Not really gardening so much as relaxation after spending some time weeding..... Hope you enjoy.

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Beautiful Day + Prepared Garden + Plants + Good Help = Wonderful Birthday

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. Well, today was beautiful, so I celebrated my birthday by transplanting peppers, tomatoes, and broccoli into my garden. Now only time will tell how they take the change from my living room window to the wide open space of my garden plot.

After being chased from my garden by darkness, mom (who stopped by to help me out) and I sat down on my swing to go through some seed packets she had - so now I have some zucchini, patty pan squash, nasturtiums, carrots, and beets to plant in the coming days. Add that squash to the trombetta - a climbing italian summer squash I got from another friend, and this gardener, who generally doesn't plant squash because it takes up too much space and tends to be a prolific for my taste, is asking for trouble. And to think I am not even planting my favorite squash, which happens to be butternut squash, or a fun squash like fairytale pumpkins, which I was going to try planting one year and saved some seed, but I don't know what happened to it, so I never did. Oh well, I do like squash, but I am not sure I can keep up.

I am excited about the nasturtiums, I had tried to grow it once before but my seed was old and it never came up. On top of all the previous listed things, I still need to plant onions, beans, and maybe some corn and potatoes.

And I forgot to mention after being chased out of the garden by darkness, I was chased off the swing by a bumble bee - obviously enjoying the beautiful day as much as I was prior to my disturbing his resting place (the spring of my porch swing) and subsequently being sprayed by poisonous spray. I am hoping that will take care of the problem, because I have no intention of giving up my porch swing for the summer.

Sunlight (... and water) Are Very Important

A lot has been growing around my place but I have been slow in sharing it with you. First I must show you what has happened to my sago palm. I set it in the window around the same time that I had put the poll on my page and the day after I posted the poll two new leaves came up out of the middle. Just last week as recommended by one of my poll takers, I trimmed off the brown leaves...any of the leaves that looked even remotely green in the previous picture had since turned brown. Now it looks entirely different and hopefully I will treat it better so it can stay green for a long time.

My tomatoes are looking well, despite some ill watering habits a week or two ago. I knew it was high time to water them, but I had a wedding to go to three hours away so I decided that I would water them when I got home in the evening. Well I didn't get home until late and forgot, when I got up in the morning, my poor tomatoes were hanging over the sides of their pots looking quite pathetic. I was panicked to the core, because I knew that though I could go to the greenhouse and buy tomatoes starts it would be highly unlikely that there would be any purple russians or pineapples, which I am looking forward to with great anticipation. I was late for church but I took time to quick dump lots of water on them. I was very relieved when I returned home to find their roots had lapped up all of the water and most of them were standing up a little straighter. Now they seem to be fully recovered minus a few who didn't make it, but as anyone who knows my habits, knows I always start more than I need anyways and end up with more plants than I know what to do with. Right now all I can think of is Psalm 42:1 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." and that it could be rewritten, "As Kristin's tomatoes pant for streams of water,...."

One more thing before I finish this post, here are a couple of shots of the peas in my porch pot....which come to think of it, I really need to water. One from a couple of weeks ago and one from tonight. I will let you determine which is which.

"Thank God for Big and Little Favors"

Someone I met recently uses this phrase quite often, especially with small things that some would think are insignificant and sometimes it even seems to be when instead one might be getting frustrated and it reminded me sometimes we miss the things God does for us each day. Last week was Easter and I have a tradition at Easter, but this year I almost forgot. I always make dandelion salad, but I hadn't seen any dandelions yet this year, so I wasn't sure if I could find any. Well, when I stepped out in the lawn and looked around, at first I thought I would never find enough, but then the more I looked, the more I saw. My dad said it was the best dandelion salad he had had in a long time - nice, tender, young dandelion...it lacked the usual bitterness so much that you could almost have passed it off as some other kind of salad.

First produce of the season...grower - God, assistance needed - none,

just pick and enjoy...

Mmmm....one of my favorite Easter dishes.

Keep those eyes open and thank God for those big and little favors. Hallelujah the Lord is Risen! Hope you all had a good Easter.

Purple Russian, Pineapple, and Brandywine...

Hmm . . . it sounds like the good start for a creative writing assignment. After a day of skiing at Brandywine, battered and bruised - to the point of appearing purple, the Russian went home and ate some fresh pineapple.

Well sorry to disappoint you, it is not a creative writing assignment but rather a list of the tomatoes taking up residence in my living room window. The pineapple tomatoes are coming up nicely and the brandywines are just poking through.

The purple russians need a few more days... I just planted them on Wednesday, the others I planted last Wednesday, so we will give them a week to break through the soil.

I also planted some spinach and romaine in a pot on my porch surrounded by some beets and radishes, we will have to wait and see how they do.

The view out my window this morning doesn't put one much in the gardening mood, but it will so on melt away again.

I Spy Something Green...

This morning while I was watering my plants I was amazed to see some of my starts sprouting.

I just planted those seeds on Wednesday and they are already shooting up. Now to the job of keeping them healthy for the next 6-8 weeks. I planted tomato seeds - pineapple and brandywine and also some Giants of California Zinnias. It is the zinnias that are poking their heads through the soil already. The tomatoes need a few more days. I eagerly awaiting the Purple Russian tomato seeds mom and I ordered so we can get those started also.

James, Mom and I enjoyed a hike on Thursday with the wonderful weather we have been having.

Getting My Hands Dirty

Someone told me this week that it is said one should plant peas on St. Patrick's Day. If I had ever heard that before, I didn't log it in my brain - or at least not at the right place and is irretrievable. Truthfully, I am not very good about planting peas, I have before, but generally not early enough to get a good crop since they like cool weather and my garden is rarely prepped early enough to make a very good effort at the cool weather plants. This year is no different, but since I had this little tidbit of information (and who knows if I will recall it next year) I decided I wanted to try to plant seeds today. I know even though it may be quipped to plant peas on St. Patrick's Day, that peas planted tomorrow or next week will still come up, but as some will attest, when I get something in my mind I would like to try I can't seem to get it out.

Since my garden is not yet ready, I had to be creative. I decided to try growing snap peas in my large porch pot with a tomato cage in it to grow up. So tonight when I got home, after dark, I turned on my porch light and got my hands dirty.

A few signs of spring are appearing without any assistance from me. Here is my hyperturfa pot that has been sitting on my porch all winter.