In the garden

Spring is slightly better this year than last...just slightly, not as wet but definitely as cold. I've been able to spend a bit more time outside this year and managed to get quite a bit of weeding done and even more important I pulled lots of starters from plants that self seed which thrills me to no end because now I have loads of room for new plants.

This year I also planted lots of bushes, climbing vines and trees and so far it looks like all of them are in good shape. For many years I've wanted a Winter Currant, they grow wild here on the West Coast, and believe me .... digging one up has crossed my mind...but it's not the responsible, or legal for that matter, thing to do. I am the ultimate cheap gardener, I generally get all my plants from other gardeners and if I buy a plant it's usually on sale at the end of the year but not this time! This time I purchased this beautiful bush and oh I so love it...and so do the hummingbirds!

And finally a tulip the deer did not eat....

How does your garden grow?

Forsythia...

When forsythias bloom spring is here...the yellow flowers bloom quite early making it easy for me to forget about the short days of winter.

Forsythia are very low maintance and easy to start from cuttings...last summer I snipped a few branches from my neighbours bush, I put them in a bucket of water and well, I know it seems too easy, but I just left them there for a year, making sure the bucket never ran dry, that's it. Only one of the four branches grew roots but that's OK, I'll snip some more this year, in the bucket I place all sorts of cuttings, some take some don't, but it's so effortless that it'w worth a try.

This is my "cuttings bucket", at the back of the house, out of sight and the hot sun. I have a cutting from an unknown bush which growns outside my diner but love the berries...I hope it roots!

As you can see the forsythia grew quite a large root ball over winter.

An a bonus...a new shoot.

I planted the cutting in some compost and new soil at the edge of the yard hoping to create a privacy fence.

The hot dry summer may kill your new cuttings so it's best to plant cuttings in the spring and fall as new plants need lots of water.

This is my time of year...

I adore spring and I believe it's here....

Genetically modified food...

Did you know that the PLU code on your fruit and veggies can tell you how they were grown? It's really very simple...

Click on the following link for the full story  http://www.plantea.com/genetically-modified-foods.htm


...and I also copied it below...

Talking Fruit How to de-code the information on those little stickers By Marion Owen, Fearless Weeder for PlanTea, Inc. and Co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul While unpacking groceries, you pull out the bag of apples and decide to eat one then and there. You take it over to the sink, wash it off and -- with some effort -- peel off the little sticker. Pausing to look more closely at the sticker you wonder, "What do those numbers mean?" As much as we may dislike them, the stickers or labels attached to fruit do more than speed up the scanning process at the checkout stand. The PLU code, or price lookup number printed on the sticker, tells you how the fruit was grown. As reported by Maria Gallagher, in the June 26, 2002 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer, by reading the PLU code, you can tell if the fruit was genetically modified, organically grown or produced with chemical fertilizers, fungicides, or herbicides. Here's how it works: For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9. Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8. For example, A conventionally grown banana would be: 4011 An organic banana would be: 94011 A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be: 84011 The numeric system was developed by the Produce Electronic Identification Board, an affiliate of the Produce Marketing Association, a Newark, Delaware-based trade group for the produce industry. As of October 2001, the board had assigned more than 1,200 PLUs for individual produce items. Incidentally, the adhesive used to attach the stickers is considered food-grade, but the stickers themselves aren't edible. Do you REALLY know what's in your dinner? Today, 7 out of every 10 items on grocery stores shelves contain ingredients that have been genetically modified. In other words, scientists are using new technology to transfer the genes of one species to another, and these altered foods are in the market stream. And yet many scientists have concerns about the safety -- to people, wildlife and the environment -- of this process. That's why consumers in Asia and Europe are demanding that their food be free of genetically modified ingredients.

Around the house

Literally around the house...Art is digging up our old and cracked cement walkway and replacing it with "salt and pepper" rock. Love it...love it...love it! But deep down I hope we are not making a huge mistake...time will tell.

I love the look...I just hope the weeds keep out!

It's all about the birds and the bees...

However birds are out of the question, I can't seem to focus my camera and take a picture before they fly off...bees on the other hand are a little slower and easier for me to photograph but it's still a work in progress....

 This bee flew away...much slower than a bird...and it still came out a little blurry...

As some of you may already know...I love hollyhocks....when I posted about my hollyhocks last year my blogger friend Mel commented that she hated them...I didn't understand how someone could hate these tall beauties, well now I do. If you don't cut them down before the flower goes to seed you will have hollyhocks everywhere, I'm not KIDDING, they are EVERYWHERE...enough said!

