More than a box of dirt

On Thursday, I finally had the time and energy to plant most of my veggies, turning my boxes of dirt into an actual garden. I bought starter plants at Home Depot of the more time-consuming and difficult to grow varieties, which are now spreading their roots in the raised beds. These include six tomato plants (two cherry, two "early girl" and two "big boy" hybrids); three "black beauty" eggplants; two red bell peppers and one orange bell pepper; four brussel sprouts and four red cabbage. In addition, I planted most of my seedlings (well, the ones that survived, anyway): a row of broccoli, six peas, and a couple of spinach.

Today, I am adding to the veggie family: a few lettuce and carrot seedlings and bean seeds. Beginning to sprout from last week's planting are my radishes and beets. Still no activity on the carrot or pea seeds I planted about two weeks ago; same with the strawberry roots. I bought the strawberry roots at Walmart—they were there and I couldn't pass them up—but now I wonder about the quality. Dormant roots do tend to take a while to begin to leaf, so I hope to see some budding growth in the next two weeks. I will be bummed if I wasted $6.00! (Actually, more bummed about wasting months of growing time and missing out on a strawberry season).

Also on tap today (depending on how long Cavan takes a nap—currently, she is just playing around in her crib. I dare not go outside while she is still awake, and she doesn't sound sleepy in the least! EEK!):

*Planting the begonia tubers that I started indoors about two months ago. Eleven of the 12 are leafing out nicely; I should have blooms in about three weeks!

*Sowing flower seeds directly in the garden: zinnias, cosmos, and baby's breath. The zinnia seedlings that I started inside all died when I left them outside in the sun too long one day. Bummer. Start over. I have never tried direct outside sowing, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

*Identifying the plant that is invading one of my borders. With our week of warm, wet, sunny weather, everything is sprouting like crazy, and so is this mystery plant that seems to be spreading everywhere. I wonder if it is the pink coreopsis (tickweed) that was in the border last year? If so, this is not an all bad thing—it is a pretty plant that blooms all summer. However, if so, the spread is really out of control and I will have to do serious maintenance on this thing to keep it from taking over! BUT, if it is something else, I have a real problem on my hands...to be continued.

Dandelions=gardening exhaustion

This will be brief. On Tuesday I dug out about 3000 dandelions from our yard. And I could barely move yesterday. This pregnancy thing is beginning to interfere with this gardening thing.

At the beginning of the year, I had big plans for a veggie garden this year. Raised boxes, spring, summer and fall crops, 20 different varieties of edibles. Yummmm! Well, we are almost at May and the only things I have planted in the beds are radishes, carrots, beets, and peas (and I only got around to doing this last week!) Oh, and dormant strawberry roots, that hopefully will begin to leaf in about a month. My spring lettuce, broccoli, spinach, and herbs are still sitting in their seed packets, except for the few I tried to start indoors, with mixed results. I am just too tired to till the soil and bend over this big-ole-belly for hours, all while keeping an eye on a two-year-old and running inside for 8000 potty emergencies (hers and mine).

Hopefully I will get a burst of energy this weekend to sow all the rest of the seeds, then I can just maintain the flower beds for weeks until the veggies hopefully grow.

Disappointments today.

One of last year's groundhogs.

Unlike yesterday, which was an enjoyable and productive day in the garden (more on this below), today has been disappointing for a few reasons.

1) Some critter, likely a groundhog, has eaten more than half of my yet-to-bloom tulip buds. I have a few choice expletives for this critter. Out comes the Havaheart trap. The bloody bastard better be caught tomorrow, though I don't know if I really want to have much of a heart when it is caught. We caught five groundhogs on the property last spring (and Hubby drove them to the nature preserve 10 miles away) and afterward had no problems. But, other than the tulips, which are short-lived anyway, I fear for our new veggie garden. We'll have to put a fence around it. Goodie, another chore to add to the list.

