Summer Made it to the PNW - Garden Update

Summer finally made it to the Pacific Northwest.  It usually rains on the fourth of July, but this year the sunshine came out to play.  This makes three years in a row it's rained just about daily throughout the spring.  It was a pleasure to walk around town and see the smiles on peoples faces as they walked around in sandals and shorts.  I could hear lawn mowers, motorcycles, airplanes, and other various outdoor toys.  We shared a pretty good family Saturday beginning with a morning yoga class, a romp to the farmer's market, a fun lunch and a little playtime at Lake Sacajawea with Kaylee. 

The garden is thrilled about the sunshine too.  I've wandered out there after work a few times disappointed at the lack of growth due to all the rain.  It seems we've been planting and digging for awhile now.  We spent our usual time out pulling weeds and planting the last of the seeds this weekend and I started to find some surprises.  The plants seem to be standing tall right now and enjoying the warmth.  I'm started to see evidence of vegetables now.  I've got some little zucchinis and crookneck squash.  The corn is almost knee high. I can see carrot tops, beet greens, and potato flowers popping up now. I even found a tomato I wasn't expecting while trimming the dead leaves.

Oh yes, we have put up the girls in the garden too.  Isabelle and Molly are happy to be out in the sunshine too.

We're expected to have some really nice days for quite awhile now. I expect the garden to be getting taller and greener by the day.  I don't need shoes in the garden now, Lovin' it!

Garden Update

The rain let up for a little while yesterday.  I am so glad we took advantage of the day and made it out to the garden for a few hours.  We planted our potatoes, a few red and green cabbage, some peppers, the broccoli and cauliflower starts, and spread last year's garden around in the form of compost.  We had some plans for today, if it didn't rain.  But, it did, so we did our gardening indoors.  We've got some squash, corn, peppers, and a few other things set to germinate.  Hopefully they will make it outside in a few weeks.

The garden is full of bird life right now.  We saw the usual Killdear, squawking at us and doing the little broken wing dance, to keep us from the neighboring nest. This year there are lots of little yellow finches out there.  I haven't noticed them before.  It was difficult getting a good picture because most of the flowers out there right now are the same bright yellow as the birds.  I think one day, I'll have to just sit in the path very quiet with the camera to get a good shot of them, they're really quick.  We also saw some ducks wandering around.  We've seen them nest out there before.  They'll be gone when all the other gardeners start showing up.  The little black birds were very happy we opened up our compost box and spread it around.  There were some very fat, long worms in the compost.  Those birds starting shopping around right next to us.  They weren't even waiting for us to leave.

Garden Update

We're finally getting some sunny days, not too many, but they are beginning. Friday and Saturday this week were not only dry, but sunny and warm. I managed to get out into the garden both days. Friday I planted carrots, beets, some nasturtiums, and pansies. Saturday was 70º, I wore a shirt with no sleeves and short pants. Woo Who! We both got out there Saturday, Scott weeded around the onions and garlic giving them room to grow. Some of the garlic I planted is elephant garlic and I can see the stalks getting quite thick. I cleared out a mound and planted some slicing cucumbers and a row of delicata squash.

Oregano

Garlic

I'm pretty pleased with the plants that are coming back or still alive from last season. The herbs are rockin', we have lots of oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The artichokes are all showing some life and when I was out there Friday I accidentally dug up some bulbs from the Mystic Spirit Dahlia I have out there. There was some green shooting out the tops of them. I gently put them back in the dirt and said a few encouraging words. I hope they grow. I do like that flower, it added such life to our garden.

Mystic Spirit

The gardening indoors has been going along a bit slow. I have had some disappointments in the germinating department, but that's how it goes. I tried some Stevia seeds this year and none of them germinated.  Too bad too, they are kind of expensive seeds.  But, I did order some seedlings, just in case, which were delivered last week.  I will have my Stevia in the garden this year.  I only grew four plants last year and that provided quite a bit of Stevia for myself and a couple friends. I have some broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and a couple other veggies started. I'll get some corn started in a week or so. I don't want to be too early with the corn this year. I ended up planting it a few times last year. This is the time I get quite anxious and concerned that I won't get everything planted when I want to. It always works out, I'm just impatient.

Kaylee and I decorated some wooden dolls last weekend.  She took them out to the garden with my point and shoot camera and had her own little photo shoot.  I think her pictures came out rather well.  I also bought her a pair of her own gardening gloves this year.  She had a good time trying to move the weeds with the gardening claw. It's much taller than she.

