Rain Gauge

I got my first rain gauge for Christmas, and I finally got it anchored to the fence post yesterday afternoon. With this wet and rainy year, I should get a chance to try it out often!

Another New Birdhouse

This is a new birdhouse made of old reclaimed barn wood. It is long and narrow, and fits perfectly on my metal arbor near the gate to the pasture. The rhododendron that surrounds it has grown so tall in the last year. It has beautiful pink blossoms, and should bloom soon.

Lavender in the Iris Bed

I planted my first couple of lavendar plants in the garden yesterday, and their scent filled the air. I am hoping they will grow tall and fill the front of this bed with lovely color and scent.

Antique Seed Packet Reproductions

I have many examples of old lithographs of seed packets. They make beautiful designs in the yard and on my shed. These antique seed packets were exquisitely hand lithographed by artists over 100 years ago. Not only are the packets valuable as art, but historically they depict many varieties and colors of flowers and vegetables that are considered extinct today and may only be seen as images in these packets.

Here is one example on my shed.

The Spring Garden Beckons

The last raised bed will be filled with a batch of compost this coming weekend, and on May 14, I will be planting my vegetable garden. Here is the garden, waiting for the planting to begin. Each bed has been fortified by compost over the winter months.

Time for Tomatoes!

This year, I have a specially prepared bed for my tomato plants and basil. The two plants have a symbiotic relationship, giving each other nutrients the other lacks--it's a perfect marriage of plants in the garden.

I chose Early Girl and cherry tomatoes this year, and they will be planted in front of the solar woodshed, which shelters them and reflects heat and light back onto the plants. I have enriched the soil bed with my own compost made in my Compost Wizard, and the soil looks wonderful. I'm hoping for a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, after a poor showing last year. Stay tuned!

A Starbucks Birdhouse

My uncle gave me a unique birdhouse for Christmas, fashioned to look like a tiny Starbucks coffee shop, with the Starbucks logo in two places. It has cedar shingles, river rock, and beach glass decorating the little structure. I finally took it out of the house yesterday and attached it to a fence post. I bought lots of wild bird seed also, so I will be watching for feathered friends as the spring days lengthen. Perhaps they will gather at the little Starbucks to meet and get caught up on their winter travels in the southern hemisphere.

Crabtree Cottage and a Basket of Violas

The flower baskets have arrived at the Yakima Market in Bothell. After Easter brunch yesterday, I stopped by and got a viola basket for the front entry of the house. They look festive against the house sign proclaiming "Crabtree Cottage".

Fuschias

I'm living dangerously this year, buying my hanging fuschia basket before the middle of May. However, a Master Gardener must sometimes live on the edge, so I'm taking the chance that all danger of frost is past. I hung the basket in a sheltered part of the house and yard, so I expect the hummingbirds will be by soon.

There are so many lovely varieties of this flower, and I will add a couple more baskets before the summer is over. They are one of my favorites!

Cherry Buds

Last year, our cherry trees suffered from root weevils and gummosis. After the arborist came out last month and did a deep fertilizer for the trees, the gummosis has healed, and the new leaves and flower buds look healthy and green. The buds are just ready to flower--all they need is another warm day, and Spring will look like it is really here.

Garden Seeds from Baker Creek Farm and Turtle Creek Farm

My seeds have arrived, and I laid them out this weekend and reviewed my Spring Garden plan, drawn up in the late Autumn. With over 40 packets of seeds, I will be planting them in my four raised beds, in hanging baskets, vertical gardens, and containers. I will mix them in with flowers and shrubs, and use every conceivable space to extend the area that is to receive the seeds this season. I can't wait to get going! Now that the last frost date (April 12) has passed for my area, I should be safe to plant everything.

Next weekend is my targeted planting weekend!

The Back Pasture

I got on my riding mower this weekend, and mowed the back pasture. The grass was long, thick and wet, but my 25-year-old riding mower always gets the job done. After mowing, the area looked inviting, and I could imagine summer picnics and parties featuring croquet and volleyball. Not too much longer!

Orchard Mason Bees

The weather finally got above 55 degree this week, so I took the box of Orchard Mason Bee larvae out of the refrigerator where they had been slumbering for several months, and taped the box on an east-facing wall of the solar wood shed. In a few weeks, the bees will emerge and begin their work of pollinating an area of a half mile in every direction. After their few weeks of work, they will return to their bee 'condo', also on the side of the shed, lay their eggs, and create a mud plug at the entrance. The eggs will lay dormant until next year at this time.

Once the bees are at work, the whole neighborhood bursts into bloom.

