Who doesn't love spring blooms?

This a view into my side garden.  You can see the  pussy willow in bloom on the right, and the tet a tet daffodils further down the path. They have a wonderful sweet fragrance.

Here we see some iris in front of a mock orange bush (Philadelphus coronarius) which gets it's name from the blooms which smell like an orange blossom. It has a clematis growing through it. This is one of my favorite gardening 'tricks'. It gives you two or more blooms from one shrub. 

I have chives growing here behind the peony bloom in the foreground. They will self sow themselves readily in the garden, so if you don't want them everywhere, you should deadhead them after they bloom. I have a rather large patch of them growing in the center island bed and I take a weedeater to them after they bloom.  This bunch was a leftover from that planting.

These are star of bethlehem (sp?) plants that mother nature put in my gardens. They are a sure sign of spring.

 Here we have some Amsonia. It is a spreader that requires very little care.

 Below here is another clematis growing up through a Diane Hibiscus that will bloom in July.

 I have columbine growing all around the gardens. It sets so many seeds that I collect them a spread them around. Those that come up do so on their own.

This is one of my weigelia bushes. For some reason this bunch of three shrubs is slowly dying off. Two of the shrubs did not make it through this winter. It is a shame, they are really beautiful shrubs when in bloom.

 These are Chandler strawberries that grow next to the driveway, next to where I park my truck. In another month or so, I will be picking berries when I get home each day! Yummie!

 I have one patch of dianthus that have survived over 6 years now. Each spring I mean to add more but never seem to get around to it. Meanwhile this patch gets bigger each year.

Here you can see from the side garden into the woodland garden. The iris in the forefront is Immortality (a rebloomer). To the left of the bird house you can see a bit of the star magnolia. Dead center behind the iris is a WolfEyes dogwood, with some Oakleaf Hydrangeas behind it. I used that bed as a holding area when the house was being built, and you can see a couple of Dutch Iris that I missed when I was transplanting them to their permanent home in another garden.

Wolf eyes Dogwood

 I don't recall the name of this little plant to the right. It came with some of the plants I moved from the old house and is spreading rapidly through the woodland garden. The little bell shaped flowers are cute.

Red Flame Honey suckle.

Here is the fence that separates the side garden from the back yard, I have the Red Flame honey suckle and the Jackmani Superba Clemetis growing together. Even I can appreciate the color combination here that works.

The Penelope rose is just beginning to bloom. This is a great antique rose that performs really well for me. I get two great flushes of blooms in spring and fall.

The Siberian Iris Ceasars Brother is getting ready to bloom. 

Unknown Hosta

Back by the pool I have several All Summer Beauty Hydrangeas growing, and again I have clemetis growing through them. One is the Jackmanii and the other is unknown.

Here you can see that this clematis gets a center that looks like one of those stress relief balls.

This path is at the other end of the pool area. Again you see the All Summer Hydrangeas. On this side they have some Ajuga (in bloom), balloon flowers, asian lillies, clover, woodland poppies and geraniums growing under them. And further around the corner are some Baptisia and daylilies.

Here we've made our way out to the veggie garden. The bees are busy building up their stores of nectar, pollen and water.

The first beans of the season are beginning to sprout. These are Provider beans which should be bearing beans in around 65 days or less.              

Here are my potatoes. Again this year I am growing Yukon Gold, Kennebec, and some reds.

Here we have the PakCho.

More Chandler strawberries because they are the best variety for our area. BIG berries!

Here we have my peas.

And the tomatoes I transplanted a couple weeks back.

The cucumbers and melons are starting to sprout.

This year I am growing some Lemon Basil.

 And here some sweet basil to make pesto.

This patch is where I am growing my three sisters garden. First I planted some Bloody Butcher corn. After it is up an about a foot tall, I will plant some pole beans to grow up it and some winter squash to act as a ground cover. You can also see the electric fence poles in the background.

Here are the results of my winter wheat experiment. I HAVE WHEAT! Now, what to do with it? It only gets about knee high. (Unlike the wheat you might see chest high in Kansas). I am thinking I'll cut it down with a weedeater, and worry about threshing and winnowing when I get there. I really want to make some biscuts from wheat I grew. I am odd that way.        

Well that's it for this week. 

Is it spring yet?

We've had an unusually long cold spell here for the past few weeks. Several nights of freezing temps and highs only in the 50s on the majority of the days. Now that may seem nice if you live up in the frozen wastes, but here in the Carolinas, it just ain't right.
 The spring softball season has started and I have two wonderful groups of girls to work with. This spring I am coaching an under 8 rec league team, and helping a friend coach a team that plays in a under 10 rec league, and plays what is termed 'challenge' ball tournaments. It's lots of fun, and it keeps me out of trouble.
 I've got some peas, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower,  and potatoes planted but with the weather, I am not seeing a lot of growth. The first potato just broke ground this weekend and the peas haven't even reached the netting I erected to support them.

