thequiltedgardener's Blog

Spring has sprung.......
Mar 29, 2008 | 3:54 PM PST
Tag: Spring

It is hard to believe that we are almost in April.  The last two and a half weeks have been a blur of activites, none of which are garden related.

Two of our daughters were home for their spring breaks at seperate times, with a short overlap. It was nice to spend time with each of them and the family as a whole.  The third daughter also had a week break and it was different than the other also.  Time with her has been spent looking at colleges in an effort to make a selection. There are still two more to view and then it will be time to make her selection.  It has been fun but at the same time un nerving.  The thought of financing another college education is a bit scary.  This step forward in her life is going to be a great one for her and I am happy for her.  For DH and I  it means changes at home based on the empty nest-that will be fun and scary in its own right.

Part of the spring break activities inclued sewing a medival style dress for one daughter and that was great fun.  Easter was quite.  All in all it was fun to spend time as a family and we are all on the count down to HS graduation, college selection, and the summer. 

THere have been meetings to attend, work that needed completion and interest outside my gardening that I have been focusing my energy on.  Additionally, my computer is dying a slow death.  First the internet connection went arye and now the blue screen of death seems to be with me more than not.  By the good graces of our daughter I write here today.  After all the high ticket repairs on two of our cars in the last two weeks, I don't see a new computer in the near future.

While I have spent quality time in the garden of my family, I am looking forward to getting my hands into the earth.  I have missed my connections here at GG.

On the gardening front, my greenhouse blew over in the big windstorm but fortunately wasn't damaged too much.  We are hoping to get it set back up tomorrow so that I can refocus my energy back on gardening.  The signs of spring are everywhere, green here and there..........getting bigger by the day........and the email notification that UPS will be delivering bare roots on monday!

The tumble has been tumbled, but not enough moisture so I have altered that and will continue to tumble.  Both sides are going now.  Manure will be delivered by my neice in a couple of weeks and next week it is time to put the first pea seeds in the ground. 

I am, still very excited about spring coming, sharing in the creation of beautiful plants..............garden on!

All in a days work...........
Mar 17, 2008 | 11:45 AM PST
Tags: greenshouse , seed starting

The greenhouse is up and it sure is bigger than I remember it being!  I am most excited-now the fun can really begin.  Because I have planned succession planting, seeds won't all be planted at once.  The brocilli, califlower, cabbage, brussel sprouts and then the cucumbers, squash and some flowers.  I don't have my seed packets handy so I don't quite recall which flowers are started first-more on that later.

The Brocolli, Califlower and Cabbage are all small head varieties.  I purchased the seeds from Park Seed Co. because I had great success with some squash seeds purchased a few years back that were for compact gardens.  The plants were within the two feet the description gave and produced an abundance of fruit.  Since I haven't grown anything in this family of veggies before, I wanted to set myself up to be successful.  I have purchased other seeds from them but my only veggie experience with them had been the squash.

Once there is something to see, I will journal with photos-once I figure out how to add to my blog.  The greenhouse photos were added to my albums for now.

The new lasagna beds have the first three layers; three of the flower garden beds are cleaned up and one side of the tumbler is full.........and cooking!   It was nice to be outside puttering around in the yard, if I thought I had spring fever before.........I was wrong, only now there have been some participation in spring activities so I have a better sense of satisfaction.

The thermometer in the greenhouse said 65 this morning.  I was thinking that wasn't too warm-but it is no different that inside the house!

All in a days work...................in the garden--I am smiling.

March on!
Mar 15, 2008 | 8:50 AM PST

Yesteday I showed our daughter how to add and turn the composter-shouldn't be too complicated for a girl about to head off to college!  :)

Due to the continued rain, the greenhouse is still in the garage, but I am DETERMINEd to get outside today and have a list of tasks to accomplish:

• Remembe that it is muddy
• Get boots on
• grab newspapers and peat moss
• head out back
• Get Layering!!   In the three new lasagna beds.......whatever can be done.....just do IT!
• move the small pile of woodchips from where the greenhouse goes
• Place the greenhouse
• wipe the dust out of the seed trays, put in newspaper pots, fill, water and plant-
• gather up as much of the garden stuff that can be added to the tumbler, add more leaves and wate and give it a go.
• Place leaves in second side in preparation for filling
• keep a sense of humor in the event that downpour forces me inside
• If weather allows, mark off the sqare gardening lines..........for visual stimulation

after all that fun it is my intention to go pick up some more seedling mix, and make some more pots for the plants that get started next week.  If time allows, I would like to straighten off my gardening supply shelves in the garage.

