Happy Mother's Day to Mother Earth!

Spring is my favorite season!  Considering the fact that I love to garden so much it's pretty obvious why I love this time of year.  Although the beauty of the season is stunning, the reason I enjoy it so much is because of the fresh newness that it brings and promises of an abundant bounty that is yet to come.  This time of year allows me to dream, hope, and smile in anticipation of the growing season that lays ahead.

Each year as Earth Day rolls around I think about how beautiful nature is and how we as inhabitants of this planet have a responsibility to co-exist in harmony with all that is around us.  Unfortunately, as technology advances and as our lives become more complicated that becomes harder and harder to do.  Since we've all been preached to via the media and the Green Movement as to what we should and shouldn't do environmentally, I think we've all got a pretty clear idea as to what it means to be Green.  The challenge, however, is incorporating that way of living into our busy lifestyle - easier said than done. 

So, instead of writing a preachy blog about recycling and organic gardening, I just want to take this moment to remind myself and to my readers that on this day - such a special day for gardeners - stop for moment, relish in the glory of spring, breathe in the intoxicating smell of the soil on a rainy April day, and pay homage to our Mother Earth.  Treat her like she is indeed your mother and wish her a very Happy Mother's Day! 

Tulips, Tulips!! And... a Blue Tarp

I've never planted bulbs before.  The few that I had in my yard were planted by the previous owner or naturalized.  So when I planted tulips late last fall.... very late.... in December, I wasn't sure anything would actually come up, but I'm happy to say they did and I'm really enjoying the spring show. 

I planted one of those 40 variety packs that I picked up from Lowes.  This was a bit of risk since you never know what is going to come up and in what colors, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I wish I had bought another pack and spaced them a bit closer so they would look fuller, but it was my first try out of the gate so I can't complain much.

The ones below weren't in the variety pack - I picked them out separately and wasn't sure if they blended with the flowers in the variety pack.... they don't really, but I don't care since I'm not a garden designer and I'm really just thrilled that things come up at all.  I may move them after they finish blooming.  

Some close ups of variety pack bulbs.  The colors are stunning and they almost look like poppies.

I also planted some petite daffodils and grape hyacinth, which you can see in the post below.  It's so nice when your gardening efforts pay off unexpectedly. 

Ok...  I had to post this picture.... It's our embarassing blue tarp!  It's only peeking out in the upper right of this picture because I can't bare to take a close up of it.  Yes it's right in the front of the house and mucking up the scenery.  Grace, this one's for you! LOL 

You see last fall we had some rain damage to our house which only got worse over the winter.  We got some insurance money (thank God!) but couldn't fix it all winter long because it was too cold.  Then hubby got busy and so his solution (God help me... it certainly wasn't my solution) was to place a BLUE tarp over the offending area until he could get it fixed. 
 
Since Andy never does anything the easy way he has decided (and actually I agree) to not replace what's there but to add a farmer's porch and stone wall to this part of the house.  Great idea I say!!  Love it!!!  Now may mercy help me because this project is going to take all summer long and be a mess.  I'll document the progress and try not to check myself into the psychiatric ward while it's going on.  Wish me luck - I'm gonna need it!

Fast and Furious!

As you may have notice I've been taking a bit of break from blogging.... life just gets too busy sometimes. I won't even try to catch up since I'm so far behind but I hope to begin blogging more again more regularly.  While I was gone I have been lurking on your blogs and have been so impressed with everyone's garden! I just love this time of year!

About 2 weeks ago we had a wonderful burst of unseasonable warm hot weather.  It felt fantastic but was a bit of tease for all of us humans as well as the plant world!  Most of our spring blooms and shoots started coming up earlier than usual.  It was quite a sight to see azaleas blooming the first week of April and for peony shoots to be standing so tall. 

But now the seasonable weather has been back for the past week and a half, and it's been back down the 50s regularly and the plants are responding by slowing back down.  Thank goodness I say since although I do love the warm weather I hate to rush spring.

So here's a tour of what's been going around our place.

The daffodil below popped up unexpectedly. I love when plants naturalize (as long as they aren't weeds of course!).  I'm not sure what the species is.  Does anyone know?

 

The spring phlox has been blooming very early.  As you can see I haven't even had a chance to clean up this area yet.

One bleeding heart in red...

