Tag Archives: planting

Garden – 2016 – 1st planting

By

IMG_7421 We planted out first section of the garden: onions, radishes and chard.
We’ve never planted chard this early. We usually wait until after last frost, but I did a bit of reading and apparently it can be planted 2 to 3 weeks before last frost. So, since we bought 300 seeds, we planted half and kept half just in case.
My brother introduced me to chard a few years ago. He told me that they’re full of vitamins and sent me some seeds. I planted it and was excited when I could harvest it for the first time. It’s an interesting veggie. The stems has a celery-like taste to them and the green leafy part taste similar to spinach. We love it on sandwiches and in stir-fries.
The onions should do fine, We discussed how nice it’s going to be in about 5 to 8 weeks that we can make Bruschetta with our own fresh green onions. Yum. To us, Fresh green onions make a world of difference in the taste of Bruschetta. Oddly, we prefer canned tomatoes to fresh ones in it.
The radishes should do fine, they usually do. I’m not a fan of eating radishes, but my husband eat them. I prefer them for pest control.I plant them in many places around the garden as we plant more things.

IMG_7415
3-23-2016-tilli
IMG_7454

And so another year of gardening begins.
I hope you all are making plans
and getting ready for the blooming season.
gardeningMay the lush days of Spring brighten your world
and bring you many smiles.
gardeningcouple

spacer2

Beautiful Weekend for Gardening

By

IMG_9162It was a beautiful weekend. The temps were in the 80’s and it was mostly sunny. The wind was gusting from time-to-time, but thankfully it wasn’t chilly.

IMG_9356My husband rotortillered the garden and got half of it planted. He planted onions, beans, potatoes, spinach and radishes.
I like his row markers. It’s bamboo with plastic golf balls on top.  🙂

IMG_9250.IMG_9252

It rained last night and the temps are dropping, it’s  in the low 60’s today. It’s a gray dreary day. It’s not supposed to get below freezing or anything, but it might frost at night or get cold enough to nip or kill non-cold-tolerant plants/buds/blooms.

IMG_9348It’s officially Dogwood winter.
and we still have several little winters to go before warm weather sets in for the year.

The next few weeks will be up and down like this. This part of Spring usually costs home-gardeners dearly because they’ll be convinced the cold snaps are over and plant plants that aren’t cold tolerant and then lose them all with a frost. I’ve seen it happen so many times. It always makes me sad.
Some folks, like us, keep containers on hand to cover up any plants in the garden, during the colder nights that might frost or be cold enough to kill plants .
We try to be patient to plant, but it’s so very hard when the sun shines and the stirring of the need to be out digging in the soil overwhelms us.

Planting/starting seeds/seedlings in trays in the house helps curb some of my anxious need to plant in the garden during this ‘chancy’ time of the season. I tend the plants so carefully that I feel a bit like they’re my babies and I become over protective of them. I’ll keep them in the house during cold days and nights. When the days are warm I’ll tote them outside and set them on the porch. it’s a lot of work, but I need the exercise. lol
IMG_9390..IMG_9387
I’m quite pleased with my seedlings. They’re healthy and happy. I transplanted them to bigger containers.
I took a photo before I wiped off their new cups, I hope you didn’t mind seeing a little dirt. lol
IMG_9380..IMG_9384
I planted my basil and parsley in they’re permanent containers for season. They’ll be just fine growing in them during the Summer. I love having fresh herbs on hand. 🙂
IMG_9386I still need to wait for the peppers to grow some true leaves before I transplant them to a larger container.

It was a peach of a weekend. My husband and I look forward to more pleasant weather and gardening.

I hope you all had a pleasant weekend and was able to go outside and enjoy some soul refreshing sunshine and warm weather. 🙂  (except for Barb, I hope she’s enjoying some nice cool breezes and getting a much deserved break from the hot summer temps of Oz. 😉 )

Wishing you all a great week!
gardeningcouple3-spcbg

Seeds of Spring

By

2013-seedlingsAs I was going through some photos I discovered that I got a really late start on my seeds this year.
The top photo is how my seedlings looked at this time of year last year.
The lower photo is how they look this year.
Yep that’s right, I’m running behind schedule. I got them planted today.
Hopefully it’s better late than never.
2014-seedsI’ll post updates if when my seeds start growing.

A cold front is moving through again, freezing temps and possibly snow. Not very cheery Springtime weather, but oh well, at least on the calender it’s officially Spring…

I hope you all are having Spring-type weather this week.
spring-017

3-spcbg