Weekend Ramblings

Nice weekend. The weather could have been better, but it was good enough for my husband to get out into the garden and do some weeding.  I guess I did have some lettuce out there, but the slugs thought it was delicious.  I do remember having a bit of a slug problem last year. We'll take care of that.  I do hope this blog does become more about gardening soon, I am getting anxious.

Our artichokes are coming back, all of them.  I was a little leery about them coming back, but I went and looked at the master gardener's artichokes at the fairgrounds.  Theirs looked as bad as mine did, that gave me some hope.

I attended a spiritual, meditation, workshop this weekend.  It was a very relaxing and educational day.  Met a few women who are working through challenging times in their lives. I am pretty sure I just opened up a new channel of support in my little word. I met a local composer, Tami Tack, who shared her wonderful music with us. Small world event, she is the sister of someone my husband knew as a child.  I left with some new personal tools and a very relaxed, but energized feeling. I did manage to find six more people interested in attending our next potluck.  That's scheduled for May 20th, by the way.  I'll get a flyer posted soon.

Kerycia and Randy got married Friday night.  Seems pretty weird, I see Kerycia's pictures on Facebook and I still see a little girl in a pretty little dress getting ready for church.  I've known her since she was a baby.  It feels like one of my own children just got married. Seems like there's a line up of weddings to attend in the next couple of years.  The babies we raised are getting married now.  The wedding was very warm and sweet.  Not too big, but big enough and it had all the elements a girl could want at her wedding.  Rhonda and Lupe were both glowing.  The whole family was glowing actually.  It was pretty cool to see all Rhonda's children grown up and being gracious hosts at their sister's wedding.  Rhonda should be very proud her parenting.  I've seen her children, being siblings, wanting to tear each others hair out at times, but Friday night, there was nothing but love in all of their eyes.

Onions, Shallots, & Peace ~ Garden 2011

Garden Friends

 It was a successful day.  Peaceful, quiet, and productive. I spent three lovely hours working in the garden.  I did get that healing massage and I took the time to get a pedicure.  This gave me at least one hour of relaxing with a book today too.

 
Funny, I got a manicure too but  that's just to make my hands look nice and clear up the frayed cuticles, they don't stay very pretty for long.  Within about an hour and a half of leaving the nail salon, I was out in the garden, my fingers deep in the mud.  It was cloudy, but not raining much.  There were a few drops, but nothing to keep me indoors.  It was, however, very cold.  I brought extra socks, wore leggings under my jeans, carried extra gloves, and brought some ear muffs just in case.  No problem though, soon I was too warm and grateful I dressed in layers.

I weeded the mound we had most of our peppers in last year and planted about 100 white onions, 100 yellow onions, and maybe a dozen large shallots.  The plant by the small post is a Columbine already waking up from the winter.  There was quite a bit of green growing from the center. I gave them a little trim too.  The ground temperature was 45° today, perfect for onions and peas.  Hopefully I'll get some lettuce, chard, kale, and spinach in the ground this weekend too. But, if the weather doesn't allow it, that's OK.  I managed to get quite a lot done today.  I can work on the indoor seedlings.

I softened, weeded, and turned the dirt at the bottom of the structure our beans grew on last year and planted a package of snap peas.

Peas Soon

A benefit of working in a community garden is getting the chance to learn from other gardeners.  There were three or four out there today checking out what work needed to be done. A couple of the older gentlemen came over to say hi and see what I was planting. I enjoy watching everyone's garden growing too, everyone has their own style.

Elizabeth, the gardener right behind us, uses a cardboard and leaf mulch.  She packs dry leaves into her plot all winter.  She's got a pretty good bed going now.

The Jolly's have a very nice raised garden set up.  They'll be out there soon too planting their kole crops.  They'll drape plastic on those hoops making it nice and warm inside for their tomatoes and peppers.

The neighbors right next to us use, what I think they said is a Japanese system.  They built an oblong structure and place their compost in the center.  The roots of the plants then grow into the compost and the plants grow kind of a vertical.  It's very pretty when it's green and blooming. 

And the best part of all, I came home with somewhat of a harvest. There were a whole bunch of tiny little carrots that stayed in the dirt all winter.

I also managed to smile inside myself most of the day.  It could have been very different due to the events of the morning in the courtroom.  But, I started the day with some meditation, prayer, a gratitude list, and a mission to stay calm and positive. Staying calm throughout the day wasn't very hard at all.

Life is good and gardening is cheaper than therapy!