Girls weekend ends up at the nursery

The first girls weekend of the summer came in April and of course it wouldn't be a good girls weekend we didn't end up at the nursery. With the possibility of frost in our future, we were very careful with what we chose.

The haul

We came home with another set of purple chives for Pooka and K to munch on. These will have the pretty purple flowers we can make chive vinegar from. We also bought a new strawberry plant (ours didn't fair so well over the winter) and a purple set of flowers called campanula.

Strawberries

The strawberry went into a pot in the back yard. It seems none of our strawberries from last year survived so it was nice to get a new set. This is one of a few we will be planting this year.

Pooka's picture of her flower

Pooka actually took this is the purple flower campanula. She had to walk in her flower bed and said "Well, I hope nothing was planted here." Pooka loved the color and the shape of it and the fact it was already blooming. She couldn't wait to show K her new flowers.  

In its new home

This was planted in her little pollinator bed since we did read that it was good for butterflies and maybe hummingbirds. Pooka loves having her spot of flowers, but I will admit, I no longer remember what is out there. I meant to draw a map, but well, I forgot so it's now her "random flowers" collection. Sadly, this is one of those jobs I fell behind on and I don't know if I can do it anymore. At least I have the blog which tells me what I planted if I go looking I suppose.

Purple flower chives

Finally her chives ended up in the herb bed Pooka is so excited for these and while Daddy jokes about needing to mow the rest of the chives, I know they won't stand a chance once Pooka and K can play together this summer and eat them all. 

Berries everywhere

Berries have been coming in almost daily. We get our choice of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. While we may not get enough to make jam out of, it has been great seeing Pooka and Brother sharing berries for lunch everyday. Sadly, I think we are just about out of raspberries and blueberries for the season, but at least we got a good snack out of them.  Maybe next year we will get even more.

A small harvest one day of berries and peas. 

First Berries

Strawberries are starting to come in and they are looking good. The kids actually are loving having me go out and come in with more berries to eat each day. If we only get a handful a day, I don't have to worry about the kids not eating them.

first strawberries

Strawberries are finally planted

I fear I am falling behind on updating you all on what is going on. Such is life and I am quickly catching up I hope. The strawberries are finally planted and have been that way for a couple of weeks now. Getting them all in the hanging planter from Aunt B was a bit harder than I thought, and I was trying to be careful with the plants themselves. Since it took all my and pooka's hands to get it set up, the only picture I have is of the finished product. We will see how the summer goes and come fall I will decide what to with them. I worry if we have another bad winter all 9 plants will die. 

Strawberry hanging planter

It took some time to decide where to hang it. The pots have strawberries in them as well which I know will do well. Pooka is already looking forward to those first berries. I know Brother is as well. I am just happy to be able to say one thing is completely done.

Strawberries on the deck

Strawberries Everywhere

Well, I wish I could say I had strawberry fruits everywhere, but I do have strawberry plants everywhere. They have accumulated in stages, so I didn't realize how many where here until the other day. At first we bought a few plants to fill a strawberry hanging planter that Aunt B gave Pooka. Pooka loved it even if we have to make sure to hang it low enough so she can reach the berries. 

The first 4 berry plants

 Then on our shopping trip, Pooka bought herself another 3 little strawberry plants. She was in love with them and since it was her money, I didn't really feel the need to stop her. At least it was something we could make use of.

Pooka's haul from the shopping trip

Then one day, Pooka and I were at the home improvement store, and we saw a strawberry plant with RED flowers instead of white. Well, you know Pooka and color. She loved the idea of different colored flowers. So I talked to Daddy and we decided to buy her one.  

This is a bad picture, they are closer to red then pink

Now, I will admit I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into. We assumed something, and well it came back to bite me. What I didn't know when I went to pick them up was that I couldn't buy just 1. All I needed was one. These strawberries only come in a 6 pack. Sadly, we were in a rush, and I had promised, so we bought a set. 

A few days later, I declared all the previous strawberries dead. They did not handle the winter well and frankly, there was not a single sign of life. Signs that should of been there. I guess it is a good thing we replaced them now, but I will say having all these little strawberry plants floating around is making me nuts. They are already starting to produce and really need established into pots. I guess I know what I should be doing this week. Pooka is just ready to play in the dirt and she is really excited to see if the red flowered ones taste like regular strawberries. She went around the garden yesterday saying "Produce Strawberries. I am hungry and I want fresh fruit." She then proceeded to remind the raspberry and blueberry bushes to get to work as well. I think she is either hungry or excited. I can't tell which.

