Jumping into spring

We have certainly been taking advantage of the beautiful early spring weather - before spring is even officially here. The garbage haulers are probably thrilled with us - 2 weeks ago we had 9 bags or bins of yard waste. As of today, for Wednesday's pick-up, we have twelve. And there are a few more days until it gets picked up. Yep, we've been busy. It hasn't all been clearing leaves from beds and weeding, although there has been plenty of that (and plenty more to do). We've been removing grass to expand some of the beds and to clear around trees. The boys have planted spinach and carrot seeds (they love growing veggies). I planted a new rose (Mr. Lincoln) today. And we planted a second apple tree. Three years ago we planted a dwarf Liberty apple tree. We have a flowering crabapple, which will do in a pinch for pollination. Two years ago, we almost had our first apples, until the tree got damaged (I think the culprits may be of the 2-legged variety). It hasn't produced apples since. Today we bought a Honeycrisp apple tree. Hopefully it will survive and we'll get lots of yummy apples. (Honeycrisps are fantastic apples!) It did take trips to several places to find the tree. Mays Greenhouse only had Red Delicious and Golden Delicious (they don't have their full stock yet). Bloomington Valley Nursery only has Northstar and Sentinel. Ready to give up, figuring we would just have to try again in a few weeks, we stopped at Menards to buy a garden cart and a few other odds and ends. And we found several varieties of apple tree, including Honeycrisp, which was one of my top choices. Looking at blooming time, it is an acceptable pollinator for a Liberty (and vice versa). Plus, it's Honeycrisp! Seriously, have you eaten a Honeycrisp apple? The front and back yards are starting to take shape. There's still plenty to do, including a list of projects to work through this year. But I can see what they will look like in a few years. We don't need to be embarrassed by the disaster we had for a few years when we didn't have time to work on them. Plus, it's amazing what a little mulch (or a few yards) will do. Now to keep up this momentum!

International Rock Flippiing Day

Along with being the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks, today was the 5th annual International Rock Flipping Day. I read about it earlier today but didn't get around to flipping over a rock until after sunset. So what did I find? Nothing. Yep, apparently all the under rock critters that are usually there (ants, centipedes, isopods (otherwise known as roly-polies), and worms) are all sleeping. Unlike our kids, who were still talking in their beds while I was turning over no fewer than 7 rocks, flashlight in hand. I did startle a cricket sitting next to a rock, but it wasn't under the rock. At least I know what denizens are usually under the rocks in our back yard.

Our garden, a work in progress

After several years of neglect, we have really been working on the gardens this year, trying to make the yard look nice and finish projects in progress. I took some pictures today; there are some areas that are looking really good and some that need a lot more work.

Happy rose

 I'm very pleased that my roses are doing well. This one in particular is happy - on the northeast side of the house! It smells marvelous.

The area off the back patio is coming together nicely

 One area that needs some work is the shade garden. It has 'good bones' so it's just a matter of clearing out unwanted plants and making it pretty.

There's a bird bath hiding in there

Shade garden

 We have done some work the last few years to remove the invasive honey suckle from along the back fence. There is still much to do as a lot of weeds are growing there, including some chokeberry. Plus we need to remove the honeysuckle stumps. That's also where Chris's nemesis, poison ivy, tends to lurk.

Along the back fence

One of my favorite hidden treasures

 Currently I am working on clearing the grass from around some blue rug junipers I planted years ago along the driveway. We've mulched what is clear, but we still need to expand the line so they have room to grow.

 

Blue rug junipers

 We've been working on putting hardy water-tolerant plants in the front ditch. Because of the slope, it's not a fun area to mow so our goal is to fill it with plants. They need to tolerate a lot of water but also be hardy enough to not need watering. So, lots of day lilies, sedum, black eyed Susan, and periwinkle.

Front ditch

Another area we've been working on is the front 'island' where we have 2 redbud trees, 2 tulip poplars, native grass, 'ditch lilies', burning bush, peonies, and some bulbs.

