a nice, warm Mother's Day

It is not easy to gain momentum -- to go from 0 to 60 after a week of nothing -- but we did manage to get a few things done in the yard.  The one task done, from start to finish, was planting the Topsy Turvy containers.  Of course I couldn't do it as instructed, I had to make it more complicated -- though it looked like everyone else's in the end.

I found the TT a bit difficult to wrangle so I devised a way to hold the planter up, but not so far up that the kids and I couldn't get the soil in easy using string.  I found the hardest part of the whole exercise was getting the plants and the sponge into the planter without harming the plant -- but once that was done, it was all downhill.

I got a lot of help from the bigger kids.  They filled buckets with potting soil and brought them to the deck for me. 

I added some extra vermiculite to the potting mix -- worried that they might dryout too fast in the summer.

The instructions said to stop adding soil 2 inches from the top -- so I stopped at 4 and added some compost.

Then I put in a 'water spreader.' 

I thought that the water would drain slower with such a device (though that didn't seem to happen.)  Maybe it will still serve to disperse the water more evenly throughout the bag.  I am not sure at this point that it was worth the effort -- but I did it with some friend's milk jugs, a power drill, and a pair of scissors.  A fun and easy project.

And while this was the only completed project this weekend -- we got a lot farther on several more.  I did some necessary shopping for supplies, my husband got the kiwi trellises into the ground, and we got started on melon trellises and some of our watering systems.  Overall, a very productive weekend.

Weekend roundup

Garden events, like the weather, were mercurial this weekend.  We had great gusty hours and calm hours, overcast, rainy, and sunny hours, warm and cold hours.  The espaliered pear tree survived the windstorm with its flowers -- though I don't think my cold frame did much to secure that result.  It probably got a bit more battered for being 'protected.'  Again, I needed a more thorough effort.  In this case, I must finish installing the espalier guide lines.  If the branches had been secured to them, the wind probably would have whipped by them, no issues.

Anyway, with the help of my dad who was visiting from out of state (I am not sure why anyone ever visits, we always put them to work!) I managed to get a few things done in the yard.  All the bamboo got put into the ground, the fruit bed was weeded (the seeds from the wildflower garden on the other side of the fence appear to be migrating), seeds and seedlings were set out in the raised bed, a new light station was begun in my garage (more in on that when I complete it -- as of now my timer doesn't work right...) and many egg hunts unfolded. 

When I pulled off the remay to set out the starts and seeds this afternoon, everything looked more robust than it had on Thursday.  One of those deep grins grabbed hold of me when I spotted the start of flowers on my choy sum.  I have never eaten this pac choi relative before -- but they say you can pull the whole plant to add to stirfries once it flowers.  Looks like the first taste of our efforts on Scaredy Cat Farm are around the corner. 

A spring volunteer

Today is gorgeous.  Warm and sunny.  I spent most of the morning out doing spring cleaning and preparing the beds for the 6 yards of compost that arrived today.  In the process I ran into this lovely volunteer.  Not one of my picks.  Probably not the pick of our house's previous owners either.  We inherited huge, sheared boxed box hollies in this bed when we bought the house.  So this bloom is a tenacious flower with a real history.   

And I didn't weed it.  It might not fit my Pacific Northwest sense of style -- but I couldn't give up this lovely breath of spring.

A sunny Sunday for yard chores

We had a wonderful mild and sunny day today.  And although I could only find a couple hours to get out into the yard, it was a delightful and productive time. Not only did I get some plants moved and pruned -- I managed to murder 7 snails in the process.

So far I am nervous about pruning my existing fruit trees so I have left them alone (though they have only been in the ground for a year so I think that is okay.)  But I do find it incredibly satisfying to clean up my perennials like the hydrangea below.  In turn I removed dead wood, long-spent flowers, and old/mis-shapen canes to set the plant up for its growing season.  I imagine once I overcome my ignorance of fruit pruning and gain some experience, I will feel the same way about tending to my apples, pears, blueberries, and kiwis as I do these inedible plants.

 

Somehow the trim makes the yard look so much spiffier -- and that much readier for spring.

The warm weather is supposed to hold for tomorrow.  And with the help of a neighborhood teenager this afternoon, my soon-to-be-updated fruit bed is weed-free and ready for planting.  I am hoping to take advantage of tomorrow's weather (forecast says 60 degrees and sunny in Seattle) to get my blueberries and strawberries into the ground.  Since it is also predicted to start raining again on Tuesday, this is about as perfect as I could have dreamed.