Andi's Gardening Experiments

Lost and Found in the Dirt

2011-06-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to play in my own garden, yet. Dad got sick and went into the hospital in April. He just passed away on June 2nd. I feel like I have lost a lot of valuable time in my garden thus far. I know that I have missed my peonies and some roses. My trips home cost me glimpses of some tulips. But that is okay, because I found a new level of understanding with my father as I spent time with him in the end.

My father is mostly responsible for my love of gardening. I used to sit alongside him as he created his gardens at our house and store. I also helped Mom with her vegetable garden. I learned a lot by watching him and by discussing my own gardening adventures with him. Dad was always amazed at how much I would learn and then how much I was able to teach him.

My father was also a great collector of books. Over the years he invested in several high quality series. I am unable to take every one of his gardening books, but I am taking the ones that he designated for me.

As we have been cleaning out the house, I also came across a bunch of binders that were created by my great-grandmother. She was also an avid gardener and liked to create scrapbooks. She created dozens of scrapbooks about all kinds of flowers. My father always wanted me to have those as reference, too. But I just don't have space for them all. I feel like I am losing a bit of family heritage by leaving those behind. I also know that I will find a new part of the legacy as I continue my gardening exploits.

I also feel like I have a lost a lot of myself over these past several months, with so many significant losses in my family. I long to go home soon and to find myself again, by playing in my yard and digging in the dirt.

BFF - A New Blogging Group

2011-06-10T20:24:00.001-07:00

Ahhhhh....I love to write and I love inspiration. I just came across a new blogging group tonight called BFF - Blogging for Fun. Stay tuned for more possible posts based on their topics each week, as well. :-D

Expectations of the Yard

2011-05-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Every year I make these grandiose plans for my gardens. And in the past I have been able to carry many of them out. I like to add a few perennials to spice up the old beds and to slowly fill in new ones. I fill my front steps with my own creations in pots. I fill the narrow vegetable garden strip next to my driveway as well as numerous pots. I relish in digging my hands in the dirt as I transfer my stress and worries. But my gardening expectations have had to switch around due to circumstances out of my control.

Last year I had the same big plans for the yard. I got a little delayed in starting the veggie garden because of working. I had the girl I babysit for help me hoe the bed and mix in the compost. We even started planting together. I love to plant with kids and to pass on the knowledge and legacy left to me from my great-grandmother through my parents.

I had been battling recurring cysts since March and was often in pain. I figured if I took it slow, I could still get in a lot of planting. But then the girl and I went hiking and one of those cysts burst. I wasn't in immediate danger and my surgery was scheduled six weeks out. But I was in a lot of pain. Slower movements meant less ability to work and many of my days were spent either sitting and reading or sitting and writing or sitting and tutoring. I managed to squeeze out a handful of tomatoes, beans, and peas and plant a few annuals, but that was it.

After my surgery, I had a long healing process, but still managed to get out and plant a few hundred bulbs. New expectations of a great yard were born.

This past April, my life changed forever. My mother had to go into a nursing home for her Alzheimers. My father, who had fallen and hit his head when out and about getting Mom situated, finally sought help for his headaches when bronchitis overwhelmed his COPD. He had to have brain surgery and is still hospitalized and relatively nonresponsive. Now instead of playing in my own yard, I have to spend a lot of time at the hospital and talking to doctors, and yes, trying to make my living. I had purchased sixteen tomato plants in April, but they are still sitting and waiting to be planted. The only peas I am going to get are the seeds that randomly started growing this year after not germinating last year. My bulbs were beautiful but I don't know if/when anything else will get done. The weeds are starting up again.

I have a friend helping me mow the lawn, because I am allergic to the freshly cut grass. I am sure he will help me with the weeding. I guess my expectations this year need to simply become maintenance of what I have and I will try again next year.

GBE 2 Challenge

2011-05-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is another blogging challenge. Now that I have finally completed the April challenge (by May 22nd), I can start to think about the next ones.

GBE2 is a revival of an old blogging challenge that had been on MySpace. It stands for Group Blogging Experience. Bloggers who participate in the group are given a weekly prompt that they must somehow incorporate into their blogs. You do not have to participate every week.

I have no idea if any of the prompts will ever fit in with the gardening theme, but you never know! So, I am going to leave the option available for this blog and we shall see what happens. Stay tuned for the tag GBE2!

Z is for Zazzle

2011-05-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have finally caved and started a Zazzle store. It is called AndisGardening and features photos from my gardening adventures. I chose the name so that it can be connected to this blog.

As of right now, I only have pictures of the crocuses up, featured as greeting and note cards. Eventually, I will have all of my crocuses posted, and will turn the photos into some other products. Other flowers will follow, including my wide variety of tulips and lilies. Some day I would even like to create classroom materials using those photographs.

Please visit the store and let me know what you think!

Y is for Yarrow

2011-05-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

The first time that I saw yarrow growing in my father's yard, I was confused as to why he would have a weed growing. The perennial yarrow plant closely resembles the weed commonly known as Queen Anne's Lace. I have always found Queen Anne's Lace to be beautiful but had never known my father to purposely include a weed in his garden.

Daddy quickly corrected me and commented that it was a different, yet similar-looking plant. That meant I had to be extra careful when trying to help him with weeding.

Dad always had the yellow variety of yarrow growing in his yard. I think it was his nod to our British heritage, as it is commonly seen in English gardens.

Photo by Evelyn Simak on Wikimedia Commons

It is not necessarily my favorite flower, but I will say that I find the pink variety somewhat attractive.

Photo by Matt Rogers on Wikimedia Commons

The white variety is pretty, but too closely resembles its weed counterpart.

X is for Xeranthemum

2011-05-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I had to do a little research to find a plant appropriate for "x." I came up with Xeranthemum. It is a purple flower that grows in southern Europe as an annual. The fact that it is my favorite color makes it worth looking at more closely.

Photo copyright Kajetan Dzierżanowski on Wikimedia Commons

It reminds me of an annual that I like to use in my yearly pots. Of course, I cannot remember its name off the top of my head, but I know how to pick it out every year. The flower of which I am thinking comes in this purple, as well as a peach and a white, with a purple eye in the center. They all resemble daisies, only have little to no odor. They are simply beautiful.

W is for Wisteria

2011-05-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

Wisteria is one of the most beautiful late spring/early summer flowers I have ever seen. Ok, part of it is because I am a purple fiend. But it also has a pungent, relaxing, welcoming odor to add to its purple majesty.

Photo by Lenda Sar on SXC

My first up close and personal experience with wisteria was in a client's yard. She grew hers as a tree off the back porch. I have also seen it as a vine growing across people's balconies and store awnings.

I would love to plant it in my yard, but I have a couple of reservations. The first is that I fear having a problem with the smell. I love the smell, but I also love the smell of lilacs. Unfortunately, I have an allergy to lilacs. I am okay with the two small bushes in my own yard, but bring them in and my chest constricts and I wheeze.

My other concern is the number of bees I always see buzzing around them. I know that they aren't concerned with me, but they still make me nervous. I'll just continue to enjoy them from afar.

V is for Violets

2011-05-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

How do you feel about violets in the yard? I get excited when I first see them, becaue I know that summer is actually coming. I saw my first violets in mid-April when I was out hiking in a local woods.

Image copyright Andrea Coventry

A little bit later, I started to see the violets in the lawn. This morning while I was out checking on the plants, I noticed a large clump in the front bed. I know many people think of them as weeds. But I find the purple color to be beautiful. And you can do so much with violets! I remember a friend of my mother's bringing us some violet jelly. It had a magenta color and was sweet, though not really fruity. I really liked it. My friend also said she makes violet-infused vinegar as well as some kind of marinade.

I have never gotten around to making any of these. Unfortunately, violets seem to peak when I am deep in the throes of parent-teacher conferences for the end of the year. By the time I know that I have time to collect and make something with the violets, they are gone. Perhaps one of these years?

U is for Upside-Down Tomatoes

2011-05-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

I keep seeing those ads for the Topsy Turvy and other upside-down tomato planting devices. I just don't understand them. How can you possibly convince a plant to grown down toward the ground when its instinct is to reach up for the sun?

