Garden History Chapter Fourteen

Spring 2008 Continued

After we got the soil leveled and I made the rows and beds we managed to get everything transplanted and out of the cold frame. Plus added squash, cucumber, carrots and green beans. Tomatoes and peppers were purchased at the local garden center. I try to rotate the vegetables into different locations yearly. I try to use as little chemicals as possible and usually just try to stick with seven dust.

We did have a wood cradle for our firewood at the end of this brick path. The 4×4s held the slide-able lid that covered the wood. The cradle was old and we decided to put any firewood on concrete instead. As you can see, we left the 4×4’s and added lattice to it so morning glories could grow up and over. Then, we found an old concrete bench seat from the recycle, cleaned it and gave it a good coat of paint and, wallah, the path has a little place to go. OK, a little dorky but it isn’t a path to nowhere now!

We did have a bit of a spring scare when a storm rolled through and a neighbor’s tree fell on our fence and almost on top of the garden. As you can see, the tree just missed the first bed. It was still a mess but we did get lucky because the neighbor got a man on the job and had it cleaned up lickety split!

For kicks and giggles I took a picture of a patch of my grass with the morning dew because it looked like artwork.

Garden History Chapter Thirteen

SPRING Chronicled 2008!

The birds are arriving and my plum tree is in full bloom. With all of its problems, it didn’t die.

The Hibiscus plants that I keep indoors all winter will be much happier when I am able to move them outside again. I don’t put them out if the night time temps are below 50 degrees. They cannot take the cold.

Now, the most recent picture of the garden. Hubby got the tiller out and got the soil turned. Isn’t that the prettiest dark soil you ever did see? I’ll be taking the kolrabi out of the cold frame and transplanting them when they are just a little bigger.


A clean slate again. Through the summer photos and blog coming soon.

Spring 09 City Gardening

March, 2009, Spring is just around the corner.
Thank goodness the weather was in the 70’s today. What a glorious day, around here you just never know what you are going to get from one minute to the other! Just 6 days ago we had snow on the ground.

The birds have been chirping all morning and I got up early, opened all the windows in the house to air it out, put on my duds and headed outside to dig around in the yard. I might be a little stiff tomorrow because the Hubs and I have been hibernating all winter. *giggles*

I pulled weeds in one of my azalea beds and turned over the pine straw before I did anything else. I took a lot of breaks in between because I was sweating so much. It is always better to take things a little slower when you have sat idle all winter. Then I started to think about where to put some seeds and just what seed I had that could be planted this early in the season.

I told you in the previous post that I had to remove some bushes, so I decided to plant some lettuce, parsley and radishes in this location until I figure out what type of long term plant I want to place there. Why waste good space? Seeds are in the ground and I covered them with some leaves. We still might have some cold nights.

The Hubs put the makeshift cold frame up (recycled golf cart windshields) and made it a little larger this year. I put the Kohlrabi in there. If we have another cold snap we will be able to protect them after they have germinated.

I promised a friend that I would post a picture of the leaf lettuce that I planted last November. I covered them with leaves in the late fall and now they are doing beautifully. They survived our cold winter months! I can’t wait till I get to pick some. Next to that row of lettuce I just planted three rows of radishes. I have to be very careful of where to plant things this time of year because certain spots in the garden don’t get full sun enough hours in the day.

The plum tree, as much as I have worried about her over the years, still stands and is getting ready to open in full bloom any day now.

Last, but not least, are the empty pots at the base of the lattice. I plopped some pretty Morning Glory seeds in those and when the weather warms up they will climb up and over the lattice and bloom every morning.

If you would like to view some pictures that I took today you can CLICK HERE and look for Chapter 18 in my garden journal.