It was such a busy week in the garden, I think we worked outside on one project or another every single day last week. I planted seeds indoors and out, finished the brick flower borders, and kept the HH busy with oodles of projects.
The tomato seeds I started indoors a few weeks ago got really, really leggy. So, the other day I transferred them to plastic cups my neighbor gave me and filled the cups up with soil and set them back on the radiator.
We actually sold our grow lights when we moved last fall because we were trying to downsize, and although I sort of miss them, we have such great sunlight at the back of the house here, I think the plants will all thrive in the end so I’m not worried.
The sugar snap peas I started in peat pellets made their way outside last week. I started them indoors this year because for the last few years, the birds have gobbled up the young seedlings as soon as they broke through the soil.
So far so good!
I also transplanted the 12 Sparkle strawberry plants I brought with us from the last house. I planted those near the back door for Miss Lucy. She LOVES nibbling on fresh strawberries and so the height of the pots will be perfect for her.
Asparagus is in!
And so are the raspberries! I chose Nova raspberry canes because they are supposed to have the least amount of thorns. When we lived in Washington I always grew the Cascade Delight variety from Spooner Farms so it will be interesting to see how the Nova raspberries compare.
Now the hard part… Waiting for everything to grow.
When we moved in last fall there was a GIANT clump of rhubarb {bottom right of photo} growing along the side of the house. Even though I didn’t know what I was going to do with it at the time, I knew I wanted rhubarb in the garden, that’s for sure.
So last week, I decided to divide up the giant clump and {after giving away a bunch of starts to my neighbors} planted 7 {yes 7!} little rhubarb babies in a row along the back.
After a few days in their new home, they’re all still alive and they have even begun to sprout new leaves, so I think they’re going to survive.
Even though we aren’t even close to being finished in the backyard yet, I feel like we have made a ton of progress when it comes to clearing out the overgrown and haphazardly planted areas. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to pull the yard together by the end of the summer {late spring ideally} and then be on maintenance mode from there on out.
I don’t know if I’ve showed this to you before, but when we moved in, this {part trash part} compost pile towards the back of the yard was about 4 1/2 feet tall. As of yesterday it’s down to about 18″.
I’m hoping that by the end of this week, the wooden structure will be gone and we’ll have leveled the area off along the back of the fence to a nice little berm where we’ll plant a row of hostas and later a boatload of tulip bulbs as the seasons progresses. Clean, simple and tidy. That’s the goal.
And last but not least, check out the buried treasures we unearthed this past week. I wonder if there was gold bullion at the toe of that sock at some point. After all, why else would there be a knot in the sock? 😉 #ThingsThatKeepMeUpLateAtNight
So how about you? How is your gardening coming along these days? We want to know.
Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone,
~Mavis
Deborah says
The item on the top right is a railroad spike. If it is t too rusted, there should be a number on top. That would be the year it was used.
Linda says
I’ll bet the sock was a dog toy that the dog buried.
Your garden progress is enviable, and so is your energy and focus. It will be a pleasure to watch everything grow and see all the bounty from your hard work.
Meg C says
We live in northeast Ohio & the kids & I planted our peas on March 22 (direct sow)…even though we covered the area with tulle (to prevent the birds/squirrels from eating the seeds) nothing was happening. Nothing! So last week I declared defeat and I was sad they weren’t growing. Yesterday my husband came in from outside & told me we have pea sprouts now!! Woohoo!!! Now we just have to hope the weather doesn’t get too hot, too soon so the plants will mature & we can eat the peas.
Your gardening knowledge & the energy you put into gardening is inspirational! Thank you!
Sue R. says
A tip for Meg about planting peas–the last few years I’ve sprouted the seeds in the house between damp paper towels. Once they’ve germinated, I plant them in the garden. That way I’m not planting any that won’t germinate; it’s much easier to keep them damp; and the plants come up faster. I do still protect them from birds/ etc when I put them in the ground. Hope that helps.
Meg C says
That’s a great tip! Thank you!! I wrote it down & put it in our seed box so I remember for next year.
donna robinette says
You have a gold mine with that compose..
ksnjmom says
$4.99 for Rao’s sauce is a great deal. Where I live its almost seven dollars a jar. They have a really wonderful cookbook, as well ( Rao’s Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking)
Lace Faerie says
I saw Rao’s tomato sauce at Costco Friday. Don’t know if it’s always been there and it caught my eye from earlier comments or if its one of the recent new items/brands that are being stocked. I’m gonna give it a try!
