First Offerings

Last night I made leek and chard quesadillas from the leeks and chard in the garden!  How exciting it is for me to go out into the garden and pick fresh ingredients for meals.

                                                          Here they are in all of their glory.

                                                  Other greens are coming up nicely as well.

Lettuce, Kale, Chard, Spinach and Arugula have sprouted.

But the very best gift of all this week was finally putting out the Budha that I purchased this last April.  I see him out my kitchen window, and I am in my kitchen plenty!  It's a reminder of the peace and serenity that I seek in my life.  That with patience and practice, I will see beyond this world to a more expansive existence.  Namaste.

"Learn to be an observer in all seasons.  Every single day, your garden has something new and wonderful to show you".  - unknown

Peppers are in, still a bit chilly

I planted the peppers yesterday, and tidied up the Perennial Herb Garden a bit.  I'm using a Smart Pot this year for one of the pepper plants.  These are supposed able to allow air flow completely around the plant, so the plants stay healthier and grow more roots.

The Smart Pot is the black pot in the lower left corner of this photo.  It is very flexible, and can hold a lot of soil, since it does not taper in at the bottom like the conventional plastic pots do.

There is still the jalapeno to plant.  Yet another trip to Home Depot!


The herbs that were planted last weekend are doing well in their new environment.






I hope to plant a Tea Rose in the Herb Garden this weekend.  With us repairing our deck, that could be iffy.  That, and the fact that there is more rain in the forecast all weekend.  We're still not out of the woods as far as flooding goes.  Loveland had flooding last night.

Perennial Herb Garden started!

Sunday was a late Mother's Day gift.  Hubby took me to buy some pepper plants and flowers that would have been impossible to plant last weekend.

 There's one green bell pepper, one yellow bell pepper, one red bell pepper, and one jalapeno plant this year.

These are hard to see right now, but this barrel has a spike, and 4 white, and 4 purple Alysum plants








Since we cannot afford to completely put new soil in the bed that is to become the perennial  herb garden, Hubby dug holes for the 2 lavender, 1 Rosemary, and 1 Oregano plants that I have been nursing over the winter.  Below are the before and,

after photos!

I'm looking forward to adding more herbs, and a tea rose bush later on.

Last Frost

Last week was a need to have patience week.  Our last frost was Tues night, so planting was put off for some warmer temps.  Saturday was warmer and  prime time to plant my 3 tomato plants.

I also added a row of carrots, radishes, and beets in front of the tomato plants.  I decided to wait a couple of weeks to start the beans and squash, as the instructions on the seed packets said to wait 2 - 3 weeks after the last frost.  I also added a row of dill and basil in front of the other greens, to the left of the tomato plants.

This year, I'm going to try growing cilantro inside.  I hope I can keep some in a pot to be able to use all summer.  We just had AC installed a week ago, so it should be cool enough.  I just hate buying in the grocery store what I could easily grow myself, and I just love cilantro.  I'll need some when the tomato and pepper plants are ready later this summer, for pico de gallo.

I also weeded a bit Saturday, and put some mulch around our 2 Potentillas that greet visitors with their cheery yellow blossoms.

Whoops!  Forgot to sweep after Hubby edged.

I did this a very lazy way.  I put down newspaper, and then covered it with mulch.  I can see the white of the newspaper peeking out a bit.  I believe it is best to did out grass first.  We'll see how this does.......

I'll finish this up with some more beautiful photos of the Iris, Lilac, Strawberry and Apple Tree bed.

The Farmer's Plants Survived!

Parsley's lookin' good!

The Iris, Lilac, Apple Tree, and Strawberries did fine without the sock warmers.











                                            And look who I found checking out the garden!

Snow for Mother's Day

I believe this is the first Mother's Day, since I've been a Mother, to skip planting something in my yard or garden.  The Mother of a snowstorm hit Colorado on Mother's Day.  It rained/snowed all day, night, and stopped around noon today.  Since we're north of Denver, and east of the foothills, we thankfully didn't get as much as other areas.

  I covered the volunteers in my vegetable garden, and brought the potted herbs on my deck inside on my baker's rack that faces southwest.  Thank goodness I didn't plant my tomatoes yet!

This photo is at a weird angle, but I think you get the idea.  :-)







 Others that I've spoken with are hoping their tomato plants will survive.  Thank you to my friends at the local Hydro-ponics store for advising me to wait until Mother's Day or after to plant them.  That has always been my personal rule-of-thumb, so I'm glad to have it confirmed by some experts.

We've lost 1 branch so far, and the temperature is predicted to dip into the 20's tonight, so I'm going to send as much Reiki to the trees and flowers on our property as I can, since I really cannot see myself covering all of the Lilacs and Iris with socks from all of our sock drawers!  This was the advice of a garden expert on the local news.





Lastly, I want to thank my Mother for going out of her way to be able to follow my blog.  Thanks, Mom!  You have always been my biggest fan, and encouraging to even my craziest behaviors and ideas.  I love you!

Still Raining!

Yay!  It's still raining!  Everything looks bright green and happy.  When I went out to add to the compost pile this evening, I clipped a few lilac stems from our tree.  They smell wonderful.  I put them on our Shabbat/Alter table with the photos of our loved ones that have since passed on.  I know that in some way they are enjoying them.

