One Down!

I had four raised beds delivered last fall just before the snow started to fly. I managed to get them in place with many layers of cardboard/paper on the ground, and a thin layer of peat (it was all I had time for!).  And now it's spring and I still find myself short of time.

I got one bed planted this weekend with kohlrabi, lettuce, carrots, kale, chard, radish, etc. I really wanted to plant cabbage, but couldn't find any seed in my stash! If you could see my seed stash, you'd find that nearly as impossible as I do. I usually have 3 different seed packets of everything under the sun. Guess I'll have to make another trip to the garden center - like I need another excuse!

It might be the only bed I get planted this year.

I also managed to get a dozen other things planted up (see the milk cartons between the beds). There are some flowers in those jugs - mostly annuals - and a few others. Honestly, I can't remember what I planted - but I did remember to write it on the jugs in paint pen, so I should be OK! Moon flower, lemon grass, echinacea, rudbeckia ...

It's currently 37F, so I probably have a little more time than I thought to get things in the ground. Tomatoes, peppers, and beans would certainly not be happy with this weather!

In the Garden

The early tulips are putting on a show, but the real extravaganza is yet to come. I planted a few dozen last fall (of course, I can't remember what they look like) and previous years' plantings look to have flowers on them, too.

Tuesday's forecast is calling for 94F! I'm sure soil temps will make a quick uptick this week - it will be interesting to see what else pops up. I'm anxiously awaiting the hardy hibiscus and hoping it made it through the winter.

Trillium at the Dog Park

Another bad cell phone pic, but Spring is just so exciting - now that it has finally arrived. Although looking at the weather forecast, one might think we've skipped spring and gone directly to summer - Tuesday's high is supposed to be in the 90sF!

Quick ... Before it Snows!

No, that's not a typo. And not an April Fool's joke, either. It's May 1, and the forecast calls for snow.

We had a glorious stretch of 70-80F days and now we're back to this. Before it gets covered up, here's what's popping up in the yard as of yesterday:

Of course, I'm thrilled to see all of them, but if I had to choose, I'd say I'm most excited about the Lupine. I've been trying for years to get lupine established somewhere on my property. I've tried sunny spots, shady spots, wet spots, dry spots ... they always just fizzles away on me. Last year when I did the boulevard project, I threw a couple of lupine in there - mostly because they had been sitting around and needed to get in the ground. There wasn't a lot of thinking involved - in fact, once I started thinking about it, I was pretty sure they would fry in that dry sunny hot spot. But it's the first time any have successfully made it through an entire season and the winter! Clearly I should think less when I garden!

Hopefully, they'll all still be there when today's snow melts!

Ignore the Creeping Charlie

(That's what I do)

Happy First Day of Spring!

More Signs of Spring!

Crocus popping up along the front sidewalk at my house. There's another patch under the maple tree in the boulevard, but I don't think they're up yet (they're buried under a couple inches of leaves, so they've probably got a few more days of warmth before they find the surface).

And these are the same tulips I saw here a couple of days ago ...

A Definitive Sign of Spring

I know that's almost impossible to see, but that's something green popping up through the ground! Hoku and I took a walk today (despite the fact that I've been sick for the past 3 days and wanted to do nothing more than lay on the couch) and I spotted this on south side of a six foot fence. There was another little clump nearby. I'm guessing it's crocus. The house is at the end of my block, so we should be able to check progress nearly daily!

Overwintered Kale

Much to my surprise, some of last year's kale made it through the winter. Once the snow had melted, I started cleaning up some of the beds and was going to yank out the thick, gnarly stalks from last year's kale. And then I saw it - tiny little leaves popping out of the stalk. I knew kale could be overwintered in milder climates, but I never gave it much thought here. I'm curious to see if it will flower and set seed this year. I'd love to have a huge patch of it that just keeps coming back forever! I have a friend that loves this soup, so I thought I'd give it a try with the first cutting of kale.

From All Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 6 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch collard greens - rinsed, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stir in onion and salt; cook until softened and translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in lentils, and cook for 1 minute. Pour in water, then bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add collard greens, and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes. When the lentils are tender, stir in the collard greens and season with cumin, cinnamon, and garlic; allow to simmer 10 more minutes. Stir in lemon juice before serving.

From Winter to Summer - In a Week

A week ago, it was snowing. Yesterday it was 86F when I went to bed. Crazy. And wonderful.

