Let's be Best Friends... Maybe...But Probably Not

i LOVE birds.

I saw my first red something or the other woodpecker a few weeks ago and my yard is filled with those blue ones, and then there are the tiny cute ones and I'm not too keen on those large fluffy grey ones, but they have their place.


You can see, I'm practically an expert.

But I do know my Robins. And I love them.
But then there's MY Robin. She and I have an understanding. She rules my garden and I understand that I will stay away from her while she eats whatever she wants while she raises her babies in my Wisteria.

The Wisteria that needs constant pruning, that I can't prune because she'll cry murder from a tree and make me feel this overwhelming guilt that I've invaded HER territory.

I'd like her to contribute towards the mortgage, but I can never get her to sit still long enough.

So this morning, she decided to tear down my squash trellis. Really, why did I need a squash trellis when it would look so much better all balled up in pieces, tucked into the nether-reaches of an illusive wisteria branch?

So the pesky, lovable creature ignored my flailing and fluttering at the kitchen window, and my protests, and tried to pull it down one thread at a time.

And was she furious that I tied it so tightly....

So I decided to give her a peace offering.

 A wonderful and smart Lady told me to throw scraps of yarn out into my yard, and so I did...

And Just a few hours later, there in my Wisteria, without fail, just like last year, was The Nest. The one that will keep me from training my Wisteria across the arbor. The one that will leave Poor Hubby confused because I said I would keep it trimmed back, and out of the eaves, and from tearing down our house, one powerful branch at a time. The Nest that my head will pop up next to for the next few months until I see the little naked babies all curled up with their pathetic beaks trembling in the air for squishy worm guts... and probably these

My grapes. The ones I will never get to eat because I'm terrified of an animal smaller than my hand but with a shrill louder than when my mother sang "The Hills are Alive" at 5am to get us up for school when we were kids...

Sigh.

I can't believe I love birds.

Tra-la-la-la Trellises

It has been beautiful outside.

...Because winter is behind us and anything that's NOT winter is beautiful and lovely in Zone 6.

And I've had the week off.

So my legs are painfully sore from excessive frolicking.

All that prancing really works the calves.

 

And my garden gloves have become a lot more like wristlets or bracelets.

Which is pretty awesome for anything but my fingernails.

 

So I've been doing a bit of above the dirt action to keep them clean.

Trellis building!



 

 This is my squash trellis. I'm still not sure if it will hold up from the weight of winter squash, so it will be an interesting experience. I suppose by next year I'll have learned whether or not I should have used poultry fencing or construction fencing instead of nylon fencing.

But if nothing else, it was the perfect location to hang this UBER nifty gift I got from an uber special friend last year.

Building anything fun in your garden this year? Share, share!!!!
Please Share!!!!!!

Haute Potato Towers

This morning, after chasing around baby birds and throwing little sticks at Fat Tony, the mob boss squirrel of the pine tree grove, I finally got down to work in the garden. And I put in some serious elbow grease.

'Cause really, who gets a shower BEFORE they go out to garden.

But greasy elbows aside (and yuck factor firmly in your brain)

I finally got my potatoes planted.

I've recently discovered that there are about One Million ways to plant potatoes. And I've tried most of them.

Or two.

But I'm on to my third, so I'm a good way through that million.

There was the trash bag method that first year. I planted those potatoes in a big black trash bag, added more soil as I went, and kept pulling the bag up higher and higher as I filled it with dirt. And it went really well.

Until the tree fell on it and I had skewered baby potatoes.
Blame nature for that one,

In year two, I dug trenches and put them under just a bit of soil and added straw on top of them throughout the season until I assumed they were good and ready. And for small little creamer potatoes, I got some hefty baby elephant sized spuds.
But it took up a whole level of my tiered garden.
Eh...

So this year, it's towers.

I started with poultry fencing and twisted the ends together to form a circle.

