Rhubarb blooming

Found this yesterday.

Wow. How did it get to be February so fast?

Ok, so...I haven't posted a thing since November.  Basically, after getting stuff sort of put away for winter, I've moved on to other things.

Now, it is time to start seeds!  Yay!  Gardening season will be here before I know it.

Yesterday Rachel and I took a trip up to Richters and picked up way too many seeds. Then, when I got home, I ordered the rest of the seeds from them that I had forgotten while I was up there.

I'm indulging myself this year.  I'm putting in lots of herbs and we're going with organic and heirloom seeds for the vegetables and fruits as much as possible.

Here is what I ordered from Richters.
Catnip Wheatgrass Rosemary - Santolina Garden Sage Lime Basil Lemon Basil
Santo Cilantro Genovese Basil Greek Oregano Romanesco Basil Rosie Basil Sweetie Tomatoes Beefsteak Tomatoes Red Currant Tomatoes Lilliput Tomatoes Golden Detroit Beets Sugar Beets Bloomdale Spinach Mini Bell Peppers (Bitesize!) Calendula California Wonder Bell Peppers Muncher Cucumbers Cayenne Peppers Pumpkin - Max (for Rachel) Carrots - Nantes, Rainbow Blend and Parisian
I started most of them, except for the carrots and lettuce.  Also, I started some flowers. Delphiniums Pansy Hollyhock
I wish I had another lightbox and tray. :)
The remainder of the order from Richters contains:
Shiitake Mushroom, Growing Kit   Allheal            Arnica, European Seeds                 Aster, New England Seeds                 Balloon Flower  Balm, Lemonella Seeds                   Basil, Romanesco  Beardtongue Seeds                       Betony Seeds                             Black-Eyed Susan Seeds                 Borage  Borage, Bianca Seeds                 Buckwheat Seeds                        Burnet, Salad Seeds                     Cilantro, Longstanding  Cilantro, Marino  Dill, Mammoth  Dill, Bouquet  Marjoram, Sweet  Parsley, Plain  Rosemary Sow Sage, Red  Thyme, English  Thyme, French  Beet, Chioggia  Beet, Dark Red Detroit  Beet, Bulls Blood  Broccoli, Calabrese  Broccoli, De Cicco  Carrot, Royal Chantenay  Corn, True Gold Sweet SowNatural(tm Eggplant, Japanese  Kale, Lacinato  Melon, Heart of Gold  Melon, Honey Dew Green Flesh  Pea, Oregon Sugar Pod  Spinach, Corvair  Tomato, Black Cherry  Tomato, Black Prince  Tomato, Brandywine   Tomato, Yellow Currant  Tomato, Riesenstraube  Watermelon, Crimson Sweet 

Cleaning Up and Preparing for Winter

I've been so busy working in the garden that I've not journaled any of it.

Yesterday I created a large, raised garlic bed.  I planted 30 Legacy and 30 or so Siberian garlic cloves.  Covered the whole things with straw. And now will forget until spring.

I've cleaned out some of the beds, but still need to finish them.

I need to buy more landscaping fabric and finish the paths with cedar chips.

I have planted 100 giant crocus bulbs all over the yard.  Rachel and I planted hyacinths, Daffodils, and Jonquils (a freebie from Vesey's) in the cut flower bed.

I still need to plant the fancy daffodils.  I have ten large bulbs that need to get in the ground.

I want to create a bed for grapes and a bed for blueberries.  To do this, I need to pull up the bricks, do something with the strawberries, build the raised red .... and buy dirt. Some of this will have to wait for spring since it is hard to find dirt now.

I need to add some compost to the butterfly bed and the iris bed.

The herb beds needs to be cleaned out.

I also want to put in raised beds along the back of the garden along the fence.

The gutters need to be cleaned out and covered.

I have saved seeds from:

• the shasta daisy
• both types of marigolds
• the petunia Rachel gave me for mother's day this year
• gladiolas (thousands)
• lilies from the front bed
• morning glories

I still need to harvest the moon flower seeds.  There is a huge pod I've been letting dry a bit on the vine that needs to be cut off.

Late summer

Rachel helped me process tomatoes from the garden.

Picking tomatoes in the rather overgrown garden.

The Edelweiss bloomed!

The succulents are doing nicely.

The rain basin looks very nice now.

 The Hidccote Lavendar looks amazing.

Rachel picked apples from one of the trees and asked me to make pies.

And we ate watermelon from the garden for dessert!

Well, serves me right.

We've had such cool weather this summer that I took a lot of time (including one 16 day stint) at the cottage.  I left my garden to it's own devices for long periods.

When I returned this Monday night after being gone five days, I was stunned at the amount of produce to be harvested.  I picked 310 cherry tomatoes and 22.5 lbs of tomatoes for sauce.  Also an additional 7-8 large tomatoes for the BLTs we had for dinner and the bruschetta David is going to make.  Here is an example of what I came home to:

The morning glories have finally started blooming.  The front one is taking over the porch.

These are all glads and zinnias from the "cut flower" bed.

Geese

I cannot believe the geese are already migrating.  This summer is just too weird temperature-wise.  My plants think summer is over and are starting to wind down.

I've seen two flocks of geese in the last two days.

I'm not sure I'll get a fall crop this year.

Photos of Flower Beds

Black Calla Lilly 

Pink and White Calla Lilly

Glorious Glads

New Lily...just keeps blooming.

White Glad....starts light pink.

Magnolia tree has fungus....picked up stuff to treat it with.

Joe Pye going a bit crazy

Butterfly bush

I think these are "Hello Yellow".

New Walkway

The ground cover that is taking over everying.

These are the largest morning glory leaves I've ever seen.