michigan weather...

I didn't know which blog to post this to, but I guess it's about outside so it should go in the garden blog.

Yesterday I spent a good couple two-three hours working in the yard; sweeping out the garage and cleaning up some of the flower beds.  The temp was pretty nice in order to work outside - it was close to 60 degrees at times.

This is the before shot...but I didn't think to get an after :(

A little sowbug killer spider that I unearthed while removing leaves.

It's not like we don't still have snow on the ground up here.  Yep, we live "up north" and we still have plenty of snow on the ground in areas that are in the shadows.  Yesterday, I only worked the areas that didn't have snow anymore. 

All the snow we still have + a little layer from today's snow.

And then today...!  Today I went to the movies with my friend Deepa.  While driving there it was a near white-out!  When I got home from the movies, I had to shovel my driveway and throw all that snow into the flower beds that I just clean up yesterday!

I was thinking bunny, but I believe these are squeaky (squirrel) tracks.

Yesterday 60's, today 30's and snow.

One of the beds I cleaned yesterday.

 * * *

Also, I had noticed some tire tracks in the snow on our driveway when I came home from the movies, but didn't pay any attention to them.  I thought someone had just pulled in to turn around or something.  Finishing up shoveling at the bottom of the driveway by the road is when I saw that someone had just recently dug a hole in my flower bed along the driveway.  Kinda big hole.  I guess it was the person who belonged to these tire tracks.  Curious.  Now I'm wondering if the person who did this has anything to do with the gas company's project that is supposed to start tomorrow.  Maybe checking to see if the ground is still frozen...or...did someone just steal some of my tulips? 

This is the hole that someone dug just before I got home from the movies.

budding in the sun...

Even though it's freakin' cold, the Squill are starting to bud!

crocus in an ice storm...

My crocuses were flowering over a week ago already - then we got hit with another snow storm on Tuesday night and this time it was a very heavy snow, mixed with rain.  We enjoyed being dumped on an additional 4" that night...I mean in addition to all the snow that we've received this year already.  The fact is, most of the snow had already melted and we were feeling like spring was just around the corner...and not just the official start of spring, but springtime temps and blooming flowers and all.  But no, Mother Nature had other ideas and realistically, we can pretty much count on the possibility of snow for nearly another month.

Anyway, I took the first picture on March 18th and the second picture this evening...a couple of days after the snow/ice storm.  I really thought my crocuses were done for...but as it turns out, I was wrong.

And then my favorite...

look what what hiding under the snow...

This photo was taken this morning at around 11:30am.  At 6pm, it started snowing again.  I'm thinking that this year we've had record snow fall.

the demise of the forsythia...

A friend of mine suggested that I post the demise of the forsythia, so I am obliging him.

...yeah, they don't last long...

one step closer...

Well, I did it.  I stopped by one of my favorite nursery stores (Wiegand's) and bought veggie seeds for our up-and-coming veggie garden!  YAY!

I think I got everything that I had on the list.  All seeds were 50% off and with every 2 packets you purchased, you'd get a free packet of miscellaneous seeds.  That meant that I didn't have to purchase any tomato seeds, cuz I got a free packet.  Also got a free packet of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, then a packet of flower seeds.

Thinking about garden markers and I think that I'll have Jerome laminate the seed envelopes (at work) and then I will punch some holes in the bottom and use the little plastic sign holders that you find on your lawn after Scott's has come and sprayed.  I have a ton of those because I was collecting them for when we plan a road rally and we need to indicate where the next clue is located.

It will still be a while before we are able to begin construction on our garden since we still have a good 12"  (or more) of snowdrift in the garden area.  I really hope we can concentrate on this project and get it done in time for me to plant and for us to harvest (whenever that may be).

force-ythia; last photo...

force-ythia; photo 6 & 7...

