Sunday, May 23, 2010

Prepping the Garden

peony

I thought that I would share a photo of my pretty pink peonies. They are one of my favorite flowers :)

Getting garden ready

Tomorrow is the first day that we should be clear of any frost danger and I thought it was high time that we get our garden in order! We all set out right after breakfast to beat the heat and K and I tackled shoveling the rows of dirt while the youngest two shot dirt in every direction from atop the hill of soil my dad dropped in last week :) At least it's helping to disperse it! *grin*.

Getting garden ready

The grass and weeds all along the inside of the garden fence have grown quite high and I don't know how many wheel barrows of sod and weeds we dumped into the pit before the rain started pouring down again just before lunch. We didn't get finished but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to venture out again tomorrow if it's not to wet and muddy.

Tomato Hangers

I thought that I would try something new this year with my tomatoes so I picked up some of the above planting hangers that let you grow your tomatoes on their sides or upside down instead of the conventional way of upright in the soil. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

I planted 3 different varieties.

Rocket ~ an early variety, suffers from little disease, produces medium sized tomatoes and is fast maturing which is perfect for coastal regions like where we are.
Super Sweet 100 ~ sugary sweet cherry tomato, resistant to wilt, and produces long clusters of fruit right up to the frost.
Window Box Roma ~ compact plant perfect for containers, disease resistant, excellent for cooking in sauces or homemade tomato paste.

I think I'm most excited about the Roma tomatoes as I plan to can tomato sauce and ketchup this year. Oh boy, these tomatoes better do well as I have 101 plans for them! LOL.

Loading bark mulch

After ducking in and out of the greenhouse for a couple of hours to avoid getting soaked in the rain we finally had a break in the weather long enough to help my mom with some of her garden chores :) She has a gorgeous hillside garden and all of her pathways are covered with bark mulch to keep the weeds away. Some spots were in need of some fresh mulch so L & M helped carry it up the mountain in ice cream pails. The perfect size for little hands :) M was so excited that he got to use the pitch fork all by himself to fill his bucket. You should have seen him beaming from ear to ear as he got to do a 'big boy' job *grin*.

Loading bark mulch

And off he goes with his pail :)
I think everyone was utterly exhausted tonight as there was not one protest at bedtime and nothing but silence within minutes of their heads hitting their pillows. They're going to need the rest as we're going to do it all over again tomorrow weather permitting!

~ Rosina

6 comments:

Jill said...

Gorgeous peonies Rosina. Your garden looks lovely.

Just had to tell you my daughter is due back in one week - getting a bit excited! She's had a month travelling in the States.

Hope the Cheshire cat is still grinning ha ha xx

Lori Holt said...

Your peonys are beautiful!...mine will be out in about 10 days.
I posted a few of the last of my spring blooms today. I'm sad to see them go:(
happy dirt digging,
x
lori

Jennifer Hoots said...

Wow. Hard work is so goooood for them! And the peony is so lovely. I have some about to bloom. It is the state flower of Indiana, by the way.
Jenn

Sandpiper said...

Love peonies too! Maybe I should get some of those hanging tomatoes, since our garden is still under construction.

Anonymous said...

How is it that your last frost date is 2 weeks after ours...but your peonies are already in full bloom and our's aren't? Weird! :)
It's beautiful. I can hardly wait...just a few more days!

Anonymous said...

I will see if I can find those romas here. I am so looking forward to having home canned tomatoes! I love that the kids like to help. It's such a great family activity. ~Cori at Wonder in the Woods (open ID isn't working for me lately)