The herb garden and I had a little chat today....

.... and it decided to see things my way, for a change.  I meant to take before pictures of the weedy herb garden.  In fact, I was going to take a picture last weekend.  But, I didn't get around to it.  I started weeding today, while waiting for a severe thunderstorm to arrive (that never came), and the thought crossed my mind that I should go inside to get the camera and snap a photo.  But, I know me.  I knew that the second that I entered the house, I would completely forget what I was supposed to be doing, and that garden would never get weeded.  So, I stuck with it and got rid of most of the weeds!  The last thing I need to do (until I need to weed again) is apply some fresh mulch.  There is still a patch of garden that I'm not sure about.  I have this mystery plant, and it might be a Zinnia that self-seeded from last year.  Does anyone have knowledge of Zinnia foliage that can help me out?  If it's a weed, I'll pull it.  But, I have a habit of pulling out viable plants, so I might just let it live for now.

This parsley self seeded from last year.  I have some that I started from seed in the dining room still, but this little plant is ready to be used, right now! It looks like it's pretty healthy.  I've decided that I want to make my deck pots a little more functional, so instead of JUST planting flowers in them, I'm going to mix herbs or vegetables in a pot with some flowers to add some color.  So, my pots will be functional and colorful. 

The blueberries are planted!  Four in a row!  Right now, they are just little sticks in the ground.  I still need to shred some newspaper tonight so I can mulch better around them.  I've been reading about shredded newspaper making great mulch, since the water can get through so the roots of the plant that you're mulching, but the weeds can't germinate because there isn't any sunlight that gets through.  So, I plan on mulching the entire garden this way.  Today I also planted some eggplant (THANK YOU Charlotte!) that I'll mulch around, too.  So, since a storm is coming and I'm tired out tonight, I'm going to sit inside shredding newspaper, three sheets at a time.

I got my onions planted today (yellow, white, and red!) and my pole beans in the ground!  Tim set the rest of the poles for the grapevine support.  I'll take a picture after we get the wire installed.  He also stepped on one of the vines.... again... same one... but it appears that it will survive. Hopefully next weekend we will FINISH the great grape project!

So, yesterday I spent TOO much time wandering around, taking pictures.  I won't share all my bird pictures I took yesterday, but I'll post a couple.  Also, we have LILACS on our bush this year.  It's been there for five years, and this is the first year we have some blooms.

Planting Day

We got a bit of a late start, but we had work to do!  I had sweet corn that needed to get in the ground, even if the weather wasn't the best for planting sweet corn.  We also got the snap peas planted.  We have many rows of corn (I lost count).  It takes up about a fourth of the garden, but it's the thing that Alex is most excited about.  He's even going to help me weed!  I've planted two kinds of snap peas, and plan on planting them every two weeks for a couple of months.

Tomorrow, we're going for the radishes after school is finished.  Most exciting, to me, was that we actually used some of the things that we've been growing!  First up, the rhubarb that got huge in the last week.  It was so big this weekend that I had to pick some and make some "stuff."  Tim is a very talented Rhubarb Crisp baker.  He has a batch in the oven as we speak, and it's smelling wonderful.  I also have rhubarb cut up and ready to make into Rhubarb Ice Cream Sauce.  Last year I made a really good rhubarb juice, but I can't find the recipe.  I think I got it online, so that's a task for me to figure out in the next week.

Can't wait to eat some Rhubarb Crisp tonight!  Maybe with some ice cream :)  As my reward for four hours of planting and asparagus harvesting.

Weather update: warmer temperatures are coming on Thursday! This means we can reclaim a lot of our dining room. It's where the plants are hanging out now....

Tiller to the Rescue!

Today is a sad day.  We called Rohde Sales and Service to find out how much longer our tiller will be.  Bad news.  The carburetor appears to need replacing, and the cost to do so is more than the tiller is worth.  This means that we need to take care of a 3,300 square foot garden by hand?!?  I don't think so. 

ACE Hardware to the rescue.  We called around and found the tiller we wanted to rent for only $36.  It's a big one.  Fast forward four hours, and the garden looks like it's ready for sweet corn and peas to be planted.  Yes, I know.  Some people have had them in the ground for four weeks already.  I'm always a little behind schedule.

 We started out a little slow.  It took a little time to get to know the tiller.  However, soon it was working like a charm!  It didn't take long for Tim to finish the big garden and move on to the little garden.  We didn't know how long it would take, so we were happy with our progress.

There will most likely still be lots of weeds in the big garden this year.  We couldn't believe how nice and rich the little garden's soil was.  It's pretty amazing.  It's dark and there are few weed chunks that we had to deal with.  My work has just begun in both gardens.  I need to weed around the garlic in the small garden.  Obviously, the sweet corn will be planted in the big garden, and I'm putting both bean trellis' in the big garden this year.  Easier to weed around with more space.  I also plan on weeding around the horseradish.  This is something that my grandpa left me (not even knowing that he would be leaving it to me) and I hope to actually dig and process some of it this year.  Tim and I will have some fun with it.... and I already know to use the food processor outside when preparing it.