Front island

Front island, from the other side

Then there's my 'rose garden', which is very sad. Even though it is on the south side of the house, the roses there aren't thriving as much as the backyard rose. They have also been neglected a bit, so we are starting to connect them into their own bed which will eventually expand to join the bed along the front of the house.

Rose garden

Old-fashioned rose

Bed along the front of the house

 There is a surprise in our back yard. He's been a good friend. One day I hope to build a bed around him, but that is for another year.

Our alien friend

We bought a rain barrel last year. Chris still needs to cut the gutter and hook it up. It would probably be full if we had gotten that done before April!

Rain barrel

 And because every garden should have one because he was a friend to animals:

St. Francis of Assisi 

Garden pictures

I took some pictures of the vegetables and herbs we are growing.

Here is the box Chris made last year. This year it has parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme, cucumbers, oregano and beans (seeds, on the end):

Next is a pot of spinach plants:

My tomatoes (roma and grape):

Fennel that re-seeds itself every year:

Chives that we've grown by the front steps for several years:

Thyme that we've been encouraging as a ground cover near the front steps:

And..... our first apples on the tree we planted last year! There are only 2, but I didn't expect to get any this soon.

I'm really encouraged by the apples. I hope the plants I planted today do well and we get a nice harvest.

A garden grows... again

I finally bought plants and started our garden today. I like to wait until May to avoid the last frost. This year we've had so much rain and other commitments it took me a while to get things planted.

I planted beans, cucumbers, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and oregano in the planter box plus grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and spinach in pots. I don't have any pictures, but there isn't much to see at the moment. I haven't tried spinach before and it's been years since I've planted beans and cucumbers, so we will see how things fair. I also have fennel, chives and more thyme growing in various parts of the yard, but those come back every year.

How did my garden grow?

Well, this was a lousy year for vegetable gardens around here. I got some tomatoes; apparently I was lucky. A lot of people didn't get any either because of the unseasonably cool and wet weather or because deer ate the plants.

I didn't get a huge harvest, which is okay since I can only eat so many tomatoes, although I had hoped to take lot of extras to the local food pantry. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next summer.

Tomatoes were really my only crop since they choked out the peppers and eggplant and rosemary. The basil is ok; I still need to dry some.

Next year we need to plant fewer tomato plants and spread stuff out a little more. I would like a second box. For a first foray into square foot gardening, we did alright and can learn from this year's mistakes.

Productive Sunday

Now that the weather has broken a bit (more normal rather than 90's and humid), we were able to get a bit of work done, including the long awaited play area for the boys. It isn't done, but finishing touches and expansion can happen as we go along.

Our garden is also doing well, with the exception of the rosemary, which I think is not getting enough sun. For next year, we need to make a second box so one is only tomatoes and the other can be for whatever else we want to grow. The box is extremely convenient and easy to manage, with very little weeding. Below are pictures of 1) some of the tomatoes, 2) the pepper plants flowering, 3) the basil, 4) my mystery plant, which turns out to be eggplant, and 5) the rosemary that is not doing so well.

Potpourri

Just a few updates:

1) Here's a current picture of my square foot garden

2) Our June challenge has been challenging. We've made 2 1/2 weeks with a few slips (mostly by Chris, although I did have a slice of the garbage pizza when his parents were here Sunday - after a burger Saturday) and I have discovered I like falafel.

3) So far, I've gotten our neighborhood approved for an ice cream social grant from the city.

4) The semester is officially over, so after tonight (photo job), we should have a few more relaxed weeks (until the end of August when the fall semester starts.)

A tree grows in Bloomington

My Mother's Day present was an apple tree - a dwarf Liberty. Chris had, um, fun planting it:

      

Also, here are some pictures, finally, of the box Chris built for my vegetable garden:

    

We planted several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary and a mystery plant (a neighbor gave me her starts) that I think is lettuce. I should ask.

How does your garden grow?

We've been busy with outdoor work this weekend, especially Chris. We borrowed a tiller from a neighbor to try to get the garden turned over. It's still a lot of work and the prospect of getting everything done and a garden planted was daunting, so Chris decided to try a planter box based on Square Foot Gardening. He has been busy building it today, so I will make sure he posts about it, along with the pictures I've taken. 