 Lots of things are starting to bloom in the ornamental beds. Including jonquils, cherry trees, forsythias, and some viburnums.
Here are some pics of the early bloomers.

More seed starting

We awoke to a beautiful carpet of snow covering everything this morning, which meant that there would be no softball assessments. Instead I spent the better part of the day sowing seeds. Today I did some blue and some red ageratum, some blue torenia, some orange 'crystal' zinnia, some pink profusion zinnia, some bachelor's buttons, my peppers (habenero, sarrano, jalepeno, cayenne, anaheim, pepprocini, ancho pablano, california wonder, emerald giant, and marconi red).
 I still have just begun as I have many more flowers to do next weekend, and a week after that will be time to start tomatoes.  

Spring flower seeds sowed

We have had snow twice today, both in the morning, and again this evening. The morning snow was a rain that slowly turned to snow. Just yesterday our high was up near 60 and today we have snow. We got a break in the middle of the day, and then all of a sudden around 5:30 we had near white out conditions with the heavy wet snow coming in nearly sideways. By now the ground has had time to get cold and there was sufficient snow to accumulate a couple of inches on the ground. The neighbor's kids were nice enough to build us two fine snowmen in the front yard, which we added a hat, scarff and carrot nose.
 I was supposed to be at softball assessments today, but the weather changed those plans. It was for the best, as I have been fighting a slight virus that makes me somewhat weak with a sore throat. I am looking forward to another season of coaching an 8U girls softball team. It is loads of fun working with the kids. The association tried to get me to coach at the 10U level, but at that level the girls do all the pitching and it can be a tedious thing to watch nothing but walks or strikeouts. So, after originally agreeing, because I wanted to coach, I had to tell them I wasn't interested in coaching at the 10U level. As it turns out, when I called to inform them, an opening had come available to coach an 8U team (where it is a combination of girl pitch and coach pitch) so I jumped at that.
 I have been working on erecting my new electric fence the past week. The toughest part is getting the ground rod into the soil. About two feet down our soil turns to a hard pan which is really hard. I dig a little, wait for rain to soften it up, and dig alittle more. I need to get the ground rod as deep as possible.
 The deer have already gotten to a few of my pea transplants, but I'll start some more this weekend and plant them out in about a week, after I finish with the fence. I planted two 6' rows of nantes carrots and one row of Detroit beets Saturday.  I'll be planting a row or two of each for the next few weeks to stagger my harvest.
 It's also time to start sowing flower seeds indoors. I started some Wave Petunia seeds, Arizona Sun gallardia, some bacopa and some New Guinea Impatients. I put them in some moist potting soil and then put the container in a sealed baggie and place that under lights on a heating pad. Once they get their first set of true leaves I'll put them into individual containers and grow them under lights until it's time to harden them off.

The Peas are planted

I got the peas planted today. I planted one side of my pea net with Alaska peas and the other side with Super Sugar Snap peas. I grow the Alaska peas for shelling and eating fresh. I have in the past canned peas, with marginal success, this year I am on the lookout for a dehydrator to process them that way. If I can't find a cheap one on craiglist, or amazon, I'll probably end up freezing them instead of canning. It is easier and they taste better frozen over canned. I've heard that dehydrating them is the best way to retain their nutritional value and taste.

 The Super Sugar Snaps are for eating out in the garden (I also eat the Alaska peas right in the garden), and they are great steamed, stir fryed, or just added to a table salad. It is a shame the season is so short for them here. I only get to eat them for a few weeks. It gets far too hot, too soon in the year for them to produce as long as I might imagine they would further north.
 I did not bother to inoculate the seeds prior to germinating them. I have grown peas/beans treated with inoculant in every corner of my garden at some point, so the bacteria is already present in my soil. If you haven't grown peas/beans in your garden before, I would recommend you treat your seed with it. It helps the plant roots form nodes on the roots which gather nitrogen, which is then present in your soil. The beans/peas will be more productive and your soil will love you for it. It is a good idea to follow a bean crop with corn or wheat which need more nitrogen in the soil. It benefits the plant, and your wallet because you don't have to buy all that nitrogen fertilizer.

 I put some baby choi seeds in the coffee filters to start germinating. Baby choi is good in soups. Just toss a few leaves into your soup for a few minutes prior to serving, it adds a nice flavor.