It Has Rained.

A lot lately.

People complain, but I know two things- it makes for easy weeding and I've done a lot of planting without watering. Weeding and watering were both challenges we faced last year with the heat and drought.

Even with not doing the tomato sale this year I still haven't gotten the plants in the ground, but the ground is saturated and cool yet. It's so wet  you can hear the earth sucking in the water- for real.

Good Eats: Things I'm eating now

Parsnip Pancakes

2 eggs, 1 lg parsnip grated, chopped chives, oregano, parsley, 2 Tbs flour, S & P

Stir it all up. Heat some EVOO in a pan and fry pancakes on each side until desired doneness.

Yum. Almost everything was from the garden or chickens.

Salads

Since we are on the topic of food, gardening and cooking...

My mom surprised me with tickets to see Michael Pollan, lunch and a signed copy of his latest book, Cooked. I love this man's brain. 

MP and I

In bloom:

The Gorgeous Allium

Red Buckeye- Aesculus pavia

I saw a small bumblebee of sorts go to these flowers

Deutzia, Red Buckeye and daylilies in the Biergarten.

Viburnum

Black Chokeberry Aronia melanocarpa

Miss Kim Korean Lilac- my favorite of the lilacs. 

The smell was almost nauseating this morning in the heavy air. 

Bridal Veil Spirea 

I once used these for Barbie bouquets. 

Up close with Daisy Fleabane:

Scenery:

At the back steps.

Transplanting alyssum.

The Potager

Biergarten in back. Potager in the front. Seeds starts in the middle.

Deutzia (white shrub) Korean Lilac (purple)

And a closer look

Shhhhh. The babies are asleep.

Baby Chickadees are in this purple bird house!

Love in a Mist (Nigella)- reseeded and getting close to bloom time

The snails are quite happy with the weather we borrowed from the Pacific NW.

Waiting for transplant:

Tomatoes, Balsam, Nasturtiums, Zinnias and more

Native wildflowers, Petunias, Flowering Tobacco, Alpine Strawberries and more

Chives blooming in the Potager.

I transplanted several species of Milkweeds today (from seed I started in the nursery). I'm trying to grow more milkweed due to the dire situation with the Monarch Butterfly population. Some of the varieties I transplanted into the front prairie and under the Maple include: Asclepias exaltata, A viridis, A. verticillata and A. sullivantii. 

Projects:

I ordered two varieties of Oyster Mushrooms- Elm & Phoenix from The Imaginary Farmer

They come as mycelium growing on wheat. In addition, they give you a bag of sawdust pellets and a growing chamber (aka bag). All you do is add water, hydrogen peroxide, used coffee grinds and churn it all together. I chose these two varieties because I am hoping to inoculate my garden with the leftover growth once the first flushes of mushroom has occurred indoors. 

Here is the Elm Oyster mycelium (white mold) growing on wheat.

Here is the prepared growing chamber:

"E" is for Elm

Just for Fun: My students and I spent our last day of class together walking the campus grounds looking for examples of the ecological concepts we have covered. 

We were lucky to see a Leopard Frog along the way.

Hoppy Spring Ya'll. 

Rain & 80's

A lot of rain and a day in the 80's can change everything. Of course, the T is suppose to drop today and we are expected to see T's in the 30's tonight and tomorrow night. A spring by any other name is still crazy.

Something about not doing the big tomato sale this year has me feeling like I'm behind on putting in the veg, but it is still early. I did buy a 4 pack (with 6 plants) of Green Bell Peppers and put them in the other day. The maters are still hardening off, but meanwhile the garden has suddenly become green in weeds and desirable plants.

