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.

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.

Another step in making more room

If you remember, last fall we had pulled these big ugly overgrown bushes out of this retaining block wall in front of the house. It was bad, and while I don't have a picture I can use of them, just trust me when I say I am glad that they and their spawn of Hades thorns are long gone.

However, in it's place, I had this very open and very empty planting bed that was 37" wide at one end, 30" at the other and had a big circle on the very end. This is a picture of the bed last summer after we pulled the very nasty bushes. It made the house seem so much bigger.


The front bed after bushes were removed, Sept 2012

Around here, we will be having some very busy weekeneds coming up, so I wanted to get this project done. That way, if the weather finally holds, I am not waiting till we have a chance to build it to finally get plants out of the house.

Time go get to work

This is a picture of it Saturday as we got to work. You can kinda see what I was looking to do. At 37" wide, it would of been hard to plant 2 rows of plants without staggering them to make sure they got enough sunlight. The hope was we could plant in each level and give us that much more space. These beds will mostly be used for herbs and some very spicy peppers Pooka wants to grow.

First row

Pooka's Aunt C and Uncle M came over and were a huge help to get this bed done. Here gentlemen had put in the first row of blocks and I could see it would work. It does have some narrower spots, but that should be fine for herbs. They did a great job keeping it level and straight. Honestly better then I could have.

Stonehedge end

Originally Daddy and I had thought we would only do 2 coarses of block, but once we got it in there, it looked rather... squat and slightly like we gave up half done. The boys took a trip back to the garden center and picked up enough to do another row. I like it much better, but the plan we had for the end, was too short. We had picked up an extra rectangular block and Daddy had the idea to split it and make cap stones. Aunt C suggested we turn the cut edge out to mimic the rough face of the stones. I love it this way, and Daddy just finds it entertaining that we have stonehenge in the front yard.

A look into the bed from the side.

Once it was all put together, we had to wait a bit to put the dirt in. We had useds masonary glue to hold the bricks in place. I have a feeling I will have kids run though at least once a year. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't give and the glue gives it that strength, but it also took 24 hours for it to dry. So the bed sat overnight till we could fill it.

Circle end

This is the circle end of the planting bed. It is full of rocks when this picture was taken, but Daddy worked very hard to clear it. This will be the home of the bigger of the 2 lilacs. I am just trying to decide to plant it now, or wait till fall. Decisions decisions.  

Bed all ready for plants

Here is the bed on Sunday afternoon after we got the dirt put in.Pooka loved being told to stand in the bed and push dirt around. Brother helped too, although he was a bit more work and less play then Pooka. In hind sight, we might need more dirt, but this gives us a starting point. We used a mixture of top soil and garden soil so it should be very happy for plants. The big headache now is waiting to plant. Then we will mulch and it should look really good.

Front view all done

This is a picture of the final product. It looks so much better now. I am hoping once the weather warms up and I have plants in it,I won't have to have as many pots in the back yard.


First plant

This is the baby rosemary plant we bought when were out on Sunday getting soil. It is tiny, but for the cost of the plant, it is the same as 1 set of rosemary herbs from the store. I will be getting more later, but this was a "I will need rosemary soon, so I will just grab one now." You can't really see it over the wall yet, but in a few weeks it should be looking really good. Now it is a waiting game with Mother Nature to make sure it stays warm enough to put the rest in.

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.

Snow..again... ON SPRING BREAK

Like most of the midwest we are digging ourselves out of winterstorm Virgil. All I keep thinking is I had asked for a snowday, I had hoped and a couple of times begged for the elusive snow day. That one day where you get a break from the hussle and bussel of life, even if it means you are stuck inside with kids having personal space issues.

Snow hiding my lilacs

Well, I finally got my snow day... The first day of Kiddo's spring break. Does anyone else see the issue here. Pooka said this morning it shouldn't be spring break, it is winter break.

The garlic is under there, I think

The local radio station reported that it was about 10" deep as of 4 am this morning. I can believe that and probably more since it is STILL snowing. At least we went from a winter weather warning to a "Special weather statement".


The deck before I shoveled for the dog

I have spent part of the morning shoveling a walk way out the deck for our dog. She is big enough to walk on/through the snow, but this keeps snow from falling into my house and since she adores snow, even in her advanced age, she will be in and out alot today. I don't really want to spend my day using a spoon to get snow out of the door track or cleaning up avalanches of snow.

Pooka's picture of the same spot after I shoveled.

The funniest part, I shoveled this really nice walk way for the dog, she comes up the OTHER stairs and then tries to go over the drift. She eventually went around the table to get to the "path" but that was as far as I was willing to shovel. Maybe I can send Kiddo out later to shovel the deck, I mean enjoy it.

Part of the dog's snow path

Fortunatly for me, I don't have to work today due to my job being one of the many places that closed, especially since the interstates are closed. So I am going to use my free day off and try to be productive, or maybe I will just cuddle up with the kids with a bowl of popcorn and some cocoa and watch a movie.  While I finally got my snow day, it is suppose to be almost 60 on Friday, so someone somewhere is rather confused.