Summer of Skate Parks

 

We have hit the age of skate parks. But on a scooter, not a skateboard. Yet? Maybe?? We have two skateboards in the basement and I'm not sure they'll be used, but the scooter gets picked daily.

Apparently this year, it's supposed to be a 90's summer. Let me tell you about 90's summer.

Parents were not invited. And we spent the day either watching talk shows, soap operas, and cartoons OR our parents sent us outside to not come back until dinner. I would call my mom to see if I could go to Valley Fair or somewhere else with friends (usually yes because... parents didn't want their kids at home) and she would be like "PLEASE GO"

And we would ride bikes to the gas station for snacks. We didn't live close to the rec pool so we did need rides for that or Bush Lake. 

I'm not sure 90's kids can really give up the individual freedom to their kids that we had, because we literally had zero supervision. Like, none. 

This summer for us, will be a summer filled with lessons about how to do things for ourselves, how to pay with Apple cash for snacks and ice cream, how to navigate our area of the city without Apple Maps, how to cook food, the rec center pool, and to read so much. 

Summer starts Wednesday and we are so excited!!!

This Year's Peonies

Last year I had pruned my peonies so that a few stems would have smaller blooms and some stems would have larger blooms. This year I was so busy that I didn't get around to it so they're all large blooms! I feel like my peonies won't bloom for as long this year, I think the heat started too quickly and it's been staying consistently above 80 degrees, even before June started. 

Once my peonies are finished blooming, I will trim them down so they stems are about 18 inches tall and they look like pretty green bushes or shrubs. It's an easy way to clean up the garden before fall and to keep your peonies all neat and tidy. I also am able to weed the stems a little easier without the huge blooms in the way. 

My goal is to get at least two more peonies for my boulevard. The dogs and pet owners seem to steer the animals clear of peeing on the peonies so I'm hopeful that continues! Each year I am determined to find a fern leaf peony and I can never find one until later in the year when they're a little more stressed to be planted. I think this year, if I find one, I'll just buy it! They're so pretty!

 

Arugula Went To Seed

I made a simple salad the other night and noticed that a lot of my arugula has matured to the point where it's about to make seeds. The leaves turned bitter! It doesn't take long for greens to start making seeds once the temperature turns warmer - for these plants, the warmer weather tells the plants that it's time to turn the energy from leaf-making into the energy for making seeds. Arugula usually gets really thick stems and they are HAIRY - then you can see the plant start to make the seed pod. As soon as that happens, I highly do not recommend eating the leaves. They truly don't taste very good anymore!

With this known - now you can time your greens a little better for your summer and fall salads and greens. I like to plant this again in late July/early August in a very shady part of the garden. Next year I will aim to plant greens at least two weeks sooner than what I planted this year - I would like to have another week or two of fresh lettuces and greens so I'm not spending money on those large containers at the store. 

Today I pulled all the arugula plants and in the place of the arugula I planted bush green beans. Last year our family ate almost every single green bean on about 30 plants. I planted about 50 seeds, tucking them closer to my spinach and radish. I will have to pull the spinach in the next week or two as well and compost those plants - and I will plant tall peas in that space. I'm a little late planting peas but I think I can get a few harvests from it before fall. 

 

Getting Ready for Summer

 Bllleeeep bbbblllooooooopppp. I'm slowly getting prepared for the summer with an outgoing 8th grader and an outgoing 4th grader. They're at wildly different stages in their childhood but I'm lucky that both kids like each other and we all like to hang out so we can do lots of activities together all summer long.

So far I've bought pool passes to the rec center; I purchased the summer camp series of the CrunchLabs activity boxes for my 4th grader; planning on getting some type of art activity for my 8th grader - I was thinking a couple of small weaving activities and at least one paint-by-number should fill up a lot of time along with some book money. I just started requesting "how to draw" books for both kids and will grab a few different sizes of drawing books. I realized that neither child has an opinion on sharing sketch books and they will happily sketch in the same book until it's filled. 

And then lots of time at the library and lakes. We also have RC cars to run, bikes to ride, hikes to walk, and outdoor activities like mountain biking and soccer. Plus who knows what friend will show up on our doorstep!

I'm really excited to turn off the alarms and enjoy the summer this year. The children are growing and at some point soon will have lives of their own where we're not together all the time, so I'm happy to share this time with them!

Happy summer planning!

Flower Mix Seed Packets

 

As an experienced gardener, I have a love/hate relationship with flower mix seed packets. I received this for Christmas from my children and of course I'm happy and elated about anything gardening-related that I receive. On the picture, there's everything pictured that I LOVE - sunflowers, poppies, marigolds, basil, dill, and more. These are mostly annual flowers in my growing Zone, so straight from the get-go it looks like this will be a great mix for one of my flower beds.

