Green Growing Things

Flowers behind the porch

The iris behind the porch has started budding, but not blooming yet. Also, the mystery plant (which we think grows from a bulb, but haven't identified) has started blooming.

State of the vegetable garden

Some more pictures of how things are growing.

Lettuce (needs thinning soon)

Peas (and a sunflower)

Zuchinni. I'm amused at how it hung on to the outside of the seed.

Carrots.

Beans.

Purchased some plants

Purchased some flowers, peppers and tomatoes.

Got these from the Powers' Farm Market, since there wasn't much tomato selection at Gentle's Market last year. Also, Grossmans only had plum tomatoes when I checked the other day. Purchased a six-pack of Big Boy tomatoes (though I only planted two). They were a bit on the leggy side, but I'm hoping they'll do OK.

Also two kinds of peppers: California Wonder and Cubanelle.

For flowers, I purchased purple Alyssum and Cosmos in two shades of pink, which I planted (with help from Ben) along the front walk.

He wanted to plant the tomato plants right away.

And this is how they look:

Note the poor, sad tulip leaves which is about all that's left from the many tulips I attempted to plant in this bed several years ago.

Compost heap

Turned the compost heap again. Plenty of worms, but all near the top of the heap. Does this mean it's too wet? Too dry? Not mixed up enough? Will the worms get smothered by the weight of the pile when I turn it over?

I need a compost reference! Currently I'm just doing the "heap it up and turn it over from time to time" method. We have enough rainfall here that I don't think I have to worry about it drying out.

Planted pumpkin seeds

Planted pumpkin seeds with Ben. The space might be a little small, I expect I may have to trim off the ends of the vines by the end of the season. See the plan for details of where things are planted.

More spring flowers

Additional daffodils. These are in front of the house, next to the crab apple tree. You can also see some crysanthemum leaves in the lower left.

The mailbox garden. Remains of daffodils (miniature variety), grape hyacinth, iris foliage and tulips.

Evil Clingweed

A picture of the annoying "clingweed" plant that's invaded our property. Very hard to get rid of, as I believe it drops more seeds very easily, and it tends to make us itch as well.

I'm in search of the best way to control it, as well as its official name.

Finally, a sunny day!

We finally had another sunny day here after a cold miserable rainy week. The water's good for the garden, of course, but it was nice to get out and do some work in the yard today.

Mostly it was weeding -- I ran the edger around the outside of the raised beds, and we made the attempt to find some free mulch to actually mulch the paths, but didn't find any today.

Also weeded the poppy bed and underneath the hedges and the daylily bed in the back of the yard -- mostly removing grass and what we've been calling clingweed, though I don't know the official name. That stuff is insidious and annoying, and I'm not going to compost it in fear of spreading the seeds all over.

Turned the compost pile, and found lots of exciting worms. Ben tried carrying one, but dropped it on the way to the garden, and was interested to see me carry one over to the garden, but didn't want to pick up any more after dropping the first. He did go get his shovel and help turn the pile, though.

Some more shoots have sprouted; the picture in the previous entry is probably a sunflower and not a pea (oops). The Early Dividend Hybrid Broccoli has started sprouting; each sprout has two teeny-tiny leaves. Parsley also may be coming up; I need to check the spacing to be sure.

Peas are sprouting

The peas are sprouting. Just one pair of leaves so far.

Another cause of overwatering

An enthusiastic two-year-old is a possible cause of overwatering.

Shady garden plants

Plants in the shady garden next to the garage have started sprouting.

This hosta is not doing so well. Looks like something decided it would make a nice lunch. One of the local deer herd, perhaps.

This one is doing better.

And two of the three ferns I planted last year are also making an appearance. The third was a bit too close to the edge of the bed, and was looking rather trampled by last fall.

Mothers' Day Flowers

Mothers' Day flowers from the kids.

Sprouts!

The lettuce sprouted! Yay!
Clearly the mix I used and the way I scattered it puts the seeds a bit close together. These will need to be thinned when they're a bit bigger.

Drainage problem?

Watered the garden a bit more, and this time observed the drainage problem first-hand. There appears to be a low spot. Guess I'll add some compost to raise the level a bit, after the seeds sprout.

Planted impatiens

Planted impatients seed in various places. This was just one of those big box of seed in a soilless mix to aid spreading, from Home Depot.

Other gardens

Other flowers around the yard.

Daffodils. One of several varieties in the yard.

Violets. These are in the poppy bed, which I enclosed to make it a little easier to manage the lawn in that area. I continue to attempt to remove all the grass from the bed, but I've left the violets.

Another view of the poppy bed. The poppies are growing well. They usually bloom the beginning of June.

The iris bed behind the garage. The irises are a bit crowded, and probably ought to be divided again this fall. More violets here, too.

Watered garden

A picture after watering. The reported pools seem to have drained away with no problem.

Vegetable garden picture

A picture of the garden after planting.

Garden Plan

Where things are planted in the raised beds.

Some of these are not planted yet -- I'm going to get plants instead of seeds for the peppers, tomatoes and onions, and I haven't gotten the pumpkin seeds yet.

Overwatering already?

Uh-oh. I watered the gardens for 1/2 hour, and have a report that they look like "swimming pools". Raised beds are supposed to dry out quickly, so I hope that isn't too much water.

I also hope the seeds didn't float away.....

Planted veggies!

Planted the veggies today. These included:

• cucumber (straight 8 and pickling)
  
• sunflower
  
• oregon giant pea
  
• broccoli (early and calabrese)
  
• carrots
  
• tendergreen bean
  
• scarlet runner bean
  
• zuchinni
  
• basil (genovese, italian sweet)
  
• italian salad blend
  
• mesclun salad blend
  
• spinach
  
• parsley

I've left space for:

• gourd
  
• pumpkin
  
• dill
  
• oregano
  
• green pepper
  
• tomato
  
• onions

plus 4 sq feet that I don't have anything particular planned for.