The Girls

It's cloudy and rainy and a little bit thundery, so here's a picture from sunnier days.

Well, I know what picture I'm going to put here, but my computer won't do it for me. Later.

Steady Gentle Rain

Lovely.  Yesterday we got some more weeding done, and Jeff prepped the ground for the 9 (count them, NINE) grape plants he bought at Menard's.  They'll get in the ground next week, perhaps.  But grapes do grow in Nebraska -- lots of vineyards springing up -- and as long as we keep the goats away, some of them will survive!

On the inside the house front, my thyme seeds have sprouted.  They are SO TINY.  How does anything that small get a start out in the great outdoors?  The parsley seedlings are gangly but are getting their first real leaves, so that's progress.  And the peppers are waiting patiently for after this rainy period to get into the ground.

And last night I found a fat packet of carrot seeds.  Where shall I put them?  They're not in the plan!

Action Before Rain

Little cabbages are transplanted, with some dill left in between.  Some peas have fencing, some don't.  The raspberries all have support fencing -- hooray -- and there's sand to dig in around the grapes.

Of course, no rain gauge yet.  If I buy one, will it rain?

A Productive Weekend

It felt like March -- Monsieur Owen, cleaner of the mudroom, had put away all the coats, so I was out in the garden sporting the layered look:  fuzzy jacket I wore around the house all winter plus a lined windbreaker on top.  Weeding warms one up, I find.  But the nose was cold!


The peas are loving it, but I had planned to transplant peppers into the garden.  Turns out that cold, not just frost, can traumatize them for life, so I whisked them back in the house and put out some tomatoes instead. And cleaned up around the grapes. I hope to have some nice before and after pictures to put up for the rest of the week.  

Note To Self

A rain gauge.

I looked for upright buckets (one with a split bottom, several on their sides), I stuck a finger in the bird bath (unknown beginning water level), I eyed the mud (not much since it was so dry).  One-half inch is quite a guess.  And more has come, with quite cool temperatures (45 at night, 50 during the day).  


A rain gauge.

Rain

Perhaps one-half an inch of rain, that came down all at once, but soaked in quickly and made pulling the rejuvenated weeds much easier. They will now make their attempt at a really big takeover. We got one bed cleared for planting peppers this weekend, so progress was made.

The Shepherdess

She claims to be calling the sheep.  She just looks comfortable to me.

Did I Say "Cool"?

 

  Did  I mention what a lovely cool spring it has been?  

Well, that's over.  Today it  got up to 94 degrees. 

I did haul a little mulch and pull a few weeds after work, just to try to get my back in shape.  "Weekend warrior" syndrome makes for a miserable Saturday night.

Here's hoping for the thunderstorm that's in Wednesday's forecast -- without tornadoes, of course.

A New Year

Raspberries.

Onions.

Peas.

So here we are.  Last year was the first summer working full-time.  No gardening, to speak of.  It was out there, but there was little that made it into the house: some Lazy Housewife green beans, and tomatoes.  The rest...did not.

But this has been a lovely spring for gardening.  It has been cool -- the peas love it -- and rain has fallen at reasonable intervals, and we got out and got started at just the right time.  So now there are onions, peas, potatoes, spinach and cabbage all started.

We'll see how it all comes out!

Violets in the Garden

I've been welcoming violet volunteers in the vegetable garden for years.  This year, some of them are blooming.  Was I just unobservant?