IT IS ALIVE

The lilac has grown leaves. I guess we got that little guy in the ground just in time. Now to hope it likes this spot and continues to grow. I doubt I will get a flowers this year, but I will get them next year I hope.

I know lilacs are not known for food, but this lilac came from my grandmother's house before she died. One side of her house had a wall of lilacs, lilacs that my grandfather apparently brought home. The story my grandmother told me was that Grandpa was walking home from work one day and saw these beautiful lilac bushes. Well, apparently he walked the rest of the way home and grabbed a pot and a shovel and walked back to the spot where he saw them and dug one up. Now, Grandma told me she didn't think he asked, but knowing my grandfather, he probably just grabbed a little one (or a couple) and brought it home and their entire wall was grown from those over the 30+ years they had lived there.

It is alive

Either way, I am just happy it is alive and now I have my own grandmothers lilac. I have been trying for probably 10 years to grow one from her yard. Now, I can look at it and think of my grandparents and smile.

Cross your fingers

In some ways, it feels as if spring is here already and we are behind. Days where the temperatures are in the 70s will do that. Other ways, I fear we are so excited for spring, we may be putting the cart before the horse. You see, last weekend, the lilac was starting to bud out. It was so happy and to be fair, it was warm. The more we looked at it, the more we thought about starting to put it in the ground.

Lilac overwintering

Last week was a rough one, that started off with Monday being Pooka's school concert. She did beautifully, but when it came down to it, the concert ran past her bedtime and we had a Grandma visiting. Daddy and I both got home tired but twitchy. So while we left Pooka to "re-eat" dinner and we saw Grandma off, we realized it was the lilac needed to go in. The buds were opening and everything I had read about lilacs was to move them before they get leaves.

Picture if you will, Daddy and me, both in fairly nice clothes and hair (Daddy his work clothes, me I put on a nice shirt) digging a hole in the middle of the circle of the herb bed and trying to gently transplant the lilac without hurting it. Did either of us care if we got dirty (not really), but also doing this as the light continued to fade.

In it's new home

All in all, we got it in, although you missed all the pictures. The lilac seems to be doing well, but I won't know for sure until it opens. We have been watering it, We did put some miracle grow in the hole to help it get established. Now, to cross our fingers, and hope and pray to whomever you do (Brother has said we need to put a prayer into Demeter and Persephone since they are the greek gods of gardening and spring) that we didn't kill the one thing that if it dies, I will be devastated. Personally, I am asking Gremo to help us out here. 

The lilac lives

After everything that happened last year, I was looking forward to having lilacs this year. They may not bloom, but knowing they were alive was a huge thing. Especially knowing they came from my grandmothers house, and always lined one side of it. 

The little lilac is alive

 The story my Grandmother told me was that years and years ago, my grandfather was walking to work. He saw these beautiful lilac trees and thought my grandmother would love them. Not having any real spare money for things like plants, my grandfather went to work, came home, got a shovel, a trash bag and walked back to the lilacs in question. Where he proceeded to dig up a couple without asking the owners. Now he did not take the mature ones, but rather a handful of little ones that were hidden a the bottom of the mature ones, much like the one in the pot here. He came home and presented them to my grandmother, an avid gardener, and together they decided to plan them all along one side of the house in front of windows so they could see and smell the blooms. Now that both my grandparents are gone, having their lilacs (or at least their lilac's children) makes me feel slightly closer. It has almost become tradition for our family to go over and dig up a couple. Maybe if I can get the little lilac in the pot and the bigger lilac out front established, Pooka can one day come over and steal the lilacs for her own yard. Now to wait and watch and see if the one out front starts to bud like this guy. 

July 1st pictures

The first of the month has come again, and I while I am a tad late, I want to get up the monthly picture. I feel so much has changed, but I am still waiting on that first tomato and cucumber. Soon I hope. Also, if you look up at the top, there is a page where I am keeping track of my harvest totals, so feel free to check that out.


Corner set up

The corner stand still holds the zinnias, the lone oregano pot, the green marigold pot that has some sort of squash in it, and the snap dragons. The lilac is doing really well in this spot.

Deck side one

The pots on the deck are looking very green. The second sowing of carrots has begun to sprout, the squash and eggplant are getting large. We had to get trellises for the squash to grow up. The blueberries are starting to ripen while the strawberries are covered in flowers and berries.