Brianna says
We have been in our house 2 years and the previous owners had a professionally landscaped natural setting for the front yard. It is awful and I have been slowly clearing it. I have found interesting treasures to include a 4” diameter steel ball, metal BB gun ammo in a tin, a huge metal hook for a pulley or something, a few railroad spikes, several other unknown mystery metal objects, and 2 complete cat skeletons buried. I am not sure how many more pet skeletons I will find, but they had a collar on and were in different parts of the yard. Be careful when you dig, you never know what you will find. I am only a third done….it has been a project. It was mounded with tons of dirt put on logs into little hills….a dirt bikers dream, but terrible to look at and bad drainage for a front years.
Lisa Millar says
Wow – Those raised beds are huge and gorgeous!
Everything is really looking so fabulous! Love seeing the start of a new garden! And you do it so well!
Glad you are taking photos of your ‘archaeology !! Being on a property that has been occupied for over 100 years its awesome the treasures unearthed (Still waiting to find diamond jewellry… I live in hope)
Asparagus!!! Thats a serious crop you’ve started lol
Have fun! Its looking amazing. I am busy bedding down lots of my plots – very limited winter garden I think this year. We’ll see.
We’re in quarantine at the moment and can’t leave the property at all – so reckon we’ll get some useful things done in between lazing about haha
Take care!
livingrichonthecheap says
I’m guessing the sock was a dog toy, we use old socks and tie balls into them and they are our dog’s favorite toys
Patty P says
Since I’ve been home from work for nearly a month now (but still working at home–I’m a HS teacher), I have been working on projects that I’ve always wanted to do this time of year, but don’t ever seem to get to. I started some cold crops under a floating row cover that I picked up at an Amish crop supply store nearby and I have several things started (spinach is up, radishes, leaf lettuce, beets, carrots). I also planted some peas under the row covers, since last year it took FOREVER for my peas to come up in the spring. It still is taking forever, but I saw that I had sprouts yesterday (when I was fixing the cover that was blown off due to the WIND). I also have some flowers started in my greenhouse (it was 75 when I went out earlier…not bad since the thermometer outside right now says 44).
My husband and I also fixed our goat pasture fencing that has needed fixing for the last couple years and we just kept patching it. Now I think it will be good to go for quite a few years (we live in wine country, so we acquired some old vineyard posts that worked great for posts–at nearly no cost to us). Now we are just waiting for the kids (goat babies) to come. 🙂
Linda Practical Parsimony says
I envy anyone who can grow rhubarb. It is too warm here in AL.
Mrs. M says
I want to make raised beds on our little hobby farm because there are so many rabbits. How tall are your raised beds, Ms. Mavis? They look tall enough to keep the rabbits out.
Also, what kind of boards do you recommend for raised beds? For the sides, I can’t tell if you used a sheet of wood cut smaller or several boards.
Your back yard is already turning into Amazing! Our hobby farm is just grass and a well house right now, so I feel overwhelmed because it’s hard to know where to start.
Thanks for another wonderful, inspiring post!
Mavis Butterfield says
We bought 12′ x 2″ x 12″ boards at Home Depot and have them cut the boards to 6 foot and 4 foot lengths. We went with Douglass fir because the boards were a good 2″ thick. I plan on staining the outside of the boards once the weather warms up and we don’t have rain for a week or two.
Mrs. M says
Thank you!
Marlene Wurtzbacher says
Now you just need a small chicken coop with a couple of hens!
Mandy says
Hi Mavis! I have 2 questions for you-
1) can u seperate Rhubarb after its fully leafed out? I have some huge ones that keep leafing before I get to them.
2) after moving to the PNW from SoCal I was traumatized when I lost 50 tulips to moles. I replanted about half. They ate them too. They ate most of my asparagus too. Do you have any tricks that dont include traps and killing them? Would daffodils do better?
So happy you are enjoying the coast! I cant wait to hear if there are less bugs!
Lace Faerie says
Rhubarb is pretty hard to kill. I was given some divisions went we finished building our home in plastic grocery bags. Well, those rhubarb got set in the backyard and forgotten about. A couple of years later when we started landscaping the back yard we went to move the bags of rhubarb that had grown huge on neglect, and found that 2 of them had taken off upside down! The roots went up then down into the dirt and the stalks were coming up the ‘bottom’ of the plants. It was pretty weird looking! Wish we had taken pictures! We harvest 14 stalks Friday that weighed over 6 pounds! Today we harvested 16 stalks for another 6.75 pounds! Woot!