Early June Yard Tour

It's been less than a month but I missed the peony by the air conditioner blooming.  It bloomed, got scorched by the sun, then beaten down by the rains.  Kate clipped off the tattered, dying blooms before they made too much of a mess dropping all those petals.  The smaller, white ones on each side of the gardens are now blooming.













Other notes:  The solar lights are out so I can see what works and what I can get to work well.  The rest will be tossed and I don't think I'll be getting any more.  Strawberries are starting to ripen, we've had a handful this past week already.  And we still have to get something for the corner out front.



You'll see what I'm speaking of after the break!

Plant Day Yard Tour

A couple hours after I posted about plant day over at the regular blog the sun came out, so I took some pics for this site.  New to the garden is oregano, thyme and catnip.

Spring Has Sprung

Edit 5/7:  Kate planted green onion, lettuce, radishes and dill on the bottom of the east garden last night.

Late Spring

Hard to believe that one week ago we got 7.2 inches of snow.  Here's a quick tour of the flora happenings (or not happenings yet) around the homestead.

Full tour after the break:

Still Early

Not a lot happening yet, still too cold.  I took this yesterday, last night it snowed again.  Hopefully we should start warming up by the end of the week.

First Look Around, 2018

Too early to do anything yet.  Even the compost is too frozen to turn.  Back later.

More Plants

More plants have been added to the yard and garden.






















Another picture tour after the break.

Full Spring Yard Tour

The fun part of taking pictures each year (and collecting them in one easy spot) is seeing the growth.  The year to year evolution of our whole yard, of course, but here just week to week or month to month and over the whole season, watching all these plants grow and bloom and provide a little color and happiness in our lives.

The strawberry plants have really taken to the compost-enriched soil of the west garden.  I haven't seen the plants look so robust in some time.  The garlic and herbs are coming along as well.




Shortly before these pictures Kate planted a bunch of seed rows in the east garden.  And the raspberry plants are still there.  The east garden never got much of the compost soil because it was hard to add in between the plants.  Moving the strawberry plants gives us a chance to enrich the cheap soil I started with.  I hope the seeds do well, but they may do better next year.  Also, after uploading pictures we remembered to cover the area where seed rows are planted to help keep them from being dug up so I had to go out again to get an updated picture.  Just two chicken wire covers I slapped together a few years ago that we've used off and on in the garden and they seem to work well.

Now, the tour starts after the break.  This time I thought I'd add a little caption commentary, just for kicks!

Before the Hostas Fall

Another back yard tour to show the growth since last time.  Spring is a wonderful time of year.  I like it when the hostas are bursting forth yet have not fallen, like here, but the ones on the side of the house have already started to fall.
Next weekend - Mother's Day weekend - will probably be plant shopping time.  Time to pick out all sorts of colorful fun plants and fill the pots and plant beds.

Garden Redo

Last weekend Kate weeded the area around the stump and this weekend it was time for the garden.  She spent hours out there weeding, trimming raspberry plants, and moving ALL the strawberry plants from the east garden to the west garden.  This way we can add compost to the east garden this year.  Most all the hay has been put into the center path for weed control there and netting has been placed over the west garden to keep critters from un-planting that which has just been planted.  The garlic is on top and there are herbs on the bottom with strawberry plants planted wherever they fit.






There's another yard tour after the break.  She also spread mulch in the flowerbeds which makes it look much nicer until I get some plants in there.  Hostas and lily of the valley are coming up.  And in front, where my wife put tulips a few years ago, they finally have a few flowers!  Too little too late, though.  They go downhill after spring and then is empty for the rest of the summer.  The last picture, I plan to replant that area with new plants in a couple weeks.

Hello Spring 2017

It finally dried out enough and the sun showed up so I got to take a picture tour of the yard and gardens for Spring!  These pics are from Saturday, as of yet I see no blooms (but some are getting close).  It was officially spring a week ago, but I've done nothing outside yet other than dig up a few rocks that became exposed over winter around the stump.  I think I'll use them in the corner under the lilac to define that corner some more.

Full tour after the break:

Late May Update

I've been trying to get Kate to post so she can tell you what's what.  I know the east garden is strawberries and raspberries, we covered it with the netting last weekend.  And the west garden has garlic and a couple lettuces and other stuff.

Onions!

Kate has been doing lots of weeding and harvested the spring onions.  The picture is not even all of them.  She is part of our neighborhood farcebook page and offered the extra up to the neighbors yesterday.  As of an hour or so they are all gone to good homes so we did not have to waste any.

These were given to us by a coworker last year.  We had never grown them before and did not know what to expect, especially due to the mild and up and down winter we had.  They are just like what you think of as a green onion, except these are quite a bit larger.



In the west garden the onions are gone, what you see there still is garlic.  You can see some small things growing in rows in the bottom half.  I'm still trying to get Kate to write here so she can tell you what is where.







The east garden has been weeded and we got out the cover I slapped together last year to keep the squirrels out.  Raspberries on top, strawberries below.







