The plants....they are a changin'

It has been three weeks since I have updated my posts- and, wow!- plants are springing up all over the place. Where to start?

New growth on the knock-out rose bush.

The sedum is a beautiful 8 inch green mound now. The grasses have come in and they are nearly 10 inches tall. My clematis has turned from dead brown to lush green. That process is always a wonder to me! Buds are on everything.

Time to start thinning!

I planted more lettuce and spinach in the cold frame. The onions were getting so tall I had to put the wooden "extended height" frame on top of my base frame. I bought radishes in a seed strip. I have never purchased anything in a strip before and was pleased to find out that the radishes came up in no time in a PERFECT straight row.

On April 9 I took beautiful dark soil from the bottom of my compost bin and added it to the raised bed, along with a bag of posy power. After working these products into the soil, I put in broccoli plants and cabbage. Now the hard part...waiting.

It's Offically Spring!

My lettuce and spinach are starting to grow in the cold frame. I know a "watched pot never boils" but I cannot WAIT for my first salad. I also noticed that one onion has popped up.

My tall grasses stayed over winter for outside critter protection (and a back scratcher for my dog Hugo). I used the hedge trimmer and cut them down this week. Today I noticed specks of bright green blades coming up.

These grasses grow to four feet and give our deck some privacy.

The lawn looks a mess. There are more weeds than grass ( but they are green, right?) and lots of bare spots. I decided just to fertilize the yard this year with something organic and safe for Hugo. Yesterday I used a hand spreader and put a product on the yard. Unfortunately, Hugo seems to enjoy both the smell and the taste of the granules...so I am not sure if the fertilizer is going to land in the soil or in Hugo's stomach.

Turns out to be a VERY pet friendly Organic fertilizer!

Nature's Garden

Mother Nature's Garden is always in bloom before mine!

My friend Carol and I visited my brother in Southeastern Ohio on St. Patrick's Day. Food was great and weather was wonderful. And, as we walked up to the edge of the woods, this was one of the clusters of yellow we saw. I wonder where the bulbs originated?

My daffodils have buds on them and seem to get taller every day. But I do not think I will see blooms for a while.

There was an old Sedum who lived in a shoe....

Color is coming back to the sedum planted in Clyde Hinkle's work boots!

I can't believe my mums want to come up already. My mother always told me to keep them trimmed to four inches until the 4th of July. This would make a compact, fuller display. At this rate, I will be trimming my mums every week in May and June! Notice that the daffodils are pointed straight to the sun.

My honeysuckle pulled down its trellis last fall. All winter it rested on the ground. Yesterday Denny dug a deeper hole for the base and piled up surrounding dirt around the trellis to anchor it. And I mean A LOT of dirt! Like, even too much? There must be some guidelines on how much above the base of a plant dirt should be...will have to check this out.

Yeah! A vertical trellis again! (on a mountain of dirt)

Inspired by Little Gem

Last week I planted a few "Little Gem" lettuce seeds I received from my brother Richard. Today I noticed that I had a few perfect "Little Gem" leaves in my raised bed. I was so excited!

I took the top off my raised bed (a frame covered in plastic) and planted two rows of white onions, a row of spinach and two rows of mixed greens. My hope is that I will be able to make a salad the last week of April.

My daffodils were hiding under old maple leaves, so I raked them off and added them to my compost. I trimmed my old lavendar and cut my Russian Sage stems to about seven inches. Sedum is started to show its waxy green leaves among last year's stalks- so I cleaned out the old to make room for the new.

I really didn't do much outside today- but it made a difference in how the yard looks already! And it felt so good to be playing in the dirt. Speaking of dirt...I saw no worms...where do they spend the winter?

Oh yes.....ouch....my gardening muscles are sore from lack of use over the winter.