Mother Earth

First an update on my dueling roosters...they have plenty of battle scars now!

We have finally had some warmer weather with sunshine and I have been reveling in getting dirty outside!  We took our annual trip to the nursery for Mother's Day.  I love visiting this place...it is remote, quiet (except for the peacocks) and nestled into the hillside surrounded by enormous trees.  We didn't see (but we heard) the peacocks this time, but L and I watched the frogs in the pond for awhile.

We came home with 2 flats of flowers, herbs, and veggies to plant around Poplar Ridge.

Fan flower in the cast iron kettle by the garage

I added sage and thyme to my herb garden - the oregano is
perennial, and I was able to over winter the parsley.

Some new additions to the big iron kettle by the front door
are curly grass and these gorgeous black velvet petunias.

The shasta daisies on the deck have over wintered in
the garage for years...this year they are looking
particularly robust!

I planted my 4 hanging planters, and also planted some flowers in a planter on my Mom's deck as my Mother's Day gift to her.  No new plants for my flower beds this year, but I did get a couple of pumpkins for the garden.

I did weed both flower beds for the second time this spring and put out all my pig statues for the first time in 2 years.  I noticed that the weeping cherry is starting to eat my fence!  It looks a little bit like Jabba the Hut, doesn't it?

I have been working down in the garden also.  The strawberries have started producing, and I have both beds weeded and covered against the birds.

I have done 3 runs with the broad fork, since we are still doing the no-till gardening method.  This is how it looks at first.

Then I go through and pick out the rocks - after almost 15 years of gardening in the same spot, I don't understand why I am still finding so many rocks!  This is just one of 6 piles that I picked out this year.  I also break up the clods before it is ready to plant.

Here it is after planting the first 7 rows of seeds:  sugar snap peas, carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes and lettuce.  I have plenty more to plant, but had to give my shoulders and hands a break for a couple of days!

Since I finally have chicken wire up around the entire garden, and it doesn't look like anymore freezing nights, I can start planting out my seedlings soon!

Happy Mother's Day and happy planting!