Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in Western Washington!! I spent 3 hours… THREE HOURS outside in the garden. All by myself. No dog, no kids, just me and my garden. It was awesome.
Check out my rhubarb plants! I planted the two larger ones last spring as crowns {see how to plant rhubarb} and the three plants towards the back of the garden bed were transplanted from another area in the garden last fall.
I wasn’t sure if the transplanted rhubarb was going to make it, but they did. Now I’ll just have to figure out what on earth I’m going to do with all the rhubarb this summer.
And the poppies are back as well. Three years ago I scattered Flanders, Lauren’s Grape and Oriental poppy seeds and every year since then they come back in full force. When I planted the poppy seeds though I thought the seed pods that drop every year would produce more poppy plants, but so far, no such luck. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if poppies are just incredibly difficult to start from seed and I got lucky the first year. 
And then she killed the perennial artichokes. Last fall I also transplanted my artichokes. I thought for sure they would make it but so far there is no sign of life {green} anywhere near where I transplanted them. Which totally stinks of course because I didn’t plant any artichokes from seed this year {and why would I? I had 20+ plants growing in the ground. Or so I thought}.
It’s amazing how much work you can get done in the garden when the kids and pets stay inside the house.
Poor Princess Lucy.
Maybe I’ll let her help me in the garden today. 😉
Do you have rhubarb or artichokes in your garden? Any sign of life yet?
Mavis wants to know.
Paula says
I’m in South Snohomish County and my rhubarb is barely peeking out of the ground.
Rachel says
I have to say, Mavis, that I’m completely jealous! First, of the climate you live in, they’re calling for more snow here in Ohio. Second, I love to garden, but I’m not very good at it. I forget to water or I buy too much at once and don’t have enough time to get it all planted or I get squash beetles or some other bug once I do get my plant well established. My time is split between kids and their activities, taking care of critters (sheep, dogs, cats, horses), household stuff (laundry, dinner, cleaning), and trying to make stuff to sell to bring in an income as an artist. Do you have any tips on managing your time?
Rachel says
I forgot to add trying to garden to that list . . . . . thanks. >^.^<
Mavis Butterfield says
Rachel do you sell your stuff on Etsy? If so, send me a link. I’d love to see your work.
Karen at A Glimpse Into My Reveries says
Me, too! Me, too! I love finding new Etsy shops!
Rachel Walker says
Hi, Karen
My Etsy shop is https://www.etsy.com/shop/BittyKittiesPlace?ref=si_shop. I’m a fiber artist near Dayton Ohio. Let me know what you think please. >^.^<
Rachel Walker says
Hi, Mavis
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. I do have an Etsy store it’s: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BittyKittiesPlace?ref=si_shop
I do not have a ton of merchandise, though I am working hard to add more. To this end I’ve just had 2 years worth of fleeces turned into roving. I brought back 35 pounds of it! Please let me know what you think, I could use some constructive criticism. Thanks!
The Smallest Acre says
I grew poppies last spring. When they died off I waited till they were brown and then cut all the seed pods off and brought them inside. I collected all the seeds and kept them in a ziploc bag. This fall I went around and hand scattered the seeds. Now there’s a gazillion poppy plants. Maybe this will work for you?
Ellee says
I also read somewhere (probably one of the seed catalogs that’s arrived in the last couple of months) that a lot of poppies for home gardens have been bred to have tougher seed pods, so they don’t spew seeds everywhere & become pests. The Smallest Acre probably had the right idea with collecting the pods and breaking them open to collect the seeds. Probably nothing you did wrong – just the way the plants are. When they can come up with a way to keep raspberries contained, I’ll be all ears!
Cecily says
A rhizome barrier (used mainly to contain bamboo) contains raspberries very well.
E says
Oh, yes they have come up with raspberry root barriers! I bought them from a company out in California. It is a product marketed to cities to control tree roots from spreading under sidewalks. The material is 18″ tall with small fins sticking out on one side – the side that is towards the plant. The fins are designed to turn the roots back inwards. They give you the glue and a u-shaped thing that covers the joint. The 18″ is deeper than the roots grow, so I raised is about 2″ for mulching space. Have three rings of berries: red raspberry, black berry and black caps. Yum!
Mindy says
I’m in Portland and my rhubarb is up, but no signs of life from the artichoke yet.
Mavis Butterfield says
Maybe I won’t freak out then. Maybe the chokes are still sleeping!
Ellen in Clackamas says
Here in Clackamas (just outside of Portland) my rhubarb is up and a pink poppy I planted last year is up and looking good. I did harvest and then scattered poppy seeds from the over-abundant self-sowing ones in my daughter’s yard but haven’t seen any of those peeking through yet. Can’t tell if a newly planted (last fall) peony has made it though. May just be one of the late rising ones.
Tamara says
I’m in Monroe WA (south Snohomish County), and I have both rhubarb and artichokes in my garden. My rhubarb has just broken through, not nearly as big as yours. I planted 4 artichoke plants last spring, 2 violeto and 2 green globe. I just went out and checked on them, and one green globe plant has it’s first leaf sticking up out of the ground. No signs of life on the others yet.
Jezibels says
I also transplanted a few and divided a few rhubarb clumps, the snow is still 6″ deep in the garden even after an entire day in the 50’s here in Chicago….grrrrr! Ill have to check and see whats alive out there in a few days when it finally melts…as long as we dont get too much more snow tomorrow night! One thing I did plant last spring was asparagus, about 6 -8 crowns, Im so anxious to see if there are any signs of life!
Carol says
I’m having the same problem with artichokes here on the Olympic Peninsula. Mine are dead–even the ones under straw. I think it has something to do with a couple of cold snaps that we had after particularly warm autumn and early winter weather. They started to put out buds of new growth too early and then were hammered. Sigh.