Thursday, February 11, 2010

It's The First Blossom!

It's cold and rainy in the Seattle area today. It's true that Seattle is very gray in the winter, but there is also an abundance of every shade of green you can imagine. Washington is the Evergreen state. On my morning arounds of the yard, I did see this one delicate white flower on the Italian Prune tree, the first blossom of the season. Stay away Jack Frost.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Show Time

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show is this weekend, and as always, a great inspiration and adventure.  I love the plant and bulb vendors and usually come home with some nice additions for the garden. My favorite vendors are Swan Island DahliasRaintree Nursery, Woodland Gardens and Far Raches Farm. Nothing like total immersion to get the planting juices really flowing.
















There are also beautiful display gardens that provide a plethora of ideas for what can be done in the yard. One of my favorite ideas was a bulkhead made of 4" x 4" wire grid and rocks. I like the contrast between the round light colored rocks held by the symmetrical grid. They seems like reasonable materials to work with and of course we have rocks everywhere in the yard.

















Seed Planting Schedule

I'm attempting to be more organized gardner this season and get my planting schedule figured out. Normally I plant my seeds when I think the time is right. Some times too early, some times too late, not always a successful endeavor. This spring the seeds will be sown according to my well thought out planting chart. Click on the table below to take a closer look.

I'm setting up a hoop house over one of my raised beds with hopes of starting the snap peas, spinach, the cold hardy lettuces and swiss chard this month.




Saturday, February 6, 2010

Early Spring?

This January has been the warmest on record for the Seattle area. That is a good thing and a bad thing. The good part is getting to go outside without a coat and play in the garden. The bad part is all the plants are starting to grow well before they should. Will the fruit trees have enough chill time to produce fruit? Will the fruit blossoms freeze if there is a cold spell or frost? I'll cross my fingers and hope all will be fruitful this summer! Even some of the veggies have managed to survive the mild weather.


Beets



Broccoli



Onions



Carrot



Asian Pear



Raspberries



Blueberries



Italian Prune


Of course during these warm winter days, I let the Ladies out to graze in the garden. They have even started laying again. Bonus!