I've started putting in a few veggies: tomatoes, peppers, celery. And I noticed that I have a couple of peas coming up. I got them in late and used REALLY old seed so I wasn't even sure they'd come up. Of course, now that I've got a few popping up, my excitement is tempered by the fact that the bunnies will probably get them long before they're big enough to actually produce peas.

I love these old-fashioned bleeding hearts. They're just so sweet.

Mom was getting rid of a little plant stand at last week's garage sale, so I took it (thanks, Mom!). It makes the perfect stand for my elephant-ear-birdbath. The mulched area behind the birdbath is planted with tall red dahlias. The area in front of the birdbath is planted in shorter yellow dahlias. And the tripod might be home to beans - or tomatoes - I haven't decided yet. And in the far bottom left of the picture are purple and white cone flower. I'm excited to see this spot when things are in bloom.

This spot is to the left of the picture above. Iris, coneflower and a peony that I'm very excited to see bloom. It's been described as looking like a fried egg - a yellow center with white petals on the outside. There's some lavender in there, too (I didn't think it made it through the winter, but I checked it out this morning and saw a single green leaf starting to pop out). And that plant to the right of the peony ... I have no idea what it is (another find from the friend-of-a-friend's garden of plenty). If you recognize it, please let me know!

Another Unidentified Plant Mystery Solved

Pulmonaria. Those cute little flowers start out pink, turn kind of purple and then finish up blue. I feel a little bit silly that I didn't know what it was, but I've never grown it before. Late last fall, I went to a friend-of-a-friend's house and dug up loads of her unwanted plants (she had just purchased a house and wanted more grass than gardens). It was some time in October and most things were already dying back, so it was difficult to identify plants. As time was running out before the first frost, I hastily shoved things in the ground, placing them in sun/shade/wet/dry as best I could based on what I thought the plants were. And now I have millions of things coming up and I don't know what they are, if they're in the right place, or what color they will turn out to be. I have dreams that I have a horrible mishmash of colors and textures. And then I have tremendous dreams of incredible plants blooming all over the yard - like Himalayan Blue Poppies, and awesome daylilies, Asiatic lilies, peach-colored peonies ...

I quite like the pulmonaria and wish I had more of it. Alas, I only dug out a single specimen. I'm hoping I might be able to go back to the the friend-of-a-friend's house for a round of spring cleaning. It really was a treasure trove. More on that to come.

It's April 20th!

Enough already!

My winter sowing containers are getting a very slow start.

A Snowy Saturday

This is what I woke up to Saturday morning. If the latest forecast can be believed, this is what it will look like tomorrow, too. I know it won't last long, but I still don't have to like it.

I spent the day touring the greenhouses at Linder's and Gerten's. Fascinating operations! And the snow was gone by the time I got home.

A Few More Spring Beauties ... and Another Unidentified Plant

I'm not sure what this is, but I'm guessing columbine???

I don't remember putting this in the ground, but suspect if was from the bounty I dug up from someone else's yard last October. I'm looking forward to seeing what other mystery plants appear. I know there were loads of lilies - daylilies, Asiatic lilies, Tiger lilies - can't wait to see what color they turn out to be. Many of them are just peeking out of the soil - I hope tonight's predicted slushy snow doesn't disturb them too much.

The bleeding hearts seem to be popping up really early this year!

There's a very small little baby bleeding heart at the back. I think I should dig it up and move it somewhere else.

The crocus under the maple tree in the hell strip are my favorite sign of spring! The ajuga look a little rough, but I'm sure they'll be spreading out in no time.

Peonies ... A Lesson Learned

I love peonies! If I could find a way to make them bloom all summer along with poppies, I'd be a happy camper. Of course, that's not going to happen, so I settle for the next best thing - I just plant lots of them!

I've been not-so-secretly coveting my mom's double maroon peony - I keep joking that some day when she's gone, I'm just going to go dig part of it out of the ground. But instead, I begged her to take me to the nursery where she bought it so I could get one for myself. So last year in May or June (I can't remember if it was Mother's Day or Mom's birthday), we drove out to Hul's Nursery in St. Wendel (where? you ask ... seem the map here: map of Hul's Nursery). The people who own this place are great! They answered tons of questions and offered really good advice. I came home with my very own double maroon and a white Japanese-type with a yellow center. I think they were $10-15 each.

