What have you done today in the Garden?

Today I cleaned up the bed out front by the road. Cut back the Butterfly Bush, sedum and peony stems and raked up the leaves to put in my compost bin.
I still need to clean up the side yard. Im saving the backyard for later in the season.

 

I am pleased to say that I was actually able to get out and start some yard work! The snow is almost all gone now, and I have begun the task of raking the grassy areas around the house. There is a lot of vole damage! The ground is still very wet and so I have taken apart, cleaned and changed batteries where needed in the solar lights. As the ground starts to thaw I will poke them in. There are a lot of bulbs starting to peek out too, and so many bird back now. I have to watch to make sure those Kildeer don't make a nest in my veggie garden again!

 

Dead-headed all my pansy's. the sever winds dehydrated them and whipped them back and forth so much that they became unsightly. Fingers crossed that they rebound as they usually do.

The spinach and broad beans are looking good after the storm. There are 18 above ground now. Still no peppers or capsicums up yet.

I popped out to the lottie to check on the wind damage and some folks had noticable damage. Luckily we did not have any to speak of. There was some damage to a couple of Buddleja's but nothing more. The bee hives stayed anchored, as I had tied them down securely.

Still waiting for some decent weather.

 

yesterday we laid out 15 bales of straw in rows of 5 each. The next step is to condition the bales by jump starting the composting process. they will get a dose of lawn fertilizer (heavy on the nitrogen!) and soaked with water for the next several days (10-14). this should prove to be an interesting experiment. it also allows our ground to rest and recuperate after years of use...
you can see my mother insisted on using cardboard underneath the bales as a compostable weed blocker. we have found that this has saved us a load of work in the weeding dept.

 

Today was a long day. There was a whole process with planting the spuds.
it was a lot of work, but the job was completed. Four different types of potatos in two plots. The saying goes that one is to plant their spuds when Easter comes. We have two Easter days and today was the second one.

Here are the new potato beds:


Then, a sort of overview from another angle. Things are coming along neatly I think.


You cannot really see it but there is spinach, onions, spuds and beetroot planted out there.
And now, it it time to go check my eyelids for pinholes.

 

I have been planting hens and chicks this afternoon. A friend gave me tons of them.feeling appreciative for all the plants given to me this year.

 

Spent all morning picking up stuff from the weekend getting ready to mow. while doing that Peg picked a hand full of asperaguys and a dozen strawberries. I got a bucket full of pine cones and branches for fire pit fodder. We rounded up all the kitty toys and forgotten beer cans from around the pit and our back yard party spot. Now comes the push mowing. I long ago gave up a riding mower on acounta having too much stuff to ride around.

 

I put the last of the tomato starts into the garden and then hilled the potatoes. I'm not sure if hilling is really necessary, but it makes me feel I'm doing something useful.
Cappy, we have a riding mower for the big lots, but I get to walk behind the push mower for the back yard, where I just really needed to plant flowers!

 

About half way done with the mowing. me and the mower both ran out of gass. I am having a big glass of lemon aide then its back at it. We make lemon aide concentrate this batch was about half a gallon of lemon aide and a pint of honey it stays in the fridge and ya poor some over ice and add water. Later this afternoon I plan to add some rum to the glass an ole Cappy like me likes a glass of grog on occasion.

 

Sjoerd, I think it may be too early to plant potatoes here. My supplier doesn't have them yet, so I have no choice but to wait. I am, however, jealous of your's.
I have only planted peas and spinach so far. I do have BIG plans settling in my brain.

 

I'm planting Iris today. I'm almost finished planting them.yeeehaaaa!

 

I watched it continue to rain on it. Would love to plant my peas, but looks like it could be next week before it dries out enough to even think about it.

 

Nothing today because I don't think raking the beds would be wise in the rain and it's too early to set out plants, so !

I planted peas among onions from 2014. Onions and peas do not coexist, so out come the onions when it stops raining.

 

Good to hear about your BIG plans, Growing pains. I cant wait to hear about them in more detail....and of course to see developmental piccies. You tweaked my interest.

Yesterday it was more cleaning-up. Ground elder. Urrrggggggh! The knees!....My knees!

The onions are beginning to poke their little green sprouts out of the soil. Olé.

 

I have been getting ready to set up for the first time at the Farmers Market on Sat. I'm really excite about it.

Sjoerd, I potted 14 Limnanthus yesterday.