The Yard is ALIVE!

It has been a hectic few weeks without hubby dearest. My gardening has fallen to the wayside in attempt to catch up on the 1 million other things that need to be done to keep this household afloat. That being said, the garden/yard doesn't wait for anyone!

Two days ago I was running into the house to avoid the rain when I noticed growing outside my front door were what I thought to be button mushrooms. I know some mushrooms are poisionous, so I came in and looked them up on the internet. To my dismay, they are poisionous but look REALLY cool anyway. I was hoping they'd be another thing I could harvest from the yard, but alas... NO!

My Lilac bushes have seen the worst of winter. My largest one on the back corner of my house had been crushed by the snow. The trunk is lying across my yard and the roots are mostly upheaved, however that little sucker is still blooming. Lilacs are my FAVORITE flower and I am having a hard time deciding what to do with this bush. The Hippie in me wants to somehow tie it back up, but the realist in me says, there is NO WAY you can lift that heavy bush and put it back. But it is still alive after all that..... and I think I need to figure out a way to have it stay!

My Quince tree is blooming and I am hoping for a nice harvest this fall!

The spring bulbs are all but gone. The last of my tulips are falling to the ground. Daffodils gone, Hyacinths, gone, crocuses, way gone.... but this makes way for the new plants. I have a beautiful showing of plumage from Irises. Even if they never bloom, the leaves are BEAUTIFUL! I believe I planted some lillies in the fall, as these seem to be sprouting up all over. And my faithful hostas are popping up everywhere. SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!!!!!

AHHHH, the garden..... well that is coming along nicely. I have one plant of brussel sprouts growing (these are my FAVORITE veggie aside from potatos), several types of lettuce, a pak choi, broccoli raab, scallions and my garlic. I have an EXTREMELY hardy plant of oregano that lasted outside thru the winter. I also received as a gift 5 strawberry plants and a raspberry plant from my friend Aimee. I have those in, however I think only two of the strawberry plants are gonna make it. I hope they all do, but three aren't looking so hot. I guess we'll see. I started plants inside, including a bunch of different tomatoes, basil, hot peppers (hub's favorite), dill, etc. But my newest adventure is the watermelons I started. I think I have about 7 or 8 that sprouted and I am gonna give Aimee a few...... I'm a bit nervous about growing these as I hear they need lots of love. But WHAT THE HELL!

Cold Weather Crops

Monday of this week we had such beautiful weather that I busted out my gardening shoes and went to work in my overgrown patch of land. The last few years I've grown tomatoes, herbs, peppers and a few other things in this specific patch. This year it seems, it has become my cold weather crop patch.

In the fall of 2009, I planted two different types of garlic in this patch. Using the square foot method, I believe I currently have about 5 or 6 squares dedicated to Garlic. Given my husband eats tons of it and I use it to help cure colds, I feel like we should be growing more. I guess we'll see what happens.

As I mentioned before, monday was BEAUTIFUL! So I went out, pulled weeds and planted some bush beans and some spinach. I'd like to get some lettuce in the ground as well but need to take stock of what kind of seeds I have on hand. Since I am relatively new..... OK brand spankin' new with this whole "spring crop" thing, I need to do some research to see what grows here in the spring. I thought beets did, but saw the label for my beets that said "after the last frost"..... I am confused. As soon as I sort thru this, I'll post what can be grown in zone 5/6 in the spring. Till then.....

Happy Gardening!

Farm to Table Website

While searching the web about a trade show I heard about on the radio, I came across an AWESOME website. It is a site that shows all kinds of local farm events, gives names of local farms to buy from, gives canning advice, cooking advice, growing advice, etc. Basically EVERYTHING to do with eating fresh and local foods. The most awesome part is that the articles are written by us, the subscribers. The content at this point is a bit thin, but I hope there will be many more people adding this website to their daily read and I hope people will begin to contribute. I plan on submitting articles soon :)

http://www.farmtotablepa.com/

I hope you enjoy!

SCRAM!

I went to the garden center the other day and purchased some Deer Scram. It worked a few years back to keep Bambi from topping my tomatoes so I figured, what the hell I'll give it another try. Plus when I asked the man working at the garden center what will keep the deer from eating my spring bulbs, he said, "Deer Scram" with out hesitation. Two of us can't be wrong, right?

