Bloomin' Things: April 28, 2013

Lots of things are in bloom this week and so many more have buds that will be opening soon.  It's been a beautiful week: lovely weather (at least until the storm last night and the constant rain today), perfect temperatures, and lots of things coming to life in the garden.  I saw my first hummingbird of the year on Friday the 26th.  I haven't yet filled the hummingbird feeder, but he was getting sips from the Chinese fringeflowers that hang over my back fence.  I also saw my second snake of the year this week, but I saw him too late because he got his head accidentally cut off by the lawnmower.  Sowwy.  A moment of silence for our fallen comrade.

A lot of things are still blooming from last week:  candytuft, narcissi, pansies and fringeflower.

As far as the newly-blooming things go, my favorite ones at the moment would have to be the bearded irises.  So far, there's deep purple, yellow, and a pale lavender one with violet falls and a yellow beard.

A lovely bi-color iris grows next to a hydrangea.

I love the pure violet color of this iris.

The azaleas have been blooming this week; for my taste, there are too many colors of them in one yard, but they're pretty anyway.

White azalea

Also beginning to bloom this week are garlic chives, wiegela, amsonia, oxalis, shrub roses, paperwhites, the new daffodils planted this fall, and tulips.

The wiegela is just starting to open its buds.  Soon it will be a huge hummingbird attraction.

Amsonia blossoms; the leaves of the amsonia turn golden in the autumn.

Happy, happy clumps of pink oxalis

The shrub roses are just beginning to bloom.

Paperwhites 

The new daffodil addition this year,  Narcissus 'Season of Sunshine'

I love this dark, velvety tulip.

A pretty little tulip pokes his head up in the garden.

The chickadee continues his nesting activities in the new wren box.  Whenever I get too close to his nest, he flies out and lands on a nearby tree limb, from where he vehemently scolds me until I leave.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.  

Sunny's Sod

One of my garden projects this spring was to put in a small spot of sod for Sunny the poodle.  I'm hoping this will deter her from going potty in the herb bed.  So I sacrificed a section of the fenced-in kitchen garden (last year's pole bean section) for her to have some actual grass.  Not wanting the grass to grow into any of the surrounding beds, I chose fescue sod (My front lawn is bermuda grass, something that I deeply despise.).

The first thing I did was to dig off all the weeds and grass that were already present.  I turned the soil, removing rocks and roots (This was the hard part; it took me a couple of weeks of steady digging and resting to get this completed.).  Then I brought in 1.5 cubic yards of organic planting soil (OPS) and raked it smooth.

Here the organic planting soil has been spread on top of the area to be sodded.

Laying the sod was probably the easiest part, although by far the messiest.  I had streaks of mud all over my body, on my face, in my hair.  I've already laid 72 pieces of sod over the last three days; I still need a few pieces to even out the edges and to cut to fit around the walkway.  But the bulk of the work is now complete, and Sunny is already enjoying her new play area/loo.

I left a 2-foot wide border along the fence for flowers.  The dwarf crepe myrtle was the only thing that I didn't move from this area.  

I removed the walkway to the second gate so Sunny would have more green space.

Sunny seems to approve.  

The arbor was added to lead into what remains of the kitchen garden.  I've planted cucumbers and transplanted a muscadine vine from my woods to grow over it.  I'll finish the sod up to the arbor and even out the side next to the flower border.  

Since it's right off the patio, it should be easy to keep the grass watered.  I'm hoping it will have time to get established before the weather gets too hot.

It may be a small area, but it was a huge project for me, and I'm glad it's over.  Now I'll only need to convince the poodle that this is the approved loo, and not the herb bed, and certainly not the squash bed.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.  

My Seedy Garden

Today I started transplanting my seedlings outdoors.  I also saw my first snake of the year today, a teeny ring-necked snake, who was snoozing under a small drift of leaves up against the house.   I would have included his picture on the blog, but he didn't wait around long enough for me to find my camera.  I started several flats of seeds indoors this year.  I used a regular shop light with a 40-watt flourescent bulb 6 inches above the seeds for 16 hours a day.  Among the seeds used are 3 different types of poppy (Antique Flemish, Hungarian Breadseed and Black Swan), rue, wormwood, mugwort, 2 types of basil (Sweet & Spicy Globe), and Crackerjack marigolds.

Basil seedlings (at left is "Sweet Basil; right is "Spicy Globe")

Poppies waiting for their day in the sun

Mugwort, rue, and poppies "hardening off" outdoors

When I planted the seedlings out, I gave them a nice drink of MiracleGro Quick Start.  This helps prevent plants from going into transplant shock as they leave their pampered indoor lives for the harsh realities of the garden.  Today was a sunny day with temperatures that reached 80 degrees.  I would have preferred a cloudy day to transplant seedlings, but the gods don't always grant my weather wishes.  I also put sticks upright in the soil around the new transplants so that Sunny (aka The Poodle) doesn't trample them.  Last year she squished my squash; an exuberant poodle can be mayhem in the garden.

April 15 is the frostfree date in North Georgia; my tomatoes, cucumbers, and tabasco pepper have already been planted.  I'm doing all Cherokee Purple tomatoes this year; this heirloom variety was so good last year that I sliced and ate them like apples.

A newly planted Cherokee Purple tomato

The really difficult part of growing plants from seeds is deciding what to grow and where to plant it once it's ready to live outdoors.  I still haven't decided where the rue and mugwort are going to reside.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.

Bloomin' Things: April 14, 2013

Today is a cool, rainy day, but this week has been gorgeous with warm sunny days that even reached 80 degrees.  Things in the garden are blooming and budding and sprouting from every bed and corner.  Tomatoes and cucumbers have been planted (and Sunny's paws are red from helping me dig the holes).  A new tabasco pepper has replaced last year's.  New beds are being prepared and seedlings have almost  finished their hardening-off process and should be in the ground by next weekend.

