Busy as a Bee

What's New...or Ongoing?

    Oh my gosh! The last few weeks have been filled with garden fun! An ounce of sunlight, changes a week of gardening or more. Yep made up that nugget of knowledge all by myself. Don't quote me though because it only makes sense if you live in the PNW probably. So what's really been going on?

1- The Annual Plant Sale- We went to the Annual Plant Sale held by the Snohomish Conservation District. If you haven't checked out your local conservation district, dammit you should they have so much to offer. From rain barrels, classes, soil tests and so much more.Wow! They had so much going on! We purchased a dogwood tree, service berry pushes, bush berry plants, huckleberry plants two kinds thank you very much, two different kinds of Oregon grapes, and a bunch more native plants. I'll be honest, some of the plants looked sad and weepy, but I'm hoping that they will perk up soon enough you know because they are natives! We also purchased a mason bee lodge rather disgruntled when we found out that despite what the sign said no bees came with the lodge oh my poor kiddo who spent the afternoon talking to the little bee larvae that weren't even there, and a bat box clearly no bat with this box. So the mass planting was on like Donkey Kong! Somehow it seemed like we got so many plants, yet not nearly enough!

Ignore the ugly fence (we share with neighbors don't get me started), these are the deer ferns and sword ferns we purchased. Yep that's my handy pine limb border. I love this section of the front yard. At the bottom are huckleberry bushes and an Oregon grape.

2-The seedling nursery is bursting at the seams! Finally those stinking artichokes have come out! Oh man I have three different areas for the plants and little seedlings. 
                            There are both warm and cold germination areas (yes because apparently seeds are like people and they like their own special little environments....damn those divas). 
                             Then there is a main grow area where the young seedlings are placed. Again, there is a hot and cold area. The ever-loving peppers have yet to get off their heat mat in this area. If they are off they turn purple and cold. :( So they remain.

Just before the thinning. I hate thinning...it feels so awful to be cutting down happy little seedling babies!

Peppers and artichokes!

                             Finally, there is the tall plant light section. Coming from lovely farm happy Camarillo, California I haven't had to use grow lights....ever. So when I started this project I missed the part in which you have to keep the plants under lights until it's warmer outside. Holy crap these plants are way too big for the main lights! Where the heck am I going to put them now? That "warmer outside" time doesn't come at the end of February. 

Happy tomatoes...Brandywine, Green Zebra, and Black Cherry Tomatoes!

Cow pots, Trader Joes bottles and a plastic pot from the native plants purchased earlier.

3- Potatoes in the ground! I ordered my potato seeds, probably a little early. So a very stressed Mandy researched what to do with them while the ground warmed. I ended up putting them in a box in our living room and letting them green a little bit. They went in the front yard today!  

These are the tops of the trenches, where the markers are located. Also, to the back right is another Oregon grape. Yea for natives!

4- We even had a chance to trim the massive pine tree in the front. I've made good use of the limbs we cut. I've used them as borders, trellises for peas, and name markers. Yep, I'm feeling good about it!

New pea trellis made of pine tree limbs.

  So the last few weeks have been filled with a plethora of plantings and growth. We have built the raised vegetable beds, and are beginning to work out the watering system. More to come on that! 
Hope your garden is growing too!
Cheers-
Mandy

The Rhubarb Experiment

Rhubarb...oh yummy for my tummy!

      When I was young, my grandmother grew it along her back fence. Bright red robust stalks, with leaves as big as dinner plates beckoned me to visit. Oh the pies, the sauces, the things that they made. I LOVE rhubarb! Living in hot and dry southern California, rhubarb never really thrived in my garden. Onward and upward, moving to the Pacific Northwest this plant was at the top of my list! 
      If you follow this blog, or randomly read it, you may have read my post, Surprises I Adore. Or maybe you didn't read it an who really cares? You'll just have to catch up! So there I was with some rather big rhubarb and totally unsure of what to do with it. Some people told me that it was too early to put it out. Others told me to go ahead, no problem, it loves cool weather. So there is was, no one really knew for sure. UGH. 
     Here's what I did. Two plants were planted in the ground on the side of our driveway. One plant was planted in a pot and placed on the deck in the backyard. Two more plants were placed in a milk jug that was cut in half and left partially open. For the next few weeks, there they were. So what happened? Which one did the best? Here's the low down on my lessons in rhubarb:

Potted, and in the ground...rhubarb!

1- Rhubarb is not a fan of pots. First of all the soil never seemed to even slightly dry, leaving it to look pretty soggy. Poor rhubarb. It survived, but looked so sad and showed no growth.

Sad, sad potted rhubarb. Look at those wimpy little leaves.

2- The plants in the ground have shown some growth. They are more perky than the potted plant for sure! They are a bit leggy, but solid with slight growth. Their color is great!

3-Now this was interesting. I was concerned that the mini greenhouse made by the milk carton my make it too warm. Also it seemed that the milk carton didn't drain effectively. I punched a million holes in the bottom, but ok whatever. The leaves actually were breaking out the sides of the milk carton! So yes, the rhubarb was happy and growing. The color, well it was a little yellow-ish, light and at the very least pale. Of course, I didn't take pictures until it was in the ground. One particular interesting characteristic was that the growth appeared much stronger in the milk jug.

Look at the big beautiful leaves. Yellowish veins, but robust stems and new growth!

      So what would I do differently? I'd combine the jug and the ground. Next season, if  I have to plant any rhubarb I will put them in the ground, and then place a half jug on top of the plant. After a few weeks, I would de-jug the plants. I wonder if that would work for any of the cool weather greens? Hmmmm.....I can see it now, my whole front yard peppered with the tops of the milk jugs from Costco! I'm sure the neighbors will love it! Here's to a good year with rhubarb, and next year a harvest!
Cheers-
Mandy