A cool spring but lots of sunshine!

Before....

Having spent the last 7 spring seasons on one fastpitch field or another huddled under an umbrella, I'm pretty sure this past month of Sundays are the first I can remember having consecutive sunny weekends! I am in gardening heaven!

This past Sunday afternoon found daughters, A and S battling the montrous weeds that now inhabit the flower bed that seperates our side yard from the neighbor's. As you can see from the picture above, it was quite a task. The next photo shows how gigantic the blackberry roots were!

We got about 1/3 of the length of this bed (that runs from the front of the garage to the back corner of our lot) weeded before they ran out of energy. My girls provided all the muscle that day. I just sifted through the loosened soil, pulling out the extensive roots of lemon balm after leaning over too far and having my low back slip out. Fortunately, I had a muscle relaxant handy and within an hour or so it had gone back into place. Phew! I had been so careful about not lifting too much or twisting with a load and then wham, all I did was lean forward. I am so thankful that it's not giving me any problems this week!!!!

About 2/3 of this raised bed will get sunshine most of the day. So this will be our Square Foot Gardening vegie garden. We bought Roly Poly and regualr zuchinni starts, cucumber starts, bush bean seeds all to be interspersed with giant zinnias, marigolds, 4 O'clocks, maybe even a couple of squares of wild flower mix. As soon as we get the soil enriched with compost, get the squares partitioned off with twine and the starts and seeds in, I'll post a picture so we will have a 'before' picture to compare at the end of the growing season. Happy planting!

Another beautiful weekend

They were predicting showers last Friday with rain moving in for the weekend. They got the Friday showers right, but Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Bonus day!

After daughter, A got home from work, she badgered us into weeding the front pond area. With help from her DaddyDearest, who manned “The Garden Claw” to break up the weed packed soil, A and I sifted thru the broken-up soil, removing all the roots of dandelions, creeping buttercup and horse tails. It was hard work! We were so proud of our efforts, getting about a good third of the way around the pond, that we headed to the nursery department at Freddie’s for their Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on all blooming plants. Daughter, S joined us for the trip into town after she got off from work. We bought mostly perennials but decided to fill in the empty areas with annuals for instant color. I even put in 2 new peonies. Hah! Let Son,My Son try and reach those with the lawn mower!

For those of you who didn’t hear my shriek last summer, he got a wee bit ambitious..?..absent minded..?.. and mowed over my ready-to-bloom, beautiful, double bright burgandy peony!!!
I made sure that won’t happen again, as I took him by the hand and pointed it out as soon as it started growing again (luckily for him, it did) AND I put a staking ring around it!

After nearly closing down Freddie’s and filling the van up with plants, we staggered into our Friendly Neighborhood Grill and enjoyed appetizers and steaks! All three of us were moving rather slowly, A and I for bending and pulling on stubborn tap roots, S had cramping calf muscles from dancing all night Friday!

Bonus Day #2: Sunday also dawned sunny, if a bit breezy. We took the potting soil from last year's planters and hanging baskets and worked it into the harder clay soil around the pond, replaced the slate stones that edge the pond and had a blast decided where to plant everything!

So far this spring the starlings have been at their pesty best. They have been busy poking thru the wire on the bird blocks in the soffits around the house. Just moving from spot to spot as we blocked each entrance. Son,My Son earned his keep and our gratitude by cutting (what must have seemed like hundreds!) of rectangles out of galvanized ¼ inch heavy duty mesh, climbing the ladder and stapling them over the bird blocks, preserving our ventilation and preventing infestation! Our neighbor next door has let them nest in his attic for a couple of years now. What a mess that’s gonna be to clean up!

As you can see in the picture above, we still have the lawn side of the pond bed to weed, but we will probably wait until the wood hyacinths with their pretty little blue bells are done blooming. Amazing to think, I brought just a couple of self seeded bulbs from our apartment with us when we moved into our brand new home 14 years ago! The wood hyacinths welcome spring in just about every flower bed around the house and perimeter of the front and back yards!

