Take off yer MULCH!

Spring has definitely arrived here at Desert Lake!

When the rain stops long enough for me to get outside,

I was busily hauling the winter mulch off of the beds.

I was surprised to see some of the plants already growing back!

Some of them, like the mint, 2 kinds of chives and the catnip, come back every year.

Some plants, though, I did not expect to see returning...

2 kinds of parsley

oregano

lavender 

(this sad little lavender didn't fair so well last year, so I thought it was done for

and had no reasonable expectation to see it again.)

from L-R catnip, oregano, green onions, creeping jenny

Its amazing...to see your garden beds transform magically

from dried up to dazzling!

from L-R:  garlic chives and regular chives and one huge honking rock

I took the opportunity to rearrange some of the decorations in the garden.

More on that in a latter post...stay tuned!

from L-R:  italian parsley and curly parsley

hostas make a comeback

I am not normally into flowers.

I have a firmly held belief that I will not waste my energy, time or 

money on something that cannot provide me with nutrition.

In this case, the hostas were a present from a neighbouring family who were leaving the area.

They said if you want em, we could have em!

So for me, the represent the return of some seasonal friends we miss dearly.

Thanks again DJ Bill and Louise!

from L-R:  creeping jenny, garlic chives, mint, Valerian, horseradish

Above you can see the dramatic reveal!

The right hand side shows the beds covered in dried leaf mulch.

The left hand side shows the soil uncovered.

You can also see on the far left side the small cement pathway into the center

of a stand of Manitoba maples.

The pathway leads to Owen's collection of special sticks...

some are for walking, some are for climbing...

and some are swords...for fighting, of course!

All in all, the garden is recovering nicely from 

the epic and seemingly never-ending winter we just endured.

Soon it will be overflowing....and I'll be in heaven...

PS.  for the record...the creeping jenny was purchased and placed

in an area we wanted to stay low to the ground...ground cover plants specifically

designed to be Owen-proof.  We succeeded...perhaps a little too well...

Jenny is taking over!!!

UPDATE: Gardens abound...

Here's the update!

It took a little longer to get the big garden prepped and planted this year.

We're about a month behind.

There were tiller issues - don't get me started.

On the upside, our plants (which weren't planted yet) were not harmed by a late May hail/wind storm.

On the downside, everyone else I know is already harvesting stuff from their gardens.

What we planted this year:

-beefsteak, roma, cherry and yellow pear tomatoes

-cabbages

-green, yellow and purple beans

-white corn

-beets

-peas

-green zucchini

-potatoes

-jalapeno peppers

-regular and pickling cukes

-carrots, both orange and purple

-broccoli

NEW:  brussel sprouts - never tried growing this one before!



The big garden bed on a lovely sunny morning

The actual garden work feels like its been on hold lately.

I manage to weed the garden for about an hour in the morning or an hour in the evening, but I can't seem to manage both.  Between the incessant heat and the bugs...it's just not happening.

At least there are no water shortages this year!  WOW! 

Rain aplenty...wishing we had more rain barrels though.

One thing we have at the new house (that we certainly didn't have at our old house) is

DEERFLIES!

OMG these suckers take a chunk out of you!

I have yet to get a deerfly patch for the back of my gardening hat...

but its coming sooner rather than later.

Husband has been feverishly clearing some neglected sections of our property.

The dried area you see above was previously a sumac patch riddled with long dead, wild raspberry canes.

It also was hiding a small play structure from the previous owners approximately 20 yrs ago.

Our plan is to clear it, then add more beds to the space.

We are both excited to plant berry bushes!

A space for huckleberries, fresh wild raspberry canes, blueberries and blackberries.

As an aside, Husband is super stoked to get a blackberry variety called Chester.

(his name doesn't get many shout outs...especially from fruit)

Way in the back yard, by the fire pit, is a small bed I made from deadhead rocks in the immediate vicinity.

I planted a citronella plant that I purchased from a local garden center.

The plant had been over-wintered (brought inside after its first year) and was enourmous!!!

We pick leaves, crush them up a bit and stick them in our pockets or shoes.

I stick them on top of my ears, like a flower.

Using them this way, you can also judge when you've gotten too close to the campfire.

(Discovered by accident! I was tending the campfire and forgot I had them behind my ears.

I was greeted with a strong lemony smell...much stronger than just crushed leaves)

Close up on the citronella flowers above.

Now to the front beds!  Above you can see the herb garden at the front of our house.

I labelled each herb and plant.  The green onions were transplanted from our stash last year.

The dill getting out of control!  Owen, my little guy, says it looks like a rainforest.

The mint has rooted nicely!  I still think we needs another area for mint...let it grow wild and crazy.

Momma likes her mojitos!

This side of that front garden bed was like the dumping spot for everything last minute.

(It was supposed to be for tea herbs...but I really need to do more research on teas)

The lavendar so far has been disappointing. 

I thought I would have tons for tea this winter...we'll see how that goes...

I have never grown horseradish, but it sounded like fun.

I don't even eat the stuff, but Husband does!  So I bought some...a week before someone pointed out wild horseradish that stands up to my waist in a completely unrelated area of the yard....sigh...

All that hard work deserves a snack!

Before bed snacking is big at our house.

Here is what was on our snack plate:

Swiss cheese from Wilton Cheese Factory

Gala Apples

Fresh peas in pods from the garden (not enough for a family meal, but enough to snack on!)

Breton mini crackers