Saw the Mahonia the other day, and it is looking gorgeous.  

 

This bush is about 7 feet tall and as wide, and blooming all over like this.  I love to get up close, because the flowers smell heavenly.  But you can see those leaves are not too friendly, so we don’t get too close.

 

I will try to get a full picture next time.  It all depends on the light.  

 

 

HAPPY ALMOST SPRING!!!

 

I heard somebody last week complaining about too much rain.  

 

Not me:  I get Shiitake mushrooms.  After a few days of rain our Shiitake logs started sprouting.  The mushrooms were small, but there were about 20 popping out all over the log.  Then after a couple more days of rain, some were big enough to harvest, and others are waiting for more rain.

 

You might hear me whine about NO rain, but never about too much.  Rain is how we get food.

 

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

When we walked the loop one day last week, I noticed the Bradford Pears have already set their flower buds.  They usually bloom the middle of March.  That’s a whole month of possible winter weather away.

 

I couldn’t help thinking:  here is the definition of “faith.”  

 

I love trees.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read in the seed catalog that I can buy one bunch of 12 sweet potato slips for $32.95.  Wow!!!  I can buy a whole lot of sweet potatoes for 32.95 (plus shipping, by the way.)

 

Hmmm, says she who can grow anything…I can do that.  So I cut up a sweet potato (like you do to plant potatoes) and put them in my flat on the heat mat.

 

Then I looked it up on the internet and found out that all you have to do is nestle a whole sweet potato in a few inches of soil, and put the flat on a heat mat and it will sprout.  So, I got it half right.  Anyway, those sprouts are called slips.  No sense throwing away the cut up one, so we will see if both methods work.  

 

I’ll let you know.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

It is so fun to see the Speedwell blooming, so early in February.  It is low to the ground, and you have to really look for the blue flowers, amidst the clover.  But once you see it, it just jumps out at you:  sky blue!!!

 

I always think “Bluets,” when I see them, but their flowers are actually purple and some are white.  These tiny blue flowers are Speedwell, Veronica persica.

 

I hope you get to see some in your travels.  They are sure to bring a smile.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Yesterday was the new moon for February.  That means:  time to start our seed flats.  

 

We start with the cool weather crops:  beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chard, kale, leeks, lettuce, and mustard.  The seeds get sown in flats and put onto heat mats in the basement.  When they germinate, we will put them in 6-packs and get them under the grow lights.  Then in 3-4 weeks we will put them out into the garden.  They don’t mind cool weather, just not COLD.  

 

Then on the new moon in March, we will start tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds, and put them on the heat mats.  They take 8 weeks before going out into the garden, but it’s the same process:  sow seeds in flats, when they get two sets of true leaves we transplant the seedlings into 6 packs and keep them under the grow lights.  Then in May they will go out into the garden.

 

This is such an exciting time of year for gardeners.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I love checking on our Mahonia at the park.  We go by it every time we walk in the park, and I always check.

 

Well, yesterday when we saw it, we could see tiny yellow flower buds.  

 

Now we just have to hope we don’t have any really cold weather until it blooms.

 

Another happy sign of spring to come.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

It’s that time of year…Yay!!!  It is just barely February, but…

 

The daffodils are starting to emerge.  Telling us that spring is on the way.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

We cut all the broccoli florets to cook for Christmas.  And when I went out the other day to check on the garden, I saw that they are starting to bud up again.  These are the same broccoli plants that I planted last March, and they are still giving us broccoli.  Apparently they don’t mind the cold…too much.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The cabbages that I planted in June aren’t making very big heads, but they are showing some good color.  

 

The outer leaves are edible too;  maybe we’ll pull a few and make cabbage rolls.  Won’t they be pretty?

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!