gardenmama's Blog at GardenStew.com

The garden is nearly past...

gardenmama — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:14:30 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:14 pm (GMT 0)

This summer has been a big let down. The weather never fully cooperated for me then a day or two at a time. too much rain and not enough dry days. I can't fully complain I didn't get early blight like a lot of people in the area but my plants were not the best looking. For the past 3 weeks I have been picking a lot of tomatoes and cooking them down with peppers from the garden. I have made several wonderful batches of tomato base which makes a great sauce with the addition of tomato paste or add some fresh veggies and it is a great soup..

I spent most of Monday morning, (us labor day) pulling out the 30 spent tomato plants, all the cukes, string beans and some other things. All that is left is zucchini, eggplant and some hot peppers and a handful of tomato plants.

The nights were too cold for a lot of the tomato plants and the cukes so that is why I pulled all the cukes. I have a few trays of tomatoes ripening in the sun porch and I have a huge bag of green tomatoes that a friend is making into relish.

The sunflowers are still gorgeous and blooming with plenty more coming along.

My honey made a nice table to have by the fire pit. When we bought the house 4 years ago we found a nice piece of pink marble or granite (don't know which) in the garage. The long time owner had worked at one of the Quarries in the Barre VT area and brought lots of mistakes etc home. This one happened to be a large grave marker...Sooo the slab has been sitting around and finally Michael made a table out of it.

On Saturday my dear friend Tami got married and my honey and son went with me to the wedding. It was a lovely sunny day and a wonderful wedding and after party. All us girls from high school that were in a group together all sat together and took the bride away for a few pictures. The picture of us all together is taken in the same exact order as a year book photo was taken back in 1989! It was a great day.

Me and my family

Me and my friend Tami, the gorgeous bride

All the girls...20 years later and better friends then ever.

We are once again trying to prevent the skunk from getting underneath the in law apartment. My honey spent Sunday afternoon digging a 12 inch deep and wide trench, lining it with fencing and then back filling. Hopefully this will work!

After the wedding on Saturday we went back to my brothers house where several other friends joined us with their kids. We had a great bonfire with S'mores! An over all great day!

Summer is FINALLY here...hot hot hot!!!!

gardenmama — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:21:58 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:21 pm (GMT 0)

We have been waiting and waiting for summer to REALLY show up....It has been a mostly cool and rainy summer with a nice day here and there thrown in for a tease! However this week, well since Thursday it has been DRY and HOT! My son and I have been spending quite a lot of time at the lake in Groton. We went on Monday, Wednesday (it ended up pouring), Friday and saturday. He loves to swim around in his blue tube. He isn't afraid of the water this year. He doesn't know how to swim but isn't afraid to paddle around in his tube. the beach was packed for the first time this summer. We have been going and maybe 25-30 people. there had to have been several hundreds if not low 1000's. there was no parking available in the afternoon and cars were parking on the road.

The garden is doing great and I am doing some amazing cooking..this week I made an amazing roasted garlic and fresh basil pizza..Best pizza I have ever made. I use my pizza stone on my gas grill. Comes out like a good brick oven pizza. Then the next night I picked, peppers, onions, a zucchini and bought and eggplant..I made what i call a deconstructed ratatouille. Basically it isn't a stew. I grilled everything, cut it up into cubes...roasted some garlic and onions and served it on a fresh basil flavoured couscous.... FABULOUS!

For about a week all I had on my zucchini was male flowers and then about a week after a good fertilizing I have 13 on 4 plants and more coming....be careful what you wish for! The cukes are coming slowly but about 2 a day and they are so yummy. I planted straight 8's this year and they are sweet and not bitter like pickling cukes. I have a new favorite! Blueberries are not in huge abundance but they are BIG! The one pictured below is just about as big as a quarter (25 cent piece)!

Finally a growing eggplant! and there are several others starting! WHOO HOO

We are all heading to York Beach Maine tomorrow. My husband took the day off. We are meeting my best friend Jessica there with her kids for the day. I can't wait! SUN SUN SUNS and surf surf! See you all later! Bye!

The garden is really coming along now.

gardenmama — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:52:25 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:52 pm (GMT 0)

Lots of different types of tomatoes are starting to turn and be turned into salad. This week I have picked a black brandy wine, sun cherries, grape tomatoes and regular tomatoes. The peppers are starting to come and cukes are really growing fast. Zucchini has slowed but is coming along again. I have been grilling zucchini and making zucchini bread.

