PlantyAnnie's Blog

spring is emerging and so is poison oak
Mar 8, 2008 | 6:02 AM PST

So with all the wonderful weather that I am having-60-70's most days I started my spring chores as well as planting some lovely lilac bushes. During my zeal I forgot to wear gloves and apparently I am very allergic to something in my ground. Since moving into this house 2 years ago I have had several rashes that appear to be poison oak and I seem to get it when I dig in certain areas of the yard-everyone blamed the dogs but they are always all over me and I don't get it so anyway this time was the absolute worse. I ended up in the ER with my face so swollen that I could barely open one of my eyes and it was quite deforming as I looked like a cross between the elephant man and scarface-ahhh. I am just finally getting rid of it and have vowed to cover from head to toe when digging. What is strange about the whole thing is that I don't have any poison oak in my yard itself but it does grow on either side of me and not too far from where I was digging so I do wonder how far those roots extend?

During a wonderful visit from my mother(who is my gardening buddy from the opposite coast) we managed to visit a few nurseries and pick up some lovely half oak barrels to plant some dwarf citrus trees in. The funny thing was that here we are in California not too far from wine country yet the oak barrels are from France and at one point contained a lovely Bordeux wine. Anyway they are now planted with some alyssum and I can't wait for them to produce.

Two days ago the chickens were all in a frenzy way too early in the morning so when I went to check on them I found out the cause of the commotion=our first egg was produced. George the chicken was the first one to lay an egg and I felt very guilty stealing her first baby especially when all four girls ran toward me as I was doing it. My family felt a bit guilty eating it but hopefully that will soon pass as we are now on our third egg produced and anticipate the other girls to get into gear soon. Well take care and enjoy the day.

Turning to spring
Feb 12, 2008 | 8:01 AM PST
The weather here is simply teasing me as we have had 70 degree days with more in sight. Oh how tempting to put my new seedlings outside but I know that this is just a tease and we may yet get colder temps again. This is my first year growing seeds indoors and I am simply amazed at how quickly they all shoot up-even faster than what is on the packets. Seed catalogs are awesome and I am so excited to try new vegies this year. I went with only heirloom and organic seeds as I have had such good flavor from my 2 heirloom tomatoes last year-the flavor was far superior to the hybrids but I did notice that they didn't produce as many fruits so this year I bought seed packets and have planted more plants. My 8 year old has decided that she wants her own raised bed this year to grow watermelons so we broke ground the other day to start preparing for a new bed. Actually we are adding three new beds this spring and I think  I am planning on growing enough to feed the neighborhood. I have tried posting pictures to my blog but haven't had any success-can someone take me through the process? Well happy gardening and happy valentines day-if only I could grow chocolate truffles:)

jingle bells
Dec 16, 2007 | 7:55 PM PST
Well christmas comes soon and we finally had that nasty little frost that decimated all of my little pretties in the annual bed. This has been our warmest winter since moving here 5 years ago but mr. cold has finally decided it's time to pay us a visit. I am surprised at how my fall vegetables have survived the cold and don't know how cold it has to get to kill off the lettuce but they survived the low 20's the other night and we still are munching on fresh greens. My broccoli has formed small little heads and the cabbage is slowly forming. I finally got around to building a frame for my vegie beds last week after our hard frost but don't as of yet have anything to throw over it to keep the greens warm-oh procrastination is my friend. The good thing about cold and wet weather is it forces me to come inside and organize for the next growing season as well as all those other inside chores that don't seem to get done any other time. Well have a wonderful christmas and talk at you later. I have to go and decorate the house for an 8 year old birthday tomorrow-she asked for sunflowers in december-she is getting mums instead :)

Winter approaches
Nov 24, 2007 | 9:30 PM PST

It has been a warm fall and my plants are still blooming profusely refusing to admit that mr. winter is around the corner. The last two days we have started to have cold windy weather and it takes a little shove to get outside and do anything. This is my first attempt at raising chickens and this is their first week out in the coup away from the warm heat lamp inside the garage. They seemed to survive the colder nights but I was fearful for them.  I received my first seed catalog yesterday and started salivating already. This spring I will start seeds indoors for the first time so decided to venture away from the box store offering of a select few varieties and am so excited about the selections. So long for now..................