Blog Anniversary

Gardenlog is one year old!  It seems like I've been doing this a lot longer.  I started it to keep track of the seasons and garden activity.  I want to find out what's different from year to year and observe how things change or stay the same.  Well, I can finally do that now, starting with the Crocus.  Last year they bloomed April 25, and this year we discovered them April 12, Easter Sunday, during the hunt.

Since Easter, we got a little snow, but mostly the weather has been much better.

All kinds of things are starting to grow.

Moss and grass were first.  Buttercups are a close second.  All the shrubby things have buds.

Now that the weather is better, I'll be outside a lot more and won't want to be on the computer anymore.  This morning I was out there pruning, though it's too early, I just couldn't wait!  (I consulted some herb books and they advise pruning in mid to late spring).  A few days ago I planted cool season vegetables in the box, then put the row cover on top.  I also planted the greenhouse with radishes, carrots, kohlrabi and beets, but I saved room for the squash and tomatoes.  The peas never came up!  Boo hoo.

I would make a terrible pioneer.  My approach to gardening is not serious.  I throw seeds around willy nilly.  I use old seeds that probably aren't viable anymore.  I don't prepare the soil properly.  I plant too early or too late.  I'm too lazy to build fences and wind blocks.  If I were a pioneer woman, my family would starve and die.  The reason I'm thinking about this is that I just reread My Antonia.  Imagine living like that, where everything you do is about survival.  Right now I wouldn't be sitting on my derriere writing silly things at the computer, I'd be out plowing the fields, planting grain to feed the cows and pigs and chickens and goats.  And when I planted my kitchen garden it would be a very serious task, no room for experimentation or half-baked plans.  I always wanted to be that sort of gardener, focused, efficient, and successful.  But it just isn't in me to work that hard unless I have to.  I need to be plopped down in a place where there are no supermarkets, no easy outs; then maybe hunger would propel me into action.  Because I do love to eat!

It's 54 degrees and sunny at 2:00 pm.

Some other news

I'm going to leave the garden for a bit to talk about some other news.

Slammy got tired of sharing with a garden gnome, so she's moved here. And now there's another blog in the family, called Z Project. See what you started, Dori?

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We got hooked up to (so-called) high speed internet. It's only been working about 30% of the time though, too many trees in the way of the signal. Boo hoo. The company is virtually unreachable on the phone, so it's quite frustrating, and I'm close to throwing their equipment off the roof. There, how do you like that, you, you, bad service internet company!!!? And I'm not paying my bill either!

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It's been a stressful summer, and I'm actually looking forward to Fall. Even to snow. (Am I crazy? What am I saying?) A nice cozy fire, a good movie, a savory pot roast for dinner with potatoes and carrots and apple pie for dessert, while the snow falls steadily outside the window. What a peaceful scene, but not likely to occur with two teenagers in the fam. Simplify, simplify, why is it so hard to simplify? It's all those after school activities, they completely mess up the dinner hour, and empty the gas tank. Should I just put a ban on them? So they can tell their kids what a mean mom I was for not letting them play basketball? I imagined such a simple, slow paced life when we moved here. A little cabin out in the snowy woods. My hermit dreams are not shared by the kids, alas, (or thank goodness.)
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Back to the garden

The potatoes are not a complete wash, I found a couple under the straw that weren't rotted, green or half eaten. I need to go and remove all the straw and see what's down there. Some of them are green because the straw is letting in light. I'll just cover up what's left with dirt.

I let Rusty in to investigate the gophers, and he got right onto their scent.

The cats follow me wherever I go, mocking my efforts to keep pests out of the gardens. I put the row cover back on the box, and it was working until Rusty decided it was a comfy blanket.

Katy likes it too. We have quite a few Katydids this year, and I hope they're bug eaters, not plant eaters.

Indy can get in this garden even when the gate is closed.The beans and squash in here are producing, good news, as it's almost fall. The pumpkin and watermelon are not going to make it. Single tear.

Knapweed Revisited

See the resemblance? One is cornflower, or bachelor button, and the other, knapweed.

I am the walrus.

I picked, and picked, and picked. This wheelbarrow full has a potent smell of poison. Toxic waste! I can't stand seeing livestock around here eating this stuff. Now that I've gotten rid of it in our grass field, I'm ready to go get a cow. After I build a fence, and a barn.

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Beautiful Bugs

The mint is attracting lots of buzzing flying things of all shapes and sizes, even the elusive honeybee.

I have no idea what this is, but I don't think I want to know.

Flowers Excuse the length of this post, who knows when I'll return?

It's 77 degrees at 4 pm.