Heirloom Cottage Garden
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Seeds
  • My Garden
  • Gardens I've Visited
  • Misc.

More Crocuses and some Glory-of-the-snow!

4/27/2017

4 Comments

 
It seems that all the flower pictures I've posted so far this year are crocuses. Well, they are really at their best today so here are some more! 
Glory-of-the-snow just started blooming yesterday!
I've been trying to get a good picture of the whole flower garden but the camera can't seem to do it justice unless the garden is full. But here it is anyway. 
Picture
Well, I better go get back to work! There is so much to do in the gardens right now. I planted Shirley poppies and love-in-a-mist directly in the garden yesterday. This morning I planted zinnias, balsam, and four o'clocks inside. I ran out of potting soil, but still need to plant marigolds, cosmos, cauliflower, cabbage, and more phlox and stocks. Outside, I'm working on expanding the vegetable garden. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of that work in progress soon!
4 Comments

Building a Wattle Fence

4/25/2017

2 Comments

 
I started building a short wattle fence around my largest flower garden yesterday. It really compliments the flowers and looks so much nicer than the rock border I tried before (it was hard to mow around so the grass grew up and covered the rocks!). I was surprised at how easy it was to make. It's a great early spring project when there isn't much else that can be done yet! 

Picture
First, I cut 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter, 12-18 inch long, stakes from some newly fallen trees on our property. (Do be careful with the hand saw, though! I cut my finger to the bone with it last year!) The hammer is to pound them into the ground with. I found that it was actually pretty easy to just push them into the ground by hand, because it is very soft right now. 
Picture
It may help to cut the ends of the thicker stakes like this before driving them into the ground.
Picture
I placed the stakes about 18 inches apart. They could be closer if you want a tighter fence.
Picture
For the fence, you'll need planty of long, flexible branches that are as straight as possible (I had some trouble finding enough that were straight, as you can probably tell from the picture!) Most of the branches I used were Box Elder side shoots and Red Osier dogwood. They are woven between the stakes. When you have built up to the height you want, start again at the next section until you complete the fence.
Picture
Picture
Almost done! And my next project is a bean arbor! :)
2 Comments

A Quick Update

4/23/2017

0 Comments

 
Just a quick update since I haven't posted anything in a week. You just never know what the weather is going to do around here! We woke up to a white world 3 times last week!
 So all my flowers were just sitting there waiting (more patiently than me, I'm afraid) for the sun to come out again. The crocuses opened at long last, this afternoon. ​What a difference a day can make! I remember last year we got 8 inches of snow on May 16th, and a couple days later I was planting corn!
Much more garden news to share when I have a little more time, but wanted to get this in anyway!
0 Comments

Happy Easter!

4/16/2017

0 Comments

 
Christ is Risen! I suppose almost everyone associates Spring flowers with Easter as they give us new joy and hope after a long dreary winter. Up here we don't always have flowers by this time, but I'm excited to say that this year we do! (We are supposed to get a couple inches of snow tomorrow, though). These are Species crocuses, which are a lot smaller than the Dutch, but they bloom even earlier, so who cares?

Music is as much a part of my life as gardening, and I just had to share this beautiful Piano Concerto by Tchaikovsky here. The first 3 minutes of it are especially moving, and I always think of Spring and flowers when I hear it...
0 Comments

Spring Surprises!

4/14/2017

2 Comments

 
In my last post I was hoping to see some spring bulbs "in the next couple weeks"! Well, gardening is full of surprises, especially in Spring! If I had just waded through the snow and looked a little closer, I probably would have seen some tulips emerging even then! I did see them the next day, coming right up through the snow! Apparently the deep snow cover we had from late November until now kept the ground quite warm. Today I discovered some crocuses with buds already, where there was snow yesterday! 
Picture
They were growing under the snow!
Every morning I go out to see what more has emerged from the snow. Since I always tell myself I'll remember and never mark what I planted where, there are always surprises. (I now know I won't remember, but I still enjoy the surprises)!

​I'm looking forward to working in my vegetable garden, eventually! 
Picture
I'm not sure what kind of bush this is, but it is covered in little pink flowers every May and red berries in late summer. The bees and birds love it. It really got crushed by the snow this winter.
Picture

The tomatoes have grown a lot since I transplanted them to bigger conatainers. Here they are on my bedroom windowsill...
View from inside
View from outside
Picture
Welcome to my greenhouse!


​The rest of the seedlings are thriving, too. The stocks, nicotiana and phlox are all up now...
Stocks
Heartsease
Phlox
Picture
Amsterdam Prickly Seeded Spinach survived the winter in the greenhouse (under a cold frame)!
And here is where I hope to make yet another flower garden! :) The ground there is so rocky I never considered it before, but it suddenly dawned on me in February how lovey it would look with a garden there! 
Picture
I hope you are enjoying your spring gardens as much as I am! :)
2 Comments

April 9th, Garden Update and Transplanting Tomatoes...

4/9/2017

0 Comments

 
The snow is slowly but surely disappearing. I'm really hoping to see some spring bulbs emerging in the next couple weeks. We have seen our first robins and Canada geese this past week!
Picture

With the weather being a little warmer, I've been able to leave some of the hardier plants like onions, broccoli and heartsease in the greenhouse overnight, which has freed up some space in the house for more seedlings! So far I've planted Aztec Sweet and Only the Lonely nicotiana, Dwarf 10 Week stocks, and Cherry Caramel phlox. 
The cabbage, broccoli, rhubarb, horehound, lemon balm and petunias all came up about a week ago, but I had a clumsy moment and dropped the cabbage, so that will have to be re-planted. 

Rhubarb seedlings
Peppers
The heliotope got moved into individual cups yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had more than I thought (26 plants)! ​
Picture
Heliotrope on the kitchen windowsill this morning
Vigourous, healthy tomato seedlings are one of the joys of Spring that I cannot be without. I think I would plant a few even if there was no hope of getting any tomatoes to ripen later! They are such pretty plants, and the next best thing to eating a homegrown heirloom tomato, is the wonderful aroma you get on your fingers after gently handling the hairy stems. 
Picture

I just transplanted my tomatoes from the 3 ounce cups they were started in, to 8 ounce cups...
Picture
A tomato seedling that has outgrown its container
Picture
They were already starting to get root bound
Picture
I put just a little bit of potting soil on the bottom of the new container, then fill around the root ball of the plant. Tomatoes will grow new roots from the stem, so they can be buried to the first set of leaves.
Picture
After being transplanted
Remember to label the new containers if you are growing more than 1 variety, unless you want to be surprised later! Sometimes it's fun to be surprised, but since I'm planning to save seed, I need to know which variety is which before they set fruit. 
Growing a few different varieties of peppers and tomatoes and comparing their germination and growth has been very interesting this spring! For example, all of the Mehmet's Sweet Turkish peppers germinated, while only about 8 out of 15 Ajvarski peppers germinated! (In my experience, it is quite unusual for all the pepper seeds to sprout anyway). I also noticed that the Hungarian Heart tomato was slower to germinate than both the Pantano Romanesco and Black Krim tomatoes, and the plants are smaller and less vigorous. We'll see what happens with yields later on!
Picture
All done!
0 Comments

    Author

    ​I am a passionate gardener and seed-saver, who also enjoys playing the violin and accordion, running, spending time with my 4 golden retrievers, keeping chickens, photography, and reading. ​
    ​

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    RSS Feed

      Follow my blog!

    Subscribe
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Seeds
  • My Garden
  • Gardens I've Visited
  • Misc.