The Garden

Getting ready for the summer season means many things around here- spring cleaning, painting, repairs of winter damage , etc etc etc, My favorite is  cleaning and planting the flowerbeds and planters. After looking over the forecast for the dreaded frost and snow I decided the time had come. To my delight the weather cooperated and  yesterday morning was sunny and warm. Now I really like trips to the green house and earlier this month I couldn't wait any longer so I picked up a few annuals and planted some baskets. Because of our late spring I had been keeping them in my little green house across the ally and they where doing really well.  But yesterday was different it was the BIG trip. Off I went to Spring Break garden center in Hillcrest. Val and Rick have worked hard since early spring growing all the little plants and I found a wide selection of flowers and greenery to fill my garden with. They have gone very pink this year to help out The Pinkest Little town in the West group and I love pink flowers anyway so I was very pleased with the variety I could get. I made my selections, green things ( I'm lousy with the names- oh my grandfather is so disappointed ) and petunias and lobilia and stuff, all pink and white and very pretty. 2 new rose bushes for the big pots and I was all set.

Once home the work started. Cleaned out the beds and weeded them all, got all the pots and planters out and started deciding what to put were. I'm not one of those gardeners that have a plan to what is going where before I even go to the green house, I just place the pots around the deck where they will stay for the summer and then set the new plants out, redistribute them until I get some thing that looks good and then plant. Well things went well and now I've planted them all and they are settling in. I need to get a few more for the planters out front but thats todays mission.
My neighbor stopped in during all this and started asking questions about what he should plant and mentioned he needed to get out and clean up the beds at his place. Then off to work he went ( long weekends are busy for real estate agents) Feeling a little sorry for him I went over and cleaned out his beds too. I was on a roll. When he got home he was very grateful that the garden fairy had been by and when he heard I was off to the green house again today he asked if I wanted to get some plants for his box too. How could I say no? A green house trip I don't have to pay for.  What a great week end.

The Green House

I found myself in the position to have access to a green house where I can grow herbs and vegetables. Well of course I immediately took my friend up on the offer. Since that dark winter day I have sprouted my little seedlings under lights in the basement - spinach, basil, peas, lettuces, rosemary, oregano, etc. Now to a seasoned grower these may be strange things to start. I used these little pellet things and now all I have to do is stick them in the beds in the green house. Really I choose those things because they are the stuff I use daily and can't wait to use them.

 So today ,being a lovely sunny day, I headed across the ally to the green house thinking it would be a good time to clean out the beds and get them ready to stick these little guys in . It took no time at all to clean them up and turn and break up the soil. Now it looks like this.

Now the real question is : is it to early to put my little friends out in their new home? I have no clue but I'm going to try with some of the bigger ones and see how they fare. I'm already dreaming of all the good things that can be made from the products harvested from the green house. I can't wait for the first trip of the year to Spring Break Garden Center to get tomatoes and cucumbers and stuff. Poor Mark just cringes at the thought - more space to plant things,more trips to Val's green house. Hehehe but he'll get over it when he gets to eat the stuff. Gotta love growing things