Red Maple

I was walking around our yard this afternoon and noticed our Red Maple tree shining a brilliant green in the afternoon sunlight. The pictures don't do it justice, but I had to share anyway. :)

Dilemma

Remember last weekend when I spilled all my seed pods? Well, I should have just thrown all of it out right then and there, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Now, the tomatoes have sprouted. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing which varieties they are. Hmmm, what to do, what to do...

Ack! Snake!

I was walking in my yard today and almost stepped on this guy. He was sunning himself in the grass by my Green Ash. I know they are harmless, but he really startled me. We had just laid down weed killer and much of the dandelion stems look like little snakes so he blended right in.

First Signs of Life

Last week, when I re-planted my tomatoes and cabbage seeds, I also planted some lettuce seeds in my 3x3 raised bed I have on our patio. I am now just beginning to see the first signs of life. This should be a head of lettuce just starting the growing journey.

Starting Seeds Again!

After a little scream of frustration, I got out my spare seed tray and started over. This tray is much smaller so it'll be easier to handle. I'm thinking I may just have to give up on the seeds this year and just go buy plants at the right time, but I'll see how far I get. I should be able to use some of them, I hope.

Disaster!

I went to set out my seed pods this morning so they could get some sunshine.  I apparently didn't grab them properly because the middle gave out and just slipped out of my hand!  Now, I don't know what is what seed!  I guess I'll have to start over.  Another week delay in seed germination.  Ugh!

Raised Beds - Assembly Complete!

You're looking at thirty-two cubic feet of potting mix for the two 4x4x8 raised beds!  I actually wound up not need this much for the two beds.  So, I put the two raised bed kits that I had initially purchased around our Purple and Green Ash trees and I used what was left of the potting mix for one of them.

The Purple Ash already had some strawberries growing around it so we'll put the box up and train the strawberries to grow up and out of the box.  For the Green Ash, I planted some Irises that were transferred from my grandmother's garden.  After I planted them, however, I am now wondering if they will get enough sunlight as the Ash is pretty large and provides quite a bit of shade.  I guess time will tell.

Later in the day, I went to Home Depot to get the two other rubber pavers for the walk way.  I made the mistake of looking at their potting mix and found that the same brand and it was several times cheaper than what I purchased it for at the local nursery!  That was rather an expensive hull too!  Here I was thinking I was saving a bit of money by purchasing the already mixed stuff instead of purchasing the compost, peat moss and vermiculite individually and mixing it myself.  I could have saved myself about a quarter of what I spent!  I should've checked the big box stores first.  Oh well, at least I gave it to a local company so that should make me feel better, right?  Oh, and if you're wondering, I wouldn't really recommend this brand.  It stinks like manure!  Hopefully the smell will dissipate after a few days.  Phew!

The finished product!

Raised Bed Take Two

The more I looked at the kit that I put together, the more I didn't really like it.  They just seemed too flimsy and the sides were already beginning to bow!  I convinced my husband to put a nicer, home made one together.  We purchased four, eight feet cedar panels and had the store (Home Depot) cut them in half for us.  As you can see, these are eight inches wide so for a single height, I didn't need to stack two.  We also purchased one eight feet long red wood fence post and my husband cut them for the corner joints.  He even rounded out the edges so they wouldn't be sharp!
I also found a fence post solar light.  They were a little pricey at $4.00 each so I bought one to see how it would look.  Looks pretty good (last picture).  I guess I'll have to save up.
I will also be using the rubber pavers for in between the boxes so we don't have to worry about trimming there every week.  You can see in the photos, I've got one to get a feel for them.  I think they'll work nicely so I'll need a couple more to fill in the gap.

Found the sprinkler head!	Putting the first box in place	Prepping for the second box
	Both boxes placed

Seeds

Finally got around to planning seeds. I know I'm late in planting the tomatoes, but we'll see what happens.  Started the seeds in a Jiffy tomato seed starting green house.  The seeds planted are:

• Early Girl Tomato (4)
• Beefmaster Tomato (4)
• Rutgers Tomato (4)
• Roma Tomato (4)
• Peaches & Cream Corn (12)
• Bok Choy (4)
• Napa Cabbage (4)

I also purchased a smaller second Jiffy green house, but I don't think I'll need it.  I still have pumpkins, watermelon, carrots, broccoli and a variety of herbs to plant, but they are better suited if they are sown directly into their beds.  I'll set these out during the day to get some sun and hopefully in a week or so we'll have seedlings!

Weeding We Will Go

It is absolutely gorgeous today! Looked over at my garden walkway to see lush greenery. Too bad it's all weeds! We did have a short rainstorm so I figured the soil may be damp and ripe for a little weed pulling.

Before

After about an hour, I'm about 50% done. Time to take a break. My legs are complaining after having quatted for that long.

After

Raised Bed Assembly

Gorgeous day today! Not too hot and not too cold. Great day for a little gardening! Time to assemble the raised bed frames I purchased yesterday.

These are cedar and very light. I thought I would need a mallet to put them together, but all you need are some very thick and sturdy gloves. Lot's of potential for splinters!

I put it together on my patio thinking I needed a level surface. While the assembly went very quickly on the flat surface, they are pretty flimsy so moving it was a bit precarious. I decided to put the second one together in place of it's final destination.