Deck view two

The other side of the deck shows the greens doing well, The zucchini is growing well in the corner and the marigold on the table has the beginnings of a bloom. The second pot of spinach also has begun to sprout.

Bok choi and broccoli

The Geometric broccoli had some problems with cabbage worm, but a cup of soapy water has fixed that. They are slowly growing back but seem determined to keep growing. The Bok Choi was removed since it had long past gone to seed and has since been reseeded.

Peas, beans and peppers

The peas seem to be starting to die in the heat. However, they hold on and are still producing if a bit slowly. The green beans however are getting their step and really starting to produce. The basil plants next to them have flourished in this spot and I cut them back just this morning to start drying some.

Peppers, tomatillos and onions

The sweet pepper plants continue to grow, but do seem to be struggling some. The store bought sweet peppers have begun to produce, but seem to be having some issues. Meanwhile the green and yellow peppers are doing quite well. They are all flowering and growing. The tomatillos keep flowering, but have yet to put any tomatillo on of size. They are flowering, fruiting then drop these tiny little flowers. The onions seem to do well and we are thinking of cutting them since the winds in the recent storms keep damaging the greens.

Corn, squash, potatoes

The corn is doing well, but needs to be staked up. The squash is flowering and fruiting, but so far none of the squash is of a big enough size. The potatoes in the back seem to be dying back and I am thinking it means we will have potatoes soon.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli

The broccoli suffered a bit from the cabbage worms as well, but the biggest plant has already produce one small head that we had for dinner. The cucumbers have yet to really put fruit on, but we have seen them flowering. The tomatoes still hold tons of tomatoes that we keep watching for any signs of ripening. They are getting good sized.

Tomatoes

The tomato plants continue to love this spot. They have already gotten their second tier on the custom built cage. We have green tomatoes everywhere, but yet to see a red tomato.

Jalapenos, poblano, cherry tomatoes

The hot peppers are doing well. The jalapenos are flowering and you can see tiny peppers, the poblanos are starting to really grow and may start showing us blooms soon. The cherry tomatoes are growing as well and have good fruit as well, but we have yet to see anything turn ripe.

stargazer

The stargazers out front are growing quite well. The blooms are starting to appear on the flowers. A bit of color out front.

garlic bed

We have harvested most of the garlic now, but the biggest ones are still seeming to do well. Daddy and I remembered we didn't amend this bed very well and think that may have something to do with the small garlic bulbs. We have already made plans to get some compost in this bed before winter.

Herb bed with lilac

The front herb bed is doing really well. The cilantro is trying to bolt, but other then that, most everything is growing quite well. We have already been drying herbs for the winter. Mostly tho it is nice to be able to go grab fresh ones for dinner. The lilac is still struggling, but I am hoping it makes it.

sunflowers

The sunflowers are growing quite well. I doubt for the second year in a row that we get anything near the 20' tall mammoths the package promised, but they all seem to be doing well and we have blooms on a few.

The front bed is done.

The front herb garden is all planted, except for a few pepper plants. But other then that, the lavender was the last plant in.

It is so very nice to know its done and that it is starting to look really good. The smaller plants have started to fill out and are giving it a nice full look. In some cases, I may even start harvesting for drying herbs soon.

The garlic is in the area surrounded by the sidewalk. I did add one oregano plant back there since it had outgrown its pot, (the one Pooka started from seeds) and I didn't have any space on the other side. We did notice that garlic doesn't do very well if you go too close to the house. We also have dill in the pot on by the railing and Pooka's amaryllis plants are on the porch as well.

 On the other side of the front door is another pot of dill. The bottom row from left to right is: Curly Parsley,  purple sage, tarragon, cilantro. The top row from left to right is: Lemon Thyme, oregano, Tarragon and Rosemary.

On the table in the background that you can't see is Pooka's little blue pot of zinnias Left to right on the top row: Garlic chives, Italian flat leaf parsley, Bay, Curry and Lemon Thyme from last picture (I tried to make sure things overlap a bit when taking the pictures). Bottom row left to right: Rosemary, Rosemary, Thyme, Curly Parsley.

