From loyal commentor Satby:
You can title these : Finally! (or “About F*&%ing Time!”)
This is the naturalized blue squill in the front yard of my (former) house in Chicago, my eldest son bought it last year. It’s an old neighborhood and lots of yards have these naturalized in the grass, making a beautiful display in spring.
These are the beginnings of my naturalizing in Michigan, this is the second year, but they’ve about doubled. More new squill in context in the yard, these are white ones (with the blue ones just starting to show). It will be years before they fill in like the first picture. They bloom and die back before the lawn needs to be mowed (normally) so it’s not a problem for them to be in the lawn.
And these are daffodils that are naturalizing on the border near the fence. When I moved to Michigan the previous owner had planted them one bulb at a time in a single line, like soldiers. I make sure to give them a heavy feeding of fertilizer while they’re up and they’ve filled in well. As long as they get enough food, they’ll grow, spread, and flower. If they send up leaves with less or no flowers, it’s time to dig them up and split them for replanting. I supplied 10 houses in Chicago with extra daff bulbs that way, from what was a mystery clump of green in a neglected front bed when we first moved in 27 years ago.
Spring bulbs are what I wait all winter for!
***********
My daffodils here north of Boston are beginning to bloom, too. The last of the dirty grey snow piles have finally melted, even on the north side of the house where the shadows are semi-permanent. Yesterday we hit our favorite garden center for the first time this season, and now I’ve got a couple flats of pansies plus a random handful of colorful ‘frost-hardy perennials’ (iberis, lithodora, columbine) waiting to encourage me to rake out the winter cruft and get them properly planted. Also a little ‘Power Pop‘ hybrid cherry tomato which may well not survive the next six weeks, but I couldn’t resist the lure of “ripe fruit up to two weeks earlier than others of this type”…
What’s going on in your gardens (or garden planning), this week?
Keith G
Not much space to to grow at my hovel, but the basil and rosemary are doing great and always brighten up my cooking.
Just read coverage of Ohio State’s spring workouts. 21 weeks until season opener.
raven
Today is the memorial service for our friend who died in the fall. It’s at the Founders Garden so I thought it would be worthy of mention here.
“1936, the Garden Club of Georgia began a fund to create a living memorial to the twelve founders of the Ladies’ Garden Club of Athens, the first garden club in America, organized in 1891.”
ThresherK
Wow, it looks like Michigan’s winter is as late as in New England.
OzarkHillbilly
I got the tree cut down yesterday. All I have to do now is pick up the wood from that one and another and haul them up to the wood shed where I will split and stack it. Hard to say how much wood is there before I that is done but it is at least a cord. Got another tree to bring down on the upper property and that should be more than enough for next winter.
Got all my potatoes planted yesterday, 1 # each of La Ratta Fingerlings, Norland Reds, Cranberry Reds, and All Blues, 3 #s of Yukon Golds. I suspect the rains last week (3 separate one inch rains, each in a half hr over 3 days) washed away all the carrot and lettuce seed I planted, so I probably need to redo that.
After the cold, snowy Feb. and extra cool March, things have warmed up quite well the past few weeks, to the point where I am thinking I may be able to put in my tomatoes and peppers by our last frost date (4/15) for the first time since we moved out here. I’ll be watching the forecasted lows, but it is looking good. Which means I got lots of tilling ahead of me too, mud permitting.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I bought a Honda 4 stroke mini-tiller a few years back and it really does a nice job.
satby
@raven: I have a big tiller that I will use by myself for the first time this year on the garden patch I let go wild last year. It’s huge, heavy, and I’ll probably do a crappy job, but I will do it myself, like a big girl. Used to be the ex’s spring task. Last year it was just something I didn’t want to cope with. This year could be my last summer here and if I have to go, it’s going to be in a blaze of flowers and veggies!
satby
@ThresherK: And Chicago’s. The squill up top were blooming at the same time as the early snow drops, usually they bloom a few weeks apart. And the daffodils above are normally taller, these are a couple inches short this year because it stayed cold so long. Night before last we had a frost. But the next week looks like it will stay above frost temps at night.
Oh, and I have peony stalks coming up now, I usually don’t see them peep up until at least May. Mother Nature haz a confused.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I have a big Husqvarna that does a really nice job and is super easy to handle but I need a mini tiller, bad. Been looking at Mantis’ but they seem a little pricey. How much did that one set you back?
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: We’ve had it for about 5 years. When I bought it the dude said, “these 2 strokes are cheaper but they don’t last”. This baby keeps humming and does well in the beds that are already cultivated. Looks like they are about 350 (the girl got a Kitchen Aid mixer last week that was nearly that much!)
http://www.maxtool.com/honda-9-in-25cc-middle-tine-gad-tiller-cultivator?google=1&CAWELAID=230005740000000138&CAGPSPN=pla&gclid=COTm7v3Q8MQCFfNZ7AodvkYAeg
I had an old Tecumseh egine rig with an exhaust that blew right back in my face. It dug but it sucked!
