A Conglomeraton of Things Momentous

1.  We had our inaugural fire last night in the new fire pit on the new deck.  Now it had rained heavily earlier this week so all the wood on the ground was fairly damp.  Also my fire starting skills are rusty since we haven't been camping in ages.  So the first attempts at getting the fire to keep burning were a bit ragged.  Dan came to the rescue with paper from his art class pad since we don't subscribe to a newspaper and paper from the recycle bin just didn't have the same burning power.  The fire lasted about an hour but it was wonderful to smell the smoke and watch the flames while they lasted.  We had a foreshadowing at least of what it will be like in the future.
 

2.  I can remember when I first fell in love with Japanese maple trees.  It was the spring of 1958.  My family lived in Lancaster, PA and we had just returned from 5 years in the Philippine Islands.  I believe the street was named Shady Drive East (but that may not be quite right).  We would walk to church which was on that same street and pass these homes with these gorgeous red leaf trees.  I've since returned to Lancaster and those trees are still there! The trees were so lovely.  All these years later I finally have my very own Japanese maple given to me as a gift for Mother's Day. 

Yesterday I planted the tree.  My original intent was to plant it by the front walkway and remove the pink hibiscus that was there.  As I thought about that location and discussed it with Dan at breakfast, he suggested planting it in the back along the glen.  I'd seen on someone's blog a Japanese maple with green trees behind that made the red leaves stand out and thought better of planting it all by itself in the front. Also like many of you I don't use my front door.  I come and go through the garage and only use the front to greet guests.   Dan's suggestion to plant it along the glen behind the hostas was perfect because now as I sit here at my desk typing this I can look up and there is the tree directly in my gaze.  The perfect spot.

3. Yesterday was also momentous because I harvested the first snow peas and the first broccoli of the season.  We divided both three ways and though there weren't a lot they were delicious.

4. Finally, all the mulch remaining to be moved to flower beds got moved yesterday.  A long day of loading mulch into the wheelbarrow and dumping and spreading it too.  I think it kept multiplying every time I left it.  What I thought would be three more loads at the end turned out to be more like 7.  The mulch had been there too long that the ants had made a nest and laid eggs.  At one point I was loading mulch in a cloud of flying ants.  No fun!  I also had to do battle with a borer bee which thought it wanted the plastic wheelbarrow to bore into.  I've never had a bee threaten me like that one did.  I could almost hear it say "Back off!"  Anyway the mulching is done for another year, a momentous occasion to be celebrated.

How It Looks Here

I spent the afternoon fertilizing everything with Miracle Gro which I know is a no no for some of you but the plants love it.  Then because its that time of year that deer love to find those new green shoots, I gave the tastiest greens a third dose of Liquid Fence in this month.  I find I need to do it often in the early spring because the greens like the hostas and day lilies are growing so fast.  Also I'm training the deer visitors for this year to stay away.  Liquid Fence sends the message that things smell bad in my yard so stick to the woods.

So here are a few shots of how things are looking.  First the hostas in various stages of growth.  You can see the blush of green on the trees.  Won't be long before they're in full leaf.

 See the bird house in the background.  I hung that up today and went in to get something else.  When I returned the chickadee was already checking it out.

 You can see the smudges of liquid fence on the hostas below.

 

These hostas next to the stone wall of the house are the farthest along.

 Fiddle heads!

 Love the bleeding heart!

 In the vegetable garden the mesclun,

 the tatsoi,

 the snow peas,

 the bok choy,

 one of four broccoli,

 and blueberry blossoms which mean blueberries this year.

 In this bed I planted a second sowing of carrots and snow peas yesterday.

 The spinach bed.

 And I did have frost damage the other day.  It killed off the volunteer pumpkins and tomatoes and damaged this hydrangea.

Finally, the gold fish are alive and well until we have a visit from a great blue heron again.  The visit last spring wiped out most of them except for the ones who knew to hide.  They have multiplied and now are available again to that bird.

What has Sprung this Spring?

70º today.  Into the 80ºs tomorrow.  You call this spring? 

I took a walk around to capture what is showing itself in the gardens.  I was pleasantly surprised with some of my finds.  Here's an assortment of what has sprung.

Inside the tomatoes, basil and peppers are doing just fine.

Outside I've been slowly working my way around the perennial beds straightening the rock borders.  I've done three of 8 so far.  Washing screens took up a lot of outside work time this afternoon.

Found sprung: bleeding heart.  Here's one of three I have.

 Some daffodils are spent but other varieties are just coming into their own. 

 I should remember the name of this wild flower but right now the name escapes me.  This was a surprise I found today.

 My one and only rose is leafing out.

 Hostas are in varying stages of new growth.  This one is next to the house so its farther along.

 Another daffodil along the glen.  For some reason ...

 these daffodils turn their faces away from the house.  Well, I guess they like to face the south.

 This daffodil was newly planted last fall and at first I wasn't sure they would even come up.

 They did and this one has a trumpet problem.

 In the vegetable garden I have a decision to make about volunteer pumpkins.  They are coming from a pie pumpkin that daughter, Emily roasted here at Thanksgiving.

 My bed of broccoli.

 Wintered over spinach in the bed where new spinach has germinated.

 Assorted lettuces.

 Snow peas.

 Garlic.

 Pak choi.

 In the front garden the daffodils have started to bloom and

 hydrangea is leafing out.  I didn't trim it back yet this year and may not or if I do not as drastically as in the past.

 More hostas.

 And finally the pond garden.  This is a chore I started last week but didn't finish.  I managed to cut down all but a few cat tails.  I haven't trimmed the water irises or the Siberian irises.  I may have plants to move too if we build a deck to the right side over looking the pond.