Surprise Jack O'Lanterns in the Garden

In the spring, I swear that I gave Baby Chewy watermelon seeds to plant. Like, I have the empty packet of seeds saved in my garden notebook (that I sometimes add to and sometimes do not add to, I suppose I should take more pictures and just post them here for a record). 

And one day before we went to Colorado over the summer I noticed a small (what I thought was a watermelon) fruit on a vine and was super excited to come back home to show the kids the watermelon we had grown all summer. 

Turns out... not a watermelon.

We grew Jack O'Lanterns. I think what happened was that the plants are volunteers from the pumpkins that we carved last year and the vines sprouted after I spread my compost this spring to replenish all the nutrients lost to tomato plants last year. 

Overall, I have found 4 pumpkins. I think one might not make it because a chipmunk has chewed it already. I put some diatomaceous earth on all the pumpkins to keep them from smelling delicious to critters so I'm hoping I can keep the pumpkins from being eaten until at least the first few weeks in October, after that I can harvest the pumpkins and keep them inside to keep them from squirrels and chipmunks. What a fun surprise this year!

 

Lavender Bee Balm

It's my favorite! My fuschia bee balm is starting to die out - it's spread so much that I don't have a large patch of it anymore. It's dispersed itself throughout my boulevard and I don't think it looks as nice as if it were in a large patch. I think I'm going to dig up the little plants that haven't bloomed yet and put them all into a patch in our boulevard that needs to be filled in (and cross my fingers it doesn't die and comes back next year!).

Last night The Monkey had mountain biking camp at Lake Marion in Lakeville, which is about 45 minutes from us in traffic (30 without traffic!). The trails curve around soccer fields and then go back into a small woodsy area that's next to a lake (Lake Marion). I had Baby Chewie with me on the Mac Ride so I was a little slower with an added 30 pounds which gives me a chance to look at all the flowers without slowing down the whole family when we all ride together. I really am THAT person that stops to look at flowers and foliage. HA! In any case, there's a small prairie area and within all the grasses there's lavender bee balm mixed throughout - there's not patches of it, instead it's dispersed through the whole prairie area and the little pops of lavender during sunset are absolutely beautiful! I didn't think to take pictures last night because I was too busy riding and I haven't been on a trail in awhile because of the heavy rains. I will stop to take a photo next week as long as it hasn't rained and the trails aren't closed. 

2019 Garden Goals

This year is going to be huge in the realm of our backyard.

The kids love to mountain bike.

I hate to mow the lawn.

So our plan is to have dirt delivered and turn the backyard into a pump track.

YEP. A PUMP TRACK.

I'm going to move a garden, possibly take out the little dining patio (or make it larger, I'm not sure what the track is going to look like yet), and then put in gardens in the turns and in the middle of the pump track.

Berm turns, here we come!

(Photo is not mine, taken from Google images as an example of a pump track)

Other than that hefty goal of getting large equipment into the backyard to build berm turns and rollers, I think my plan is to stick veggies in the flowers, put in a step-out line of bricks at the curb on the boulevard and re-mulch everything that I can to prevent dead flowers and veggies!

On my veggie/herb list this year:

Tomatoes - both cherry tomatoes AND heirloom tomatoes

Cucumbers

Peppers

Pumpkins

Butternut squash

Cilantro

Basil

Dill

Jalepenos

Brussel Sprouts

Lettuce as fill-in in the front garden beds

Lavender

Sage

Mint

Calendula

Chamomile

Broccoli - as fill-in in front garden beds

Banana peppers

I don't have much on my list for flowers - well, that is until there's a plant sale at the local garden center. Then it suddenly seems like I need everything! I'm leaving a lot of things open to change this year because if we do a pump track like we've planned, then I'm going to need to plan out where all the veggies are going and I might possibly need to move some perennials. 

At some point I would love to get rid of all the rock that's around this house. I've been dumping what I've been picking up along the back side of the garage - at some point I'm going to have to make a post on Nextdoor or Facebook to take some free rock. Eh, I'm not even sure if people want free rock anymore. 

So plants and plans may change, but I'm hoping to get a pump track this year! 

2018 Rabbit Strategy For Gardening

I'm trying a new rabbit strategy this year.

I'm drawing them out...to get eaten by the hawks!

Will this work? I HAVE NO IDEA.

But the rabbits ate down a whole pink bush that I absolutely loved last year that I put by our air conditioner to cover up an ugly corner of the yard. I should have put chicken wire around it. It's really my fault for not seeing every single plant as rabbit food.

So today I decided to set out a plate of lettuce and melon. Yep, that's right. I'm going to divert their attention to actual lettuce and greens. I'm going to feed the fucking rabbits too.

A few weeks ago a hawk landed on our fence so I know the predators are out there. I'm hoping to draw out the rabbits to attract the predators and keep the rabbits and squirrels from eating my plants!

Strategy is bold, but at this point, I'm willing to do anything to keep my lovely plants happy and healthy. We'll see if it works!

