Found!

Yes, I found ivy geraniums. Now we've got pots hanging around the yard and they look so festive!

Geraniums come in so many colors that there's sure to be one for nearly anyone's taste. Me? I'm partial to the hot pink varigated flowers on this variety but I don't play favorites. I picked up red, pink and wine colored flowers...like I said, it's looking pretty festive around here!

Feathered Friend

Isn't this red-throated grosbeak sweet?

Seen and Heard

Okay, not "heard" exactly, but certainly seen. I've yet to take photos but I wanted to give you a quick update on the activity in my little greenhouse.

Everything has sprouted, and is growing like crazy. The tomatoes are getting nice, strong stems and there are a few flowers on some of the pepper plants. The zucchinis and cukes are rambling. A flat of yellow marigolds has pushed the clear top off and are leaning toward the windows.

In a nutshell, everything is begging to be planted!

So Sweet!

I love lilac time.

I wish you could smell these!

Adios

The last of the tulips. I do hate to see them go. But, on the bright side, do you see the peonies behind them? It won't be long before the peonies will be in bloom. Then the yard will smell heavenly!

Oh, take no notice of those yellow things in front of the tulips. They're dandelions, I know. But hey, I may need more for my dandelion wine experiment, so they're staying for now. Just think of them as another variety in the spring flower collection, okay? Thanks!

Appetizing

I wish you could have been right beside me when I snapped this shot yesterday. The air was thick with the aroma of oregano, basil and sage. I leaned close and sniffed the lavender, then the rosemary.

Then, I was so hungry I headed for the pizzeria. Who knew there were so many calories in a greenhouse run?

They're Here!

You know what this means, don't you?

That's right. It won't be long before we're picking strawberries from the strawberry patch.

I love strawberries--almost as much as I love cannolis--so this is a big deal in our house.

Soon we'll be elbow deep in strawberry shortcake. Strawberry jam. Strawberry sorbet. Strawberry soup...

Yeah, I'm a happy woman. Have a great day!

Mystery Tomatoes

This year's garden plan calls for a row of Early Girl tomatoes, a row of Roma tomatoes and a row of mystery tomatoes.

Mystery tomatoes? When I planned the garden I hadn't decided what type the third row would be, so they were a mystery. Fits, right?

Yesterday we went to the greenhouse to solve the mystery. There were so many varieties to choose from, it was no easy task. Determinate or indeterminate? Heirloom or hybrid? Yellow? Red? Orange? Or maybe striped?

Eventually I wandered off to sniff the pots of herbs. I left my dad and husband in charge of choosing the mystery tomatoes.

Know what they decided on? Big Boys. That's right, the third row of tomatoes will be Big Boy tomatoes. Now, doesn't that just figure? *G*

Bushels of Spuds

I planted four bushel baskets with seed potatoes

(like the ones shown above)

and four additional mounds of them

in the garden.

Guess what?

They've sprouted!

Look out world--

the spuds are on the way!

Seen and Not Eaten

Hi. It's me, Piglet.

Thought I'd show you some of the

early spring sights from

here on the farm.

Just so you know,

I didn't eat any of them.

Really.

Really.

All right...

Maybe I nibbled on the pink phlox.

But just a little.

Only a bite or two, okay?

These pink tulips make me smile.

Cherry blossoms.

Hmm...
Do you think there will be cherries?

And...
Do cats like cherries?
Hmm?

Yeah, these are the
pink phlox.

Don't look too closely
at the fuzzy ends.

I just took a bite.
Maybe two.

Fennel, Anyone?

My husband loves fennel. He eats it fresh, cooked, sauteed--any way he can get it. Me? I like it, too, but I'm not as gung-ho as he is.

Last year I grew fennel in the small garden beside the greenhouse. It grew, and the willowy fronds were lovely blowing in the breeze, but it didn't grow as well as I'd hoped it would. The trouble, I think, was that I weeded too vigorously around the plants. The garden was a new one, so there were more weeds than there would be if the space had been planted before. Of course I am a stickler for weeding, and I honestly think I disturbed the fennel too often for its taste.

This year I've planted some fennel seeds in a long terra-cotta planter. I've got it in the greenhouse now but I'll move it outsde when the nights get warmer.

I hope the fennel thrives in the planter. If not, next year I'll try something different. That's one of the best parts of gardening, I think. Even though things are planted in the Earth, there's no commitment to place them in exactly the same spot every year. I love the hit-or-miss thrill of planting.

Come summer, when the fennel is growing, I'll post some fennel recipes. It's amazing what one small plant can do!

Cool Cabbages

Cabbages are "cool weather" crops, which means that even if we get a chilly night they'll be fine. They don't require the soil temperature high for planting, and begin to thrive almost from the moment they're in the ground.

We planted nine green cabbage. Aren't they cute? Granted, they don't look like cabbage heads yet, but trust me, they will. Soon.

And you're probably wondering what on earth I'll do with nine heads of cabbage, right? I mean, cabbage is okay but after the slaw what's a woman to do with a bushel of cabbage? I'm not big on sauerkraut (too stinky!) so that's not an option. But Hubby loves cabbage with corned beef so last year I quartered, rinsed, dried, then froze the spare cabbages. He ate cabbage all winter long, with beef and without, and the frozen cabbage was just as yummy as the fresh stuff was.