 

\

I used dried grasses from our yard that we had trimmed back to line the metal frames.

 Then I filled the bottom with a few inches of dirt.

I put in my seed potatoes, making sure each spud had at least two eyes.

I pushed them into the dirt...

And put all ten in a layer. Then I covered them up with 2-3 inches of soil. I Think I'll add a few more layers of potatoes and try to get more out of my harvest.

I'll let you know how it goes. This idea is floating all over the Internet and I've seen some people say they've had a lot of success, and others say they didn't get anything at all.

How are you growing potatoes this year? What kinds are you growing? Share, Share!!!

In which I attempt to sing and frolick about in spring-ish weather glee...

In the first month of gardening the big box stores gave to me:
One whiskey barrel
Two hog fence panels
Three rosemary bushes
Four window boxes
Five bags of organic soil

and a few more things too, but none of them work as 6-10 and I don't think Hubby would appreciate me buying anything else in those numbers, just to finish off the song...

Today was gorgeous. And by gorgeous, I mean a bit chilly with mushy, wet, post-drizzle soil, and a slightly overcast "blah-ness" with an occasional glimpse of "oh hey there Mr. Sun".

Perfect weather for turning over the earth with nothing but a pitchfork, hoe and back muscle...

...For those of us who cannot convince our Hubbies that we need to have tillers. Because they point out how we manage to get it done every year without. To which we reply, "ow my back" and "look at my un-girly callouses". To which they again respond that we seem to have managed without. And we DO get it done, cause girly or not, Gardenistas are a fierce breed, and some Hubbies are just too tight-fisted (er um, frugal).

Okay, not that tight-fisted, because mine took me on a shopping spree.

And he's never going to let me go shopping on my own ever again.

Last year, I bought hog panels and bent them into arbors and grew squash over them. It worked out really well so I thought I'd get more. And Hubby went with me.

I don't know what he was or wasn't thinking last year. Maybe he thought I wriggled my nose and the hog panels just appeared in our yard. But when I tried to explain how we should load them into his truck this time around, he gave me this arched brow that almost disappeared up into his hairline and a loudly proclaimed "You did it HOW?"

So after much "debate", we loaded the panels 'his" way and got them home.
Just like I got mine home last year.
But let's not belabor the point because I got more panels and I'm glad for it.

And I plan on using them as Tomato Arbors!

I dug trenches at either end, filled in a mixture of compost, a bit of manure and organic soil and blended it all together.  My lower garden is slightly sloped and I'm hoping the trenches hold all the good soil in place. I'll plant the tomatoes in the rich beds of soil and let them grow up and over the arbors. Hopefully, I'll get a bunch of tomatoes hanging down for easy picking. The last few years, my tomato plants have grown so large, I'd run out of space to tie them back and ended up foraging about in thick walls of leaves and stems for hidden tomatoes.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

What are you doing with your tomatoes this year? Trying anything new? Using the same old time-tested tomato cages? Share, Share!!!

Lies, Lies, and more Supplies

I have been lied to.

It started with that furry rat-faced beast people love to parade out every February. Powers of divination my foot. Short winter my other foot. Someone should string that giant, overstuffed rodent up by his feet and pelt him with snowballs.

And I'm fairly certain he was the one nibbling on my tomatoes last year...

So, one week into spring, March is still roaring like a lion and I think it ate the lamb.

You may not know this. But snow and I have a mutual hatred for one another. It likes to try to kill me and I like to sit on the back step of my kitchen with a blow dryer on an extension cord, melting one square foot at a time, laughing like a maniac.

 

My neighbors stay inside a lot.

And my squash seed packet lied to me. And I quote "start seeds indoors four to six weeks before last frost." So I did. And three days ago this little crazy seed started to push itself out of the dirt, along with other little baby nubs of green. Awwww! So cute! Right?

Except the next day, my squash seeds, and I lie not, were this tall...

 The size of a sharpie, overnight...

