Late April 2013 Garden Update

Tis the season of rebirth...ye ole time of revival of the plants and springing forth of dem flowers n' shit. OK enough old English speak. A lot has happened over the last several weeks that I foolishly didn't think to capture in real time and post as it was actually happening on some sort of device. I MUST BE GOING MAD! But here is a recap taken on my phone in about 5 minutes. By the way everything I did over the last few weeks was happening to this Bat For Lashes song called "Lilies". So Kate Bush-y and wonderful...joyful music! - Dahlia tubers are finally blooming...my concern was stirred when I noted that Mary on my MOW route had this huge dahlia plant already and i had nothing, but they are just taking their time. No rush, ladies! Just wait until you are ready, you are going to be beautiful. -veggie garden...tomatoes are out of the igloos now, rhubarb is doing well, snap peas are hopeful. Garlic and onions planted last year are about a month away from harvest. I tore down some of the favas (planted for soil quality purposes mainly)to make way for more non-igloo dwelling tomatoes, peppers and I found FENNEL hiding in the favas...coming back for a repeat performance from last year, yay! -spring bulbs, the final chapter...going to say goodbye to the pansies soon too, but am excited about those sweet peas peeking up next to them...they need their own space. -raspberries came back in a big way! the stalks started peering out a couple of months ago. So many that I decided to thin them out and plant them in a straighter line for a bigger yield. Let's see if my experiment pays off. They seem to be growing nicely so far in their new soil patch. Stay in your lane, ladies. -potato grave...i just put some compost on the leaves...they were really popping up and you have to keep burying them. It is really fun to pull potatoes out of the mound in the fall...I think this is going to pay off. -Front yard grass removal project is now complete. I used the newspaper method for most of it but Colin did take some clumps back to patch the backyard sod. And then we built the mounds. Planted Irish moss mainly but with a few interesting perennials intermixed. Hopefully they take off like the other mounds did...the moss covers those now and the plants are out of control 2 years in. This is a big accomplishment for me. I finally feel like the front yard is essentially done. I will be making lots of adjustments as things grow in and I want to add more Bamboo along the brick fence..oh and there's that hot tub in the backyard...it actually well never end. -Kale and mesclun...it takes forever to really get going. At least in my experience. I'm very happy that summer is coming and lots of gardening is on the horizon...grateful!!

Easter 2013

Have been doing lots of spring updates to the garden. General spring maintenance, planting early tomatoes inspired by this crazy warm and lovely weekend. Made tons of easter (and passover food) did an egg hunt, started ripping up the grass on the other side of the front yard. Onward!

St Patrick's Day 2013 Garden Update

OTP: Beautiful music

There is so much good stuff right now...either that or i'm just paying more attention than usual at the moment. Whatever it is I'm thankful because melodies like this FEED MY SOUL.


Night Dunes by Ben Browning

A gif(t), from me to...me?

Hold on for one more day.

It's an early spring...Feb. 2013

Of course it's inevitable that we'll have at least another couple of cold snaps and probably snow before all is said and done...but for now it's beginning to look a lot like Springtime! This Sergio Mendes song is an all-time fave and makes me feel very spring-ish and happy. I remember being danced to this song as a baby by my parents. Happy early Spring!

January Garden update

January is probably the least interesting month of the year for gardening but it seemed like it was time for an update. I planted some primrose today because it's the only colorful thing available right now. I also put a few more ornamental cabbages in a couple of weeks ago, again...just needed a blast of color. And that is the reason for the yellow pot with rosemary in it. I want to add more permanent visually pleasing things and that seemed like a good start. I am getting desperate for things to do in the garden so i trimmed the lavender and did some general clean up of dead stuff last week. Still need to prune the fruit trees. The fava beans are doing well as is the garlic. It will be interesting to see if the favas get as big as last year. So far they are relatively small bushes but that could change if we ever get some sun. Corvallis has been under a blanket of freezing fog for the last week. But during my run up Dimple this AM all it took was a couple of miles to get to beautiful sunshine. I don't think i've ever seen such a thick covering in the valley though, it was obvious it would not be burning off, so I was glad I ran up their for a bit of vitamin D. Just a smidge but it can't hurt. Looking forward to Spring for sure...