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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Garden Update

What's going on in the garden? By this time of year you'd think we'd be up to our ears in garden chores. The rain and cooler temperatures have kept gardening at a minimum this year.



Here's what's going on now:

The seedlings have been moved out to the greenhouse. They should start growing well now. I've opened their "ziplock" individual greenhouses so they can really stretch. Even some of the lavender seeds came up! Now, can I keep them going? I've never had much luck there, but if I can get even one plant a seed packet is cheaper than buying plants.

Onions, snow peas, broccoli and cabbage went in the ground this week. We got our first radishes of the year and the lettuce is not far behind--it's still later than usual due to the cold.




In the flower gardens, the bushes and fruit trees are in full bloom. The little fruit trees planted last year-a cherry, a plum, an apple, a peach and a mulberry-all survived the heat and drought of last summer and the cold and snows of winter. The peach and mulberry were seedlings in the yard and are coming along quite well in their new home.

Daffodils are almost done and the tulips are blooming. I added some new ones this year and it's so nice to see them in bloom. I want to add more next year for more color variety. Anyone want to trade daffodil bulbs for tulip bulbs?

Larry put down 10 bags of mulch on Saturday and it looks really pretty. We need about 30 more before we're done but this is a good start. He's got 10 more bags on the truck, ready to spread when the weather is more cooperative.

In the "wild garden" that surrounds us, the violets are blooming, the redbuds are peeking out and the bees are very, very busy. Larry walked into the woods on Sunday and came out with these:



Morels! Also known as mollymoochers, muggles, wild fish, hickory steaks and probably other names too. That was dinner for Sunday night, with fried potatoes, a salad and a bottle of Shiraz. Perfect. Derek and Amy and boys came over to enjoy it with us.

That's about it for the gardens. I've been busy getting my retirement paperwork completed--and a confusing maze it is. It's enough to make a person want to just keep working! Not really.

What's going on in your garden? Anything exciting to report?

10 comments:

  1. Wish I knew how to pick wild mushrooms, so far the only one I know is the Puff mushroom, and we have some white ones that grow in the yard in spring , but I'm a little timid of them.

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  2. It has been beautiful here in N. Calif. The tomatoes are in, as well as a cross section of every other veggie. The guys swathed the first cutting of alfalfa last Monday. The almonds are loaded with nuts. Oranges are blooming and the bees are working overtime. We've had a very wet spring, so needed to fill the reservoirs and replentish the aquifer.

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  3. It's been slow gardening for us here also this year. Haven't been able to plant any annuals yet either. Still dangers of frost. It sounds like your is coming along better than mine. Happy Gardening, Susie

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  4. gingerbread, these are the only ones I feel comfortable eating. It's a real skill to identify the others but morels are quite unique.

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  5. That sounds heavenly, Brighid--tomatoes, oranges, almonds--what a gardener's paradise. I can almost smell that sweet alfalfa too.

    Susie, this has been an odd year so far, I keep wondering when it's going to normalize. It might never settle down into typical weather at this rate!

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  6. Your Sunday night supper sounds delicious - I'm not brave enough to pick wild mushrooms as I don't know enough about them to distinguish good from bad!
    My garden is looking quite pretty in parts and in need of a good deal of attention in others. Work in the garden accounts for my lack of blogging, no time in the day and no energy in the evening!
    I agree with you about tulips, I was thinking that I must buy more and plant them in the autumn.
    Hope you are nearly done with all your retirement paperwork and will soon be enjoying your new freedom.

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  7. Today Larry is digging out an entire iris bed and moving them to a new spot. I've wanted to get this done for 2 years and finally all this rain has Larry stopped long enough to get it done. Thank goodness--my back is giving me a bit of trouble so I was trying to figure how to do all that digging and not make it worse. He's such a help.

    I'm struggling to find blogging time too, Rowan. I love to do this but with the taxes, garden stuff, storytelling, family, etc it's been crowded days. A few things are finished so that helps--but the gardens will start screaming for attention soon!

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  8. GSue, this rain is ridiculous! At this rate the only thing growing will be mushrooms!

    My gardening is on hold too. My big project this year is an update of my kitchen herb garden, but I've only gotten to lay it out so far - haven't been able to dig a bit for all the wet!

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  9. I know, Jason. We moved a bunch of iris and daffodils tonight (totally wrong time of year but they had to go) and every time we put the shovel in the ground we hit water! It will drain off soon enough but more rain is predicted Friday, I think? At least it will settle in the plants we moved.

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  10. Sigh... I am patiently(?) waiting for warmer temperatures to speed things up here in the gardens! I spent most of the day readying the gardens and planting the early cool weather crops, but I am longing for the first asparagus tips to poke through. Happy spring and happy gardening, Granny Sue!

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