Mel I should have listened...

Globe Thistles

I'm not the only one to love a Thistle, bees love them to...

Beautiful garlic

Well folks I pulled my garlic and wow...it's huge. But unlike some fishermen who brag about the size of their fish after it's been eaten I have the "before" being chopped or planted pictures of my garlic...look at these beauties.

And just as a reference to the size here is my garlic next to an IPOD...

How does your garden grow?

Well in my world it's not so great..the sun refuses to shine for more than a day or two, most of the time it's cloudy and muggy with the odd sprinkle here and there. It's a real chore to get out there and stay on top of the weeds and bugs...


I tried a new lettuce this year, Ears of the Devil, I purchased the seeds from Seeds of Victoria. The lettuce is delicious and if you can, I encourage you to try some. I planted beets next to them and as you can see the weeds also like this bed very much.

I might not like this weather but slugs are loving it...I've not had a slug problem...until this year!

My tomatoes are coming along and I'm able to harvest some broad beans, can't see a pumpkin anywhere on the vine, but lots have fallen off, I guess it's just too wet...

How is your garden growing?

It's a topsy, turvy world

Well in my world it is....

Tomatoes and stuff...

Our spring has so far been unseasonably wet and cold which for a gardener is not very good but with a few nice days in the forecast I can finally plant the tomatoes I started from seed.

I only found out a few weeks ago that digging oyster shells into the dirt will help with tomato blossom rot, which my tomatoes get.

Hard to see here but I did sprinkle some oyster shells in...

I watered them and then covered them with some plastic using some tent poles Art found in a dumpster..

Art wrapped some stakes on the long sides of the plastic and secured them with staples, this will keep the plastic in place keeping my tomatoes warm and dry. Luckily Art had the plastic on hand, recycled from something else so these makeshift greenhouses were free, and that's very good.

Rhubarb

Lots and lots of rhubarb. Not from my garden although I was able to harvest 5 or 6 good sized stalks from my plant. This rhubarb is from my friend's patch. I'm not sure how many plants they have, but there is lots.

This is what I picked and it didn't make a dent....

I cut the big leaves off and laid them on my garden as natural weed control. Then I washed and cut the stalks....

Then into a plastic bag ready for the freezer, really it's that easy.

I'm off to get more... 

Broc

I said I wouldn't grow them, really not worth it, they are a pain in the arse but those little seedlings just kept going, even with all my neglect.

So here they are in their new bed...but you can't just plant them and leave them...it seems that all sorts of little critters love broccoli, so I have to protect them...

With a row cover, and that's where the fussy part comes in. I have to pull this thing on and off every time I want to access the plants...what a bother. I sure hope I get some broccoli this time...I am unwilling to share it with any other little critters...

In the garden...

I was so fortunate to get my hands on some raspberry canes, 7 to be exact, all from fellow garden club members, and all for free.

I wasn't sure where to put them so for quite some time I just had them in a big pot, sitting against the house in part shade. If you are a gardener you know that raspberries multiply, and they do that very quickly, so finding a good spot for them is essential. I decided to put them in the veggie garden, keeping them safe from the deer, and in a standalone area that is about 3 feet from any of the other veggie rows. I hope the distance from the rest of the veggies will keep them manageable.

Now all I have to do is be patient and wait for the delicious berries, maybe I'll have to wait until next year....bue well worth it.

The picture does not show the raspberry canes very well but they are there...all in a row.

Seedlings...

I have them everywhere. I can't wait to plant them outside and have the house back to normal. Although my house is small it has three floors and running up and down with a water mister and water bottle is not so much fun.

I can't iron anything right now....too bad. Honestly I really miss ironing!!!

Sunny downstairs window.

Germinating seeds sitting on the heat ducts in the basement.

I have quite a few tomatoes, some flowers, cukes, and zucchini. My peppers and eggplant are not germinating very well so I may have to buy those. On the good side two of my luffa seeds started and are well on their way and I have tomatillos growing for the first time this year.

Anything new in your veggie garden this year?

Closed...Open

Once again I don't know the name of this indoor plant, but look at the flowers...

Flowers were closed about 2 weeks ago.

Flowers opened just a day ago.... 

Under the firs...

Spring has sprung under these tall firs.

Salmon berry

Moss, lots and lots of moss

Unfurling ferns