Another spring yard tour after the break!

What A Difference...

... a week can make.  Kate has spent much time in the yard and garden again this week, trying to keep ahead of the weeds, planting in the garden and keep up with the growing plants we have.  I don't remember all that she planted in the west garden, she'll have to write something to explain what's what when they start sprouting.













Like last week, I took another picture tour of the yard.  It really is amazing how some things have grown in the last week.  Click Read More below!

Garden Work and Yard Tour

The weather seems to have finally accepted that Spring is here.  Temperatures have been very nice this weekend, we even have the windows open, finally.  Yesterday Kate spent much time in the yard and gardens weeding and removing the winter's hay, and getting the compost soil better distributed.  Not all the work is done, but everything seems to finally be on schedule.









I went out yesterday and took pictures of her work and of all our flowers and plants and what stage of spring growth they are in.  Click Read More below for all those pictures!

First Pics of 2016

The weather is getting warmer, thoughts turn to the out of doors and all there is to do.... soon.  Not quite yet.  But very soon.

Tomato Cages, Raspberry Adjustment, and the First Strawberry

It was time to get the tomato plants caged up for the season. I’m growing grafted tomatoes this year, so before I could cage them, I had to pinch off suckers growing from grafting scars to prevent the scions from rooting.

 

 

The raspberries in the back continue to spread, as do the weeds growing amongst them. After a lot of weeding, we moved the back support wire on the bottom cross arm of the trellis to its widest position. Eventually, we will need to move the back support wire on the top arm too.

 

And, as promised, Mr. Scoakat enjoyed the first ripe strawberry of the year!  It looks like we’ll have several more ripe berries by the end of the week, and the runners on the new plants have already rooted so we should have many more plants by the end of the summer.

Ms. Scoakat Blogs

The garlic, planted last fall, is looking good. It’s the same type I’ve planted the last couple years and I really like it. Great flavor, nice size heads, and easy to peel cloves.

I planted cilantro seed disks again this year and they are doing well; not quite as well as last year’s but I wasn’t able to get them from the same, local company this year. Funny story about the cilantro seed disks this year… Mr. Scoakat accidentally threw away the first pack of seed disks I bought this year. They were sitting on top of the TV stand with the shipping invoice (I had to buy them online this year) next to some junk mail… it was an honest mistake.

The peas are doing well too. Last year, several weeks (and a lot of damage) passed before I realized the pea sprouts were being eaten by birds! This year I covered the east bed with bird netting after planting the first seeds in April.

As previously noted, I harvested the radishes on Thursday. I’ve had a few as snacks and they are delish! I will have more in salads soon. I might even be able to convince Mr. Scoakat to try a few slices in his salads (yes, he eats salads… don’t tell him I told you).

The lettuce seeds I planted in April are MIA, or AWOL… or maybe they were abducted by aliens??? The point is, no lettuce.

Basil is a cat (an emotionally needy, rather large, scaredy-cat; see Scoakat’s Blog for more information) but basil is also a Mediterranean herb that is lovely in Italian dishes but does not like cold temperatures. We had two or three nights under 40 degrees this week, so the basil’s not looking too hot (ba-dum-ch).

The parsley looks fine. Especially when you consider it had to travel to hell and back seven times before it ever even sprouted!

I planted marigolds around the tomatoes on Saturday; they’re supposed to keep squirrels away. We’ll see how that works.

The thyme is adjusting well to its move. Apparently thyme is on my side…

On to the other side of the garden!

I’ve done a lot of weeding on this side lately, and there’s a lot more to do. The red raspberries (in the back) are spreading in a way that makes me happy and nervous at the same time! I’m glad they’re doing so well, but I know raspberries can get out of hand, so…

The ‘purple’ raspberries (in the middle) aren’t doing quite as well; for now, I’m okay with that.

I planted six new ever-bearing strawberry plants on Saturday. A few of them already have healthy runners and due to the new strawberry cover, I’m not too worried about the squirrels tearing them out; so I’m hopeful we’ll have strawberries to eat this summer. Of course, the first ripe berry goes to Mr. Scoakat; a reward for crafting the new (Improved!) strawberry cover.

Strawberry Cover and Plant Day

Yesterday I made a taller cover for the strawberries so they have room to grow and still have protection from birds and squirrels.  I threw it together out of scrap wood that I had, thankfully I have a table saw.  We did have to buy some more chicken wire but at least it's pretty cheap.  Now we're hoping to actually get some strawberries to eat this year.

We also went out and got plants yesterday, a Spring ritual.  We bought two hanging plants, one for front and one for back, and several smaller plants to put in the pot out front and Kate pulled several old pots out of the garage to fill with plants to put on the stump in back.

Plant Day pictures after the break!

Yard and Garden Pics

Wednesday I mowed the lawn for the first time this year.  I also got out and about the yard with the camera.  For keeping a photo record's sake, a tour of the back yard and garden flora... and some more rocks.

The reason I have a project tomorrow.