spring 2013 is GO!

we have re-dirted, tilled, planted, partially fenced, fertilized, and now its raining.  happy sigh.  hopefully all this rain doesn't drown our new babyplants.

this year's crop:
swiss chard
escarole
king of the north peppers
a hot/sweet pepper (can't remember the name)
little finger eggplants
black beauty eggplants
red lightning tomatoes
a mystery tomato (the tag fell off)
sage
oregano
cinnamon basil
cucumbers

we might add more, there's room in the bed with the little finger eggplant, but that's what we have for now.

since we're tired of the bugs and furry critters eating our plants and veggies, we bought netting, which we hung around the garden like a fence with metal garden spikes, and sprayed the plants with an organic pesticide, st. gabriel organics bugshooter.  of course, its raining so once this weather clears up we'll have to do it again.  i also have their diatomaceous earth if we start seeing the bugs show up.

hopefully it all works..... fingers crossed for a good season...

sprung already?

well... my bulbs are already coming up.  its fucking february, and they're all peeking their fool heads above ground because it hasn't been cold enough for long enough.  i can only hope things stay above freezing for the most part until spring is actually here and i don't lose bulbs entirely from a frost.  my aunt suggested putting leaves over the sprouting bulbs, so i'll keep my eye on the weather and do just that if the forecast is freezing temperatures or snow.  maybe this will be an easy gardening spring, maybe this will be a disaster.  we shall see.

what a wash

well... being pregnant and then having a newborn around does not make for easy gardening, so not much of it got done in 2011.  2012 will be the year for it, though.  i'm gonna rock that shit this season!

lacking motivation

the garden has been much neglected this year.  not ignored, just... neglected.  i don't have the same motivation i normally would, and even if i did, i become exhausted so quickly that its a short-lived motivation.  luckily eric knows almost as much about gardening as i do, so he's taking care of both his and my outside tasks most of the time.  we're still getting flowers and fruit and veg, just not in the same abundance as last year.

broccoli

forgot to mention that after all the snow melted and the garden was exposed again. the broccoli was still alive.  still. alive.  w. t. f.

plants arrived early

this week i recieved 3 shipments from spring hill nursery.  it was stuff they owed me from last year, sort of.  the blue clips died. so i got new ones.  something from the drought tolerant perrenial grab bag died, so they sent me an entire new grab bag!  the cool thing is. only one plant is a repeat, the moonbeam coreopsis, which i love!  they also sent me golden and dragon's blood sedum, salvia, red hens and chicks, and this plant i've never heard of called little plum.  apparently there are no plums involved.  anyway, i want to put the golden sedum under the japanese maple, but i'm wondering if the lily of the valley are going to come up.  while almost all of my spring bulbs have begun to at least peek a shoot above the ground, they are still hiding.  maybe i will put the golden sedum there anyway, between the lily of the valley.  now to figure out where to put the coreopsis and blue clips...

bulbs

turns out i forgot a bag of bulbs in the fall.  it was a variety bag, so i took the biggest empty pots i had and made a few bulby container gardens.  i'm hoping it works.  i also took the long container i have and planted snapdragon and petunia seeds in it.  no real method to it, just sprinkled them on to see what happens.  the petunia seedlings i thought were dead last year turned out to be very much alive and went crazy where i mixed the dirt into an existing bed.  the dahlias and lavender i will plant in the ground when it gets warmer and all the damned snow melts.  at least the bulbs and perennials already in the ground are staying nice and moist.