Another neighbor had tons of plant starts and offered some to us - several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and basil. I'd also like to plant some beans and a few more herbs, plus maybe some spinach. I can't wait to get stuff planted!

I've been hauling logs from the tree we had cut down 2 years ago. We thought we would use some, but there is way too much, so we are offering free wood at our garage sale in 2 weeks. We just need to move a bunch to the driveway so people see it. I also spent some time digging out invasive honeysuckle plants. They are a pain, incredibly resilient and prolific. 

Chris decided a better use of the tiller was to work on the area we want to tile as a chess board (it will function as another patio). It needs leveling, but he did a lot of work on it yesterday. Of course, we used a bunch of the tiles for our front patio, so we need to buy more. 

We still have a ton of work to do, but it all doesn't have to happen this summer. One thing I would like to accomplish this summer is to really get a play area set up for the boys.

Our garden

It's been a while since I've thought about plans for the garden, but now that April is here, we need to plan, start digging, and generally get ready to plant stuff come May.

So, here are a few things I'd like to grow:

• a fruit tree - apple?
• tomatoes
• green beans
• cucumbers
• spinach (I think that should go in the ground soon - maybe a planter box?)
• sweet potatoes

That's probably a good start for this year. I do need to get a few more herbs too. I really like the herbs both as useful in the kitchen and because they smell pretty and usually take little care. 

I think if we get an apple tree, we either need to plant 2 or see if any near neighbors have one that will help cross-pollenate. A dwarf variety would be best both for size and because it would produce fruit sooner (3 years versus 10 for a full-size tree.) Time to start researching trees!

Status report

So here's a status report:

The boys are both sick. They spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, giving us a much needed break and a full night of sleep. But, they came home with colds, which probably had been brewing for a few days. They are miserable today with runny noses. 

We watched Schindler's List Saturday. I know, great pick for Valentine's Day, but it was sitting over our heads. We got it from Netflix around Thanksgiving. And it's long enough that it was tough to watch after the boys were in bed. We did go out to Lennie's for a meatball sandwich for dinner.

We are getting better at veggies. Between soups and salads, we've been eating more vegetables than we had been. Kroger makes really good heat and eat chili and soups. The tomato soup is really good - perfect with grilled cheese. 

We are also trying to plan a menu a few days in advance so we don't have the inevitable "what should we make for dinner" followed by junk because we have nothing ready. Tonight is homemade pizza. Tomorrow is Hamburger Helper. Wednesday is pasta. We haven't planned Thursday yet. We're also trying to eat more economically, since the grocery bill has been horrendous lately. Lots of pasta, beans and rice, etc.

Since it is mid-February, I've been thinking about the garden we are planning. We need to plot it out and decide what to grow. We have some time before we can plant, but in the next few months we can start prepping.

Chris was up very early today for more filming. Just a few more days and hopefully they can get everything filmed. 

Update: The pizza was awesome. We'll have to do that again.

Garden planning - location

We have started the initial phase of garden planning - location. There were several possible locations: near the back door by the kitchen, on the hill on the south side of the yard, in planters, in the northeast section of the yard where it used to be.

We have decided to put the garden back where it used to be. This is the location with the best sun. We had thought about putting the kids' play area there, but are going to put their area in the middle of the yard where we eventually want to put a chess board. Admitting it will be a while before we will do that project opened up our options a lot. A vegetable garden by the kitchen door would be very convenient, but that area doesn't get enough sun.

The next stage of planning is what we want to grow.  

Planning

Time to start planning our garden. We need to figure out what we want to plant and where to plant it. This could take us a while.

We've also agreed to use the new salad bar at Kroger to get better about eating salads. If we pick up just one meal's worth whenever we stop at Kroger (usually twice a week with our milk consumption) we will have added salad twice a week. A little more expensive than buying the individual ingredients. but less waste since we aren't very good about finishing a whole bag of spinach. Once the garden starts producing, we'll need to buy less.