Garden Update

First full set of babies is transplanted ( in the case of the tomatoes of which many are on their second set of leaves already ) into tall Jiffy pots ...and in the greenhouse .. still in their seed tray in the case of the beets and broccoli .

Theyre all doing GREAT . I finally found my seeds of the really cold tolerant ones , Stupice specifically ( dont have Siberian seeds grrr ) so I'm playing catch up with those and hoping they'll germinate and grow real fast ... also started Brandywine , Big Rainbow ( i usually do German Striped ..hope is as good ) and a few Black Krim to compete with Nyagous which is already hardening off ... and a Prudens Purple or two . This is in addition to the really huge vines of the heirloom Italian San Marzano paste that is simply the best sauce tomato and covers huge trellises with marvelous tasting fruit every sumer ....

Next year I hope also to try Paul Robeson in the greenhouse which is supposedly a marvelous full size cold weather heirloom black tomato from Russia ....

My violas are already blooming ;) . The only downside is the sneaky squirrel has tunneled UNDER the sticky fence and gotten a BUNCH of my giant himalayan lily bulbs - totally cleaned me out ... and astilbes . These were almost six foot tall lilies that bloomed for a gosh darn MONTH !! expensive , gorgeous and TOTALLY worth it ... except NOT as Rodent food !!!! I m replacing them temporarily with some far sorrier 36 inch specimens from the ordinary nursery and being REAL careful to cover with chicken wire which I must have removed last year when the stems got real thick and forgot to replace .... wont be making THAT mistake again ...

Hellebores also are gorgeous in the shady border .. the so called " Christmas rose " that never blooms in the winter here for me but is a beautiful harbringer of early spring .

You inspire me, Ava. But alas I've only gotten as far as thinking about planting more pig squeak around the boarders in the back. I love that stuff and the deer and rabbits don't. The deer and rabbits eat my spring plants something awful every year, so I'm try pig squeak and rosemary and a few other things. Lord, these rabbits love Hosta salad!

--g
 

 What  is PIG SQUEAK  ?!!!!  that  sounds  so great  !!   does it  make  squirrels  squeak too ?

PLEASE  say YES  !!!  

It's an evergreen plant about the same size as a medium size hosta...great for border plants. The leaves are thick and fleshy...like a pig's ear, when you rub them together they squeak. lol  Animals don't like them at all!

 My mission is  to plant terrible tasting but pretty things in my borders  !  surprise  yucky bites !  These  crafty  and well-nigh uncatchable  nocturnal beasties have GOT TO GO  ....   

Its AMAZING  how much  they can eat  ..and how FAST ...

I've decided not to try starting anything this year.  My greenhouse is a glorified cold frame and I've lost stuff in it before so I will buy sets.

So I have broccali, collards, and 2 lettuce ready to go out.  I'm hoping for a day this weekend to cut through the plastic and get them in the raised bed.  I have all this lovely compost and plastic feed sacks from the horse feed and am going to do the potatoes in feed sacks this year.  That should be fun for the clients to help with.  I have sugar snap peas and parsnip seeds ready to go in the ground also but haven't figured out how I want to support the peas this year.  Nothing I have done has been easy enough or successful enough.  A gardening friend suggested chicken wire.  That's a thought.

Happy gardening everyone.

I'm so envious Ava!  We still have 12-18" of snow on the ground and can't even THINK about doing any planting until the end of May... our growing season is so short too.

Tom lives in the country and I'm going to have to be very mindful of flowers, etc.  He regularly has 5 deer in the backyard and a whole army of squirrels.  I know deer love Hostas too... and his yard is quite shady.  Not sure there really is much I'll be able to do besides some planter and container gardening this year.  I need to give the yard a year to see what it looks like without snow...

 We  city  gardeners dream of space and more space ...but the  REALITY  is  the CRITTERS  ( and the trees) own it  lol ...out in the country .

My former  gardening  neighbor  here  traded in her brownstone and  bought fifty acres and an  romantic renovated old barn to live in upstate  and was so surprised  that  something ate her  four rabbits  ( that  ate everything  in the neighborhood HERE  ..boy were they tunneling-under the fences persistent pests ) , the deer turned out to be tough foes ( though simple chest high wires  WORK  to keep them out ) 

and  the big shading  ( and  sucking up the limited water ) trees  even tougher ones ... 


yep  I have the same exact issues in North Carolina .... 

Its  the kind of situation  I think if I was with the  RIGHT  partner  it would  be worth  carving out  and ESTATE  ...  but undeniably hard work ... In  North Carolina  I  found a man who  takes out trees  for a mere  75  bux ... cuts em up and  disposes  of em for 50 bux extra .  Sure can't  beat that .

Thats the GOOD  part  of living in the country  ;) 

Currently, my back yard is just a giant doggy potty land. I really hope to put in some raised beds this year and try my hand at gardening. I'd like to brow a salsa garden for the summer. Most of my other plants are perennials, but I'd love to enhance the front yard with a bunch more lavendar and other plants that I love.

You are inspiring me to think SPRING!

Ava, you make planting sound very romantic.

We had a garden for years until my father-in-law passed away and then my DH planted grass instead of vegetables.  My in-laws used to drive through our yard back to the garden a couple of times every day and it made them so happy to work in it. The garden made my DH sad after they were gone.  I used to love canning because it was something I shared with my Mom, but she wouldn't be interested now.

We live in the country and we don't have a single squirrel and very few rabbits (to many stray cats).   We have lots of deer and turkeys but they stay in the fields behind our house.