the good, the bad and the downright awful

Busy weekend at home! But I think thats safe to say about most weekends. I got all of the stone in place for the walkways...and I have no pics or background to go with that...so I shall endeavor to update you all on this monumental project (and sizable subtraction to the size of the mowed area). Regardless, I'm a bit sore right now.

The trees look like they are doing well. The last of the pears to bud has a few green spikes now and the nectarine (despite some definite dieback) appears to be leafing out now.

I put in the marigolds in the potato bed, most of the pea sprouts are up. If I had planted lettuce more densely I'd have a salad by now. Lesson learned. Plant leaf lettuce tighter and harvest sooner and more often. I did snatch a few leaves of thai oak leaf that were awesome, and the arugula is really good. In a week or two when I have more I am definitely grabbing a couple pears and maybe a little parmesan cheese for a salad.

Transplanted a lot of flowers (mostly petunias, but some cosmos and hollyhock) and put the chamomile in its spot. The lemon balm, bee balm, and stjohn's wort are making a strong showing only a year after transplant and the wormwood and valerian are almost two feet high already.

Now for the awful news. As regular readers might remember, I ordered 3 citrus trees on feb 15th. After a long spell of no news and no trees I contacted the seller and was told "two weeks" Several unreturned phone calls, several unreplied emails. Still no trees. Sorry chumps...no money for you. I didn't bother to call to ask for a refund since they apparently have failed to conduct themselves in any measurable way decent. The business may have changed hands but their failure to respond to such a backlog of customers means I'm not likely to see results for a while. I called my bank and had them dispute the charges, in my experience its faster than getting obstinant deadbeat vendors to take satisfactory action. So this time, a little wiser I combed review sites looking for a reputable dealer and found good reviews for Four winds nursery. They appear to have been around for a while and their customers hold them in fairly good regard. Lesson Learned. Hopefully my trees will be here this weekend.

The old vendor by the way is growquest, they now operate under the name olivetrees.net. And without some kind of acknowledgement from the new owners of changes to the business practices, I wouldn't trust them any farther than I could throw a deeply rooted, 1,000 year old olive tree (which I hear are quite heavy).

In the ground

Well yesterday evening, the spinach, lettuce, peas, broccoli, radishes and beets went in the ground. And of course there was a light frost this morning, but nothing seemed to be really bothered by it. This evening I'm starting the tomato plants for my dad's house, planting some podding radishes and flax outdoors, cutting the potatoes into smaller chunks, and approaching my wife about a spot I think would be perfect for another garden bed. Its worth a shot right?

Out and about in the yard I noticed lemon balm, bee balm, chives, mint, and wormwood poking up out of the ground. The buds on the ornamental cherry are swelling, the lilacs are getting ready to leaf out. I've got about 4 1-year-old blackberry primocanes that are budding and 3 coming up out of the ground. The berry yield will still be small but much better than the 7 berries I got last year.

Everyone has been telling me...

What I already knew...victory gardens are coming back. And despite my best attempt to be cynical, I can't help but jump for joy. Especially when I read this...

...A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.

...Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.


“First of all,” Mrs. Obama said, “there’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

“I wanted to be able to bring what I learned to a broader base of people. And what better way to do it than to plant a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House.”

I couldn't agree more. In fact my new mission for the season is to get 5 friends to start a garden. Also from the looks of the layout that was posted, they are putting in some of my go-to flowers in border areas. Lets hear it for beneficials! Check out the article here. Now to convince the Obamas to join FreedomGardens and start blogging!

and by the way...the first of the lettuce seedlings just popped up to say hi

Second Verse, Same as the First

Part of eating seasonally, or locally, or whatever is dealing with the repeats nature has to offer. We did so gleefully last night with another mix of lettuce topped with a few paper thin radish slices (flexing the knife skills). Anyhow, after about 1 week the stump of leaf lettuce is coming back strong, and oddly enough, the tom thumb head lettuce stump which I had left for dead in the ground is sprouting little baby leaves. I didn't think head lettuce would do that. Is this kind of like coppicing a tree?


Ya learn something new everyday right? In other news the peas are flowering with a vengeance, the potato plant have leafed out like wildfire, almost touching each other now, and the tomato transplants seem to be holding their own.