Good morning, my friends! What a lovely spate of good weather we've had. It might be the most favorable gardening conditions we've seen for sowing seeds in our vegetable garden. Yesterday was the day we'd set aside for that, and what a big job! It's in, though. We planted corn, beets, carrots, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, and 14 different kinds of sunflowers. The cucumbers and zucchini were from starts, but the rest were direct sown. The bean poles are erected. I've been sprouting the bean seeds on wet paper towels, and I'll probably get those in the ground today. By day's end, the automatic sprinklers were set up, and our work was finished.
From where I was standing for that picture, the bee garden is behind me. There isn't much happening there yet. With the sprinklers turned on and the warming sunshine, we should start seeing some activity very soon.
The kitties were chomping at the bit to be outside with us. We were too busy in the garden to keep an eye on them, and so they had to wait until we were finished. When I went to the door to let them out, Smitty had claimed the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs quilt for himself. Sorry, Sue. Fortunately, I hadn't washed it yet. He's looking pretty self-satisfied, isn't he?
So they came outside and walked around the garden with me, nibbling grass as we went.
A second rhododendron is blooming.
This bumble bee was happily flying from blossom to blossom, taking care of bee business.
The fifth peony has buds now. I was happy to see that.
In the process of setting up the garden, I had to get a couple of tomato cages from the greenhouse. They were still holding up the dead cucumber vines from last year. Because we'd had squirrels in the greenhouse last year, they had fencing around them. I was able to remove the fencing and put it over the trellis for the smallest clematis. You might remember I gave it a pinwheel a few days ago to discourage the critters from eating the flowers. Now, it has its own protective fence. Checkmate, critters!!
The poppy buds are easy to spot now. They've very quickly grown to the size of golf balls.
A second dahlia has poked its head above ground.
The dogwood tree is beginning to bloom. The flowers are all at the top of the tree so far.
The red azalea is blooming.
And the apple tree is blooming.
The lilac is in full flower.
I wanted to check on the lunaria, and so I took a walk down to the shared driveway where it is planted. Along the way, I noticed the pine trees were pregnant with new pine cones. These are about the size of my thumb.
Four out of five of the lunaria are looking good, and the little sprouts have grown some. The fifth had been eaten down to the stems by something. It must be squirrels or rabbits or mice. It's too hot for slugs. In any case, I hope they leave the rest alone. I might try to fashion some kind of protective cover, but I'm not sure how that would work.
Toward day's end, Mike and I enjoyed a Kentucky Lemonade on the patio. The kitties imbibed in some catnip from the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden.
Sadie always wants to do whatever Smitty is doing, and so she had a nibble too.
They both consented to be photographed for their school pictures. A rare gift.
While we sat, we watched this hairy woodpecker gaining access to what remained of the two suet cakes I put out about two days ago. We had to change out our suet feeder to this caged one when the starlings arrived. The starlings will eat an entire suet cake in about an hour, and it's too expensive for that.
We've been so busy in the garden, there's been almost no time for sewing. Nevertheless, I'm making some progress on the Joyful Journey block. It's nearly half finished now.
As I mentioned yesterday, it's going to be a busy week this week. Today I'm getting my hair cut, and then I'll make a short trip to the grocery store. The guys have a road rally this weekend. I'm making frozen breakfast burritos and two batches of cookies for them to enjoy while they're away.
I'm hoping to make it into the sewing room at some point. I have a new Tiny House to build, and I want to get a start on my challenge piece. So far, I've printed the image I'm working from, and I've cut template plastic to make my collage. No fabric has been harmed in the making of the quilt thus far. Of course, at this time of year there are always gardening chores to attend to, and so I'm afraid my sewing speed will slow to a crawl for awhile.
I need to be on my way in a few hours. Fortunately, we have leftover frittata from yesterday, so breakfast will be easy. That's where I'm headed next. I think I can fit in a little slow-stitching before I need to be on my way.
6 comments:
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ~ Alfred Austin
You have such a beautiful flowers. Hopefully you have lots of nice weather to get out and enjoy it. Looks like all your Monday efforts really paid off.
Sometimes I wish I had inherited the love of gardening from my parents. But no, it didn't happen. When we moved to our current house I quit doing any gardening other than a few flower pots on the porch. I sure miss the fresh tomatoes and other yummy veggies however.
i use mesh wastebaskets from the Dollar (now $1.25) Store to protect plants from critters. You can even cut off the bottom with scissors for taller plants.
That's a big veggiegsrden you have got, just imagine when everything is sprouting and growing. Lots of flowering bushes too.
We have problems with unwanted birds at the bird feeder too sometimes. We get invaded with sparrows, which were brought over here with the early settlers. They eat all the seed and won't let our shyer native birds in. I think it's better here to put out fat cake with seeds in a frame, the sparrows dont seem to be able to hang off the edges like the silver eyes do. It seems mean not to want to feed the sparrows which are a dime a dozen, but natives are more precious, I feel.
We've had to stop putting our suet out because the starlings will decimate it inside of a couple of hours. They scare off the woodpeckers and nuthatches so they stopped coming. We'll put it back in the fall.
Your garden has the prettiest of flowers and it's always a delight to go walkabout with you.
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