Saturday, April 28, 2012

Todays Beauty




 Things go frosty last week, here's a few photos of that chilly morning!

 I have a few weeks to catch up on, but here are some shots from the last few weeks,There was a  night of chilly temps last week, luckily the soda bottle tops (in that top picture you can see them) covered my seedlings wonderfully and I did not lose any of them. It was a frosty morning, even the tulips were chilled, but it was beautiful!
 I have some new lanterns to put outside of my new tent once I get it all set up in the yard, I love purple and since the tent is purple and yellow, these will do beautifully!
 Here is a shot of the potatoes growing in the trash can, it is working beautifully! They are growing so fast, I can't wait till the end of the season to flip this sucker over and see whats growing! 
 
These are the peas that are coming up outside, they are super happy! Its my first time growing an early spring garden, but I have many things coming up out there, radish, romaine lettuce, spinach, peas, and onion! Yay for a beautiful growing spring!
 
 The above photo is horseradish that made after digging it up in my yard last weekend. I have attempted to move the horseradish twice now and it keeps coming back, which I love, but its taking over the asparagus, so I had to dig again to try to get it all. Well, after digging a 14" deep hole, its clear to me that the horseradish is like a weed, and it will take me a very long time to get rid of it all. I moved the bigger plant to another spot in the garden, and that one will now be there forever, never again will I try to move it, and if you are thinking of planting it, make sure you put it where you want it on  the first planting! Not so fun during the 3 hour dig process, but totally worth it to have fresh homemade horseradish, beautiful I tell ya!
As always, the cat follows me all around the yard, and I love that!! Have a beautiful day!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

New beds and smoothy goodness!

 I dug a few new garden beds over the weekend, you can see the biggest one in the above photo, the smaller one off to the left near the pumpkin patch is harder to see. I created the big bed in the center rather then two smaller ones simply because I love the idea of creating a path through it. I am still not sure how much I like it, so I have not set any of the wood or steps in yet, once I am sure I will level it out much better and create better bounderies.  These two beds almost completes the vision for this part of the yard, after adding these I am not sure that I have many larger beds to add, perhaps a few smaller ones here and there, but this is more then enough space for one person to plant.
 I also dug up the corner of my front yard that has always bugged me. It was not very full with grass and would mostly gets weeds all summer long, and just be an eye soar. I tilled it up and added some mushroom compost, all I need to do is finish setting the stones in and plant! I also added some stones near the house if look at the right of the photo, I covered the dirt that was close to house with large stepping stones and moved the planters there. I did not like watering this close to the house, and the all the cats in the area have been marking that area, so I decided to just cover it. I do plan on planting mint and marigolds in the new area to help keep the cats away from what I will be planting, that and sitting there with the hose for awhile to spray the cats, :).
 I also got 8 new solar lights for the backyard, these are very cool, they have a star pattern that is really large and lights up a big area. I enjoyed these last night, they were only up for about an hour before sunset, and they were pretty bright, I am looking forward to seeing how bright they are after a full day of sunshine tonight.

 My lilac bush is crazy with blooms right now, so I brought a bunch in and have them in the kitchen window. They smell so good, the smell is carried through the south side of the house since they are planted right outside a window, but having some in the kitchen is always a good idea. Plus, I love looking out my window with the lilacs and the yard in the background, makes me smile. In the beds you can see in this shot, the ones with the cinder blocks, and the one to the right of that, I have all my outdoor seeds planted now. I planted leeks, onion, spinach, peas, and a few others that are just starting to pop through the dirt, it's been so warm I have not even had to cover them at night, so its a lucky spring for sure! I still  have much more to plant inside this week, so things are moving right along, Yay!
 Something new I am trying is Green Smoothies, I did not have a blender, so after doing my research I decided on the Breville Hemisphere, I spend a lot of money on it, but it was totally worth it! This thing is amazing, with a friend giving me a recipe to try, I made my first batch yesterday and it was awesome! Green smoothies have greens in them obviously, the one I made had spinach, flaxseed oil, lemon (the rind and all) bee pollen, and frozen tropical fruit. It is so good, so refreshing, you feel great after drinking one of these guys!(pardon the photo quality on these last two, took them with my iphone)
This blender is awesome, I can make lots of homemade goodies with it, can't wait to share more with you as I learn. There is a lot going on here right now, in the swing of spring, trying to get things planted and growing inside and out, its a fun time. I hope your spring is popping up nicely as well!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Easter!

The last two weeks were rather slow for me in the yard, a cold combined with colder weather, and a little snow kept me in the house for to long. The seedlings that I planted inside are sprouting up nicely, and always makes the day easier when spring fever hits!  
 It got down to 28 degrees the other night, so I was worried that my outdoor seedlings and flowering trees would be damaged, but they were okay, thank goodness! I am hoping they make it through this early spring.
 I used 2 liter soda bottles cut in half to protect my outdoor seedlings, it worked so great! I read about trying this, and since I don't drink soda I had my Mom save me a bunch of them, it was great, I had them cut and ready to go, so when the the temperature dipped I just plopped these little suckers out in the garden, worked like a charm!
 Before the snow hit I decided to move some flagstone and extend the path out into the garden. It previously stopped right after those 4 football shaped stones, which are reclaimed weights for my Cousin Seans Pumpkin launcher, they work great as stepping stones, but at 80 pounds each they were a bear to bury, the flag stone was much easier to move and will be much easier to bury once I decide that is where I want them.
I also added more rocks the little divider I am making between the grass and the garden beds, I can't believe how many rocks I have dug up in this yard. Every time I dig I find more, I swear the people who lived her before me must have been geologists or something!  There is so much to do in the yard again this spring, I love having work to do, it's slowly coming together and looking more and more like the vision in my head. I still have many projects to do, the greenhouse is going up this spring, the shed is going up by the end of summer, and much more planting of course!
 
All of my bulbs are coming up nicely, tulips, crocus, hyacinth (smells like gardenia's so awesome), the allium are coming up, iris, and the roses are growing like crazy as well. There is so much to see in the yard, but much more to do, this weekend is all about the yard. I am turning over 2 new beds, laying out watering lines, measuring for placement of the greenhouse, digging up grass in the front yard so I can start laying stones where the plumbers dug up the yard to lay the new pipes in January, that will make for a nice path to the house. :) I have tons of seeds to plant this weekend indoors as well as outdoors, and of course I have to somehow figure out how to get to both parents Easter celebrations, one Saturday and one Sunday, the only part of the weekend that sucks, is I will be missing my God Daughters first soccer game, :( boo! Other then that, the weekend should be very uplifting and full of good dirt digging!
Of course being stuck inside didn't slow me down, even with a cold :), I painted my guestroom white, it was a tan color before, I really did not like it. Now its shiny fresh "moon rise" white, the accent colors are going to monochromatic purples, and whites. I am still looking for bookshelves in white, but they are hard to find, so I may have to paint some, I need to find a desk, but once I get more of it put together I will share photos, but so far I love it. The cat and I had a little mini getaway this week by sleeping in the room a few nights, I am such a dork!
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