Finally a beautiful day!

The rumor I heard was true! It is 81 degrees as I type this! After a very cold and rainy and almost nonexistent spring - warmer weather has arrived! It is going to cool down and be closer to normal temps by the weekend, but compared to how cold it has been, I will take normal!

If you look really closely here, you can see a pea starting to peek through the soil. In spite of a late planting, I think it will be a good year for peas.

The seedlings in the basement are also behind schedule - also planted late - but they are very healthy looking and I have confidence that they will do well and catch up once they are outdoors.

The apple tree is about to burst into bloom. I can't wait. I love how the apple tree looks when it is covered in flowers - and the kids love picking little green apples, which can't happen without flowers first.

I hope all of my fellow gardeners are enjoying this glorious day!

Where has June gone?

Seriously, can you believe it is almost July? I cannot believe how time keeps slipping away from me.

It has been a strange year for gardening - but don't we say that every year? It is just that the strangeness is different every year. There is never a "perfect" year for gardening - something is always out of whack - that's the way it is with nature. Every year something does great and something doesn't. I don't think I have ever had a garden where everything grew perfectly.

This year the weather has been so variable. We had below average temperatures for much of the spring and early summer and now it is hot - too hot - the garden didn't have time to adjust. We also had very little rain so I haven't been complaining one bit about the last few rainy days.

So, how has my garden been growing since I haven't been updating? Here are a few pics:

The lettuce has been doing great. It loves the cooler weather we were having. It will probably be done pretty soon now that the weather has turned hot.

The potatoes are also doing great. They have started flowering which means there will be new potatoes to dig very soon.

The peppers have just not done well so far this year. They are small and just not growing much. They are heat lovers, so maybe now that it has turned hot, they will start thriving instead of just surviving.

The cauliflower was looking great but the heads have started looking really funky the last couple of days. I suspect it is the sudden heat.

The brocolli is looking really good. It hasn't seemed to mind the heat.

The brussels sprouts are also doing well.

I lost most of my cabbage this spring to the rabbits. The ones that survived (I put a fence around them a little too late) are doing great.

My tomatoes are struggling. They are starting to bounce back. None of my tomatoes look as good as my neighbor's but I'm not too concerned - at least not yet.

The new peach tree is thriving. My son keeps asking when we will have peaches again. Poor impatient child, he just does not understand that this young tree will not produce fruit for some time.

The currant bushes are loaded with berries that are just starting to ripen.

And lastly, Andy's garden. He planted cucumbers, canteloupe and watermelons. The cucumbers and canteloupes are beginning to look really good. His seedless watermelon never came up and the seeded ones just don't seem to be doing much. They are barely growing - I'm not sure if we will see any fruit from them this year. Andy, being the ever hopeful child still thinks the seedless ones might come up yet.

It really has been a brutal winter this year!

We gardeners are obsessed with the weather and its trends. We love to talk about how our current weather deviates from the norm and what that means for our gardens.

I came upon this quote this morning from Kathleen Norris, an American poet -

"There seems to be so much more winter than we need this year."

I don't know what year she was talking about but I think the quote can be applied to this winter as well. At least here in Minnesota.

We had no January thaw this year. A January thaw is defined as having two consecutive days above 32 degrees. We did not reach above 32 degrees F until January 31 - and it was so welcome. Even if the temps did plummet back down until yesterday. I *think* and *hope* the bitter cold days are finally behind us. The last time we did not have a January thaw was 1982.

We had 33 consecutive days when the temperature did not rise about 32 degree F. That is the 11th longest stretch of below freezing weather since they have been keeping track. It was cold this year. Monthly mean temperatures for January were 4 to 8 degrees below normal - which doesn't seem like that much - until you get your heating bill............