I love to plant tomatoes every year and to try out different varieties. I have about 15 different varieties waiting to be planted as we speak. But I always put mine into pots and get lucky enough to try out a few of each variety. I cannot fathom using one of those weird planters, nor do I know where it would go in my yard.

Photo by jarsem on SXC

My mother grew a lot of tomatoes. Her family provided some of the supply for Campbell's Soup or Heinz or something, I think. She tells stories of planting those millions of plants in perfectly aligned rows. I know the thought of planting them upside down is weird to her, too.

I recently had a conversation with her "stepbrother" who used to help her family on the farm every year. He said that he tried one of those "newfangled contraptions." And what happened? The plants tried to grow up toward the sun and the tomatoes didn't quite turn out right.

Now, perhaps he did something wrong. But I cannot help but listen to someone who did it for a living for years and years. That being said, I would love to hear from people who have actually had success with these upside-down planters, for tomatoes or otherwise. Maybe there is something I am missing?

T is for Tulips

2011-04-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tulips are the pentultimate sign that spring has finally arrived. The crocuses and the hyacinths hint toward it, but nothing is the same as those tulips.

I have dozens of varieties in my yard. They bloom from the early spring until early summer. I have every color imaginable. I don't believe in planting them in clumps of one color or color-coordinating. I like to see giant splashes of colors. This past fall, I added a couple hundred new tulip bulbs.

I fear that having been gone for two weeks, I will have missed some of them. But I also know that the season is just beginning and there will be plenty more to come.

Quick tip I learned from a fellow gardener: To keep your tulips popping up, one after the other, lay out your late bloomers first. Plant them in their holes, but don't cover them up. Place your mid-spring bloomers on top of those in the hole. Finally, add your early bloomers. Make sure each tip has space to grow straight up without being directly blocked by another bulb. Cover them all with dirt and enjoy your constant display in the spring!

S is for Snapdragons

2011-04-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Snapdragons are a beautiful annual. I love to use them in pots. I also used to use them in the actual flowerbeds each year. But then someone I knew who used to work in a nursery told me that they were actually harmful to nearby rosebushes. I have become much more wary of using them in the yard, then.

Photo by "aki_fukaki" on SXC

I would love to know if anyone has any insight into whether or not this is true. Thanks :-)

R is for Roses

2011-04-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

I love roses. My very first garden came with a rosebush in it. In fact, that was the only plant in it. It's one of those old-fashioned ones that is a dark pink and only blooms in June. My next place had one, too. And when I got to my current house there were two of those in the yard, along the property line.

I quickly turned a small bed in the backyard into my mini rose bed. Mini roses are great fun, even though they pretty much only bloom at the beginning of the year.

I used the side of my garage as a big rose bush bed. I have also been fitting in more along the property line of the backyard. My goal would be for them all to grow together, as a sort of funky hedge. I realize now that it is going to be more work than I had originally anticipated. I am considering making that my major project for the summer.

Here is a picture of one of my favorite rosebushes. It is an orange and yellow mix that has a slight scent to it.

I prefer ones that are less common. It fits my personality. :-)

Q is for Quarreling

2011-04-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

I have repeatedly mentioned how my father is the one who got me started in gardening. When I was a kid, I felt like his yard was a wonderland. I would spend hours outside playing amongst his plants. I loved to watch him plant, but was very rarely allowed to assist. If I did help, I had to follow very specific instructions. Dad's flowerbeds needed to be precisely what he had in mind. Looking back now, I realize that he had to have a manicured look out front, because it was the front of our home and my parents' business.

When I started to do my own gardening, I listened very carefully to what he had to say. Then, I started to branch out a bit. Dad would come over and make his suggestions. We would quarrel a little bit.

When he started to get sick, he often wanted me to come help work in his yard. The quarreling continued. I would help to fix something in a flowerbed or in a pot and he wouldn't like the way it was. As I continued to develop in my own gardening skills, though, he eventually realized that I knew what I was doing. He began to trust my ideas and knowledge.

Now I basically have carte blanche to do what is necessary in his yard to make it look nice. I often try to get his approval before I add something new. We definitely quarrel less about it.

P is for Perennials

2011-04-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

I used to be opposed to perennials. When I first started I couldn't see the beauty in something that was green for most of the year and that you couldn't change regularly. Of course when I finally came around to the world of gardening, I had a very tiny bed. Then I added another tiny bed. And finally I added a third.

When I moved to a bigger place, I finally started putting in a couple of perennials. My first were a bunch of mini roses around a birdbath in the middle of the yard.

Finally, I moved to my current house. There was this annoying piece of grass between two sidewalks leading up to the house. My sister and I were living together and the time. She was in charge of mowing and asked if I could just turn that patch into a garden. It was the same day that I was going to ask her if she minded if I did that.

She had to go to work, but I have a persistent OCD personality. I spent that entire day digging it up by hand with a spade. Soon after that, my parents were scheduled to come out for a visit. I always considered my father to be a master gardener of sorts, even though he was really just as amateur as I am. But he taught me a lot to get started.

The week before they were due to come out, I fell and chipped an old break in my ankle. I had a walking cast and was told to just walk as I felt comfortable on it. When my parents came out, my father and I did a lot of shopping. He picked out a lot of perennials for me and gave me advice as to where to place them. Together we worked on that plot, with a little assistance from my mother and my sister and the neighborhood kids across the street. A couple of years later, it had filled in nicely. This is a picture from about May of 2009.

It continues to be my piece de resistance, and also my pain in the you-know-what. But every year I keep plugging away at it. I divide some, I add some, and I work on keeping it cleaned out. This has been the source of a lot of trial and error. But I have now found the fun in playing with perennials.

O is for Organic Gardening

2011-04-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

I would love to do all organic gardening. I have gotten better over the years. I purchased organic compost last year to mix in with the vegetable garden. I never add pesticides. I know that I should end up buying all organic seeds or plants. But some of these "regular" plants just entice me too much!

And I do have to say that I love the Miracle-Gro stuff for the yard. Walmart even has a good generic brand. It's more affordable and it does a great job. And still nothing tastes better than produce freshly grown in the yard.

Baby steps, right?

Z to A in May: Blogging Challenge with a Twist

2011-04-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

What? Another challenge? But you never finished this one!

No, I didn't. My father had to have brain surgery and has been in the ICU for over 2 weeks now. My extra writing time has been sucked up by trips to the hospital, conversations with the doctors, and updating family and friends. I've also been dealing with things with my mother who has Alzheimer's.

April has been a long, difficult month. But I vow to finish the blog posts for the original challenge and THEN I will try to work on this one. I think I can do it.

Join us!

N is for New Ideas

2011-04-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

From where do you get your new ideas? I know some people like to do the same thing every year. They find an approach that works and they stick with it. I like to try something new each year.

So far, I haven't yet decided what that is going to be. I jumped the gun a bit and I bought a bunch of new varieties of tomato plants. I have been in Ohio as my father recovers from brain surgery. When I return to New York this weekend, I will be bringing home 16 new tomato plants. I know it is a little early to plant them at home, but that is what all of those old sheets are for! And I just cannot pass up new varieties of tomatoes to try.

But I feel like also trying something else. I just can't decide what that is going to be. I have toyed with the idea of planting potatoes in a giant trash barrel. I really, really, really want to try corn again, but those stupid raccoons will probably come back. I have a lot of new lilies that I bought, also. Most of them are bulbs, but I did also get three new plants. They will bloom way ahead of time this year, but that is okay.

I suppose that some of the new could simply be making new pots. I love to make new pots every year. I have a couple of perennial favorite ideas, but I never make the same one twice. I go to the greenhouses and load up the carts with grouped ideas. By the time I get home and unload, though, new ideas pop into my head. This is the creativity behind gardening that I adore so much.

M is for Mulch

2011-04-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

I used to hate mulch. I didn't understand why people wanted their flowerbeds to be all red or orange around colorful flowers. To me it always made the beds look fake and painted with artificial color.

Photo by Kathy Rathbun

Now that I have found the black mulch that looks more like the dirt, I am more likely to use it. I understand the benefits. It naturally decomposes and provides necessary nutrients. It helps the soil to better maintain the moisture and allows me to not have to weed quite as much. And it does just bring about a more natural and neatened look to the flowerbeds.

