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!

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.