However, sometimes expectations of these seed mix packets can be high and I've been disappointed in the past of a lot of these mixes. I don't mind bringing the huge mix packets from Burpee to the school garden every year - they're mostly annuals and not hardy through our winters so my expectations are pretty low, plus there's no irrigation so it's all hand watering, the general public doesn't know the difference between an invasive or an annual (in fact, two years ago one facility maintenance worker suggested planting Crown Vetch to spread, and let me tell you... I WAS HAPPY TO STOP PULLING THE THISTLE IMMEDIATELY, like oh hell no, you have zero clue of what you're doing, y'all deserve to be poked in the ankles by a thistle). 

But let me get back to the seed packet mix instead of being distracted by invasives. Let's take a closer look at the back of this packet so we can investigate and decipher a little bit more about what's actually in the packet so we're not deceived by the pretty picture.

So there's only 2 grams of seeds in this packet. I didn't take a picture because I only thought of posting this AFTER I tossed the seeds into my front garden bed so I'm a little disappointed in myself. But let's get to it. 

So many factors go into planting flowers - some need cool vernalization, which is what this packet is recommending - why I know this is because it states that these should be planted 2-4 WEEKS BEFORE the average last frost. This means that these seeds need a couple of freeze/thaw cycles to soften the seeds so the seeds can actually germinate. Do average gardeners do this or expect to do this? Er, as a Master Gardener, I have learned that people don't usually read the seed packets. 

The packets also states that it plants 20 seeds per square foot and will cover 20 square feet. The amount of seeds in the seed packet didn't even take up a whole tablespoon. It barely made a mound in my hand. Disappointing? Yes. The majority of the seeds were Basil seeds which are TINY. And there were maybe 5 sunflower seeds. There should have been 400 seeds in the packet and there definitely were not. So right off the bat, my expectations have been lowered. We'll see what comes up.

Next, let's look at the seeds in the mix: it contains mostly borage, sunflowers, bachelor's button, and calendula. And then the fine print - it contains the amount of seeds BY WEIGHT not by amount of seeds so by that, my expectations definitely don't include it covering a 20ft x 20ft space. Luckily, borage is pretty, calendula smells good, and I like everything in this mix. 

I sprinkled everything over a 3ft x4ft area and I'm on Day 5 waiting for the little seeds to germinate. Obviously I didn't follow the seed packet directions of planting BEFORE the last frost - but this went into the bed that contained the wasp nest last year. I will not plant edibles in this bed so it will only be flowers for the next several years.

I have zero expectations of what will come up, I'll try to remember to update and take photos when I can. Happy planting!

Sunset Progression on Sunday

I was lucky enough to see the amazing sunset on Sunday. It was GORGEOUS. The reds were beautiful. I was facing west, obviously, but I heard that facing east towards St Paul was a beautiful red rainbow. 

 

What I started this season

Well, as usual, I ignored what I said I was going to do and just started everything. 

I started lots and lots of sweet peppers because we eat lots of those along with tomatoes. I have learned in previous years that I am not so great at using up preserved food - I don't remember what I have in the freezer, I don't like the canning process, and the only thing that I use regularly are dried herbs - cilantro and basil are what I use on a regular basis. And two years ago, with great restraint, I only planted what we eat and the garden was a huge success. Soooooo... I better stick to that. 

I started six leeks - I truly enjoy potato leek soup so my plan is to plant enough for two meals, enough potatoes for two meals plus roasted potatoes and a few meals of mashed potatoes too. 

I mainly want to grow snacking tomatoes this year. I have pear varieties, grape tomatoes, sungolds to make simple pasta sauces, celebrities, romas for sauce and bruschetta, steak sandwiches for... BLTs! I may have planted too many, but I also am not quite sure of what our summer travel plans are yet - when I know, then I'll know to plant more of less of which variety and I can give away or donate the left over tomato varieties.

For so many years I was terrified of starting my own annual flowers. I was like... I should just grow my own food! But then when you go to purchase annuals, I always feel bad spending money on a single season plant. I started with a couple varieties two years ago - snapdragons and lavender - now I'm adding more! I have strawflowers, sunflowers, lavender, foxglove (as a first, it's toxic, so I need to plant it in my front yard in a corner away from the dog areas), and again this year, I'm doing artichokes for their flowers and not to eat the buds.

I would love to plant lavender down by the sidewalk but as I'm watching people walk their dogs... owners are letting dogs pee on my boulevard plants so I'm going to swap out flowers for mulch and leave it at that. I'll put the lavender on the taller beds so it's at eye level with kids when they walk by. It will still smell good!

Check out how teeny tiny these seeds are, they were sent in a centrifugal container and there are not so many!! I put 3 seeds in each container that I had - and I have upgraded to 3 inch pots so that I don't have to upgrade. For each year that I started in the smaller, 6-part containers I have had to up pot several times and so I'm continuing with my plan from last year, 3 inch pots so no up potting. Making it easier!

