Happy New Year!

So, the new year is upon us.  Time for thought, reflection, and resolutions.  Boy, do I have some for my gardens this year! 

• Start more flowers from seed.  I always think that I will have these wonderful plans and know just what flowers that I want to put in which containers.  Well...ummm...that never happens.  I tend to be a great veggie seed person and the flowers get put to the side.
• Start reasonable numbers of vegetables from seed.  I need to not feel that I am feeding the masses when I seed.  :)  I always over plan for seed failure, which leads me to the next bullet...
• Rethink how I start my seeds.  I usually start my seeds in small dixie drinking cups.  I know that this is not environmentally friendly which goes against most of what I believe, but I continue to do it.  It reminds me of my great grandma.  She started seeds this way.  I need to be better about starting in small containers and pot up frequently. 
• Better planning of my family's needs.  What veggies do I need and how many.  I have been bitten by the raw food bug and hope to increase my vegetable juicing this year.  That will mean more beets, carrots, spinach and adding some kale perhaps.  Celery would be good, but I am not sure about how to grow it.  Not that I couldn't try and learn.
• Move my raspberry patch from the main garden area.  My husband told me in the beginning that putting the raspberries in the garden was not a good idea.  Being my hard headed, stubborn self, I persisted that I wanted them in the garden.  Now I tell him that he was right.  :)  They have become invasive with their runners.  I think that having them in raised beds in the yard where I can go around with the lawnmower will help keep those runners in check. 
• Redo my south facing flower bed.  I had torn this bed apart when we first moved to this house nearly 11 years ago as well as expanded it.  I accepted a gift of a sunflower type flower from my neighbor that she promised was only a couple feet tall.  Needless to say, my dirt must have radioactive properties.  Those darn things grow to well over 5 feet tall and are as invasive as any plant I have grown.  They have overtaken the bed.  The bed is getting everything removed and replanted in the spring.
• Last but not least, weeding.  Ugh.  The bane of my existence.  What can I say, my blog is aptly named.  Spring always starts with the best of intentions and energy.  Along comes the Illinois heat and humidity which I do not like, throw in a summer vacation or two, and you no longer have a neat and tidy garden, but a rambling plot of opportunistic weeds!  This year's plan is to be a better weeder.  How will I accomplish this goal?  The basics of more frequent weeding.  Weeds in general brings me to the last bullet which I need help with from my gardening friends.
• How to control the weeds between my raised beds.  How do others accomplish this?  I don't want to use a pesticide at all.  We have used straw with some success.  Any suggestions?

Tomato planting and miscellaneous

Getting ready to plant Roma tomatoes.  This bed was originally placed here for strawberries that we were going to transplant from our garden.  Needless to say, a virus killed our strawberries, and we haven't gotten around to planting strawberries here yet.  This year it will house my Roma tomatoes.  I love that part of my gardening is encroaching on my husband's "Man Cave".  The attached patio was my addition to it also when he built it.  I make sure that it gets flowered up well in the summer.  :)

Getting ready to plant...One tomato plant raised from seed.  They were in need of another "potting up", but it was close to planting time, that I chose to let it be.  When planting tomatoes, I always plant them deeper than where they were before.  Tomatoes grow roots from their stems when they come in contact with the dirt.

Here is the same plant on the left that I have removed the lower leaves from and placed deep in the ground.

The end result....a shorter looking version of the same plant that will be stronger in the end.

This baby bird just about met the end of his life from my shoe....I saw him open his beak wide just before I stepped on him.  I haven't seen him since. 

The end result.  Our beagle decided to run through the bed as I was planting, so I brought out the cages. 

Now a bit of miscellaneous around the yard and garden....

Rescued volunteer Johnny Jump Ups.  I had started some of these from seed last year and they have reseeded themselves into the yard.  Bill started seeing them and transplanting them into a container for me to use this year.  The picture on the right is yet another sprout in the yard waiting to be rescued.  I am all about free flowers!  :)

We have two apple trees, a Wolf River and a Honeycrisp.  The last two years we have gotten one apple on the Wolf River only.  This year we had lots of blooms and a closer look shows apples coming!  Now to read up on how to control pests without having to use pesticides....

