60+ in February!

This is global warming at its finest - check out this picture - 60+ degrees and it is only February 11! My thermometer sits in the shade of my porch all day so it was even warmer than what it shows!

Thankfully there is still close to knee deep snow on the ground so my early spring bulbs won't be coming up yet. Not really sure what the rest of the week holds for temperature, but this is definitely just a tease. No way is winter on it's way out of New England. As you can see from where my garden is supposed to be - we have a L-O-N-G way to go.

I have a lot of work to do in my garden space - last year I expanded up the hill and learned the hard way that I really should have built several raised beds so that the water didn't completely drown out the cukes at the bottom. So, raised beds are on the list as well as expanding another 6 feet at the other end of the existing garden. The first 6 feet is designated to asparagus and then the remaining 12 feet to all the rest.

Way Overdue

I can't believe that my last posting was in July! My 2009 resolution is to be more diligent to this positing to record the highs and lows of my experiences!
This year my garden is starting from seed. Yup - seed. I ordered all my seeds through Territorial Seeds and Henry Fields and this year I am expanding the garden (again) and growing some new things. For the cool weather garden I am going with lettuce, carrots, radishes and sugar and snap peas. And then when the weather heats up out come the cukes, zukes, tomatoes, edamame, beans and spaghetti squash. I guess I should be truthful - the cukes, zukes and tomatoes will be purchased as plants - I can't take on everything at once!
I also have been working with my newly converted organic neighbor, Tom, on starting a community garden. There is a house across the street and next to Tom that has been abandoned for 3 years and everyone is sick of looking at the overrun yard and weeds. We are going to work together to make an established bed of about 15 x 20 and there I will attempt from seed - corn and delicata squash and I also ordered two types of potatoes - yukon gold and red - along with some red onion sets. I have enough bean seeds so those will probably move over across the street too. I am going with the Native American Three Sisters method - squash, corn and beans. Hopefully it all comes to fruition.
We have a lot to do if the snow every melts. Since the yard has been empty for so long there are TONS of at least thigh high weeds and "grass" that needs to be taken care of before we even think about dumping down loads of compost.
Storm after storm has dumped a lot of snow around here so once I can manage to get into that backyard I will snap a before picture.

And still more photos

Remember that spindly little butterfly bush from an earlier post? Well here she is in all her glory! After only one year she is now about 6' high and 3-4' wide. The older stems are flowering first but today the tops have blooms too.
And this is an up close and personal shot of one of the many coneflowers I planted. Other than the green envy and these two that is all I have for now.

the double deckers have buds and I cannot wait to see them come up. The weather has definitely been in their favor. It has been crazy hot for days now probably going on a week. I can't get enough water into my garden it is so dang hot. Thank goodness for the rain barrels other wise my water bill would be sky high!

Picture time

Whoever heard of pansies still blooming in July?!?! I got these from Michigan Bulb and they are growing like wildfire!!!

These two of where my garden is now - holy zukes and cukes! I still have to train the cucumbers to grow up the trellis as opposed to growing into my neighbors evergreen bushes. The zukes and tomatoes are doing well too. So far I have cut two zukes and two yellow squash and hopefully more to come.














This is the first to bloom green envy coneflower - there is another one but it is being completely consumed by my butterfly bush.

These are the wildflowers that I got for free for joining the National Home Gardening Club and I must say they took nicely to this spot - it somewhat hides the neighbors unsightly yard.

Who said morning glories were annuals - these suckers have reseeded themselves and are making a very good home in my backyard.






These blackie sweet potato vines were from last year! They were in the window box never really doing too well and I brought them in this year and BOO-YAH I have a mini sweet potato shrub!

The season has begun!

So here is the first zucchini of the season! I let it get a little too big totally by accident. I didn't even realize it was there! The plants are growing out of control and it is hard for me to see under those massive leaves, but today it was rescued!

I also have a few sugar snap peas which I think are ready to harvest, but what do you do with 6 peas?!?! I have never grown these before so have no idea what to expect.

The tomatoes and cucumbers are doing pretty well, the Thai hot peppers are a complete wash. I guess peppers are just not my thing because last year the red and greens didn't grow well either.

Now the front yard is a different story. I bought 12 tradesentia from Spring Hill Nursery and only 5 have come up. The front walk looks absolutely ridiculous! Not to mention the unsightly daffodil foliage that refuses to die. And that is just salt in the wound because they didn't bloom either!

So my next stop after this post is to contact Spring Hill and take them up on their life time guarentee. Will let you know how that works out!

Not so Blue Girl Rose

This is the first bloom that came up on my newly purchased Blue Girl Rose. Blue? I think not! It has a bit of a lavender-ish color but this isn't even close to what I thought it would be. It does smell absolutely heavenly though. It has a rose scent but with an underlying scent of lemon - sitting on the back porch I can smell it even without a breeze blowing.

Now this beauty here is growing in the back! What a vibrant pink. Now if everything else I plated would pick up the pace.

The Salvia Plumosa is doing well and has started to spread. The dragon flower is growing like crazy - I just hope it flowers. I have blooms on the double decker and green envy coneflowers and a gajillion morning glories growing all over the place!!! Talk about an annual re-seeding.

The veggie garden is doing well. I have flowers on the cukes and zukes. Of course the zukes are all male right now, but I do see some females coming up shortly. I have four very small cherry tomatoes and two roma plum already coming up and even more blooms. They don't seem to bloom heavy, so I am hoping that I am going to get more as they grow. Right now they are only about 2 feet high - and still plenty of growing time!

Holy Heatwave!!!!!

Starting on Saturday it has been 90+ degrees!!! This from on Thursday being 50-60 - what a crazy climb in temperature. My tomatoes and cukes are loving it - but not so much for the lettuce. You know it is hot when the Rhodies start to droop! My roses started to bloom and MUCH better than any other year. Here is a picture of the two that are on my side yard. The one on the left was a spindly little thing last year and look at her now - almost the same size as her neighbor! I guess a little love and some "roses alive" from Garden's Alive really does the trick!


Even the rose bush out back that came up with only one bloom last year is doing well.


I wanted to capture my garden now while it is still in the infant stage. I did have to trash the sugar snap peas - they just didn't cut it. Only one survived and instead I plated a number of different bush and pole beans.



The first photo captures my cukes, lettuce (both romaine and buttercrunch) edamame, and beans. Keep in mind that I just plants the bean seeds yesterday so there really is nothing to see yet.



The second photo is of my Thai hot peppers (to deter the critters), yellow and green zucchini and tomato plants. I added some marigold seeds throughout the garden as well as in pots to hopefully help with the critters. I also planted some Nasturtium plants that will hang along the fence again in the hopes to keep the thieves at bay.