Among Friends

On the indoor grow shelves in the kitchen rest 4 pots of cuttings from various trees and vines. There are cuttings from a blush colored Grape (from Julie's across the street), Bay Tree cuttings, Meyer Lemon cuttings, and a Green Seedless Thompson Grape.

They are in lightweight seed starting medium, in pots tented with plastic bags held by bamboo sticks. I mist them throughout the day.

One of the grapes is starting to leaf out. There is swelling of the bud and signs of green. It is the Green Seedless Thompson from Marilyn's garden. Yeah!

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Blue with Intermission

When asked what is my favorite flower it is Grape Hyacinth. It is the blue.

And Lobelia blue is my favorite color.

But Grape Hyacinths are dear to my heart.

Rosemary provides a blue backdrop to the regal couple beside the tree.

With little babes nearby.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Baked Peas

I was making curtains for the french doors and totally spaced out the time, then it dawned on me that the green house was overheating so I dashed to open the door to vent it. The temperature was a balmy 105°. Whoops! So I propped the door open for a few days so as not to repeat the episode, then yesterday the plastic came down. The Snow Peas survived the heat and are covered with flowers. The Broccoli in the tubs are finished so they will become compost and be dug into the new bed along the backwall and something new will be planted in their place.

Here are the pure white Turnips that were planted in the fall that are today's harvest. One has been left to go to seed and as this was gifted from Leslie's workshop, and originally came from CSN, they might be heirloom and it is definately worth saving the seed to see if they will grow true again.

The pots were freshened up with Tomato Lady Soil, and Armenian Cucumbers were planted in the front of the pots to grow up the frame and become a mass of green overhead. In the center are Nasturiums that grow 6' long, a trailing variety that will also cover the green house frame. Towards the walkway in the raised pots are a bush variety Green Bean.

The plants in the Bevel Bed are leafing out and enjoying the warmth. It has been in the high 60°'s during the day. Some of the plants have flower clusters forming in the centers. The winter weather stunted their growth, but they are still growing in accordance to their individual DTM's. These plants were started indoors the day after Christmas so they have been growing for almost 60 days. This was a good lesson, that cold stunts, and DTM is DTM whether the plant is tiny or full size.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Hint of Spring Garden Tour

The first of the Grape Hyacinth is hidden in the shade of the Rosemary.

The Pansies are thriving and share hint of yellow.

Faces toward the sun.

Another bed is born and starts to change from the rock collector to the place for the Artichoke, and the Mexican Primrose. It is a hot baking spot.

The Artichoke was planted in October and is ready to spring into action. The Artichoke was fine in a raised planter above the rock, but once the rock is removed and becomes a bed, the Artichoke has to be lowered to the ground. It is too heavy in size and appearance to remain in the pot above anything at all.

The over-wintered Long Bed receives more light as the shade decreases moving across the garden, revealing the areas that used to be in full sun before last August.

The New Zealand Spinach bit by frost shows sign of regaining it's vigour.

The traveling pots filled with Lettuce have remained the same and look as if they were recently planted.

The newly abandoned walkway, (what started out as full abandon has be met with half abandon) has been seeded with Poppies and Hollyhock. All of the humus has been washed away by the heavy rain and litely sprinkled with compost where the seedlings emerged.

Here is a close up of the Flanders Poppies.

I was given this herb plack placed by the herbs which is now surrounded with newly placed strawberries. The Rhubarb is located at the dripper to the left, and fingers are crossed that it will flourish. It has just survived it's first winter here.

This yellow daisy is the first to flower in the Lily Bed.

The red Chard has such an unusual color and texture.

There are lots of contrasts of color and texture.

Here is how the knot gardens in the raised tubs look this spring.

These have survived the winter as they were planted in the fall.

Along with the early winter items planted in December.

I am preparing for Iris to put on a stellar show in the Main Bed this spring.

This one was a gift and I have no idea what color it will be. It's a surprise.

This angle from the patio, reveals the garden's intricacy.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Your Guess is as Good as Mine

There was a worm on top of the greenhouse this morning. I went out to push the water off of the roof from that light rain that we had last evening, and there he was swimming on the ceiling. I can't imagine how he got up there, your quess is as good as mine. Thoughts that run through one's mind in response to something like this are wild, Neighbors are slinging worms through the air!

The peas have started blooming which is great because I was thinking that the plastic reduced the light and that might be a problem, but it was early still. Yeah for pea blossoms! I have left the tomato (roma) in the greenhouse now for about 3 nights. The heater vent is closed that would blow down on the grow shelves, but still the tomato did not like the inside temps or the air that escaped the vent (you could see the movement), or being spritz with mist, or all three combined. It is looking a bit rough so I might as well try 40° temps at night and throw that into the mix. If anyone asks about the tomato I will say "Your guess is as good as mine, did you hear about the worm on the greenhouse?"

Thanks for visiting? To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Little Rosemary Wreaths

Here are little Rosemary wreaths that are perfect to make after a rain. I added them to the bowl of orange rind and dried lemon slices and they spice up the kitchen.

The new raised bed is filled with Black Dirt and the irrigation is installed. The rain settled everything in and the whole garden is fresh and new.

Here is a close up of the irrigation and it was fun to arrive at this design where the lumber was cut at an angle. As all of my planting areas and raised beds have names, I thought about this one for a while, this one is called the Bevel Bed.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Saved Citrus

Old lemons sit on my counter under the dried lemon slices that were strung together and tied to the overhead cabinet to dry. The breeze spins them around imparting what little fragrance remains into the air.

Here is a bowl of orange peel and it collects the rind from recently peeled oranges that were cut into strips to dry. The oranges smell wonderful and other things can be added to the bowl as potpourri. The rosemary is in bloom so I will bring some in later this morning. I have envisioned tiny wreaths of flowering rosemary. A tiny wreath would sit nicely on the edge of the bowl for the fragrances to mingle.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!