11 months later...

Horrible, I know. I have dropped off the face of the blogosphere for 11 months! Facebook sucked me in...all my gardening adventures and photos have been posted there for the past year!

I will try to be more diligent about posting here this year. Finally, after attending the Chicago Flower and Garden Show last weekend, I have been inspired to start thinking about the 2010 garden again.

I set up a new seed starting station in my mudroom this year. Last year I had it set up in the unfinished basement. This year I went to Costco and bought some commercial metal shelving to use for the seed starting area.

I'm boycotting Jiffy pots this year - I just don't like how they never seem to break apart by the end of the growing season. Ever fall (and even following spring) I find the netting from the Jiffy pots still fully intact when I till the ground.

I have potted up flowering kale, Bells of Ireland, Jaguar marigolds, regular marigolds, 3 varieties of zinnia (that I harvested seeds from last fall) and stock which I collected seeds from my garden last year. I also have potted up Genovese, globe and purple ruffles basil, broccoli, eggplant and hot peppers. My montebresia and canna are potted up and sprouting too.

Third straight day of cold rainy weather

So, since the ground is saturated with rain I took the opportunity to quickly plant up some new shrubs & perennials. I planted up Pieris japonica "Purity", Erica darleyenis "Mediterranean Pink" and Rododendron "Aglo" along with Lithodora "Grace Ward".

Lithodora "Grace Ward" - perennial, 6 or more hours of sun, hardiness -10, 6-12" tall x 12" wide, mounded

Erica x darleyensis "Mediterranean Pink" - blooms Dec-May, Bushy, 12-18" tall, 12-30" wide, sun to part shade, likes acidic soil, zone 4, -30 to -20

Pieris japonica "Purity" - part sun, 4' high by 4 ' wide, -30 to -20, blooms white in spring

Rhododendron "Aglo" - part shade, 5' by 5', -20 to -10, blooms pink in spring, likes acidic soil

I also moved a bunch of the seedlings from the house out into the cold frame. I have a nasty infestation of fungus gnats, so last night I watered them with a watering can of mosquito dunk infused water to help kill the larva. We'll see if that works. I did a bunch of research on the internet and other than practically starving the plants to death by letting the soil get super dry the mosquito dunk tip seems to be the most agreed upon. Such annoying little things!

Getting the back yard ready for Summer!

Last week I started the dreadful task of ripping out the sod to make way for my vegetable garden. I'm planning at 16x6 foot raised bed garden along the slope of the north side of the yard. I have removed a little over 1/2 of the sod, but then cold weather and rain came and derailed my project. I'm hoping that I can can finish this up with week so that we can go buy the lumber to build the frame of the bed next week.

We also finished building a cold frame for the south side of the house (where I used to have my pathetically tiny vegetable garden last year). I found a great window on clearance at Menards for less than $30 that opens and has a screen for ventilation. I picked up some 12x2 lumber to build up the frame. A quick project for around $50. right now I have some rosemary and lavender out in it since it's still a little too cold at night to plant them out.

And the biggest addition to the back yard in preparation for summer is the covered gazebo that we purchased from Target last week. It's going to give up a nice shady place to sit in the summer and a reason to entertain. We not only purchased the gazebo, but also an outdoor chandelier so we can sit out there at night.

So far we have only got the first part of the frame up. We need to go buy concrete screws so we can anchor it into the cement patio. Once that is done we can put the top tier of the frame on and the canopy and curtains. I can't wait!