 Below is the lilac bush, and you can see the iris peeking out in the lower right.  This photo was taken a few days ago, and the iris have really taken off since then. 

There are deep purple and lighter purple blooms underneath the lilac bush, along with wild strawberries.  There are bees buzzing all around them.  The blossoms in this area of the yard are just magnificent!

 

 

I hope that the snow they are calling for on Sunday night stays in the mountains.



We have an apple tree next to the lilac bush that is filled with blossoms this year.  I have decided to donate the apples to the squirrels, since I don't have a choice anyway.  The little scamps will take a few bites out of each green apple, and let them drop to the ground.  I assume it's because the apples are too tart, but I don't profess to understand the mind of squirrels! 

This photo of the apple tree doesn't do it justice.  My daughter has suggested that I need to work on taking better photos.  Perhaps she'll give me a lesson for Mother's Day!

It's Raining!

It's finally raining here, stingy as it is.  Hopefully, we'll get more throughout the evening and night.  A friend/client/teacher of mine once said that plants love rain water much more than water from the hose.  Makes perfect sense to me, although I have no empirical proof.  I believe that a really great gardener relies on instinct as much as fact.  Yes, that's the way I have always been, and probably always will be. God willing!

Speaking of empirical proof.  I'm reading a book that was recommended to me by my local Hydroponic store owner, called Teaming with Microbes, The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web - Revised Edition.  The authors are Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis.  They live in Alaska, so I've got to believe that these guys are dedicated gardeners.  It can't be real easy up there.  I'm not to far into into it, chapter two actually, but it is a great book for layman, and laywomen about the life that lives in the soil.  It's a whole other world of living things, and chemicals and tilling kills the life that lives there, requiring more and more chemical additives each year to grow plants.  The claim is that by leaving the food web community of the soil, (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and aphids),  to do their thing, that the soil will renew itself each year, and grow healthier and stronger.  Since I'm not far into the book, this is a simplistic description.

It's raining again, harder this time.  Yay!  The rain should help all of my seeds to sprout soon.  It's always a thrill to see them poking up through the dirt.  I'll dream tonight of soon to be fresh meals all summer long from my garden.  Sweet dreams indeed.

Seed Sorting

I have been sorting my seed packets, and planing what to plant this coming weekend in the NEW RAISED BED! 

So far I know that I will plant the carrot, and nasturtium seeds next to the tomato plants, as I have read that they are nice companions. 

Above are the tomato plants that I purchased at our local Vitamin Cottage.  There is an Heirloom, a Roma, and a Yellow Brandywine.  Shown from right to left.

At the new end of the NEW RAISED BED! I'll plant Yellow Crookneck Squash, Blue Lake pole bean, and Cocozelle Summer Squash seeds.  Again, I've read that these are good companions.

Finally, I need to find a place for Beet and Radish seeds.  I'm thinking of trying to plant in a design instead of traditional rows. 

The farmer plants some seeds.

Another busy weekend in the garden/yard.  Hubby finished securing the NEW RAISED BED!  with rebarb.  He started Friday evening, and finished Saturday morning.

After putting in more organic soil and compost, I planted lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, arugula, and cilantro in short horizontal rows.  To the right of the new plantings, are chard from last year.  Yay! Since we don't have our soaker hose hooker up yet, I'll need to water daily, if we don't get rain.  I consider it a labor of love to raise these seeds into beautiful, healthy and delicious plants.  Each row has a Popsicle stick with the name of the plant.  I'll know where not to walk now, since the seeds are just beginning their process.



I also planted some sunflower seeds to pick fresh cut flowers for our home.  I love sunflowers decorating the Shabat/Alter table in our dining room.  These were planted in the space between the NEW RAISED BED!, and the wild strawberry patch.  I'll post pictures as the sunflowers grow and develop.



On Sunday, my dear, dear Hubby, took out an old lilac tree root, and the last juniper/fire hazard next to the house, opening up space for the Herb Garden.  It will take some time and effort to remove the wood chips, and develop good soil, but it will be well worth it to have a perennial herb garden to look forward to every year.

                        This is the before shot,





  

        
   and this is the after!


Not a huge difference, but enough to grow many more plants.

                                             
 

Compost!

The wind has finally died down, and it supposed to be warmer this weekend.  
We've got the compost pile set up, and Hubby has his hi-tech compost tool that can "stir" the compost easier and more efficiently.  Engineers! I've been adding food scraps daily.  The compost from last year turned out nicely, but there wasn't much do to the small container.  We should be able to produce much more with this system!

We have the timbers for the raised bed, now we just need to secure them with posts.  I'd like to plant some spring plants such as kale, spinach, lettuce, arugula, cilantro, and dill, but it will depend on when the bed is finished.  We combined two sections.  The first section, that is on the left side of the photo, was our previous garden, and the second, on the right side of the photo, had wood chips, and old straw.  The second really didn't grow anything but some hollyhock volunteers.  This year, with added soil and compost, will be where the squash is planted.



Since learning that we don't need to use a rototiller each spring, I can let some things go to seed and see what comes up each spring.  Leeks fom last year can be seen in the middle of the photo.  What cannot be seen from this photo is chard, carrots, and parsley.   At the closer end, between the wild strawberries and the bed, I'll plant some sunflowers for cutting.