Photo copyright Andrea Coventry

Mulching has also been a good industry for me in the summers. No one wants to mulch their own yard, so I often get called in to weed and mulch. My favorite was the one year that I had to move a pile of mulch that was as tall as I was and probably eight feet wide. But I love the exercise that I get from it.

This year I finally started adding it to my other bigger beds. I found that last year when I was ill and couldn't get out into my yard very often that I very quickly had an overgrowth problem. I am not anticipating being ill like that again this year, but I don't want to have to deal with such a mess again. Plus it looks better. :-)

K is for Killing Beetles

2011-04-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Apparently I can't remember my alphabet. Or, perhaps I shouldn't write blog posts in the middle of the night. I was writing a bunch the other night and completely skipped over K. I went from Japanese Maple (J) to Lilacs (L). Ah well. I've had a lot on my mind.

K is for killing beetles. Normally I don't mind bugs and beetles. I can handle having them here and there. But those stupid orangish beetles that insist on devouring my lilies every year just have to go!

I wish I could get a picture of the little buggers to show you what they look like. They are like an elongated ladybug that is a reddish orange. They swarm all over the leaves of lilies, but only the tall varieties like asiatics and Orientals. Any lily that resembles these is doomed to have its leaves chewed to a lacy pulp.

These stupid beetles lay their slimy black eggs in abundance on the undersides of the leaves. You can also usually only see them if you gently turn over a leaf. To get rid of them you can only pick them off with your bare fingers and squish them. And you pretty much have to use your fingernails because they have such a hard shell. It is a little gross. But it is also kind of relaxing.

I have tried different pesticides. I have begged at all of the local nurseries for help. Supposedly there was only one that actually worked, but it was so strong that it had to be discontinued.

I don't like to use pesticides. They aren't good for me. They aren't good for the environment. I have a dog who plays in my yard. And the neighborhood kids are often in my yard, also.

But what else to do to save my lilies?

L is for Lilacs

2011-04-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

I live in Rochester, which is the lilac capital of the world. In fact, we annually host the world-renowned Lilac Festival every year. People come from afar to wander Highland Park to look at the beautiful blooms while listening to a variety of music and to purchase artisan goods.

(Photo by Shannon Pifko)

Alas, I am allergic to those beautiful blooms.

I love their smell. I love the way they look. I even have purple and white lilac bushes in my yard. But I cannot be around a lot of them without having a serious problem.

I remember sitting at one staff meeting where someone had brought in an entire bouquet. After about a half hour, I had to hang my head out the window. Another time, we were doing a scavenger hunt around the city and ended up running through Highland Park. I had my first attack that seemed like an asthma attack. I couldn't breathe and had to sit down to catch my breath, then get away from the blooms. Any time I am around several lilacs, I cough and can't breathe. It breaks my heart because they are so beautiful.

J is for Japanese Maples

2011-04-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

The Japanese maple is probably my favorite tree. One of my neighbors has fourteen different varieties in his backyard. Considering the small lot size of living in the city, that is extra impressive.

My father bought me my very first Japanese maple, for when I put in the large side bed.

Later I added one that has more delicate leaves, but I'll be darned if I can find a picture of it right now.

Last summer I was ecstatic when I found a nursery that comes to the Rochester Public Market. The man always had different varieties of Japanese maples, and they were quite affordable. I bought four new kinds. One was a green version with those lacy leaves. Another one had green leaves that looked like the one in the picture. Another one had green leaves that turn red in the fall. And the fourth one was a combination of red and green leaves. I had dreams of planting them all over the yard.

And then I got sick.

I never did get those trees planted. They stayed in their pots all winter long. I didn't even winterize them. Last time I checked, a couple of weeks ago, they weren't budding at all. Then again, it was still kind of early. But I fear that they didn't make it. A couple of them seemed really dried out and quite dead. It is kind of depressing.

I guess I had better start saving up and hope my "friend" is at the market again!

I is for Irises

2011-04-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ah, Irises. When I think of them, I am again transported back to my childhood. I know my father had a bunch in his yard. But more of my memories are from studying Van Gogh in my art class in Montessori elementary. We studied this Van Gogh painting and had to make our own reproductions.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

I knew that my grandmother loved irises, so I gave it to my mother to give to her. She proudly displayed it on the wall in her room of the nursing home. I always felt proud when I went to visit her and saw it up there.

When she passed away from Alzheimer's, I remember asking my mother if I could please have my painting back. In fact, I cried and pleaded. Mom told me that they had given it to someone else to enjoy. Translation: It was probably thrown away.

Since then, every time I see irises, I think about my grandmother. I love the purple color and I love the warm and fuzzy memories. But I have never put them in my yard.

Irises have an incredible bloom, but they fade away so soon. And all you are left with are those pointy leaves. I love different kinds of leaves, but the leaves of the iris just don't do it for me.

I keep considering planting some along the back side of my house or along the back side of my garage. That way I can be sure to enjoy them while the blooms are there, but won't be so bothered by the left-behind leaves.

Otherwise, I'm just going to stick with Van Gogh.

H is for Hyacinths

2011-04-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hyacinths truly make me happy in the spring garden. Once those start to bloom, you can be sure that [most] of the snow is behind you. You may still experience one or two weird snow showers (at least in Upstate NY) but spring has really arrived.

I love the little bursts of so many mini flowers on one stalk. Even from a distance, those little bursts and details can be quite intense.

The blue/purple hyacinth is of course my favorite.

But I do have several different colors in my yard. I just don't have pictures of them all.

When I was a kid, grape hyacinths were my favorites. I was fascinated by how they looked like little bunches of grapes. I think I even believed that they were grapes. I would spend hours in my dad's garden just staring at them.

I can still spend hours sitting in my own garden now, staring at them and inhaling the lilac-like scent of all of the hyacinths.

G is for Geranium

2011-04-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

People traditionally use those red geraniums when they are making pots. You've seen them: tall red flowers with the green spikes and the trailing green ivy. They are quite lively, but for my unique style of gardening, they just don't fly.

I use geraniums on occasion when I am making pots. Usually I use those tall pink ones, instead. It depends on were I am setting up pots, though.

The geraniums that I truly love are the ivy geraniums. They get larger and larger every year and cascade over my rocks. My favorite one is a deep bluish purple, but I have a couple of new ones that are pink, lavender, and magenta. I don't think they will grow quite as big, but they are still pretty. And they are traditionally a hardy perennial on which you can count each year.

This picture shows the blue geranium with my white peony in 2010. I can't wait until they are blooming together!

F is for Ferns

2011-04-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

I love ferns. When I was a little kid there was a shaded part of our property where the ferns seemed to grow as tall as I was. I always felt like I was getting lost in them and wound around the short path. There is something about the texture that is appealing to my fingers. I also just love the way the foliage looks.

My mom always had a Boston fern in the house. In later years she also started to grow asparagus ferns. I tend to get at least one of each every summer to hang on my front porch, which faces north.

My favorite ferns, though, are the Japanese ferns. Yes, it is because their leaves have a silvery purple tint and purple is my favorite color. They are just absolutely stunning, and I have several stuck in all around my house. Here is a photo of one from Spring 2009:

It's still too early in the season for there to by much in the way of my ferns in my garden. But when I was out hiking in the woods the other day, I noticed some ferns starting to perk up! Within a week or two, I would imagine they will be upright again.

Just seeing the foliage is reassuring that spring is indeed going to arrive to Upstate NY, even though we have more of that s-word in the forecast.....

E is for Easter Lily

2011-04-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

I love lilies. I have several in my yard every year, but of course they don't bloom until the summer. At this time of year, I get teased by the Easter lilies that are out. (This photo is by Jasmine Noor on SXC.)

Every year, someone at work ends up giving me one. It always feels too early to plant it outside, because in April I haven't yet had a chance to do anything to the soil. So, they end up rotting in their pots, and seem to never come back. So, my question for the world is, can you actually plant an Easter lily and have it come back? Should I go ahead and do it, even though we continue to get snow on occasion until May? Any tips would be quite welcome!