2) Speaking of the veggie garden, my goal this week was to plant all the cold-weather crops. But our top soil was delivered in the rain and turned into clumps. And those clumps have dried into little balls of gravel consistency. I bought one of those rolling, spiked garden cultivators (similar to the Garden Weasel) and that helped, but at 25 weeks prego, I tire easily. Working that tiller was another unpleasant task today, and despite all my elbow grease, the soil was still like little pebbles. I planted rows of carrots, radishes, and beets and covered them with a layer of peat moss before the final layer of pebbly soil. Hopefully when it rains again, the soil with break up and soak down to the seeds appropriately.

3) And what's with this freakin' freezing weather? It was 35 degrees this morning. I was working outdoors with long underwear under my clothing plus my winter coat. I hate the cold. It's the end of April for godsakes—how about some consistent sun and 60+ degrees! What a waste of spring break, to deal with winter weather.

But enough complaining. Here's what I did yesterday: planted a flat of marigolds (bought, not grown), five achillea bare roots, four blue forget-me-not plants, and 12 carnations. I also bought two flats of impatiens to plant in giant pots this weekend. But before I do that, I have to get Styrofoam blocks to fill the bottom of the pots—I don't want to fill giant 14" pots top-to-bottom with soil when impatiens really only need a few inches. For one, garden soil is expensive and I would need almost a whole bag to fill each of the seven pots. Secondly, the pots would then be 60 pounds each! I would like to be able to move them if necessary.

So after these two afternoons outside, I am exhausted! Bending over with this belly is becoming more than uncomfortable. Whew. Hubby is going to have to help me with the heavy-duty garden tasks, like ridding my partial-shade garden of grass. But that is definitely another day.

Panic! + Spring flower photos

One of my daffodil borders.

As I woke up this morning, I immediately realized that I forgot to bring my seedlings in last night. Panic! I was sure I'd find them matted to the soil, as it rained all night. But upon initial inspection, they seem to be okay, for the most part.  And now that we had our top soil delivered, I guess I should be able to transplant them this week. That's big news.

On another note, here are some shots of some of my spring flowers. I am really enjoying them, for the most part, as the rest of the landscape is still so blah! Why "for the most part?" The crocuses were a disappointment so far. First, they barely grew above the grass line. Second, I bought a box of mixed crocuses from Home Depot, which were supposed to be a blend of white, purple, and yellow. As you can see in the photo, 95% were white. I only had three, yes, three out of 120, that turned out to be purple and maybe only 10 yellows. White flowers, except for roses, are a bit of a waste unless you are trying to brighten up a shady spot, which these crocuses certainly are not doing.

Crocus border.

Hyacinth patch next to mediterranean pink bush.

I can't believe it, but my violets are already blooming
and have spread significantly over the fall and winter!

The grandpa tree, the pig tree, and all the dead saplings (+ the woodpecker update)

Since we had the grandpa tree taken down on Friday, I thought I'd give you an update on the woodpeckers and give you an overview of our tree situation in general.

Pileated woodpecker on sycamore tree.

So yes, grandpa tree is no longer an eye-sore (and didn't appear to be home to the pileated woodpeckers after all.) Our neighbor Jack tells us that for the previous four years, the peckers have roosted in one of his dead trees and he even learned a woodpecker call which successfully brings them out for viewing. In addition, the day after we took down the tree, we saw one of the pecker pair ravaging our sycamore. (I wish they would peck on the tulip trees rather than our lone sycamore, but I am happy they are not afraid of our property after two days of chainsaws.)

So while I'm talking about trees, we also have a tree that we've dubbed the pig tree, due to the knots on it's trunk that distinctly resemble a pig snout. It's a fun feature in an otherwise boring tree.

The maples. Our 2-acre property is littered with maples, but only one oak. So Hubby asked me yesterday to research maple syrup harvesting. Ya never know; we might have a delicious treat come the fall.

Pig tree. Obviously.