And then today they were towering over the sharpie, straining against the roof of my bio-domes and shading over my now dwarfish latest batch of tomatoes.

I think I'm going to have to put them in their own pots soon. I don't know what they'll be doing in 4-6 weeks, but I find it very hard to believe that they will be small, easily transplanted vegetable plants. I'm going to have to dig holes large enough to accommodate root balls equal to the size of mature trees...

On the plus side, Hubby, who loves me so very very much, took me to Tractor Supply this weekend to help me spend a bit of birthday money I'd saved up for supplies.

You'd never heard so much ho-hum-ing when he realized he was going to have to put 16 ft sections of cattle fencing in the back of his truck and even more when he realized I had done it once before by myself. But now I have the supplies to build my tomato tunnels. SO EXCITED!!! And totally worth the eye rolling and exasperation of a Hubby who had a million other things to get done that day. ;) I do love that man.

Yesh! It's crazy over here in topsy-turvey spring land, but I can't wait to get outside and get these plants out in the soil!

What's growing in your house? What are you doing to get your garden ready? Share, Share!!!

Bio-Dome-mesticated

I'm sitting in my creepy garage/basement. It's the kind of place where, in the dark, people would be backed in to corners by people with hockey masks and chainsaws.

And speaking of creepy, I've got little seedlings creeping up the sides of my bio-domes towards the bright lights streaming down from the basement ceiling.

Last year, I worried about how far I should have my florescent grow light from the surface of my seedling trays, the amount of water my plants soaked in and whether or not I would be attacked by Creatures of Darkness (much like the R.O.U.S. of Princess Bride) when I visited them in the basement.

This year, I found the perfect "lazy" solution and I cared just a little less.

It's working out GREAT!

Don't misunderstand me. I'm up and down my basement steps two or three (dozen?) times a day.

(Because I love to press my face up against the plastic lids of my seedling domes and imagine I can actually see them growing with my naked eye...)

But this year, I think I've finally found a set-up that grown the plants by itself.

There they are. My little seedlings, sitting inside a happy, humid environment.

I've got over 50 tomato seedlings growing in their little cells. At an average of 35-60 pounds per plant, that's..... uh... a lot of tomatoes. (hey, I'm a gardener, not a mathematician). Maybe I shouldn't have ordered all of those other varieties to be shipped in plant form later this spring...

 

I've also got peppers, herbs and squash.

This little fella is a Prudense Purple, one of the fun varieties I got from the Seed Swap. (see earlier post)

And that little green bump in the soil is a squash plant getting ready to pop out of it's sponge.

Yes, sponge...

 I bought these Bio-Domes last year from Park Seed on sale at the end of the season. BEST pre-garden tool I've ever spent money on... They have foam inserts with pre-made holes that you fill with "dirt sponges." The sponges soak up the amount of water needed without drowning the seed. It's practically idiot proof. And I say practically, because if in several blog posts, I show you a field of dead tomato seedlings, you can't accuse me of being a liar.

I put a heating mat under the domes, though if this winter weather in spring keeps up much longer, I may violently sweep everything off the table and climb on the mat myself.

 Instead of worrying about grow lights and light spectrums, blah blah blah... I put up cheap, clip-able painters lights and set them on a programmable timer that mimics the light cycle of a normal day. It wakes up the plants every morning, even when I'm snuggled under the deep recesses of my heavy down comforter.

My plants have never grown this fast and this "non-dead" and "non-struggling" looking.
Like I said, practically idiot proof....

Oh yeah, those fun things hanging above my seedling station? My dried gourds from last year.
But that's for another post...

And yes, I may be 20-(er, ummm)-fivish or eight...

But I'm still afraid of the Creatures of Darkness. When they run across your hand with a thousand little legs, you tend to fear that which is more powerful and bigger than yourself.

Even if they are smaller and weaker than you...

What's growing in your basaement? And more importantly, did you INTEND to grow it there?
Share, Share!!!