Our peach trees were also full of blooms and starting to produce mini peaches complete with fuzz.

Yet another first...I bought this pink peony plant from a friend's plant sale last year.  Very small and no blooms last year.  This year it looks fantastic and lots of buds.  I can't wait to see it in full bloom.  The blooms are complete with ants.  :)

One of the many iris groups that I have that is getting ready to bloom.

I have no idea what these flowers are.  I am thinking some sort of a Narcissus.  When my grandma in Alabama passed away, my husband dug up some of them that seemed to almost be growing wild on her property.  I now call them "Mama Tate flowers".  I think of her every time that I see them. 

Our dwarf cherry tree is also producing well this year.  Lots of baby cherries.  I'm sure that the birds are just waiting for them to turn red so they can feast on them.  I hope to beat them this year.

My husband's favorite flowers....Lily of the Valley.  They are growing wild in a hosta bed that I have around one of our trees.  I cannot pull them up.

And last but not least....my trusty gardening gloves.  I have had many garden gloves through the years, but not of them could hold a candle to these.  My daughter's gave them to me as a gift...I think they came from Wal Mart.  They are great!  I pruned raspberries with them without a single thorn poke or scratch.  My arms and legs did not fare as well.  I have thrown them in the wash, and they come out ready for more.

Happy Gardening!

Busy weekend

This was a full weekend of yard and garden work, and I loved it!  However, my body is acutely aware of the fact that I am no longer 25...or even 35 for that matter.  It is a good soreness though, knowing that I accomplished much of what I set out to do.
With such a rainy spring here in Illinois, my spring garden planting has been delayed.  I was able to plant onions (a general red and a Stuttgarter variety for storage), Detroit dark red beets-2 pkgs., carrots (two types of which I will have to double check my variety names), edible podded peas, Green Giant-15 plants and Italian Romanesco broccoli-30 plants that I had started from seed, lettuces, spinach, and radishes.  The raspberries had a lot of dead canes which I cut back also.  My arms look like I have been in a cat fight.  :)  Some weeding was thrown in there for good measure as well. 
The paths between my raised beds are very weedy, and I need to work on controlling that as well.  I have saved up newspapers and plan to layer them in the paths and cover with straw. 
I am hoping for a good year for gardening!

Start of raised bed planting

Well, the planting in raised beds has started! Bless my husband's heart, he moved quite a bit of compost and soil for me so that I could get some plants going. I sure hope that this method of gardening pans out well. We are really hoping for the benefit of no/less weeds as well as less compaction of soil.
Yesterday I planted Candy onion plants, super sweet onion sets, and red onion sets. There is so much to plant already. I was a bit under the weather yesterday with respiratory crud, that I did not have the "umph" to get much accomplished. There is a slight chance of rain tonight and tomorrow.
Good night.

Raised beds and etc.

Three of my new raised beds went out today. Now I just have to get them filled up with both dirt and plants! I hope that this works well. I am really hoping to not have to till the soil and be able to keep it less compacted this way. It was a dreary day here today with rain and drizzle. Tomorrow promises to be nicer with warmer temps and sunny skies. That will help dry the soil so that I can start working in the garden and move some soil.

Lots of birds out today. I was able to get a couple pics of the chickadees. A cardinal was chewing out one of the other birds in the lilacs. I was hoping that it was going to try and nest. I try to keep out plenty of food even in the summer as well as water to keep them around and happy.

Here is a picture of the robin outside my window where my computer is. The blue jays have been bothering them as they build a nest. One robin was being extremely careful. He (or was it a she??) was watching all around with a mouth full of nesting material. It was as if he did not want anyone seeing where the nest is. I guess you have to be secretive when there are so many predators!

Here is a picture of what my oldest daughter calls her Dad's "man cave". I think that it would make a heck of a garden shed. What do you think? :) I am hoping for great things out of this shed!