In the long gray pot is the extra flowers from Pooka's teacher gifts. The top row has Rosemary, Flat leaf Italian Parsley, oregano, and cilantro. The bottom row is onion chives, purple sage, Curly parsley, and thyme.

The last section of the bed is a circle that where everything on the outside is a type of basil except right behind the lilac tree is one of Pooka's 5 color Pepper plants. The basil (Starting closest to the house) Genovese Basil, 5 color pepper, Thai basil, sweet basil, Purple basil, sweet basil, purple basil, sweet basil. The rest of the bottom row is cilantro, Spanish lavender, Lemon balm, onion chives. The top row is Rosemary, oregano, rosemary. The red pots are full of dill and cumin on the deck and the chair has a pot of chocolate mint and peppermint.

In some cases, I may even be able to start drying herbs soon which was wonderful to have over the winter. We have fallen back in love with having fresh herbs for things and look forward to trying them in new ways.

A child's imagination

Sometimes things just happen. Like over the winter Brother was putting dishes away and one of my favorite tea mugs fell from the cabinet. This is a cup that was given to me by a dear friend and it was great for my magic sleepy tea another friend makes me (it helps me get to sleep).

The cup missing the broken part

I looked at the cup and was sad. Pooka swore we could reuse it so "Mommy wouldn't have to get rid of it." I was skeptical, but didn't want to drink out of a superglued cup, so I set it aside to figure out come spring.

A new house for fairies

Spring comes, and I found the cup in the garden cabinet. Pooka looked at it and said it was a house. We turned the cup over, and the broken part did look rather doorway shaped. Next thing I knew Pooka was looking for the perfect place in the front bed for the baby fairies to live. After a bit it came to rest at the bottom of my lilac tree since she said that it needed the fairies to take care of it. I will admit it has had some transplant shock, but its holding on, and maybe this is what it needs. Maybe.

An Early Mother's Day gift

Tuesday Daddy was home playing Mr. Mom. I had to be into work early, so he decided to take a whole day off and maybe get some things done around the house. Apparently one of the things he wanted to do was get me a new lilac from my Grandmother's house.

Happy Mother's Day to me

You see, I asked for a new one for Mother's day since only one of mine from last year survived. Well he came through. Apparently the one he uprooted was a bit bigger then he thought it was.

I came home from work to find it sitting in a pot on the sidewalk by the front porch. I was so surprised, I forgot poor Lucky in the car.

Daddy asked if we just wanted to plant it straight into it's spot in the ground to hopefully get it well rooted. Since it's spot is in the front bed full of garden soil with some extra potting soil thrown on the lilac from the pot, we are hoping it takes. So Pooka, Daddy and I are out there, me still in my work clothes getting my plant into the ground.



Please don't die

It went in with little issue. We did stake a bit of a cage around it to make sure it grows straight at least until we are sure its well rooted. Here is to hoping that it doesn't get too much of a transplant shock. I did ask Pooka if she could ask Green Thumb and the fairies to take extra special care of this. I really hope it it holds on okay. Cross your fingers for me please.

OUTSIDE... Finally

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time taking most of the plants outside. It is finally warm enough that I plan to let them stay outside for a few days.  It was nice to know they finally had enough sun.

Amaryllis went out front.

I put the amaryllis Pooka got over the holiday on the front porch. They are looking rather sad after I think a cat started chewing on a few leaves. I am trying to figure out what to do with the darn things. Can I cut them off now and then have them rebloom later this summer? Any ideas from people who have done this before?

Picture one

Getting all the plants on the back deck in one picture was not going to happen if we still wanted access to the yard and the grill. Instead, I have 3 pictures. Here is the blueberries, strawberries, lilac, potatoes and veggies is all I am going with in the little pots.

Picture 2

Here you can see the last of the plants on the deck itself. The spinach and lettuce is in the back right corner. I finally moved them out of the garage yesterday and some have already taken root. Hopefully I will be cutting myself a salad in no time. The some of the tomatoes are on the strawberry tables. I forgot to bring these in last night, but they seemed okay at first glance.

Picture 3

Here is the plants on the table. I didn't have much rhyme or reason to where things went. I just kinda shoved things places, but I wanted to make sure the roasters of "seedlings" were up a bit higher to keep them safer from the dog. Now not everything looked very healthy and in some cases it was just pots of dirt, but I am hoping to pull out the seeds today and restart some of them. Fortunatly for me they are easy to restart plants like broccoli, pak choi, lettuce, beans and herbs.  Hopefully all of these being outside will help with the gnat issue that killed so many plants this year.