And finally, the dead saplings. I am an Arbor Day member and whenever you donate or renew they send you ten free trees. So in the fall I received the flowering tree grab bag, two of each of the following: white dogwood, pink crabapple, redbud, crape myrtle, and golden rain tree. I wanted to get a jump start on the growing (the free trees come about 10-inches tall), so I potted them all and kept them indoors all winter.) This was terribly annoying, because with the trees/potting soil came the gnats. Apparently gnats feed off of organic material in moist soil, so we were infested all winter. I covered the pots in sticky fly traps and killed millions. Really, yes, I think it was millions. But they just kept on coming. But we dealt with it because our trees were growing. Until about a month ago, when all but one decided to die. Why? Don't know. That sucked. Gnats for nothing.

Similarly, I received ten baby blue spruce trees about a month ago, and I potted them and put them outside. They're dead. All the needles turned brown and fell off. My gardening thumb seems not apply to trees. But Arbor Day has a "guaranteed to grow" disclaimer. But I don't want two more batches of twiglets. I am going to call them up tomorrow, explain the situation, and maybe they'll send me two of their three-foot dogwoods (a $22 value) instead. I'd even be happy with just one more mature tree. Seems like it would be harder to kill and more instantly appealing in my landscape.

Grandpa tree. RIP.

Windy weekend update

Well, it's freezing cold today on the first day of spring break—about 38 degrees with 50-mile-an-hour winds. (I'm guessing on the wind rate, but they are torrential.) And we're gearing up for a helluva rain storm tonight into tomorrow. Awesome. I don't mind rain in the spring, but can't it be a gentle shower in 60 degree weather instead?!

But Hubby wanted to work on the property today, so while I'm inside tending a sick child, he has made some great headway.

1) Trash. Today is town dump day, where the town takes big items and either recycles them or dumps them for a nominal fee. As we have been cleaning up our property over the years, we have found random pieces of crap that has been collecting in a pile, perfect for today's occasion. (When a property is abandoned, as ours was before we bought it, it becomes a collection pit for the losers that want to get rid of their crap illegally.) We have found (and disposed of today) old box springs, toilets, giant pieces of rusted scrap metal, old oil and/or water tanks, tires, and piping, just to name a few of the choice items. Whew! Property clean again.

2) Grass. Last year we planted grass on two patches of our property that was previously overrun with rocks and weeds and pricker bushes. Since we were covering such a large area, we bought the cheap seed. Unbeknownst to us at the time, cheap seed—aka, contractor's mix—is mostly annual grass seed. Annual grass?? Is there such a thing? Apparently there is. And why the hell would anyone want annual grass? Hell if I know, but here we are, one year later, and our lawn is only speckled with returning greenery. So Bret raked out the lawns, bought the expensive, grown anywhere seed, and scattered it in all the bald patches (make that the entire lawn). Big job. Way to go Hubby.

3) Carnations. I received from my mail order source a collection of carnation plants that I need to plant tomorrow, if it warms up/stops raining. Last year, I ordered the carnations in early spring, but they were back ordered. They finally arrived in mid-June, during a week of 95-degree, dry-as-a-bone weather. Needless to say, not the most conducive conditions for planting. About half of them died over the summer, so here is my free replacement collection. All perfectly healthy plants that should root and thrive in our spring weather before summer hits.

4) Seedlings. I have to apologize to my eggplant, zinnia, and portulaca seedlings. You were doing so well and my not-so-green thumb apparently killed you, somehow. I've been trying to harden off my plants outdoors, but the aforementioned babies have shriveled and turned white. That doesn't seem like a good sign. I'll try to direct sow them in the garden beds this week since we are likely past the chance of frost. Maybe they'll do better if they start off in their natural habitat. But on the bright side, my peas are doing amazing! And so are the marigolds. So not all is lost, though any loss is heartfelt.

