Long time, no see

Sorry for my MIA status the past few weeks. Things are under better control here now, so hopefully that won't be an ongoing thing!

The good news is, while life has been busy and blogging has been on the back burner, the seedlings have been growing great guns.

Take a look:Plus, we've had a run of nice weather so they've gotten used to the sun and wind and are fully ready to go out to stay. Only problem is, despite the good weather and a warm enough 10 day forecast, I'm not sure I'm ready to trust that they won't get frosted to death.

Funny thing, too, since these were started as seeds and not much money that way, they've taken a lot of time to get where they are and if anything I'm feeling more protective than ever!

I did, however, bite the bullet with the moonflowers. I've never had trouble but I've heard they don't transplant well, so I figured I'd just put them out and let them grow when I planted a row of morning glories (heavenly blue) on the side of the shed.


Moon flowers like richer soil and morning glories bloom best in poor soil so I've dumped a bunch of compost in holes before planting the moon flowers. In the past I've had the luxury of having each in their own pots but hopefully this will work out.

Morning glories grow fast and easy, so it shouldn't be long till they start to take off. I'm planning on getting a trellis for them to climb, but depending on time, money, and my mood at the moment, they may just get to grow up some strings this year.

Accessorizing

Look what we got:


Lovely for coffee in the morning or lemonade in the afternoon--not real big but neither is the space so that all works out, and the plastic "wicker" will hopefully wear well, too.

Now all it needs is a garden!

More signs that things are alive

Anyone ever read in The Secret Garden where Dickon is showing Mary the garden isn't really all dead, just dormant for the winter--"it's quick" he says, not as in fast but as in ALIVE?

That's what I've been feeling the past few days!

There's a crab-apple tree in the yard that seemed a bit creaky. Only a few weeks ago, there was no sign of life and I was trying to figure out which of the boughs would have some life and which were already too far gone. The joke was on me, look at it now:
In other fun news, get a load of this:
That little bitty bud is going to be a lilac bloom--how's that for incredible!

Happy, happy spring!

A Plan? Sure, I have a plan...

Well, kind of a plan anyway.

But yes, for the back garden I do have a thought out and measured trial plan. We'll see how it comes together, and hopefully with it this year it will give me more ideas about what works and what doesn't to keep improving from there.

So, without further ado--the plan:
I think if you click on it, you'll be able to read the words, but basically, we have tomatoes (cantaloupe, too) to the left, shasta daises and foxglove to the rear, and in the middle/front, from left to right, we have butterfly weed, nicotiana, balsam, nicotiana, and blue bachelor buttons. Rose's garden is to the far right (she has a plan, too, more on that in a later post).

Remember, this is the area:

The "vision" is for the veggies to get enough light to grow and the flowers to be a full, wild-ish, profusion of color, kind of old fashioned and cottage like.

Stay tuned to see how it really works out!

So this compost thing...

Just not so sure it's working out.

I've been diligently saving my scraps, cuttings, egg shells, and coffee grounds. Throwing in a few handfuls of dead leaves from time to time. I occasionally pour over it a glass or two of rain water or Brita filtered water. I even hoist it over and roll the barrel around at least once a week, sometimes more.

Honestly, I don't see any sign that it's doing anything at all.

It doesn't stink or even smell much like anything (small blessings, I guess). It doesn't feel hot or even luke warm. Just nothing ever looks different at all from the way it was when I put it in the barrel. Ever.

Not sure how long this is going to take. Maybe I'll get some progress when it's warmer out. Other than that, I guess it isn't hurting anything, but shouldn't it just do something?

Little lettuces

The past few years, I've grown loose leaf lettuces on my apartment patio. They've never minded the lack of TLC or the partial shade and having them up on the second story meant I didn't have to deal with rabbits eating my salad.

A few weeks ago I took out a packet of seeds packed for 2006 that I had kept in a zip lock in the freezer and tossed them over the dirt in the planters I had moved to our new place. I just dusted them with seed starter to keep them in place and let them go. Because the seeds were so old, I spread them very thickly.

Right after I planted them, We had lots of rain, including some very heavy rain. This past Saturday, I remembered to take a look and, lo and behold, I have lettuces! Lots of lettuces!


I'm hoping the planters will give me a head start on the rabbits here, too. I'll let the thick layer of seedlings go a bit more and try and thin them out when the thinnings are big enough to count as "baby greens" on my table.

I'm very please because a) I didn't have very high hopes for these old seeds, and b) I love fresh lettuce and am always happy to get it for free (or nearly free) and with very little actual work!

Wishing all who celebrate a happy and blessed Easter