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!

Snow coming today...

So here we are in the first week of April and we've got yet another round of snow coming. Possibly 3 inches. In preparation I spread 8 bags of much today around all the various beds outside to help protect the emerging perennials. There are a lot of things coming back to life out in the yard!

I'm thrilled to see that the bleeding hearts along the garage came back (they're in a very shady, wet spot all winter and I feared they would die from root rot this winter). The Monkshood has emerged, lilies have reared their heads, mums are getting their first leaves, the oregano and thyme are coming back to life. The pinks are looking really healthy as well as the Shasta daisies.

I'm rooting a new bunch of curly willow. Not quite sure where I might plant them...either in the cedar planters or down in the wet area of the garden.

This week I also seeded up some Black Beauty eggplant, Borage and George's Favorite Blend Broccoli. 1/2 of the snake gourds have sprouted...and man, are they huge! The hyacinth beans are already on their 3rd set of true leaves.

I picked up some anemone and crocosmia bulbs at Pesche's...though they are not quite ready to be planted out. Perhaps in 2 weeks. I was kinda surprised at what little selection of bulbs they have there. I think I got spoiled with the selection of seeds and bulbs at Gethsemane Garden Center in Chicago.

I have to do a client delivery up north (Grayslake area) this week so I plan on stopping in at a few garden centers/nurseries up there to see what they have. I want to pick up some false indigo this year. I saw it in bloom at the Chicago Flower and Garden show and just love it.

Potted up the first transplants!

The zinnias and lupine and hyacinth beans were ready to be transplanted into larger pots today. I stopped by Menards to pick up some transplant cells and couldn't resist coming home with 2 of the (49 cents after rebate) roses. I have no idea how they will do and truthfully am not even sure where I want to plant them. Perhaps one in the herb garden that I'm planning around the patio or on the side of the house near the AC since that is the south end and gets a lot of sun all day. I also picked up some orange tulips and purple hyacinths to plant in the walkway island since I apparently forgot to plant bulbs in that island last fall and it looks really bare now!

I seeded up a bunch more seeds:

18 cells of Swiss Chard
3 cells Brandywine tomato
3 cells of English Thyme
3 cells of tall zinnia seeds (collected...don't know what variety)
3 cells of Malva
3 cells of mystery seeds from a pod I collected somewhere
3 cells of mystery seeds from my mom's yard. I recall they're purple, but I have no idea what they are.

In addition, the cells that didn't germinate were reseeded and 2 of the snake gourds have reared their huge heads through the soil.

Soon I'll post some pics...I can't find the back-up camera (my original camera fell in the Pacific when we want to visit the tide pools in CA). ;)

2 weeks update...tons of sprouts!

So...here is what has sprouted so far:
18 of 24 cells of Dwarf Lupine
30 of 35 cells of Flowering Kale (I miscounted and originally said I seeded 43 cells)
0 of 20 cells of Snake Gourd (my 2 1/2 year old picked these out at Pesche's)
6 of 9 cells of Marigold Jaguar
9 of 9 cells of Delphinium (*)
2 of 3 cells of Butterfly Weed (*)
0 of 6 cells Blanket Flower (*)
2 of 3 cells Coreopsis (*)
5 of 6 cells purple & white Cosmos (*)
4 of 4 cells Yellow Pear Tomatoes
5 of 5 cells of Dwarf Curly Parsley
9 of 9 cells of Purple Ruffle Basil
1 of 2 cells of Common Chive
1 of 3 cells of Lavender Lady
10 of 15 cells of Orange Cosmos
6 of 9 cells or Marigolds (regular)
0 of 3 cells of Cleome
18 of 18 cells of Zinnia
5 of 6 cells of Hyacinth Bean (*) - ready to be transplanted
4 of 4 cells of Oceana Blue Salvia (*)
3 of 3 cells of Mixed Hot Peppers
6 of 6 cells of Genovese Basil

I also seeded Oriental poppies and blue flax in 16 oz. plastic water bottles and threw those in a sunny window sill this past week. I just checked on them and a few of the flax bottles have sprouts beginning to break through the soil.

I am going to seed up some broccoli ("George's Favorite Blend") variety and some of the tall zinnia seeds that I collected from a flower bed in a mall parking lot last fall. Hopefully the zinnia's will take as they were very pretty.

Beyond that, I'm looking forward to :

1. the Oak Park Conservatory's 20th annual herb and scented plant sale on Saturday, May 2nd - an excellent selection of herbs
2. the Mt. Prospect Friendship Park Conservatory plant sale on Saturday, May 9th - never been to this sale before
3. the Grove's plant sale on Saturday, May 16th - I bought some very nice annuals and herbs there last year at pretty reasonable prices.

