We had a storm that gave us a little over half an inch of rain, then some sun and wind, so the garden soil has the perfect amount of moisture! I waited a day and then rototilled a small area for peas and another for the onions I have started. They need to be out of their pots and have room to put their roots down into the ground, so that is what I hope to do tomorrow. The pea seed has been soaked for a few hours to wake it up and I will plant peas tomorrow and mulch with some old hay that my horse thought wasn't tasty or tender enough. I feel like I am a bit late for putting onions in the ground and planting peas. Maybe it was the mild winter and the early emergence of the garlic that has me thinking it is late in the season.
I just had a crazy thought about planting onions and peas together. They are both finished growing at about the same time but the peas might shade the onions too much. It's worth making a one foot square experimental patch just to see what happens. Weeding might be a problem. Or the peas might shade the onions too much. Surely if I have thought of it someone else has as well.
Our lawn mower has been given a tune up and is back home already. I could finish what I started of mowing around the edges of the garden and bring the mower back up the hill to mow the yard. Maybe I will have enough good weather and energy to do all of that tomorrow.
There were only 4 but I got them into the ground yesterday. I changed my mind a couple of times about where to put them, and decided (before doing any digging) that they should go next to the grapes. They have been staked and watered. I should have soaked them before planting. Of course I was nearly done before I thought of that but my back was aching and it was time to change hats and cook dinner.
This morning I cleaned the salad patch in the greenhouse. Most of the plants were started about Dec 1 and were going to seed. Five months is old for lettuce, chard, beets and kale plants. Next week I will plant new ones in the garden. They'll go next to the raspberries in the space next to the grapes. They will all be out of there long before the raspberries need the space. I expect to see quite a few new plants from these original four that were bought last week.
Our lawn mower is giving us problems. It keeps quitting even though it has gas and oil. I'm not sure if we will have it repaired or replace it. The shops that repair lawn mowers and rototillers are very busy in the spring so if we choose to have it repaired we may be without one for quite a while. It's only the second push mower we have had in the 30 years we have lived here. Hubby has looked for the owner's manual and can't find it in the shop. Maybe he put it in the file cabinet?
Tulips are starting to bloom. The first few opened today. Most of them were here when we moved here 30 years ago. I checked the lilac buds to try to make a guess at when they will begin to bloom. Our hummingbirds show up when tulips and lilacs are blooming, and so today I got a feeder hung up. Most years I am buzzed by a hummer before I think of it.
This afternoon and evening we have thunderstorms and rain. Between the mower problems and the arrival of booming thunder it was a short and not too productive gardening day. However, it should make the raspberries and newly weeded garlic very happy!
This morning I checked the small enclosed trap in the shed to see if another packrat might be in it. The trap was occupied but the critter inside is black and white. Yesterday morning the smell of skunk was quite pungent but I didn't take time to check the trap because we were in a hurry to leave to drive to Idaho for a medical appointment. Anyhow, now I have a disposal problem if the critter isn't dead.
My hubby got the small lawn mower going for me and I mowed around the rhubarb. Or I should say I mowed around most of it. The mower would work for a minute or two and then quit. I'd get it started again and it would quit a minute or so later. I only have one more plant to mow around and the mower refuses to start again. So there it sits. Hubby will look at it tomorrow.
This year's onion patch needs to be rototilled so I can plant the onions I have started in pots. I suppose with the rain we just got from a quick thunderstorm that job will be on hold. We received 2 10th's of an inch of rain in about 10 minutes. More is on the way. My onions need to be planted soon. I might plant the onions without tilling the patch. Thistles have already been chopped out and I can hand pull, dig out the remaining weeds. My peas also need to be planted ASAP! It should have been done already! I did finish weeding the garlic and gave it a drink, and now this shower will take care of watering needs for several more days.
Our neighbor who owns the field east of us has been disking, harrowing and planting. He usually grows rye to make into hay for his cattle, then turns cows in to graze after the bales are removed. I hope he finished the job in time for the seeds to get this nice drink. He watches the weather quite carefully. He is a 3rd generation farmer and that is how he has always made his living. Obviously he has it figured out!
Yesterday I did some plant shopping. I bought 4 nicely growing Heritage raspberry plants. They will be set out about 4 feet apart and should increase quickly to fill in the spaces next year and make a nice row. Heritage is an old everbearing variety. Tried, true and reliable. My last raspberry patch was a bust because I started with plants from a neighbor and added some from somewhere else (nothing purchased). Apparently the second ones had a disease that caused the canes to break. I took out all of them because I couldn't tell which plants were infected until the canes broke. They looked fine one day and were broken the next. At first I thought something like an owl may have broken them but then it happened over and over. Nope, not owls, disease. The neighbor who gave me the first plants has not had a problem. So, after a few years, I am starting another row. All plants from one source and I will resist the temptation to add any free ones!
We are enjoying the daffodils now. I have a few of the fancy bi-colored ones but mostly they are the old standard yellow. Hyacinths are also blooming amongst the weeds. The weather has delayed my weeding and now the ground covering project is on hold because I am too busy elsewhere. These things seem to happen every year and I never catch up!
I almost finished weeding the garlic today. Last week I cleaned the pathways and today I got down on my knees and picked thousands of weeds from between the plants. One more short session will finish the main patch. I was thankful that my cat did not help because she would have been rolling in the rows and breaking garlic plants. They are 6-8 inches high and still quite tender. The weeds are about 4 inches high. Most are shallow rooted. The garlic was planted about 6 inches deep so the roots are well below the weed roots. I have to be more careful of the tops at this point. While I worked I could hear our owls. I think Mr. Owl hoots about every 15-20 minutes to let Mrs. Owl know he is still being watchful because I am sure she is on a nest. The replies I heard sounded quite muffled.
I have caught several half grown mice in the bucked I keep in the basement with a couple of inches of water in it. No bait, just water. They are curious and maybe thirsty. It's much better to have them die in the bucket than die someplace where I can't locate them but know they are dead in some box or under the shelving, stinking for days! Who knows how many mummified mouse corpses we have down there in inaccessible places! UGH!
My onions have had their tops trimmed to about 4 inches. Doing this will encourage the plants to grow more leaves. Every leaf is a layer on the onion bulb. It's time to plant them and also to plant peas. So much to do all of a sudden!
A few new leaves have unfurled on the lilac bushes and the cottonwood buds are just about to pop. We are enjoying the daffodils which have started to bloom in profusion! The nice, warmer days with sun have inspired them and now it's turned cooler again with a little rain, a lot of wind, a quick a thunderstorm and a brief snow squall. Spring weather is indeed strange!
I've started covering a strip along one edge of the large perennial bed with heavy landscape cloth. It's not the quick job I imagined. What is? Everything I start to do takes longer. Double? Triple? More? My ability and agility are not what they used to be. The weather has me stopped for now.
Three groups of the Johann Strauss tulips have started blooming. Today they remained closed up because the weather was cold, showery and even snowy at one point. The blooms are small and the stems are short (all in good proportion), and I decided they look like little creamy white candles with red streaks, so even when not open they are cute and colorful. I think I bought them at a nursery or big box store, however I see on the card that came with the package that Van Zyverden must also carry them. Buy some, believe me, you'll like them! Taller stems with larger blooms sometimes take a beating with our strong winds.
Spring will return, I just know it!