5) Top soil. Since Hubby build my veggie raised beds earlier in the week, we are now ready for the top soil delivery.  Sixteen cubic yards of it, which is a crap load! I called around for quotes, expecting to pay a couple hundred dollars. But it's an investment for the future, so I can justify it. Holy crap load! The lowest quote was $570! For dirt. This is turning into an expensive weekend: between the dirt, our new computer, and Cavan's new playset (see The Almost Stay-at-Home Mom for more on this), we are now dirt poor. Get it! (I can hear you groaning now.)

Other than all of this, I am expecting a big week in the great outdoors. More successful updates to come after our week off on spring break!

Time warp

Apparently my house resides in some sort of time warp where vegetation grows incongruous to every other property in our area. My garden experiences at least a two-week delay in bloom time, which is frustrating when you are anxiously awaiting the dead winter to be replaced by a palatte of color. (I know gardening is an exercise in patience, but seeing daffodils in every yard other than your own is a bit torturous).

So speaking of daffodils, two blooms finally appeared yesterday (I probably have 70 bulbs planted in a border along one of our rock walls). Hurry up already! I completely don't understand it either, because my property has excellent loamy soil and full sun, compared to my neighbor's properties. And I water meticulously (when it is not raining every other day like it currently is). What's the hold-up?

This bloom delay wouldn't be so bad if it my flower season was two weeks longer than everyone else's, but alas, I get screwed by the fall frosts, which end everyone's gardening at the same time. So while my daffodils will technically last beyond those that I've been envying for the last several weeks, I might as well not even bother with autumn plantings. By the time they finally show their colors, winter will hit. Boo.

Here are a few of my favorite things (tree frogs and WOODPECKERS!) + a couple things I could do without

Daddy and Cavan hard at work!

Our first couple warm days have brought the return of a few of my favorite things.

1) Getting home from work and enjoying outdoor time until 8 PM! All three of us arrived home by 5:00, took the dog for a walk together, and then worked in the garden/yard. Hubby build my raised veggie beds, Cavan dug in the dirt and practiced walking on the balance beams (the pine boards Hubby laid out on the ground, before screwing them together), and I just sat, watched and listened. Which brings me to my next point.

2) The peaceful sounds of spring: the tree frogs singing, the crickets chirping, and the woodpeckers drilling. As I sat outside this evening watching my family and taking pictures, I got to enjoy them all. Even sitting here now, at 11 PM, with the windows open, the frogs are serenading me with their rural music (the only thing that rivals this are the cicadas in the summer). So relaxing.

And even more impressive than just listening, we got to see the woodpeckers this evening—the pair of pileated woodpeckers, which are the largest woodpeckers in North America. As I looked them up on the internet to find an image, I read a little about them and am now a bit worried. Apparently, these are relatively rare birds that nest in large dead trees. Well, the tree we saw them in this evening is what we call the grandpa tree—a HUGE dead maple! A huge dead eye-sore that is slated to be taken down tomorrow! Now is the time that they drill out their nests and I am concerned about taking down their home. We live in a wooded area, and there shouldn't be a shortage of nesting places, but I would prefer to keep them on our property. I may have to call our tree guy in the morning to put the project on hold until we can research further. 

But now onto my not-so-favorite things. Of course, there is always a ying to the yang, and to balance out my pleasure with discomfort were my allergies and the mosquitos—both out in full force this evening. I probably sneezed a hundred times tonight and Cavan and suffered our first skeeter bites of the year. And I HATE bug spray, but the swarms were ruthless! But I'd rather bug spray and allergens than snow and sinus infections any time!

Standing in my new raised beds. Now all we need is some soil!

Big backhoe weekend (lots of photos!)

