Spring in Minnesota

As promised, I ventured out to the greenhouse with my phone today to grab a few pictures of the seedlings. On my way through the snow... yes snowy wintery mix fell all day yesterday here in grand ol' Minnesota, I found this columbine covered in water droplets. I love the colors of new columbine foliage.! As it varies from species to species, quite a few of the varieties I grow have a purple tone like this one here, and also the newest leaves look like a sweet potato color... pretty perfect.

I also admired my own handy work. I made these leaf bird baths from hand last year, and the water looks so gorgeous in them, especially on the table my husband made. Yay! He was about to scrap this huge chunk of metal when I nabbed it for my gazing ball. My son scored the raccoon for free at a yard sale last year.

Okay, so here we are in the greenhouse! It was 38 outside, and 50 inside the greenhouse. I don't have a heater in there, so with temps regularly dipping in the mid thirties I've experimented with bringing several strands of lights that keep warm-  so far it has worked to keep temps about 10 degrees higher. Seedlings here are stock "katz mix", Mexican feather grass, and blue bachelors buttons.  

Here are some of the tomatoes.  

I have two kinds of black eyed susan vines this year, blushing Susie and Spanish eyes. I've just transplanted the to large pots and included a little teepee for them to cling to.  Beside it you will find lettuce and cats grass.

Just a few days ago I planted all of the profusion zinnia seeds. I ordered them offline, and love giving them a little head start. I won't be transplanting them for two more weeks, weather permitting.  

 

I have transplanted some things that germinated in the basement into the greenhouse, including: basil, true lavender, rosemary, peppers, black eyed susan vine, stock, Mexican feather grass, eggplant and tomatoes. For my own record keeping purposes, and perhaps your curiousity, I'll include a list of seeds that germinated in the unheated greenhouse so far (note: I'm seeing new germinations every day, despite the cool temps overnight and the highs in the greenhouse reaching less than 50 for a few days): Mexican feather grass, lettuce, cabbage, kale, radicchio, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cat grass, borage, calendula, Spanish lavender, tomatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkin, cucumber, several varieties of basil, marjoram, true hyssop, hollyhock, zinnia, bachelors buttons, snapdragon, cleome, aster, lobelia, painted daisy, foxglove, and more...

 

 One more outside picture- taken from the back window. I have never seen this kind of bird at my feeders, so I had to get a shot of it for ID purposes. My neighbor and friends tell me its a brown thrasher. I thought it might be, based on my bird book, but I so frequently get the bird IDs wrong!

 

Happy gardening! 

Still waiting on a spring day...

This has been such a cold April. Record setting. The weather stat nerd in me is sort of enjoying it... We should have an average high of almost 60 right now, and we are still buried in snow- and still have more forecasted. We had a handful of days that teetered on 50, and were able to crack the house windows, but mostly, we've been in snow gear and coats and hovering around 40. I am happy each inch that falls puts a dent in the drought records, too. Last year was horrifically dry, and we need this moisture so much. I'm also excited that scientifically, these late cold temps are going to affect the bug population (less spiders and mosquitoes).

I've had to fulfill the need to get my hands in the dirt indoors and in my unheated greenhouse. In the greenhouse, as of yesterday (before last nights record low of 18-20F), I've had great success with lettuce and peas, as well as snapdragons, delphiniums, foxgloves, sweet william, blue fescue, hare's tail grass, hollyhock, carrots, penstemon and even some lily bulbs. In the house I've been potting and repotting houseplants, and finally getting grow lights on a shelf for seedlings (very fun!). I have delphinium, hollyhock, french lavender, carnation, coleus, rudbeckia, and snapdragon seeds, as well as caladium, fern, and dahlia tubers. Our living space is filled to the brim with houseplants & various plants for the garden I am planting at Jux99. I even tried cat grass for the kitties... my boys planted the seeds, and they sprouted under the lights very fast- we moved them into the entry hall on a dresser where the cats could find it, and it was chewed down by the next day. I added more seeds, and they've started sprouting, too.

I have also been making a huge batch or two of hypertufa everyday. I've started having pieces cured completely, just in time for the wholesale orders of hardy succulents to arrive at my door. I will selling the hypertufa (both empty and planted with sedum & sempervivum) in 2 weeks at Juxtaposition 99 here in Buffalo, MN. I was hoping to have this aspect of my contribution to the sale done a month ago, but the weather wasn't very cooperative and I'm limited on space-that huge greenhouse I dream about hasn't fallen out of the sky yet, go figure. I am hoping people can visualize how wonderful these little guys will looks when they begin multiplying. :) We know how hens and chicks do!

 

My kids have wasted no time indoors when they could be outside playing in the heavy wet spring snow. During and after shoveling the foot that feel this week I took a few pictures.

The temps are warm enough that the snow is melting fast, and running down our street in a tiny trickling creek. A nice sight!

