New Vegetable Garden

After fighting with rodents of all sizes, we dismantled the vegetable garden 2 years ago and put in grass.  Enough time has gone by now to realize that I reallllllly need to grow things.  So we built 2 new raised beds out of cedar, 2' tall, 3'x12'.  They are built into a small slope, but I am hoping the rabbits will stay away.  We've only planted radishes, herbs, spinach, tomatoes and peppers.  The spinach will have a net hoop over the rows.  Wish us luck!

The soil temperature is still a bit cold for the tomatoes and the peppers, but I will be gone for the whole week and the temperatures are going to be in the 70s and 80s while I am gone, so we are giving it a try.

Wish us luck!

First fire of the season

Well, since my last post we've had our requisite last snowfall of about 4 inches,  but ever since we've been on the warm up and the forecast looks great!   There's even a 70 set for later this week,  and maybe even a thunderstorm.   We did have our first official rain this weekend,  and with this forecast,  I think things are going to start greening up.   My tulips were on hold since I left them outside,  but I think they should sprout up quickly now.   They had a setback when Indiana the puppy dug them out of their pots,  but I think they will pull through.   Now it's time to burn the branches that fell over the winter!  And our Christmas greens. 

Beautiful Weekend!

We had a great weekend down in Iowa.  Things are a bit further along down there,  about 3 hours South,  but not too far.  Our ground is mostly firm now (a few days in the 60s seems to do the trick), but nothing has started to show signs of spring yet.   No buds on the lilacs,  no irises poking through and the tulips in my pots have not showed any signs of progress.  The grass hasn't started to green yet either,  but that's ok.   We pulled out a couple of patio chairs and are enjoying a beautiful,  65 degree evening on the deck!

Tulips

Well,  I never got the tulips out of the garage like I planned,  and now it's just below freezing at night and in the 50s during the day,  so I decided to put the pots straight onto the patio.   I put them where they will get morning sun and have watered them...we'll see what they do!

It feels like Spring!

Above freezing temps for the full 10 day forecast!  Time to think spring chores!  The ground hasn't thawed yet-we have standing water all over the yard-so today we only picked up a portion of the doggie droppings, but we have to stay off of it for the most part until it dries out.

On the To-Do list will be to pick up the rest of the droppings, pick up any trash and sticks, burn the brush that fell over the winter once it dries out, and unpack the patio furniture!

Pups a playing

Honey and the newest member of our family, Indiana (Indy for short) are out enjoying the weather.   The Cardinals are too, singing from the tree tops.   It's only supposed to get up to 18 today,  but the sun feels warm and the extended forecast is showing a light at the end of the tunnel.   We have one more batch of snow in the forecast with mixed reports on how much we are supposed to get (Tuesday) and then we warm up to above freezing for highs by next weekend.   We have little snow on the ground now,  so hopefully we will have a quick warming this spring!

Tulips

The 10 day forecast shows some hope...temperatures above freezing for next weekend!

I think it might be time to try forcing the tulips I planted in pots and left in the garage over the winter.  I can never get them to last long in the garden beds due to the squirrels, etc. that seem to just love them, so we're trying them in pots this year.  I bought new bulbs in the fall and crammed them into pots with potting soil before it got too cold.  I varied from some of the directions and left the dirt dry as I didn't want my pots to crack in our cold Minnesota winters, so I'm not sure what will happen.

Here is what the National Gardeners' Association site says in regards to forcing:

Forcing bulbs to flower. Bring the chilled pots into a 50 degree F to 65 degree F room with bright, indirect light for about two weeks. The warmer the temperature, the shorter the flowering stems and faster the bulbs will flower. When the bulb shoots are 2 inches tall, move the pots to a sunny 68 degree F location. They'll flower within a week or so. The cooler the temperatures (60 degrees F is ideal at night), the longer the flowers will last.

http://www.garden.org/howtos/index.php?q=show&id=1326

I'm not sure we have a 50-65 degree room with indirect light...but I guess we'll try it and see how it goes!

Spring!

So, I know it's early.  But we had a nice January thaw in the last week or so, and now, even though it's going to get cold again soon, we have a whole flock of robins in the front yard!  I wonder what they will do in the coming week?  Will have to do some research...

Weeding update

Well, we have had two non-raining days in a row!  It's been so nice to be able to come home and spend an hour or two working outside, like a normal summer.  It finally feels like we are accomplishing something.  Unfortunately, there is a long way to go.  Yesterday and today we were able to cut the grass down another layer, getting closer to our ideal length.  We also have weeded a good portion of the butterfly garden and the new hydrangea bed, preparing for mulch which we will hopefully get to this weekend.  We also cleared out the small bed in front of the shed in preparation for our new rose bushes and we took down a nasty tree in the front flower bed as well as some suckers growing along the fence.  Next we hope to clean up the front flower bed and get the new plants in the ground!  Plus new mulch all around.  After we get the flower beds tidied up, we will move onto the veggies which are also a mess.

I promised...

Well, I promised an update...it rained!  The lawn got mowed in between showers, but that's about it.

Elephant Ears

So, I am pretty sure we have gotten over a foot of rain in the last week or so, which means the weeds are very happy and I haven't gotten into the garden at all, but I promise to update on Sunday after a full day of weeding!

I did just cut a whole bowl of lettuce for dinner, taste testing as I picked it.  It doesn't seem too bitter given the hot temps we have had.  I did throw out the radishes though, they were super bitter!

In the meantime, I am super excited to say our Elephant Ear Bulbs have officially survived the winter!  We stored them in a portion of our garage that stays around 50 degrees in a brown paper bag.  We saw little sprouts come up a week or so ago, but the leaves have now unfurled and we officially have little plants!  They were planted mid to late May, so it took just over a month.  I think/hope now that they have leaves they will grow quickly.  Aren't they fun? 

