April 12, 2010: Today in the Garden

It's beginning to look like spring at Granny's house!



It was a bit chilly and overcast this morning, but I had left my larger lettuce seedlings out for two nights in a row and decided it was time to get them into the garden. Five plants each of Red Sails, Summercrisp and Red Romaine, three plants of Parris Island Romaine and two plants of Buttercrunch were planted between the already growing rows of radishes. I had planned for five of each variety, but the Parris Island Romaine didn't germinate too well for me (two year old seed), so I didn't have enough to complete the row. I just hate it when that happens, I like my lettuces to look like pretty little ladies, all in a row.



I had a few more that germinated unevenly, so they went into the next bed....three each of Manoa and Little Gem, and the last two Buttercrunch. They all got a good drink of fish fertilizer, as did Annie. That silly dog found my measuring cup and was happily cleaning that nasty stuff out of it with her tongue! No kisses for you today, Annie! Good heavens, I hope it doesn't make her grow. That dog is fat as a little pig as it is.

By the time I got all the lettuce planted, the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, so I set all the seedlings out for a while and gave them a drink of very dilute fish fertilizer, about one Tbsp. in two gallons of water. Since just about everything was already stinking up the back yard, I decided to give the other plants a good shot of the fertilizer, too. Five of the eight direct seeded broccoli were growing well, the others looked as though the sprinklers hadn't touched them. I gave them a good soaking of the emulsion, and did some sprinkler adjustment so they would get water in the future. The spinach, cilantro, radishes and onions all got the fish emulsion.

I noticed the first of the potatoes were beginning to break the surface of the soil, and the sugar snap peas are finally popping up all over, a full ten days later than the shelling peas.

I decided to move the big blue pot to an area next to the patio. The clematis had winter killed, and the chives were outgrowing their area, so I pulled out the dead vine and moved the chives, which are just ready to flower, into the larger top part of the pot. More fish fertilizer. It's really reeking out there now, as am I. I don't think that smell will ever wash out of my hands.

I did a bit more weaving of canes in the raspberry bed, and pulled out all the suckers that were growing within about 8" of the sides. I dug the stray strawberries from the garden path and planted them in the bed where they belong.

I removed three more sections of fencing. I'm eliminating the short wire fencing in the back, but keeping it along the east side, as that's where the dogs are a bit troublesome. They don't bother the larger (mostly perennial or containers) stuff on the north side, and removing the fencing certainly makes it easier to get in there with the garden cart. It also makes it easier for Mr. H to mow. It also makes it easier for me to maybe take a bit more of the lawn to use for garden. Maybe Mr. H won't notice. I'm leaving the fence posts in, and will use them for supports for a row of tomato buckets. It's the absolute only place I have left for the determinates, and those sturdy posts will certainly keep them from toppling in a windstorm like they did last year.

Once I got all my gardening mess cleaned up, I did some strategic replacement of sprinklers, and attached them, with hoses, to the automatic sprinkling system. Hopefully, I'll get them replaced with PVC, bubblers and drips before summer, but for now the sprinklers will have to do.

Now I have to move all the seedlings back inside the garden shed. Then fix dinner. Then maybe a hot bath and early to bed. I'm ready ;-)

24 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a garden packed day. Your garden always looks wonderful, but look at how fantastic you lawn is! I'm drooling.

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  2. Hah! Ribbit, it didn't look so good a couple of weeks ago, when I didn't have any water! I've really been pouring it on, and it greened up pretty quick. The front yard still looks rather bad, as that's where the trees sucked all the moisture from the grass.

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  3. I started reading your blog entry and realized that I forgot to bring in my lettuce and other seedlings for the night. It is expected to go down to 29˚F tonight. So I scurried out to get them before reading the rest of your post. Thanks for the reminder :)

    You must be feeling better because boy you got a lot accomplished. Looking good! Be careful not to overdo it.

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  4. Rachel, I felt so much better today! I got off to a bit of a slow start, but once I got moving I didn't want to quit.

    Our weather is really looking good for the rest of the month. I don't know whether to believe The Weather Channel, they have the temps so high I could plant the tomatoes. I checked a couple other sources that give two nights in the thirties, so I think I'll trust that to be closer to reality. Looks like most of the days will be gorgeous though.

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  5. Now, Annie, you need to open us your secret: where do you get all the energy to do so much?! Incredibly full day. I bet you sleep well so many chores done!

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  6. Tatayana, after being sick all week, it was so invigorating to finally get out and DO something. Once I started I just couldn't stop. I felt like the Energizer Bunny! I know I'll sleep well tonight ;-)

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  7. It does look like spring in your yard. Our lawns are just starting to green up here and the leaves are just coming out.

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  8. Dan, I should have got a picture of our flowering plum tree when it was in full bloom. The blossoms are gone now. There sure are a lot of lilacs and rhodies budded out this year, they should be spectacular.

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  9. It looks like Spring has arrived in the NorthWest! Your lawn is amazing! It sounds like you've been really busy today... I hope that you're feeling better. Sometimes it just makes you feel better when you get outside and enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine :-) I think that can be the best medicine ever.