Front Boulevard Photos

I really didn't want to mow anymore grass than I had to. Besides, grass is really an invasive weed anyway. You water it and water it and it doesn't really give you anything back, does it? So, it's really time to start getting rid of the grass and putting in a perennial garden with Minnesota native plants and pollinator plants. Mother Earth gives so much to us (like um, air to breath, water to drink, etc...), so it's time to give back to Mother Earth. 

This side is mostly irises, daylillies, and bee balm. It's what I planted last fall with what I had. The irises were really pretty this past year - some were purple, others were yellow, I really had no idea what they were since they came from my mom's house. 

This is the other side. This is more of the pollinator garden side. I've got bee balm, butterfly weed, a few hostas, wild geranium, and more daylillies. Half I planted this spring from splitting plants and moving what didn't work last year. The other half came from local plant nurseries. 

This is wild geranium (I think). There's already TONS of small bees all around this thing - but they're too small to see in a photograph like this.

Here's one of the beds with more pollinator plants. We don't have a great area for a true veggie garden so I have to stick my veggies into my flower beds, which is fine except that it's really good for the rabbits and not for us. I can't do anything about that until next year AFTER the huge Norway Pine comes down on the side of the house. THEN I'll do a raised bed with all veggies and put up rabbit fencing so I don't have to deal with that problem again. 

I bought a new variety of bee balm - I LOVE my hot pink bee balm but the bees like a variety of plants so I decided to get the light purple for a variety of colors and pollens for the bees. 

My shasta daisies are doing great - they're twice as big as last year and I've already split some and moved them. Next year I'll have to pull a few more so they don't take over. They're so tall though, I need to swap a plant to the front so it's not hidden by the daisies or in the shade of the daisies. I'll have to wait until everything is done blooming to do that.

SO... WELCOME TO THE GARDEN.

Happy summer! I can't wait until more flowers are blooming!

2015 Garden Plans

Oy. Gardening. I feel like I have a lot that I want to do but so little time/money to get it all done.

And that's ok.

For right now!

Last year I planted pollinating plants on one side of the boulevard. Unfortunately I didn't get to the people that were re-seeding the construction areas in time so this year I'll be killing grass (naturally) and then adding in more mulch and a few more bee and butterfly friendly plants. So far I've got Bearded Lilies, Daylillies, and some random daisies. I want to move more daisies down to the boulevard and then also plant maybe another rose bush and more Bee Balm. Bee Balm spreads, so I'm hoping that if I move a few stalks when I see them come up in a few weeks, they'll spread for next year. Between plants I'll put down newspaper that I've been saving up to cut down on weeds and then mulch over the newspaper. I'm positive that my neighbors will like mulch instead of newspaper. It has to be somewhat attractive, right???

Then, since Rusty died (sad face here, poor Rusty), he won't be around to kill all the plants in the backyard. He's killed anemones, bee balm, basil, hostas, boxwood bushes, grass, and countless other flowers that I've tried to plant. He was so tall he was even able to pee in pots. That ASSHOLE.

In any case, the Monkey's great-uncle bought her a little gardening kits with seeds that we've started. I've allocated approximately 10 square feet for her little seeds and garden area - since she planted the seeds randomly in the seed-starting kit, it will really be a crapshoot as to what comes up (possibly peas, tomatoes, flowers, or something else, I don't remember). To get that area ready I'm going to need a pitchfork, and the compost from the bin to turn the soil over. We just don't have a big enough area to justify getting or even renting a tiller. No big deal. She can dig in the soil with me.

In the front, I'm going to get more newspaper down in the big beds and cover it with mulch. I've just decided I've really had it with as much weeding as I've done in the past (but not all weeds are bad - a lot of weeds provide food for bugs and birds. Weeds can be a great distraction for pesky insects that would otherwise feed on your nice flowers!). So that should cut down on my "garden work" this year. Plus the mulch that I buy is extremely cheap and pretty much composts back into the ground and helps to make the garden soil better. I'm thinking I'll need close to 20 bags of mulch (not including what will be happening at my mother-in-law's garden, which is also part of the reason why I'm mulching so much at home, we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer getting her house ready for sale).

So garden planning. Yeah. I've got my work cut out for me but that's ok. I LOVE gardening so I don't mind doing all this work. In the end, the flowers bloom and I get to enjoy it all!

Help Me Identify A Flower

Please help me, because I have no idea what this is. 

Each year I buy packets of annual "wildflower" mixes and either toss them straight into my garden beds without a care if they come up or not, I also put three packets into three containers on my back deck for color all summer long (well, mostly everything is green until July...).

This flower came up in my annual wildflower mix containers but it also came up in my front garden beds where I did NOT plant any annual wildflower mixes. 

It's really pretty - simple and white, definitely a flower that could be used in a cut flower garden and one that blooms for more than a week at a time.

Can anyone help me identify it? 

If so, please comment with the name! I'm really interested in knowing!

