I visited my Mom’s house tonight and part of the evening was a spring garden tour. I’ve never seen so many daffodils! What a beautiful sight! They must have thousands in their yard, with almost a dozen varieties.
Perennials she shared with us: large yellow daylily, geranium, forsythia, bee balm, rhubarb, lamb’s ear, rudbeckia, and a pink shade flower that is already blooming.
I left with a cut bouquet of ~50 daffodils. Delightful.
Ryan’s softball game was cancelled tonight, so we had an unexpected evening to work! I know that’s how most people feel, right?
The most exciting thing about today is that we finished drawing up the 2009 vegetable garden plan. (It’s to scale, but not painted…) ;) Here is what we are planting this year:
The month of April is sure living up to its name as far as rainfall, but my inner gardener rejoices in this because I don’t have to haul watering cans all over the yard. This was the easiest (cool veggie) seed-starting weather ever!
This morning we got up unusually early (before 8:00 am – wow!) and started the day loading the pickup truck with metal recycling. We like to do the most errands possible on a truck run, so we managed to get rid of junk, pick up a load of free compost and mulch at the Compost Dump, eat lunch, plus stop at Menard’s for carpet tack strip… all with Benji along too!
The carpet project was easy and ended with AMAZING results. We finished the edge of the hallway laminate flooring in the 2 bedroom doorways, then measured and cut tack strip for both transitions. It was super-simple to install, and using a handy instructional flooring book, we followed the directions to cut the bedroom carpeting to the proper length and tucked it in to the appropriate crevice. Voila! Beautiful carpet transitions on both bedrooms, and one step closer to actually installing bedroom doors. (The office transition will have to wait until we have access to a 4″ circular saw again.)
After that was over, we were ready to work outside again. (Just some minor sprinkles…) Ryan shoveled compost onto the garden straight from the truck while I planted 4 more patches of day lilies dug up from the well area. (There are still more left! It’s unproven, but I think they are multiplying in the bucket.) We ended the day by spreading mulch over several flower beds.
Good job team!
Just a quick note to document that we spotted the first itty-bitty lettuce and spinach seedlings tonight. Yay! We picked up some fallen branches in the front yard in preparation for the first mow, and then ordered carry-out fish. A simple, enjoyable night.
On Friday, I used a half-day of vacation to get some yard work done. I started with the day lilies around the well. They were so full of grass roots that the little lilies had no room to grow. (I touched on this in the last post.) Below are middle and after photos.
After that was done, I began work on the rose bed. On the way home from work I purchased one more rose to have a total of 5. They are a variety of colors: Peach, Lavender, Red, White, and Yellow. After an amazing rebate, they were only $.50 each! We’ll see how they do. At that price, if we only enjoy them for a summer or two, it’ll be okay. 
I moved the sod to the back yard to even-off a sunken trench leading to the new mound system. It was 5 wheel barrow loads – hard work! I tilled compost into the bed and added rose food to each hole as directed. We’re both looking forward to the first blooms!
Mom came over last night with an amazing roasted veggie pasta topping – yum! We started off the gardening season with the best reason for having a garden… fresh veggies.
Together we planted spinach, lettuce, radishes, onions, and garlic. She showed me how she mixes the lettuce seeds with corn meal to help evenly disperse them. We watered everything thoroughly last night and again this morning, and with a 70 degree sunny day, the little seeds should be off to a good start. We’ll see!
Mom pointed out how the day lilies around the well pump are in need of help. We dug up big clumps of them and pulled out grass roots and weeds while separating the little bulbs from each other. She was right – they were packed really tight and showed stunted growth. I’ll finish that job tonight.
A few weeks ago Ryan brought home 4 rose bushes for us. I was afraid to put them out too soon, but I learned that they need to get in the ground ASAP! They are bursting with new growth already – very cool. Add “create rose bed” to the list!
I forgot to say that I got some herbs planted in pots last night! So far I have basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, and lavender. (I have perennial oregano, thyme, chives, and rosemary.)
Also, the “fall bulbs I planted in spring” are coming up! Success! And the tulips and daffodils are about to pop open any day already.
Last night was a team effort. I worked in the garden, digging out early spring weeds, while Ryan managed the compost rotation. He removed the freshest layer of organic matter off the top of the first bin and brought the rest to the garden in wheel-barrow loads. Around 10 loads of gardener’s black gold were shoveled from bin #1 onto the top of the freshly-weeded garden.
With bin #1 empty, Ryan was able to start a fresh pile of matter composting. Yay! Two more compost bins to go, plus the remaining composted manure. We’ll get there. My goal was to have at least enough transferred to the garden so I could work a plot big enough for the cold-weather veggies. They’re going in tonight!
This is exciting. I love this time of year.
After feeling like the last house on the block with Christmas lights up, I finally cleared all of last year’s tomato plants, corn stalks, egg plant skeletons, and sunflower scarecrows from the garden last night. It was my first time working in the garden since the day our dog Charlie died. But with most activities lately, I just have to DO it. Jump in and work through the pain. It was nice. I kneeled down and raised the earth in my hands and breathed deep… it was a wonderful smell. Healing.
Anyway… just have to pull out the bean & pea fencing and we’re ready to put on a layer of compost tonight. I hope to turn over a plot big enough to get my onions, lettuce, and radishes started on Thursday!