Oh...and not to forget...we had a pretty decent snowfall today. Over 3 inches of heavy, wet snow preceded by a lot of rain overnight. Hopefully the perennials and bulbs outside will be o.k. with the temperature being 23 degrees tonight. A lot of the perennials have come to life in the back yard - the hollyhocks, dianthus, monarda, asters, mums to name a few. There is one perennial that is coming up in the front bed along the garage that for the life of me I don't remember what it is. The shoots are coming up a deep purple shade. If I can't i.d. from a picture of the bed from last year then I will just have to wait and be surprised when it fully develops.

I love this time of year....it's so nice to see things outside turning green again and little plants sprouting up from the soil.

Seed Starting Time!

Well, it's that time of year again....seed starting time! We're about 4 weeks away from the last Zone 5 frost date. I've spent the past few days getting seeds together and ready to germinate. As of today I've planted up the following;

• 24 cells of Dwarf Lupine
• 43 cells of Flowering Kale
• 20 cells of Snake Gourd (my 2 1/2 year old picked these out at Pesche's)
• 9 cells of Marigold Jaguar
• 9 cells of Delphinium (*)
• 3 cells of Butterfly Weed (*)
• 6 cells Blanket Flower (*)
• 3 cells Coreopsis (*)
• 6 cells purple & white Cosmos (*)
• 4 cells Yellow Pear Tomatoes
• 5 cells of Dwarf Curly Parsley
• 9 cells of Purple Ruffle Basil
• 2 cells of Common Chive
• 3 cells of Lavender Lady
• 15 cells of Orange Cosmos
• 9 cells or Marigolds (regular)
• 3 cells of Cleome
• 18 cells of Zinnia
• 6 cells of Hyacinth Bean (*)
• 4 cells of Oceana Blue Salvia (*)
• 3 cells of Mixed Hot Peppers
• 6 cells of Genovese Basil

(*) = seeds collected in the Fall of 2008 from my garden.

230 cells total - with 2-3 seeds per cell = about 600 seeds total.

Demise of the Mushroom Cloud

So, this beast of a bush to the right of the window is what I dubbed "The Mushroom Cloud". I tried to trim it up the first summer we lived here...but it still looked hideous. This past summer ('08) I finally got my husband to whip out the reciprocating saw and buzz it to pieces. The root systems wasn't that deep, so it wound up being pretty easy to pull out.

I planted a beautiful red toned hydrangea in it's place (not pictured yet) to balance out all the green limelight hydrangeas I planted in front of the window. The hydrangea is complimented by asters, mums, pansies and zinnia's in front. So much more color than what used to be there (all evergreens).

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the new bushes come into bloom this spring. We completely redid the entire perimeter of the back yard with new bushes and perennials. I should have taken an hour in the fall to sit down and actually plot out on paper what exactly I planted and where. I guess it will just add to the excitement of seeing green poking through the soil in a few months.

I was outside today tidying up a little - cutting down the ornamental grasses in the front yard, trimming up the thyme and oregano plants, cleaning up debris and loosening any annuals that would budge out of the still semi-frozen ground. Counting down the days until the estimated last frost for Zone 5 (April 15)...only about 5 1/2 weeks away!

It's a little too soon to start planting any seeds up - don't want them to get leggy under the lights in the basement.....but I did plant up some Genovese basil inside a large apothecary jar by the windowsill. A few more days and we'll be getting some sprouts coming up. I couldn't resist planting "something" up just for the fun of watching it grow (while there's still snow in forecast).

Here are a few shots of my favorite plants from the 2008 garden:

This ornamental cabbage just kept growing, and growing and growing until it flowered with dozens of yellow flowers. I let it stay up until after the first snow...but then it started going stinky (the scent of fermenting cabbage on the way to the front door was not how I wanted guests to be greeted) so I chopped it down and threw it on the compost heap.

I also loved the chocolaty colored plant behind the cabbage - Thai basil. So potent! Just one leaf in a recipe contributes such flavor and scent. I had a lot of it left over in the fall so I just cut the entire plant down and dried the leaves in the oven, crushed them and bottled it. Even dried, it has retained it's smell and flavor wonderfully! I'll be sure to plant this up again in '09.

Not a good picture - this is the oceana blue salvia that I managed to grow from seeds I collected from my 2007 plants. Only a few seeds actually germinated and the plant is pretty much green all summer until about August when it finally blooms the most beautiful true blue color. It's a very airy plant and looks best when grouped together and provided with some support since it grows about 3 feet tall. I'm hoping to have a lot more seeds germinate in 2009 since I collected a lot more in '08 than I did in '07.

Sick of being Sick

So, the Midwest winter drags on. Snow on the ground, bitter cold winds and the urge to bake comforting cookies and cakes at night. I would bake tonight, but I just don't have the energy to. I have a nasty head cold (seems to be going around) that just makes me want to go back under the covers and go to bed early.