Raven
@satby: The key to the big ones is to let the machine do the work. If there is a bar on the back get used to balancing the load on the bar and lowering the tines to dig and then pull the machine forward.
Joel
I love squill, too, but isn’t it invasive?
satby
@Raven: ok, I will look at how to do that, but I walk behind mine, it’s self propelled. I think it’s prone to bounce a bit because the soil is heavy with lots of clay.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I have to say that like you I plant bulbs in my “lawn” (if you can call it that). I love that early splash of color among the dead grass and weeds. Always makes those last few weeks when winter refuses to go away, much more bearable.
WaterGirl
I have squill in my front lawn, too. They are happy little things! In all my transplanting last year, I somehow ended up with a bit squill in my garden bed in the back yard. Happy accident! I’m sure that over time it will spread like crazy in the bed, so that will be fun.
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: Yeah, that’s what I am looking for, I just hate parting with 350 bucks for such a small machine. My wife likes to say I’m so tight I squeak when I walk. I always say, “No Honey, that’s just my knees.”
Daniel'sBob
Well, I’m sitting here crying in my coffee ’cause I’ve developed a knee problem that’s keeping me from doing everything that needs doing this spring. There’s a basement full of vegetable plants under lights, a nursery bed full of perennials that need to be moved to their permanent bed, the grass is almost mowing height, yard is full of sticks and branches from the recent storms here in northern Illinois, and numerous other projects that were planned for this spring. Don’t know how any of it is going to get done. Happy Frickin’ Birthday to me–I’m old.
On a more positive note–the fall-planted garlic is 10″ high and the native woodland wildflowers are coming up, so there’s that.
Betty Cracker
The mister’s container garden is going great guns — we’ve already harvested a handful of cherry tomatoes and many more are ripening on the vine and will be ready this week. For me, a non-gardener who enjoys the fruits of others’ labor, the best part is the taste of that very first tomato.
In addition to a range of tomato types, we have several varieties of peppers, pole beans, eggplant and cucumbers. I’m sure I’m leaving something out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I’m jealous.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Yea but you know the difference between quality and junk.
Anne Laurie
@Daniel’sBob: First: Happy Birthday!
Second, most plants that can be grown under lights can be planted out in containers (or raised beds). I like A.M. Leonard’s root pouches, which are the cheapest professional version I’ve found, but plenty of people have success with those plasticky shopping bags your grocery store sells for a buck or so in the checkout lane. You can fill the bags (pots, cans) with potting mix, which is more expensive but a lot lighter than topsoil.
And it’s not efficient to bring a plastic chair out to the area that needs raking, and do the worst of it sitting down, but it’s better than blowing out a knee/hip/back. Pick up tools are useful, too.
Start with the stuff that will give you the most happiness, whether that’s cleaning up the area you see from your window, or getting those plants you’ve coddled into their summer homes. Remember, unless you’re unfortunate enough to live in a gated community with pages of rules, bright flowers hide messy beds, and mowed weeds look approximately as green as mowed grass to passers-by…
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: That’s always been my problem, especially when it comes to tools.
Hillary Rettig
>blue squill
so that’s what they’re called! they’re all over the place, up here in Kalamazoo – very beautiful and cheerful
debbie
Spring went on hyper-drive the past few days. After cold, gray barrenness, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, magnolias, weeping things are all blooming at once. I hope to get plenty of photos before the rains return in a couple of days.
satby
@Joel: Had a long explanation that the Kindle shut down and lost on me. Yeah, squill naturalizes, so it will spread beyond where you plant it, but that’s kind of the point. It blooms and dies back before the lawn grass really needs to be mowed in the spring (up north). Once the flowers are spent you can just mow over it as long as you set the mower to 3-4 inches, which is better for your grass anyway. If you look carefully at the top pic, the brown leaves are the still dormant Chicago lawn because that picture was taken about 10 days ago. If you can delay your mowing until after the seed pods develop it will spread faster because the mower spreads the seeds if it’s a mulching one, again often easy to do in a normal spring. During summer, you can even spread broadleaf weed killer over the spot, as I used to do when I didn’t know better. The bulbs are dormant by then and unaffected by weed and feed type lawn stuff.
satby
@Daniel’sBob: Happy Birthday!
Yes, spring decided to rampage through like a locomotive this year once it came. Get well first, and try what AnneLaurie suggests if you must garden.
Conscripting assistants is an option just to get the seedlings and plants in too. Some areas have volunteers that help with yard chores for older or less abled folks this time of year too.
Daniel'sBob
@Anne Laurie: Thank you!