 My two cold frames with the spinach are not looking too promising.  Not sure if the seeds were old or what exactly happened.  I'm not giving up hope completely.  You never know what might pop up.  If nothing shows up in a week, I'm going to plant some of my things from in the house out there. 
I have lots and lots of tomatoes that I need to get outside.  They are getting really big, and are starting to outgrow my lights.
My strawberries are getting really big, and I need to clean up their bed.  It won't take me long, and I might mulch around the pyramid bed again.

This beautiful little blossom is on my apple tree.  It's looking so nice, but I'm not seeing a single flower on our Honey Crisp tree.  I'm not sure how they are supposed to cross pollinate if there aren't any blossoms on one of the trees.  I might have to look into borrowing a branch from our friends and seeing if I can hand pollinate the trees.  I don't even know if you can do such a thing, but if this Honey Crisp tree refuses to bloom, I might get desperate!

The rhubarb is big enough to pick and eat now!  I'm cutting some up tonight to make Rhubarb Sauce.  I might freeze some right away, too.  It's nice to have some plants that can be processed right away, since later in the summer will be used on the other fruits and vegetables.

Lastly, we're waiting for a warm day to finish our grapevine supports.  The grapes have leaves starting now, so we're sure we didn't kill them off next year.  I already mulched around them with shredded paper and added some straw to the top.  The picture of one of our little buds is near the top of the page.  I'm still trying to figure out how to best move pictures and text around to get things to look nice.

Can't wait to see what we get accomplished tomorrow!  Forecast for tomorrow is cold and rainy, again.

Cherries and Rhubarb and Phlox; Oh My!

We got home from school today, and I immediately noticed the cherry tree down by the small garden.  WOW!  Something happened in the last couple of days! Instead of telling you about it, I'll show you! Everywhere I look, I see growth and change.  I love it!

 

Attack of the Seedlings!

Wow.  My husband and his dad deserve a huge pat on the back.  The grow stand has been a huge success, and my flats are loving the new artificial light.  They worked for an entire DAY designing and making a stand for my little seedlings.  I think that this option is even better than a greenhouse, as I won't have to worry about overheating, wind, or venting.  I have the greatest husband and father-in-law!

The dining room just did not give us enough light and my seedlings were very.... lame.  This year, I have stocky little seedlings that look like they are ready to be planted, TODAY!  I'm not giving in to the urge for two reasons:
1) We don't have the tiller back from the shop
2) It's Wisconsin.  We know what happens when we try to plant at Mother's Day.  Dead cucumbers.

I'm thinking about taking some of my extra plants (I have a TON of tomatoes) and getting them in the ground this weekend.  That's right; rain or shine.  If they freeze and die, so be it.  I'm not really out anything.  If they make it, AWESOME!  I'm ahead of the game :)  I'm also hoping to get my sweet corn in the ground.  This is a new project for us.  I sure hope that Tim isn't kidding when he offered the dig the garden (again) by hand.  It might need to be done.  We also bought the concrete so we can finish up our grapevine supports.  It just means we'll have another busy weekend!

I still have to find a place to plant my beautiful blueberry bushes.  The pressure is on.  It needs to get done this weekend! 

Finally! Spring!

High of 63F and a chance of rain.  It's beautiful outside, so I took advantage of the nice weather to walk around, take some pictures, and make some plans.  The bluebirds are finding the new houses we built for them.

So, my first project was starting to take out an old, dying bush from the area near the front door.  I hate this area.  The lava rock that was put there is failing, the landscaping fabric is failing, and it looks awful.  I'm toying with some different ideas.  Possibly a mini-prairie kind of thing with prairie inspired perennials?  I don't think we'll be able to come up with the money to redo all the rock this year.  Any ideas?  The person that comes up with a great idea I can't refuse will get a prize from me!

The spinach has started peeking through the dirt in my cold frames.  One of the two has more sprouted, so it must have been the faster germinating of the two variations that I planted.  There was a ton of nature outside today.  The animals must feel the same itch to get outside when it's nice out.  I glanced out the window and there was a beautiful male oriole sitting on the tomato cages that we use to protect our little saplings from my maniac mowing mother.  On the neighboring cage sat a male bluebird.  A lot of color in just a few feet.  By the time I got new batteries in my camera, the bluebird was gone and the oriole had moved to the tree.  But, before I went back in the house in complete defeat, a beautiful doe looked both ways and crossed the highway.  Can't wait to see all the things I can get accomplished this beautiful afternoon!