Flowers are in bloom, of all sorts. Sunflowers, phlox, and others.

gardening, building and birthdays Oh my!

gardenmama — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:01:12 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 4:01 pm (GMT 0)

The garden is coming along quite nice. We got a lot of rain on Sunday but for most of last week it was dry and the garden got to dry out a bit and do some growing.

Here are the cukes. With all the rain and the heat they have really taken off.

FINALLY an eggplant flower. I hope I have enough of the summer left to pick a few. I had no idea the flowers were purple!

Hungarian Wax Peppers are getting close to getting picked. They haven't thrived like my other pepper plants but I have tons of the other varieties!

The string beans are finally flowering and in thei picture you can also see a tiny bean!

On Saturday night my honey decided we should have a fire and that means S"MORES! I had some huge marshmellows left over from a visit to memorial day so I started a huge fire and we made amazingly yummy s'mores.

Michael has been doing a bit of building and he made this windmill and it is mounted on one of the honeysuckle (formerly rose) trellis'.

On Sunday we had Logan's birthday party at Groton State Park and Lake. Rain or shine i decided to go, and of course there was more rain then shine. But the kids didn't care. Since not very many people were there the covered pavilion was available so we set up his party under there and the canopy tent at the beach. We stayed dry and the kids had a great time. We stayed until about 2:30 when it really started to come down.

Starting to harvest!

gardenmama — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:22:19 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:22 pm (GMT 0)

Things are starting to slow down here...and I am spending more time in the yard and garden. Berries are coming by the bowl full, zucchinis are coming and coming...and tomatoes are growing and turning. We have still had a lot of rain and I was in the garden for an hour the other day trimming off A LOT of leaves. I pulled off a 5 gallon pail full of spotted and yellowing leaves. I sprayed the plants and everyone looks pretty healthy now.

This super cherry is over 6 feet tall..and growing rapidly.

All the rain and the heat have burst my sunflowers...they are so pretty and are all at different stages. I should have sunflowers until fall.

Here is the tinman hard at work.

I have been harvesting peppers, tomatoes and zucchini...

This puppy is 5 months old and I call her a miracle worker. Until our neighbor got her Logan was terrified of dogs...now he wants a puppy. This is Riley, a lab mix.

Summer arrived this week and it was HOT HOT HOT. We finally pulled out the sprinkler and Logan enjoyed.

Logan's birthday is today...Happy 6th Birthday Logan. His party is Sunday and we are heading to the local beach. Logan wanted a pinata but I really didn't want to spend over $20 on something that we will destroy. So we made one! I used an brown shopping bag with a handle and made an pull away bottom. We decorated it with Thomas the Tank stickers and ribbons. One of the ribbons pulls the bottom away! All the candy will fall out.

Lots of humid weather and rian makes the garden grow.

gardenmama — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:05:43 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:05 pm (GMT 0)

During the past 2-3 weeks I can say that there has been MAYBE 2-3 relaly nice summer days. Most of the days have been cloudy, humid and rainy. Last Thursday before I left town for the 4th of July weekend I took some pictures of the garden and flower progress. The Clemitis are gorgeous, the day lilies are in bloom and HOW DOES MY GARDEN GROW? The answer to that is very very fast. On Thursday morning of this week I did get a chance to get out into the garden (since the past few days was nothing but wet and one storm after the other) and spray some fungicide on all the plants to hopefully prevent fungus growth int he wet conditions. All the tomato plants are looking great. I have tons of growing tomatoes and flowers..and soon will be picking the first one. I think it might be a paste roma.

Here are some pictures from last weeks garden. I took new ones last night but have not uploaded them and do not have the camera with me at the moment. So that means that i will have to do another blog this weekend!

The family went to Connecticut last weekend to celebrate the 4th of July holiday with family. I took some amazing pictures at the fireworks that night. These were the best fireworks that I have ever seen. My camera has a setting for them and I got some amazing shots!

I've been very busy so here is a long post of updates.

gardenmama — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:06:07 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:06 pm (GMT 0)

I had 2 rose bushes die this past winter...well we are not sure they are dead but they didn't start growing a few weeks ago....so we decided to dig them up and plant something in their place. My husband and I went to a nice landscaping place and picked out two new honeysuckles. One is called flame and has pinkish red blooms and the other is called the Ghost and has very light white blooms.

I also picked up several annuals in red, white and blue and planted them in the tractor tire on the front lawn.

After the arbor got blown apart int he wind storm a few weeks ago my husband planned to build me new fences. He cut up the yellow birch and used parts of it to make 2 fence panels. The morning glories and clematis will grow up them in the summer.

