Early garden work

Since all the plants in my yard are convinced spring is here, it is time to do some yard work. I spent a lot of time Saturday and Monday cleaning up and planting. Of course, there is still so much to do, but I am happy with the progress so far.

 First, some general clean up. I removed the mulch from the strawberries and the asparagus. This is the asparagus bed. Those things in the middle are ollas, a traditional deep watering method. Two of them broke the first winter, and another post will show how I'm replacing them with an improvised option rather than spending twice as much to buy new-and then have them shipped.

 One of the trees in the front died, so I have planted a dwarf peach. We love peaches. Hope this does better in that spot.
 

Just above the peach, there is a space in the fence for a planting. We've put in pansies this year.

  
The two blue pots here contain new blueberries. The white one has a two year old plant. They sit in the entry way on the steps approaching our front door.

Just outside the front door, I planted a hyacinth last spring which you can see is already in bloom and smells heavenly. I planted two new ones this week. They should be blooming in a couple of weeks.

On the fence just past the hyacinths is a pot of raspberries. This variety is supposed to do well in pots.

 Just to the right of the raspberry, you can see these pinks. They are similar to carnations but should be sturdier in my climate. We'll see. I love carnations.

Along the same wall with the pinks is my herb garden. New this spring is this lonely parsley plant. It sits between thyme and oregano which are veterans of the garden.

On the other side of the oregano are these six strawberry plants. They get full sun most of the day. The real question is whether they will survive the rabbits in the yard.

The rest of the strawberries are in an abandoned fountain. Two have been in there a couple of years. The rest are new.

Above the strawberries are the violas. They give a nice pop of color at the end of the walkway.

So that's the first phase of the spring garden work. I have some tomatoes started on a window sill in the kitchen. I hope to plant them outside in a few weeks.

The garden stores are selling tomato plants, but the last frost date is in May and I am afraid to plant them outside this early. By May, these should be a good size to go out. I might put them out sooner with protection. I haven't decided yet.

 

Spring ups and downs

I love watching the buds on trees, the greening of the grass, the early bulbs. Spring is simply glorious. Then comes the hay fever. I've lived in many parts of the US, and have had different degrees of reaction. This year, now in Prescott, has been up and down. As the wind has picked up though, my allergies have responded by exploding. And I hate allergy meds. Oh well, it is a small price to pay for so much beauty.

Normally, by this time, I would be working in my garden, with much in and much ready to go in. This year, my gardening is indoors. We are in temporary housing as we go through our relocation to Prescott. The good news is, the house we've selected has some wonderful space for gardening. The bad news is, we won't be in until sometime in June. I may be able to do some summer and fall crops. So for now, I have my rosemary, aloe, and a very old cherry tomato plant as well as my normal houseplants to care for.

Gardening is such a wonderful process. It takes time-to plant, nurture, and see the seeds sprout. Then more time until you can enjoy the harvest. For shrubs and trees, I generally plant very young plants which means it takes a few years until you get the bounty and enjoyment. There is a beautiful lilac starting to bloom in our chosen house. It is about 8 feet tall. The lilac in the house we've left is about 2 feet tall and will not bloom for a few more years. For me, gardening is a long range project. The yard is a project in process that takes many years to complete. It is an act of faith. It is an investment in the future.

If you cannot plant, at least get out and enjoy the gardens around you. A walk in a park, or through a neighborhood, can be very refreshing. Nature is a great stress reliever.

Garden dreams

As we get near the end of winter, this is a great time to plan your garden. Garden catalogs arrive daily and have lots of inspiration. When I was about 5, my pre-school class planted a garden, including spinach. We cared for it, harvested it, cooked it and ate it. Amazingly, I loved it. Only my dad and I ate it at home, but from then on, I was a fan. Dad and I started having a garden every year when I was about 9. We always planted radishes, which were fun to grow, but I never cared for them or turnips or beets. However, I did learn to love all types of summer squash.

Because of this love of gardening, I love the garden catalogs. I vary the annual vegetables each year, but also grow: asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, currants, raspberries, grapes, apples, peaches, cherries, plums, and herbs in my yard. I have harvested the asparagus, strawberries, currants, raspberries, apples, peaches and herbs, while the other fruit has yet to yield anything other than beauty. We had a bumper crop of chard and squash last summer. My husband has decided he doesn't care for chard, so I probably won't plant that again, but I'm dreaming of what will go in come May.

If you start seeds now, you will have tomato plants, eggplant, peppers, etc for transplanting to the garden at the right time in the snowbelt regions of the US. I've done that some years, and it is very fun to do with your kids.

Don't make everything utilitarian. We need flowers too as food for the soul. I grow old fashioned rugosa roses, as they make nice rose hips for tea and the flowers are edible and taste nice. I also grow carnations and lilacs as I love the flowers. Hyacinths have the most amazing fragrance, and I try to buy some in bloom each year. I then plant them and they return again and again.

What are your garden dreams?

Introduction

I've had some great guides helping me get to this point in my life. Since they were so much help to me, I'd like to use this blog to pass that help along. I expect to regularly write about the mundane-such as menu planning for the upcoming week, recipes, great activities to do with kids, and things like that-to more uplifting topics.

With rising prices at the grocery store and often little time or inclination to make great food easily, I would like to share ideas we've found helpful for saving money and calories and eating healthy. I collect cookbooks and recipes and am a great experimenter. I also work outside the home full time, so I need to be able to have simple meals for the end of the workday. I expect to share these about once per week, probably Thursday or Friday as I plan menus for the next week.

I home schooled for quite a while and loved it. I gathered lots of great ideas for enriching and fun activities with our kids even if they are not home schooled. Kids who go to school outside the home still learn more than we realize at home. I'll try to share ideas and activities at the beginning of the week so if you want to use them, you can plan how they might fit in with your current plans.

Reading is my escape and relaxation. It seems I read all the time and my house shows it even though I do borrow books from the library. I'll share some of what I'm reading and why I enjoy the books I do. Most will be of the escape variety, but some are a little deeper.

I also love to garden and combine that with my love of cooking. I won't write much about the garden in winter, but expect to read about that regularly the rest of the year.

I look forward to your participation, comments, questions and suggestions. I'd like this to be the kind of ongoing conversation I have with family and friends.
Marmie