Fertilizer Friday - Things Are Springing Up

Click on title to go to Tootsie Time.

Well it's that time each week to flaunt our flowers or whatever you want to flaunt. Ya'll head on over to our dear friend Tootsie Time and check out all of the other bloggers flaunting their stuff. Tootsie has the most awesome magazine perfect gardens so I know you'll enjoy...


My uploads did not go in the order I intended as I got in a hurry this morning.

The same azalea that bloomed all winter long is budding again. All of the other azaleas are just now budding.


These are some bulbs that I bought at Walmart and will be putting them all in the ground this weekend.

I can't wait to see this beautiful Clematis H.F. Young.

Oh and this awesome Peony.

Beautiful Dahlias.

Ooohh I love these Iris' and can't wait to see how gorgeous they are.

Pear tree is beginning to blossom.

The peach tree in bloom.

Lettuce is coming along very nicely. Looks like soon I'll be able to eat a salad.

The broccoli is doing very well.

Planted lots of seeds last weekend.

I mentioned earlier this week about changing up my seeds start mix by adding in some organic potting mix. This is going to allow a much easier transfer to the gardens. I tried different containers that are on the cheap side. Drink bottles and milk carton. I punched holes in the bottoms and cut them to about 3" high and they are perfect. Plenty of soil for the seeds and will permit better root growth.

I already have a couple breaking the surface. The Shasta Alaska Daisy and the Sweet Pea Everlasting and Sweet William 'Sooty'. I'm sure the others will be up this weekend.

A little color on the ground. Snapdragon I purchased on clearance. They are re-blooming and lots of new buds. Those daffodils I don't expect them to bloom since they were just planted in Mid Jan.

Johnson's Blue Geranium is greening up.

The Red Breadseed Poppies seem to be happy here.

Isn't this a crocus. I have tons of these growing up under a tree in the shade. I will have to re-locate them when it's time.

I did some direct sowing last evening. I planted some Foxglove (thanks Tatyana) and Red Melon Poppies (thanks Tatyana) and more Red Breadseed Poppies.

Busy weekend ahead. The weather is suppose to be a breezy 65 for highs both Sat and Sun. Lots of garden work to do and to my utility room. It is still torn apart since I am trying to get some shelving in and not to mention that my washer is not fixed. Brought back to me but it doesn't work. Gotta get a new plan so I can wash.

Hope you all have a great weekend and that you enjoy each day like it was your last. Don't forget to tell your loved ones that you love them.

Question?

I have a question - the seed starter trays that are made of thick cardboard - can you plant each little cell directly into the ground after removing the bottom part of the cardboard?

I want to use this tray. It has 50 cells for seeds but if I have to empty each cell that isn't going to work.

The rain that is coming is expected to be rough this afternoon and evening with possiblity of 4" of rain and hail and possible tornados. The threat of tornados don't scare me but the rain washing away the seedlings worries me. Am I crazy or what.

Have a great day and hopefully you are experiencing nice weather.

Babbling...

I had a great weekend and very productive. With weather like we had over the past week, even if you aren't a gardener the outdoors was calling all people.



I planted the Russell Strain Lupines and the Red Breadseed Poppies. Both seemed to be happy outdoors. I planted clumps of Poppies like Darla suggested. I managed to plant 18 small clumps of poppies and 17 seedlings of Lupine. The snapdragon is still so small I didn't want to plant yet. The seed start mix is so fine that it is difficult to retrieve the seedlings from the container. I decided to add an organic indoor potting mix to the seed start. I mixed 4 parts seed start to 1 part potting mix. I believe that this is going to give me a better root system for transplanting. I also figured that if I don't get a BUNCH of seeds started this week that I will be running behind.

I spent a great deal of time trimming trees and bushes. Much more to do since my yard is so huge. I can walk under them again.

My washer went on the fritz in the middle of the week last week. It was taken out and went for repair and is to be returned today. A very old fridge also sat in the utility room and was removed (thank you Lord). So my utility room is getting a clean up. Everything is still sitting in my kitchen and is getting pretty annoying. The room needs to be painted but we'll see if that happens. I am adding some shelving and hopefully a pantry of some sort. I really hate when an appliance goes on the fritz - this often means replacing it. Thankfully it has been repaired but don't ya hate when everything else is put on hold pending the repair.

Spent some time with Mom and Pop. I planted her seeds in some containers for her. I'll plant more this weekend for her. They are not feeling good these days. Both of them take 1 or 2 naps a day. Last year at this time Pop had both of the huge gardens plowed and some stuff planted already. The fall that he took 3-4 weeks has really affected him. Falling 10' is bad for anybody and falling into a greenhouse that is full was really bad.

We are expecting a 2-3" of rain today and tomorrow and then clearing off for another beautiful weekend. Hope my plants don't drown.

Time changes this weekend. Don't forget to spring forward.