When all that fun is over, it will be time to hit the grocery store and find something for dinner..........both girls are home from college tonight so the family will have the opporunity to eat together.

Off to the mudpatch!

 

Signs of Life
Mar 14, 2008 | 4:34 AM PST
Tags: spring , seed starting

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.

Rainy Days
Mar 11, 2008 | 7:06 PM PST

Like many, there are small signs of spring............but then the rains came. It rained and rained and rained.  No gardening here! 

I did enjoy catching up my favorite blogs and am glad that some gardeners here are actually gardening!  If spring really arrived elsewhere, eventually it will arrive here too.

 

The Tumbling has begun!
Mar 3, 2008 | 4:50 AM PST
Tag: Compost

Geez, I hope when the door of the compost tumbler is opened and the black gold is seen for the first time I hope that the moment lives up to the expectations I have placed on it.  Since I have been dreaming of the availability of compost-almost on demand- for a couple of years now my expectations may be a bit high!  It was fun to put the tumbler together and all last week it spoke to me from the garage.  It said.........If you put me outside and fill me up, tumble me daily........I will make compost .  Alas, Mother Nature had another plan.  Rain, snow, sleet, rain, snow, sun, rain...........

Yesterday the sun was shining, it was such a beautiful day.  The boat show didn't happen for us so I suggested we take out the tumbler so I could get to it.  Knowing that the ground would be muddy DH was easily convinced that this could still be done today.  It is enough to say that our shoes were covered in mud but the massive tumbler is in place.

The manual says that the ratio for success is four parts brown and one part green and that the tumbler should be 2/3 full in order to reach the proper temperature.  I had been saving kitchen compostable items and was sure that this would be enough.  DH went inside and I proceeded to fill my bucket with the kitchen items and then four buckets of leaves.  I can see that getting green stuff this time of year is going to be a challenge.  In the summer there will be plenty of grass, plant pieces and kitchen stuff.  For now if I want to get compost in two weeks I need to get this bad boy 2/3 the way full.

There are some options here, contact a local grocery store and see about getting the produce cast offs but then there is the pick up and hauling.........but more importantly the cutting up [compost will happen faster if the pieces are smaller-but this step isn't necessary] and then storing the items.  Being that the compost pile is frozen the options are limted as far as storing without inviting every wild creature in the neighborhood over.

This is where the instant gratification girl in me comes out.  I want to dump stuff in, turn turn turn and then in about two weeks open the door and ........get the gold.  I can continue to fill this up, turning daily and then when there is enough in there stuff in there stop adding and the process starts.  Something to think about today.

I took a picture from the deck but it doesn't do the size justice because of the distance so today when I go out to turn it I will bring the camera and take a better picture to post.

Off to the races!

Another Saturday Night................
Mar 1, 2008 | 4:31 PM PST

Snow, rain, sun, sleet and snow, sun, snow, rain.............that is the weather here in Southeastern Connecticut today and even though it was in the 40's this afternoon the ground is to wet to be outside doing anything of the gardening variety.

Spring is coming though, on my way to the post office on Friday I saw daffodils that were at least 6" tall and there were buds!  The day lillies that line one end of the building, though scarred from the on again off again snow, were about 4"tall.

Today was spend puttering around the house, starting a new book, a bit of baking [cinnamon rolls and pizza], organized papers, shredded all that junk that comes in the mail, balanced the checkbook, updated the address book, laundry , dishes and watched a movie.  All in all it has been a relaxing day yet productive.

Tomorrow we are looking at going to a boat show-just for fun.  Again, my gardening will have to be living vicariously through those here for whom spring has started.

I especially enjoyed Leafetts contrast blog.  The photos on batnavels provided a full view of his yard and I am looking forward to watching the progress.