Continuing Saga of Spring

Truly many of us are oscillating between enjoying the unseasonable weather and worrying about what happens when the warm weather runs dry. I finally broke down and planted out some of my geraniums in one of my big pots, so see what would happen. If necessary it can make the trip into the garage. They're all green now, but there are four cuttings from a trailing, magenta beauty from last year, and two each of white and "Rose Ice" from seed. And eight lobelia Fountain mix to fill in. When they're sprouted there will be some Purple Majesty millet in the center as the vertical accent. We'll see how it looks in a couple of months!

In the meantime, the ephemerals are blooming - bleeding heart, blue bells, dutchmen's breeches, bloodroot, rue anemone, and the violets of course. I think it is a solid month early.

And this weekend I will try to plant the root crops up north - onions, leeks, shallots, parsnips, salsify...the rest will wait for more normal times.

Dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Holy Toledo! We have just have five record days of above average temps - not just wimpy ones but many degrees. Three days that broke 80. The local orchards are going bananas - buds are breaking and a hard freeze would be a disaster. Do we spray? The forecast calls for 60+ highs through the week. All I know is my daffies are blooming (and will prbly blast through their cycle in record time.) My grass is already greening - dammit. Our crabby apple down here, which is a very lovely sight in a normal year, dark pink buds that open to a fade-to-white, lovely indeed close up.

But this year will probably green up before blooming. Makes it a less spectacular show. But we shall see.

So here it is, the day before St Paddy's, and there's daffodils abloom in my garden. I have three types, descended from six freebies I got from Earl Mays which have been divided and are again multiplying. This is the earliest one. But they have never been this early! Pessimist that I am, I wonder about the record breaking warmth for three days in a row - this was the earliest date to break 80 on record here in town. Will probably make short work of the daffies. Makes me wonder what the rest of the year will bring. ------------------------------------------- Just posted a primer for starting seeds - probably too late for this year given the weather! See the links to the right, and let me know if you find it useful. Thanks!

The first batch of plantlets (mostly flowers edition)

So here are the first batch of plants - these are flowers with long lead times like begonias, geraniums and some perennials. These are geraniums with some cuttings of last year's geraniums and begonias in the background:

These are onions, leeks and shallots oh my!

And the asclepias tuberosa (Gay Butterflies,) some begonias, some echinacea paradoxa and one purpurea (still waiting for the others to sprout, as well as the eupatorium purpureum.)

Then there's the second round just seeded Saturday afternoon - maters, peppers, numerous types of annuals, all listed in the garden log links at right....

How many do I really need???

So granted, I get another tomato and pepper variety each year, and as older seeds are used up or lose viability, there is some attrition to the varieties.  But in the quest for heirlooms which can have their seeds saved I think I went overboard....
Tomatoes: new:   Heinz classic processor, Black Krim, Speckled Roman, Amish Paste
and from previous years: Juliet (hybrid grape), Polish Linguisa, Opalka, San Marzano Lampadina, Brandywine.
So that's 9 right?  And there's a couple more I have I'm not planting.
Peppers: new: Serrano, Paprika, Carmen (hybrid), Rainbow blend (sweet hybrid), Jalapeno Goliath, Garden Salsa Hybrid (my favorite, too bad it's a hybrid.)
and from previous years:  Cayenne, Jalapeno M.
Garden salsa I've grown for a number of years, finally used all the seeds from the last packet.  But that's what, 8 peppers?  I always have way to many, even with canning and freezing, and my co-workers get lots of freebies.
We haven't even gotten to the flowers....pix to come.

Last year's garden (north)

So we put in the second temporary raised bed last year, and it housed two tomatoes (Brandywine and Opalka I think) along with a few carrots and some small gourds and two watermelon.  Because of the timing and my broken toe, it all went in pretty late. The tomato plants got huge, but like many did not produce until late.  The carrots grew better than I expected and tasted pretty good.  The gourds were lots of ittybitty ones of which only one was "ripe" enough to last.  And we got two baby watermelon which were actually quite good.  The other, older bed was onion, leek, garlic (already gone in this picture) and some pepper plants.

AFTER the house is built next year, then I have much grander plans.....

So this is just an experiment to see how well pix upload to my blog.

Falling down on the job

Well it's been way too long since I last posted - but now I'm getting more serious about it, really.  The plans for the new house include plans for a new garden, so that is keeping us busy.  But in the meantime this year's gardening has already started, with onions and some flowers begun and more to begin this coming weekend.