Ruby Red Rhubarb, Harbinger of Spring

There is a lot of discussion about whether Rhubard is a fruit or vegetable, but it is actually a vegetable and a member of the garden sorrel family. It is a vegetable with a unique taste that makes it a favorite in many pies and desserts. It originated in Asia over 2,000 years ago, and was initially cultivated for its medicinal qualities. It was not until the 18th century that rhubarb was grown for culinary purposes in Britain and America.

The bright red stalks of the Ruby Red variety make a beautiful pie when paired with organic, ripe strawberries.

The Shade Garden in Early Spring

The shade garden has stood barren for the last six months as Autumn and Winter passed through. With the days growing longer and the temperature rising, I see subtle signs of life in the shade garden, an area that took much planning and coaxing to make it the retreat it is today. I must have planted two or three complete gardens there in the last few years, but nothing made it through a season. Finally, research was done, and education about plants that thrive in shade was completed, and the results were wonderful. Now, small trees co-exist with cherry trees and large Douglas Fir, and a small Honey Locust is coming along, as is the Heucheria and Weigela. I have an old antique plow as the focal point, with bird houses hanging above it, and a 'stream' of small rocks cascading down the slight incline.

In the heat of summer, it's a great place to put your lounge chair and tip back a glass of lemonade, enjoying the cool shelter this area provides.

A New Shed is Coming!

Several weeks ago, I drove up to Clearview to look at garden sheds at the Amish Originals store. The 'store' is a country lot filled with beautiful wood sheds, pergolas, gazebos, outdoor tables and Adirondack chairs and benchs. It's one of my favorite places to browse and dream. I've had my eye on an 8 x 10 shed there for some time, so I finally arrived at the little office with my checkbook and ordered my shed.

The sheds are custom-made in Ohio and shipped out here to Washington. The time frame is six weeks from order to installation, so I have about four weeks to go. The shed should arrive at the end of May, which will be perfect timing for all of my summer needs.

Here is a picture of the site for the new shed. I can't wait to get the site prepped for the assembly of the outbuilding. Garden sheds are cool!

A New Blueberry Bush

My neighbor, John, was at the grocery store a few weeks ago, and he ran into a guy out in the parking lot with a horse trailer full of 10-year-old blueberry bushes that needed a new home. Knowing my proclivities when it comes to gardens and fruit-bearing trees and bushes, John picked up one for me and brought it home. It was fully six feet tall! It was a beautiful specimen, and it already had berry blossoms forming on it. He brought it over in a wheel barrow, and we got the burlap-wrapped bush into the back pasture.

The perfect location was found at the end of the raspberry patch, and the amount of sun (8 hours a day) and the type of soil (slightly acidic) was perfect for it. It was joined by two much smaller bushes to keep it company, so now I wait to see if it likes its new home. Mmmmm--blueberries!

Flowering Crabapple Tree

With Spring well underway, my beautiful Flowering Crabapple tree is bursting forth in lovely, burgundy-colored leaves. In a few weeks, it will be covered with incredible pink blossoms, making it one of the most beautiful trees on the property. Right now, though, it is just waking from its Winter slumber, and already is providing shade for the small brick patio off the family room. It makes a lovely background looking out from inside the house. It's in its "Clark Kent" mode now, though--quietly sitting back in a beige overcoat and oversized black glasses, waiting for the signal to turn into something truly spectacular, its true identity.

Gardens and Bunnies

I'm in the process of working the final batches of compost into my four raised beds now, in preparation for my May vegetable garden planting. I have my spring garden plan posted in the garage, and I'm looking forward to getting my heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Seed Company into the ground.

Last year, we fenced in the vegetable garden area in an effort to control the amount of vegetables the bunny population consumes. My philosophy for gardening and farming in the country is to try to balance the food I grow for myself with feeding and sustaining the ecosystem around me. Therefore, the bunnies need something good to eat, also! So, this year, they will have a garden area that is unfenced that belongs just to them.

I found this sign at an antique shop a few weeks ago, and nailed it to the fence to remind me that I have small, furry friends who look forward to the pleasures of my garden as much as I do!

The Orchard

A few months ago, I hired an arborist to come out at look at my fruit trees and verify my diagnoses of several problems I found with the cherry trees. Last year, both cherry trees did not bear fruit, and had cankers in the crotch of the tree trunks. Jason, the tree expert, diagnosed gummosis and root weevils, and came out in March to treat all of the trees for these problems, and did a deep fertilizing also.

Now that spring is really here, the trees look healthy, with many clusters of beautiful pink and green buds. The tree trunks look mostly healed, and I expect they will bear fruit after looking at the profusion of blossoms. I'm glad we were able to save the cherry trees!