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!

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.