It's been a long, long time

After taking a almost a year vacation from blogging, I'm ready to get back into it. We have had such an unusual spring, I find that I'm wanting to go back to last year's blog to compare but I have so few notes! So I will do better this year.

We have had beautiful weather today but this has been a crazy spring. Last weekend we got 14 inches of snow (4/19) and this weekend we had 70 degree weather. The snow is almost gone now, but there is still plenty of ice on the lake. We finally saw a sliver of water a few days ago (see picture) and today there is about five feet of open water along the shoreline. Hopefully it won't be long now!

So nothing is really growing yet, unless you count the sedum that are just starting to poke their heads out of the ground. I started some seeds again this spring but not as early as last year. I stared tomatoes ( Early Girl and Roma) and green peppers April 1. About 4/15 I started some flowers (zinnias, petunias, impatiens, and cosmos) and just today I found banana pepper seeds that I saved from last year so I started those as well. I transplanted the Romas today and need to purchase some peat pots so I can transplant the rest of the tomatoes.

I am wondering, though... Is it safe to start lettuce?

Gardening Therapy

My heart is heavy this week as my little home town is dealing with a tragic flood that has caused extensive damage to the homes of my friends and neighbors, and my school where I also work.  So I have had little time for gardening this past week.  I don't know how long my martagon lilies were blooming (for the first time!) before I snapped these quick pictures on my phone the other day.  

Thankfully it has been good gardening weather and my garden was not in an area that suffered from the ten inches of rain that fell last week.  I am thankful for my family, my home, my health, and for my gardens that bring me peace!

Kids in the Garden

Here's my little squash planter, the youngest of my three little garden helpers.

When I started gardening, I didn't set out to teach my kids about where food comes from, the pleasure of hard work and a job well done, and the sweetness of getting to taste the fruits of one's labor.  But in addition to the nutritional benefits of consuming home grown foods, they are learning a lot!  It is a lot easier to get them to try peas fresh in the pod when they had a hand in putting them in the ground.  They even help in the pickling and canning process in the fall. 

I come from a gardening family so I have always known the joys of the first bites of baby reds in early July, the feast of eating garden grown sweet corn all of August, and labor of canning tomatoes.  It shocks and saddens me when I hear stories of children not knowing where carrots come from and that they are a root vegetable that grows in the ground!  Not to sound all "doomsday-ish," but I'd like to think that my children would at least have an idea of how to save seeds and work the ground should our society crumble and they need to be able to supply their own food some day.  And wouldn't we all be a little better off if we were to move more in that direction now, without the whole doomsday scenario playing out, please. 

Running on Empty

I work in education, and it seems like the times I am busiest at work are the times that I should be busiest in the garden!

As it turns out, that worked to my advantage this year. After everyone else planted their garden seeds, we had TEN inches of rain in one week and everyone had to reseed. Except for me, ever behind the eight ball in the spring. So while my friends and neighbors were reseeding, I was sowing for the first time.

Here was my planting timeline, for future reference:

May 13: potatoes and onions went in
May 28 : beans, peas, carrots, beets, dill, broccoli and cabbage
June 2: tomatoes, peppers and zucchini
June 7: cucumbers and squash

On the flower front, everything's early this year. Peonies are just about to bloom. Irises of the bearded variety are finishing and siberians are about to bloom. Geum is done but geraniums will soon flower. It's a beautiful time of year!

It's Rainin' Again

Well I was feeling pretty badly that I hadn't taken advantage of this early spring and planted my garden.  Two weeks ago we tilled the garden, added some composted manure, and planted potatoes and onions.  And that's been about it.  But today, after over 3 inches of rain, I'm thankful I didn't get any seeds in the ground, or I'd probably be replanting!

This weekend we'll put in what should have gone in the ground two weeks ago:  carrots, beets and peas.  We are in zone three, so tomatoes usually go in the ground the first week of June.  It was an early spring, but it hasn't been warm enough to plant heat loving tomatoes and peppers quite yet.  Soon and very soon!

Spring Wildflowers

Note - not a picture from MY garden... but Wild Ginger, nonetheless

I am really beginning to embrace the beauty of my shade garden.  I used to lament the lack of full sun in our yard, but shade plants can be just as interesting, especially when it comes to spring ephemerals.

 e·phem·er·al ( -f m r- l). adj. 1. Lasting for a markedly brief time

A spring ephemeral is just that - one of the delightful first flowers of the season that are short lived in the garden.  In the shade garden, these plants bloom early, generally before the tree canopy above leafs out.   Spring ephemerals in my garden include many wildflowers such as the wild ginger pictured above, Virginia Bluebells, Bishops Cap, Lenten Rose, Trout Lily, Rue Anemone, and Foamflower (though the particular variety I have blooms twice).  These beauties are just starting to bloom, but here are some pictures from prior years.

Tiarella - Foam FLower

False Rue Anemone

Another wild Anemone

Twinleaf or Bishop's Cap

What a day for a daydream

Wow, was April a rainy one!  Although this was not the most beautiful of May weekends, it was typical for northern MN.  Nevertheless, it was a great weekend to visit newly opened greenhouses, move and divide a few perennials (even in Saturday's light mist), and dream about the May gardens and all the potential they hold!

Here's what's in bloom:
Newly planted pansies (YAY!)
Primrose
Bleeding Heart
Daffodils
Squill
Pulmonaria
Forget-Me-Nots
PMJ Rhododendron
Bishop's Cap
Wild Ginger


The hostas have also broken through the ground, and my martagon lilies (their second year) have moved beyond last year's "sleep" and are now "creeping!"  How exciting!  They're about twice as tall as they were at the end of last season, so who knows what they hold in store this year.