Coming to life

Keewee's Garden is at long last, starting to wakeup after a long slumber.

Just seeing all the beauty as it unfolds makes me quiver with excitement, just like a kitty who is looking at birds from inside the house. I especially get a rush from looking at something I planted last fall and it is going to, or is blooming right now.

The Hellebores are in their second year and are so pretty.

The vivid purple/blue of this primrose is so striking in the semi-shaded part of what I call, my Primrose garden.

Primrose ~ cowslip is opening up to show a little of it's lovely flowers. This particular primrose is also fragrant as well as being pretty.

I need to go back and find the name if this vivid colored primrose. At least I think it is a particular variety of primrose.

Two more of my Hellebores. In my opinion,
you just can't have too many hellebores. *smile*

A new fern I purchased last year is starting to unfurl it's fronds. I love the way they look in the pot, just like mini works of art.

Many of the daffodils are blooming, and my favorites are almost ready to burst forth from bud to full flower. I can hardly wait for that to happen.

The dainty Chionodoxa is in it's second year, and has rewarded me with many pretty flowers.

I always seem to have a problem with some critter chewing on the leaves of the Bergenia. I have a feeling it could be slugs. So far the flowers are intact.

April 17th. Compost and veggies and auger , etc.

There was a compost bin to assemble, tomatoes and veggies to plant, compost tea to be doled out to each vegetable already planted, and other gardening chores to be done.

My compost pile was less than perfect by any standard, but it did get the job done.

But now I have a better compost bin. It is not one of those very expensive types, it is very simple in construction, and, the price was right. I have decided I now want some kind of auger Thingamabob to help turn the compost. Somewhere a long time ago, I seem to remember reading an article, about someone using an auger style tool. I will have to look into it.Update: I looked into it and found information on The Manic Gardener

I found just the one I want, but according to The manic gardener
Quote: Well, guess what. A hand-held auger is available in Britain, and I’ll betcha you could buy one in practically any country in Europe, not to mention Asia. But this is the United States of America, and we don’t do that sort of thing.

Sheesh! a person can't win for losing.
My honey is very good at making things, perhaps he can create something I can use. I will put it on his "to do list" *chuckle*

I planted 10 tomato plants and surrounded them with these water filled plant protectors. I was amazed at how warm the air inside the first installed protector felt, by the time I finished with the last one. There are only three plant protectors to a package which meant I was one short, so I had to come up with a plan to protect the last tomato plant.

Here is another use for your bulb planting tool. Click on picture to enlarge
I use mine for making the holes to plant my seedlings, which were started in peat pots. Make a hole, drop the potted seedling in, gently firm down, water, (I use llama compost tea) and the job is done. See, couldn't be easier.

I have my photos out of sequence, but was too weary to change them around. Here is what I came up with to protect the last little tomato plant. I filled six empty soda bottles with water and placed them around the plant, then surrounded the whole thing with bubble wrap. I will pull the top closer together to protect the tomato plant. How's that for kiwi brainstorming?

My honey installed four vertical frames today. They are made from PVC pipe with steel pipe inserts to make them rigid and they can be easily removed at the end of the season to be stored for the winter. Tomorrow I plan on starting the job of stringing them, a back breaking job I am thinking.
Thanks honey, I could not do all this work without your help, I appreciate it very much.
Now I need to lie on a heating pad Oh!! My aching back.

Mystery solved

I few posts, back I was of the opinion that this was not an Acidanthera, and I am correct. I now remember picking up the broken marker from the garden and placing it on the pot until I could get around to making a new one. Now, if only I could remember where the Acidanthera is growing, guess I will just have to wait until it blooms.

I spent some time going back through my pictures from last year and found one showing the flowers of the mystery plant.

It happens to be an Auricula primrose. Like the polyanthus group, they are native to Europe. They come in a wide range of colors in single, semi-double or fully double forms, and these plants do like more sun than the polyanthus types. Even though the auriculas are among the most drought-tolerant of all the primroses, they still prefer a moist, well drained soil.

Some survive, some don't

The winter this year, here in the Pacific North West was more severe than usual, so it was to be expected that we would lose a few of our treasured plants. I have a large pot on my front porch, close to the house which I thought was fairly protected from the elements.