Everyday I find another tomato growing in the garden. The plants are doing so much better then I had expected. More and more flowers everyday as well.

Peppers are coming too!

I have been doing a lot of work for my brother on the Michael A Corcoran Cancer Research and Scholarship Fund. My brother started this organization in honor of our father who passed away from a cancer he contracted from his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He served from 67-69. The organization was started so that we could offer scholarships to Vets and their children who live in the Upper Valley region of Vietnam.

This past weekend my brother, myself and some other members of the family set up a booth at the Quechee Balloon festival in Quechee, VT. We were there promoting the organization, spreading the word and raising money. We made a lot of business contacts for the future. It was a great weekend. The weather wasn't always great but promoting our cause is what is important. You can check us out at our website at:
www.michaelacorcoranscholarshipfund.com

This is my brother in front of our organizations location at the festival.

This is me with my brother and his wife at the festival.

Here are some of my favorite shots of the Hot Air Balloons over the weekend.

About 5 times on Saturday a paratrooping group flew over and then dropped on the the field at the festival. They were amazing.

Lots of hard work....the garden is finally all planted!

gardenmama — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:39:26 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:39 pm (GMT 0)

We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend...FINALLY! So out the door I went at 8am on Saturday, and headed right to the garden patch. First on the list was to till the dirt portion of the garden, so that I could smooth it out and place more black plastic and tires. After the tilling was done my honey and I laid down the plastic, placed tires on and strategically placed bricks to prevent the plastic from blowing up. Afterwards it was finally time to bring out all the tomato plants from the sun porch. While I was moving plants out and planting them in the tires I made a great discovery....3 cherry tomatoes growing already! WHOO HOO! I couldn't believe it!

After a lot of bending and walking to and from the house all 34 tomato plants were in the ground and looking happy. I have never had such success starting my tomato plants. All the plants took great and a few are over 3 FEET TALL!!! WOW

You will notice if you followed my blog last summer that the entire garden is now on plastic and planted in tires. Hopefully the weed problem is long gone! I have decided not to plant pumpkins this year. They take over everything! There wasn't a single place last fall that I could walk without walking on pumpkin vines. So my honey is going to let me buy as many as I want this fall! Next year we may have a load of manure delivered on our back hill and plant them there. We shall see.

Peas are growing nicely.

Hot peppers in the tire.

The tinman has reported back to work!

On Saturday my brother came after lunch and helped cut up the tree that had fallen on the apartment. we also cut down one of the other trees sharing the same trunk.

My bearded irises are in bloom! and are gorgeous!

A year later and the WINDS RETURN...

gardenmama — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:18:52 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:18 pm (GMT 0)

Last night we were visited once again with HUGE winds. This time we were home and experienced it all first hand. Around 5pm last night we heard the winds picking up. We could hear small branches brushing up against the house. The around an half an hour later I looked outside and noticed my arbor was leaning, then saw that the swingset had been THROWN into it! we went outside to stop things from blowing around and while we were out there, a panel of the trellis blew off and nearly hit me and Logan. Then a few minutes later a HGUE gust came through and blew it completely apart, cracking it off at the base. The little green houses were blown all over.

This is the trellis before it was totally destroyed.

The panel that nearly hit me and Logan.

The trellis totally ripped off at the base and all the other debris.

Once we decided it was time to go in I noticed that there were branches on the roof of the apartment...Well not just branches a HUGE part of a yellow birch. No damage, just a lot of work needing to come up this weekend.

We were lucky that the power just went of quick and came back on.

The yard is looking great...

gardenmama — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:57:53 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 1:57 pm (GMT 0)

Lots and lots of growing is going in our yard. Not much to say but lots to show today.

This past weekend I finished laying the mulch in the flower beds. The plants just pop now that they have all that red around them.

The hostas are all growing beautifully, lets hope the deer don't find them this summer!

The peonies and the bee balm are doing very well.

My hubby built me a new trellis for the clemetis.

The peas are starting to grow!

The spring flowers are slowly coming to an end but here are a few gorgeous blooms from the weekend.

The weather has been good enough so I decided to put 3 of the largest tomato plants out in the driveway pots. It has been cold so I put a sheet around them, but here they are.

I have had my suspicions that at least one of the squirrels that come every day is going to be a mommy. I have named her Mama since I now have proof. Mama also has horrible scars all over her back from some kind of fights and maybe mating. In the picture you can see her tits growing. Mama is very calm and lets us get quite close to her, there is another female that is a bit skittish still and soon will be a mommy too! We should be seeing lots of baby squirrels this summer.