I lost a good and faithful companion in all of this cold. When she no longer wanted to walk to the bus stop in the mornings I just chalked it up to being really cold - the same when she stopped wanting to go outside to go potty - and maybe the cold wasn't so pleasant on old bones - but in the end it was old age that took my beloved Cocker Spaniel Molly from me. She was 15 years old, totally deaf and had growths all over her and I hated to part with her. She was with me when I was single in AZ and she moved with me to MN. She accepted Dan when we married and loved Andy when he was born and became his playmate as he grew older. I will miss Molly laying behind the currant bushes in the summer heat. I like to think that she is lying behind some currant bushes somewhere else right now.

And now it is February with the promise of spring to look forward to. It is time to get your seed orders placed if you haven't already (or aren't saving seeds) and plan that garden. It is a time to look forward not back. For the first time in many years I have to worry about puppy proofing my garden. My raised bed has a fence around it to keep the rabbits out but I have many other areas that I have a feeling will be trampled by puppy feet. Yes, we have already replaced Molly. Actually we got Daisy in October so we had some overlap. She is a Bichon/Shitzu mix. She is full of energy and loves to play with Andy and yet also a great lap dog. Having her has eased the pain of missing Molly.

So, here's to February and looking forward. January's cold has lifted. Spring will be here soon.

It's looking like it may be a good gardening year after all!

We had a late start and now it is just hot but the garden seems to be weathering it all. And after all, isn't there always something about the weather to complain about? Every year it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry or too something.

Mostly my garden is doing great. I had spotty germination on the parsnips and some of my carrots and Andy's sunflower fort has seen better years - but overall it is doing well. We have been eating lettuce and radishes from the garden for some time.

The strawberries were great this year. The currants and raspberries are loaded. The apple tree doesn't have any fruit this year and it looks like I have lost the peach tree - the green that was there has shriveled up and died. But I keep watering the tree hoping beyond hope that there is some life left in there somewhere! LOL! My plum tree has plums for the first time - I can only find 3 - so not a huge harvest but I'll take what I can get and it is still a very young tree.

I snapped a few pics of the garden this morning -



2 views of my raised bed from opposite angles.


Wayahead Tomato


The dead peach tree.

April continues to act more like March!

And I don't want to believe that I saw snow on the ground Saturday morning. I did not take a picture of it - I prefer to be in denial.

I am going to go ahead and garden and pretend that it is a normal spring. I need to do that. I need my sanity.


Here are my Packman Brocolli seedlings. I have them sitting on my patio table (that has been freed from the grape vines) "hardening off" so I can plant them in the garden later this week. They don't mind the cold and will do great.


I planted some lettuce in the garden this weekend (seedlings I had started in the basement) - the plants don't look so hot now but they will bounce back and do fine. They don't mind the cold either. It won't be long now - I'll be eating lettuce and forgetting it was ever cold real soon.

It still looks like winter in Minnesota!

The highs continue to be 10 degrees below normal. I am so ready for spring. Ugh - more flurries are predicted for today.

Watching my seedlings in the basement grow helps me realize it really is spring and know that this snow won't last forever - even if it feels like it will!


The Red Acres Cabbage has sprouted.


The brocolli and brussells sprouts seedlings are growing taller and stronger.


And the tomatoes are even sprouting up!

The seedlings know and feel that it is spring. I can't wait for that first taste of spring lettuce and rhubarb crisp. Yum Yum!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

My garden is getting covered in snow. It started snowing about 9:30 this morning. Here are some pics from my back door:


10am


11am


Noon


1pm


2pm



3pm


4pm

It'll be too dark for pictures soon. I'll take more tomorrow. It looks like it will keep snowing all night long.

Winter is almost upon us

That dark blue patch over Minnesota is a winter storm watch.