The Hostas have made it, the fern in the foreground has new growth forming but the sad little Maiden Hair fern, in the top right corner, seems to have succumbed to the cold. Dang, I really liked the soft feathery look of the fern. Perhaps a trip to the garden center is in order. *grin*

2008
Isn't this magnificent? I like to plant Hostas and Ferns together, as I think the contrast between the foliage is very pleasing to the eye.
This is what the plants should look like this season only better.

Reminds me of ~

a junior version of the flower in the movie "Little shop of horrors" well kinda.

I have been wanting a Fritillaria for quite some time, and by chance the garden center had just received a delivery of a few, when I was in there yesterday.

I pondered over where to plant my new baby, and decided to put it in the planter right outside our front door. It is keeping company with some native ferns and I think a native columbine.

Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary, Checkered Daffodil, Frog-cup, Guinea-hen Flower, Leper Lily, Snake's Head (the original English name) or (in northern Europe) simply Fritillary) is a Fritillary, a flower from the family Liliaceae.

The flower has a chequered reddish-brown, purple, white and grey colouration, sometimes mostly white. It flowers from March to May and grows between 15 and 40 cm in height. It has a round bulb, about 2cm in diameter which contains poisonous alkaloids.

Happy Easter

Favorites

I happen to be rather fond of the pretty faces of pansies. Here a few which are blooming right now.

Quote of the day

I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them. I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master. I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit.
~Reginald Farrer, In a Yorkshire Garden, 1909

Oh! Happy day!!

I was wanting to buy some golden beet starts from the garden center, but they were out, so I decided to look around and see what new flowers were in. I was delighted to find a primrose and primulas I do not have.

Primula denticulata.
Whenever I buy any plants I look very carefully to see how many are in each pot, as often times you will find two plants to a pot. Today was one of those days, each pot held two plants, so I was happy to pay $3.99 for two plants.

I just had to buy this one, also with two plants in the pot. I can hardly wait to see the blooms of this one.

I love my friends. I came home the other day, to find this pot of hellebores sitting on the driveway next to the garden. I called my friend to thank her, and she told me there will be more, when they are dug up later in the month. Whoo Hoo!!

Well I am off outside to plant my primrose and primulas.

Daffodil Thrill

I am sure you are all tired of looking at pictures of daffodils by now, but I just had to share pictures of the few I have in my garden.

More chores checked off the list.

At 5:30pm, when I wrote this post, the thermometer read 69.5 degrees. It has been another fabulous day here on Whidbey Island, and I have managed to get many more chores done today, and even took my lunch outside to sit in my vegetable garden to enjoy the sun, and admire all the hard work I have done.

I raked up almost all the debris the wind has blown out of the trees, and have yet to take it to the burn pile and some of it will go into compost. What you are looking at is what I call my grotto, it is a lovely cool place to sit and enjoy a cool drink on a hot day. I would like to grow flowers in pots under the trees, but I am afraid the rabbits would eat everything in sight, and I really hate to surround all the pots with chicken wire.

More debris raked into piles ready to be disposed of. I ran out of steam this afternoon and decided this mess can wait a day or two.

Yesterday I talked about the nasty thorn bush growing next to the house, and how I trimmed it back. It has been trimmed down from about 15 feet to five feet, and it may get cut down to ground level. I really do not like this shrub at all.

Just look at these nasty thorns.
Sorry little hummingbirds, I know you liked the nectar.

Kiwi ingenuity again.
I have seen the very nice plywood templates other people have been using in their square foot gardening, but I did not want to take the time today to make one, so used the cardboard version instead.
I have 9 circles with central holes on one side, and 16 circles with central holes on the other. I found the easiest way to use the template was to place it in the square, poke a hole with my new gardening tool, a chopstick with 1 inch measurements marked along it's length, fill the hole through the cardboard with vermiculite, remove cardboard, place a seed on each pile of vermiculite, poke the seed into the vermiculite with the chopstick, remove template, cover seed and water well. Voila the job is done.