Lots of hard work make the yard beautiful!

gardenmama — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:30:44 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:30 pm (GMT 0)

This past Saturday we did a lot of outdoor work. It wasn't too hot, just the perfect temperature to get things done. First thing my little Logan and I did was to get the tires ready to plant peas. I mixed a bag of compost with a bag of top soil and topped off each of the tires. Then in went the peas.

After we were done planting the peas it was on to the ....WEEDS! It was time to weed the flower beds. I started with just pulling weeds that were inside the beds and then realized that there was tons of weeds and grass growing up between the rocks that surround the beds. I ended up moving each rock and pulling all the weeds out. This took HOURS! I filled Logan's wagon and a large wheel barrow with weeds, dead plants and grass. It was so worth it.

After all the weeding I decided that the lawn around the flower beds needed to be mowed as well....Of course once the mower is started and going why stop? So I ended up mowing the entire lawn. Which was a good thing since it was a lot longer then I thought it was. But Boy is it good to see it looking so nice. AND it is so much better then seeing FEET of SNOW!

The hyacinthes are opened and they are so gorgeous!

The next pictures are a series of pictures showing the progression of the tulips and daffodil garden. The tulips are OPENED and are SOOOO gorgeous! The color is my favorite.

The squirrels were really active on Saturday. All 3 of the red squirrels were out at the same time and it sounded like WAR! They were all screeching at one another and protecting "their" personal feeder. we only have 2 squirrel feeders so one ended up eating off the floor. they are such funny creatures. We must have watched them go at it for 30 minutes. They they yell at us! It is so funny. I scream back, " you better not yell at me or i will take your food away!"

The above squirrel would not leave that feeder alone! He was very upset when the other two were even on the same tree.

We had a beautiful yellow visitor on the new feeder. This Goldfinch was perfectly happy to eat while I took him picture.

Today i decided to cut some of the gorgeous tulips and daffodils. The rain is coming and they probably will get destroyed.

Daffodills in bloom and garden vistors

gardenmama — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:31:45 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:31 pm (GMT 0)

Yesterday was a cooler day then the past 5 days (phew) but the sun shown bright all day and encouraged the daffodils to open up! It is so nice to get home after a long afternoon in a hot bus, to find new blooms everywhere! I had no idea what color the Daffodils would be until they bloomed....and they are my favorite! The white with the yellow centers.

While wandering the yard looking for new growth I spotted a Black Capped Chick-o-dee on our new bird feeder. He was very very calm and didn't mind that I was only about 6 feet away.

I can't wait to get home tonight and see what else has opened in the gorgeous sunshine of the day! Everyone have a lovely day!

With a a little rain last week progress is happening!

gardenmama — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:17:22 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:17 pm (GMT 0)

Last week the weather was up and down. Most of the week it was wet and gray but as of Friday the sun was out and it REALLY WARMED UP! We got a glimpse of summer here in Vermont. On Friday the temps were in the upper 70's and on Saturday we topped out at nearly 90! That was all we needed here in Groton to encourage some slow to grow bulbs and other plants to come to life.

Last week the Daffodils and Tulips were just a few inches tall and now they are a good 10 inches tall and showing buds! I can't wait for them to open.

Last week the hosta were all hiding but last night I noticed that they have started to emerge. Now to protect them all from those ever present, hiding...DEER!

I was beginning to wonder what I had did wrong with the bulbs that I planted in the large tractor tire on the front lawn. As of Friday only a few little leaves have begun to emerge. I was wondering if the winter had been too cold and that they were not deep enough to be protected. But to my surprise, Sunday night everything was popping up! EVEN THE HYACYNTHS! There should be blooming tulips, daffodils and many others soon! YIPPIE!

I was very worried about the hydrangeas. The winter was so bitter cold. We haven't had a cold winter like this for many, many years. Yesterday I picked up some miracle grow for acid lovers and I am hoping to have blooms this year. While watering them last night I saw the new leaves emerging!

So far it looks like everything is greening up and growing. The harsh winter didn't do any lasting damage. I can't wait to see what more of this gorgeous warm weather will bring!

