The suspect....

So, is this poison ivy?

I don't have a clue as to what I'm looking for, as I've never reacted to it (and thus, "why should I care?")

But if it is...I probably should kill it off. Any suggestions? This spot can get Roundup, given the location under our deck, but the other areas that are suspect have plants we want to keep as well as the suspect.

A Blustery Week...and a freeze

There has been a lot of wind lately - enough to make me worried about a few saplings that might not handle the strain. This tree, however, seems to be doing just fine in spite of the wind. Normally, this is a vertical trunk, but I'm starting to wonder if the trees will take on a permanent list.

You can see the garden just past the tree, tilled, and some beds already planted for the year. I can't remember having the garden started this early. Makes me pine for some of those klotches or 'wallo water' mini-greenhouses so I could get my tomatoes in early.

The creeping phlox is blooming - I love how it tumbles across the stones in the rock wall. Normally, I'm not a pink person, but the pink colors on these are a nice contrast to the green and the granite.

The hostas along the foundation are coming in nicely as well as the lady's mantle and something whose name escapes me right now. Never mind, though, since we've had a frost this weekend, and I'm afraid many of these plants will be stunted or killed off outright. Our early summer was beautiful while it lasted, but that's about it.

The peach tree also has flowers, though I haven't had the nerve to go check it out and see the damage. The tent caterpillars were cut off a couple weeks ago, caught them somewhat early, as were some other scab-type bugs. The leaf-curl is still a battle so I'll be spraying the tree this week (if the wind cooperates).

Root view box update

The radishes have been picked and eaten; they had a flat side where they grew against the window. You can see the carrots and beets in the photo, and a very thin parsnip starting to grow.

I have had a lot of positive feedback from visitors and some requests for the plans. They will be written up in a single page with illustrations, but it will take me a little bit, given all the other garden work right now.

Springtime work starting early

I'm refreshing the area around the electrical box this year. Today, I pulled all the stones up, and am prepping the area for re-trenching the border. The grass from the lawn is invading the border and it's starting to look awful. This week, I plan to trench out that area, hit all the border with Roundup (and a lot of weeds inside the area, too. Maybe this way the local busybodies won't find fault with my weeds that seem to take over the bed too often. Wish me luck!

So, I found this the other day looking for that last Easter Egg that was not located during the hunt. Not quite what I was hoping to discover, but it sure looks promising from a few feet away.

For those of you unfamiliar, this 'egg' will burst open with Rhubarb leaves soon.

The front bed, where we planted over a hundred daffodil bulbs last fall, and two dozen iris rhizomes. You can see the iris fans growing along the wall, and daffodils in clumps throughout the photo. Other green patches are the wildflower seeds, Malteese Cross, Black-eyed Susan, Coneflower, and Daisy. This bed is looking better and better every year. Re-cutting the edge last year made a big difference. As much as I hate to add more work, I'm going to add that to my plans every few years to keep the lawn and planting bed from merging.

Leaves of three...oh wait. That's a strawberry blossom.

The bed that was planted about 7 or 8 years ago is starting to fill in. The bulbs multiply every couple years, and eventually I hope to have the bed entirely filled with daffodils. I need to find another plant that can fill in once the daffodils are done for the season, perhaps day lilies, since I could divide the Stella d'Oro lilies around the electrical box this year. I need to get something there to keep objects from rolling off the edge of the driveway and cover up the daffodil foliage once the flowers fade away. Initially, this was going to be creeping phlox, which is very nice looking, but just doesn't create the 'boundary' I'm looking for of about 12 to 18 inches tall on the edge of the drive. Another thought is to get some Ruby Stella re-bloomers to counter the yellow all over the rest of the gardens. My assignment in the next week is to get some sturdy markers to identify gaps in the bulbs so I don't dig up anything when I plant the lilies next fall.

First seeds in the ground

I'm probably pushing my luck with frost, but I can't help myself - I'm a gambler at heart. I put in two rows of lettuce, a row of parsnips, one of carrots, and four of early snow peas. Crossing my fingers that any frosts do no serious harm, but I'd only be out a few cents in seeds and 45 minutes of time, right? Next succession planting for these should be in two weeks, which is right about the 'normal' time to start the seeds.

The indoor transplants are looking pretty healthy. Tomatoes and peppers have begun to sprout, and it appears all twelve petunias are sprouted (100% germination from last year's seed!). Now, to keep everything alive for the next two months.

I've noticed this year a few seed companies are selling something suspiciously similar to my first project on this blog. Yes, folks, they're selling ladder trellises for far more than it costs to build one. You might go out and DIY to save $50 or $75 (not to mention shipping and handling!) The three I constructed in 2006 are still doing very well, with minimal warping and splitting.

The Rocks.....

By popular demand...photos of the rock pile

Seed Starting Setup...

Since I've gotten a few questions about it, here are some new photos of the seed-starting setup in the corner of my basement. Nothing spectacular here, just some industrial shelving, a scratch-and-dent formica countertop, commercial heating mat with thermostat, fluorescent light fixtures, and seed flats. Out of the photo is a powerstrip with integral timer for the lights. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: I don't buy the fancy grow lights, rather, I put one 'cool' bulb and one 'warm' bulb into the fixture, and the plants seem to like it well enough. Sure, fancy grow lights have more of the spectrum, but this is just a family garden, it isn't my source of income.

In the next photo, you can see the sprouting Petunia seeds - it looks like I'm 12 for 12 if you look closely. Hopefully, they will all survive! The fiber pots off to the side are my tomato and pepper plant starts - I've started 5 paste tomatoes, 3 jelly bean, 5 beefsteak and 5 bell peppers. I should start more peppers this week if I have the time.