Garden Friday

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday!

It's been a cool and wet week here in the Piedmont

of North Carolina.

Here's what's going on in our zone 7b garden this week.

The daffodils are bursting forth all over the neighborhood.

We've added a few more each year to our property

and they are quite the cheery greeting to springtime!

 

The hyacinth blooms are also appearing.

The color purple speaks to me,

so these are a welcome addition to the beds.

 

The tulips that were planted mere weeks ago,

have decided that the time is right to pop out of their cozy underground bungalow.

This is the first time I have planted tulips,

as we couldn't grow them in our former home in Florida.

It's such a treat to see all of this dormancy come alive!

 

The irises have yet to be moved,

but it's on the list I will get to it this weekend.

These share space near our mailbox,

but they would do well to be divvied up and distributed to other places.

 

Some cannas were spied yesterday,

although I could have sworn I dug them all up last fall.

These will be transplanted near the chicken run,

as they will add some interest and a bit of shade for the chooks.

 

A check on the blueberry plants found that some are awakening,

and some are not.

Looking back on my soil test from last year,

I am looking forward to seeing if adding the needed amendments

improved the acidity of the soil for this crop.

 

This new-to-me forsythia is starting to bloom,

and I need to find a proper spot for it,

so that it can get as wild as it wants to.

Any suggestions?

 

The strawberries seem to be coming alive,

although I have to say, that they never really seemed to mind

even the coldest temperatures.

I was hoping to create a larger bed for the entire collection,

but haven't yet gotten around to it.

 

Our first asparagus of the season was spotted yesterday!

I can hardly wait to enjoy this delicious treat.

No more buying asparagus at the store!

This crop can provide food for up to 20 years.

 

The potatoes that were planted just two weeks ago

have begun erupting through the soil.

Well, that didn't take long.

I will probably have to purchase some seed potatoes,

as the ones I planted from last year's harvest

won't likely last us too long.

We love our spuds.

 

I'm looking forward to watching the parsley

recover completely from the winter's frigid temperatures.

It never died back entirely,

and I'm sure it will bounce right back

with warmer temperatures and ample sunshine.

 

The cover crops will remain in place until I need this bed

for other crops.

I'll add them to the chook run to see if there are any takers.

They look pretty beat up after the last major snow we had,

but notice how most of it is still green.

Aren't plants just amazing?

 

Gardening is happening on the inside of the house too.

I'm using these clam shell containers to sprout my seeds before sowing.

They act as a mini greenhouse.

 

Just look how the snap peas are diggin' it!

The seeds are simply placed on a damp paper towel,

(you could use strips of fabric to make it zero-waste),

and left in the containers for a few days.

 

The Ruby Red Chard seems to enjoy the conditions as well.

I'm sprouting the seeds to get a head start on my crops for spring.

This year, I am planning to incorporate more food crops

into the landscape,

so I am sprouting more than I normally would.

It's all one great big experiment!

 

For each set of seeds,

I write the date and the variety on the towel

before placing it into the container.

It's so exciting to open up the bin each morning

to see what has germinated!

 

Another task we accomplished this week

was to clean out all of the birdhouses we have on the property.

I was so thrilled that my boy helped me with this chore.

He is a real bird lover,

so he wanted to make sure our feathered friends

have a cozy place to call home all season long.

 

Nests are always so fascinating to see.

We leave materials that might be useful to the birds

in the creations of these masterpieces.

In several nests, we found string from our bird seed bags.

Birds are the ultimate repurposers!

 

Unfortunately, we found a sweet chickadee

in one of the houses that had succumbed to something.

We gave it a proper burial near the garden.

 

In one of the bluebird houses,

we found the beginnings of a nest 

for this season.

We've noticed a pair of bluebirds making themselves at home here.

And we couldn't be happier.

 

The winter is winding down,

and we will be ready for spring

whenever She decides to make her appearance.

Until then, it's homemade candles in the morning,

and comfort food at dusk.

 

Garden Friday

 

 

 

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we share what's growing in our Zone 7 Piedmont garden.

This fall has been an amazing display of color,

with plenty of interest just outside of our kitchen window.

This is the pathway I take each morning

when I let the chooks out of the coop.

We are so blessed to live here.

 

The strawberries have turned a brilliant shade of red,

as if to greet the Christmas season.

This fruit does well over the colder months,

just awaiting the spring thaw to work their magic.

 

The blueberries also turn a variety of colors,

as they enjoy their winter slumber.

I'm  hopeful that this coming spring we will be awash in berries!

 

Our raised beds are just starting to get a foothold 

on producing broccoli, lettuce, 

 

and leek.

I've been a bit disappointed in the germination rate,

and not having as many things growing as I'd like.

We'll enjoy what we can and think toward springtime planting.

 

The cover crops are filling out one of our beds nicely.

Each fall, a different raised bed is sown 

with a cover crop to add nutrients to the soil.

A thick coat of shredded leaves has been added here.

