Notes for April 30, 2009

We turned the heat back on.

Notes for April 29, 2009

Thinned the radishes last night and today we are having some light rain. The dogwoods and the wisteria are in bloom and we turned off the AC.

Notes for April 27, 2009

Busy weekend with beautiful weather. Its been in the 80s and near 90 since Friday and will be again today and tomorrow. And yes we broke down last night and turned on the AC (IN APRIL!).

Friday night I cut the grass to get a head start on Saturday. Saturday, after the usual running around (dropping off and picking up my daughter and picking up hoagies from the local church hoagie sale), I finally did get to work in the yard. First thing I did was to plant the flower bulbs we got for Easter (hyacinths and tulips). I planted them with a handful of ground up leaves and a tablespoon of bone meal.

Then I mulched up the six bags of leaves that my neighbor gave me. I dumped them out of the bags and ran them over with the mower.

Next I played with a toy I got for Christmas and finally took out the new weed wacker out of the box and started that learning process.

Then I put some block edging in a circle around my mailbox post where the Joe Pye Weed is. I put the rest of the edging around some tiger lillies in the back yard but I didn't dig them in yet. Next I straightened out the pile of remaining edging and old bricks (to be placed in the trash a few at a time; just after the used mortar pieces are gone).

I water the radish and spinach (which are starting to sprout) and the onions. I then mulched the onions.

I then sifted the bag and a half of potting mix (using a dollar store wastebasket). There were just too many large pieces in the mix. I put the large pieces in the flower bed as mulch.

Notes for April 22, 2009

Emptied 0.2' from the rain gauge this morning.

Notes for April 21, 2009

Emptied 0.6" from the rain gauge this morning.

I also forgot to mention that on Saturday I removed a tick from my leg after working in the yard.

Notes for April 20, 2009

Well, I finally got the veggie garden tilled. I added finely ground up leaves, wood ashes and bone meal. then I planted two rows of radishes and four rows of spinach (to use up old seeds).

I then raked up the back yard of all the little branches that had fallen over the winter. I decided I needed to do that now because it looks like I will need to cut the grass next week and I didn't want to be attacked by flying wood chips.

I also planted two Hosta and Ostrich Ferns (both bare root) and a red iris.

Notes for April 16, 2009

Emptied 0.8" from the rain gauge this morning which also had a tiny little bit of scum ice as this morning's temp was 28 degrees F.

Notes for April 15, 2009

I emptied 0.8" from the rain gauge yesterday.

I think I have to plant our Easter flower bulbs earlier than I did last year. Hardly any of them came back up. They were pretty dried up when I planted them last year.

I need to come up with something to plant on the northeast side of my house. this is the spot where the winds piles up the leaves and prevents anything from germinating. I had daisies there but they are gone. Maybe just some annuals.

Notes for April 13, 2009

I took Friday off from work and it was the right day to do so. It was supposed to start raining by noon but it didn't until after bedtime so I was able to get a good chunk of work done outside. I still haven't tilled the veggie garden yet but that's next.

I was able to clear out the wind blown piled up leaves from the flower beds along the fences and I did mulch up all the leaves that had fallen inside the veggie garden and I even raked up the fallen branches in the front and side yard.

Saturday the rain was supposed to stop by noon but didn't stop until after dinner. I emptied out 0.45" Sunday morning.

I turned the grow mat off and turned the grow light on over the pepper seedlings and the remaining seedlings have sprouted.

Notes for April 7, 2009

Well I did empty the rain gauge again on Friday with 0.6".

Saturday I did get some of the leaves taken care of but I was battling 30 mph winds, so the front yard will have to wait. (especially since there were more blowing into my yard from across the street). What I ended up getting taken care of was priority 4. I was able to clean the mortar off the cinder blocks I got this winter and now my two compost bins are complete.

Yesterday I emptied 1.05" from the rain gauge after I got home from work and noticed the onions starting to sprout.

On Sunday I noticed some of my celebrity tomato plants sprouting and yesterday there were more including the large tomatoes, the Juliet grape tomato and some of the green peppers. It looks like the grow mat definitely helped the peppers get started. It normally takes them two weeks to sprout.

Notes for April 3, 2009

Emptied 0.55" from the rain gauge yesterday and will again tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be so windy tomorrow as they say it's going to be so I can clean up some yard leaves.