Hope everyone has a great day and maybe enjoy some outdoor stuff. To all of you gardeners out in the yard today - I'm jealous.

My First Fertilizer Friday

http://www.tootsietime.com/ The title links.
This is my first Fertilizer Friday and hope to join in each week. I hope I linked up properly. I am not real computer savvy.

Ya'll if you haven't already and I bet most of you have checked out Ms Tootsie's blog you are really missing out. She post so many great topics and has the prettiest home gardens.

I can't hardly wait to get all my seeds planted - but I expect I'll be doing seeds for the next 2 months. Exciting huh.

This is what I have to share today....

Indoors this baby is really growing since I repotted it 2 weeks ago. Ya'll tell me what it is please. I forget the name. Question how do you root this plant?


The Red Breadseed Poppies are looking good. I have thinned these babies 2 times already. Do I need to thin more? I can't wait for these to bloom.

The snapdragons are looking good too. They are a little slower growing than the Red Breadseed Poppies.

Sorry the photos are dark. These are the Russell Strain Lupines and they are doing beautifully. These came from Hometown Seeds. Can't wait to see these bloom too.

I am so looking forward to having a salad with my lettuce. These are Hometown Seeds - Lettuce Gourmet Mix.

This is Hometown Seeds Broccoli Waltham. I've never grown lettuce and broccoli before. I am going to add to this bed with more salad fixings.

New growth on the Johnsons Blue Geranium.

These daffs didn't get planted till mid the first of Jan. They will be late blooming if they bloom at all. I planted 55 daffodils I bought for $5.

New growth on the Purple Hydrangea. I am going to plant this in the new bed at the porch.

Picture blurry. I took at least 10 pics of the Georgia Peach blossoms but they were all blurry. In a few weeks it will be in full bloom.

And I have to finish off with my favorite fellow - Little Buddy. Buddy is loving playing with his friend, Molly who visits regular. They get so rough with each other sometime - but I'll tell ya he holds his own with Molly the Rat Terrier. Buddy like to pose for the camera.

Well I'm hoping that all of you are starting to warm up a bit. We have had and expect the next 5 days to be beautiful and warming more each day. Next week we are expecting temps to be in the low 70's. YEA!! Spring is around the corner.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to check out Tootsie's blog and see who all else is flaunting their goodies.

Bird and Butterfly Garden

The weather this weekend reminds me why I like living on the Alabama Gulf Coast. For the past week our temps have been easing up even if only slightly. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with highs around 60 and Sunday was the same with slightly warmer temps of 64. You all know what this means to a gardener this time of year. I spent both days including Friday outdoors.



I managed to get this garden edged on Friday with the rubber edging you buy from Walmart. Saturday my friend came to visit for the weekend with Molly, the rat terrier. Well Molly has a fetish with rubber and gloves of any kind - though clean ones are not the ones she is looking for. After siezing my gloves a few times I quickly learned to keep them on or in a safe place. The rubber fetish drove me crazy because she pulled up ALL of the rubber borders taring up my beds around the edges. I had no choice but to head to Walmart and pick up the scalloped stones to edge the bed. Of course it looks a lot better but I wasn't planning on that expense this year.



I'll have to pick up stones for all of the beds.



Doesn't this look good and all ready for some plants. What I have so far are a few daffodils, blue hyancinth (blooms are on my new kitchen table). The piece going down the center is a piece of flashing that wasn't usable. It is temporary. I am going to purchase some flat stones for getting around here. This garden ended up measuring 16x6 - much larger than my plans but I am glad for all of this new space. This bed will be part sun in the summer. Currently it is more shade. This will be a Bird and Butterfly garden.









This new bed is full sun. This is an enlargment actually more than doubling its size. It will require 35 12" scalloped stones to go all the way around. Already here in the section I put down last year are yellow and red cannas and 52 daffodils. I won't be digging in these areas of course. This garden will also be a Bird and Butterfly Garden.

I hope you all have a great weather day and maybe do some gardening.

A Blue Hyancinth - Watching It Bloom

This is my very first Hyancinth. I was in awe as I watched it change everyday. I captured it daily because it was growing so fast.


Hope you enjoy this presentation.

The following photo displays the perfect bloom. Click for a close up.

I have a question - What's up with the pink one with all this blue.

I think my lettuce and broccoli has found a perfect spot and will produce very well. They are already responding to their new location.

I can't wait to see the peach tree all flowered out. It is a sure sign of spring. The buds are just now turning pink and will open up soon.

Hope you all have a great gardening day. I hate to hear more snow and cold weather is on its way. Hopefully we'll ALL be done with the cold of winter and welcome spring.

This and That Weekend

We were expecting some beautiful weather and warmer days and we got it . Friday was a beautiful 60 degrees and Sat and part of Sun were beautiful. Clouds began to move in on Sun but still it was a good day too. I got out and accomplished a lot this weekend.


