a-chick-metic: 1 poor plan + 2 crossed fingers = 0 exotic chickens

My new camera came in the mail, and it was like picking up a brick.  Why hadn't I checked the weight before I bought it?!  My old camera weighed 1 lb 2 oz, and this new camera is 2 lbs 6 oz.  Too, too much.  I sent it back and I'm still waiting for the (15.6 oz) replacement.  But my cell phone is too painfully bad, so when Todd and I went to the Indiana State Fair last week, I brought the point-and-shoot business camera.  

I love the fair.  I used to live nearby and went at least once every season, sometimes many times.  I love the exotic chickens, the vegetable contests, the butter sculptures, the 4H insect collections, the dog and cat shows, all of it.  I guess we timed it poorly this year, though.  The chickens, the pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and cows...either already gone or not yet at the fair.  We couldn't find the butter sculptures or the insect collections.  It was a lot of this:

Thankfully, there were a few sheep, there for a random junior show:

There were a couple of pigs at a birthing exhibit:

There was a small goat petting zoo:

One exhibitor brought a few ducks and chickens:

There was a midday horse race:

Of course, we checked out the quilt exhibits.

The baked goods...

...and the veggies.

I love checking out the oddities, though.  Who has the best antique clock?  The best old record?  The best vintage doll?  Or...what about the best Christmas decoration?  The ugliest lamp?  The best scrapbooking page??  Oh, they've got it.

Todd found some treasures too!

Next year, I will CHECK THE SCHEDULE to make sure that the exhibits I want to see are open.  I need those exotic chickens!!

(past chicken pics)

Have a great week!

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!  

an idea takes root

There are still a few vases around my house, surrounded by limp pink petals.  But I've got to face the facts:  the 2-week reign of my favorite flower, the peony, is over for another year.

But what a two weeks!  I don't know how anyone can be unimpressed by the sheer exuberance of the peony.

The petals are made of satin...it's a little-known fact.

The fragrance is strong in the varieties that I grow.  I like nothing better than to place my nose directly in the soft centers and inhale.

You've got to watch out for little creatures, though, like ants (who love peonies as much as I do!) and crab spiders.

Don't be afraid of them, though.  Just pluck its peony from the vase and shake it out over a bush outside.  Crab spiders are great for the garden and eat many pesky insects!

As cut flowers, peonies brighten any table.

Growing outside, they're hard to beat for beauty.  They unfurl slowly...

...and oh!

As the peonies die back, and the columbine go to seed...

...other things are just beginning to come to life.

My dahlias are blooming nicely.

My yarrow, too, is starting to open up in various patches around the yard.  I have white, yellow, and red varieties.

I have a row of absolutely gorgeous larkspur blooming...and three more of them that will be up in a few weeks! 

It looks a bit bare right now, but I have late-blooming yellow lilies that will be up soon, and sprawling red and orange nasturtiums all around the base of the bird bath, and spiky violet mallow that will pick up the purple color after the larkspur die down.  Around the lilies I have several snapdragon plants that will bloom within a month.  My purple clematis is blooming nicely (but not very visibly!) against the fence.

Further down the row, I have more yellow and purple, one of my favorite color combinations. 

I have a big silvery Russian Sage plant and then a big row of red yarrow.  White sweet peas will soon be vining up behind the yarrow, and my purple salvia will bloom all summer.  A yellow four-o'clock blooms in the corner, and I've got old-fashioned zinnias planted all around it.  The four-o'clock will die back soon, and the zinnias will pick up the slack.

I've got two types of mint growing, two varieties of thyme, dill, basil, two types of sage, parsley, radishes, lettuce, and oh, the tomatoes!

I had 100% germination from a .20 pack of cherry tomatoes.  This was 2 weeks ago, and they've all grown so much that they're ready to go in the ground!

I started some chives from a package of three year old seed.  Germination!

And at last...after a two-year wait...they're back.

I will never, ever prune you again, my dear! 

 And best of all, the clearanced hydrangea start that I bought and planted eight years ago is going to bloom this year.  I love the unique marbled leaves...and the blossoms are white!  Score!!

For the first time, something that I germinated from seed in our basement grow lab has bloomed.  A moss rose. 

I had a Tom Hanks moment, standing in front of it, just bursting with pride (click link below).

I did it!

Yes, it was exactly like that!  I just said moss rose instead of fire.  :)

I brought home another carload of plants from our local Master Gardener's sale.  At $2 and $3 each, I got a lot for the $47 that I spent.

 And I discovered another trick this week that put me into an absolute frenzy. 

Take a plant...any plant!  A tree, a shrub, an annual, a perennial, whatever.  Cut a green piece of  stem, removing all but the top 2 leaves.

Dip the bottom inch (up past the bottom leaf nodes) into water and then into the rooting hormone. Then place it into a soil-less mixture (I used half perlite and half spaghum moss, dampened)...

Cut some sticks or bamboo stakes and put one in each corner of your container.

Then, wrap each one in a plastic bag and set in bright shade.

After a few days, you'll see this:

Leave it alone for 4 - 6 weeks, just rewetting the soil when it gets a little dry.  Then remove the plastic and give your plants a tug.  If you feel some resistance, you've got roots.  Pull up the plant and re-pot.  You've got a whole new plant for free! 

I used some plastic cups to make lots of mini greenhouses.  They're in a nice shady spot, because sun would burn the cuttings. 

I'm rooting 5 each of lilacs, white hydrangeas, pink hydrangeas, lavender, phlox, creeping jenny, two types of sedum, and a mystery vining plant that I'm quite fond of.  Sixty to seventy-five new plants, just growing nicely 'under glass', no trouble at all.  And I'm not done yet!  These can grow in their little pots all summer and overwinter in a cold frame that Todd will build in the yard.  A cold frame is simply a wooden box with a protected bottom (gravel, etc.) and a glass or plastic-framed top that closes down over the box.  Easy and cheap to build!  Then they'll be ready to go in the ground in the spring, or live on as container plants on the patio.  The sky's the limit with this sort of propagation.  All it takes is a little patience...and if you're short on that, at least this will teach you a lesson or two!  I'll report back in a little over a month with my results.

I just can't apologize for the breathless tone of this blog post.  I'm absolutely filled with joy when I have these little garden experiments.  Gardening can be quite a ride!  Just hold on tight!  ;) 

I hope you try some new things in your garden this week, too.  Enjoy!