Happy 4th

Here at Pooka's science garden, we want to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th. We like so many others are working on yet another home improvement project. This one doesn't have anything to do with the garden, so you won't see much except the finished product if that.

We also want to take a moment to say thank you to those who put their lives on the line for our freedom. A large chunk of our adopted family have served. We have been lucky to have everyone come home safe, we also know not everyone is so lucky.

Until then, Have a happy holiday and enjoy yourselves. I know we will. And hopefully you will have fresh produce to enjoy. We are waiting for the strawberries to turn.

Strawberries and carrot greens

Clearance and Berries

When we first started strawberries last year, it was because we stumbled onto a $3 plant on clearance. It grew well, and made many other little plants and gave us plenty of strawberries as the year progressed. A Pooka was a very happy girl. On Wednesday, Pooka, Brother and I went to Lowes in search of varnish for a non garden related project. I do still sometimes remember to do things for the rest of the house.

We went in through the garden center because it had better parking and I didn't mind the walk since I try to get extra steps each day. Once we were through the gates, Pooka and I saw clearance, a good friend of mine. When we went to investigate, we saw they had strawberry plants for $3 as well as a blueberry bushes.

New berry bushes

Now, I had considered getting a 3rd blueberry bush, but I didn't want to pay full price for another bush. I also know that it is a bit late in the season to get a bush, since you normally want to get them before they have leaves, but this time, I decided to take a chance. I mean $3 is the price of one pint of berries, if I get that, I will consider it even.

We came home with a new strawberry and a blueberry, and a pot. We did manage to get them potted that day. The strawberry went into a pot we had laying around and the blueberry went into the new pot. I forgot to get a picture of the blueberry. However here is a picture of the strawberry.

New strawberry ready to go

Now to water them and hope they grow well and that they can live another year.

Transplanting, transplanting.

That is all we have been doing of late. It seems that I am constantly dodging rain drops while I run outside and try to get a couple of plants in the ground or bigger pots. Sometimes I come in not looking too worse for wear, othertimes, I am pretty sure swamp thing would be a relation.

Pooka's new strawberry plant

Pooka has had plenty of time to enjoy digging her holes. She has named and counted every worm, and makes sure they all go back into the holes. And to her credit, she has hung in there, although I know planting 8 plants at a time can be a bit challenging for a 5 year old who would rather find some way to exercise "to get more energy."

Tomatoes and peppers all done

However, through all this, the regular broccoli and the cucumbers have been planted, all the hot peppers and tomatoes are now in homes. The tomatillos and the beans and the peas are settled in. The eggplant, some squash, zucchini and the mystery plant are getting comfy in their new pots.

Mystery plant all settled into a new home

While we still have some things to plant (the sweet peppers, a couple more squash, and about 8 new herbs) we are getting there. That is something to remember when you are dodging raindrops to plant, or when you sit on the ground and hear it go squish. Plus the more I plant now, the less I need to water. Mother Nature is taking care of that.

Squash in a recycling bin

Going to the nursery, Pooka's going to get plants...

If you remember, Last Thursday Pooka and I went to the nursery to "plan out what she wanted to buy."

Well, if you remember, they didn't have tomatillos that Pooka has been asking me for since January, but said to call on Friday to see if they got them in. We called Friday, and nope, they weren't in yet. We called on Saturday morning and someone said they had come in. So Pooka and I talked Daddy and Brother into coming because I wanted to know what I had to save space for in the garden and Pooka wanted her tomatillos.

We got to the farther away nursery and couldn't find them. We asked and apparently there was a miscommunication because they had not arrived and were probably not going to. Sigh...

Yes, this meant a very very upset Pooka. I jumped in and made a deal with her. If she gave me $10 of her birthday money to buy herbs for the front bed, I would take her to the nursery we usually go to and I would buy her tomatillos with the $10.

