Still here--and in the gardens

52 and cloudy, cleared up around 10. Rain expected later today.

Hard to believe I haven't written a post in almost two weeks, but then it's been that kind of life lately. Super busy with gardens, booths, grass, painting furniture. Here's my Facebook post this morning, and it pretty much defines what we've been up to:

"It's been a wild few days. Friday I worked at the antique mall. Saturday we drove to Columbus and Wooster picking up furniture and other stuff for our booths. Sunday I worked at the mall again, and we went our for a great dinner with family to celebrate Derek's birthday. Yesterday was another long road trip to pick up auction buys and begin emptying our booth at Marietta. We loaded the van full...this in preparation to move into a new space in Ripley, which is only 12 miles from home; Marietta was almost 70 miles away. We got home in time to do some mowing, string trimming, and caught up the laundry. Today I will be finishing up re-potting greenhouse plants, getting some flowers in the ground and finishing up the string trimming before it rains. I hope. April was our best month ever in our booths, and May started out well too, with rent covered on the first day of the month. Onward and upward! Photo is the beautiful Ohio River, taken Sunday evening on our way home."

We did have our first salad from the washtub I filled with dirt and planted with radishes and lettuce. Indescribably good. 

Asparagus is coming in too. When stringtrimming this morning I found that both currant bushes planted last year are thriving--I really thought one of them had died. The raspberries I planted last fall are doing well too, and in the perennial bed I started last fall, peonies and astilbe have taken hold. The other plants didn't make it, but at 75% off I expected some loss. A few lavender plants from last year are also still alive, a miracle since they seldom survive the winter. However, all the beautiful rosemary plants succumbed. Still, a couple sage plants are struggling to come back, as is the thyme, and some Veronica also survived the winter. Chives are thriving and in the veggie garden the potatoes are growing fast, as are the peas, onions, and cabbages. Beets,  carrots, kale, radishes and more lettuce are all up and growing.

Larry's potato patch is looking good so far.

This is the big veggie garden, with peas, onions, and potatoes so far. This will have corn, peppers, beans, limas, and tomatoes eventually. As sunflowers, and maybe some butternut squash if we have room. Late corn will replace the peas and onions in July.

"My" garden--this is the one where we're experimenting with no-till on the upper end. The center is tilled and has cabbages, spinach, bok choi, celery plants, along with the seeded carrots, beets, lettuce, etc. This will be mulched eventually. The lower end has not yet been tilled. There are some leeks in there that survived the winter which I will pull soon and make into soup, then this will be tilled for cucumbers, squash, and some cherry tomatoes. Probably a few other things as spce permits. That's the compost tumbler in the center, and the strawberries are in theupper middle in two steel containers.

The big flower bed has nothing blooming at the moment but that will change this week as the irises begin to open.

I haven't done anything with this garden except cut the growth. The upper end will be tilled and planted in wildflower seeds, the lower tilled or hand dug carefully and planted with herbs. This is where the chives, multiplier onions, Veronica, calendula, raspberries, currants, and a few asparagus live.

This part of my flowerbeds is always a headache, but come fall I will plant it full of spring bulbs. Then in summer, just containers as the maple tends to pull all the moisture in summer.

The clematis opened this week. It's twenty years old and not very big because of the maple, but it's so pretty.

Afew tulips are hanging on, and the last bud on the re-blooming iris has opened.

The long view, after I finished up my trimming.

Here you can see the strawberry tubs. I may do a whole row across the garden with them.

So all is well in the gardens. In the booths at Ravenswood, sales have been hot, hot, hot, and we've scrambled to keep stocked. I've painted several pieces in the past week, and all have sold except I think one bench. I'm working on a dressing table, piano bench and a dresser now, and we brought home another Hoosier-style cabinet to refurbish as the one in our booth sold. Here's the piano bench in progress--it's now a pretty robin's egg blue, just waiting to be waxed.

My doctor checkup last week was excellent, blood pressure and all blood work very good. I feel better than ever, and I sure hope this continues. Even the arthritis seems to have settled down some. The only issue I have is my poor old stomach that hurts all the time, but I have an appointment to see about that.

I am sure your lives have been just as busy--springtime in the northern hemisphere is certainly filled with things to do.  Leaving you today with this little bouquet picked in a hurry while working out there.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.