Tag: seeds

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Holidays are behind us now

With the holidays behind us, it is time to start planning our next vacation, and also my personal favorite…getting ready for spring! I know folks, I have have quite a few months to go until spring, but I love to look through my last year catalogs to get ideas for more herbs and flowers to put in my gardens.

I should of course take down the Christmas tree first and also find a place for the gifts I have yet to put away. Yes, I know it’s kind of late to still be doing this, but it seems like company didn’t stop coming around until yesterday! The holidays were nice though, with only a few minor upsets. For this, I am thankful.

It’s been so bitter cold and there has been so much snow, it seems like spring will not come fast enough, and the almanac is forecasting some really bad weather still to come. Maybe burying my nose in catalogs looking at flowers will take my mind off the nasty cold.

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Seeds and Sunburns

After spending yesterday getting my garden soil ready for planting and then this morning planting seeds, moving various plants to another section of the garden, and also removing weeds, I am quite sunburned and the day isn’t over yet. Then of course tomorrow it’s supposed to be another beautiful day, so I’ll be out doing more digging, weeding and planting. It’s always hard telling what the weather is going to do, so I want to get as much of the gardens here finished. I have a long way to go.

Since I spend time with my mom who is getting older and not as spry as she used to be, I help her around the house and take care of the heavy work in the yards. There is a corner of the back yard that I’m turning into a place she can sit in the shade and also be surrounded by plants and flowers. I’ll post photos of before and after when I’m finished.

So far I have planted cherry tomatoes, scarlet runner beans, zinnias, hyacinth beans, and various herbs in the front yard. The back yard, which is bricked except the corner where there is a small patch of grass and along the privacy fence which I dug up to use for herbs and flowers is started but I have a long way to go yet. Her gardens here are my creation and also my show piece, I’m conceited enough to say! 😉  Since I have gardens at my home up north I’ve also been revamping them and changing the look of them just by rearranging the flowering herbs I grow and also adding more varieties. I’ll no doubt be working on this all summer, which is fine by me since gardening is the love of my life! I just have to remember to use a lot more sunscreen!

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Spouts in two days

For the heck of it, I wanted to plant some seeds in some old peat clumps that I had laying around in the garden shed. I put the peat clump in little clay pots after soaking the peat for a few minutes in water. What I think the peat clumps came from was one of those Chia Pet type planters, the never worked for me.

After I put three seeds in each pot…on top the peat, only pressing the seeds in slightly, I covered them with some clear plastic to get that green house effect. I then put the little pots on top of the refrigerator because it’s warm up there and the morning sun shines on it somewhat.

I marked the date on the calendar which was the 4th, that I had planted the seeds. The seeds sprouted in two days. I personally thought it was remarkably fast. I took the plastic off because in only two days the were growing so fast that the plastic was bending the stems. Now, after four days the stems are about two and a half inches tall. I might just start all my seeds like this!

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Sunny skies but looks are deceiving

The sun is finally shining and all the snow and ice has melted, but it indeed is chilly outside. Much more cold than it actually looks, but one can dream that flip flop weather will soon be here. (Phil didn’t see his shadow, right?)

With the high winds we’ve had over the last few weeks, there is going to be a lot of clean up in the yards to do. My neighbor’s tree is nearly dead and the branches keep falling and then are literally blown into my side gardens. The neighbor just moved in last fall, and I rarely see her, but she should learn neighborly consideration. Of course she is indeed young, but that doesn’t mean she can’t pick up a few branches.

My yards are going to need the usual clean up, but with new gardens that will be dug and put in, I’m sure I’m going to be busy playing more in the dirt and  have the guys here do the clean up work for me. They’ll earn money doing it, and every year they do a really great job, so that is covered. Just seeing this sun shine makes me antsy to get out and plant things, but in the mean time I’ll stick to starting my seeds

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Seed catalogs are arriving

It seems the seed companies are getting a jump on spring planting, since I now am getting their catalogs in the mail nearly every day. I had forgotten how many I order from, in search of new and interesting seeds to grow.

It seems strange to wade out in knee deep snow to the post box and find the spring seed catalogs waiting for me. Some with seed packets in them, which in these temperatures which are way below freezing I seriously doubt will grow but I’ll plant them and hope.

