Spanish Bluebells

The first spring that we lived in this house, I was happily surprised to see a few Spanish bluebells growing at the edge of the walk. A year or two later when I saw them getting crowded, I decided to dig some bulbs up and spread them around out front. Now they are lining the front flower garden on two sides. They do spread like mad, so I don't worry when I go to put in a summer annual and spear or dig up several bulbs in the process. Spanish bluebells spread by growing baby bulbs and also by seed. I've decided to cut them down before they go to seed to keep them contained to certain areas. Right now I am enjoying these super easy bloomers.

These forget-me-nots put themselves here out front! I laughed when I saw a 3" pot at the nursery going for $3.49. Seriously? Maybe I should start a forget-me-not nursery business.

Here's a little view of that front flower garden. A few plants are waking up and it's looking prettier each day. I went out and seeded some dwarf Cosmos, Cosmos Sensations, German Chamomile and Pansies.

These tulips came with the house. They have, surprisingly, been naturalizing. This is unusual because tulips don't like our soggy winter soil. I think these have been happy because they are under the eaves against the house where they keep dry.

Wando shelling peas are starting to creep up. I also have spinach, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, arugula, cilantro, green onions and chives planted outside. I need to get on with the parsley but I admit I've been procrastinating due to past failures. I need help with germinating parsley seeds. Last year I just bought a parsley plant.

Here are my Seascape strawberries in the strawberry pot. This is only 10 of my 29 plants.

Indoor gardening:

I have several pepper, basil and tomato plants started inside. I have "Gypsy" pepper, which is sweet and matures to yellow, and miniature red bell peppers. I also started "Honey-Bunch Grape", "Oregon Spring", and "Roma VF" tomatoes.

I double-planted my gypsy peppers because they were being so slow that I almost gave up on the first set. I decided to put them in a warmer spot. I have a kitchen cupboard that has an old heat vent underneath. I used to use it to rise bread, but now I've found that it's a good, warm place to put basil and pepper seeds to germinate. I plant the seeds in my cell trays as usual, and keep them in the warm cupboard until I spot any growth. Then I move them into light. It works and now I have at least 9 gypsy pepper starts. It's my version of greenhouse gardening, without all the fancy supplies.

The tomatoes did fine germinating in the basement along a large south-facing window. Once it starts warming up into the mid-60's outside, I will probably start hardening off the tomatoes, peppers, and basil by putting them outside on dry days, and bringing them back in at night.

Early Spring Bouquet

I am so happy with this blend of "Tete-a-Tete" Narcissus and purple Crocuses in a back border. It looks like a little patch of Easter colors. The Crocuses have been here and gone already, but these Narcissus' just keep sitting pretty back there. I planted these in fall, actually there are several drifts just like this; the bulbs were my birthday gift from husband. Definitely the gift that keeps on giving.

More of my birthday gift peeking up for a surprise. This is Puschkinia libanotica. It is very tiny, 3-4 inches tall. I planted a mixed pack of bulbs that also came with large Crocus, Iris danfordiae and Chionodoxa luciliae. I now wish I had planted them in drifts according to kind, because now they are spaced few and far between and flower at different times. I have heard that this particular flower will naturalize in time, so I might have to wait for more. I do like this tiny flower with its dainty stripes.

This is an Anemone (windflower). It is supposed to naturalize very well, so though they are a bit thin this year, I am looking forward to them filling in over time. They've been blooming for several weeks now and keep getting more flowers.

The vegetable plot is ready to go. This year I put a little path down the center. I plan to plant more closely together this year in square plots instead of rows, and use the center path to access everything. Just waiting for some warm weather. After an unusually warm winter, spring is now COLD. Back in the warm stretch, I put up some cages for my bush peas. I planted Wando shelling peas in two cages, and Oregon Sugar Snap II in two more cages. They are finally starting to come up, and I have been sprinkling slug bait every few weeks to keep my seedlings from turning into slug-fest 2010.

I have also seeded in the garden: spinach, kale, kohlrabi and radishes.


Twenty-nine bare-root Seascape strawberry plants arrived in the mail from Nichols Garden Nursery a couple of weeks ago. I was able to plant ten of them in a new strawberry pot, and found room for the rest in borders along the back of the house. Hopefully, with this many plants, I will have so many berries, we will have to share! They are already growing fresh green leaves and look happy and healthy at their new home. I chose Seascape because my dad is growing these and said they grow fruit all summer and taste good...like real strawberries.


In other gardening news, husband planted two Olympia Blueberry bushes in the front lawn. We are slowly trying to break up that flat expanse of lawn out there with some food producing plants. It will be a while before they get very big, but they are "high-bush", so they should get up to at least six feet if we allow them to. We hope to get a few berries before the birds find them.

Early Bloomers and the Return of the Bumblebee

Who would not be happy to see these beautiful dark purple crocuses growing in their own backyard? All I can say is, "I want more!" The good news is, in my garden research, I have read that crocuses usually naturalize quickly, which means I will most likely have more...someday. These are the crocuses I was worried that I buried too deep, so it's extra wonderful to have them now.

More and more daffodils in the front border. The little ones have been naturalizing quickly. When my Grandma came up to visit one spring about six years ago, she gave me a little pot with daffodils and tulips to put by the front door. When they were done flowering that year, I moved the bulbs to the garden and hoped some would come back. I think most of them did and it's always nice to remember Grandma's visit when these flowers come back each year.

