepper
Brussel Sprouts
Bush Beans
Pole Beans
Spaghetti Squash
Strawberries
Corn
asparagus
Basil
Parsley
Asters
Dill
Chives
Bee Balm
Black Eyed Susan
Marigolds
I have 2 existing raised beds in the back (about 8 feet by 8 feet) The plan is to add 3 more by spring time... Here is the plan I came up with:
I know its a bit hard to see on the computer...but it will be so helpful to me. I will print it out before I go shopping and have it as a reference while I plant. Now I can get all that confusion out of my brain and onto paper....so, on to the next task!
Not again! We're surrounded by snow and expecting another storm this weekend. We had blue skies and sunny days for a week, but now...harumpf! Just when my little lilac tree was starting to bud. Poor thing is confused with spring/winter/spring/winter.
Just the other day, I was thinking: What will my herb garden look like after the two feet of snow melts off? I have rosemary, thyme (of two varieties), oregano, sage, mint, and who knows what else may come back up - and twice as big this year, I hope!
When I moved up here in the mountains, I had to uproot my big bin I had planted with herbs. Of course, they all died, as it was in the dead of winter. I grieved over the loss of my little plants, but didn't hesitate to plant another round. They all did very well, and now I am awaiting their return!
In the meantime, I can wish and dream, looking through the seed catalogs.
Anyone have crocus or daffodils yet? Hyacinth? Oh, how I miss those lovely flowers!
I have iris growing at the side of my house, and one little hyacinth. I must get busier this year and plant more!
The holidays are over, my days are now mine again. As much as I treasure the holidays, no matter how fun they may be, they always seem a bit stressful and wear me out! I'm always happy the holidays are finished.
Since January is in full-bloom (and nothing else IS here in the high country), I turn my thoughts to work, work, and more work! As it all piles up on my desktop, I gently remind myself that one must take a very necessary break from all this hard work and...well...
Now is the time for all good people to order seed catalogs, dream about Spring, and relish the thought of digging in the soil of Mother Earth to create their very own garden!
I have had dreams of wearing my garden clothes, my gloves, and that silly gardening hat I have hanging in my closet...dreams of comparing one seed to another and how it will look when it pops out of the ground.
The snow, two feet deep, is trampled to slush on the path to my mailbox from my constant forays to check for the latest 'wish books' so that I might have an excuse to take an afternoon break, sifting through hundreds of color photos reminding me how my garden should look! I'm sure my husband would love to install many a mailbox around our property so that he would be relieved of shoveling duty!
In the meantime, I read, dream, and enjoy a strongly brewed cuppa coffee whilst perusing my catalogs. It's as good as Winter gets!
And, I love it!
has turned into baking. Something I don't do often. So far there is an Applesauce Cake, Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip/Pecan cookies. Making Lemon Squares this evening. Want to bake Banana Nut Bread as well. I guess you can tell how I gained those 30 pounds I lost over this last year in the first place.
Decided since we were visiting the doc, the hairdresser, the rehab gals and want to share with my Chiro guy, this would be the time to bake.
The boys and their familes will be here on Saturday for a Christmas brunch. So there will be apples seasoned sweetly and cooked slowly in the crockpot, Sausage/Egg Casserole, bisquits, bacon, perhaps waffles for those that don't do the casserole bit. There are always a few that don't do the really tasty morsels. Then we will roast some of those pecans my DH has been feverishly cracking. Some of those will be salted and just for me I will use a little sugar and cinnamon on a few.
And under my little 4ft prelit Christmas Tree will be a gift for one and all. My gift from hubby will be my pierced ears, shining for all to see and hopefully not shining from infection. I intend to keep them clean. He also has found a charcoal grey set of pearl jewlery he wants me to get, necklace, earrings and bracelet. Mind you we are not into surprises in this house. Although I do surprise him once in awhile and he did do some shopping alone today while I waited in the car. No telling what that might be. Surprise - Surprise!!
All in all it will be a great day. Any day with your kids and family members around is a good day.
We got a good freeze last night, was a reported 22 degrees early this morning. My neighbor and I were commenting on the fact that one of her new plants for the year, the Batface Cuphea does not look as though the cold hurt it at all. We are eager to see if it will be a comeback for the spring. We both really liked it.
There will be some more cutting back and pruning right after Christmas and then the gardens will really be put to bed for a few months. To think here in the south, by late February, early March the bulbs will be ready to display their beauty. Bring it on.
More to Come Later
Its been a while since I have spent a good chunk of productive time in the garden. And, yesterday...I did just that. In the morning, my girl and I made Christmas cookies and when she went down for her nap, I headed out to the garden. I did some clean up; such as raking and pruning. I also had some fun with my new camera. The weather here has been very wacky! The highs for the last week have been around 80, so we are having a false spring....things are blooming and buds are appearing. Its quite strange, because there are still many signs of fall in the garden. The Laurapedelum is in full bloom:
And yet, the grasses are showing all their fall color:
After a couple hours of clean up (It didn't need as much work as I thought, I guess all the hard work in the summer really payed off) This is what the yard looks like:
Front yard:
Side view of front yard:
Back Yard Views:
There are now more than 3,000 named varieties of tulips, coming in all sorts of colors, sizes, and bloom times. A couple hours drive, north of my home are fields and fields of tulips grown and sold all over the United States. In the springtime, people from all over flock to those fields to witness the beauty of the tulips and celebrate the ending of winter.