I have been planning my gardens since last fall so of course I enjoy getting the catalogs, but it just makes me antsy to start planting and growing now. Wonder if that ground hog is going to see his shadow or not…

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Yard cleanup and missing summer

Every year when I clean up my yard and put all the summer things away, I get a dreadful feeling about winter weather. I love summer and since I despise winters here, I know I’m living in a place where I feel totally misplaced.

Already I’ve raked leaves in the front yard. Granted, not to many but they are falling off the big tree. I also have been collecting seeds, and pulling up dead annuals.

Closing the pool isn’t happening just yet, as my kids swim even if it is chilly out. The water has stayed semi warm but the air still has a chill to it that is obvious when they get out of the pool and have goose bumps all over their bodies. I’m going to miss summer so darn much I’m thinking about buying a heater for the pool

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Gathering seeds and doing household repair

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been gathering seeds from what I call, my “blown out herbs and flowers” so I can put them in packages, mark them and then plant again next year. I love having herbs, flowers and other plants that I have grown and then gathered the seeds, and planted again the next spring. Generations of plants, so to speak.

I’m also getting the house ready for the winter. There are some repairs needed to be done on the outside of the house, due to the drought and yet also the terrible storms that passed through when we did get rain.

All of these things I love to do but need help with, and I have to admit that my kids have been wonderful about helping me with the a lot of the things that need to be done. This gives me peace of mind and also knowing that I am going to be prepared (sort of) for the winter and also have the spring seeds to plant, will save money and help me to keep from a great deal of worry.

 

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Garden planning for next year

This years gardens and lawns did not do well at all. It’s sad because I had seeded, planted and even reseeded in hopes that my plants and flowers could or might do well despite of lack of rain. I was wrong. Even watering from the hose didn’t help.

I’ve been looking at various seeds and plants that might do well despite the lack of rain, in case next summer is anything like this summer has been. In our growing area, it’s pretty sparse pickings. No pun intended.

In the mean time, I’m trying to get the remodeling of my bathroom finished, so at least I’ll have the extra money to plant new flowers, plants and veggies next spring. Hopefully, that will be finished toward the middle of next month if all goes well with the plumbing. As far as my gardens go…I’m still trying to water, but it’s a loosing battle.

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Late seed and plant shopping

Today, my mom, daughter and I went late seed shopping. It’s not really late, since our growing season last into fall, but it’s sometimes iffy to plant late like this. Still, mom knew of some stores that had seeds really cheap and if I don’t use them this year, I’ll use them next year. Unless seeds are a few years old, I don’t pay much attention to the expiration dates. I keep them in air tight and water resistant containers, so I’ve never had a problem with them growing.

Tomorrow we’re going to take my mom out for dinner for Father’s Day. She doesn’t want me to spend my money on this and wanted to cook us dinner. That is just the way she is. Today I bought her some great inside plants that she’ll get tomorrow. It was hard to get them into the cart and paid for, then into the trunk of the car without her seeing them, but I had my daughter distract her. Actually, mom has eyes behind her head and doesn’t miss a trick, so she no doubt saw them or had an idea that I got them for her. She’ll act surprised though.

My garden here is starting to look really nice and I’ve been working on my son and my bale garden. It’s fun and interesting to see how well the veggies are going to do planting this way, since we’ve never done it. I’m getting a lot of advice from my friend Lindsay though. It’s been a long day, I’m tried after walking all over today. I’m looking forward to scattering s0me seeds tomorrow though in a spot I dug up along the sidewalk.

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Keeping the cats out of the gardens

I have a problem keeping the cats out of my gardens and it’s starting to get super irritating, not to mention ticking me off to no end. When the kittens we have (that were drop offs) are a little bit bigger, I don’t like to do this, but I’m taking them to the humane society. I have to. Everyone drops off unwanted cats and kittens at my house and there is not a thing I can do about it since they are dropped off in the night.

I am thinking about using chicken wire and laying it over the spaces and beds that I have seeded, and then anchor it down, until I can fix the cat problem. They are using my gardens for a giant litter box, and since I don’t have cats in the house that have to have a litter box, I sure as heck am not going to have them outside ruining my gardens.

People who abandon animals, should be fined or in my opinion be arrested, but without catching them in the act there is nothing to be done. It’s so sad.