Bumblebees are very loud. By the sound of this one's "buzz", you'd think he was unfriendly, but he was kind enough to stop for a photo-op on the rosemary bush.

Other Work in the Garden:

I set the sweet pea starts out along the side fence in the backyard. Husband stapled twine to the fence for me so the sweet peas will have something to grow on. We had a minor catastrophe when I used my organic fertilizer to amend the soil along the fence-line. Apparently, the bone meal in my Whitney Farm's All-Purpose Plant Food was too much of a temptation for the neighbor's dog, who tried to dig under the fence to get at it. Our other neighbors saw the dog poking through the fence and gave us a call, but by then husband was already on his way to plug the hole with concrete and put up a few new fence boards. You never saw such and instantaneous fence repair! A few of the sweet peas were a bit trampled, but they seem pretty tough and I think they will all survive. I am waiting a bit nervously for them to grow. I just don't know what to expect as I've never grown them or even remember seeing them firsthand. Will definitely post pictures as they grow.

Crocus

First crocus of 2010!

Alpine strawberry has its first blossom. Preschooler will be so excited!

These green onions over-wintered in the garden. Late last summer, I realized that I can just cut the greens off the tops and let the plants grow some more. I used to just pull the whole plant out because that is how they are sold in the market. So now I can just plant once for the year and keep harvesting from the same plants, which means I don't need a lot of successive plantings and the space that takes up. I did pull these plants out though because I needed to clear the garden of weeds and it was easier to do without trying to get around these plants. I'll try to transplant some back and see how they do. In any case, it was very nice to have some of my own fresh green onions from the garden in February.

Ahh here is that same crocus from above, this time wide awake with the sunshine.

Waiting Not Quite Patiently

I'm so happy to see these crocuses and daffodils emerging in the backyard. I thought I might have dug them in too deep, but they are making their way up just fine. I saw one being gnawed on by a slug so I spread Worry Free Slug and Snail bait around. Still waiting to see a flower from any of the bulbs, but it's great to see their leaves at least.

Here is our Rosemary bush in the back. Always has lovely blue flowers in early spring. It really likes this dry southern exposure spot under the eaves.

Camellia is getting ready to bloom!

Our Bergenia are reliable perennials. They are getting pretty crowded so it's time soon to attempt to thin them out. Suffered a bit of frost bite but giving us some nice early flowers. I had to laugh when I read this description from our Sunset Western Garden Book: "Will endure neglect, poor soil, and some drought..." Yep sounds like a plant for me!

The Magnolia is tucked back in a shady corner.

I went seed shopping and came back with spinach, carrot, round green zucchini, and shelling pea seeds. Also spent some time thinking of plans for an additional vegetable garden plot in the back. It's still a bit too early to plant outside but I might try a few seeds in mid-March just to see what happens.

Toddler and I planted some sweet pea seeds in peat pots last weekend and have them in my mini greenhouse trays inside near a sunny window. I cracked a corner off each seed coat with nail clippers to aid in germination, as the seed pack suggested.

Signs of Spring

Evergreen pansies are the first to flower in my 2010 garden. What welcome faces! They are surrounded by lots of babies so it will be fun to watch them spread. I have a bunch of weeding to do around them as well. I need to figure out the best way to mulch while still allowing my self-sowers to grow. I've been thinking about putting in more ground covers, especially creeping thyme, to help control weeds and make the area prettier.

This little crocus is smaller than appears on-screen. I didn't even see it from the kitchen window but discovered it when I went outside to take pictures of daffodil shoots. I'm very happy to see something emerging after digging it in this fall. Directly behind the crocus you can see one of my perennial carnations, looking very woody but with a tiny bit of new green growth starting near the base. I need to research how to trim it up for spring.

On the left you can see what is most likely a pair of daffodils emerging from the soil. You can see them just barely pushing up. On the right may be a crocus or a thinner-leaved daffodil. I'll know within weeks. There are lots of tiny alyssum seedlings scattered all around the flower bed. It's nice to have been gardening for at least a few years now so I'm getting to know my flowers from the weeds.

First in 2010

Well, it looks like the Irises are up a little early this year. They are in the back near the south wall of the house. Maybe their location makes the conditions a bit warmer and now they think spring is upon us already. Or maybe I got them in the ground too late and they are just plain confused. Just hoping they make it. I think if there is a freezing snap, I will get out there and cover them with some bark mulch. Is that a good idea? If they freeze this year, will they have a chance next, or will they need replaced? Right now we are in the upper 40's, so no worries for the moment.

I've been devouring the Territorial catalog. I lost the first one they sent me, and then last week another just showed up in the mail. I asked husband if he ordered me a new one and he said no. So it's a catalog miracle and I'm very happy to read and re-read it. I've to it with a highlighter a few times, marking which tomatoes and other plants I'd like to try. (Then I left said highlighter out in the living room and toddler promptly found it.....) Then those irises decided to pop up and now I really can't wait to get started. I'm planning a field trip to the Territorial nursery this spring. It might be a good idea to organize a seed share with my fellow gardeners.

The new flower I plan to grow this year are Hollyhocks. They can grow up to 6 feet tall. How fun! Almost time to convert the basement back into a working greenhouse.