Gardening News

*On a whim I decided to see if I had any drafts for this blog and found this one. I probably never posted it because I didn't have any pictures to put in it. Still no pictures, but I figure better late than never, right?*

I've been pretty busy, as I'm sure most garden bloggers are. I got my veggie garden planted, and everything seems to be growing well. I did lose one Mrs. Benson tomato, but had an extra one to replace it with. I also wound up with 5 extra zucchini plants, as the garden center was sold out of single zucchini plants. The peas are falling over due to a nasty windstorm (thanks Scott Hetsko) they are also at the top of their poles. My parents bought some taller ones that I will install as soon as the wind stops.

My flower garden on the other hand, is not doing so well. I planted the Four o' Clocks and Flashback Calendula, and they all promptly keeled over and have not revived. Out of 9+ Four o' Clocks, only 2 appear to have survived. I planted some seeds in the garden, so maybe those will come up. The rest of the flowers I started keeled over and died before I even got them outside. I am planning to scatter seeds in my garden bed this week, so hopefully I will have some flowers by the end of the summer.

Remember the grapevine I pulled off the trees a few months ago? Well, I made some of it into a really cool trellis...as long as you don't try to stand it upright. It's rather lopsided. I tried to fix it, but due to the windstorm (thanks again, Scottie!) it looks worse than ever.

The good news is, I now have my own camera. My parents were contemplating helping me buy one, but then on one of the blogs my Mom frequents, the blogger got a new camera. Mom knew she wanted that one and offered me the 'old' camera. (It's not old in years,but in technology.) I decided that if she was going to buy a new one anyway, I might as well take it until I can save up enough money to buy one of my own. Oh, the point of that paragraph was that I can post more pictures since I don't have to share the camera with Mom anymore. Thanks Mom.

~Sarah

Goodbye Winter Hands

Monday was one of those deceptively nice winter days where the sun is shining, the snow is melted, and it looks like the temperature should be about 50 degrees. I decided to go outside and pick up some fallen branches for some friends who need kindling. Turns out it was only 36 degrees, but I wasn't planning to be outside for that long. As I was pulling dead wood out of the shrubs, I noticed there was a lot of grapevine/wisteria climbing the shrubs and trees. So, despite the fact that I was slightly chilly, and had no coat on, I started pulling grapevine off the trees and shrubs. Several hours (and with severely scratched hands) later I decided I'd pulled down as much as possible and went inside. Not knowing what to do with my pile of grapevine, I left it outside. (Mom might want to make wreaths out of them. Now that we have had a snowstorm, it makes for nice winter interest.
Even though all that work made my spring fever go down from 104 to 101, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to move the next day. Surprisingly my fingers were the sorest and stiffest parts of me. I made dinner for my family, and it even hurt to push the buttons on the stove. It has also put a crimp on my knitting - I can only do a few rows without having to stop for a while. Even typing is difficult. So, I've said goodbye to my nice soft, white, unscratched winter hands, and said hello to spring and summer's aches, stiffness, scratches, and short fingernails.

My spring fever is rising again, though. The first order of seeds came today, from Johnny's. I was somewhat surprised that we had only ordered three items; Cilantro, Zinnias, and Snapdragons. It is probably because I am using last year's leftover vegetable seeds. I tested approximately ten seeds of each type for viability, and they all sprouted. At least I get to start some of the seeds soon. Maybe that will help my spring fever.
~Sarah