What Did You Do In The Garden?

[ducks4you]

I made it inside before the t storm today.
I laid out both an old plastic tablecloth--I save them for gardening when they are pretty worn out--and an old blue tarp with some holes and put them on top of the stones in the south bed of the house, which is in between the house and the sidewalk. I did minimal weeding there ahead of time, but I fully covered a couple of burdock to shade them out.
I moved the 100 gal Rubbermaid water tank that had a leaky split below the drainage hole to go on top of the tarp.
Took out the 3 tree sized planters with gold potatoes, and, I was going to put them inside of the the water tank, but I realized that:
1) they needed some water
and
2) it is raining now.
Although it's going to be 32 degrees F Monday morning and 25 degrees F Tuesday morning, I may just cover them with a ragwool blanket and some garbage bags, just in case it gets damp.
So, they sit today in my mint bed waiting for a shower.

 

[digitS']

Finished the garden expansion for 2025 ... unless, there are too many marigolds & dahlias and I need to enlarge some flower beds in the front yard .

The large 5' bed in the backyard veggie garden is now in an "L" shape. I realize that there may be a temptation to step into it where the 2 lines come together and may put some bricks there for that purpose.

There are 3+ buckets of compost left over while 2 compost pits remain unfilled. At the same time, I have some grass sod too weedy to risk as compostables. There's waaayy too much to fit in the garbage can with clean-up, etc. for the next couple of weeks. And, there is a path that really should not continue to be mowed around the east end of the greenhouse that also has lots of quack grass. Nevertheless, the room in the compost bins offer the opportunity to get the bluegrass in there.

Somewhat tired but an addition to the good news is that my right knee gave me very little discomfort during and after the work. It's 43°f (6°C) at 9AM so, I'd better be off that 1 path, at least ... .

 

[ducks4you]

I took all the stuff off of the peach tree, the ragwool blanket, the wooden posts for support and the 2 shelter halves which remained buttoned together, Off of the peach, pulled the rebar pieces, cut off and picked up ALL of the baling twine and tossed that in the trash can.
I folded up the blanket and refolded the tent, along with tying it together in two places with 2 latigo pieces, and they are waiting to be put away in my tow wagon behind the God Mower in the carraige house.
I also took off the blanket which I had put on top of the sprouted potatoes, which look pretty good.
Sometimes, it just is good enough to clean up and call it a day...

 

[digitS']

I cleaned up the best as I could, today and yesterday.

Tomorrow is garbage pick-up day so I crammed the can with Winter killed trash but mostly weeds. Yesterday, I decided that I could not fit another pile of sod into an inconspicuous location in the yard. The compost bins were filled after I removed sod from two ends of garden beds. Mowing was too difficult, weed wacking the grass was no fun and, besides, traffic was beating the grass down to nothing. It was surprising how thin the sod was and what I could fit in for composting.

Through the recent removal, I was in some quackgrass areas. I didn't want that composted anyway. A good part of that, I lined up along the greenhouse concrete foundation. Only about 10" high and about that wide, I covered it with cardboard held down by boards. Cardboard covers the path beside this and the weeds that grew in that path.

Yep, I'm trying cardboard again. Too many TEG gardeners give it a good rating for weed suppression. I just don't have a place for weeds and weedy sod beyond a reasonable time to have the garbage trucks carry it off for me . I'm thinking thru the next 3-4 weeks, maybe 5.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

When I lift up the cardboard from walkways they fall apart . Lots of worms under them too. I pile up the cardboard schredded from the weather and pack in a couple of trash bags. When they are wet it’s easy to do.

 

[digitS']

Yesterday, I potted up tomato plants in the AM and mowed the shady part of the lawn in the PM. The lawn has now been completely mowed for the 1st time in 2025. What little of it remains . No, I like and appreciate green lawns and there's plenty of it for walking on, piling snow on during the Winter and sitting outside on during nice days.

The weather was very pleasant lately until today. Wind gusts were happening to nearly 40 mph. It didn't come very close to warm and certainly not with that wind (58°f, 14°C). Tonight, the wind is supposed to continue with the temperature dropping below freezing. That'll be a "feels like" of 20f (-7C). The greenhouse and tunnel stayed warm with today's sunshine but I dared not bring any cold-season plants out to harden them. Some of the mustard greens and bok choy that is planted out will have a tough night but I have everything watered as of this morning.

It's full daffodil season –– even where they grow on the northside of the house. I have seen the first ladybug, 2 bumblebees but no honey bees so far in 2025. Also, there was a fine looking black wasp. Perhaps, it was one of those parasitic wasps looking for a victim.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Lots of bumblebees, white butterflies snacking on the dandelions. The birds are back nesting in their regular places. Not seen any honey bees yet either. Once the alfalfa fields bloom there with be thousands. All the other insects not well liked are back the shield bugs driving me crazy. The pond fish are popping up from time to time and the chipmonks are scrambling around and the meany bluejays pickin on the smaller birds and black birds are squawking relentlessly.
The robins are back looking for a mate and I am buzy waxing the plate glass windows to prevent them from flying thru a window.
Spring is full of surprises some great others not so much. The best sunny days I have spent outside clearing moss and that green slime off everything that doesn’t move. At the same time getting that Vit-D hit from the sunshine.

 

[flowerbug]

i might have a chance of getting outside for some dirt therapy today.

 

[ducks4you]

I Finally got my 15 cuts of Purple Majesty potatoes planted!!
Yesterday I dug the trenches, and today I made sure that they were deep and wide and I hand tilled the big pieces and used my hand rake to push back the dirt.
3rd fence down has 9 potatoes north of the fence.
2nd fence down has 5 potatoes north of the fence.
I planted the last one on the east side of where garlic didn't come up.
Being only 1/2 crippled I had to sit down to get this done, although I grabbed onto one of the pine trees for stability, since there was a good 24 inches difference between the holes that I dug and the dirt that I piled up.
This will be a perfect place for them, bc I have little mounds in between the fences from dumping from the stalls for years. Nice and loose and I should be able to cover them up, if I need to.
Anyway, glad I got it done.

 

[digitS']

The neighborhood Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium) has just begun to bloom and serves as my prompt to plant peas and potatoes. The peas are in the ground but the seed potatoes have just a few sprouts. I may go out and dig some holes where they should go in this afternoon since it has stopped raining .

The Tiara cabbage and onions have gone to outdoor beds after several days of hardening off. Both look good. The onion seed was planted in the unheated greenhouse nearly 3 months ago. They join the pak choy and mustard greens that didn't fit into the hoop house. These rain clouds kept the temps quite a bit above freezing this morning, sprinkled a little moisture and continue to shield the transplants from the sunshine that shown on the other days this week.

The greenhouse finally made it to room temperature by 2 PM but the tomatoes and peppers are spending the day in the South Window. There is barely enough room for them but that opportunity is quite a contrast to years gone by when I would be pumping heat into the greenhouse at this time of year.