D is for Daffodils, Dahlias, and Daisies

2011-04-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

I love daffodils. I have pointed you to my slideshows in previous posts, so you can find them there. My daffodils haven't yet started to bloom this year, so I have no new pictures to put up. This is one that I took from last year's photos:

Usually the daffodils come before the tulips, but I have one tulip that always comes up before the daffodils. This morning, I went out to photograph my crocuses in the bright sunshine, and the first of those tulips had opened! I hope to have some daffodils, soon!

I also love to use dahlias in my yard. Usually, I use them in pots. They bring a ray of sunshine to the yard. I think you can sometimes dig them up and keep them in the basement or something, so that they come back from year to year, but I have never tried it. Here is someone else's picture of an orange dahlia, the kind I like to use every year. Photo: Stefan Wagner, trumpkin.de

I also like my daisies. I am so annoyed that I can't find my favorite picture right now. A few years ago, I happened to catch my Shasta daisies in full bloom, with filtered sunshine leaving shadows on them. It is seriously one of the best pictures I have ever taken. Maybe one of these days I will find it and post it.

In its place, I will include this picture from Tiffany Clark on SXC, to help show which flower I mean.

I have Shasta daisies in my large side bed, which is primarily perennials. I don't like how they seem to take over the bed every year. But, I have also noticed that by the time they do take over, pretty much everything else is gone, anyway.

My other favorite daisy is the Gerber daisy. They literally make me happy. I cannot help but smile every time I see one. Again, I often use them in pots, and I do not have a picture of one handy. I got this one from Kathleen M at SXC.

Mmmmmm....writing about all of these flowers is making me even more anxious for spring and summer. We were blessed with a sunny day at almost 70 degrees. We haven't reached these temperatures in about six months. Hoping we don't get a May snow like last year!

Do you use these flowers in your yard? What are your favorites?

C is for Crocuses

2011-04-04T04:05:00.000-07:00

Originally, I was planning for this post to be "C is for Clean-Up." I was also planning on working in the yard yesterday. I woke up at 6:45, which is absolutely unheard of for me on the weekends. I did a little A to Z Challenge blog reading and suddenly felt like I was going to keel over. I got back into bed and slept for another four hours. Again, napping is unheard of for me.

Alas, when I woke up, not only could I not find my contacts case, which I had somehow knocked under the bed in my sleep, but also had a raging headache. This is why I do not nap.

I went outside and was happy to see that the sun had encouraged my crocuses to open. Usually I only get a chance to see my crocuses first thing in the morning or when I get home in the evening. The sun is never shining on that bed at those times, so they always seemed to be closed.

So, blind as a bat, and with a raging headache, I grabbed the Droid anyway, and took several pictures. They weren't too shabby for someone who couldn't see!

I haven't yet uploaded all of the pictures from yesterday to my computer. But, I did make a couple of slideshows on Yahoo! Contributor Network of some of them from earlier in the week. Please feel free to visit these following links, as well, as I make a fraction of a penny every time you visit. Stay tuned, as these will eventually also go up on RedGage with some of my other photos, and I will be creating a few more slideshows!

Yellow Crocuses in March 2011

Purple Crocuses in March 2011

Striped Purple Crocuses March 2011

B is for Bulbs

2011-04-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

I love bulbs. I first put in several hundred bulbs about 6 years ago, when my sister and I were still living together. Many of them have continued to come up each year. And every fall, I try to add a few more. I get all excited in the spring, as the snow ebbs and flows, when those green leaves start to poke up through the dirt and snow. That means that spring is really coming, and color will once again abound in the outdoors.

This past summer, I wasn't physically capable of doing a lot of gardening. But by fall, I was finally getting better. I purchased at least 300 bulbs, and planted them all in one day. This was probably one of the longest winters ever, both due to weather, and the fact that I cannot wait to see the dramatic display! For the past few weeks, I have been taking pictures of the growing bulbs. I have some new crocuses blooming, and I can see the leaves of the first hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils.

Among my bulbs, I have several primroses. They add some color to the ground, where the bulbs tend to be a little higher. In about a month, the tulips will be poking out of some forget-me-nots, as well.

Remember to keep track of what you have planted where. That way you can plan for an even more spectacular showing next year. I have some hints in the article Start Planning Next Year's Spring Garden This Spring.

I also love to photograph my bulbs. Here are some links to my slideshows from other years. And stay tuned for more from this year!

Glimpses of the Garden 2010

Signs of Spring: Tulips 2010

Spring 2010 Leaves

Hyacinths 2010

Daffodils 2010

Primroses 2010

Spring Tulips 2007

Daffodils and Narcissus 2007

Spring Hyacinths 2007

Springtime Garden Display 2007

You can see even more pictures, from the entire season, and other photographs, on my RedGage profile.

A is for Annuals

2011-04-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Ah, I am dreaming of summer. I can't wait to dig my hands into the dirt, to be filthy every day, and to breathe in the aroma of flowers in the garden. My teaching neighbor taunted me today, by giving me a white oriental lily from a bouquet she received from one of her students. I love white oriental lilies. I have a slideshow about them. But that is not the point of this post....

I chose annuals for "A" because I just love them so much. Every year, you can recreate your garden space with them. They add constant color to the garden, throughout the entire season. And they are ever so lovely in pots.

I think that making pots is my favorite gardening activity each year. I always hit up a few of my favorite nurseries on one day. I make up pot ideas as I put the flowers into my cart. And then, when I get home, I create something even more magnificent that I had originally imagined.

I spend hours working in my driveway, putting together at least a dozen pots just for the front porch steps, alone. I also supplement with pots in the front flower bed and on the bench in the side flower bed. Some years, I have even decorated the driveway with annuals in pots.

I also use annuals in the small bed that runs along the side of the house. During the spring, it is full of bulbs. Perennials just don't make sense there. As soon as I am able, I like to add annuals in between the tulips. My favorites to put there are a variety of petunias, alyssum, and lobelia. I also like to use these along the edges of the side bed. I love how the lobelia just spills over the sides, in between the rocks.

In the front, which faces north, I am a huge fan of impatiens. I like to edge the bed with those, as the perennials will quickly fill in the remaining space. Again, whatever blank areas are left behind, I fill in with annuals in pots.

I also have a little mini-bed in the back, at the corner where my rose bushes meet. There is a peony there, but I also like to cram in a bunch of sun-loving annuals. That is where I plant my hollyhocks, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, and portulaca.

I love buying the flowers, already blooming, from the local nurseries. But that can be quite expensive. Every year, I experiment with growing some from seed. I haven't yet started shopping for seeds this year, though they have been available since January. It's April now, so it is time to start thinking!

This year, I hope I am feeling up to doing more planting. I can usually whip out a few good things in one day, so maintenance will be the tricky part. We shall see how it goes! And I will post pictures throughout the season, or at least link to my slideshows. :-)

Gardening from A to Z

2011-03-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

There is a new blogging challenge for the month of April. Every day, except for Sundays, you are to write a blog post that revolves around one particular letter of the alphabet. I am definitely doing this for the Montessori Writer blog, but was also considering doing it here, to help me dream about spring and summer and my favorite outdoor activity.

This challenge is being sponsored by Tossing It Out. I have also signed up with my Montessori Writer's Thoughts blog, just in case I need an extra place to post, or feel particularly inspired. I considered doing Andi's Kids Books and Andi's Book Reviews, but I don't think I can organize those fast enough.

Would you care to join me?

How to Make a Sensory Garden

2011-03-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

People who know me well know that I have a soft spot for children with issues such as sensory processing disorder. The other day, I found a blog post that could easily combine this desire to help children with my love for gardening!

A guest poster on Hartley's Life with 3 Boys shared how to plan a simple sensory garden, that encompasses all of those senses involved in SPD. These eight senses are sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, proprioception, vestibular, and introception. Parents can easily draw up a diagram, and then include their children in the gardening process, to fulfill those needs. It's actually amazingly simple to do. Check it out!

You can also follow Hartley Steiner's blog on Twitter @parenting SPD.

Spring gets buried....and I'm jealous of elementary children.

2011-03-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Living in Upstate NY feels like torture at this time of year. The weather has been getting warmer, and on Saturday, it was a little rainy. With all of the snow melting, I took some time to peruse the gardens. And lookie at what I found! Can you see all of the daffodils and tulips slowly pushing out of the ground?

