Adequate Daffodils

Finally, I have enough daffodils.

How many are enough?  Some existing daffodils down by the woodland garden were crowded and scarcely bloomed. Given their own spot, they are happy and make my eyes glad. Behind them are Surprise Lilies.

Then there are some that I missed when I dug up entire daffodil plantings to replant. Unaware that they were hiding deep in the dirt, I moved some overgrown irises here, seen at lower right.

This is the peony and  daylily bed. The daffodils are the opening act for them. Surprise lilies are by the old wagon wheel. Those guys have bulbs the size of hard balls and probably not worth the effort it took to dig them up and replant them a foot deep. Like daffodils, they multiply like rabbits.

This is the hillside where I transplanted daffodils and daylilies last fall. I've left plenty of room for them to multiply. The cages are to let Beau know I did not create a spot for him to stretch out in the sunshine.

At last, we are getting lovely rain. The broccoli and cabbages are ready to transplant now. They weren't hardened off, due to the high  winds, for weeks. Now all is calm. Fortunately, during the dry spring I was able to till the spots where these will go; all I have to do is dig round holes in the wet soil and pop them in.

To answer the question of how many daffodils are enough, I would say seven separate beds and roughly two hundred bulbs. This bouquet is shown with the Bradford Pear, which is just as beautiful in bloom and a lot less work. Seen near the propane tank are old plantings of, surprise, Surprise Lilies.

Enough Room

I'm trying to change my planting habits. My worst problem, from when I had my first vegetable garden when I was fifteen, is giving plants enough room. This time I used large-square graph paper to plan the garden, which showed me that there really wasn't going to be room for unlimited veggies.

The yardstick allowed me to place these seed potatoes exactly 18 inches apart, and the onion sets have adequate space.  I've even left enough room to be able to till alongside the rows and mound up the dirt after the potatoes start growing. It's amazing, and so unlike me.

The next thing I'm working on is not planting too much of everything. A small garden helps in that regard. When I was living by myself at the farm, a friend suggested I no longer needed to plant the entire 90x90 foot garden. I thought that was heresy.

About a month ago, I planted little blocks of 2x2 feet along the soffit edge of the garden. See the white markers above. Those little wide row plots were for things that can't be put up for future use, like lettuces, radishes and chard.

Snow peas are wonderful fresh but always a bit limp when frozen. Hence, they got a small double row of 4 feet. I used the seeder, which sowed them a bit thickly; I'll thin them later. The pic looks rather dull, but the green shoots seem quite exciting after staring at the spot for a month, waiting for them.

Those early garden goodies have been very slow to come up, due to the area only having ONE inch of precipitation since Jan. 1. It was all to the good, though, when the temp got down to 9 degrees the other night.  Today, I broke down and watered them from the cistern.

Surprisingly, I found that two Red Norland seed potatoes gave me enough starts for there to be plenty for fresh eating all summer. Actually, one big potato would have done it.

Now that the grandkids are no longer coming to Grammie's for strawberry picking, I merely dug up 6 plants from the old weedy patch and gave them their own cute little bed. Molly, the youngest child, now grows her own strawberries. My freezer still has quantities of sliced strawberries and freezer jam.

Some rain and/or less strong wind would certainly be welcome. I put the broccoli and cabbage plants out to harden off in the sun for a scant few minutes yesterday. It took them the rest of the day under the grow lights to recover and straighten up. I overheard them making critical remarks about the dusty wind and my judgment.

The fun of gardening is we get to keep trying different approaches. I find that in any given year I have either a good early garden or a main one, but rarely both.

Beauty Pageant Hen

This is Betsy. She is an Americana, born in the USA. Quite the most beautiful hen in the run, she will not deign to associate with me. When she was a chick, I thought she was skitty, but now I believe she finds me repellent in my gaudy hot pink sweatshirt. So unsubtle.

Sporting exquisite feathers with  magnificent shading, she would be a prize-winner in any show. Even her feet are an unusual gray-green.

 Betsy is now producing the most gorgeous eggs of all. She was only in the house one day when she was a chick, but she apparently remembered the color of my living room walls. She has the true artist's eye.

The First Take-Cover of the Spring Season

Yesterday, when the winds continued very strong all day, and the temps got up to 75, things got a bit squirrely. In fact, I saw a squirrel leaping from tree to tree to reach a safe hole in the big oak.

These weather changes are hard to keep up with. Just the other day, when it was 72 degrees, the weather radio was still playing their old records, possibly 78's, advising us how to avoid frostbite.

My computer does have the radar image, which is good because I am not near any big city and have no TV reception.

Last evening, I was fixing my usual late dinner after dark when the weather radio announced that the tornado watch turned into a tornado warning. A tornado was reported to have touched down a little to the southeast. Time to put on a jacket and rubber boots, grab the flashlight and my purse and get down to the fruit cellar. It's always chilly down there, but the outside temperature had dropped 20 degrees rather swiftly.

Once there, I discovered my new cell phone, purchased for such an eventuality, refused to work without me giving them more money. I had it set up to automatically deduct from my Visa, so don't know what that was all about.  The idea behind the cell phone was if my manufactured home became airborne and landed on the cellar exit, I would have a way to reach someone to come get it off me.

Outside, there was lightning, thunder, heavy rain and hail. The wind continued to howl. I regretted that I didn't bring a book to read, having finished the four mysteries I got from the library recently.

It's moments like that that I really think I should do something to make the place more pleasant. Perhaps some posters of sunny island paradises would help. I did tear out the sagging plywood shelves years ago. The problem is the cellar is rather damp in the tornado season, hence the boots. Soft furnishings were definitely not the answer. The stored rain barrels did add a touch of much-needed color. Indirect lighting was provided by my trusty LED lantern.

The jugs are old kitty litter containers full of rainwater for the plants. Once I got the cistern pump, I forgot about using them.

Before long, the peepers in the pond could once again be heard as the storm moved off. I returned to have my dinner.

Snow is forecast for the weekend.