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  10. I'd kill for a lawn that looks like yours. :-( All I got is weeds......

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  11. Judy, I sure got a big dose of that "medicine" today!

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    EG, it won't take long before the crabgrass starts driving me nuts. We always hired a lawn service to do two pre-emergent applications in early spring. This year they came and did a "spring green-up application" instead, and charged us $50. No crabgrass preventative. I fired them. It's probably too late to apply it now, so I'll be digging crabgrass all summer.

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  12. Wow you have been busy! Puts me to shame, but posts like yours help me get my butt in gear and get out there! I'm not much of a lawn fan, but yours is beautiful looking. We would have to tear ours completely out if we wanted it to look nice, I belong to the"mow what grows" club, lol! Everything looks great, can't wait to start seeing all of our harvests.
    My word verification was "untiedig"... sounds like what we all have been doing!

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  13. Well now that you are feeling better I see you that you got right back to it, I hope you got that bath and an early bedtime. ;)

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  14. Glad you're feeling better. Wow, that's some workload. I must get on and push forward with my plans this weekend!

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  15. Sounds like a lovely day of puttering in the sunshine. I try to do at least one day of the weekend like that... it's a form of "me time" that is productive as well as rejuvenating.

    We mowed our lawn for the first time this past Sunday. We had let it go too long but the grass was just too wet to do it any sooner. We almost needed a baler there was so much clippings! LOL!

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  16. I would kill for a long uninterrupted day in the garden. It sounds like you had a productive day and that's you're getting over whatever it was you had. I'm GLAD!!!

    I'm starting to feel better myself. Gran, I never realized your backyard was so big! Your grass definitely looks better than ours at the moment. hahaha.

    Shoot, I really need to get my potatoes in the ground.

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  17. I'm so glad you are feeling better. The Paris Island that you sent me is growing strongly (as all the lettuce is). I can't wait to eat them. You plant lettuce just like I do. I seed my radishes before I plant and the radishes are usually up before the lettuce gets out. Not always, but usually. Then the radishes get eaten before the lettuce needs that room. At least that is always my plant. Sometimes the lettuce gets a bit to greedy and takes the space early.

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  18. Erin, our sandy soil and abundant water can make for some pretty lawns here. Unfortunately, the neighbors have some bermuda grass that insists on encroaching on my Kentucky bluegrass lawn. It won't be many more years before it's unmanageable. Putting my garden around the perimeter has helped, I can at least spot it now as it comes under the fence.

    Gardeners UNITE! DIG! ;-)

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    Kelly, yes I did! I watched an hour of TV in bed, then slept beautifully the rest of the night, with no coughing.

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    TIG, Thank you. You be careful now. Go buy some plants!

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    Kitsap, ours is a mulching mower, but the grass was so thick we were left with a lot of clumps. It's very good for the lawn, but terrible on my floors! That freshly mowed grass sticks to shoes like crazy.

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    Thomas, photos always make my yard look larger than it is. It's actually only 75 feet along that entire back fence (about 50' showing in that panoramic photo), and maybe 50' at it's deepest point, along the chain link fence to the right in the picture. The L-shaped garden runs along both fences, but is only 11 feet wide.

    I'm glad you're feeling better, too. Did you have this awful cough with yours?

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    Thanks, Daphne. I have a bunch more varieties of lettuce I'm going to get started this week. By the time I fill that second bed, I should have enough to give us quite a few salads (and meals for the rabbit). I usually plant my lettuce closer than this, and harvest the outer leaves. Decided to give these more space and harvest the plants.

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  19. AG ...you are busy,busy...I'm glad you are starting to feel better.

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  20. Much better, Sunny. Now, if the sun would just come out from behind those clouds today, I'd get busy again. I have work to do....I need cooperation from the weather!

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  21. Granny, I'm impressed, once again, by all your hard work. The bed of newly planted lettuces is so cute. (I know, I'm kinda weird for thinking veggie beds are cute.) We are fertilizing with foliar fish emulsion this evening, and I've got the windows open now to enjoy the fresh breezes, because we'll have to shut them later -- or stink up the whole house! That stuff is so strong, I cannot imagine Annie found it appetizing. Yuck! :P

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  22. Meredith, doesn't that fish fertilizer smell horrid? I'm surprised I couldn't smell it on Annie's breath last night!

    I spent this morning making seed mats of your lovely lettuces. They'll be going into the garden this week to complete my early lettuce planting. I can hardly wait to taste them!

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  23. Busy, busy, busy! And, yea, that fish fertilizer smells nasty! I'm sure you're very happy to be out and about after the flu! Been raining, real, actual rain, which we haven't seen in a while. The plants are loving it, but I haven't really been able to get out there and garden in a couple days. I'll deal; we need the rain...

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  24. SB, it's threatened rain every day lately, but so far not a drop. It got so black this afternoon, I went out and moved all the plants in, as I was afraid we'd get a cloudburst. Thirty minutes later the sun was shining, so I had to move them all back outside.

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