I get so excited when I see a little growth. And while there is always some green that lingers year-round under the snow, it still felt good to see the little primroses and ivy geraniums poking through, also.

Though it was raining, I could still smell the fresh earth, and left for my day trip with a renewed sense of happiness. We got back to town really late last night. When I got home and went to bed, it was about 50 degrees outside, and I had visions of trying to go outside today to clean up the yard a bit.

Alas, I woke up to snow on the ground. There was about two inches of snow, with the promise of much more to come today. I have enjoyed the snow, and my newfound joy of hiking in it. But enough is enough already!

My students are ready for spring, also. On Friday, one of them asked me when we were going to start our plantings for the year. And, while doing reading to find articles for my Montessori Writer website, I came across this article about children at Countryside Montessori in Tampa, FL, who are already harvesting food from their school gardens.

I can already taste the vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh green beans. We went to Walmart to go shopping when we got back into town last night. They already had a bunch of bulbs and seeds on display. It took all of my self-restraint to not start buying them. Maybe in a couple of weeks? I'm sooooooo ready!

Signs of Spring....Really, it's coming!

2011-02-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

This has been a long winter. While it hasn't been the worst winter I've ever experienced, it still feels extremely long and I am beyond ready for digging my hands in the dirt. We keep getting teased, as it will get warm and there is a thaw. Recently, almost all of the snow melted, and I could see my grass. I wasn't wearing a coat, in Upstate NY, in February. And then, the next day, it was like a blizzard. I'm learning to go hiking in the snow, but I want my garden. I want my flowers. I want the small of mulch and to have to take two showers a day because I'm so dirty.

Finally, the other day, the snow was almost gone. I started examining the gardens. And there it was. A hint of spring. The hyacinths are starting to poke through, already, in February.

Doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy and hopeful?

Nevermind that the next day, we were hit with yet another huge storm that dumped almost a foot of snow. A little bit of that melted away, and rumor has it we may be hitting the 50s this week. I'll be on the hunt again, soon.

A year later.....

2011-01-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been almost 13 months since I posted on here. I feel like I owe you an explanation. Last March 2010, I developed a medical condition, related to the female system, that was very painful and caused me a great deal of pain. I finally had to have minor surgery in August, to fully diagnose and relieve some of the discomfort. As a result, I was not permitted to do a lot of heavy lifting, nor did I have the patience to do so.

Finally, this fall, I was feeling better, and I did get out into the yard. I did a massive clean-up of my yard, and planted several hundred bulbs. I am so ready for spring to hit, I can't even tell you! I promise it is going to be a beautiful year, and there will be many more gardening stories to come. :-D

First major snowfall of the season

2009-12-10T17:33:00.001-08:00

Well, today we had the first major snowfall of the season. I've been completely lazy about taking care of plants and pots and what-not, and will now probably regret it. I did manage to rescue two of the houseplants that were still hanging on, outside in the driveway, and put them in the garage. But I'm sure now I have lost the roses that never made it into the ground last year, nor this year. I may have one or two other houseplants that are now buried.

I'm hoping the new raspberry bushes make it through the winter. The ones that I have planted in pots in previous years have pretty much done okay, but those are nestled along the house. I don't have any more space to do that with the new ones from along the driveway. I'm contemplating moving them near the garage, instead.

We'll see how motivated I feel to work in the frigid cold this weekend. The wind is too strong tonight to even think about it! :-)

Admitting Defeat

2009-10-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

This morning when I woke up, the sun was actually shining. I put the dogs out on their lead, and looked over at the decrepit veggie garden. I had to admit defeat and finally clean it out, because I just can't take it anymore.

Most of what was left was grass that had grown in once I gave up trying to grow stuff in it after the raccoons ate everything. There were a couple of little green onions that never amounted to anything, probably having been overwhelmed by everything else. I was hoping they would have grown into proper onions by now. And there were a couple of little wannabe melons. One had definitely been a musk melon (or cantaloupe, depending on where you live). I had unfortunately missed it, so I don't know how it would have tasted, though it was the size of a tennis ball.

I also have a couple of small watermelons, also the size of a tennis ball. One is turning a little yellowish, which means it is past its prime. But a couple more just fell off the vine, so maybe they will have a slightly tasty treat for me? I'll take them to work with me this week.

I also cleaned out the tomato pots. Tomatoes this year were a total joke. It really didn't seem to ever get quite hot enough for them to grow as profusely as they usually do. And I hardly got anything from the ones that I started from seed, vs. the ones I bought as plants from the nurseries.

So, I came to some very important conclusions today during the cleaning process.

Rule #1 -- Better to just start everything from plant that is purchased at a nursery, with the exception of peas (because I've never been able to get the plants to grow as well as the seeds), and beans (because beans are too easy).

Rule #2 -- Melons are probably okay, but need to be started much more in advance. I forget when I finally got around to them, but I know they were on clearance, so maybe it was July?

Rule #3-- MUST research ways to keep those damn raccoons away, because I was so stoked to have corn growing, but those bastards literally ate every one of them.

Rule #4 -- Must also find a way to have enough time and money to spend time working in my own yard, and to not feel the need to stay inside to write my heart out for money when I'm not out working my fingers to the bone for others.

I'm sure there were a few more rules, but I'll think of them later. ;-)

Late raspberries

2009-10-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, this morning I was on my way to the garage to go to work, when I paused by the trash can to deposit some trash. Next to the trash bin is a pot with one of my many raspberry bushes. And there are actually raspberries on it! Granted, they weren't ripe, but a couple of them looked like they could ripen within the week, if the weather cooperated. The problem is, this is Upstate NY, and we are notorious for crappy weather. Apparently Ithaca got dumped on last night, and the storm barely missed Rochester.

However, it was still nice to see some signs of life as the weather gets colder. I'm also enjoying numerous rose blooms at the moment. Perhaps I may eventually get around to uploading more pictures? :-)

Update on Raccoons

2009-08-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, tonight when I got home from my escapades and let the dogs out, the infamous "Teacha" called out across to me. He had to tell me his version of his wife's story about the raccoons in my yard.

Quick backstory: He just moved into the house across the street a few months ago. He loves to drink his 40s, then give prophecies and lots of advice, especially if it somehow entails him making money off of my efforts. The beer makes him relatively incoherent, and you have to take the bits and pieces you heard repeated 18 times, then sift them to figure out what he's really talking about.

According to him, there were about 30-50 raccoons in the yard that night. (Quite an impressive range, no? Remember, his wife said only about 20.)

And, I guess anywhere from 8-10 or 15 (depending on which point in the conversation you're at) went around the corner on the one street. And the same number went around the corner on the other street. And the same number when directly through my yard to the adjoining yard. And I got ROBBED, or shafted, or....[insert any other similar adjective], because those stupid creatures stole all of my food.

I kept trying to ask him what Animal Control said, and wasn't really getting anywhere. It pretty much sounds like, the reason the raccoons have set up shop behind his garage is due to the water in the basement that his landlord seems to refuse to do anything about. And Animal Control won't do anything because "someone is feeding them."

Yeah, I purposely planted all of that food in my yard because I wanted to feed the wild animals in the city. I wasn't really trying to have some fresh, healthy, organic produce and to save myself a significant chunk of money during my unpaid summer in this crappy economy.

So, Teacha recommends that I start complaining to the city. Of course, he has grandiose dreams of me filing suit against the city (it started with me losing $1000 -- which is an overstatement, though perhaps not by too much -- and ended with $30,000). And of course he'll have my back, so that he can share in my earnings. And he thinks I'll end up on CNN.

(More backstory: He constantly has some scheme in mind where I do all the work and earn all the money, but because it's his idea and he can supposedly help me with the paperwork, he should be a 50-50 partner in reaping the financial rewards.)

So, basically, I guess it needs to start with me calling Animal Control myself, and starting from there. Do I really feel like spending all this time with it? Not really. But it is a serious problem, and it's affecting the entire neighborhood, so.........

I'll keep y'all posted.....

Stupid Raccoons

2009-08-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

The other afternoon, as I was preparing to head for a day at the lake, my neighbor across the street from my driveway hollered over to me.

"Hey! I tried bangin' on your door last night 'cuz you had TWENTY raccoons in your yard!"

