Hope Springs Eternal (but still very, very white)

Omg, what a winter it was. I've never in all my years living in Minnesota spent so little time outdoors in the winter as I did this winter. It was brutal, and not because of the snow, although we did get more than our average amount, but because of the ongoing brutal cold. Although, I did spend time going out to feed the birds, and other "critters of the yard". Now, with our ongoing support of food, I'm afraid there will be an overpopulation of squirrels! Well, if times really get tough we'll be glad to have them... Snow in the back yard still over my knees in places, so it's a bit of a challenge, but we are now getting temperatures in the 40's even 50! People have been giddy and goofy with the warmer temps, and the bird songs are getting louder and more frequent! Robins came in the end of February and hunkered down somewhere- probably wondering why they were here, but now they are out and about again. I decided to experiment with growing some cold weather greens out on the porch. I started them indoors with lights but now they are on the porch. I planted beets, rutabaga, and broccoli raab. The raab has really taken off and the rutabaga is a close second. I'm going to be able to harvest some greens pretty soon!

As soon as I figure out how to send photos from my phone to this site, I'll update with more pics. Happy St. Paddy's Day- think green, be green, live green! Greenie

Season Finale

August, September, October... time flies when you're having fun!  Tomorrow, October 29th we are supposed to get snow.  I'm not sure of the last day in May that we had snow, but that means we only had 4 months without any snow, really??  I've decided to really try to embrace winter this year, and if that fails, I'll think about exploring my surroundings further south and west!
Anyways, wrap up of Summer/Fall:  Did okay on the tomato front-still have a couple of bowlfuls sitting on the counter.  Did great with peppers- roasting the rest tomorrow, and with rutabegas- several bags in the refrigerator downstairs.  We actually ate a few melons about the size of a baseball, but they were tasty!  Second bean crop didn't do so well, had tons of blossoms but the beans just never got too big.  It was enough for a few meals but I went to the farmer's market for beans to freeze.  My strawberries kept producing, even now there are flowers on the plants!  I have to remember to fertilize them next Spring.
All the yard chores are pretty much wrapped up.  I emptied all the composters and buried it in the garden plots.  I just have to put out the straw on the dirt beds.  I renewed all the cedar mulch in the beds, took the pumps out of the ponds, Larry emptied all the rainbarrels.  I'm using the water hyacinth roots for scary witch or skull hair.  I'll have to clean out the ponds next spring, but they really looked pretty good after I added all the water plants.  The hyacinth has a very pretty bloom, and spread quickly.
I planted another tree- surprise!  It is a Rejoice crabapple, very upright growth, nice large dark green leaves that turned a pretty red this Fall.  I think it is a good choice for the spot, and the Redbud likes the company.  Here's a good spot for photos.

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wild 4 oclock's blooms-beautiful

milkweed coming back!

new goldenrod

pergola trumpet vine blooms in September!



hyacinth flower power



october's bounty

water hyacinth root- witch's hair?

hop heaven

Rejoice! crab apple tree



quaking aspen straight! This gizmo works pretty well, but when we removed it in October the aspen didn't remain completely upright so we will have to use again in the spring, probably the entire summer.



August's Own Ideas

motivation

peppers

potatoes still healthy!

zucchini



inspiration



sweet surprise



perspiration



So far August is more like September, great for consuming mass quantities of fried food at the state fair, but not so great for the vegetables trying to win top prize at the state fair. Also, not so great for the vegetables that are supposed to land on my dinner plate. I did see a bit o' pink on my tomatoes yesterday, and I do have several zucchini and a bag of beans in my vegetable drawer, but I haven't had any excess to freeze. Another visit to the farmers market next week! I'm still working on the garden site behind the house, just finishing up the edging around the side of the house, plus removing the rock and plastic my neighborhood landscaper's minions left behind in their "hurry up job" of rock removal. My own misbehavior of peasant garden squatting while doing this job has left me with plantars fasciitis, so now I'm moving in slow mo, embracing the Slow Gardening movement. Yes there is such a thing! (side note: the blog page is not allowing me to do much in the way of formatting so that is why everything is the way it is.. ) Greenie



wild 4 o'clock flower bud



August Hope

Heading into August I'm wondering if I'll see a melon, taste my own tomatoes, or pluck a red pepper!  I am eating strawberries again, and they are big and juicy, a nice surprise.  We had about 4 cups of cherries turned into cherry/brandy sauce for icecream, yummy!  The perennials are doing great, the apples on the tree look good and I planted more green beans, hoping for a warm August.
More changes are coming to the back yard in the next few weeks.  We are finally removing the original landscaping rock and what remains of the plastic from the back of the house.  This means removing any plants I want to save, mainly milkweed and coneflower, and yes the monarchs arrived!  I've seen a monarch everyday this past week, hoping it is not the same one each time.  So, we have our work cut out for us, removing plants, then adding plants, and after that we'll have some large rock outcropping done on our small hill.  Out with old rocks, in with new rocks!


giant butterflyweed and bunny tails





mid july




bad bug




view from the patio




cherries




end of july



new perennial from seed
Wallflower



bunny tails




evening primrose




green pond- before oxygenator plants



CLEAR POND! after oxygenator plants!



the ponds

next time, the vegetable garden!
Greenie

A Summer of Change

After weeks of wet cool weather, summer is here.  It has been gorgeous, even with the humidity.  Everything is playing catchup and time will tell if it can.  Things to note on this first day of July;  I haven't seen many butterflies-one yellow swallow tail and a few small pale blue ones.  I have not seen one monarch in our yard.  We've had a few dragonflies, or the same ones returning.  Bees are rare, except for the very tiny ones which were all over the sedum flowers.  Only a couple of large bumble bee sightings, and very few other bees.  I'm hoping with more blooms the bees will increase.  We've only had infrequent visits by a hummingbird, probably the same one.  I have not heard our toad.  Our wrens are back, we have several goldfinches, and chickadees, and robins.  The nuthatch and woodpecker visit once in a while.  I have a bird I haven't been able to identify for sure, maybe a cat bird, and we've had a thrush visit, and the Cooper's Hawk!

lupine with tiger's eye sumac

bush clematis

trumpet vine on patio

cooper's hawk

Today is July 2, and I am starting to see more bees on the milkweed and pincushion flowers.  I'm still seeing hundreds of tiny bees but still no butterflies.  Here are more pictures of the garden!

bunny tails

delphinium

new plant with orange trumpet flowers in front of gallardia-no blooms yet.

red lilies just opening

pincushion bonanza

two new spurge plants and apricot coreopsis

small pond with new rocks- good spot for the fish!

snowsweet apple!

boom or bust again?

potatoes



rutabegas and beets




milkweed




a handful of strawberries a day-better next year?




large pond with water plants



start of new drawing using my cooper's hawk photos.

This gardening is great fun, but some days I feel like I have another full time job!  It is a great inspiration for my work, but I may be re-evaluating all of the vegetable gardening for next year.  I had quite a few perennials that didn't make it so I spent alot of time replacing plants.  Now the back of the house garden area needs to be redone, but the milkweed is staying in hopes of the Monarch's survival, and for the bees.

Greenie