In The Yard

Its feeling more like a brisk winter day than approaching the second week of April. A fire in the fire place feels good and will burn the last of my wood until fall. Yesterday Home Depot had their annual Black Friday Sale which attracts a lot of people buying mulch. I didn't get any but may go back before the sale is over. Impatiens, begonias and other warm season annuals braved the cold. They'll be on the return to the nursery rack tomorrow when they freeze. It's too early to plant them out with nights still going down to the 30's and 40's. Vegetable starts of Georgia collards, strawberries, cabbage, and hosta plants went home with me. This season I'm trying to follow the recommended space between plants when planting in containers or square foot gardening.

Six pack vegetable starts were on sale but I didn't really need 6 of anything but they're weren't single plants available and if they were, they'd be too expensive. That's one of the benefits of starting your own seedlings. You can grow only what you have space for. All the seedlings were somehow squeezed into containers with only the Georgia collards having more to a container than recommended and 1 extra strawberry plant instead of 3. When my lettuce seedlings are larger and hardened off I'll plant them in the same containers since they can grow amongst other plants. What to do with the kale, chard, and mustard greens will be a challenge. There should be more space later for my tomatoes and peppers when temperature warm up and stay. Peppers will probably go in individual containers like last season.

Used my trowel to work the soil in each container to take out lumps and smooth out the soil. Compost was added to each container.

Long time gardeners would probably remove the blooms from the strawberries but I won't because these are probably not first year seedlings, bare root. I'll keep the newly emerging strawberries and hope to be able to eat them before the squirrels.

Hosta were 4 for $9.00's.

Georgia collards and cabbage look similar for now. Hope they were labeled correctly.

De Cicco Broccoli

I chose this cabbage because it only takes 45 days and also was recommended for container since the head is smaller heading.

One cabbage to each container.

Can't locate where I put my frost covering although they were outside at the Home Depot and hardened off so they should be okay. I wanted to avoid the cabbage butterfly laying its eggs on the plants and the babies eating them up and squirrels digging up the containers.

Will save hosta planting for another day. Until then I put them where I may plant them later while I wait to see what other perennials come up first so I don't disturb anything.

Hope the hydrangea makes it. I saw buds earlier but don't see them now. We've had 3 Nor' Easters since I saw the buds.

I didn't plant vinca in this container but I'm glad to have another seedling that can be transplanted somewhere else.

Everyday I see robins walking through the flower bed eating insects or earth worms. They're fat and obviously have had a good winter eating something. The soil in the yard has always had lots of earth worm. How earth worms got into vegetable container I don't know, but they are.

Plans were to buy a new eight foot cedar planter to replace my vegetable containers but the more I look at what the elements can do to wood, I've changed my mind. Why pay over $300's for a container which will need to be replace in about 3-5 years when I can buy something that doesn't rot. Coating the containers help but wood will eventually rot unless using pressure treated wood and that's not suppose to be used with edibles. I have read that there are newer types that are safe but that's questionable.

The long cedar planter is starting to rot. They're beautiful pieces but I would like something that would survive during my season of gardening.

Fern emerging.

This may not be the tulip display I envisioned when I planted my bulbs because squirrels decimated my tulips when I removed the chicken wire. They ate, and ate and some just bit off the emerging bloom and left them.

Had to find a place for those 6 cabbage starts and located another container and added some fresh compost.

Lilies have returned and look healthy.

Can't wait to see if the wood ash will result in more blooms on the peony this year.

Guess I won't be removing the wire form these. Just let them bloom and the foliage die then I'll remove it.

Do you think these cabbages will grow in dappled shade in the planter? Had to do something with the last 3.

Have to do something with these tree roots also. A good hand held saw. Don't care if I kill the trees. Hopefully it won't case panic and added growth of tree roots. Finally this year I've decided to put down mulch. The moss is beautiful in early spring in the yard but summer until fall the soil is dry and like a desert. Can't hurt I don't think.

Sitting by the fire. It's beautiful outside but I other things to do indoors including preparing dinner and some things to take for lunch. The better I prepare my meals and snacks in advance, the better I do following a good eating plan during the week. I have to get around to transplanting my vegetable seedlings before they die.

They're why not to start seeds too early. Don't know if they're bunching or trailing variety but it's a while until they go outdoors and I hope they make it.

I think she's a bromeliad but came with no tag from the produce market this weekend. I sat her in a chair near the plant light. She's a beautiful girl.