Shade is starting to creep into my yard a bit more (which is fine, as gardeners we need to be flexible because plants don't always do what we want them to do). So I have a whole tray of multiple varieties of coleus. At the plant stores, sometimes the shade plants are too green or not so colorful but coleus comes in a variety of pinks and whites and greens. I highly recommend for shade because it can get HUGE and fill in areas that might be blank. I also have impatiens.

I have several Snapdragon varieties. These tend to self-seed in my yard and pop up in random areas. They come up in my grass next to my pots, in my garden beds in random spots, but they are supposed to be annuals. We have moved to Zone 5, so our microclimate is a bit warmer and that will help to protect lavender too, if you have that in a sunny spot in your yard.

Last - here's a photo of my seed starting set up this year. I decided not to fill the entire set of shelves. I left one shelf unoccupied by seeds because I may have forgotten to plant something and I would love to make sure I have room to start a few more if I decide I need to. Warming mats are on, lights are set for 12 hours per day, and I've already had to water twice in our dry basement. I will keep you updated on plant progress.

 

Seed Starting Timeline for 2026

 This post probably won't have pictures... sorry!

I went over my seeds this past weekend to determine what I want to start inside and what I want to start outside. This year's weather seems a little warmer than usual - much like last year - so my ultimate plan is to get seedlings outside the second weekend in May, but if the soils are warm enough, I will happily plant a weekend earlier. 

One trickier plant that I'm doing this year is artichokes (again!). Last year I didn't get them outside in time for enough days for cool vernalization to help with the plant making blooms. My mom was sick and I just didn't have enough time to really plan that out. This year, I will put my artichokes OUTSIDE in early April - they need 10 days of low overnight temperatures in the 40s. I waited too long and just got green artichokes that looked like overgrown thistles! 

From my calculations, it looks like my general start dates will be either March 1st, or March 15th, with an ocassional early April tossed in.

March 1: Tomatoes, Lavender, Foxglove (I've never grown this before, it's also extremely toxic so will be placed in a corner of my front yard where Phil can't get it!), Snapdragon (I didn't realize they needed such a long time inside), Impatiens, Artichokes

March 15: Last of tomatoes if I decided I forgot something, Coleus, Brussels Sprouts, Peppers, Mexican Sour Gherkins (technically you can wait and plant these outside but in my experience, they grow faster and more robust if started inside)

Early April: Strawflowers, Marigolds, and other annuals plus any last minute squash if I have any room

This year I purchased much different trays - instead of buying the cheapies from Menards I decided to upgrade a little and purchased very sturdy trays with taller ridges on the bottoms so that I can exclusively bottom-water. Bottom watering is better for establishing roots but it also helps cut down on the amount of fungus gnats and other insects that like to lay eggs in damp soil. I'm hoping to mitigate that from the start. I also purchased 7.5 inch tall clear tray domes. The shorter ones that are available at the stores are not what I would like. Not all the plants are growing at the same rate and I need the domes to contain the humidity for a bit longer for some of the seeds to start - especially the flowers. I'm hoping this helps give them a bit more time in the humidity and helps the smaller plants catch up more quickly.

Happy seed starting!!

Weekly Meal Planning

I am so annoyed with myself this week. Before I really had to do the primary caretaking for my mom, I really sat down to meal plan and organize everything for the week. I was FABULOUS at being so organized and then chaos descended into my life and all the meal planning was thrown out the window because life became unpredictable.

This past week I decided to start planning and organizing at least 4 out of 5 of my lunches. On Sunday I made roasted veggies to portion out into my usual lunch containers, cut up portions of meat, and cous cous. Then I went downstairs to look for my old meal prep containers. As it turns out, I gave them away on Buy Nothing because I just had no time. I should have kept them. Oh, well.

So on Sunday I just tossed all the veggies in a large container and yesterday I got my new lunch containers in the mail. Lunch prep is saved for the next few months. LOL. 

This week's lunches include: leftover pizza, salads, steak with roasted veggies and potatoes, and my last one is just a salad with roasted veggies. So I'm jumping back into this as easy and slowly as possible.

 

Out With 2025 In With 2026

Our tree is a little lopsided this year. It makes me chuckle every time I walk into the living room.

It's snowing. Again. It's not as relentless as a few years ago but it definitely comes more often than the last two years! Luckily the kids are ok with shoveling and I will happily pay them a few dollars to get outside and earn some money. Q has been shoveling for our neighbor and she is giving him money too!

Phil. He's 6. Still looks like a baby.

I use plain notebooks to keep track of everything I need to do or want to do. It's like I journal for daily life. I can't seem to throw them away when they're full. I bought an actual journal for my garden this year and realized that I probably won't use it. I end up putting everything in one spot and then go back and add in tags and arrows for all the important things. It helps with my mental organization and it also helps me NOT forget things.

Will I do a New Year's Resolution this year? Maybe! I think it might have to do more with physical activity - like get out to a different park for a walk once per month. I have to make it realistic and specific. I have to choose something that I've always wanted to do and make it a priority. This year I'll have more time and so I want to do things that make me happy. 

Happy New Year!