What's blooming May 3

 This is the time of year I love walking out the door.  It seems there is something new blooming every time I step outside.

Cranesbill - Geranium

Coral Bells

Coral Bells

The first butterfly of the year

Bachelor's Buttons

Kousa Dogwood - the last to bloom

Shrub Roses

I was thrilled to walk out and see this. I had transplanted this Clematis last year in order to wind through the roses.  It wasn't doing well in its original place - it's called Sugar Candy and it was blooming today!  The roses are ready to pop too so this is going to be very pretty in a couple of days.

False Indigo - Baptisia - the blue spikes in front.

Clematis - Lanuginosa Candida - I love this - in a few days, it will be covered with huge white flowers.

Rhubarb sorbet

My gardening neighbor has rhubarb.  He plants many things but doesn't cook so I am welcome to take what I want from his plot.  Today I picked a bunch of rhubarb and found a sorbet recipe.

Rhubarb Sorbet

5 cups chopped rhubarb
1 quart water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp lemon juice

combine the chopped rhubarb and water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 min.  Pour through a strainer and press on the rhubarb to get out all the juice.  Discard the rhubarb remains.  Mix in sugars and lemon juice and chill.  Freeze in ice cream maker.

Vegetable Garden planting - April 29

Today I took the day off to go to the nursery to buy perennials and tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos.   My gardening friend and I went to a local nursery where we had to remove heavy blankets from the tables to get to the vegetables.  The past few days it's been in the 30's and 40's overnight.  Still cold to plant but I was determined.  Especially since the next few days will be very warm.

The perennials I bought were Agastache (to go in the space where I pulled out the dead lavender).  This is also called Anise Hyssop and grows big spiky blue flowers. I have never grown it so it's a new plant for me.  I also bought a hibiscus, St John's Wort and Creeping Phlox for the slope, Clelone or Pink Turtlehead (to replace a dead hydrangea).  Yesterday there was a plant sale on campus so I bought three kinds of ferns to go in alongside the walkway to the basement.

For vegetables, it was 7 tomato plants (roma, pineapple, celebrity, yellow pear and a couple others I can't remember), 4 peppers (sweet banana, hungarian hot wax and 2 red peppers whose name escapes me), 1 purple tomatillo plant.

Once at the garden, I decided it was warm enough to plant the cucumbers (Poinsett, a slicing kind and Alibi, a pickling cuke), green beans (Cupidon French filet and Nickel, another filet bean), Zucchini (Giamba), Mizuna and lettuce under the cuke screens.

All in all, a very productive day.

The poppies are blooming!  These are the ones I don't want because they spread like crazy

Shelling peas on right, snow peas in lower center.  To the left of snow peas, a row of green beans were planted today

Two screens that Sean's dad gave me.  Cukes planted on the outside of each side.  Lettuce and Mizuna planted under the screen,

The greens are all doing well.

Tomatoes and Peppers.  Mulched with straw

Broccoli Raab and broccoli on left, Favas on right with some random potatoes that popped up.  Green beans planted in between raab and broccoli.

The potatoes I really planted this year.  There are random ones all over the garden from previous years.

Shallots are doing well

Carrots with the garlic

First harvest of the season

My greens in the vegetable garden all look fabulous but since I thickly seeded everything, it's time to start thinning.  The good news is all these thinnings can be eaten in a delicious salad.  Here was this week's meal

Mint on the left. Spinach on top, mizuna on the right, mustard on bottom.  Ate a salad of the greens and used the mint in my iced tea.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off to go to the nursery to the buy tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers.  Will plant in the garden along with seeding cukes and green beans.  I have no idea where everything is going to go since there are still sweet potatoes, winter squash and zucchini to plant.  My garden neighbor has assured me that between our two plots, there will be enough room for everything.  His rhubarb is ready to pick and I printed out recipes for rhubarb sorbet and rhubarb punch to try.  Let the preserving begin!

English Ivy - Arrgghhh

My neighbor has English Ivy.  Actually both of my neighbors have ivy but this story is only about one side of my yard.  Along the border of my yard with my neighbor, there were rusted metal poles with a wire fence of sorts.  For years, I've been battling this because the ivy and weeds would climb over it and it was a pain to trim.  Last year I asked my neighbor if I could get rid of this crappy fence system and I was informed that in fact, it was my crappy fence system.  Last year I just didn't have the energy to tackle the overgrown ivy but it was on my to-do list for this year.  Today was the perfect day.  It's been raining for a couple of days so the ground was moist and I thought the fence posts would be easier to remove.

So, Sean and I decided to tackle this project today.  We clipped, we pulled, we dug, we used wire cutters and we swatted the swarms of gnats that were landing on our sweaty faces.

One particular fence post was difficult to remove since whoever did it, sunk it in cement.  So we dug a big hole all around it and took the hammer to the cement.  While pushing the fence post back and forth, it actually snapped off - luckily it snapped below the surface of the ground, so we just threw back in the rocks and covered it with dirt.


The next round, I will continue to clip back the ivy.  (have I said how much I HATE IVY).

The question is, what to plant on the slope?

My yard is to the right, neighbor's to the left.  See ivy on lower left, and growing up Bradford Pear tree (another yucky tree but my neighbor likes it)

The slope is in my yard.  I need a non-invasive ground cover for the slope.

What's blooming in the yard - April 25

Not too much is happening this week.  There are many plants with buds so I think with a little warm weather in the next week or so, there will be many more blooms.

Chives

Moss phlox

Viburnum

Pulmonaria or Lungwort

Brunnera

Azaela

Japanese Painted Fern

Spotted Dead Nettle

What's blooming in the yard - April 19

The garden is growing well - we need some rain and it's too early to plant more perennials.  Some of my fellow vegetable gardeners have already put in their tomatoes but it is really too early - last night it was in the 30's.  My plan is to take a day off next week to go buy the tomatoes and peppers and then plant them.

Here is what is blooming in my home garden this week

Lemon Balm - really taking over this bed

Carolina Smoke Bush

Hosta, Coral Bells, Hakonechloa

Azalea - don't really like them but this is in the backyard. I didn't plant it but I'm keeping it.

Gorgeous Viburnum

The first irises!  Just out today