'Tis the Season.... for Garage Sales!

I know, you're not that impressed with a fabric lined sewing basket. But... This is what it turned into...

I think this is such a Lovely flower pot!!

Ready, Get Set.....

"Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization." Daniel Webster

I love seed catalogs. I can lay in bed and read them. (I know; I’m pretty boring!) The pictures are so gorgeous! Can I really have vegetables/flowers that look like that? After drooling over my favorite catalogs I do several things. 

• Make a list of what I want to grow next year
• Make a list of what seeds I have left over from last year  and what I need.
• Go to my seed catalog and choose my seeds and varieties.My favorite seed catalog happens to be Stokes Seeds, mostly because it always worked well for my mom and now me. There are many good seed companies out there. I use others for odds and ends (or if there is a great sale!)
  

Seed Selection: Many flower and vegetable varieties perform better in some areas than in others. Read descriptions carefully. For short-season areas, select earlier maturing varieties. A couple of important dates every gardener should know by heart is the last frost date of the spring and the first frost date of the fall.
There are several resources on the web where you can find this information, but I discovered a cool little tool over at Dave’s Garden. Simply enter your zip code, and you’ll get some useful information about your frost dates.

Here’s what I got back when I entered my zip code:

• Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from September 21 through May 12.
• Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from October 5 through April 29.
• You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 25 through September 7.
• Your frost-free growing season is around 132 days.

Remember the following as you order:

• If you need help or have questions, call and ask.
• Order early to avoid "sold out" notices.
• Keep a record of your purchases.
• Locate and understand the company's guarantee policy.
• Read catalogs carefully for helpul information.They're filled with tips and suggestions to help you make the best choices, and to have a more beautiful garden.

Try not to go overboard. You could use your entire paycheck buying seed and plants.
Place your order and wait (impatiently) for the seeds to arrive.

A Beautiful Trip Down Memory Lane

In 1976 I left home for Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. I was blessed to be accepted into the Landscape and Nursery Management Program. This was it's innaugural year. There were about 20 people accepted into the program. We had all of our classes together except for our religion class. As you can imagine, we were an amazingly close-knit group. Dr. Kim Black was the head of the program. I came to truly love and respect him. Part of the program was to learn the practical aspects of landscaping. In other words.... getting dirty! One of the projects we started was a garden area behind the Agriculture building. Some of the guys in the program called it Fort Apache. This was the beginning of what would later become the Thomas Ricks Gardens. Fort Apache has been removed and replaced, and the gardens continue to grow. Yesterday as I was driving to Ogden, I stopped and took some wonderful moments walking down memory lane at Ricks College (aka BYU-Idaho). I hope I don't sound too boastful when I tell you that I was so proud to have been a part of this project. I know that none of us students even remotely caught the vision of what was to come. The gardens now cover some 10 acres and are absolutely stunning! I found myself very emotional as I thought about those hours spent working in that pasture land. People enjoying the gardens would have no idea what went into that project. I'm sure they wouldn't even imagine the pastureland, the weeds etc. that were once there. I saw a plaque on a bench dedicated to Dr. Black, I wish I knew where he was. I don't even know if he is still alive. I am so grateful for his foresight and hardwork to make his dream at Ricks College a reality. They now have all sorts of different majors within the horticulture department. They still have the same club we organized "Metus Topiaria", and it has grown so much. I wondered about the students I graduated with. We finished with an Associate Degree in Landscape and Nursery Management. (Ricks was a 2 year college)As I enjoyed the nooks and crannies, and all the little alcoves I couldn't help but wonder how many proposals and stolen kisses had occurred here. Hmmmmmm

If life should take you through or even near Rexburg, make sure you take the time to enjoy the gardens!

How Does My Garden Grow?

I so enjoy my garden. I like to find unusual ways or places to plant things. One of my favorite "containers" is this wicker bassinet I found put out for garbage. I had to remove the ruffles and lace, but now I am lovin' it! (Note to self, do not use both black and white plastic to line the wicker). I really like the way the petunias come out through the hood of the bassinet. So fun. Last year I had it back by the pond, this year I have it in front. I think it is doing better this year. Perhaps it just likes being admired.

A new ice plant is blooming, an orange one to go along with the neon pink and neon gold ones.

The delphinium is doing remarkable this year. If we continue without hail I'm sure it will continue to thrive.

The monarda has just started to bloom well. I got this start last spring. It is a huge plant this year. Monarda attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.

My evening primrose that I got at the Colstrip Garden Club perennial sale this spring. It is doing amazingly well for only being here about 6 weeks.

These Barbara Bush petunia's are amazing! They grow quite tall, have gorgeous blooms, are drought resistant and are supposed to freely reseed themselves. So fun!!

My Flowers

I really like begonias, but I haven't had any place to grow them. They require so much shade. This year I figured out a place. I am so happy with it. It's here on my deck in an old watering can. Begonias remind me of Grandma Pitt, Laurence's mom. She had a passion for begonias and we used to give her begonia tubers for Mother's Day. She would have them all lined up on her back porch all summer long.