So if you've got a glut of cabbage, freeze 'em! After all, they're "cool" cabbages!

From the Greenhouse

I didn't plant an awful lot this year but the seeds I did plant have sprouted. I love to watch them grow! Once they've germinated and pushed through the soil, they really take off and everything seems to grow overnight.

Pickling cucumbers.

Peppers.
These seeds came from Italy.

It's fuzzy but take my word for it,

this is a nasturtium.

More Italian seeds.
Honestly, I was tickled when I found the
small assortment of Italian seeds.

These are tomatoes.
Ciao!

It Takes a Seed

I planted these lupines in the greenhouse last year. I used a dozen seeds from a package I bought on sale and now I have clumps of lupine popping up all over!

These are near the greenhouse. The first photo was taken last week. The second, just a day or so ago. Can you see how quickly they're growing? I am so psyched to see the gorgeous flowers. And, since these are perennial, I'll have flowers every year without doing anything more than I've already done. Does it get any easier than that?

When the flowers arrive, I'll take more photos.

So much enjoyment, and all from a tiny little seed...

Breathtaking

Happy Saturday!

The Plan

Usually I scribble my "master plan" for the various gardens on paper scraps. The scraps first get tacked to a ledge in the greenhouse, then they get stuffed into my pocket during planting. The end result is I have a bunch of wrinkled, muddied, half-shredded scraps to use as reference for the following year's gardens.

This year, because I want to share the process with you, I actually printed out a plan for the big garden. I say "big garden" because square footage-wise, it's the biggest space. Yeah, we're pretty basic when it comes to gardening! Anyhow, you can see how we plan to plant the area. I've calculated about ten feet between rows so there should be decent walkways once everything grows in. I'm going to mulch the paths, and around the plants, to cut down on weeding. Although the space is large, once planted it should require very little maintenance. And since it's being filled with only half as many plants as it can accommodate, there should be lots of air circulation between things. Hopefully we'll have a good yield. Fingers crossed!

So if you're planning to plant a garden, be it large or small, I suggest first making a rough sketch of the project before you begin planting. It's much easier to move a row of tomatoes on paper than it is to do in real life. Trust me, I know. I've done it both ways and the eraser has definitely got the shovel beat!

If you plant it...

it will grow.

Last year we put in a small (a dozen plants) asparagus bed. It is a separate space, up near the greenhouse. We plant onions on one side of the bed, and put the asparagus on the other.

I haven't gotten a chance yet to weed or top-dress the spot, but the asparagus don't seem to mind. Last night we cut the first stalks.

I don't care for asparagus, but Hubby loves it. He steamed the first home-grown produce of the season and, with a huge, satisfied grin on his face, called them "the best asparagus ever." Hmm...makes me wonder if I shouldn't give this vegetable another try.

And look! The onions are beginning to grow, too!

Bushels and Bushels

Call it one of my break-from-reality moments, but when we were in Agway a few weeks ago I sptted the seed potatoes. The were separated by variety, in nice, fat piles near the checkout counter.

You know what comes next, don't you? That's right. I had one of those impulsive twitches, the kind where my hand darts out, seizes something and, before the rational mind can stop it, heads to the cashier.

*sigh*

Seed potatoes.

Of course, Hubby looked at me as if I'd sprouted an extra eye at the bridge of my nose.

"Potatoes? Why grow potatoes when we can get a whole bushel from the farm stand in October for $14? All that work? For fourteen dollars?"

I didn't remind him that the potatoes in my sack cost $2.65.

Gardening? It isn't all about the dollars and cents.

This year I'm growing potatoes in bushel baskets. I cut out the bottoms of the baskets, filled them with soil (after removing most of the rocks from the dirt), then halved and planted the potatoes. I planted four bushels, with four more potato mounds between the baskets.

Come October, we should have our own bushel of potatoes. Then we'll see who sprouted what, won't we?

Mimi's Tulips

Aren't they gorgeous?

Yellow? We Laugh at Yellow!

It's daffodil time here on the farm. Over the years we've planted hundreds of bulbs and a variety of daffodils. I won't bore you to tears by taking photos of every clump, but I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites.

One of the things I like most about daffodils is that once planted, they're pretty much self-sufficient. Deer don't eat them, which is a very good thing around here. They multiply without any outside interference, another positive. And the variety of shades of yellow, white, orange and pink is stunning.


The contrast between the centers and leaves on these is much more pronounced that the photo shows.



These are so delicate, and the cup so ruffled, that they look like the edges of a ball gown. I love these!

Pretty much the workhorse of the daffodil gardens, these yellow blooms are the ones most of us remember drawing pictures of with our Crayolas. I know I did. Did you?

The orange daffodils are due to open any day now. I'll try to remember to snap a photo of those for you to see.

Next year I'm planting pink daffodils. We have just a few of those, and they're so pretty that I decided to plant more. They're already ordered, and will come right when they need to be put in the ground.

I predict the day we've got to actually plant the new daffodils will be frigid, with howling winds and a gray, stormy sky. How do I know it will be that way? Because it always is on daffodil planting day. But these gorgeous blooms? They are worth frozen fingers and chapped cheeks!