 

Tomates, egg flowers, scallions and mystery

I left some of the more tender plants inside. The egg flowers don't look like they are doing so well since I kinda forgot to water them for a bit. The scallions were growing great, and we actually trimmed them for dinner. We put the cut ends back into the water to see if they regrow. I forgot to get pictures since I was more then a tad melted when Daddy asked to cut them. The tomatoes I am hoping to transplant some of them this weekend. I know they were a bit dry yesterday and I was afraid to put them out when they do not have a whole lot of dirt to hold water.

Surprise peppers

These peppers are still in the front room. I know they are having an issue with mold. Something this kind of tray seems prone to, and no, I do not plan on reusing this kind next year. I am going to keep these guys and hopefully replant them as well soon so I can strengthen them to get them outside. Maybe spring will start staying. However, I haven't taken the tables down, I think that would be testing fate.

It's ALIVE, ALIVE

Spring is offically here. While we were outside this weekend, we saw signs of life everywhere.

Peek a boo Garlic

Pooka's garlic is sprouting everywhere. We were slightly worried about the garlic finding its way out of the mulch, but it looks like we didn't need to worry. They have not all sprouted above the mulch, but a good number have and more since I took this picture Sunday. The rain last night helped.


Our tree

This is a picture of the magnolia tree Daddy and I recieved as a wedding gift almost 11 years ago. It is a bit small, but seeing as how it got moved between houses, its doing really well this year. It is finally taller then Daddy. It has flowers ready to bloom any day.

The bigger lilac

This is one of my grandmother's lilacs. It seems to have loved the winter and is very happy in its pot. We are even thinking of putting it in the ground. The littler one isn't doing as well, but I am just happy that ONE of them seems to want to live. Thank you Aunt Pooka for the help getting this for me.

The caterpillars

Even Pooka's caterpillars seem to have grown and are enjoying the warmer weather. They are still living on the counter or on the plant table in their little cup, but we can all tell they have grown and are getting huge. I am wondering how much bigger they need to get before they start getting into their sleeping bags.

Finally one job done.. 800 to go.

The nice weather Thursday evening was too good to ignore. In fact, I had already worked that day and the call of spring got me. Pooka and I both had energy to burn. With Daddy home, we decided to finally tackle one of those small jobs that will make a huge improvement.

As you remember, we replanted the garlic bed due to the garlic having come up over the winter and a fairly large weed problem.

A replanted garlic bed.

Well, being as this is at the front of our house, there were a few reasons we wanted to make it look better. Part of it was that we really didn't want to have to continue to fight the weeds, while we hoped to have to water less this year. Part of us even we wanted it to look nice. Now, if you know Daddy and I, we are not really form over function people, but the front was in really bad shape before we pulled out the bushes.

We decided to mulch the bed and we hoped it would look more "finished" after that.Daddy opened and poured the bags of mulch while Pooka and I used rakes to spread it out. I admit, I forgot to get a picture of it as we were working, but I think the finished product looks a hundred times better.


Now with Mulch.

We did lose a good chunk of our craft stick markers while we were raking the mulch out. Pooka loved being able to go collect them out of the bed. So now we will have to wait and see where the garlic pops up.


Garlic bed, other view and a bit of a Pooka with her little rake

While we were laying the mulch, we did try to be careful while laying it around the existing garlic plants. Hopefully this helps them snap back and we will get a good yield of garlic. Even if we don't the front garlic bed looks alot better. We are talking of next year maybe putting a it more stone work around it to finish it out like the rest of the beds. However, that won't be done till next year. One project down, 800 more to go. Please stay spring, we have alot to do yet. 

Spring surprises

It seems we have finally found the begining of spring. The air outside is 54, the sun is shinning the snow is finally melting away and we have plants out in the sun.

Plants enjoying the spring sun

This is only some of the pots and the ones that have been in and out a bit. The peas may even go in the ground as soon as Monday. Turns out those guys handle cold better then I thought, so might as well get them in and let them go to town.

Lilacs are alive...