 

We have a couple of parsley plants growing,

one in a raised bed (see below),

and this one planted in a pot.

They both do just fine over the winter,

and it's a real treat to be able to harvest something

on a regular basis.

You've gotta love crops that need no coddling!

garlic and parsley

 

The garlic is doing well

and will be well worth the 9-month wait to harvest time.

Garlic is the best hands-off crop ever!

Just plant it and forget it!

 

I was so perplexed about the asparagus.

It's a new to me crop,

and I wasn't sure what I had done wrong

to make it turn this harsh amber hue.

A fellow gardener told me that this happens to hers every year.

She simply adds a bit of magnesium sulfate to it,

cuts it back and mulches over the top.

What a relief to know it wasn't me!

I will be putting this task on my list.

Our leaf mulch pile has grown leaps and bounds!

Our sweet neighbor allowed us to use her riding mower to mulch and bag up

the leaves on our property, so we did hers as well.

I still have bags and bags to go,

but no doubt we'll be set for leaf mulch until next fall. 

It really is the best mulch to use,

and best of all, it's free!

snack time in the chicken yard

Excuse my absence from the blog of late.

I am struggling with the motivation I need to write.

Although I do my best to focus on the blessings in my life,

so many folks I know are having a difficult time right now,

and I'm afraid I am more sensitive to that than most.

I can't promise that I will be here every week with a garden post,

but I will make an effort to at least post some photos from the week.

It's so beautiful here, especially this time of year.

Maybe it will even help me get out of my funk.

Blessings...daisy

Garden Friday

Welcome back to Garden Friday!
This gorgeous clematis was found in a neighbor's backyard.
It has been enjoying ample sunshine and sporadic rainfall.

This week I took some time to germinate flower seeds

using a paper towel in a repurposed plastic bag.

As you can see, within a week,

we had the beginnings of a colorful pollinator bed.

I much prefer to start my plants from seed.

The fascinating process always leaves me in awe.

With just a bit of water,

(no sun even required),

the seeds burst open to fulfill their purpose.

Amazing!

Many of them ended up in the pollinator bed

we have in the vegetable garden.

This bed is designed to promote pollination

of all of our crops needing their help.

So far, we have sunflowers and a few other 

seedlings coming up that will last throughout the summer.

In the front porch bed,

the purple salvia is about to bloom.

I discovered this plant when we were living in Florida,

and am so happy that I can enjoy it in my NC garden.

Coneflowers are planted all over the property,

but somehow, it still doesn't seem like enough.

One of my favorite blooms,

I can see sowing a lot more of these wherever I can find space.

The milkweed was cut way back in the late fall,

and has decided to come back on its own.

This is the host plant for the Monarch butterfly,

so we look forward to delighting in watching the transformation

from caterpillars to butterflies.

It's magic, I tell ya!

The alyssum has come back on its own as well.

It forms a border in our front porch bed.

The salvia, alyssum, and lantana planted here,

all help to create a blue/purple theme.

My neighbor's peonies are just about to pop.

These plants have amazed me in the past few weeks,

as they seem to grow 6 inches overnight!

In the veggie garden,

the parsley is starting to get some height.

This plant hosts the black swallowtail butterfly,

but so far, no eggs have been spotted under the leaves.

Here's a post from years back 

about the caterpillars we hosted in our Florida yard.

The lettuce seeded a couple of weeks ago is holding its own.

We sowed buttercrunch, and green oakleaf lettuce

as well as scarlet kale.

Coffee cans work well for these shallow-rooted crops.

It looks like the wire covers did the trick

so that critters couldn't dig up the seeds.

Now that they've germinated, the screens come off.

The snap peas are getting a leg up on the arches.

They were planted closer than usual,

and it doesn't seem to have bothered them one bit.

I'm thinking of harvesting some as shoots,

and leaving others to grow for pods.

The potato/onion bed is looking better every day.

When this post was written,

we were in the middle of an all-day rain event,

and when I did a quick check on the garden,

I think I actually saw the potatoes  

s

   m

     i

      l

       i

          n

              g.

There's just nothing like a good rain.

I've been working on ridding the garden area of grassy areas

by adding cardboard which will then be covered

by mulch.

If we don't get a delivery of wood chips via our local tree trimmer,

we are able to acquire them for free from our county landfill.

 More cardboard here will rid us of pesky grass and weeds.
(Have I told you how much I abhor dislike grass
for its water-robbing properties?)
This area is where our newly established asparagus bed
and strawberry tub reside (out of the photo).
The structure at the top of the photo housed our loofah plants
last year, but will this year be the trellis for hyacinth bean.
Maybe.
I'm toying with the idea of growing melons and watermelons on it.
We'll see...

And lookee what I found the other day in one of our birdhouses!
Aren't birds fascinating?!
Just look at that lovely cushy nest.
Who wouldn't want to live there?
 

And inside was an even better surprise!
We believe these to be baby sparrows
and three more siblings yet to come.
Spring is truly a magical time.

How's your garden growing?