A little bit of wildlife in the yard.

gardenmama — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:21:17 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:21 pm (GMT 0)

About a week ago I was walking through the kitchen, looked out the window and noticed a small doe eating below one of my bird feeders. We watched her for several minutes and then she walked away. She didn't run, but limped up the wooded path to the back of the property. About an hour later,when it was dark I looked out again and there were 2 of them. Both injured, the second one could barely stand and could not put her hind leg down on the ground at all. They both must have been hit by a car but managed to wander away. I was prepared the next night to call the Game Warden and report them if they came back. Both dear were injured and might have to be taken down, but they never returned.

When they both returned it was too dark to take a good picture. I tried and even was outside the front door trying but they came out too dark. the deer were very hungry and tame as well. I was outside on the steps about 20 feet from them and they didn't run off.

Well lets move onto the squirrels....We love to feed our little red crazy friends. As far as we can tell there are now 3 of them visiting us daily.

This is what happened to the feeder we were using this winter to feed the birds and the squirrels.

The feeder was totally demolished! So we went out and got a great new feeder that we attached to the tree. The smart squirrels figured out right away how to open the top and get the food. They even get right into it and eat and eat. one must have been too lazy though, it chewed a huge hole int he plexiglass front big enough for him to get through!

Here is one of the furry little guys helping himself to the birdseed on their feeder.

Well I am back and this is going to be a long one!

gardenmama — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:01:48 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:01 pm (GMT 0)

I don't have any excuse except that I have been sooo busy and there really hasn't been a ton to blog about. This time of year is so blah blah blah. Things are starting to grow but not fast enough.

After a rough start with some seeds not germinating the tomato plants really started to grow and grow! I have been transplanting them into the newspaper pots and now some are so big they are getting put into larger plastic pots. There are so many tomatoes, about 110 PLANTS, that they have moved out onto the sun porch full time. The first couple nights it was a bit cool out there but they all pulled through. They were just a bit wilted in the morning, but once the sun came out they perked up.

Here are the tomatoes on March 26th

April 5th Tomato Plants

April 17th Tomato Plants transplanted into larger pots.

Now all I have to wait and wait and wait some more until it is warm enough for the tomato plants to be put in the ground. I plan on the end of May or the 1st weekend in June. That should be safe enough and past the last killing frost.

On March 28th we got home at around 4:30pm and we were greeted by spring bulbs growing! WOW finally! I planted them correctly!

I was outside the Saturday afternoon before Easter and the crocus had bloomed!

Everything is slow to grow this time of year. We still had snow on March 28th, but finally it is all GONE!

NO MORE SNOW!!!

My little helper Logan is so happy to be able to play outside again. The snow is gone and the sun has come and we are really starting to have warm days. Yesterday it hit 60 and Logan wanted to play with the sidewalk chalk he got to Easter.

Yesterday we all did a lot of yard clean up. we cut down a Maple Tree that was leaning over and soon would be growing into the the roof of our inlaw apartment. That was quite the job. Even with using a rope and cutting the wedge out of the tree in the direction we wanted it to fall, it ended up on the roof anyway. Though with the rope on it and me pulling it, it slowed it down and there wasn't any damage. We then raked up about 5 bags of leaves and 4 wheel barrow loads. Things are starting to look a lot better out there. Starting to look like SPRING and not FALL! Here are a few of the pictures I took of the plants in the yard coming back to life.

Mint

I think these are snow drops

Lillies

I took the plastic cover off the Sage Box a few weeks ago. With the cover on it is doesn't completely die, just gets dry. I can use it when i take the cover off and I have been using it on pork tenderloins. Very yummy!

I hope everyone out there is stewland is doing well and tolerated the long winter well. I can't wait to be out there in the dirt, planting and harvesting everyday!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!

gardenmama — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:09:43 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:09 pm (GMT 0)

I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED! When we got home last night I noticed that there was some dirt showing around our dug well. I looked over the small snowbank and noticed...SPRING FLOWERS COMING UP! WHOO HOO...doing the happy happy dance. i just planted them in the fall and was hoping they would grow...and THEY ARE!!!!

I am not sure which spring flowers they are but I don't care...SOMETHING IS GROWING!!!! This weekend I am going to trudge through the 2 feet of snow on the front lawn and dig off the snow that is on the big tractor tire. I planted bulbs in there as well. I am so happy!

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day and here is a little Leprechan that I found in my livingroom.

Springlike weather and more seedling progress.

gardenmama — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:28:31 -0400

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:28 pm (GMT 0)

After a week of horrible weather, snow, rain, ice and wind the weekend turned gorgeous. Both Saturday and Sunday the sun shown bright and was in the 40's. Logan was so happy to finally be able to go outside without all the winter layers on and ride his bike in the driveway.