What's even better than a sunny weekend to garden, is a rainy Monday morning that makes it so very much easier to go to work!

Pascha Blessings

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

What a glorious weekend, the predicted rain held off until this evening. I enjoyed every moment spent outdoors. I had Good Friday off, as the stock market was closed. I spent it in the yard. I completely cleaned out the flower bed that runs the length of the garage, leading into the back yard. It was severly overrun with lemon balm and the lilac tree, planted at the front corner of the garage had sent several roots into the bed that had to be dug out and trimmed. That is a determined lilac, every year I have to lop off about a hundred suckers out from under it. It's overtaking the narrow pathway between the planting beds and I'm going to have to prune several branches back, but not until I get to enjoy all the flowers!

Saturday, I planted the center run of the bed with Oregon Sugar Pod peas, as they are one of our favorite vegies, enjoyed most right out of the garden! To either side of the peas I planted it thickly with snap dragon and marigold starts. This will be my cutting garden, so I can enjoy flowers in the house and at the office!

What's on my desktop?

These are the people I loved first in life.

Sunday afternoon in the spring sunshine

What a glorious spring day was Sunday! The sun was bright enough for sunglasses and wonderfully warm on my back, the breeze a bit chilly when the sun went behind the occasional cloud and the yard was alive with bright green new growth!

I even heard a hummingbird buzzing around the yard!

Sunday marked the first day I was able to spend outdoors, puttering with my plants. Six years ago, before I returned to work fulltime, I would have said ‘my gardens', but my gardens have been so sadly neglected, I think I’ll just say plants.

This is to be The Year of My Return to Gardening. This is the first spring in 15 years, my Dear Hubby or I (or both of us) haven’t had at least one softball team to coach. With both daughters in college and done with fast pitch softball, we have hung up our mitts and padded bleacher seats. Now my evenings and weekends can be spent in the yard, not traveling to and from softball tourneys. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, I did, tremendously. It is good to look forward.

About 4 winters ago, the Red Bud Forest Pansy tree that lived in the planter between the garage and the living room picture window died. It’s structure was so pretty I decided to use it as a trellis for something.

I thought about Jack Be Little pumpkins but was afraid they would be too heavy for the fine limbed tree. I decided on a beautiful blue clematis. Unfortunately, as the years passed and the limbs became brittle, more and more branches either broke off completely or just pointed downward under the weight of the vines. This winter during one of our wind storms, the entire tree snapped off at the soil line. I had meant to cut back the clematis before it started growing again and transplant it elsewhere but…you know the saying about good intentions. I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it back, as it already has about a dozen blossom buds.

So, yesterday I spent hours and hours cutting away the tendrils and untangling about 8 main vines. Some of them had to be at least 10-12 feet long! I installed a 2’x8’ square trellis into the planter and wove the vines in and out, round and back. It was fragile work and it took all afternoon. By the time I added a few runrunculous between the oriental lilies in the planter and swept up the walk, it was almost dark and getting cold! (The drawback to a clear day is the cold and (still) frosty nights! Had to scrape the ice off of the windshield this morning.)

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day! I ended it just sore enough to know I had done alot of stretching and bending. I felt justified in using up all the hot water for a looonnnggg shower before climbing into my bed with a hot pack and sleeping soundly.

First My Sister, Forever My Friend

Happy Birthday, 'Reen!!

I wasn't able to deliver your birthday cake to you in person last weekend, but I will enjoy it for you today! :-) I always think of you when I see daffodils, so I knew this cake was for you when I was learning how to make them from frosting. I hope your day is a great one! Happy Birthday, Reen. I love you!

Sixteen Years Ago...

Sunday, March 4th, 11:45pm

Sixteen years ago tonight I was laboring to bring our son into the world. I labored off and on for a week. Even so, he wasn't my hardest birth, nor my easiest, but he certainly took the most effort to get things a-going! I should have realized then that he would move at his own speed and do things in his own sweet time! When he finally decide to get with the program, he came so quickly the nurse had to catch him, doctor didn't even make in the door!

Happy 16th Birthday, Son, My Son!!