Winter Storm Watch
Dakota (Minnesota)URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
506 AM CST FRI NOV 30 2007
...WINTER STORM WATCHES REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE GOPHER
STATE AND WESTERN WISCONSIN FOR THIS WEEKEND...
.THE FIRST WINTER STORM OF THE SEASON REMAINS POISED TO AFFECT
MUCH OF MINNESOTA AND WESTERN WISCONSIN THIS WEEKEND. A STRONG
AREA OF LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING IN THE COLORADO ROCKIES WILL LIFT
NORTH INTO NEBRASKA BY SATURDAY EVENING. A BROAD BAND OF SNOW IS
EXPECTED TO DEVELOP WELL AHEAD OF THE LOW ON SATURDAY SPREADING
ACROSS MUCH OF MINNESOTA AND WESTERN WISCONSIN. THE LOW WILL CROSS
IOWA SATURDAY NIGHT REACHING WISCONSIN SUNDAY MORNING. ENOUGH WARM
AIR IS EXPECTED TO BE PULLED NORTH AHEAD OF THE LOW TO BRING A
PERIOD OF SLEET OR EVEN FREEZING RAIN INTO SOUTHERN MINNESOTA AND
INTO WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN...ESPECIALLY SATURDAY EVENING. SLEET
COULD REACH AS FAR NORTH AS THE TWIN CITIES METRO AREA AND
CHIPPEWA FALLS...WISCONSIN. THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL OF
PRODUCING SNOW TOTALS IN EXCESS OF SIX INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF
SOUTHERN...CENTRAL...AND NORTHEAST MINNESOTA...AS WELL AS WESTERN
WISCONSIN. OF COURSE...ANY AREAS WHICH EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT
FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET WILL SEE DIMINISHED SNOW TOTALS. GUSTY
NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL ALSO DEVELOP LATE SATURDAY NIGHT AND
SUNDAY WHICH COULD CAUSE REDUCED VISIBILITY IN BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW.
TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO DETERIORATE RAPIDLY ON SATURDAY
AS BANDS OF HEAVY SNOW MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN INTO CENTRAL MINNESOTA
AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

I am so not ready for this. I never cut back my fall raspberries. I have piles of dead tomatoes in the center of my back yard. I still have Brussels Sprouts and other things (dead) standing in my garden. I haven't even brought in all of my garden hoses.

I know I have been busy, but how did all of this creep up on me? After all tomorrow it will be December and this is Minnesota!

After the Storm

We have finally started getting some rain in MN - unfortunately it has been accompanied by some severe storms. The garden survived pretty well. In the back yard, my son's climber is pretty beaten up - this may be time to decide that he has outgrown it and take it down..... The only other thing amiss in the back yard was a missing top to one of my composters - found it 3 yards down!





The hot peppers look a little wind blown but nothing looks snapped off so I think they will bounce back.


The only sign in the front yard is this overturned flower pot - which is not mine. I'm not sure how far it has come. I'll leave it for the time being and I'm sure the owner will find it.

My damage was nothing. Many residents of the Twin Cities are without power this morning and lots of trees are down. The storm actually bumped the bridge news from the top spot on the Minneapolis Star Tribune website this morning. The bridge collapse will continue to be top news for some time, but it is time to start reporting other things in the top spot from time to time....not to down play that tragedy, but life goes on.

In My Garden this evening

The bushes in front of the house are blooming

The currants are starting to ripen

The lettuce and cabbage are bouncing back from the hail - they are still looking tore up, but they have perked up and put out new growth - they will be fine.

The peaches are getting bigger - yum, I can't wait!

And black raspberries are forming. I am not going to get a lot of them this year since I transplanted them - but I will take any I can get. I think the blacks are my favorite. Dan likes the yellow the best and Andy just likes them all.

Hail in MN today

I have never seen this much hail before - if I have I was a child and don't remember it. A half hour ago it was coming down in sheets and the ground was solid white! Since it has started melting rather quickly I snuck out in the rain and took a few pictures right now before it's all gone. There was so much everywhere - I wish I had thought to capture it while it was happening - but I was having too much fun watching Andy be excited over it. His autism definitely shows when he is excited.

I'm sure this hail did some damage - I hope my plants are established enough that they bounce back. It's still raining too much to really check much for damage yet.

I want spring!

The metro area is under a "winter storm warning" - shouldn't that be a spring storm warning? I guess since it includes snow, it has to be a winter warning. I really want spring to come. Luckily I have a little bit of spring down in my basement to console me until the weather decides to cooperate.