ticked and sicked

 I've started my seasonal baking for early summer...and what's better than homemade strawberry shortcake?!?  Recipe by Stella Parks, found in her amazing Bravetart cookbook.

I love highlighting the arrival of a new season.  And what's more appropriate for mid-May than some home-grown veggies, nearly ready for the garden?  They are so cheerful!

This year, I'm growing watermelon, zucchini, cantaloupe, 13 kinds of tomatoes, jalapenos, corn (!!), bell peppers, and lots of herbs...in addition to flowers and, of course, a ton of pumpkins.  I'm starting them off on heat pads, under lights, and then potting them up as they get bigger.  It will be time to plow the back field soon!

It's been slow going here.  Todd was sick with a terrible cold for over a week, and then promptly got bitten by a tick...the bite became infected...he had to start antibiotics...and they make him nauseous.  So I've had to do more of the "heavy lifting" work in the garden, and subsequently pulled a muscle in my shoulder and neck...barely able to turn my head for days.  I've had to limit myself to a daily single wheelbarrow of compost.  But I've been focusing on the garden directly behind the house, and I'm so pleased!

It's really coming to life.  Except for the tiny seedlings, ALL of these are perennials.  It's quite by accident that this bed turned out so well.  Long ago, I read that you should plant your garden by how the foliage looks, not the flower, because blooms are short-lived but the foliage lasts all season.  Vary your design and clump, clump, clumps of the same plants in scattered groups.  I did this quite by accident.  Too much of something somewhere, I'd dig it up and plop it wherever there was space without much thought.  Somehow, it worked.

A different view...

The paths aren't laid, but hopefully this week!

Ferny, spiky, rounded leaf...silvery, chartreuse, deep green...somehow, I ended up with a pleasing variety that comes up reliably year after year.

Coral bells, spirea, lamb's ear, yarrow, and cemetery moss...all foliage, all different shapes, sizes, and colors, but somehow it just...works.  

The delight is that as much as I love it now, in another month it will burst into bloom and be another garden entirely!  The front beds, too, have come alive on their own.  All perennials...all just doing their thing without any help from me...other than weeding and mulching, of course.

Just a few flowers right now...the cranesbill (purple flowers above), some columbines...

...and even anemones!  Yes, the anemones that I forgot about for an entire year but decided to soak and plant anyway are bursting to life.

It's nice to work in the garden with my usual pal, Claudia, while the kittens watch from their perch.

I mean, if they've got the time to watch.  Sometimes they're preoccupied with other things...

What a delightful time of year, ticks notwithstanding.  

Have a great week!  

My Newer Manure Set Up

 The big melt is coming!  Temperatures up to **55 degrees** by Friday, so...

The snow has been amazing, though.   We got 11 - 12 inches, and then got another powdery inch after a few days.  Borga was not too keen on a snow walk...

...but did her best to keep up!

It wasn't long before she was worn out...

...and ready to head in.

Claudia, comfortably ensconced in her heated garage bed, had absolutely no interest in going outside.

The wind smoothed out the snow and made gorgeous drifts, and the sun made perfect diamond sparkles across the expanse.  It was so lovely!

It was almost a shame to break a path through it, but it had to be done so that we could easily get to the barn.

The birds have been steady visitors at the feeder and have pecked their way through all twelve inches to the bare ground below the feeder.  I love watching them through the living room window!

Valentine's Day has come and gone.  I didn't feel very festive because of poor Bosewichte, but I did make a "heart inside" loaf cake...

...topped with my favorite new toy, a handmade paper chain.  I used 1" x 1/4" strips of colored paper and constructed in the same way you'd make a full-size one.  It was somehow soothing and therapeutic, and I have claimed said chain to drape on my computer!

Now that the season is getting on, I've turned my thoughts toward indoor planting.  Ranuculus and anemones have to be "pre-sprouted" by soaking in warm water for a day, planted in soil for 2 weeks to stimulate root growth, and then planted in the ground.  

They don't look like much now...

...but I'm hoping to see THIS within a couple of months!

(photo courtesy of Floret Farms)

(photo courtesy of Eden Brothers)

I also started 17 varieties of sweet peas nearly 2 weeks ago.  I read so much conflicting data about sweet peas...scratch the seed!  Heat mat!  No heat mat!  Surface sow!  Plant 1" deep!...but I decided to go with the one that made the most sense.  The seeds don't get scratched in nature, and they're a cool-weather plant.  The seeds are larger, so I planted them about 3/4" deep.  All in tall yogurt containers...

...well-watered and placed in our dark, chilly attic.  Germination is supposed to take about 10 days, and I really sweated that time, checking the containers daily for signs of life.  Should I have nicked the seeds?  Don't they need temperatures warmer than 50 degrees to germinate?  But sure enough, after 10 days, I started seeing little nubs...PHEW!  

I hope they'll be beautiful in about 5 weeks!

(photo courtesy of Floret Farms)

I'm continuing to winter sow as our weekly plastic containers are freed up.  I also started soil blocking this week.  Soil blocking is an alternative to using the black plastic containers that you normally use for seed starting.  It's supposed to cause stronger growth and allow you to start many more seeds in less space than with the plastic.  

First, you have to sift all of the big chunks out of your peat moss.

Sixteen cups of this sifted peat moss is mixed with 4 cups of composted manure, 1/4 cup of rock phosphate, and 1/4 cup of green sand (those last two are...fertilizers?).  You add water until you get a mud pie-like slurry and then pack it into your handy soil blocker, which compresses the mixture and pops out 2" blocks, ready for seeding.

Blocks are seeded and placed on cafeteria trays, which are then placed on heat mats until the seeds germinate.  You bottom-water by adding the water to the cafeteria tray, and the blocks wick it up.  A sprinkle of vermiculite on top helps retain moisture and stop algae growth.  These little blocks can hold a seedling for 4 - 6 weeks and then be popped directly into the ground, so no transplant shock.

They are VORACIOUS drinkers and I'm watering these twice per day.  Plus some other seeds that I started upstairs on heat mats. Plus keeping the sweet peas, anemones, and ranuculus watered.  Oh, and the Aerogarden.  It's taking a lot of time and energy!  I just hope that it works!  It's all new to me this year.

It's just too cold to work in my potting station, so I've dragged everything into the house, which has been completely overtaken by debris.  We're crunching over big grains of salt from our walkway that we've just been too busy to sweep up.  A big bag of composted manure...manure!...is spilling over on our dining room floor.  Big bags of other ingredients are spread around, plus two big mixing tubs, cafeteria trays, grow lights, heat mats.  Oh, and the house smells like old, wet dirt from the soil blocks.  It's making me crazy, but hopefully, within a week, it will be warm enough to move out to the potting addition.  Todd has worked hard to set up a "grow tent" in that cold space, and once the indoor temperature hits at least 45 degrees, I should be able to move around comfortably.  

One...more...week...and no more manure in the house!  One of my current top life goals right now.

Have a great week!