Another bleeding heart in white...

Amazingly to me the tulip bulbs I planted last December are getting ready to bloom!  This pic was taken a week ago and they are much taller now and ready to burst.

We've also been working hard on getting the veggie garden ready.  Here is our huge compost pile.  It's almost gone now because we've been spreading it around the gardens.

Andy also built me a large pea bed.  I hope to sow the seeds this week.

Andy is tilling the compost bed in the pic below.  I get a bit concerned with powerful, mechanical tillers because of what they do to the worms, but we didn't have the strength or the patience to do this by hand.

More tilling....   Ellie was trying to attack the tiller!  We kept her at a safe distance, but she was barking and growling like crazy.  She does the same thing with the vacuum cleaner.... true vicious terrier! Ha!

Of course ya have to have some nice manure to add...

The cold weather veggies all planted (except for the peas).  I've got broccoli, purple cabbage, spinach, and collard greens in this bed.

In this bed there are more collard greens, swiss chard, and several varieties of red and green lettuce.

These beds are reserved for summer veggies so I won't be planting here until after the last frost - except for the carrots - I'll be sowing them in the ground fairly soon.  Usually around Memorial Day in our area I'll plant the warm-weather loving veggies, but I'll start sowing some squash and cucumber seeds indoors within the next week. 

Gardening for a Lifetime

I'm traveling for business this week to a warmer climate and can't help but to think about my home and garden back in Massachusetts.  I'm a homebody by nature and enjoy nothing more than puttering around the flower beds and tending to the vegetable garden.

Photo Credit:  Better Homes and Garden magazine

Lately work has consumed most of my time and when I'm not working life just seems to get in the way of what I really want to be to doing, which is diving into rich garden soil and letting all of my senses par take in the glory of mother nature.

Photo Credit:  Country Living Magazine

To pass the time on the plane ride I poured over gardening magazines and dreamed of a life where my only cares are deadheading a shasta daisy and pulling up weeds.  Right now I'm a bit of frustrated gardener as the vegetable seeds I intended to sow indoors have yet to be sown, the milk containers I collected for winter seed sowing sit empty in a back bedroom, and the tubers and summer bulbs I bought at the flower show have yet to be buried in potting soil.  Is it too late?.... Too late and the season hasn't even begun yet?  I know it's not, but I feel that way sometimes especially when I see the blogs of my gardening friends whose seeds have already sprouted and whose gardens are already bursting with blooming color... granted they are in a different zone, but I feel behind all the same. 

Am I alone in feeling so anxious? Do you feel that way as you peruse the blogs of others?  Do you wonder how they have time to do it all?  How everything seems to be done on schedule without life ever getting in the way?  Why should something that I enjoy so much make me feel so filled with angst? 

Then, in the throes of my anxiety I read a review of a gardening memoir, "Gardening for a Lifetime," by Sydney Eddison.  Althouth it focuses on the challenges of maintaining a garden as you get older, it's message is clear....  gardening should be enjoyable and easily fit into your lifestyle and if it's not... well for God's sake change it and don't worry about what other people are doing.

I can't wait to buy this book and dive into its pages.  In the meantime, I need to resolve myself to the fact that although I bought 15 seed packets for veggies and flowers not a single one may get sown.... and, well that's OK... because I can still garden and still have delicious veggies this summer.  Our local gardening center will have some fabulous seedlings in about another month and I can enjoy planting them all the same.  I may not have raised them since birth, but they will be my adopted rescues that I'll love.  After all my little dog Ellie is a rescue and look how wonderful she turned out to be!

Rhode Island Flower Show

A visit to the Rhode Island Flower Show last weekend got me in the mood for spring.  Going to a flower show always makes my head spin putting me in a kind of gardening coma! There is so much to see, smell, and touch that it's overwhelming - it's quite a sight with me drooling over the plants, talking to myself, and scratching my head thinking... "how did they do that!"... while my poor Andy tags behind wondering if we'll ever go home. 

My blogging friend Tootsie suggested I link this up to Fertilizer Friday.  Please check out her wonderful blog - Tootsie Time!

Hope you enjoy the pics! (Wish they were better but the lighting is never the best for picture taking at these shows.)

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Finally a pic of Andy and I....  I hate having my picture taken but I think this one is cute because of the heart shaped rocks above us.