September Garden Update

 My goodness, my garden is STILL blooming. 

I'm totally shocked to see 3 more roses in bloom, plus my Clematis bloomed for the first time in 3 years. My good friend was telling me this morning that there's a little saying about Clematis - you plant, you wait, it blooms or something like that. And goodness, did I wait for that Clematis. It's the pretty star shaped purple bloom. 

Above: Rose

Above: Clematis

Above: Yarrow

This year my yarrow grew so tall that it basically flopped over and covered two hostas. I cut it back once it seemed to be done blooming (I don't actually know if you're supposed to do that or not...) and suddenly it was bushy and growing again. One stalk is flowering again. The dragonflies seem to love it. I've got two bushes of it and I have to google yarrow to see if I can split it. I'd like to put this down on our little strip of boulevard.

Above: Sedum

I've only planted this in the backyard where The Monster has peed on it and killed it. I decided to try it out in the front and it's doing fantastic!

Above: Cosmos

Cosmos grow like crazy in our front yard. They're annuals so I plant them every year. All I do is open 2 - 3 seed packs and toss the seeds out into the garden bed. They come in fun colors too, but I prefer the pink!

Wordless Wednesday - Garden Flowers

Tried Green Beans, Still Hate 'Em

I hate green beans. My dad grew them in his garden every year. 5, 6, 7 rows of plain green garden beans.

They were so stringy. And tough. Or squeaky. 

I hate loathe squeaky green beans. Those make me shiver.

And unfortunately today I let The Monkey in on my big secret.

There are certain green beans that I hate and when I made dinner tonight I pulled a bean out of the steamer to see if it was done, I spit it out. I had planted, on accident, the kind of beans that you need to pull the tough strings off both sides before you cook them. You know, the ones that you snap and then peel the stupid strings off of the edges? THE ONLY KIND MY DAD PLANTED.

YUCK.

They were thrown into the compost pile.

Next year I will research my beans. Because I do like green beans... but just not the ones I planted. 

I'm positive my dad is laughing in his grave right now. He actually tried dehydrating them (yes, seriously, DEHYDRATING BEANS) to see if I would like them better. No, I didn't like them better.

And at the end of the day I still had to weed those damn beans.

Lesson was learned, so I'm crossing green beans off of my to-grow list until I can search Burpee's website and find something that I might like. 

Seed Starting

Spring is here.

In my mind!

With 40+ inches of snow on the ground and a morning low of -15 degrees on this second day of March, I'm getting really tired of this horrible Minnesota winter.

Alaska is warmer than Minnesota.

So this morning I got out my seed starting tray (made with coconut fibers and recyclable plastic), along with my organic seed starting mix (insert every crunchy granola term you want) and my tomato seeds.

This year I decided to do two heirloom tomatoes and San Marzano tomatoes. I've got yellow bell small tomatoes for one of the heirlooms and huge beefsteak (their name is Mortgage Lifter!) heirloom tomatoes. Small ones for Bimmer Man and The Monkey - the big ones are for me (ooohhh... BLT sandwiches!! YUM!!). The San Marzanos' I plan on dicing, freezing and also roasting and freezing for next winter.

I also started Thyme. This year I'm going to do a shitload of herbs so I can dry them.

This past Fall I dried about 20 plants worth of basil and I've used half of it - I got around 2 large Ikea magnetic storage containers worth. But the thing is, I had to learn a lesson with basil. Rusty pees on everything in the backyard so he's killed two anemones, three hostas, at least two lilies and a few other flowers too. I had to pull out pee-basil plants and compost them. Not cool, Rusty, not cool. This year all the herbs will be going back into pots instead of the flower beds so he doesn't pee on our food.

I need to find some sort of pee-resistant flowers or bushes in the back by the garage. Or I need to stand out there every time he pees and shoo him away.

I love him. I really do. I just don't love his pee.

I've got one more seed starting tray which I'll fill with more herbs on April 1. I don't have enough room on my dining room table for more seeds. Hopefully there won't be snow on the ground then so I can move the trays to our back porch and put them on the table out there during the day and bring them in at night.

Mer. I just want to be outside again!

I Need Some Summer

Snow, cold.

Ok, Polar Vortex sums it up better. 

I'm longing for summer. For 95 degree days, biking, kiddie pools, shorts, tank tops, flip flops, bare feet.

There's only so much winter one can take.

So I'm plotting my gardens.

Front:

Take out half of the yellow daylillies

Split and take out half of the asiatic lillies

Pull out all the dead and brown green stuff that sits on the concrete blocks

Pull out the box hedges

Plant vines in the boxes

Plant broccoli, cauliflower, sage, cilantro, and lavender to attract bees

Pull out half the bee balm

Back:

New mulch

Figure out how to get dog not to pee on my flowers

Find a spot for 3 anemones

Plant tomatoes, basil, squash, possibly peas

Move 4 hostas to hide A/C unit

Get rid of fire pit

Make lawn games