This meant she would get to go to 2 nurseries and get her tomatillos. So she wandered around the Far Away nursery and found a few things she liked. Another strawberry plant, a lavender plant, a chocolate mint plant, a venus fly trap (Wait, how does this make food for me?) and I got us an aloe 

plant (since I had a feeling we may need it with all the outside time coming up), some more thyme.

Haul from store A

The venus fly trap has become a favorite with Pooka. She has also asked for a drosera plant, but she didn't have enough money. I told her one carnivorous plant at a time please.

 

Flies anyone?

But now the search was on for tomatillos. I called our favorite nursery just blocks from our house and they said "We should still have some." Luckily it was on our way home so we stopped by. Daddy and Brother waited in the car since as Brother put it, "It is just another nursery." True, but this one had what Pooka wanted.  

 

We went back to the greenhouse with the vegetables and they had 6 tomatillo plants left. Thank goodness. Pooka decided to get 3. Since she still had some money left over, we got some romaine lettuce seeds so that we can hopefully grow some lettuce everyone will like.Now to just get it all in the ground.

Tomatillos and lettuce seeds

Already seeing flowers

As many parts of the country, we have had a good chunk of rain come through with more due the next day or so.

However, all the rain has been doing really well for Pooka's garden. In fact, we have started to see our first sets of flowers.

Stargazer

I wish I could say this was my first stargazer from the bulbs we bought. But sadly, those have yet to even break the surface. However, Daddy brought me home a stargazer that had yet to bloom on Mother's day, so I was suprised when this bloomed yesterday.

Strawberry

Pooka's strawberry plants from last year have their first bloom. They did okay over the winter, but it looks like they are ready to start gearing up for another year as well.

Tomato flowering

This tomato plant from the growums kit has been in the ground for over 2 weeks. It saw the nights of frost and yet seems rather happy. I don't know for sure if it will actually produce fruit yet, but I gave it a good dose of dry milk powder at the base under the mulch to help it along.

The cucumber plant we just got in the ground a few days ago is flowering as well. I had to pull buds off when I planted it and I am wondering if I missed one. I doubt much will come from this flower, but hopefully the cucumber likes its new home.

Goodbye blooms, hello fruit

In some cases the flowers have already finished blooming like the ones on this blueberry bush. Here is to hoping we get our first blueberry yeild. It looks like at least some of them took.

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.

Trying to involve everyone

Happy Spring everyone.

Yesterday was a busy day partially becuase it was a nice day and partially because we will be spending today with family. One of our trips out including going to Lowes. This is a scary place for Daddy this time of year since Pooka (and I) get a bit excited with the new plants coming in.

Well, I realized earlier this week that Brother's strawberry plant didn't survive the winter. We had 3 of 4 containers of strawberries survive, but his just didn't make it. I honestly felt bad since that was HIS plant in this whole garden.

Skip ahead to us walking into Lowes. I looked at Brother and said "Hey, I meant to tell you your strawberry plant died, sweetie."

He did look rather upset, which I couldn't blame him. Daddy gave me the "Why are you bringing this up now?" look. So I looked at Brother and said "Now, I didn't get a chance to talk to Dad about this, but if you want to get another plant to be YOUR plant, we can do that."

This cheered Brother up, but he had no idea what he wanted to grow. For a bit he wanted to grow more strawberries since he wants us to make him more strawberry syrup (a new homemade favorite that has surpassed storebought syrup in his world), but we decided to look at a plant that would be his. He and I walked the garden area alone, and he found some blueberry bushes that he liked.

Brother's new blueberry bush

I agreed after making sure we could container garden it (I am not ready to put one in the ground) and he picked one out. We also picked out a brand new pot that would be his pot. They didn't have a blue one, but he was happy with a green one.

Brother's new pot with dirt

Later that afternoon, Brother and I got it in it's new home. It fit really well, and hopefully this will provide us with at least a pint of blueberries. If we get that much out of it over the course of the summer, and if it like the strawberries where we get one or 2 a day, thats enough for snacking on.

A happy new little blueberry plant

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.

One last look

This week the frost/freeze hit pretty hard. I am glad I got outside Monday to take pictures of things before they started looking too bad. Since Monday, the cucumbers are very dead, the tomatoes are about half gone, but the peppers and broccoli are still doing okay. 

