A belated Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! We spent the day eating the best croissants in Seattle and beautifying the garden.
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| Wine and beer . . . included. The wonderful husband is all mine! |
We bought some great Adirondack chairs from Fred Meyer (plus a little W-sized chair as well) and did quite a bit of relaxing in the sun.
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| The S.S. Weston! |
Our backyard neighbors gifted us with a tugboat sandbox, just the right size for W. He spent most of the afternoon yelling "boap" and throwing rocks into the bottom. I believe that's his idea of a perfect afternoon :-)
We did do some actual work though:
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| Awaiting pumpkins . . . |
My wonderful husband, B, tilled the future pumpkin (and potato and leek) patch and bought some compost so it is all ready for planting. He had quite a time removing the bamboo stalks (those suckers have some DEEP and STRONG roots!) and was only able to saw the tops of the stalks off above the soil . . . so we'll probably be revisited by bamboo next year. But at least he'll know what to do. My goal this week is to dig the trenches for the potatoes and plant the leek and pumpkin seeds. I found information on growing potatoes here at one of my favorite gardening blogs, One Hundred Dollars A Month.
We also suffered a loss this week in the garden:
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| R.I.P. 5-13-12 |
Someone (and I won't name names, but this person has tiny little feet and is known for running wild through the garden, yelling "Was Dat?!?!") stepped on the poor little twig of a blueberry plant and broke it off from its roots. Now it truly IS just a twig. Oh well, guess that means no homegrown blueberries this season . . . unless I can get my hands on another plant (preferably one that looks like something more than a twig!).
Now for the Week 3 garden tour:
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| Planter Box #1 . . . sprouting and proud! |
Planter Box #1 is doing great! The lettuce is almost ready to be harvested, I think! Several websites I read (and one video) gave me a good idea of when to pick it (when it grows between 4-6 inches) and how to ensure regrowth (leave 1/2 inch of the stem). We are almost there! I'm thinking that maybe Thursday or Friday would be a good day for a garden salad. More good news, both the spinach and leaf lettuce seeds have sprouted and are forming 2 wonderful lines of green stems. I know I'll have to cull them a little when they get bigger, but for now I'm enjoying the abundance of future salad fixins! The beans haven't sprouted yet (I really think the weather hasn't been warm enough) so I went ahead and planted 5 more seeds, but I have to admit that I did see a newly sprouted green bean seed starting to grow underground, so I'm confident I will see something very soon. And before you wonder, how did I see what was going on . . . UNDERGROUND? Well, let's just say that someone (yes, the same someone that stepped on the poor blueberry twig) pulled out one of the trellis twines and when I was digging it back into the soil, I saw the sprouted seed. I quickly covered both the seed and the twine with soil and let it be. I'm hoping the seed didn't see me and doesn't become too shy to find its way to the surface :-)
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| The Basil has friends . . . finally! |
Planter Box #2 is still awaiting several tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants (which will arrive on Tuesday and hopefully be planted soon after!), but I was able to plant some more Walla Walla onion starts at the far end to join the lonely Basil and yet-to-sprout carrot seeds. The onion starts came from a neighbor and friend who already had too many onions so she offered them to me and I said yes. After planting and looking over both planter boxes, I'm thinking that I probably had too many onions before I took the excess, but . . . oh well, we can always use more onions. The Basil is loving the warm weather and the carrots have yet to make and appearance but I'm keeping my eye out.
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| First bloom! |
The Columbine I planted last year (that I had thought had died about 2 weeks after I planted it and I basically forgot to remove what I thought were the dead roots) is thriving this year! It has started to blossom and is producing the most beautiful flowers. They make a nice backdrop for my planter boxes. It just goes to show that something that fails one year can be a huge success the next. I'm hoping that goes for a lot of the things in my garden this year!
Also, the strawberries, Dahlias, and Raspberries are doing quite well and seem to be growing, growing, growing everyday. I swear the Dahlias have doubled in size since I planted them last Tuesday!
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| Strawberries soaking up the last rays of sunlight . . . |
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| Grow little Dahlias, grow! |
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| Awaiting the raspberries to come . . . |
Overall, the garden is coming along nicely and it's only been 3 weeks! I really hope this beautiful weather continues. The sun is a garden's best friend.
Cheers (and enjoy the sunshine!),
- c
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