I too celebrate the blooming of tulips in my yard, as they herald in spring and bring color back to my garden in a way that drives away the doldrums of winter. I planted tulip bulbs a couple of years ago, during the fall, after ordering a collection of varieties described as romantic, with hues of red, orange, and yellow.
I got mine from a Dutch tulip company, which had an incredible selection of varieties. I haven’t seen anywhere else offer as much selection as the Dutch companies, so if interested, I’d recommend looking there first.
Tulips require a period of cold for them to bloom, which is why I planted mine in the fall.
My tulips have been pretty low care. In the summer the stalks die and I trim them back, not so much for the health of the flower, but to just keep my flower bed looking nice. A few of my tulips look diseased this year, in which they look burnt and didn't reach their full height. From reading on the topic, it sounds like what could have caused this is that they didn't get enough water in the growing phase, which is pretty important for tulips.
All parts of tulips are reported as being edible, though I have only tried the petals. I found the petals to have a pleasant flavor, kind of like that of a sweet pea, which is a flavor I have liked since I was a child. My kids like the flavor too and have shocked visitors to our house by nonchalantly eating the flowers as a snack. My Grandmother once told me that during World War II, people in Holland supplemented their diet with Tulips.
The petals can add great color to fruit salad or desserts. I’ve been meaning to try a recipe I have seen for awhile of stuffed tulips, in which you take a tulip blossom and stuff it, kind of like you would stuff a sweet pepper, and bake them in the oven. Since sweet peppers don’t really grow well in my area and tulips do, this has looked like a great and colorful thing to try. Tulip blossoms have some resiliency in their structure, so they would be good for something like this.
I have a spring that starts in my next door neighbor’s yard, forms a little creek in my yard, before flowing in to and out of a pond.
Here is a picture of the top part of my creek, which has filled with watercress, below the ostrich ferns.
I planted watercress by seed in my creek a couple of years ago. I believe seed is the easiest way to plant it, due to the fragility of the plants. Since I planted it, it has been growing to such an extent that in the spring and fall time it can go from a little plant to filling my creek in about a month’s time. During the summer it seems to slowdown in growth. I have had to be pretty aggressive in controlling it, which has been easy since the plants are not deeply rooted and kind of float on the shallow water.
Watercress has a kind of mild peppery flavor to it. My primary use has been as a substitute for lettuce on sandwiches, which is pretty good. I tried adding it to stir fry, which I heard is done in China, but it didn't pass my kids taste test, so I doubt I will do that again.
Wikipedia claims that:
"Watercress contains significant amounts of iron, calcium and folic acid, in addition to vitamins A and C....Many benefits from eating watercress are claimed, such as that it acts as a mild stimulant, a source of phytochemicals and antioxidants, a diuretic, an expectorant, and a digestive aid. It also appears to have cancer-suppressing properties." Wikipedia also warns to not harvest it around farm animals, due to possible contamination from parasites, of course, this should apply to any vegetable or salad green harvested and used in its raw form.
I am looking for more great uses of this prolific plant and would love any suggestions.
One of the first things to grow in my yard in spring is Rhubarb.
I have it planted in the front yard, intermingled among all my edible flowers, like saffron, Echinacea, and more. Even before my flowers are appearing, my rhubarb is in full swing.
In this picture, we have already made 2 pies and some cobbler using rhubarb from this 2 year old plant, and yet it still has quite a presence.
I've been told that the rhubarb with the more green stalks, like I have, is more aggressive in its growth then the red stalked varieties, and I've heard that the flavor is better in the varieties with the red stalks. Personally I have been satisfied with the flavor of the more green stalked variety and like the aggressive growth.
My kids are sometimes apt to cut-off a stalk and dip it in sugar as an after school snack. It is one of the many things I find them grazing on in my edible yard.
I am pleased with the visual appeal of rhubarb as a plant, with its large leaves, which is one of the reasons I planted it among my flowers in the front yard. The red stalked variety would probably be more visually appealing, with its flare of color beyond green.
The days are warming up, and my bike ride around Greenlake is more and more lovely!
This transformation began a month or so ago when the trees started to bud, and then tiny green leaves popped forth here and there. Pretty soon the bulbs were coming up, and now, the cherry trees are blooming, the daffodils are in full bloom, and the air smells warm and earthy.
It awakens the soul.
Ah the end of winter, how lovely!
As the days lengthen and grow warmer here in Seattle, it seems high time to start some plants growing. Thus far at my house we've started tomatoes on the windowsill, and carrots in the ground out back. Soon it will be time to turn the compost and mix it into the beds, removed the weeds that have grown over the winter, and get the rest of the summer crops planted.
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