I wasn't sure where I was going to put them, so they sat in their pots until September. I was worried I had waited too long to get them in the ground, but they're both coming up roses (er, peonies!).

Compare that to the three peonies I picked up at the Cub flower mart on sale for $6 each. Two of the three look like this:

Nothing but barren earth. Granted, it's still a little early and they might make an appearance in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure they were tissue culture specimens at that price, and I've heard that they may not be has hardy the first winter - not sure if that's true or not. But the peonies from Hul's are all divided the old fashioned way. Last year they only had four pots of the double maroon - after Mom, my sis and I were done, there was only one left at the nursery.

Lesson learned: buy the good stuff. From people who know what they're doing and care about their merchandise. I'll be going back this year for a few more - I think I've got just the spot for a fern-leaf peony.

Squill?

Is this squill? (I don't mean the Creeping Charlie - I've got that identification down pat!)

I haven't knowingly planted any, but last fall I planted loads of stuff I dug up from someone else's yard. This appeared near the spot I had planted some lilies. I've been meaning to plant some every fall, so now I guess I don't have to.

Now I'm a believer!

I Take it Back

I just looked outside and there are HUGE snowflakes coming down! Definitely not Spring-like.

UPDATED: The snowflakes have stopped and the sun actually came out this afternoon. But the wind is raging and it's chilly out there. I took a quick walk around the soggy yard for a look at what might have popped out of the ground since yesterday, and saw that some little critter has beheaded a patch of tulips just poking through the ground. Arghh!

It's a good thing I was working so diligently on those quilts yesterday - the May baby boy came a month early and showed up this morning. So I'm off to finish quilting and start the binding. I don't want the little guy to be chilly in this ridiculous spring weather we're having.

The Boys of Summer Quilts

I've been so inspired by the strip quilts over at Film in the Fridge, that I had to try one out (OK, I actually made two! - it was just easier that way - I was already cutting strips!). Most of the fabric in these two quilts is called "Oxygen" from the Fall 2009 Studio E line. I mixed in a couple of batiks I had stashed on the shelf and think it looks rather lovely. I'm working on some straight line quilting now and hope to have the quilting finished up on one by tonight.

I have friends due with boys in May and July, so I think these will find very nice homes in a relatively short period of time.

In other news, it was gorgeous outside yesterday - near 55F, I think. I took a little walk around the soggy yard and am now convinced that Spring is in fact, right around the corner. There are buds on the rose bush, the rhubarb is popping up, sedum is showing its little heads, and tulips, crocus, hyacinth, daffodils and the like are all making their way up. Not everything made it through the winter with such grace - more on that later.

Signs of Spring

Muscari pushing up through the ice! Those are

hardy little buggers. I also found some tulips and daffodils breaking ground. And the unmistakable red buds of the peonies. 

I divided my two peonies last fall (one pink and one white - both came with the house). Having never dug/divided a peony, I really didn't know what to expect. I had heard that they could be difficult to get out of the ground. That was an understatement! It took me over an hour to dig one and at least 45 minutes to get the other one out. I divided and gave some to friends, replanted others, and potted up a few more in the hopes they'd make it through the winter. So far, so good. I think all of them survived, and the ones in the pots are showing buds, too. Hopefully they'll flower this year. I'm not sure I'm expecting them to, but I'd certainly miss the lovelies if they didn't. I also planted three new ones that I purchased last year - so far I can see buds on one (the one I'm most excited about - a very deep burgundy red), no buds on a yellow one yet, and a white/yellow-centered one is still covered with snow. I have to trust that Mother Nature knows what she's doing - we're supposed to get an inch of rain tomorrow before it changes over to snow! Sounds like it's going to be a soggy mess - and it's certainly not good for the flood forecast. But I have seen signs of life, so I shall not be defeated today!

Clematis

I took this photo last year around mid-June at the Clemens Rose Garden in St. Cloud. I haven’t added any clematis to my garden yet, but this inspires me! I love how the two varieties are intertwined. I’m hoping to plant a clematis at the base of a red rose bush this year. I think it will be spectacular climbing up through the roses.

I'm hearing that most of the snow will be gone by the end of the weekend - although it's hard to believe the four-foot-deep-wall-of-ice (otherwise known as the boulevard) will be snow-free before May. The down side of all the snow melt is that the flood risk seems to be ramping up very quickly. Preparations are already well underway around the state.