We had a big landscaping weekend for the first warm days of the spring. Yesterday, we hired a backhoe/bulldozer to come to the property to move and place stones (boulders) to build a rock wall retaining our vegetable garden. Then we shaped and graded the property to backfill the new wall and provide a flat tier for the veggie raised beds and a new lawn area. Finally, we had the backhoe pull out 11 stumps. Whew, that was a long, grueling day for Hubby. He planned on a second day of landscaping work for today, but his back muscles we in agonizing spasms all last night...a tell-tale sign of over-doing it on the first real "work" day of the year! For more on amazing Hubby, check out The Almost Stay-At-Home Mom tomorrow (hint, he gave up watching the Masters to shape my garden!)

And while Hubby was doing all the heavy lifting, Cavan and I were getting dirty in the flower beds. Cavan was dressed appropriately (adorably) in her pink Cardhartt overalls, thanks to a shopping trip to Farm and Home Supply with Grandma in the Midwest. We planted 10 baby blue spruce trees in milk jugs to establish a solid root system before transplanting along one of our property borders (an area that still needs to be shaped before putting in permanent plantings.) Then in the bed bordering our patio, we planted 12 new mini roses (rosa randilla 'raspberry magic' & rosa 'sugar plum') and then transplanted three light pink (rosa randilla 'pink magic') and three yellow (rosa randilla 'yellow magic') mini roses as well. They should be in full bloom by Memorial Day.

Then, we moved a lilac bush, planted some day lilies and did a preliminary weeding of all the garden beds, which were infested with wild onion growth! Ooh, those are a pain in the butt to dig out—if you miss getting the bulbs, they will just keep coming back. In addition, the seedlings spent the day outside, well-watered and monitored, to prevent them from withering and wilting in the sun and breeze. Overall, the day was a HUGE success and all three of us were in bed at 8:30, though Cavan was wide awake talking to all her stuffed animals as we passed out.

While today was very light compared to yesterday's accomplishments, we did go to Home Depot to pick up the boards to build the raised beds and bags of grass seed. And when we got home, I planted two full-sized rose bushes (rosa 'moondance' and rosa 'midas touch'), whose roots had been pre-soaking in a bucket of water overnight.  When digging the holes for the roses, I dug up several of last years gladiolas bulbs. They are not supposed to survive the winter in zone 6, but they looked healthy and were four times the size they were upon planting last summer. I replanted them in a new spot, just in case they will come back. What a nice surprise if they do!

Next weekend, Hubby hopefully recovered, will be another big backhoe weekend, as well as building/filling the veggie beds. Photos and updates to come!

Seedlings smushed :(

Cavan watering the seedlings
with her spray bottle.
She's such a good helper!

Limp and matted to the soil were how I discovered my  seedlings a couple mornings ago. Not all of them, but the tray that was three weeks old and doing so well. The tray that had successful germination in nearly each of the 36 soil pots. The tray that was growing all my favorite veggies (bibb lettuce, broccoli, spinach, and carrots). The tray that I really cared about. And to make matters worse, I think I am the cause.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day, albeit a bit breezy. About 60 degrees and sunny. What a treat for my baby seedlings, and outdoors they went. But perhaps they got a little too much fresh air because they all looked weak and floppy when I brought them in.

I hoped a little water would wake them up, but no such luck. I waited several days to see some rejuvenation, but this morning I plucked out my perished plants and reseeded the pots. Let's try this again. Apparently I must read up on "hardening off" my plants before attempting another outside adventure.

But wait! These were all plants that I was supposed to sow directly in the garden (but couldn't because my veggie beds aren't ready). How the heck would they survive spring rains and winds on their own if they couldn't even handle a few hours of a beautiful brisk breeze? Confounding.

But all is not a disappointment on the seedling front. A few of the members of that tray did tough it out and seem to be progressing. The peppers that I had given up on earlier in the week are finally show signs of sprouting (after three and a half weeks)! And same with my peas. My marigolds have just doubled their leaves, from two to four. My eggplants are growing strong. My herbs (basil, mint, cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, and lemon balm) are all sprouting, though I'm still waiting on signs of life from the rosemary. And my zinnias are already about two inches tall.

