Tuesday, March 24, 2015

T Stands for Tuesday

It's Tuesday again :0)
...and it's damp and chilly outside. One of those slow moving days here after several warm and very active days. I guess it's Mother Nature's way of making me take a break and rest up. 
Or at least making me stay inside and take care of some neglected home chores :) 
Last Friday we had a beautiful sunset 
I took this picture  through  the door on my deck over looking the wooded area in back.
 We have Spring Flowers blooming now :) This bed always blooms first and it's one I haven't gotten cleaned up yet. You'd think I would remember that it blooms first and clean it up earlier . 


I've started placing the straw bales where I want them and trying to restrain myself from starting the whole conditioning process right now. I need to wait a couple of weeks :( 
So I have don a rough sketch in my garden journal of what gets planted where.
 ...of course it will probably all change 2 or 3 times before the planting actually begins. 
I still have several more bales of straw to pick up yet. Some for planting and more for weed control in the pathways. 
This year I'm putting down a layer of black mulch on the flowerbeds. The natural mulch we put out last year just made the rocks disappear or blend in unnoticed. We spent a lot of time and money getting those rocks and placing them so we wanted to be able to see them . I'm thinking this will look great when I'm done.   
 The  perennials I started last last summer are starting to come up in their little pots and will soon be ready to transplant into the flowerbeds. 
I'll be doing a whole lot more of these this year if I don't hurt myself again.  
Last year I canned a ton of applesauce and pie filling. For one batch of the pie filling I used a new to me cornstarch that was supposed to make canning pie filling  so much easier and better. I did 7 jars and I ended up dumping all 7 jars into the compost pile last week. They all separated and had huge air bubbles through out the jars. They didn't discolor and smelled fine when I opened them ... but I don't take any chances with home canned foods. The honey bees certainly appreciated them though. :) So this year I will stick to the old tried and true corn starch. So glad I only did 6 jars. 



We have a dead tree at our treeline into the wooded area in back..
 We won't be cutting down the main trunk... only the limbs...which have already started to fall. I will be filling the cavities with potting soil and planting flowers in them :) 
The wood peckers love the tree for it's insects and I rather think it has some character life left in it yet. 
This bed needs a complete rework. The winter of 2012/13 was very hard on the perennials in it...what didn't freeze out was eaten by the super hungry deer in the neighborhood. It was  a hard year for the wildlife and I don't begrudge them a meal... I just wish I had thought to feed them before the were forced to eat my flowerbeds. I did better this year :) 
So much work to still be done here to be truly ready for the garden season. 
Random Thought's for TODAY...


 Don't forget to visit the other "T DAY" post! 
Just click on the button on my sidebar :) 

oops almost forgot the drink....
....it's definitely a hot tea day today :) 

14 comments:

  1. I have a patio and no yard at all, so I love looking at what you're doing with yours. Thanks! :)

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  2. Its a little chilly here too today... but warm i'm sure in comparison to your weather. This coming weekend promises to be near 90 so i'm not begrudging this cooler day but rather savoring it. :) Love all your plans. I hope you'll share as the season progresses. Happy Tday! Hugs! deb

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  3. am anxious to see how your straw bales work out-keep us posted-I needed a down day today too I hand spaded for about 6 hours yesterday in my little veggie garden-was hoping to get the main part finished before this rain and cool down-I did get about 3/4's done-and am still standing up straight-lol so that's a good thing-this afternoon back to working on my craft room-I do have walking paths finally-

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  4. love the idea of planting flowers in a dead tree. my cordlyine tree was damaged in bad storms a few years ago but its now sent up new shoots and is getting quite large again after the original tree fell down..so happy me

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  5. It was downright chilly here when I went to lunch with Sally, then grocery shopping. Sally didn't go shopping with me, and when I got out of the grocery store, it was much warmer. I was amazed.

    I swear between you and Halle, I am beginning to believe my garden won't even get off the ground this year. I'm SO far behind and haven't even started anything. You make me feel lazy!

    Thanks for sharing your early spring garden and tea with us for T this Tuesday.

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  6. I've lived in an apartment for so long...nice to see planting and growth! Sorry about the bad cornstarch. Live and learn I guess. Please take pictures of the flowers in the dead tree!! I'd love to see them. Happy T-Day! :)

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  7. you are an ambitious gardener, and your plans sound lovely! really yearning for Spring, and jealous of your daffodils! happy T day!

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  8. I'm anxious to start cleaning up the yard, too, but first the rest of the snow has to disappear! I'm going to get my basil started soon inside though. You have such energy to do all that yard work and can, too!

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  9. Our weather is still COLD for this time of year, and I just walked about the yard today only to see the lilac bushes with the teeniest of buds just showing so I know it will be awhile before our Spring flowers bloom...even the forsythia is way behind-normally we'd have a few forced branches of flowers by St. Pat's day. So you know I'll be doing some big happy dances when everything comes to life again:) You always choose some great thoughts for the day. Happy gardening and a happy T day too!

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  10. You have quite the little slice of heaven there. As well as so much energy and vision.

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  11. Great idea Carol about planting flowers in the old trunk! Shame about your apples. Raining here and I am hoping we don't get as cold as they are saying in the next few days! We will be doing lots of covering up! Love the quote about the earth!

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  12. Interesting to read all you are doing in your garden, sounds like a lot of work. How does straw help stop weeds? Hugs,
    Valerie

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  13. you are up to all sorts of good things!
    and you have your first flowers! wahoo, we are so behind you in that regard.
    that dead tree is gorgeous. I love that you will plant things in it. I show a bee home/nest on my blog's latest post, you could drill 5/16th inch holes in the trunk for native bees to plant their eggs in... i would do that. I will be doing that on my land.
    I love that quote about walking on the earth and actually have had it on my desktop for a few months now with a lovely photo of a woman gracefully walking barefoot. Such a lovely thing to consider.

    sweet weekend to you!

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