Leaves

Well sometime this last week the leaves on the lilacs have shown up. They appear to have done so on several of the trees as well. My rose bush is just started to show some green but the lawn needs mown very badly. My raspberries and currant seem to be doing well but my clematis seems to be floundering. The carnations haven't been in long enough to tell if they are doing anything. I have strawberries to plant and I have horseradish on the way. My garden is finally tilled. We bought a small tiller (went with the troy built) and still had to borrow the neighbor's big rototiller to break the sod. No big deal though. I'm hoping to get a lot of my cold weather crops out this weekend. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with my apple trees. I have several my friend and I started from seed. I should get my blueberries in the ground as well now that they've been hanging out on the porch for about a week. Oh, and I discovered that we actually have a sidewalk in the front of our house. We thought it was just paver stones that weren't connected. Nope. Just an old sidewalk with cracks where the grass grew through. We aren't done digging it out either.


Off to find a pot for some garlic I have sprouting. Oh, I also need to plant potatoes. My bag of potatoes has sprouted like crazy.

Growth spurt

I guess leaving my plants did well. Most of them have grown like crazy in a week. Looks like so far only a couple of zucchini and the white lisbon bunching onions didn't make it. My pumpkin is iffy, but looks like it may come back. The zucchini were not doing so hot before we left so I'm not too suprised that these two didn't do well. Everything else looks great though.

Now I need to start getting really rolling on the garden. My strawberries and carnations came while we were gone. I got my raspberries and currant bush planted the day before we left and it looks like they are doing well. Down to just a couple things left that we ordered, horseradish, russian sage, and some re-blooming lilacs. I'll be a planting and tilling fool this weekend. Today will be work, but not Sat. and Sun. Those are my garden days!

Off to make sure everyone is watered for the day...

Outside Garden area

Thought I would get some outdoor pictures to see where we are starting from. Fence lines are staked out and I have started digging the main garden bed. My herb garden has been dug and amended already. My little flower garden on the SW corner of the house is an experiment. All wildflower seed and I just kinda piled straw, chicken poop, peat moss, and who knows what else. I'm also trying to build it up enough there the wasps won't make their home under the siding right there. With all the digging I'm looking at tillers. I haven't decided which kind I want yet. I'm thinking about the Mantis. It is more of a mail order versus go down and pick it out. The Troy Built is at Lowe's and is about the same size as the Mantis. Doesn't dig as deep though. I don't think it has the same kind of warranty either. I don't have to decide quite yet, but should soon. Time to get crackin' on the digging now that it is April.

The main garden plot looking West: Looking NW:

Herb garden on the West end of the house (pretty shady in the a.m. gets sun blasted in the p.m.):

Flower garden on SW corner:

South side of house (I'm thinking mostly flowers):

Everything is getting big...

Beans in the background, watermelon and cantelope in the foreground:

Two flats of tomatoes, two varieties:

Zucchini and cucumbers:

Greenhouse

It appears that the two jugs of water in the bottom have done the trick to keep it above freezing in my greenhouse. Just above...34 degrees. My broccoli and cauliflower got nailed the first night they'd been in there. 28 degrees. They were a little wilty but seem to be doing alright. Most of the seedlings have bounced back. In fact my cauliflower seems happier out there then it was in the house. I've gotten some good growth. I don't think its time to put my tomatoes or anything that sensitive yet, but my hardier stuff seems to do just fine. Yay some space in the house is coming! Then I can maybe start the last of my seeds.


I will for sure have to start my zucchini and cucumbers later next year. My poor little seedlings aren't so little anymore and they are starting to flower already. Oops. I'll just have to remember to start much later with them.

Looks like it is breakfast time...

order

Finally found my order...Should be here next week it looks like. Hopefully everything will hold while we go to Austria. Shouldn't be too bad for one week. I tried my broccoli and cauliflower seedlings in my greenhouse last night. It hasn't been getting below freezing in there so I thought I'd give it a shot. Besides it is still early enough that I can re-start if need be.

I took the tape measure to the garden plot yesterday (in the snow). I think I'm going to make the main plot 30 ft x 11 ft. If I have to expand things next year I will. I also have a couple small beds around the house.

I'd better work on getting ready for work so I can support this habit I've got going.

Losses

I finally had some losses. I lost three okra and a watermelon. Also, I gave up on the angelica seeds and the basil seeds. Of course this still leaves a bunch of seedlings. I'm hoping they don't take too much of a hit when we go to Austria. I do plan on using gel packs to water with while we are gone. We used those one time on my house plants that were stored in the back of my pick-up for a month. They worked really well. I'm hoping they work as well for my seedlings.

I got my blueberries all planted in pots now. I hope that works out well. I'm a little worried as far as my big plant order... I haven't heard anything about them shipping and can't find any confirmation e-mail. Hmmmm...I still have my order print out with the order number and I have an e-mail into them asking about it. I hope things didn't get messed up since the order is also for a friend of mine. If I don't hear anything on Monday I'll have to start making phone calls. I want strawberry and rasberry plants in the ground this year.