Dammit.

She went on to tell me that she had come home from church, and as she was getting out of the car, her husband yelled at her to get back in. She asked him why, and he told her there were raccoons. She thought he'd had too much to drink (as is his custom in the evenings, while he sits on the porch watching everyone) and started to get out again. But the neighbor in the house next to them also hollered over for her to stay put. And sure enough, there were two sitting in front of the car.

Her friend started flipping the headlights, but the raccoons didn't move.

Now, this is the part where a couple of details start to get a little fuzzy, because I frequently have difficulty following her train of thought, and as a result sometimes end up with misinformation.

Supposedly, as the evening wore on, the various neighbors all around me noticed numerous raccoons in the yard. Was it really 20? I honestly have no idea, because 20 to her could be five or thirty.

Eventually, she called Animal Control, who came out because she was the fourth phone call of the night. The way she describes it, he just kinda sat there scratching his head as numerous raccoons were running around stealing my corn and other food, hiding behind my neighbor's bushes, and into the garage on the other side of mine. And then he said something along the lines of they wouldn't do anything unless we wanted to pay to rent cages and then they would come and pick them up.

I'm a little miffed about that whole bit.

Apparently, there is a whole family of raccoons that is living behind the garage of the house across the street, because her landlord has been dumping wood back there, thus creating a haven. Having a ready-made food source across the street (i.e. my garden) hasn't been helping matters. And, apparently, I am not the only one who has been suffering losses.

I've been wary coming home at night, now, because I don't want to run into any raccoons. And if I let the dogs out at night, I am now sitting right out there with them, because I don't want them to tangle with a raccoon, either.

This morning, I got up to let the boys out, and the neighbor started hollering at me again. This time she was mad because they had been dragging the corn stalks around and left a couple of pieces in her yard. She started telling me that I needed to put up a fence.

Ok, 1 -- I don't have the money, the time, nor the ability to do such a thing.

2 -- At this late point in the season, I almost don't care anymore.

3 -- They know how to climb -- they climb trees -- and I don't think the kind of fence that I can get away with putting up (without going through the hell of trying to order permits and having one built for me, which is ridiculous on such a small plot as the garden is) is really going to deter the little beasts.

So, lesson learned is that I will have to look into trying to put up some kind of a fence next year. Or, I just can't grow corn, after all, in my neighborhood. I'm highly disappointed, because I have been waiting all summer to sink my teeth into some fresh corn on the cob. And I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, so it's making me just a little bit crankier than usual. :-)

I battled the poison ivy....and I won

2009-08-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I didn't actually pull it out.....but I don't have a rash today, so that is mega-points for me!

For my one major remaining gardening job of the summer, my last big project is to clean out this bed on the side of the backyard. When I was edging it to make space for the mulch last week, I noticed several giant patches of poison ivy lurking within. I showed it to the lady, who has never noticed it before. I also noticed there are other patches of ivy that look similar, but don't have the telltale irregular notched edges.

They were going to try to remove the poison ivy for me, but didn't have a chance, yet. They wanted to spray, but I warned them against doing so, because all the literature says that just spreads the urushiol oil around.

So, I went out in my "Poison Ivy Haz-Mat" gear to work in the yard today. I wore my gardening shoes with socks pulled all the way up, jeans over my capris, and a long-sleeved button-down shirt over my t-shirt. I pulled my hair back tightly at the crown so that none would fall out, and used Wegmans bags over my gloves. And I did my best to work around it as long as I could stand it.

Why am I freaking out about it? Well, the last two summers, I ended up with cellulitis from poison ivy rashes. I published my perils just about a year ago:

My Poison Ivy Rash Turned Into Cellulitis

But worse than that was the fact that it indirectly also caused me to become anemic, and it took me over six months to recover from that.

So why do I keep gardening? People keep telling me that I shouldn't work in the gardens if I am so sensitive to it. But I love to work outdoors. There isn't a better way to make money in the summers! And since I know what it looks like, I can try to avoid it. I also tell people up front that I will not touch it, and why I won't touch it.

I also always carry poison ivy soap with me, so that if I accidentally come across it, I can immediately wash myself. Laundry detergent also works. And remember to not wash in hot water, as that opens the pores.

If you do get yourself into a nasty patch of poison ivy......

How to Get Doctor's Care for Poison Ivy

More corn missing, but there's a cucumber!

2009-08-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

I took the post-rain day walk around the yard this morning, to assess any damage or immediate needs. I noticed that more of the corn stalks have been chewed down (I still say it's the damn squirrels!!) even though they have no cobs on them. grrrr

I also noticed that in one of the pots of cucumbers that is somewhat protected by other pots, there is finally a cucumber growing! So, I may actually get something else this year!

I remember reading somewhere that you should put marigolds around your garden to deter small critters. I doubt there are any left, but I may just have to look for some on clearance or something. Or else, just count my losses and remember to do it next year.

The mystery of the squished green onions solved!

2009-08-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

In addition to all of my other produce issues, I have been perplexed by the pot of green onions that have been looking squished. It's the only pot of them that has been tamped down, and I couldn't come up with any good explanations as to why.

Finally, I figured it out.

I was sitting on the back porch steps as the dogs were wandering the yard on their lead. Jeffey (my sister's dog) apparently was thirsty and started drinking the water from the ground that had puddled after the rain. There wasn't much left.

I turned to the side, and when I looked back, Jeffey was stepping in the pot of green onions, attempting to reach a different pot whose drainage holes long ago plugged up, thus causing the pot to fill with inches of water after every rainfall. When I yelled his name for him to get out, he instead lay down in the pot. (It is rectangular, and he perfectly fit inside it.)

It was actually rather adorable, even though I was annoyed that he was squishing my green onions. And I unfortunately did not have a camera or my camera phone on me. You know that had I tried to move to grab it, he would have jumped out and the opportunity would be lost.

I also noticed that ll of the rain has been encouraging the strawberries to grow more and they are shooting runners out of the pots this year. I'll have to rearrange the berry corner to accommodate them!

Lots of rain again today. I will have to scope out the yard tomorrow to see what other fun things are happening.....

No corn for me

2009-07-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the original six corn plants grow. Slowly, they started to tassel out at the top. Then the little pink hairs started to form where the corn cobs were going to grow. And lo and behold, there were corn cobs starting.

I've watched them get fatter and fatter. They were getting so close to being ready. And then the rains came.

After a couple of days of heavy rain, I noticed that a couple of stalks had fallen over after each one. Cursing the storms, I just looked longingly at the other cobs growing.

Then, in the middle of a rare 2-3 day stretch with no rain, I noticed that another stalk had gone down. Upon closer examination, I realized that some little bugger had nibbled down the stalk and swiped the corn.

There was one stalk left with two cobs growing. The little pink hairs were almost brown, but not quite. The cobs were firm, yet not quite firm enough. I was waiting with baited breath.

And today, they are both gone.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, scream, swear or what.

I've been trying to figure out what has been eating them. At first I thought perhaps the deer that randomly showed up in the city and ate my tulips this spring had returned. But I've not heard of nor seen it around lately.

Now, I'm blaming it on the squirrels. As entertaining as they are to watch scurrying around in the tree, they are slowly but surely making my crops disappear. I've watched them playing with my tomatoes. And I noticed that the stalks have been dragged down the sidewalk a bit in the direction of the tree. It's gotta be them. And it would make sense, being corn and all.

I also have been noticing that not a single squash has grown. I had purchased a plant with numerous flowers on it, thinking it looked like a prolific producer. Every time it looks like the flower is about to turn into a vegetable, something eats it. Same thing on my other pot.

I also have a huge strawberry that was starting to ripen. When I went looking for it today, it was also gone.

I'm so sad.

And I'm holding out hope for the other corn plants, but not holding my breath. Now to figure out what to do differently for next year.......

Bugs are not my friends

2009-07-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know that bugs are essential to the well-being of the planet, and are good for the garden, and all that jazz. But this week they definitely are NOT my friends!

Let's start with a spider bite. On my face. Ok, so that happened a few weeks ago, but there is still a mark.