Seed Swap Party 2013

Seeds are Everywhere.

I'm practically buried in them. Which I believe is contrary to the point of seeds.

And somehow I think I need more. I don't know why, but it's a compulsion. Like shopping for shoes. You can't help it. It's worth all the pain. And really, there's no harm in having too much, right?

So I thought I'd try that one in one out rule. I get a packet of seeds when I give one away, after I've taken what I need to get me through the year. Then I won't waste what I don't use. Spoiler alert. The attempt to save space in my seed box was an epic failure, but the result was a fun night with a room full of gardeners, new, experienced, young and old.

Welcome to Seed Swap 2013. The first Annual Seed Swap. Annual meaning I hope to have many more.

I added little notes of encouragement and handed out little seed starting tip cards with chalk painted wine bottles.

 

I put out reading materials for people to peruse as the wandered into the house.

Only the best magazine EVER of course....

And, if there's a party at my house, there's got to be food. One couple brought the most amazing salsa, both hot and mild, that they had put up last year. A superior blend of tomatoes, peppers, onions and nothing like the BLAH you get at the grocery store.

There were mozzarella balls with tomatoes roasted in olive oil with rosemary, thyme, and salt.

And there was shrimp with fresh cilantro chimichurri.

And stuffed potato skins, petite peppers stuffed with goat cheese and herbs, and kale chips.

Lots of kale chips...

And so much more.

There were seed pots made up for people to take home to start their seeds in ...

 And SO MANY seeds.

People brought fistfuls and bags and boxes of seeds.

Heirlooms, Organics and just the most bizarre varities...

 



Little envelopes were made up so that everyone could take what they wanted...

They wrote what they took and jotted down the instructions with fun colorful markers...

 

And for whatever they thought they might still need, there were plenty of catalogs available for perusing.

 

 

Speaking for myself, it was SO much fun! We sat around for hours and talked about tried and true gardening methods, total failures, and fun ideas for the upcoming year. We had newbies who were starting raised bed gardens for the first time ever and seasoned gardeners who had their hands in the soil for over 20 years.

 

It's a definite do-again kind of an event.

 

I'm already looking forward to next year!

 

Have you ever done/been to a seed swap before? What did you do there? Share, share!!!!



Philly Garden show and UN-Hibernating

I'm BAAACKKK!

Spring is right around the corner and the crazy holidays of work are behind me and the insanity of graduation season looms in the near future.

And since Hubby won't let me become a full-time farmer (he doesn't think I'll commit fully to the overalls. And he's right) I keep my crazy job, that I love, to pay for my obsession with gardening.

But spring is here, so I'll find as many excuses as possible to be outside with my arms sunk up to my elbows in mud and manure. And if you're a gardener, you know there's no better place to be.

Unless it's looking at other people's gardens.

Or going to the Philadelphia Garden Show. Bronchitis and all. (Sorry Philly!!!)

So here's a few shots to get you through this bizarre last month of winter...

 Hello British Gardens!

Lots of fun displays this year...

From the ultra modern

To the Homemade rustic

With quint mailboxes

 

And artwork made from the tiniest petals and flora imaginable

With displays that made you want to climb up for a sit

 And drool worthy potting sheds

To gorgeous cold frames

And even the totally "say what now?"

 With an emphasis on whimsy

And fun

To Alice's tea party

And Recycled crushed glass borders

With fairytale trails that led to nowhere

To the eerie crime scenes at 221B Baker Street

And who could forget the star of the show

And the emphasis on British Bands

And the creepy, deathly gardens of the alleys of London circa Jack the Riper days

Spooky and mysterious

To the simplest concrete vegetable gardens

And the yummiest displays

And a hint of what's to come in just a few weeks

With the bright colors of spring...

Can't wait for next year!!!!!
Did you go to the Flower Show? Did you see any of the seminars or cooking demonstrations?
Share! Share!