So, I spread it around all the bulbs the same day I bought it and haven't looked at them since... it's been a few days. Today I went out to have a look and I am perplexed. I can't tell if the deer ate more or if the eaten plants are remnants of the feedings that took place before Deer Scram. I took some pictures today and hope that I can maybe piece together if it is working or not. If it is not working, I'm going to have to figure something else out. The deer around here, are not shy!

The Four Letter Word--- DEER!

Today, my daughter and I took a small walk around the yard to see what is popping up. The weather here has been bouncing between warm (low 60's) to cool (low 40's) in the past few weeks. All the snow has finally melted and we actually had several days of rain causing the fear of flooding in lowland areas like Millvale, Etna, Sharpsburg, etc. Even Downtown Pittsburgh had posted warnings. In the end, we weathered fine and aside from small areas of flooding, we escaped pretty much unscathed.

The weather we've been having is prime for spring bulbs. As mentioned in my last blog post, I didn't think I'd have much to admire this year due to my lack of motivation in the fall. I was SO wrong! If I had planted all the bulbs in my garage, I'd have had an astronomical amount of flowers. At this point, I'm dabbling on an insane amount. This is wonderful for me and also for the four letter, four legged friends, DEER.

Upon my inspection this morning with my daughter, I found almost all of my crocus are gone, the few tulips I have in are gone and my hyacinth are gone. I want to cry. Being the semi rational person I am, I know crying won't solve anything, so next is to take action. I am going to the garden center today to find something to chase them away. I'd like to find something earth friendly, unstinky, and effective. I've heard of the egg and milk in water, but that takes too long to make, at this point. I've read about soap- I think these deer are too smart for that. UGH. So it looks like a call to "country mouse" for some advice. After all, she chases black bear from her yard--- she has to have a solution for deer.

SPRING BULBS!!!

I know it is not proper grammar to use more than one exclamation point. However, after the winter we've weathered (no pun intended), there aren't enough exclamation points in the universe to show my excitement for the spring bulbs popping up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing these brave little soldiers, popping their heads above ground, while the snow is still lying around makes my world. It feels like Mother Nature is calling from below ground, saying, "Don't worry. I have not forgotten you." A bundle of love in the form of flowers. I heart Mother Nature!

Last fall I was in a funk..... a BIG funk and so I did not plant my usual 200+ bulbs. I did dig them out at the end of last spring and put them away for fall, but just didn't have the ambition to do it. And I kick myself every time I think of it. Seeing crocus, daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, etc helps me to realize that winter is almost over and that I can hang in there a few more weeks. So the only bulbs popping up this spring are the ones I missed last year. This is bad news for the deer who LOVED my red tulips last year. My neighbor would try to shoo them every morning as she pulled out of her driveway, to no avail. Sorry deer, maybe next year.

New to my spring line is garlic. In the fall, a trip to the garden center yielded a cool talk with a few of the garden gals. They talked me into planting two different types of garlic. So I have those in and I believe I need to cut them back twice in order to produce bulbs. I'll be googling that later. For now, I have pictures of the spring bulbs I missed last year (YEAH!) and soon I will be taking pictures of the garlic.

PUT A HOLE IN THE BUCKET, DEAR LIZA

So from the beginning of my gardening days, I knew I needed holes in the bottom of my planters. However, I failed to use this knowledge when I decided to sprout my own tomato plants. I sprouted them in one of those "sprouters" for lack of a better word. It has about 72+ compartments to start your seeds. I then carefully separated my plants and put them into plastic and foam drinking cups, of which I had a TON of thanks to Sams Club and parties. Thinking they wouldn't be in these cups long, I never put the holes in the bottom of them...... BAD MOVE!! With all of the rain we've had, if I am not ON TOP of them, I find myself dumping out the cups. Hopefully tomorrow the rain holds off enough for me to get them into the ground!!!

A Polygamist Colony of Dandelions PART DEUX

Here is a website ( http://www.plantea.com/dandelions.htm ) on how to get rid of these suckers........ Corn Meal Gluten is what Aunt Lou suggested. This website also says to spray them with vinegar to kill them and then work to improve your soil as weeds like bad soil....... I wonder if these tricks will kill off the clover too..... HMMMMMM leave that for another day another post.