After filling all the bird and squirrel feeders crazy Sammie came from the woods and spent the entire day emptying "his" feeder. He is more tame then other red squirrels and I was able to get within 15 feet of him and take pictures. At one point he was standing on a branch of a tree hollaring at me. He was so funny.

"screaming a me to go away"

This week the seedlings did a lot of growing and I was able to transplant about 50 of them into my newspaper pots. A few did not take to the transplant and wilted and died but most have done fine. With int he next few weeks I will have over 150 seedlings transplanted into the paper pots. Plenty of seedlings to plant, sell and give away to friends.

The seedlings that I transplanted into the newspaper pots have also gotten their first true feeding.

More and more progress

gardenmama — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:53:43 -0500

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:53 pm (GMT 0)

Last week I planted more seeds, more tomatoes. I want to make sure that I have enough for me and some to hopefully sell. The seedlings are growing faster, some still are very slow to grow. I just wonder if some of the seeds I bought were bad. I have never had such a bad start to the growing season.

Last week I tried a growing medium that I have never used before, peat pellets. The peat pellets are about the size of a 50 cent piece and about 1/4 inch thick. The peat is encased in some kind of netting. You wet the peat pellets and they swell up. They you plant the seed in the small hole on the top. Well they work great! I also don't have to have them in normal divided trays> I just put some in a large tin and some others placed on top of areas that did grow in my germination stations. I have put plastic wrap on them to keep in the moisture and help keep warmth in as well. Well they are growing!

Here are all my little greenhouses.

Okay..thats enough..Mother nature must be kidding...

gardenmama — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:05:28 -0500

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:05 pm (GMT 0)

Well mother nature must have really needed a good laugh..but she is the only one laughing.( the only people that could possibly enjoy this are the skiers and snowmobilers.) Well it started snowing yesterday morning around 7 and it didn't stop until...well it really hasn't completely stopped yet. We got about 6 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday and last night the winds started, the snow started falling fast and this morning I was greeted with 10 inches of packed powder and 3 FOOT drifts! First I had to try and get out of the house. The drifts were all the way up the steps and I had to shove the door through all the new snow. The car was totally engulfed in drifts and I had to dig my way to the car. The only good thing was that it was warm and the wind had died down a bit.

The drifts up the stairs. Snow came pouring in the porch!

It took me over an hour to dig a trench wide enough for the car to get to the road and THEN the PLOW came and made a huge 3 foot deep pile of snow for me to get through. Well that was the icing on the cake! AAAAAHHhhh

At 5:30 i got the call that my son's school was closed and one of the schools I drive for was closed. But I still had to bring my husband to work and get to my bus to bring 3 kids to an alternative school. Well I was running late but my boss said to just take my time. Got to my bus and went out to get the 3 kids. No one rode! So i got to come home early.

When I got home my neighbor had come over with his snow blower and cleared up most of the driveway. there is just a little cleaning up to do and that can wait until the snow and wind stop completely.

Our mailboxes are somewhere under here.

If I wasn't really wanting spring to come now I do. Enough is enough with this snow stuff!

Little bit of disappointment and starting more seeds.

gardenmama — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:55:35 -0500

Author: gardenmama
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 pm (GMT 0)

On Sunday the 15th i realized that an entire tray of seeds didn't grow. So I put it on the sun porch out of the way until I could wash out the tray, get more seeds and start over. The was the first tray I planted this season. I don't know what went wrong but the soil smelled strongly of manure. I didn't use manure and the soil I used was not supposed to have any in it. I have noticed that several other openings in my trays have not grown either. So I am slowly replanting and hoping for the best. I still have plenty of plants growing but it is a huge disappointment to me.

So today I have replanted the entire tray that failed with new soil. I bought more seed started soil and am hoping for the best. Today I planted:

A burpee heirloom mix ( these will be a surprise as to what they ar)
Burpee 4th of July
Burpee Super Beefsteak
Burpee Endless Summer

I also planted a Burpee organic Eggplant the Black Beauty. why not try again. I love egg plant and I can say that I gave them one last try.

The seedlings that are going are doing well and are making a good root system. Some have started second sets of leaves. The brandywines are always the first to start making more leaves.

Logan is excited that his sunflowers are growing so well. They really are growing fast!

here is the seedling on the 17th

And here is the same seedling today, the 21st.

I hope everyone out there in Stew land is well! Spring will soon be here...I have to keep telling myself that. We have more snow coming tomorrow. We got snow the other day but it was so warm it melted by noon! Hopefully this next batch will melt as quick!