Then the other day, I was digging in a flower bed, doing a clean-out job for someone. Suddenly I come across a ground bee nest. I beat the honeycomb with the larvae in it and move away quickly because the Queen Mama isn't happy. The lady of the house nicely sprays the area, where there were only a few bees actually buzzing around. I count my blessings, as I've never been stung before, and keep on working.

Karma catches up the following day.

I'm working at the job where I am pulling out a ginormous amount of pachysandra. Suddenly I feel something pinch my leg. I look down, and there is one damn ground bee. No other ones are around, which tells me that I hadn't actually disturbed a next. I feel nothing for a little while, but then when dirt gets into the sting, it starts to hurt. A lot.

By the time I am home a half hour later, the area surrounding the sting is bright red, and about 2.5 inches in diameter, and is black and blue on the top edge. I clean it out, remove the stinger, ice it, and apply benadryl cream and antibacterial ointment.

A couple of days later, it is hot and bright red, but now is doing somewhat better. I can't believe it took me almost 32 years to finally get stung by a bee.

Then I'm at home walking around looking at my lilies. These damned orange beetles are absolutely DECIMATING my beautiful flowers! I hurry and run around with my Neem #12 spray that was given to me from the greenhouse, but to no avail. It holds off the little bastards for about a day or two. I finally had to pick up the heavy-duty stuff that is bad for kids and animals. But I've invested way too much in those lilies to let them be massacred.

That brings me to today's fun. I'm working at another clean-out job for a family who is getting ready to move. Toward the end of the shift, I sit down because I am tired, and I am on a hill, so I want to maintain my balance. I feel something bite me, and I figure it's another darn mosquito flying down the back of my jeans. The lady comes out to talk to me, and I realize that I have been sitting on top of an ant hill.

When I was a kid in Ohio, I used to have those little black ants crawling all over me, and had no problem. But these bastards in NY are nasty! They bite! So here I am, literally with a bunch of ants in my pants.

The lady was kind enough to let me come in, shake out my clothing, and wash up. I literally shook out two dozen ants, that I wiped up with a tissue and flushed down the toilet. It brings about new meaning to gardening being a pain in the a$$.

And because my darling psychotic Siamese ripped holes in my screens, and I refuse to use AC, I have flies in the house and can't get rid of them.

At least it's not poison ivy like I had the last two years! (Click here for that horrific tale.)

Fresh from the garden dinner!

2009-07-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Rochester weather has been crappy and rainy lately, living little to no time for paying in the dirt. When it has been sunny, I'm usually engaged elsewhere.

Finally, yesterday, after spending numerous hours working for others in their yards, I came home and started wandering around my own. My produce has been taunting me, growing bigger and bigger, but not yielding anything. And finally last night, I hit the jackpot! Sort of.

My red raspberry bushes finally had a bunch of ripened berries on them. There is nothing better than a raspberry eaten straight off of the bush! The ones that you get in the stores are simply picked too early and don't have that same ripe, sweet taste.

The original pea plants, which I had thought were finished yielding pods, are starting to flower again. There were two actual pods that were ready. The green bean plants also had a ton of beans that were over 6 inches long! So, I ended up with a nice bowl full of beans, peas, and berries to eat for dinner.

I steamed the peas and beans. I don't think I have ever had peas that were so sweet! And the beans were so tasty and sweet as well! I wish I had better adjectives, but I don't!

I have newer peas and beans starting to flower, and even more that I had planted later, so I should be getting crops all season long. I can't wait! The handful tonight was a little small, but I should have enough for tomorrow's dinner.

The other fun bit was, as I was harvesting the peas and beans, I checked out the corn. And the first set of corn stalks that I had planted are now almost as tall as I am and have corn silk!

So far there are four sporting silk on four of the plants. One is still a little dwarfed by the pea plants, and the sixth one looks like it is getting ready to sprout some silk. You can actually see the little cobs starting to form! I'm so excited!!

The other 24 corn plants I had purchased are slowly but surely growing, as well.

My smaller tomatoes are growing better than the larger varieties. I'm hoping to have some ripened cherry, grape, and pear varieties later this week!

Busting My Butt & The Bounty Begins

2009-06-29T18:35:00.001-07:00

I have been talking about two of my gardening jobs lately, and today I hit them both. I had a hard time getting moving this morning because I was way too tired and didn't get enough sleep last night. But, I finally made it to the first job which is that pulling of the pachysandra.

Unfortunately, it rained a ton last night, so the grass, pachysandra, and dirt were all totally soaked. Normally that means that plants come up easier out of the dirt. Not so much with pachysandra. Those stupid roots were totally glued together in the mud, meaning I only could pull the plants. Finally after the sun dried the dirt out a bit, I was able to get the roots. I still filled two bins in two hours, so I guess it wasn't that bad after all.

Then, I moved on to the giant mulching job. I spent four hours trimming back more bushes, edging the beds, and hauling the mulch. I quit after four hours because I couldn't move anymore. Here is what the pile looks like now:

The rock in the bottom right shows you where the tarp was when I got there. You can see the stain on the ground from where the wet mulch was sitting. I'm only about a quarter of the way around the perimeter of the yard, not counting the two big beds.....I'm soooooo stiff right now!

When I came home, I decided to check out the garden. And there were finally some goodies for me to enjoy! I started with some peas, which I think I may want to freeze?

These came from the original plants that are between the original corn. More are coming, and the newer plants are starting to flower! I noticed that the beans are also starting to grow! Yay!

I also had two more black raspberries from that bush, and just one strawberry.

More strawberries are flowering and there's a ton of red raspberries starting to turn!

And, finally there are a bunch of tomatoes starting to show on the plants!

I have at least a dozen varieties that are in pots, and I'm trying to grow at least a dozen other varieties from seed. Only a few plants from the original wave of seeds are actually growing. I need to transplant the few that have started into a pot. I keep forgetting to use my writing friend Jaipi Sixbear's suggestion to put a raw egg in the container as a natural food.......read her suggestion here.

I get to take the next few days off, because of my tutoring schedule. Yay! My body is going to need to recup! Then again, I may feel more uncomfortable by not using those muscles......

Patch of pachysandra and 10 yards

2009-06-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

I have two giant gardening jobs that are going to keep me occupied all summer long. The first one that I keep talking about is moving 10 yards of mulch. Have you ever seen 10 yards of mulch? It's ridiculously HUGE!

But before I can spread it I have to weed and shape and trim and edge and transplant. I'm actually enjoying it. I just pick one small section and completely finish it, then move on to the next part. It's fun to see the progress and the contrast of completed and untouched side-by-side.

My other job is clearing a patch of pachysandra in an area that is approximately 60 square feet, at least?

Under normal circumstances, one might just Round-Up the whole section. But the part that is being removed is only a small portion of the entire bed. It has obviously been in existence for several years, as it is packed tightly together. And it is surrounding some rhododendron bushes that are getting choked out by the pachysandra.

Have you ever pulled pachysandra? It actually can kind of pull out easily, at least around the edges of the bed. But that stuff is a royal pain! One plant shoots out a root that can travel upwards of two feet for the next plant to sprout up! And if it has been growing for a while, all of those roots get tangled up like crazy.

Again, I'm actually enjoying it, because it is totally mindless. I get absolutely filthy as I yank out the roots, then dig through the soil to make sure I got them all. It's a little painful to see the destruction of a beautiful bed, but I know that the future plans for it will make it look beautiful again. It just has to look worse before it will look better.

So, pardon me while I groan a bit about my work. I don't really mean it. :-)

Berries

2009-06-27T18:14:00.001-07:00

I came home from working on a long, hard gardening job. (Have you ever tried to move TEN YARDS of mulch? It ain't easy!) I checked on the garden goodies and found that I had a whopping 3 black raspberries! WOOHOO!!

I just bought two black raspberry bushes a couple of weeks ago from Bauman's. Only one is going to produce berries this year. I also got two purple raspberry bushes, but they won't produce until next year. Alas, I have nowhere to plant them in my yard, so I have to keep them in pots. One would think that I wouldn't get a lot of berries that way, but the red raspberry bush that I bought and potted a few years ago is bursting all over the place with berries!

The key is putting them into huge pots so that they have room to grow new shoots. New shoots this year will produce berries next year. When the berry-producing branches have finished this year, cut them back to make room for the new. Once they produce berries, they are finished for good.