Stargazer and lilacs

The lilac's and the stargazer are doing well. They have been sheltered against the house most of the summer, so they are not in too direct of light. I am so glad the lilac's are still alive and doing well. I am planning on bringing them in once they drop their leaves since everyone I have talked to said that they may not do well in the pots especially if we get as cold a winter as predicted.

Dill and zombie parsley

The big dill plant is still flowering. It seems to have fallen a bit in the pot, and I am planning on adding a bit more dirt to stabilize it. I can probably pull the empty bottle out as well. The baby dill is doing well and has been pulled in the house already. It seems to be doing okay on the counter. The parsley came back to life in the garage, so it is in the sink right now since we watered it yesterday.

Containers

The containers are doing well. The basil was all picked and dried last weekend. Although the Sweet Basil plant had new growth on it yesterday. It has been in a garage with no sun for a week. I still can't figure that out. The strawberries came back, but they need moved inside for winter, and most of the herbs still out here I am trying to decide if I want to bring in or see if they make it (Oregano, thyme, ect). The rosemary and lavender should be okay.

Poblano's and Broccoli

 The broccoli is still producing. It should produce well into the fall/early winter. The poblano's are doing well. They still produce, so I walk outside and check for good sized ones. All the peppers from the big harvest have been diced and frozen and put in ziplocks in the freezer to use all winter. I guess I should explain how we do that (But that's another post).

Sweet Peppers and Green Peppers

 The sweet peppers and green peppers are still doing well. All the fruit from them has also been frozen and put away. I keep finding peppers on both plants, so we are going to leave the peppers until they start to look really sad. We never did get anything out of the store bought yellow pepper plant.  I am not buying the plants ever again. That GIANT sweet pepper plant (second closest to the stairs) is my best producer. I am going to miss that plant.

Cucumbers and Tomatoes

 The cucumbers are dying here. Today they are very dead. I really need to pull them, but we are trying to finish the front yard a bit so we can lay some of the dead plants down as compost for the winter. The green bean plant is in there behind the sign. It didn't do much again this year, and I am seriously thinking about not doing those again. However, this year I know it got choked out by the tomatoes and cucumber. I may leave it up to Pooka next year.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes look really bad. Remember the big harvest, it got to a point where we just started hacking and breaking the plants. They still look rather big here, but you can see the torn down bits of them and that they look rather sad. They look worse today, but again, until we are ready to lay them all down, I haven't pulled them yet.




That is what the plants looked like as of Monday the 8th. Overall I think we got our money back from them and probably made a profit. Maybe next year I will weigh what comes in for giggles.  I am planning on trying to get some pictures of the structures holding up the plants as we get things pulled out. Over the winter, I am hoping to updating the blog with our indoor gardening efforts as well as other odds and ends as it pertains to Pooka and her gardening love, and before I know it, I will have to start/get seedlings ready to go in next spring. I have a feeling this may be around for awhile. Especially after yesterday when she wrote a song about it.

"I love gardening, yes I do.
I love gardening yes I do.
I am going to garden forever,
because it makes me happy." - Copyright to a Pooka who was sitting in the car.

Warning... Fall approaching

Aside from the neighbors trees having begun to turn and the fact that Pooka needs to wear sweaters daily now, I hadn't seen many signs of fall. It hasn't been that cold in the evening, we had one frost advisory a few weeks ago, but nothing since. I also admit with the cooler temps we haven't been watering much. Mostly leaving that to Mother Nature since our lives got hectic again and we don't want water sitting on the plants in the cooler parts of the night.  That is until yesterday. I walked outside to this. 

floppy plant

It looks as if the strawberry plants are going dormant. At least I am hoping this is going dormant and not "I am dying...dying...dying...dead."  Either way, probably means I should go clean off the plant of the remaining fruit and clean off those leafless stems.

Do Strawberry leaves change colors like trees?

Even the radishes are looking sad. I was fairly certain this was a cold weather crop, so I am thinking it may have something to do with overcrowding as well. I don't know for sure, but it looks very floppy like the strawberries. However, aside from these 2 types of plants, everything else looks very happy. I don't know how long it will last, but I guess I should get ready for the cold weather.

Floppy radishes??

However, then I get mixed signals, like brand new flowers on the tomato plants. Here is to hoping I get the green tomatoes ripened and the new peppers grown before things get too much colder. 

New flowers in OCTOBER?