A Cold, But Sunny Morning

I think the rains are  over at last.   We got  5.5 inches and are  not really complaining.  This is a wonderful time of year to get lots of rain to get the grasses going.  The cows will appreciate it.  I am not so happy with the temperature.  It was 39° this morning!  I was worried about frost so I recovered my strawberry row which is looking very promising with lots of large blooms.

The yard is way beyond needing mowing.....but between the rains and family obligations we are way behind.  We hope to correct that soon.  I finally gave in and got another mower.  I just got the Gravely out of the shop, all tuned up and ready to go and had actually mowed twice but made the mistake of trying to mow very tall grass at the edge of the garden wet.....threw a belt (I hope that is all it was).  When we took it in for repairs, I checked on a new model that is slightly larger and we decided to buy it.  Surely I will not be without a mower now!  It is frustrating to not be able to try it out......

Lots of things are blooming now.  I was surprised to look at the yard a couple of days ago and see it.

Storm Season is Here

We are in the midst of storm  season.  Yesterday it got up to 80° and today we are under a Severe Storm Warming.  This could mean any type of bad weather, including heavy rains hail and tornadoes........or nothing at all.  I am always nervous when these warning are  issued.....been there; done that!  We still have metal roofing wrapped around some trees due to a tornado that took our our pole barn.

We had a lovely Easter here.  Our daughter and family came home and we had MIL  out for a roast beef dinner.  I know that isn't traditional food for Easter but we just picked up our beef and were anxious to sample it.  We all enjoyed it.
Monday was spent on errands but yesterday I finally got back  outside.

I finished cleaning the old Ash Tree bed.  That was mostly hoeing out  henbit and dead nettle.  This morning  I mowed the whole yard (except for one place where we need to pick up Elm tree limbs first!) I went back  after mowing and  cleaned up the limbs and mowed those spots.  So, for the first time the whole yard is mowed.

I moved the tomato plants outside in a shaded spot and will move them to the hay and shower door cold  frame today.  We are under a severe storm warning and I don't want to loose them at this point.

The  peppers finally came up.  I was beginning to wonder.  The sweet potato I put in water way too late is finally sending out sprouts.  I may get a few plants after all.  I won't set out sweet potatoes until mid May so I have time.

The redbuds are blooming and my Isabella lilac is blooming.  I won't have as many lilacs this year because we cut down the front shrub border and also the ones next to the well house.

 

 The new Robinson Crabapple is blooming this year. 

Some of the fruit trees are blooming.  I hope to get pictures before they drop the blooms.  Peach, pear, and apple just showing color.  The seedling peaches bloomed first and have already dropped the blooms after a heavy frost.

 Puppies

We have been turning the puppies loose daily for an hour or a day!  They followed DH to the field this morning but came back and then roamed for about two hours.




Here they are coming to me from the top of the cellar....sometimes they come; sometimes they don't.

Yard Work Has Begun (and other mundane things)

 April 1, 2015

It is   59° outside and raining.  We are always pleased to get rain in early spring; hopefully it means lots of grass for the cows and no more feeding hay.  It also means lots of yard mowing.  I began Tuesday.  I do it in spurts these days.  I kept seeing something near the mower that needed attention so the mowing became bed cleaning, picking up limbs and mowing combined.

I was very happy to clean off the bed  outside the kitchen that I used to call the Hummingbird Bed but should be renamed, the Ash Tree bed that is now treeless  (needs renaming), and the stump bed where  we ground out the stump when  the large bird feeding Elm tree had to be taken out.  That makes three of several that are cleaned.........all in good time.

This is the old Ash Tree bed. This bed has Black and Blue salvia and kerria japonica pleniflora on the edge next to the drive.  I think the heat of the paved drive as kept the B&B salvia perennial for me.  I have iris planted on the edge near the kitchen drive.  There are several varieties and this is where I relocated (to save their lives from  the ATV)my favorite cream colored iris.  I will need  to do  something in the middle of this bed.....probably just annuals this year but thinking a shrub rose later or even a very small  rose bed with some very fragrant hybrid teas.
 
The old Humming Bird Bed;  now the Kitchen Bed

I found lilies up about 6 inches, anemone Robustissima, phlox, daylilies and the blooming daffodils all  in the Kitchen bed.

I am showing this picture to give some perspective to where the stump bed is (to the right).
I notice in this shot that the lamiums are showing up better.  One has a pink  bloom.  The tree is a seedling peach that has a few blooms this year.  I think there are three more seedling peaches blooming this year.

I will fill in the bed  with various annuals.

The Stump Bed

The stump bed is filled with seedlings of golden  agastache (thank you Kris) this year, more than ever.  You can barely see them  now.  I hope the rudbeckia returns.  The tiny lilac (repeating) is still  alive I think.  Those are Tete -a -Tete daffs at the edge and I think alliums should be there later. 


The other pics were taken with the zoom across the drive.

The front shrub-less border

This is next to the road where the shrub border used to be:  The lilacs are coming back  thickly, daffs are blooming.  I will try to keep saplings cut out and thin the lilacs.  The rugosa roses to the left aren't leafed out yet.


This is the little planter box (with slave-made bricks) right next to the porch door.  Jack Frost brunnera is beginning but I think the yellow tulips have left me.  The variegated Soloman's Seal is taking over.  I can't identify the hellebore yet.


The rhubarb in front of the boxwood next to the back porch is liking the manure I spread over it before the rains.



I hope this is the spring I can  divide and move some plants:

Annabelle hydrangea
Walkers Low Catmint
Kerria

One sad note:  I got so tired  of trying to mow down the blasted Cheatgrass (bromus tectorum)  that is up about l0 inches that I know I mowed some blackberries and a clematis that was buried.  I did get most of the garden area mowed.  I hope the cheatgrass doesn't regrow; it normally dies in hot weather.  It is everywhere this year.  No doubt coming from the wide open spaces after the workers cleared so much brush and saplings.  No good deed goes unpunished.