On Sunday I was running out of time getting the broccoli and lettuce in the ground. I was scrambling for edging for this bed. I was able to use a thin piece of flashing from the house that wasn't usable. I put it to use. I also found some plates in the shed we worked on this weekend and they were perfect. The broccoli and lettuce will be very happy here facing the south. I amended the already rich soil with some compost I made last year and mixed it in well. What you see on top is the seed start mix they started in. The backside of this area will be filled in with leaves or whatever. That is the drip line off the house.

Speaking of compost - I learned a lesson this week - don't use green onions that still have the roots on them. They will try to root in the compost. They won't decompose unless you remove the root.

I have a question - do you think I will need to cover this with plastic with the cooler temps coming in? The lows are going into the low 30's. Help me garden Buddies.






This is the front porch bed I started last weekend. I started out with a curved front. Well I had to keep evening it up....


after evening it up 3 times this is what I ended up with. The area is about 6 1/2' wide and 13' or so long. I think this will hold a lot flowers. I have to finish up the edging and rake it out with some added fine garden soil with vermiculite. This garden will receive 6 or so hours of sun a day.
I am looking forward to filling it up. There is another garden in the front that I will be enlarging too and also a garden around the pecan tree in the front to work on.

This will be the new spot for a veggie garden. You see here it is the middle of the day and there is plenty of sun. Any poor plants like the Dusty Miller in this area will be relocated.

This is where the veggie garden was last year. It is the middle of the day like the other photo but it is shade. This is why my garden didn't fare so well last year.

My friend and I worked hard on the shed out back burning lots of trash and limbs and clearing out an area that was snakey looking. There are still many good finds in the shed but look what I salvaged this trip. I have not had a real dining table in 5 years and well this one is going to work fine. It had car oil and all kinds of other stuff on it and was covered in webs but it cleaned up nice. It is old and VERY heavy and solid wood.

Another find in the shed. It is in perfect condition with a little rust but it is going to clean up nicely too. I need a little paint and some cushions. (Please don't look at how dirty my porch is - It needs painting and powerwashing but will come later. I've only lived here 2 years and you should've seen it before I moved in). I love the iron work on the chair and its fan shaped back.

Do you know what this is? Take a good look. Well some of you do - it's a BIG Christmas tree stand. My first thought - oh that looks good and usable for some plants and then I saw what it is and I still intend to use it for that. It will work great - put some holes in the bottom and dress up the thing in the center and WA-LA. It'll look good up in the garden bed.

Of the seeds I planted - this is the only lupine up and it's the Russell Strain Lupines from Hometown seeds. No others are even hinting at coming up yet.

This is the tray of Red Breadseed Poppies I received from Catherine at A Garden in Progress. OK Catherine - tell me how much do I need to thin these babies out. The seeds are so tiny there was no chance of just dropping a couple of seeds. Look at them. I think I will have lots of poppies. After taking the photo I put up the Foil folders to keep them from reaching out the window so bad.

Since I was into getting dirty this weekend I repotted the house plants too. These 3 containters I picked up 2 weeks ago at Walmart for $3. a piece on clearance. I love the red, orange and the yellow colors.

The green pot I picked up at the Goodwill. I love it.

Well that wraps up a busy weekend.

I've had a couple of comments asking me about my 'friend'. He is a fellow I broke up with last year. It's one of those - I like to be around ya and have some fun but ain't gonna live with ya. He drinks too much and never stops talking and is extremely messy. I like him and enjoy his company but I don't think I'll ever marry again and don't think I'll ever live with another man either. His name is John.

A Sunny and Warmer Weekend!!!

The 'Ole Weatherman' is calling for a weekend half filled with sunshine and warmer weather. How ya like my description. Optimistic it is. Actually the next few days are going to be very nice. It is beautiful outside here today and it just makes me anxious to get off work today.

I just came from WM and picked up some potting mix to go into the new porch garden - unnamed yet. I am getting it ready to do some direct seed sowing and plant some things I need to get in the ground. I am also getting an area out the back door garden for these babies. See how big they are. I am planting them this weekend and will begin some new seeds in these containers.

The lettuce will be ready to eat in maybe 3-4 weeks, I'm hoping anyway.

The broccoli is also getting big. I have no idea how long it takes broccoli to make but I'll be as happy as a lark when I cook me some. It might be just enough for me.

I have to tell you about my grandson last year. My daughters 3 kids have taken and interest in gardening the last couple of years. Last year - The Oldest grew some snap beans. He would pick 1 or 2 pods every few days. At the end of the week, April cooked a can of snap beans to go with dinner and cooked The Oldest kids beans separate for him to eat. He said that was the best beans he ever ate. I am very proud of Gavin, Ben and Luci (daughters 3) for taking an interest and for wanting to grow their own veggies.

Hope you all have a great weekend and that it is warmer.

(PS sorry I haven't been around much lately but this is the new year and I am still closing the books for last year and I am very busy. I'll be back around more in a few weeks.