The last couple of days, things have been happening pretty quickly.  The flowers on the branches are not completely open, but by the end of the day they will be.

photo 6; friday evening

photo 7; saturday morning

snow...

btw, snowed 2 more inches overnight.  I'm kinda done with so much snow.

force-ythia; photo 5

This photo was taken pretty late - like around 7pm or so.  I use a point-n-shoot and so it was pretty difficult to take a photo with anything in focus.  I turned on every light possible and it's still so dark, but with all of that being said, you can still see clearly that there is some budding going on.

force-ythia; photo 4...

snow...

I forgot to mention that after all the snow had melted, and we were finally seeing the ground again - we had upwards of 9 inches fall between Sunday and Monday.

force-ythia; photo 3...

...a little more...

I have tried to take a photo at the same time for the last three days (around 12:30pm). The rest of this week, the photos will be taken after we get home from work.

force-ythia; photo 2...

force-ythia...

I'm forcing a few forsythia branches again this year.  My plan was to take a pic of the same bud every day, but I've already missed the first day...so here is what it is on the 2nd day in the house.

Stay tuned...

veggie garden...

My intention is to begin a vegetable garden this year.  "My intention" means that I will need my husband to accommodate my wishes and help do the majority of the building.  I will help hold things and do the eventual planting, but he needs to do the heavy lifting.  

I was inspired by this article in This Old House Magazine, which is where this photo comes from.  We would put it on the east side of the garage in an area that we luckily had leveled when we had the garage built.  Prior to it being leveled, it was a pile of stumps and dirt.

We've started a list of the veggies that we'd like to see growing in this garden.  This is what we've chosen so far:

• green beans
• tomato (probably only one or two plants because neither of us eat all that many tomatoes)
• green onions
• parsley
• corn (just a few stalks, so that I can have some decorations for the fall)
• pumpkin (again, only a couple since all I want is a jack-o-lantern or two)
• spinach (is there a difference between "baby" spinach and regular spinach?)
• carrots
• peppers

Well, that's the list so far.  We would build a fenced in area so that the little bunnies would only be able to eat my crocuses and tulips.

happy valentine's day...

What was seen in the garden on Monday afternoon:

...and so it begins!

what the garden looks like these days...

end of season...

I've noticed that some people cut their hostas (and other plants) down way before now...I happen to like the colors that the hostas turn at this time of the year.  When we start raking in a couple of weeks, the hostas will be much easier to pull out - plus they've had all their nutrients stored (or at least that's what I believe).

In this photo is a Japanese Maple and a Burning Bush...you can hardly tell them apart, they are so close in color right now.

In this shot you see Cosmos in the front, followed by Dahlias, Burning Bush, Japanese Maples (these ones turn orange) and the Magnolia tree.

Finally, these are some nice yellow mums that I had purchased in the spring as a decoration for my brothers 50th Birthday Party that we held at our house.  They added a nice little pop of color in the early spring, when only the early tulips were blooming. 

I replanted them in the front of the house.  The weather was so drought like that I thought they were goners...but they survived and they are blooming!  When the buds start, they are a reddish-orange, but the flowers are a nice bright yellow.

Still need to plant a bunch of bulbs and purchase and plant a bunch of boxwoods...then it's resting time until next February/March.

a month ago...

It's starting to get cold here.  I knew that we'd have an early "drop" and it seems that I'm correct.  It's surprising how many leaves have fallen already.

We've had such a dry summer, but fall is pretty wet so far.  In fact, our grass is starting to grow back.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took a month ago of some of the blooming flowers.  I'm hoping to see more of this for the rest of the month...as in "no frost".

It's about time to plant some bulbs.

we don't need no water...

Let the MotherFcuker burn!

I'm speaking of my grass...and really my plants in general.

We have not had rain here at the house for SO MANY DAYS!  It's rained all around us, but not in our little Village.

The grass is all burned up - especially all the new grass we planted in the spring.  Even one of my trees; the paper birch has lost half of its leaves - they turned yellow (which they normally do in October) and they fell off the tree.  I'm making a prediction - Fall Colors will be early this year.  

