Friday, May 23, 2008

May 23, 2008

Cool, on and off drizzle, mostly cloudy.

-Pumpkins: 1 small ornamental, 1 medium pie/carving
-2 Burpless cucumbers
-2 sugarbaby watermelons
so the first bed is planted. That was quick. ;o)

have 8 tomato starts
4 sweet pepper
4 jalapeno (might only plant 2?)
broccoli
need carrot seeds, green beans, maybe some onion starts
try to get those in this weekend.

I think I'll get some more 2x6 6 foot lengths and make a 1/2 sized bed to put a bean teepee in.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

May 21, 2008

The beds are built! Laura brought 2 yards of soil yesterday, 1 1/2 are spread, the other will be done before it rains this evening. Yeah!

1st Season has fruit trees for $21. I'm going this afternoon. Wahoo!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

May 17th, 2008

Sunny and warm, 70º Beautiful day

Scott cleared more brush, Simon got to use the chainsaw. :o) Started throwing dead stuff down the hill. Why not? Velco left all their crap there.

Assembled one raised bed. I need WAY more newspaper. Laura Sturtevant can get me garden soil at cost (and she has a pickup truck!) I think I need 3 yards to get them filled and get started on the front.

Friday, May 16, 2008

May 16, 2008

Scott's cutting the grass. Roses are fertilized, and I've bought the lumber for 2 raised beds.

It's coolish, mid 60s, few clouds. Drizzled much of yesterday, rain is expected again tomorrow.

Peas are up, both snow peas and regular. Salad bed is doing nicely.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

May 11, 2008

Done. The front corner bed is cleaned, the tulip bed is weeded, the daffodil hosta/astilbe bed is done, the peas are in the rest is grassed (coming up nicely.) The front of the house needs some work, but I have to figure out how to build a retaining wall and incorporate the downspout drainage.

I haven't bought the wood for the raised beds yet. Picked up some azaleas (yuck) for $2 each that will work in the property line border. I'm going to dig some saplings out of the hedgerow and woods to add to that line. Maples, oaks if I can find them. Maybe hickory. I wonder what hickory leaves look like? And how to determine sugar maples from others. Homework...

Oh, 1st Season's open!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

April 27, 2007

Mostly sunny, 70º Rain is expected tomorrow (but we'll see.)

Front corner bed is clean and edged. Cut down some dead branches from the Box Elder. Comon lilac has lots of leaves, but no sin of blooms. I need to look into a fertilizer to push some flowers next year. Potash, I think. All three shrub roses are in great shape. Bleeding Heart blooming, loads of flower buds on the Flowering Almond. I pruned, weeded and edged - no mulch, no fertilizer.

Turned the sprinkler on the old garden/new lawn. Left a window down on the truck, too. That'll make it rain for sure. Strawberries have had a great growth spurt over the past few days. They like the straw, guess that's why they're called straw berries, huh? First spinach sprouts.

Nothing else new. I need to get the screening on the strawberry house and the plow off the tractor.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

April 26, 2008

Low 60s, overcast today. It will likely rain this afternoon. Spring sprung early this year. We've already had several 80º days, though that seems to be past now.

We purchased Matt's land in March (14th) and spent last weekend beginning to clear the hedgerow. Messy business - lots of grapevine and Virginia Creeper in there. I've decided to move the vegetable beds over to that area - a tiny little piece of it anyway. Eventually there will be 4 raised beds, each 6' x 12'. The strawberries will remain where they are right now, and the rhubarb. I'll move all that in the fall, I think. Most of the bed has been plowed under and grass seeded. I've got peas and snow peas at the furthest part of it.

Planted raised bed - buttercrunch, mesclun, danvers carrots.
Picked up 5 Col. Blue Spruce ($2.99 each!) and have heeled them in. Missed the Midd Garden Club's lilac giveaway today. Oh well.

Driveway bed - Daffs are blooming, astilbes are sprouting. No sign of the hostas yet. Grape hyacinths are coming along, but will bloom after the daffs fade.

Garage bed - Chiondoxa and crocuses are done. Tulips are budding, but no blooms yet. Hyacinths are gorgeous. pink, dark pink, purple. No white. Both burning bushes (destined elsewhere) are leafing out well, as is the rescue lilac (also for elsewhere.) What was the mystery iris from Mark last year? Need a name. No apparent problems with the patio or the roof drainage project. It was nice to have a dry walk this winter.

Front corner - lots of sprouts. Autumn Joy is running rampant. Daffs in bloom. Lilac, HB Cran, Miss Canada all leafing. Same with all three shrub roses. Nothing from the spirea? Loads of buds on the Flowering Almond. Peopnies (2?) are up, irises are everywhere but not blooming yet. Soon.

Grass is green, trees are leafing out. No more snow, please?