See the snow went to the top of my rain boots!

 

My kids and dogs:

 

I heard a friend of a friends's facebook status was, "Go home, winter. You're drunk." Hysterical!

Proud owner of a greenhouse!

I've suffered from greenhouse envy for years and years. Come spring, when my tropical, tender, and succulent plants already fill every windowsill I'm short any room to dare start a seedling. I've had the plastic greenhouse blow to bits in a spring storm, and long since given up starting anything in the basement where my cats destroy it (and I'm short on room anyway). I usually have the seeds, the container, the soil, the knowledge and desire, and even the skill, but no ROOM to grow nearly everything from seed.

Now, during the summer, when I'm moving my catci in the back door every time more than one day of rain threatens I really long for a greenhouse where my succulents and cactus can leisurely spend their summers dry as they wanna be.

I can finally, proudly say I have my very own greenhouse!

I have already started some peppers in there- I think the number of cool nights (and even days) we get here in a Minnesota summer slows down the peppers... so I hope to get higher yields by putting a few plants in the greenhouse. I also pulled the slower-to-start dahlias in there so they can catch up.

 And due to the rainy forecast we have for the next 7 days, my son and I moved all our cacti and succulents into the greenhouse, where they can stay nice and dry. I've already lost a few succulents to overwatering via mother nature. :(

Plans are in the works for tables on both sides using as little money as possible... anyone with cinder blocks, bricks, etc, throw them my way!

Keeping busy, the anticipation of spring is intense!

With the arrival of gardening magazines on racks, and the garden section of the stores coming to life, my anticipation for spring is intensifying. And only increasing as the days go by. I've picked up a few magazines to spawn ideas, and I've been sketching in my journal almost every day, budgeting, and planning. Dreaming, mostly.

Today, our local temps broke a record set in the late 1800's, toppping out at 56F!

We grilled out, and opened up some windows. The spring fever subsided a bit. I jumped at the chance to roam out in the garden a bit. The bad news first: the rabbits are raising hell! They chewed right through one of my favorite clematis and have made my roses look like they were passed through a shredder! The good news? If winter ended today I'd still have several inches of green cane on even my most tender roses. I guess the snow cover has been protecting the roses. We have no snow left now... so I have to pray and hope that the temps don't dip too extreme (0F and lower) from here on out.

This is all miraculous b/c we had actual temps dip down to -20F already this winter. Thank God for snow cover!

So, on my stroll around the yard today, under the layer of leaves and muck I found dozens of perennials that never even died back... including several ground covers, campanula, and even a pansy! I covered them all right back up and hope to see them again in about 2 months. I Hope.

I also started removing the dead leaves from last year's roses. Disease can spread rampant if I leave the leaves on the plants through spring.

As far as the rabbits go: Off I went to the local home improvement center and bought some chicken wire. I made little tubes of chicken wire, just circles about 12 inches around, and wrapped my most damaged roses, as well as all the clematis I think are at risk to rabbit damage. My husband bought a live trap, too. So we can relocate the rabbits to the woods. They're pretty out of the control in my yard... I could build you a whole house out of rabbit turd pellets. Any takers?

Earlier this week I made my first trip to the local nursery, and got a good dose of warmth from the greenhouse. I brought home a rosemary plant, and I'm determined to keep it alive, atleast through the summer. I also fell for a baby tears. I'll have to take a picture of the container I put it in, I think it looks so cute.

My seed collection has begun, as I strolled through Kmart to find all their new seeds 40% off (GOOD DEAL!). I have brought home tons of seed packets, including morning glory, nasturiums, radishes, lettuces, peas, lavender, cosmos, turnips, and the list goes on and on. See my seed basket?

Madness, I know.

Well, I made the mistake of strolling into the local farm and fleet. I was secretly hoping they'd have summer bulbs out, as I'm itching to replace all the dahlia's I lost last fall to mold. Instead, I found seeds (25% off, not bad), and a plastic greenhouse for $39.99. Not a bad deal, and definately something I think will work for starting seeds and bulbs on the back porch in March. Last year my entire dining room table, and surrounding areas, including chairs were covered in seedlings and starts.

I am feeling so excited about the greenhouse, which I plan to tend to vigourously, keeping all disease at bay, circulating air frequently, etc. I have never tried to start my tomatos, cukes, or squash from seed. I always buy nursery starts. This year, I decided to try to start it all from seeds right here in my green house.

I've been quelling the need to buy plants by looking at the garden stuff in the stores. My favorite place is Hobby Lobby. This last week I found these gorgeous metal corner decorations I plan on using in the entry to my garden. Guess how much they were each? $4. Yup.

And indoors, my hyacinth are blooming. They smell incredible! Such a treat to grow these in the house to stop the midwinter blues. ;)

Happy gardening everyone!