I almost didn't get these three black raspberries, though. I have this neighbor across the street. Her daughter is four, and is obsessed with Julio (my Shih-tzu). They asked if they could walk over and see the dog, and as I was sitting there, anyway, working on pots and seeds, I said yes.

I don't think the poor woman has any experience with plants, whatsoever. She starts asking me a hundred questions about everything I am planting. When I tell her that the one pot is black raspberries, she reaches out and squeezes one to see if I'm telling the truth! AAARRRGHH!!!

At least she didn't eat it this time! Last year, I had a bunch of tomato plants in pots, that weren't doing quite as well as they are doing this year. In the one pot were yellow pear tomatoes. The darn plant only produced one tomato last year. They literally look like little yellow pears, but are the size of grape tomatoes. She asked me what it was, I told her, she picked it off, popped it in her mouth, then proceeded to talk about how horrible it was and how much she hates tomatoes. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!

I have so many more stories about this neighbor, but I won't put them here.......

Anyway, now I'm just trying to remember to check the berries daily. I also have four pots of strawberries, and I realized that I've missed several by not checking, so they've rotted. At least they are everbearing and will continue to produce throughout the summer!

Broccoli....the bane of my existence

2009-06-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, broccoli isn't really the bane of my existance, but I give up on it! Two years ago, when I was home and contemplating starting a veggie garden, my trusted gardening experts in BG told me that I could grow broccoli in a pot. So, I bought a six-pack, put each one in its own large pot, and hoped for the best.

I got one floret.

And it very quickly turned into flowers.

So, I tried one plant again last year, and this time put it in a bigger pot. Same thing.

And the same story again this year. I finally put the stupid plant into the pot about two weeks ago, and already it's on the verge of flowering after barely having a floret.

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I picked up another six-pack on clearance when I went to Bauman's the other day. So, I put them in the ground on the newly dug-up portion of the veggie bed, well-spaced out, and am hoping for the best.

But I'll tell ya, if they don't work this time around, I'M DONE!

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

2009-06-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

It is almost 4 pm and it has been consistently raining since I woke up today at 6:15. Sometimes it has let up, but most of the day it has been coming down at quite a clip. Normally the rain is a good thing for those flowers and produce that I have growing in the yard, but there is such a thing as TOO MUCH of a good thing. Since Wednesday afternoon, it has only really stopped raining for approximately twelve hours, and that was yesterday.

I briefly checked things out yesterday during the brief sunshine, and I noticed that the flowers are indeed looking good. It's too bad I haven't had a chance to plant all of those flats, yet!

But some of the produce isn't so lush. I had planted a bunch of tomato seeds in six-packs, just like I did last year. I don't know if they were washed out a while ago, or if there was a problem with the seeds. And then I had tried planting some directly into pots, just to compare the two methods. The rain has shifted a couple of the seedlings in the big pot. Another one isn't draining for some reason, and it has totally flooded.

But the berries at least are looking plump and tasty! The rain is supposed to be gone by tomorrow afternoon, so I guess I will assess the damage then.

And then I'll be begging for rain by this time next week. I checked weather.com and there is just sun throughout the entire ten-day forecast. Too bad I can't bottle some of this rain to save for then!

Corn, Peas, and Beans

2009-06-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with growing my own produce in my yard. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of space, as I live in the city, and most of the backyard is reserved for my dog. I tend to do a lot of container gardening, instead. But last year I started putting in a small strip on the far side of my driveway, next to my neighbor's yard.

Last year I tried peas, and didn't have enough time to take care of them. But the beans did really well. So, I wanted to try them again this year. I purchased a few plants, as well as lots of seeds. I figured that way I could have some early produce, then as I plant the seeds every few weeks, I can end up with a longer growing season.

This year, I also decided to try some sweet corn, just for the heck of it. A--I love sweet corn and B--How funny would it be to have sweet corn growing in the middle of the city? So, I bought a six-pack at Baumans and planted them:

Because I have limited space, and it takes corn so long to grow big, I decided to plant some peas and beans around the corn. I used the plants that I also purchased at Baumans, because I figured they would be done by the time the corn got too tall. They had been growing nicely:

I've added a few more peas and beans and onions along the row. The recent rain has been very good for the produce. Everything seems to be growing nicely, and the peas and beans are now getting flowers on them! But yesterday, I noticed that the peas are flippin' out of control! I always buy the bush peas that do not require being staked. I thought the pea plants I had purchased were that kind! Alas, they are not, and they are taking over the corn!

I am hoping that the one corn that is getting bent will end up okay. I keep trying to move the peas, but I don't want to break them since they are so close to producing pods.

I'm also considering buying some more corn plants, because I believe Baumans still has some more, and adding a few? For 2 bucks, what have I got to lose, right?

Gardening with Kids

2009-06-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today I was out working on a couple of my gardening jobs. At the first one, I was strictly weeding and mulching, trying to finish up this yard. The family came home early, as their middle child had just graduated from kindergarten. She's a sweet kid who used to attend my school. I'll call her "Beth".

Beth and I always got along quite well when she was at our school. Every year when I come to work in her yard, she is always trying to help me. She is very good at following directions, so I can usually set her up with a simple task while I do what I need to do. But every time, as soon as she says, "I'll help!" her mom freaks out and tells her to play somewhere else or just stay out of my way.

Maybe I am just used to little kids helping me out because I teach young children. Maybe I am just flashing back to when I was a kid and how badly I always wanted to help my father out in the yard. And I remember how crushed I was when he would tell me that I couldn't help with a particular project. (Though I was/am stubborn and persisted until he found some kind of task for me.) But usually I can find some sort of task for a young child to do, that keeps her out of my way yet is helpful in some sense. And believe me, Beth is much less of a pain to handle than some other children I've had to deal with!

So, anyway, as I was going around mulching the remaining little areas, I set Beth up way ahead of me, showing her which weeds or grass to pull, and allowed her to use my little trowel. She was content to be working alongside me and was proud of the contribution she was making. And she did get a lot of those weeds dug up! She wasn't a problem in the slightest.

Even on Sunday, her barely-turned-three-year-old brother was out digging away trying to help. I just set him up in a corner that he couldn't hurt, gave him my little trowel, and let him go!

Last year, another little girl named "Erica" wanted to help me plant flowers. I showed her how to push the impatiens up from the bottom of the six-pack and let her start laying them out. After her mom freaked, I simply popped them out for her, laid them out, dug the holes, then let her put them in and fill in the hole. I adjusted any that needed help after she went in to eat her dinner.

So, there are lots of ways that your children can learn by helping you out in the yard. Take advantage of these teaching moments, because they are receptive to listening to what you have to share. Consider how much they will absorb simply by observing you in action. I think I learned more by watching my dad than any reading or research I have done on my own, just as he learned from his grandmother.

For some other tips on gardening with kids, read some of these articles:

Simple Ways to Include Your Young Child in Gardening Activities

Grow a Salad Garden with Your Children

How to Include Your Young Child in Gardening Activities

How to Grow a Salad Garden with Your Children

About Me

2009-06-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I always felt like I was in a gardening wonderland. My father had created this tiered area in the side yard with stone steps and paths. I remember the dogwood tree and lots of ferns in the back. Apparently, I used to call this area my "basement" (because we didn't have a basement when I was a kid, so I created my own?). I remember walking up and down the path, touching all of the plants. There are pictures of me sitting with my "bankie" on the steps, happy as a lark.

I also remember watching Daddy planting flower in the front beds in front of our store. He is very particular about what goes where and I used to have to beg to help, but he would let me plant what he had placed. I formed strong opinions then about what I liked and what I didn't like.

My mother, on the other hand, was raised on a farm. Her expertise was in growing produce. I also used to help her out in the garden. Again, she would place, and I could plant. We grew all kinds of fresh vegetables in the yard, and I would watch her can the yearly bounty.

As an adult, I have used their wisdom to help me learn how to do my own style of gardening. I even help others do it throughout the planting season, and yeah, can make a little money doing it.

And I am honored that my father told me the other day that he thinks I have more talent than he did. That meant a lot to me!

So, keep coming back here for stories of trial and error, links to worthy advice I have found, and to share some of your own wisdom!