What's in Bloom:                         The New Bulb Bed- first bloom 2013

Muscari macrocarpum Golden Fragrance

Muscari ambrosiacum Musk Hyacinth

"Magical Muscari Mixture" planted last fall

The Woodland Garden

Bleeding Heart

Bluebells- Mertensia virginica

Celandine Poppy Stylophorum diphyllum

Trillium recurvatum

Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum

Toothwort Dentaria laciniata

(finished blooming)

Solomon's Seal Polygonatum biflorum

Golden Seal Hydrastis canadensis

South side of house bed

Sensitive Fern emerging Onoclea sensibilis

Bed near entrance of driveway

Bellwort Uvularia sessilifolia

Bellwort

Brunnera macrophylla- perennial forget me nots

Spirea leaf burst, 2nd display of Narcissus, Grape Hyacinths

broader view

Note to self: need more daffs in zone behind and on west side of Redbud

Landscaping Project at Mom's: The Clean Slate

Salvia, Hosta, Viburnum, Geranium, Ladybells, Tiarella, Lamium, Violas, Columbine

Right side

Left Side

View from Front Porch- Yesterday 4-17-13

Serviceberry & Redbud in bloom

This morning- notice the serviceberry flowers are already knocked off from the rain

Serviceberry flowers yesterday

Other notes

I bought bare root from Michigan Bulb

I decided this method is only slightly cheaper than buying plants in pots at the box store, considering pots, soil and shipping. Here are some Hostas coming up. They did very well. Nice roots.

I planted some seeds that needed stratification in pots last fall. All species are germinating: 2 varieties of Ironweed, Blue Star, 2 Asters and Wild Oregano. 

Zinnias & Balsam in cold frame. Need to repeat this next year. So much easier to start and avoid hardening off inside the frame. It also takes up less space in the basement.

White & Red Alpine Strawberries germinating.

Coldframe stuff: basils, salvias, cotton, castor

Mesclun that NEEDS to be transplanted!

Hardening off continues...these guys got hailed on (pea size) on Tuesday (4-16-13)

The keyhole bed progresses. I turned the soil and then had to cover to stop the growth of a perennial weedy Aster. This is where I want to grow my winter squashes this year. 

Into the Orchard/Chicken Yard

The Cherry burst yesterday. All sorts of bees.

If every bloom becomes a cherry...

Winter Oats under the fruit trees.

Rosa, Scarlet, Viola?

Viola or is it Francesca? 

Rosa

Purple Sprouting Broc

Yay! Kale. Bad = I think I saw some Harlequin Beetles mating yesterday. UGH.

Chitting the Time Away

This chitty post will be short. I want to talk about 2 things- chitting potatoes and dividing plants (aka garden frugality).

First, chitting is the process of allowing your "seed" (nothing seed about them) potatoes to grow some buds before planting them. It isn't necessary, but it does give one the sense that they are at least doing something before they went in the ground. Put them in a dry egg carton and set in a cool and bright area until they grow little stems and roots. If you please, you can cut (before or after chitting) them into smaller chunks with 3 "eyes" each. If you do cut them, allow them to dry (callous over) for a day or so before planting. Cutting is up to you and obviously, if you choose to do this, you will have more plants.

These are my Kennebecs that arrived this week. One good thing about the process of chitting is that if your garden isn't ready or the ground is too wet you can wait to put the potatoes in the ground and just say you weren't procrastinating, but rather chitting the time away.

Kennebec potatoes

Frugality
Would you rather pay $10 for 1, 1 gallon plant or $2 for 5 smaller plants that will grow to be the same size this season as the 1, $10 plant? Well, if you are like me you would prefer 5, $2 plants, because I'm frugal like that. Here is what you do. Some, but not all plants, will be divisible when you purchase them at the nursery. I always look for the plant with a base (where the plant comes out of the soil) that is taking up the most room in the pot or another way of putting this is that there are multiple stems arising from the soil. I've done this with sedums, hostas, grasses and I will show you the example of Carex (sedge).  You will not do this with woody plants.

Take the plant out of the pot and lay it on a flat surface on its side. Using a serrated knife cut through the base of the plant down the middle and then repeat with the 2 halves until you get as many plants as you can out of it.
Here, I managed to make 5 plants from the 1, $10 sedge (Carex testacea or Orange Sedge) I bought.
Don't worry too much about the surgery bit of this. You won't kill the plant and you won't hear it scream anyway.

Carex testacea- Orange Sedge

That's it folks. Two ways to make more plants.