DOA In The Garden 2/4/24

 

Temperatures in the 30s just don’t have the same mental impact when there’s sunshine and no snow.  Even the seed companies are detecting people want to just get out there and PLANT.

I’m finding pictures and plans for the vegetable to be most appealing.  As always, I want to grow lots of everything. Here are some pictures to dream on as we wait for the calendar to catch up with our dreams and plans.

Spring Update For The Librariandoa Blog

 

I've moved things around on the sidebar to feature Gardening as we head towards spring.  There is also a helpful link to my Adventures of Merlyn Perilous blog which covers books, movies, TV and a variety of other fascinating things.  Go ahead and get in the habit and popping back and forth between the two so you don't miss anything!

I have a new Garden Resources list which includes my favorite seed companies and nurseries as well as the Plant Societies which I personally have an interest in.

Enjoy!

In The Garden With The Vegetables (Spoiler Alert The Beet Did It).

 I must say after a long winter of reading and eating bon bons, getting a garden planted in spring is a lot of physical work. 

Hoisting trays of plants and dirt.

Using my trusty Groundbreaker to hack roots out of my raised beds so I can plant in them.

Moving lawn furniture around.

This week, I hacked out a place in Raised Bed One for two rows of fingerling potatoes. They were all sprouting like mad so I didn’t “chit” them ( a word that raises my hackles somehow so I more often rebel as not and don’t chit). Pictures when I find them. 

I’ve been using my camera rather than my iPad which continues to inch toward death.

I did use it today to take a picture of Raised Bed 3 which has three kinds of peas, five shallots in a row, a large number of red onions in a row, and three lettuces I purchased last week while plant bingeing.

Why yes, I did over plant those peas. This bed is a target for creature attacks. It could all be dug out by morning. For sure if there’s an undetected rabbit in the yard, he will get those lettuce.

Needer, rabbit boy. I planted only three lettuce here and the others from the packs are off the ground in pots. The lone strawberry I purchased so far is in a pot. The three beets I purchased are in a big bowl that I can move into a shadier spot if need be.  I saw a recipe for pickled beets this morning by chance. Grow, little beets, grow!

Throwback Thursday Into The Garden

 Off we go to work in my first garden, my helper and I.

DOA's Monthly Wrapup

Gardening

It was mostly a gardening month.  I'm now looking at a big fall list that includes bringing in all my clay and ceramic pots for the winter, and tucking all of my garden shelves and plastic ornaments into the shed.

Also on the fall list is washing all of the windows and screens.  Someone nearby has a Cottonwood tree that floats little cottony bits out that my screens love to snare.  Also, in the dead of winter, there are those rare bright sunny days and you want every ray of the sun to sparkle it's way right into the house.  My houseplants will thank me.

State Fair

We visited the fair this year, and walked just about everywhere but in the Midway.  I used to like to stroll down through The Midway because there were exciting, thrilling new rides each season.  It was fun to watch them, and hear all the screams of delight.  It seems that the danger days are over.

Book Groups

I joined two book groups, both Mystery.  I really like them both.


Recipes

I only tried one new recipe this month.  It is Chocolate Chip Loaf from the Love From the Oven site.  It was simple, not too sweet, and surprisingly filling.   I need butter on top of any quick bread, and that made it extra lovely.   I made it yesterday morning, and it tasted just as good this morning, sipping some nice coffee alongside it.

https://www.lovefromtheoven.com/chocolate-chip-loaf/

Mine looked pretty much like this picture from the site, so ta da.

Speaking of recipes, I wrote up the new Baking Blogs I've found, but logged out of blogger without saving the configure blog list box.   Zzzzz don't mess with your blog at midnight.   I've fixed it and the links are now all there.

I'm hoping to once again to try one new recipe per week.   I've a nice little stack of printed and saved recipes from various sites.  If I could get myself to rough out a full month's menu, I could get the one per week.

Craft Ideas I Admired This Month

I wanted to note here a couple of neat blog posts from others on my blog list.

From Flamingo Toes, a set of embroidery hoops with a combination of painted/embroidered little houses.  It is so wonderful.  

https://flamingotoes.com/stenciled-neighborhood-embroidery-hoop-art-gallery/

 In My Own Style had a great post on tackling projects large and small.

https://inmyownstyle.com/free-printable-diy-decorating-project-planner.html

It is so hard to know where to start sometimes, and she gives good advice, plus has a project plan template you can use to organize and visualize how to get your project done.   I think it could be adapted to any type of household or craft project you'd like to work on.

This post puts the blog at 26 posts for the year.   As we know, the goal is 100.  I'm planning to make good progress towards my goal in September.

Lots of TV to talk about despite not a single new broadcast television show being of interest to me.

The Garden This Week

I did quite a bit of work in the garden this week, and wanted to highlight things  in bloom and things I loved this week.

Brunnera

Tradescantia

Jamie's Lillies

White Snapdragon

Begonia "Bossa Nova White"

Fuschia

Asparagus Fern

Morning Glory Flying Saucer

Lavatera

Mexican Sour Gherkins in a tub.  Plant first where you envision it, read growing directions later, I say.  "pretty enough to grow trellised among flowers" it says.   That part I read. So I have this new to the garden little stand that looked like a natural trellis for something small and cute.  I bought the tub to grow carrots in but they've never made it in.  It fit in the stand.  In went the seeds, wily nily.   Watch this space to see if anything grows.   (Note, I dragged it into the sunnier vegetable garden.)

I like tractors, but the ugly red color of this one made me leave it in the shed for a season or two.   I thought of painting it blue.  But no, PINK is everything.  It is now beautiful.

Finally happy enough with the paint job on the pot and the flowers I did with stencils to spray with acrylic and it can get its pretty yellow tuberous begonia tomorrow when it is completely dry.

I've been out moving pots around and finishing painting projects etc, this week.   I am also trying to unclog so everything isn't all in one or two spots.   I got some nice ideas from the garden tour last weekend.

Now I'm moving things around all over.   Trying to spread the garden out, ha, without making it bigger!  It's looking better, but not quite perfect.

The vegetable garden, usually my best work in the garden is a weedy paradise.  Need that mulch!

Jungle

Ye Pink Tractor with Bada Bing Rose Bicolor Begonia.   Pretty perfect..

Begonia "Sprint Plus Rose"

Black Petunias

Walmart thinks this is a metal outdoor serving tray, but if you drill drainage holes in it, it holds your pots nicely upright on a metal bench I never found a cushion for.

Hiemalis Begonia "Borias"

All the animal pots fit nicely on this stand, as it turns out.

Developing this area.  Brought patio bricks over from another spot to create a new place for pots to sit.