Notes for April 7, 2010

Last night I watered my veggies.  My onions are now 4" to 5" tall and the radishes I planted on Saturday have started to sprout.  Its been warm the last few days and is expected to be in the 80's again today and tomorrow.   After I finished watering I came in the house and started some more seeds on the windowsill (under my grow lights).  Now alongside the tomatoes and peppers are some perennials.  I started Johnny Jump Ups, Yarrow, Painted Daisies, James Kelway daisy and some Butterfly Plants.  They are all in peat pots in aluminum baking trays.  The peppers are also sitting on a heating mat.

Notes for April 6, 2010

Yes I am delinquent in writing...   Friday, Good Friday I took off from work.  I picked up some wood ashes from an aunt and uncles house (ok it was three five gallon buckets).  And I stopped at the gas station and refilled the gas can from the shed.  When I got home I ran the mower over the leaves that had fallen in the veggie garden until it was a fine mulch.  Then I put down a fine layer of bone meal, covered it with a healthy layer of wood ashes and then covered that with a layer of finely mulched leaves (from the finely mulched leaf pile from behind the shed).  Then I rototilled the garden in one direction then the other.   On Saturday, another beautiful day, I first planted radish and spinach and I am trying a row of lettuce too.  After planting I finally got the ladder out and took down the outdoor Christmas lights that had been waiting for a warm sunny day to be taken down.  Next I cleaned out the fallen leaves from the flower beds in the front yard, used the leaf blower to blow them into the grass and then mulched all the leaves remaining in the front yard, picking them up with the bagging mower.   On Sunday, yes Easter Sunday, when I probably should have been taking a nap, I started my tomato and pepper seeds indoors (about two weeks late this year).  This year I am using peat pots to reduce plant damage during transplant.  I also bought the cheap aluminum baking pans to put the peat pots in to keep them from falling over and to keep any excess moisture contained.

Notes for March 30, 2010

Guess what? It's raining!  I emptied 2.2" from the rain gauge yesterday afternoon.

Notes for March 29, 2010

Things are moving slow this year, or I probably should say that its me that's moving slow.  I haven't turned the garden yet nor have I started my tomato or pepper seeds.  This past weekend the weather was still a factor.  I was doing some outside work at church on Saturday and after lunch I didn't have that much ambition since it was still chilly.  I did at least go through the grass and my flower beds along the driveway and threw the stones back into the driveway that got shoveled out of the driveway with the snow.  But that's about it.    Sunday it was cloudy and cool and occasionally sprinkled so I didn't work outside.  On Saturday I did empty the rain gauge of 0.25" that rained on Thursday.  And surprise it's raining again today.  We had some steady moderate rain last night and the creeks were up their banks again this morning.  Hopefully tonight I will at least clean out the area in the basement in front of my seed starting shelf.

Notes for March 23, 2010

Thunderstorm in March last night.  I could tell, it was easy, there was an 85 pound golden retriever stuck to my leg.

Notes for March 21, 2010

Yesterday I finally broke Spring.  After my morning errands I was able to work in the yard.  It was unfortunate that I did not get home until 11 and that kind of shot half the day since we had dinner plans.  Anyway, I did stop at my local garden center and it being the first day of Spring, I walked into a 20 percent off everything in the store sale. woo hoo!  I had a $50 gift certificate so I bought a 24 pound bag of bone meal, a shut off valve for the hose (squeeze type) and a hand rake (18" long), and I still had $6 left. When I got home I turned the onion bed after adding bone meal, wood ashes and leaves.  Then I planted yellow and red onions. While shopping earlier this week I found a purple daylily on sale and bought a pack of three.  I then planted them after the onions and learned the old lessons that unless its a new flower bed, you really shouldn't plant new perennials until May.  In the first spot I wanted to plant it, I ended up digging up a hosta that hadn't sprouted yet.  So I changed strategies and planted them in spots where the marigolds were and still needed to be cleaned out of the flower bed. After that I started cleaning up the yard of fallen branches and got two thirds of the front yard done.  Then I ran out of steam.

Notes for January 12, 2010

I have received at least four more seed catalogs since my last entry.  I will look through them all.  Who knows where I will find my next idea (plant etc) that actually works in my yard.  Yesterday I even received two post card packs of gardening gadgets but I didn't see that they came until this morning.   One of my local gardening stores doubles as a Christmas store and each January and February they advertise 40% off all seeds.  Looking at the calendar, I will probably be stopping by there the weekend of the 23rd this month.  I have already started my list although I haven't completed my inventory yet to see what I need.   I have decided to change one thing so far this season.  For my larger vegetable plants, I think I am going to start them from seed in biodegradeable pots.  I lost a couple of tomato, pepper and cucumber plants during transplanting and using the peat pots will eliminate that problem.  I will have to use some sort tray underneath to keep them from falling over as well as catch any water.   I think I am going to try even another variety of green pepper to try to get some earlier than late August.  I found a variety that touts its for short growing seasons but it was only a day shorter in its description than one of the two varieties I grew last year.   I had beautiful success with growing Juliet tomatoes instead of growing cherry tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes seem to crack more oftten.  I think I will grow them again and look for another variety of grape as well.   I didn't plant my lima beans until late and I think I am finished with that exeriment for a while.  Not sure what I will plant instead, maybe some leaf lettuce or another row of carrots.  I wish I could get better spinach germination, I'm thinking of trying a different variety to see if the germination is better.   It was a little warmer this morning.  It was only 27 when I got up.  The last two days it was 11 degrees.