Pass-alongs and stowaways

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Today I discovered two little stowaways in the potted rose bush my parents sent along with me the last time I visited. My newfound ferns are slowly unfurling their feathery little heads to wave at the warmer days of spring. Now I have ferns for my yard!

I've been accumulating quite a variety of pass-along plants lately: three rooting branches of a pussy willow tree, two spireas from my aunt, one housewarming butterfly bush from a friend, and the rose bush dad dug up from the back of his house. The latter is an offspring from my grandmother's roses, which are known in my family as the sweetest smelling roses on Earth. Can't beat those roses.

Now the challenge is to find a place for all my new plants. I'm still trying to decide which of the previous owner's plantings I like, and which ones I think I might part with. The camellias' days are probably numbered; I'm not feeling so great about those. Then there is some sort of prickly bush at the end of the yard. Ugly as it is, the birds seem to like it for shelter, so I'm torn about that one. And in the space where I thought I'd plant grandma's rose bush, there are lilies of the valley now emerging from the ground. Every space is filling up fast.


It's a fun challenge to have, though, finding new homes for my pass-alongs and stowaways.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: April

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

This month's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day crept up on me faster than I realized, even though it always falls on the 15th of the month, so I should have been prepared.

My garden is bursting with flowers this month - some of which I planted myself and some of which where left by the previous owners of the house. I've been having the best time watching everything unfold and making each new discovery. My favorite of all is that we have tulips in front of the house, and I didn't even plant them. How's that for a nice surprise?

The tree branch that I posted for February Bloom Day came from the tree pictured above - a beautiful Bradford pear. This weekend, sitting on the deck, we were graced with a shower of its delicate, drifting petals.

With the pear blossoms now finished, I have another tree - a crab apple, I think - that is flooded with gorgeous fuschia flowers. A picture would help here, I know, but the wind made it impossible for me to capture one the other day. I promise a photo soon.

Elsewhere around the yard I have: hyacinths, grape hyacinths, daffodils, forsythia, and a few azalea plants that are about to explode into bloom. I also have... drum roll, please... STRAWBERRY FLOWERS!

Making the Garden Beds

Thursday, April 10, 2008

We've been moving forward with our garden building project in fits and starts lately -- more fits than starts, really, given that it's been too wet to do much digging. We're concerned about compacting and damaging the soil if we work on it when it's too wet.

A couple of weeks ago, we ordered a delivery of 4 cubic yards of compost/topsoil mix from the local Pogo Organics. It was cheaper to do it that way, rather than buying soil in bags. I also appreciated that we didn't end up with a pile of plastic bags to deal with afterwards. Less waste.

Indoors under the grow lights, my pepper and tomato plants are growing up. I've transplanted some of them twice already into larger pots. When the weather is nice, I'll start setting them outside to harden off. We're still about a month away before it's safe to put them in the ground for good. I can't wait for the day when everything is tucked neatly into a garden bed -- and churning out food!