All this growth is so exciting, but I'm nervous for transplant time (only a couple weeks away). Letting my babies out into the wilderness to fend for themselves! I hope I have a success story to report.

The list of goals for the year

As the new season begins, I made a list of my gardening/landscaping goals this year—a preview of the topics to be discussed in the blog (including before and after photos!)

1. Take down grandpa tree
2. Remove old stumps
3. Finish rock wall around veggie garden
4. Build raised beds
5. Finish new driveway and retaining wall
6. Plant/replant grass
7. Plant pachysandra
8. Fence
9. Remove grass from “herb garden"
10. Move purple love grass
11. Cut holes in stumps to plant annuals
12. Draw garden maps
13. New rose garden
14. Patio pots
15. Front garden repair
16. Messy hillside—create a pleasing plant pattern
17. Fix fountain
18. Bird feeder
19. Plant baby trees
20. Prepare swing set area
21. Start compost pile

This, and the list of regular garden plantings and maintenance will keep me busy all season. Thank goodness for a supportive and handy Hubby who's muscles will be utilized for all the heavy lifting and construction. Here's to major changes and a soon-to-be beautiful backyard!

Dear Spiders

Dear Spiders,
Your home is outside. I have a lovely garden for you to live in, if you haven’t noticed. Please eat all the bad bugs that attack my plants rather than venturing into my house. I assure you, there is a limited food supply indoors. I am confident that my house does not harbor bugs (other than you, apparently) and neither your webs nor hunting excursions will result in the delicious array of insects you desire. I do not want to kill you. Really. I value your assistance in garden maintenance. But here is your official warning: if I find you in my bathroom, bedroom, or shoe, you will regret your decision to bask in the steady 68-degree climate set by my thermostat.
Best regards!

This note is inspired by my dependable sign of spring: arachnid appearance in my house. This morning I found a small brown spider in my laundry basket, hiding amongst the clothes I have yet to put away. No biggie—easily remedied. This was not an aggressive or imposing spider, rather one that would prefers to run and hide than meet his end with a close-up view of my sock-covered hand (which I'm sorry to report, happened anyway). Only moments later, I am taking a shower and I discover a real beast—a black house spider—hiding on the underneath side of my soap shelf (only noticeable because it was at eye-level). Its body was about the size of a quarter and plus the added diameter of its legs. EEK. Here is the edited description according to the Orkin website: 

"Otherwise known as the window spider, the black house spider appears dark and strong. The thorax of the black house spider is lustrous black and females of this species are commonly twice as large as males. (And here's the best part.) Although their bite is not lethal, humans may experience negative side effects from a black house spider bite. Vomiting, muscular pain, weakness, nausea, sweating and shortness of breath occur if a bite is severe. The bite itself is noticeably painful and commonly swells. However, black house spiders rarely attack humans; they bite only when threatened."

Could "threatened" include rapidly approaching it with a shoe-like object intent on its destruction? I have never been a fan of spiders, but I have at least outgrown the paralysis that used to strike whenever I encountered one. And because I am now a mom, I have developed the super powers necessary to protect my baby at all costs, which includes pushing my goosebumps aside and springing my attack. (If I left the spider until Hubby came home, who knows where is would hide, ready to frighten an unsuspecting toddler. It would certainly not still be under the soap shelf, patiently awaiting its demise.) 

So armed with a scrub brush (a shoe would not fit between the shower shelves) I got him, but not without getting the willies. Black spiders DO notice that an attack is coming and make a break for it just as you are about to strike. Black spiders also crinkle up into a ball and play dead, so when I removed the brush, thinking the job complete, the little critter, sprang into action once again. After two jittery attempts, it was still not dead, but I finally caught it in the bristles and flushed him. Two flushes just to make sure it wouldn't climb out of the bowl and lay in wait behind the toilet seat to exact its revenge upon my tush. 

But spiders aside, it looks like spring is actually on its way (though the 30 degree weather and wintery precipitation today seem to indicate otherwise.) Thank goodness!