My morning glory. I go out every morning and count the blossoms. This morning there were 6 blooming, that's the most so far.
Cardinal vine. It is a member of the morning glory family, but it blooms longer into the day than my purple ones. It has wonderfully lacy leaves. I am hoping it will grow to cover the container it is in.

First Harvest!!

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE gardening and harvesting!!
This is my first radishes. I pulled them about a week ago. I love seeing the fruits of our labors. These we did in our square foot garden. YUMMMMM Okay, so it doesn't take much to make me dance with delight!!

My New Favorite Gardening Tool

I needed some new gardening gloves. I had worn through the tips of the fingers on my leather ones. I went to several stores and couldn't find anything like what I wanted. So, I tried a different type. These Atlas Nitrile Tough gloves are fantastic! I love them for planting, weeding etc. Now they would not work at all for working with thistle or roses those still require my tried and true leather gloves. They have a bit of elastic cuff that keeps the dirt from falling down into the glove. They also seem to wick the moisture out so your hands don't get so sweaty. Laurence purchased a pair as well and he loves them for weeding too.

Durable Nitrite Coating, resists punctures and abrasions, outperforms leather. No seams, fits like a second skin. Wears like iron; extremely durable. The flexible nitrile coating is tougher than rubber, protecting palms and fingertips from the rigors of every day work. Seamless lightweight black nylon knit liner increases comfort while it repels dirt and stains. Ideal for jobs requiring maximum dexterity and freedom of hand movement without the fatigue associated with heavier, bulkier gloves. Machine washable.

Addendum: I discovered they have them in colors as well. Now I have a pair of pretty pink ones too!!

It's Spring!!!!!

Aisling met us in Lovell!! She wishes this was her car. Instead she just got to pose by it in Cody.

Got the flowerbeds planted and mulched. I love the Cocoa Shell Mulch!! Smells like a chocolate candy bar mmmmmmmmmm..

We've Got Salsa!!

Last year we made so much salsa. I was sure we would have a couple of years worth. SILLY ME!! Between giving it away, sending it with Aisling to school and our own use, we ran out about 2 months ago. So I've been anxiously watching our tomatoes. Unfortunately, the tomatoes haven't been cooperating and have been ripening really slow!! Finally last weekend by adding our tomatoes to our good friend Annette's tomatoes we had enough for 2 batches. We got 19 pints. YAHOO!!

SALSA (recipe from Cyndie M.)

1 gallon tomatoes peeled & coarsely chopped

4 large green bell peppers (seeded & chopped)

4 large white onions (chopped)

5-6 jalapeno peppers (seeded & chopped)

6 yellow banana peppers (seeded & chopped)

1 large molé pepper (this is Laurence's addition that we like, but they're hard to find)

1/4 C. salt

1/2 C. vinegar

1 T crushed ground red pepper

Place tomatoes in a large pot (I use a 12 quart stainless steel pot)

Cook. As water rises to the top, spoon it off.

Add peppers, onions, salt, vinegar, and crushed pepper. Cook until really thick.

Bottle as usual.

Process in a hot water bath for 7 minutes.

Makes about 8 pints.

You can alter the "spiciness" by adding more peppers as desired.

Although Laurence had his surgery he was able to take care of the peppers and onions. He is a great trooper!!

OH, My Heart!!

Our garden protector...... How come I find myself more startled than feeling safe? I know he's there (somewhere), but it ALWAYS gets my heart racing!! Snakes are NOT my favorite!!
The Square Foot Garden progresses. Tomatoes, cabbages, peppers and radishes to name a few, Yahoo!!
Some are still pretty small, the carrots and such are still pretty hard to see.

Keeping Up with the Dicksons.... (Not Possible!!)

I've been watching with interest as my cousins Roy and Karen have built, planted (and probably by now harvested!), their square foot garden. I was really interested because we wanted to try doing one this year as well. So, here is our beginning attempts.

First we built our frame. In our case it is 4ft X 7 ft. It's 7 feet long because that is the length of the scrap lumber we had here at the house. 4 feet wide because 2 feet is all the further we can reach:) We built the grid and placed it on top. Underneath are a couple of layers of cardboard and then some weed barrier. We are putting it in our regular garden. We filled it with our soil mixture. 1/3 coarse vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost.

Then Laurence watered it in good. The wind was blowing so we wanted to get it watered in quickly so we didn't lose too much of our light weight materials.

Here it is, about 1/2 planted. If you look closely in the lower right you will see a square foot of onions. Hopefully someday we'll have 28 squares that are up.....
I did cover it for the first week or so with black plastic so the soil would warm faster. Then to top it off, Wednesday we got about 3" of snow.... Mother Nature is just a barrel of laughs!!

To show just what a sense of humor Mother Nature has, we are forecast to get about 30° tonight. So, to make life more fun, I moved all my bedding plants into the living room. What a day!

Yes, we do live here as well!!

This is my herb garden. I've been working hard on it this week. Mainly what you could see before was grass and morning glory (the weed, not the flower!!). Boy am I envious of Viv getting a pickup load of shredded bark for just dollars. I'm not telling how much each bag of this cost me!! Let's just say I'm glad Laurence loves me!!