The ground is so dry that there are cracks that are literally 1/2 inch thick. Everything is screaming water, Water, WATER!!!!!!

We check the weather channel everyday just hoping that something would be coming our way - but even when it looks like there might be rain, it never does.  

Since we've been home from our trip to Seattle, it's only rained on July 17th (Romeo Garden Walk) - it was a freak storm that lasted about an hour and then it was blue skys and very humid afterward.  Then it waited until we had our Annual Pot-luck and rained for almost an hour then - that was July 31st.  One more time it spit some raindrops and that was around August 8.  Other than that - Nothing!

Everything is suffering.  I do some watering, here and there, but as I've read recently, the nice lush green grass of yester-year is growing out of fashion to the Green Movement.  So, people are letting their grass go dormant in the summer.  I'm doing it too, not that I like the look, because I DON'T!, but I also wouldn't want a huge water bill (especially since I only work 3 days a week - not good on the pocket book).  I've only cut the grass once since we've been back from vacation; so once in 6 weeks.  I just don't want all of my scruffy looking plants to die too.

Oh and another thing that's happening that never happened before - we have MOLES!  They are really screwing up what is left of the lawn.  We've purchased a stake that beeps every 30 seconds that is supposed to drive the moles away.  It's not working yet.  They say to give it several weeks, but summer will be over by then and I would only assume that the mole problem goes away with it.  I'm going to purchase the mole chasing windmills - I know they worked for my mom.

I hope next year we have a much wetter summer.

UPDATE: Just had RAIN!!!  Along with a tornado warning and sirens.  Now the AC is not blowing because the power tried really hard, three times to go out.  Oh, and again it only lasted less than an hour.  Not enough to do much for the grass and plants.

indignant...

I don't want to get all bitchy again about how the contractors are stepping all over my plants...but they are!

They are hard to avoid, I suppose...

But, in knowing how I am, I warned Vince (the cement contractor) when he came out to do the estimate, that I get snippy when I see that my plants are not being watched over by the workers.  He told me that they will be very careful around them -  as he kicked one of my tulips without knowing...

I don't think you can tell men that they need to watch out for the flowers.  Especially manly-men like contractors.

I was in the kitchen yesterday watching one guy walking up in my boulder garden (which I really thought was safe) to the upper portion of the yard.  He was moving a hose and threw it down the other side clipping  one of my hydrangeas.  I immediately went with my impulse and stormed out the door.  By that time, he had come down and grabbed the hose and saved the flower - lucky for him.

Then I walked around the house and noticed that they had "placed" one of their metal grids (for reinforcement inside the concrete) on top of one of my rose bushes.  I picked up the metal and moved it freeing up the branch which popped back up, thankfully.

I wonder how many plants this team will end up maiming?

harvest...

Here is the booty that we harvested this weekend!

Yes...4.

Tasty little morsels.

peonies...

This year the peonies only lasted a short time.  First of all it was really drought-like here for some time which made one of the peonies just burn up.  I think it was only able to produce 4 or 5 flowers to it's full extent.  Then along came the rains...and it's still raining.  Rain is not very good for flowers once they are bloomed.  They have a tendency to get weighed down.  With peonies, their stems are so long, it's hard not to have some flowers that end up on the ground because the stems bend so far.

Well, yesterday I took a shot from the ground up of one set of peonies and it turned out pretty good...just wish I could see this beauty when I'm looking down at them...not when I have to lay on the ground and look up at them.

strawberries...

I decided I'd plant strawberries this year.  I ordered them from Gurney's.  They came while we were out of town and by the time we were home - most of them were dying, if not dead.

I contacted Gurney's and they sent out a new batch, but these looked to be in worse shape than the ones that were dying when I got home from vacation.

However, they didn't die - much to my surprise.  And this week we've noticed something pretty cool!