A Polygamist Colony of Dandelions

So all through my yard are dandelions....... and not the cute yellow kind either..... Most have puffed and then blown their seeds all over God's creation leaving the ugly sticks with bald heads. I thought, no problem, I'll mow the lawn and mow the suckers over. (in the eeyore voice ) Didn't really work..... so I kept running over them with the mower..... back and forth like a sweeper. It worked on some, but others required me to strategically hold the mower handle in while I bent over to yank them out of the ground. Of course not the plant, just the ugly sticks with the bald heads. I think once we get rain again, I am going to look out onto the lawn and discover the colony will have set up shop again!!!! My friend's Aunt Lou mentioned some corn something or other that you put on your lawn in the fall. It is organic and will not allow the "pee to beds" as the Girty clan calls them, to re-grow. As soon as I know the name I'll post it..... until next year, I guess I'll be mowing these stupid things over and over!!!!

Composting and Painting and Rocks, OH MY!

This weekend has proven to be the one that will KILL ME!!! Matt took off on Friday to help me get stuff done before my big Back Yard Tea Party next week.... (I am hoping in the next few years to call it a Garden Tea Party!). Thursday the FedEx man showed up with a package and it happened to be a three bin composter. Matt bought it for me for Mother's Day and I wasn't supposed to know about it, but the box read in big letters "COMPOST BIN" so no surprise for me...... So Friday morning Matt put the sucker together and we've started collecting kitchen scraps. It is so EXCITING to think that garbage can actually turn into dirt!!! OH WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!!! I am wondering, Den, if I need to leave the green in the garden or should I add it to my composter???

Friday morning I also got my feet wet using a drill..... I know this may not seem like a big accomplishment, but learning power tools give me a "woman power" that, as Oliver says, "I CAN DO IT!" I drilled holes into pots that I found at the local Thrift Stores..... reuse, recycle at it's best!!! I plan to use them in my garden as accent pieces. I also started to dig out the two rododendrons in front of my sun room. They are relatively small and I am transplanting them to the edge of my drive way. (Currently on the right side of the driveway is a mish mosh of small trees, bushes, weeds and tons of old leaves mixed with the HUGE trees that have been there for 90+ years. ) Well to get to the Rododendrons, I needed to rip out some troublesome ivy. Matt loves the stuff, I don't care for it. It doesn't say, "country cottage" like our house does..... He was pretty mad that I pulled out a "live, viable plant". I left half of the area with the ivy for now but have visions of a beautiful cutting garden there with two chairs, a table and lots of butterflies, humming birds and flowers!!!! He just can't see my vision...... and truly I am hoping I can provide that vision!!!

Friday, we also had a few ton of rocks delivered to add to our driveway. Matt would LOVE to pave it, but the cost is prohibitive and I am glad it is. Using the rock allows for drainage rather than runoff which is contributing to pollution in our water systems. I am also considering a water garden and a rain barrel (but we'll chat about these later)! Our original estimate was not correct and so we needed to add a few more ton...... This order came yesterday. Our driveway looks much better!!!

The rest of this weekend was rainy and crappy which was good for us as we painted our living room, sun room and the wall up the steps. We used SO MUCH paint that we didn't expect, AND we haven't even started on the trim!!! YIKES! That will have to transpire later in the season when I am kidless as Oliver stands over me and says, "mommy..... I help...... paintant" and Gaby just takes toy buckets and runs them over freshly painted walls or puts her hand on the wet paint and leans like she is James Dean. OY VEY!!

Matt and I awoke today to find holes in our paint...... so we need to add another f-ing coat. We literally painted until I fell face first into the paint tray last night...... and here we go again. I have a baby shower today so we gotta get it done before I need to leave...... Remind me NEVER to take on this task again!!!!

Spring has Sprung

So this blog is about me trying to become a gardener....... and since I am SO very bad at this, I thought I would blog my progress or lack thereof. This is both for my own knowledge so I can look back, hopefully someday, and laugh AND for family and friends of whom are out of town but want to keep up with my growing growing ability ;)

So here goes......