Thursday, April 8, 2010

Gardening

A cold front arrived yesterday evening and we got down to around 34° early this morning.  I did my morning walk-about and just saw a little patch of frost in two places.  I think the fruit trees are fine.  We just have one more night and another warm up begins.  Hope we make it through tonight with no serious freezing.

I did some actual gardening yesterday.  First I had tilled the garden the day before, so I cross tilled it yesterday morning and then decided to run my rows north and south for a change.  I like short rows.  They will now be about 20 feet long.
I planted a bed of broccoli and cabbages.  I had a small pot of lettuce seedlings I set out at the edge.

In the garden proper I planted three bunches of onions from Dixondale, Red Candy, Candy and Super Star.  I still have a small flat of seedlings of Candy from seeds that I did.  Late yesterday I planted a row of sprouted potatoes  I saved from last year.

From Gardening 2010


I also decided to remove some of the very thick straw mulch from the asparagus row so it might come up some time this year.  I just saw two tiny buds popping up.  They needed some sun!

The last thing I did was spray some glyphosphate on monstrous stands of cheat that was amidst the blackberries.  I don't want it to seed this year.  Henbit and cheat are everywhere.

I am back to doing my early morning walk-abouts  that I laughingly call "surveying my kingdom"!  It is one of my favorites things to do.

Newly in bloom:

From Gardening 2010
I was afraid the Jack Frost brunnera would be gone before the Lemon Swirl tulips opened, but they finally made it.

I thought I would show a picture of cheat and henbit (lower left-hand side of picture) in case anyone doesn't know what they are.  I call them Ozark native ground covers, and cover the ground they do.

The shrub is spirea.

From Gardening 2010

Finally, the two eating pears, Seckel are in bloom.  They are small, honey pears and are delicious.
The larger tree on the left is a sour cherry, maybe North Star.

From Gardening 2010

The lilacs are just beginning with a few trusses open.

I have a white flowering quince and I believe this is it's best year for bloom.


I am listening to the weather; not sounding good.  They are predicting frost!

I finally caught the kittens all together on the porch.  They were born on Apri 16 of last year.  Close to their first birthday.

From Cats
and one of just Zelda showing her Bengal marking,

From Cats

It's a chilly windy day so I won't be working outside.  Might just have to settle into my nest and finish my book
"Searching for Caleb" by Anne Tyler.

4 comments:

  1. Loved those pics! I need a more close-up picture of Cheat, though. I probably have it too, just don't know what it's called. I hate that dang Henbit!

    We have frost forecast for tonight too! It didn't get as cold last night as it was forecast. I'm hoping tonight will go OK. I'll be bringing in things I haven't set out yet. All my fruit trees have bloomed and I sure would like to have some fruit from them this year! They made it through the frost last spring but not that awful wind that came just as the baby fruit was developing. It was so discouraging to see them all on the ground. We got ONE plum from our tree.

    Your cats are right at that playful age. That's so hilarious to watch. Are they good mousers?

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  2. I love henbit! It is green in the early spring when nothing else is, then it makes the whole place purple for a few weeks. Then it's gone with the next mowing and you don't see it again till next year. I know I'm in the minority on this one!

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  3. "Surveying my domain". I love it. I do that, too, most every morning. It's amazing what a difference a day makes on the property, especially this time of year.

    Got down to 32 last night, but no ice on the birdbath. I'd brought in all the tender seedlings from the deck and into the sunroom. They'll stay there until Saturday when the cold weather is past. Only supposed to get up to 43 today. I'm soaking beans for chile and cornbread.

    Enjoy your nest today. I just finished Anne Tyler's "Digging to America" and really enjoyed it.

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  4. Happy birthday, kitties! What a good looking bunch!

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