I also planted carrots using a similar method. Instead of poking a hole into the soil, I dropped two carrot seeds into each hole, actually, it was easier to drop the teeny weeny seeds onto the cardboard and push them into the holes. Then using a teaspoon pour the vermiculite through the holes in the cardboard, thus covering the seed. I removed the template, lightly pressed the piles of vermiculite down and watered well.
Voila another job done.
This week I am working more hours than usual so the gardening is going to be put on hold. sighhh!

Sunday's To Do List

No, Laundry was not one of the tasks. The sheets were used to cover my newly planted vegetable seedlings, and what better place to hang them to dry, than on the veggie garden fence. Yes, there was a frost last night.

I filled the wheelbarrow with compost, added some all purpose fertilizer and top dressed ( kiwi talk) the front flower garden with about 2 inches of the mix. This was a time consuming chore, as I had to carefully spread the mix, around and between all the plants, sometimes a handful at a time.

A nice thick topping of compost

Next was to apply the llama tea which had been brewing for a couple of hours. The llama beads came from the stalls in the barn of a friend, so there was a lot of wood shavings mixed in. When I saw the spare laundry bag, Kiwi ingenuity kicked in so I put the beads in the bag to soak, so that when I put the mix in my sprayer there wouldn't be any small pieces to clog the nozzle. It worked like a charm.

Sheets removed from over seedlings ~ check
Compost spread on front flower garden ~ check
All gardens soaked in llama tea ~ check
Leaves raked up ~ check
Weeds pulled ~ check
Nasty thorny bush( don't know the name of) cut back ~ check
Roses fertilized and dead branches pruned ~ check
Shower ~ check
Pour glass of Merlot ~ check
Finish blog post and go to bed ~ check.

Quote of the day
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.
~Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871

At last, a warm day to play in the garden

I wanted to try something different, in the way of vegetables this year, and found these Brussels sprouts and Cauliflower in our local nursery. Click on picture to see the purple leaves of the Brussels Sprouts in the background.

Cauliflower ~ Cheddar. An orange cauliflower! First discovered in the Bradford Marsh in Canada in 1970, Cheddar was smaller and less tasty than white cauliflower, but the color was alluring. Over the years, using conventional breeding techniques, it was crossed with a white variety to create a delicious, high vitamin content cauliflower. The curds contain approximately 25 times more beta carotene than white cauliflower.
Brussels Sprouts ~ Rubine, An heirloom variety not often seen in the garden. Rubine offers up a bountiful harvest of gorgeous 1-1 1/2 inch purple-red sprouts that are full of wonderfully rich old-time flavor

No this is not a nice crop of grass, they are Cipollini onions.

Pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee this is a smaller, flat, pale onion. The flesh is a slight yellowish color and the skins are thin and papery. The color of the skin ranges from pale yellow to the light brown color of Spanish onions. These are sweeter onions, having more residual sugar than garden-variety white or yellow onions, but not as much as shallots.

The advantage to cipollinis is that they are small and flat and the shape lends them well to roasting. This combined with their sweetness makes for a lovely addition to recipes where you might want to use whole caramelized onions.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.

~W.E. Johns.

Laggin' behind

April 2nd 2009

March 20th 2008

No wonder I am feeling antsy. I want to see all my beautiful tulips.

UPDATE:
7am Saturday 4th March. I followed my instincts last evening and covered all the new plants in my vegetable garden. This morning we have FROST.

I have another crop of frosted pots.

I'm a failure

Here I am whining about my lack of success with Nasturtiums, Quote from the web.
" they are easy to grow" So what went wrong?

On March 15th I planted 24 little peat pots, lovingly tended them and what do I get in return, Three, just three puny little seedlings. How disappointing, I keep hoping some of the others will germinate. Perhaps I should be patient for a few more days. sighhhh!

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda

Black-Capped Chickadee

"What's that you say?"

Steller's Jay

OK, OK, I heard you the first time, I'll leave some for the other guys."

Northern Flicker

"If you won't make a perch, you could at least stop this thing from swinging around"

House Finch

" Don't you know it's rude to stare"

Savannah Sparrow

" Yes I know my feathers are ruffled, yours would be too, if you had to be out in the wind"

European Starling

"Who are you calling greedy, may I ask?"

Spotted Towhee

"Would you look at all this mess those other guys left"

Wordless Wednesday