The larger of the lilacs is happy and budding away. We knew this one would be strong and happy. The littler ones seem to have had a harder time with the winter, but I still hold out hope they will come back.

Strawberry are still with us

I went out front to check some things there and found that our strawberry plants had survived the winter. Not all are unscathed, and some had a nice coating of dead strawberry leaves but they looked really good.

Even the seeded strawberries are alive

I was even surprised that the baby strawberry pot we planted last year still had some signs of life with green leaves. Its only one or 2, but I am wondering if we can nurse it along and keep it. We did lose brother's strawberries as far as I can tell, but it is still early enough, I will let him pick something else to put in it. Who knows, maybe he will try blueberries or something.

Welcome spring, we have missed you.

Garlic, Garlic, Garlic....

Today Pooka and I replanted the garlic bed with 88 cloves of garlic. We tried planting some garlic in the fall, but after a very... unusual winter (warm and cold spells alternating almost daily).  The garlic had sprouted early and had been looking pretty sad. The lady at the nursery thought our garlic might pull through, but I have my doubts. Especially since we were having problems with weeds in that bed.

The Garlic looking fairly sad in Early Feb

The general decision made by Pooka, Daddy and I to hedge our bet. On Friday while I was at worked, Daddy and Pooka tilled up most of the garlic bed.  Some garlic was left to see what would happen with it the stuff that we had planted earlier. Pooka and Daddy even went through and placed some weed block fabric on it while cutting holes for the established garlic. The plan was as soon as we got the garlic planted we would mulch and see if it helped with weeds and watering this summer.

Garlic bed tilled and weed fabric in place

Pooka and I tried Saturday to plant more garlic, but we found the weed block fabric was causing more troubles then helping, so we decided to skip the fabric.

Sunday Pooka and I went out in a chilly 38 degree weather and planted most of the garlic. The ground was dry enough, but we wanted to make sure the garlic was in before the cold snap coming early this week. Pooka was out there in a hat, and mittens and her winter coat running and playing and collecting rocks and sticks for her "collection." She did help with a good chunk of the garlic, but being 5 digging a hole while Mommy measures the spots is not so entertaining for a kid.

We got it all in, I was going to use our spoon trick, but ran out of spoons. Pooka grabbed her trusty craft sticks and now we have a little graveyard in the front yard. By the time we finished, we were all a bit frozen.  We did have to remember to leave a spot for my Grandmother's lilac that will be going in once it warms up. It is the bigger looking knife with some white rocks in it. I know the garlic maybe close now, but as the lilac gets bigger each year, we will be planting less and less around it.

88 bulbs of garlic ready to go.

The mulch is going to wait till after the "wintry mix" on Monday to see if it helps kill the weeds in the established area. If not, hopefully the mulch will. Let's hope we finally get some luck with the garlic.

It's ALIVE... IT'S ALIVE

So that may seem a bit exaggerated, but lets be honest. These are the 2 plants in the entire garden that are MINE. Not Pooka's, Mine. You see my dear friend/Adopted sister Steph helped me get these lilac bushes from my Grandmothers. They are from her bushes, bushes that I remember getting in trouble for playing hid and seek without telling anyone (but that's a different story and a whole different train of thought). Long and short of it is, they mean the world to me, and I have always dreamed of having some.

So in April, Steph was wonderful enough to go with me to collect my own lilacs (even tho she was up here for something else, but she still lives 4 hours away). As you can see, one has done quite well (the one she told me would be fine, it was a good strong one). However the second pot we were afraid it was a bit sketchy. 




Well the second pot looked dead until about a month ago I saw that little faint green in the back. Then today, I walked past my lilacs to check Pooka's plants and low and behold there was NEW GROWTH on the plant I was sure I was going to just have to sacrifice to the lilac gods.  It's not much, and it may not be the strongest little thing, but it's alive.  And I have a Steph to thank for it being there, since this is my 4th time trying to bring home lilacs and the first time they have survived this long. 

Eventually, these poor things will go in my front yard, but Steph told me it might be best if they spend the summer in miracle grow and then transplant after the epsom salt (That we used to remove the other bushes in place) has cleared out of the soil.

So thank you so much Steph. I love you and I owe you a million. How about I come do some work or something at your house so long as it doesn't involve me touching your garden? (since we both know I may kill it if I do).