I have about 100 trees and shrubs growing in smaller root pots (1&2 gallon) that I bought as seedlings to grow to planting-out size. Got mine from A.M. Leonard–great place to get things that can’t be found locally. They’ve worked well but tend to dry out much faster than plastic pots in our windy conditions here. We live in the middle of a wind farm–who could’ve guessed it would be windy?–on 2 1/2 acres, so most of it is mowed weeds with a little grass mixed in. I gave up the manicured lawn fetish 30 years ago when I developed a passion for native plants.
Violet
Love the blue color, satby! Those are beautiful. I picked snow peas this morning. Having an amazing season with those. Too many carrots to know what to do with. Giving those away to people. I think the vegetable garden soil is finally settling in. Takes awhile if you don’t start with great soil to begin with. Been amending with compost regularly for the last two years and it’s finally showing results. Lesson learned–don’t skimp on soil!
TaMara (BHF)
Satby, very pretty. You’ve inspired me to finally go out and photograph my neighbor’s yard. It is a stunning display of bulbs…and then roses.
Kristine
No veggies this year. I’ll buy from the local farmstead.
I do have flowers and shrubs, though, and want to plant more. The daffs are about half to 3/4’s along, and some have flower bulbs. Many don’t, though, so after the greenery dies back over the summer, I will need to dig up bulbs and split off the bulblets. I think it’s for the third time, if memory serves.
Chilly this morning–about 50F–but clear and sunny. Going to take Gaby out for our morning hike, then try to get a little yard work done as rain is expected this afternoon. Not that we need it.
satby
@Violet:
Amen! I had put compost and gypsum down where I wanted to garden for two years as well. Then last year I decided to let the whole area go fallow, which lead to the tallest and healthiest weeds I’ve ever seen. I’ll have to machete the remains down and burn off the seeds before tilling. I usually put heavy newspaper or scrap cardboard under mulch as a weed barrier, but I’m not sure it will work without some major eradicating this year first.
satby
@TaMara (BHF): Be sure to share the pictures! Gives us all hope, like your recipe threads do!
max
I have to get out and plant today after mowing yesterday. I need to do this before it starts raining again.
max
[‘But at least it’s sunny outside.’]
ixnay
Well, here in western Maine we have still mostly snow. Places nearer the coast say the maples are flowering, but no sign of it here yet. However, the frost is out of the surface of the ground in the few bare places. That would seem to be good, but yesterday one of the bee hives FELL OVER because it was leaning just a little bit on the squashy sandy loam that we have here (this despite large pavers under the feet). Rescued without apparent major injuries, but I’m not going to open the whole thing up for inspection until there are things in bloom to keep the majority of the girls occupied. Spring bees can be crabby: one stung me on the lip last year for no reason that I could see, so all bee work will be in protective garb.
My CSA is taking a year off to deal with deer depredations and a new baby, so I guess that means that my semi-retirement will be spent installing fencing and getting my own garden back in gear. If only May did not coincide with black flies, whose bites leave 2-inch hickies that last for 2 weeks on me. Maybe I’ll garden in bee gear this year.
Yatsuno
@TaMara (BHF): Hey sweetie! A friend asked me to write down how I do pot roast, so that should be coming your way today!
SuperHrefna
Gorgeous flowers Satby! We’ve had our early blooms ( aconite, witch hazel and crocuses) but no sign yet of the daffs. I have lots of heritage varieties planted because daffs are one of the few things I can plant that aren’t automatic deer candy. Plus I’ve planted my hanging baskets with pansies and my earth boxes with lettuce and pea seeds. I’ve never tried seeds in the earth boxes before, I hope it works.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Does he grow any fruits?
satby
@SuperHrefna: I’ll be thinking of you tomorrow Href! Let us all know how you’re doing!
SuperHrefna
@satby: Thanks, I will! I got lucky and got a 7am arrival slot so at least I won’t be waiting around all day for surgery. Better to get it over with!
Tree With Water
Can anyone share some wisdom about what to look for when shopping for a compost box? (I’m not going to build my own). If it matters, there’s a ton of wildlife here a bouts..
And any handy tips about the best way to grow California poppies from seed?
Mary G
@Tree With Water: You probably won’t see this, but they are best planted between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15 down here in the south where they are rampant in the high desert. They hate good soil, so don’t use compost or anything. Let the rain, if there is any, water them. If there is no rain, water them very little and very seldom, too much water will knock them out. Don’t fertilize them; you will get lovely foliage and no flowers.
Tree With Water
@Mary G: I should have asked that question yesterday, because just yesterday I threw a few handfuls of poppy seed on a patch of replenished soil topped off with a layer of new, store bought compost. Still, I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I ask in the first place because they seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to where they will-or-will not grow. I guess I’m reduced to hoping the seeds I scattered yesterday are contrarians. Thanks for the advice, though.
Tree With Water
@Mary G: I scattered the rest of the seed in some poorer soil today, so it’s now wait-and-see. It will make my summer if they make an appearance, as they are hands down my favorite flower and always have been.