Flowers! It must be spring!

Crocus are beginning to bloom in my yard! Woo-hoo! Spring! Well, almost. The weather is still a bit iffy. We've been getting a fair amount of rain the last few days.



We had a little sunshine today - here is the Rosie the Garden Dog enjoying it.

Still waiting for spring. . .

We (mostly hubby) are still plugging away at the greenhouse. The weather has not been helpful. Cloudy, windy, rainy. Although, right now it looks like we may have sunshine today.

I started some of my seeds this week - tomatoes, parsley and celery. I still need to start peppers. Anything else will get direct sewn or bought as nursery plants. I just don't have enough room right now.

And speaking of seeds, I just keep buying more:

• Acorn Squash - Table King
• Bok Choy
• Marigold - Snowdrift
• Alyssum - Royal Carpet
• Love-in-a-Mist - Persian Jewels
• Linaria - Dwarf Fairy Bouquet
• Marigold - Starfire Signet Mix
• Forget-me-not

And the last one was a mistake - I thought I picked up blue flax. Well, I guess I have to go seed shopping again. :)

Is it Spring yet?

I'm starting to feel like Bart Simpson - Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Come on spring!

The sun keeps teasing me. Yesterday was sunny, today is gloomy and overcast. We get freezing fog off and on. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago of one of my Rugosa roses:



This last week I did manage to prune my fruit trees. I know, they are itty bitty still so it wasn't much of a project. I've done a little spring clean up, weather permitting. And we have worked on the greenhouse.



We put the frame together in the garage. We will carry it out back when we have the wood base ready. It's setting on some temporary wood bits so Jim could take some measurements. We bought the wood and he cut it yesterday and now it's too cold to work on it. Sigh.

The next step is to cut wood for the benches and then seal all the wood. Once we have nice weather again. (Strange, before moving here I never thought of "nice weather" being anything above 40 degrees)

Waiting for Spring

Mostly what I'm doing right now is waiting for spring. I have the veggie garden planted. I need to prune the fruit trees, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. Yesterday was fairly nice, but I had jury duty all day.

wait - whats that glare on my monitor? It can't be! THE SUN IS OUT!

We have a greenhouse kit we bought a year ago from Harbor Freight. It's the 6' x 8' model. There is quite a bit of info about these greenhouses (HFGH) at Garden Web in the greenhouse forums. We've been checking all that info out on how to put it together. Here is what we've done so far (and it's only been a year).

We put down the floor for the greenhouse:



I opened the box and made sure all the parts were there:



We need to buy wood for the base. The problem is we need to stain/seal the wood and it is too cold to do that. We may be able to warm the garage up enough, but we will see. Or we may wait for it to be warmer outside.

Come on spring!

Bought More Seeds

I keep telling myself I don't need that many more seeds. All I needed are Juliet tomatoes and acorn squash. I was at Lowes yesterday and they had the Juliet seeds, but no acorn squash. Did I just buy Juliet tomatoes? HAH! Of course not, lol.

Here's the complete list:

• Juliet tomatoes
• Rutgers tomatoes
• Marigolds - petite mixed colors
• Butterfly flower
• Larkspur
• Cleome
• Bachelor Buttons
• Zinnia

And so I only "need" a few more seeds. Larger marigolds and acorn squash are about it. And Calendula, delphinium, toadflax, poppies, pincushion flower. . .

Fruits and I'm a Little Bit Nuts

I've been debating what fruits to plant. I had thought about planting a couple of Asian pears, but I'm afraid they would add more to the high maintenance I already have. I have 4 apple and 3 cherry trees - and in this part of the world they have to be kept bug free. So, I don't think I need to add more bug worries to my list. I thought about a nectarine and finally came to the conclusion we have enough fruit trees. The list:

Apple:

• Akane
• Liberty
• Honeycrisp
• Fiesta

I bought them from Raintree Nursery last year. They are dwarf trees that are only supposed to get six feet tall. It should be easier to keep bug free that a 25 foot tree. They are planted next to the west fence where my veggie garden is. I plan to espalier them, but in a natural form not formal. I plan to use some sort of method to bag the apples so I can minimize spraying.

Cherries:

• Rainier (Sweet)
• Black Tartarian (Sweet)
• Meteor (sour/pie)

These I bought at Lowes last year on a whim. I try to plan things, but sometimes (okay a lot of the time) things just go astray. I plan to prune them heavily so I can keep them maintained. I think I will probably have no choice and will have to spray them. Hopefully, something not to horribly toxic.

The remainder:

• Plum - Santa Rosa
• Peach - Red Haven
• Apricot - Wenatchee-Moorpark

The peach came from a local nursery, Mac's Garden Center. The plum and apricot came from Lowes. I might plant another plum (Satsuma) and apricot (Tilton) - sort of in the same hole kind of thing. It's explained here: Dave Wilson Backyard Orchard Only thing is, I should have planted them all at once.

I planted 2 types of strawberries last year - Tri Star(Everbearing) and Shuksan (June bearing). These came free with my order from Raintree. :) The Shuksan are running rampant and I need to take care of when the ground thaws out. I might try adding Alpine strawberries as well.

I also want to plant blueberries and blackberries. Some serious challenge there. I think 3 blueberries, against the east fence. I had thought about putting them in half barrels, but the dang things are $30.00 a pop at Lowes. For 3 that would be $100.00 not including potting soil and plant. So I have some hydrangeas to move and the blueberries should work nicely in this spot. Will have to add some more acidifying amendments.

And then there are blackberries. The biggest requirement is that they be thornless. ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, NO BLACKBERRIES THAT ARE THORNY. I'm thinking of one of the thornless upright varieties from the University of Arkansas, probably Ouachita. Theortically, you can plant them without have a support structure.

I would think that would be enough fruit for 3 people. We will see what happens.

New Mistakes

John Hammond: Don't worry, I'm not making the same mistakes again.
Dr. Ian Malcolm:No, you're making all new ones.

That was from the movie, Jurassic Park II. Not a great movie, but I love the quote. And I'm quite sure it will apply to this years veggie garden. . .

And with that in mind, I'm working on planning this years veggie garden. Here is the list of what I'm currently thinking of planting:

Spring

• beets
• carrots
• scallions
• onions
• celery
• lettuce
• spinach
• radishes
• kohlrabi
• peas
• turnips
• potatoes
  

Summer

• beans
• cucumbers
• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• summer squash
• winter squash
• tomatoes
• sweet peppers
• hot peppers
• sweet potatoes
• tomatillos

Fall

• beets
• carrots
• scallions
• onions
• lettuce
• spinach
• radishes
• kohlrabi
• peas
• turnips
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• Brussels sprouts
• garlic

Herbs (annual)

• parsley
  
• cilantro
• dill
• basil
  

Yikes, that's a big list! There is no way it will all fit in the square foot garden beds. The summer squash has to go somewhere else. The sweet potatoes may have to as well. And the annual herbs may have to go in the bed with the perennial herbs.

I may find there are some things that just won't fit. (Can I dig up the front lawn?)