Also, here is my Zinnia.  So pretty!

Memorial Day Update

May has been a busy month and I haven't got much posting in, so here is an update of the work done this month.

The patio pots have been filled.  The pretty red flowers are begonias, planted with some pretty purple petunias.  In the shade we've done some impatiens, which I have never had much luck with, but we'll see.  In the big pots, we also are trying our elephant ears from last year that we over-wintered in a temperature controlled area of the garage.  We will see if they come up this year or not.  We also have some beautiful zinnia plants from the greenhouse.  Last year they were tall spikes with one flower on the top.  I wonder if they get pruned if we'll get more blooms?  Time for some research I think.

Before planting, I added a mix of top soil, compost and miracle grow potting soil, about a third of each.  I'm also watering once a week with liquid miracle grow for blooms.

What do you think?  I think I need more pots...!

We have three hanging baskets this year, purchased from Gerten's.  We added this cool hanger and put the hummingbird feeder out by the hammock.  I haven't seen any birds on it yet, but hopefully soon!  We have seen a couple buzzing around though.

The butterfly garden is slowly coming along.  It still needs some major weeding, but we are making some headway.  Once the plants start coming in strong and flowering, we will see about adding some plants, etc.

Hey look, the hydrangeas are growing and the sod is still alive!

And last but not least...the lilacs are blooming!  They have just started, but the smell is heavenly.  My favorite time of year.  

Woodland Wildflowers

Here are some lovely wildflowers we saw just starting to bloom on our Mother's Day walk through the woods.  So pretty!

Springtime planting

Here are some photos of our progress yesterday.  We made a new planting bed around the deck (half of it is done) so we filled it with some new hydrangeas and the little roses from the front yard.  We also laid some sod.

The lilacs are greening up nicely, hoping they will be blooming by Memorial day.  The little Hummingbirds are back too.  I don't know if they have found the feeder yet though.

I forgot!

I forgot to mention I saw our first butterfly over the weekend!  It was darkly colored, I did not recognize it in my quick glimpse, but I do hope it sticks around.  Signs of spring are so comforting

First planting of the season!

Finally!  We spent some long but enjoyable hours outside this weekend.  We spent a few hours raking up the sticks and dried grass and seeds and leaves from the backyard.  Hopefully with the warmer temps the grass will start to grow and the lawn won't look so sparse.  The front yard still needs some hard raking, which will hopefully get done after work over the next week.

We also had a nice bonfire this afternoon, burning up a lot of the brush that accumulated over the winter.  We still have enough for one good bonfire yet, perhaps next weekend.

In the garden, I got one of the planter boxes loaded up with some compost and a new layer of dirt from last year' pots (next year maybe we can do that in the fall...).  In it, I planted a row each of our spring crops:  sugar snap and snow peas, red and green romaine, spinach, arugula, radishes, carrots, cilantro and parsley.

We also made our first trip to Gertens this year.  We got some nice hanging baskets (I'll post pics later) as well as potatoes and onion sets for planting.  Hopefully we will get those in the garden this week.

I put my hoe from Johnny's today!  Used it for the first time-it works splendidly!  

Finally, we got the bird feeder stand put up in its new location.  I'm not convinced of it yet-it's a little low to be seen from the deck, but we will try it for a bit.  The feeders are full, except for the hummingbird feeder, I need to make some syrup yet.  We'll see how long it takes for the birds to find them again!

The next week looks to be filled with 60 degree temps and scattered showers.  Hopefully everything will respond and green things up!

...bring Creeping Charlie

It's the only thing that seems to be growing!  We have gotten over 4 inches of rain in the last week, but it's been so cold and dreary that the only think that seems to be growing is the pile of branches for the fire pit from all the wind we have been having.  Today, however, I got home from work and the weather was a stable, not too breezy 55 degrees.  The sun even tried to peak out for a few minutes!  So I spent an hour or so in the butterfly garden trying to carefully weed out the Charlie without disturbing the perennials...never an easy task.  But even if I accidentally sacrificed a columbine flower or two, it's worth it to get ahead of the creeper.  And since I don't trust it in the compost bin...it's more fuel for the fire pit!

Hopefully the balmy weather will continue this weekend and we can get a nice bunch of spring cleanup finally done.

April Showers

As we enjoy a light rain and our first echoes of thunder of the season, it's probably a good time for an update.  Both work and weather have kept me out of the garden so far.  We have had a few nice days, but those hours have been spent doing spring cleanup, not planting.  About a week ago we noticed the first few bulbs popping up.  They are about 4 inches tall now.  I think the squirrels have done a number on them so we will pay attention to what is left and plant more this fall.

There is also either garlic or onions coming up in the raised beds.  Must have gotten missed last fall...oops!

What we have done is pick up some of the sticks that little the yard after the winter and put down some grass seed and fertilizer.  Our lawn has been in rough shape, so hopefully this will help it get back on track. 

We also spent a solid 3 hours putting together patio furniture yesterday...a good job done.  Now if it would only stop raining for a day so we could enjoy it!

Hopefully, as the saying goes, this next full week of rain showers will bring us some flowers.  The lilacs are starting to bud out (leaves that is).  Maybe we will have some greenery to look at soon.

Fun in the sun!

Before.

During. 

After!

And now we are in a snow storm again...

Another sign of spring...

First Robin sighting was yesterday.  Funny how once you see the first one, they seem to be everywhere!  It does seem like one step forward, two steps back though...we had more snow today.  More big white fluffy flakes...