Still blooming from last week are daffodils, forsythia, Chattahoochee phlox, Chinese fringeflower, and candytuft.  Newly blooming are the Japanese snowball bush, fruiting cherry trees, strawberries, and scabiosa.  The peonies are in bud.  The hydrangeas, crepe myrtles, fig tree, and dogwoods are putting on leaves.

The strawberries are blooming in the strawberry jar.  This one is an everbearing Quinault.

The scabious are beginning to bloom.

The Japanese snowball bush blooms happily behind the vegetable garden's fence.

The cherry trees are turning into lovely white clouds.

This budding peony has a peony ring around it to prevent the heavy heads from drooping once they open.

Once it stops raining and the ground dries, I have lots of projects to get back to: sodding an area for the poodle (which is actually making progress finally), planting, setting out seedlings, and, of course, weeding.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.

The Poodle Tree?

Well, it appears the chickadee has chosen the new wren house for his spring nest.  He's returned several times to it and a little mate accompanies him at times.  Today I decided to put the poodle hair I'd been saving for the birds outside for them to use if they fancied it.  I wondered where to put it; I thought maybe I could put it in a plastic grocery-store berry basket that I could hang somewhere, but I couldn't find a berry basket anywhere.  I was standing on the patio when I got my idea: there's a dwarf crepe myrtle just in front of the patio; it's been pruned for the season, but hasn't started to put on leaves yet.  Its stubby branch-ends seemed the perfect thing to stick the poodle hair onto.  Voila!  Poodle tree!

The "Poodle Tree"

After finishing the poodle tree, I went inside and sat in front of the window to watch.  Within a few minutes the chickadee came along and sat on the fence, cocking his head, staring at the tree that had suddenly sprouted poodle hair.  He finally hopped over to it, examined it more closely, and then started pulling at a tuft of it, putting several strands of it in his beak and flying away.  The poodle tree's a hit!  I foresee that poodle hair-lined nests are going to be all the rage this year.

Sunny, the unwitting donor to the Poodle Tree

Sunny sniffed the tree on one of her outings today, then turned and looked at me quizzically.  I'm sure if she knew she was helping birds prepare their homes for their new families, she would be happy to sit still for her grooming sessions.  Well, maybe.

Another project in the garden today was to hang an old metal post box I found at the thrift store.  I hung it on the garden gate to house my gardening gloves, trowel, or other small things that I'm aways in need of when I'm in the garden.  Maybe this will be a good way to keep up with them (if I can remember to put them back in the box when I'm finished).

Storage for gardening supplies

It was a gorgeous spring day today (finally!) and tomorrow promises another great day for getting garden projects done.  There's so much to do!  But there couldn't possibly be a lovelier time to be working outdoors.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.

House Hunting in the Garden

One of the reasons I love gardening is because I feel I can make a safe haven for wildlife, providing housing, food, and water for all sorts of critters who might visit my garden.  A month ago I hung up two new cedar birdhouses, one bluebird house, and a smaller one for wrens and little birds, anticipating that birds would soon be returning and seeking a place to build their nests.  Today I had a gratifying moment as I was out weeding: a black-capped chickadee decided to check out the wren house.  He sat at the doorway and peeped inside for a while, then finally decided to go inside to see it more completely.  He popped out after a few moments and went directly to the next small birdhouse in my yard, a hollowed-out gourd hanging on a shepherd's hook.  He must not have liked it as well as the wren house (and who could blame him?) because he didn't go inside.  He went to the feeder, grabbed a morsel, and took off.  I'm hoping he's gone to share the news of his find, and maybe he'll be back with his partner soon to get her approval.

The chickadee seemed to like this house best.

He also checked out the gourd house.

I love trying to attract birds to the garden.  I always try to keep the feeders full (one with safflower seeds and the other with thistle).  I have a hummingbird feeder that will be going up soon (I need to find a good place out of direct sun for it), and a birdbath to hang from the feeder pole as well before the hot weather arrives.  As soon as I see bluebirds nesting nearby, I'll start putting mealworms in the mealworm cup.  The bluebirds love to have these to feed to their nestlings.

I also plant things in the yard that I know the birds will like.  I have several holly shrubs (ilex) that I know certain birds use for food (the berries) and housing.  They also love the pyracanthas, viburnum, dogwood, and honeysuckle.  Flowers for songbirds include: roses, Amaranthus caudatus (Love-lies-bleeding), asters, calendula, bellflower, bachelor's buttons, cosmos, phlox, scabiosa, marigolds, verbena, and zinnias.  I remember how popular the zinnias were last summer with the goldfinches.  I have more zinnia seed to direct sow in the garden in another week or so.  Hummingbirds prefer hollyhocks, fuchsia, tiger liies, four o'clocks, petunias, salvia, phlox, nasturtium, cardinal flower, monarda (bee balm) and butterfly bushes.

Hummingbirds love to visit the fuchsia.

I'm very excited to see the birds out house shopping, and maybe soon they'll be moving in and scrounging the yard for suitable building materials.  I may help them by putting out some clean poodle hair and short strands of soft yarn for them to "find." I remember one spring day several years ago when my cat Moshe was napping peacefully in the herb garden; he was suddenly awakened by a bird trying to pull some hair out of his fluffy tail.  Brave bird!  I guess she thought his hair would make the perfect nest lining.  Maybe they'll be happy with poodle hair this year as my little cat is no longer with us.  Finally I've discovered a way for the poodle to be helpful in the garden.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.