Initial evaluation of the product is that these are flimsy. If you are not careful, the little end pieces will break. The wood was splintering quite a bit. Maybe it will be sturdier once it is filled with soil. I've seen other kits on-line, but I don't know how much different they are. These were only $35.00 for each kit so I suppose I can't complain too much. They assembled very easily. These two took me less than 15 minutes total to put them together.
As you can see, these will cover our large bald spots in the lawn very well. I've seen these were they were connected side by side unlike my layout. I want to have easy access to every area of the bed so I chose to design mine diagonally. I'll probably put down some rubberized pavers in the corners to help with the mowing. I think I may go ahead and purchase a third bed kit to place on the left side.

Time to go make the soil!

Resurrection of The Garden Bunny

In honor of Earth Day, I am going to resurrect this blog from a four year hiatus. I have lots of ideas. I'm just trying to figure out which ones I want to bring to reality. I purchased two cedar raised bed kit from Home Depot and contemplating where to put them. Every year we battle a bald spot in our lawn. This year, I am tempted to just put these raised beds there to cover it up and not worry about it. Hubby is off on a play date with his friends tomorrow so that may be my day to play in the garden. :-)

It's Spring and I'm exhausted!

Well, hello all. It has been awhile, but I've finally began working on gardening stuff. This past weekend I planted my Dahlias in our old dog run. I won't know how well they survived the winter for awhile, but a couple of them were sprouting so that is a good sign. Since I wasn't very organized and didn't start seeds in time, I went and purchased several flowers and vegetable plants from one of our local nurseries called Gulley Greenhouse. You might remember me gushing about their service last year. This gardening business gets rather expensive on the pocketbook...yeesh!

I've planted my standard tomatoes and peppers. My chives returned on their own so no need to replant them. Planted a sweet basil and orange mint. My peppermint from last year had seeded itself over the winter and beginning to sprout so I planted the orange mint along side it. I've still got snapdragons and Calibrachoas to plant in the front of the house. Maybe I'll get to that this afternoon. We've hit 85 degrees already so I'm waiting for it to cool down and my muscles to stop complaining. It's a good thing I took some time off of work because I'd have a hard time concentrating with my long lost muscles screaming at me.

New year, new gardening possibilities!

Happy New Year!

We’ve had freezing temperatures and the ground is still covered in several layers of crunchy snow, but Spring will be here before you know it and it will be time to garden again. I’m quite excited this year since our old dog run has been finally cleared out and I could have a real garden this year. I received my annual Burpiee seed catalog a few weeks ago and I’m looking forward to going through it. I just have to pace myself. So many seeds, so little time and space.

Diggin' out the Dahlias

Dahlia Tubers
After a week or so of pretty cold nights and one or two hard freezes, I finally dug out the Dinner Plate Dahlias from their pots. A couple of them were nearly root bound, but you wouldn't know it from all the blooming they did. Now I have to work on drying them out a bit, then storing them for the winter. I am very excited for next gardening season since I now have an area to plant them...finally got the future garden tilled and weeded! Below are the instructions from Dutch Garden's site where I purchased the Dahlias from on how to winter them in our zone. We'll see how many survive my care through the winter.


"Summer & Fall Care
Fertilize dahlias monthly with a water-soluble, organic fertilizer that's formulated for flowers. Avoid using a high-nitrogen fertilizer, or you'll get lots of green growth with little flowering. Mulch with straw or shredded bark to keep weeds to a minimum and retain moisture. Water regularly, especially during dry periods. Cut blossoms for indoor flower arrangements and remove old blossoms to encourage more branching and flower production.

In fall, after the first frost has blackened the foliage, cut off all but 2 to 4 inches of top growth, and carefully dig tubers without damaging them. Allow tubers to dry for a few days in a frost-free location, out of direct sunlight. Once dried, remove any excess soil, leaving 1 to 2 inches of stem. Store each clump of tubers upside down in a ventilated box or basket. Fill the box with slightly moistened sand, peat moss or vermiculite and place it in a cool, dry location with temperatures that remain between 45 and 55 degrees F. Check tubers periodically through winter for rotting and drying out. If the tubers appear shriveled, mist them lightly with water. If any start to rot, trim the rotted portion of the clump so it won't spread. The tubers are fragile, so be careful when handling them."

Burrr!

We had our first official big freeze last night/this morning. When I got up around 6 AM today the thermometer was registering 25 degrees outside! There was a thick layer of frost on the windshields of our neighbors' cars. I noticed too that my tomatoes had been blown over by the wind yesterday and their bottoms were exposed to the elements. I think they may be done for. I'm too sad to look!

1st Snow of Fall 2007

We've got snow! It's not accumulating much, but you can see it on the rooftops. Our Thermometer reads 35 degrees F. Burrrrrrrrr!

Gettin' Ready For The Big Freeze

Today is supposed to be beautiful and in the 70's, then we're supposed to have a 30 degree temperature drop tomorrow with possible snow. We just put our sprinkler system to bed for the season so at least that task is done. The tomatoes are still hanging in there. I've had them covered for a few days off and on this past week. Not sure if they'll survive through tomorrow's storm and freeze. I've got several more nearly ripe cherry tomatoes, but the Brandywines are still very much green. I've also got about 3 blooms still on my dinner plate dahlias, but I'll probably pick them off at the end of today. The seasons, they are a changin'!

Go Little Tomatoes! Go!

I'm holding my breath for the tomatoes to ripen before the cold snap hits for good. We've gotten two Cherry Tomatoes so far and now they seem to really be taking off. I'm not gonna hold my breath for the Brandywines though, they're still green as ever and I don't think I'll be getting the pleasure of a red, ripened one anytime soon so I might as well kiss it goodbye. I'll try again next year.

Caught Up Now

Ok. I've had to dig to find the photos and stuff, but I've gotten all my garden blogs transferred over from two different systems. They've been back dated to when they were originally posted so scroll down the page to read them.