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Monday, March 28, 2016

PNW Spring Gardening, March 28, 2016

I wanted to present some views of how I deal with early spring gardening challenges, I'm sure it only scratches the surface.;-)  Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni'

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Ideally I should have mulched all my grow beds with leaves last fall, but it didn't get done much because last year I injured my knees in the spring, pulling a large Rubbermaid cart uphill heavily loaded with branches, work I have for 22 years here, with lots of cedar trees that continually grow downward to modestly cover their knees.  Then July 4 I severely injured my R knee, it would not bend nor bear much weight, while trying to pull up a buried soaker hose.  All the heavy gardening and/or age and arthritis has eroded the cartilage in my knees.  I had to slowly recover flexibility and strength over 3 months.  I took supplements that helped so every week I could lift my foot a little more.  I wore braces on both knees and used walkers, I limited my gardening activities severely to the level I could tolerate and still grow my vegetables and flowers, and watered and weeded a new lawn in a large area.

My husband built me a handy gardening seat so I could sit and scoot along a row, which is nice for my knees.  The box flips for a flat sitting surface.  The handles help me push up.  It is heavy to push around though, but great for working on. long rows.

At the 3 month point I stopped wearing the braces which I decided were becoming an irritant, and could walk normally, but not completely pain-free.  But over winter with lots of rest and without the gardening chores, I am pretty much pain-free as well; I swim and can walk fast.  The challenge is to see if I can restrict my activities to what my knees can handle.

So back to gardening, one of my most useful tools is the plastic tunnel cover, 18' long.  I use it when I start working up beds to keep the nearly constant rain off my beds, fall to spring is our rainy season which can mean rain daily.

I will use them to dry beds before planting tomatoes and later vegetables too, and put them on the weeded soil to keep the soil 10º warmer so I can plant earlier.

I have been cutting weeds off with a knife or a hand mattock which gets out roots better, or a shovel for deep weeds.  Formerly I would have mattocked a bed in a single session, but feel like swinging the heavy mattock (2.5lb or little over a kilo)  is not good for my knees.  I once had a Mantis tiller but it wrapped all the weeds around the tines and was a mess to clean out, and bucked like a bronco.  Ouch.   And I read that tillers ruin the soil structure and cause hardpan.  So here I am.

I'm making progress, I got a strip done and planted peas, fava beans, and sweet peas.  I'm experimenting with times, I also planted rows of these on February 10.  They took nearly a month to come up but are growing now, though I had to fill in where some did not grow.



I will compare the two groups for which time is more effective.  BTW I grow what is called snap peas, they have thick tender edible pods and fill up with nice peas.  You can eat the whole thing raw in salads or cooked.  I've also grown snow peas, but while they are all edible, Asians usually pick the wide pods before the seeds develop for stir fries, and later they are still edible but can get stringy or tough, so I like snap peas better, I'm growing Super Sugar Snap and Sugar Snap for taller vines, and Cascadia, Sprint, Sugar Ann, and Sugar Daddy for short vines.

I'm beginning to pick the top flower buds from the kale plants planted last July.  They are very tender, and picking makes them branch from all the axils so next time there will be several per plant, which continue as long as I keep them picked, then I let them flower for the bees.

Now for my finds in the garden for In a Vase on Monday, lots of flowers are blooming now, but I just had to pick some white Hyacinths, and could find some blue for a good companion, a Pulmonaria, here in my gold trimmed pony passed along from my MIL-

Easter gives us a reminder and new beginning of grace every year, making me think of the promise inside an egg of new life-




I was pleased to see the Hyacinths return this spring when some other bulbs didn't.  The fragrance is wonderful.

The Pulmonarias are a wonderful long-lasting addition to a shade garden, coming up in spring with their gorgeous variable silvery patterned foliage, and self-sowing with unique new patterns, plus a range of colors from purple-

to the pink Mrs. Moon-

Here is a fairly new shade bed that I find very satisfying because the shade seems to discourage a lot of pesky weeds-

In addition to the Pulmonarias, the lace-edged Primulas are blooming-

The second species of Junco that comes to my deck, the Dark-Eyed or Slate-Colored Junco, is more abundant now-


What early vegetable gardening do you enjoy?    -Hannah


©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.









Monday, March 21, 2016

Spring has arrived officially, March 21, 2016

Spring has been here for a while according to the blooming of the flowers.  Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy


Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

This week for Cathy's In A Vase On Monday challenge to fill a vase, I want to feature some blooming pink trees in my garden, Magnolia rusticana rubra, a pink Camellia, Ornamental Quince- Chaenomeles, and the native Flowering Currant, with some timber bamboo-



It also includes a glass tulip-

I then felt like making a tiny vase of pinks and a few blue-purple Muscari-

Another color abundant now is various shades of blue-purple, regular Muscari, M. latifolia with purple on top and maroon on bottom, Vinca minor, and some Pulmonaria-


The little balloon-like blossoms of Muscari remind me of pantaloons with lace around the bottom edge-

I am rather pragmatic so have been celebrating the approach of spring by working to cut out overgrown bushes and weed beds to plant peas and sweet peas, which are soaking now to sprout them before planting and hopefully hasten germination.  This week's featured garden visitor was hiding in my plastic tunnels I use to dry the soil by keeping off the rain.


You can see how variable the frog colors are on the Pacific tree or chorus frog.  What garden visitors have you seen recently?    Hannah


©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.



Monday, March 14, 2016

Peak Hellebores Plus, March 14, 2016

The month is flying by, and only one week left until spring, but it has already hit.  My Hellebore beds are at full glory now-

So I am celebrating them with another arrangement for In A Vase On Monday, hosted by Cathy who challenges us to find something in our garden any Monday of the year to decorate our houses.  Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Lessons Learned hosted by Plant Postings

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by Carol

My vase this week, Hellebores and a special Narcissus, special not because of its beauty or fragrance, but because it has managed to mysteriously spread throughout  my several beds in the middle of my driveway circle.

It has a marked right angle bend in its stem so has a weeping effect.  In a vase-


I have a second little vase celebrating the end of the winter bloomers, Erica darleyensis heather and fragrant Sarcococca-

And for GBBD, the dainty Muscari latifolium are blooming, in addition to the Daffodils, Vinca, Primula, and Hyacinths-


And also blooming very early, my plum tree, a few blooms on my Camellia, my Ornamental Quince, beginnings of flowers on Berberis darwinii, and two of my Manzanitas.

A welcome garden visitor, a Pacific Tree or Chorus frog, with good fallen leaf camouflage-

A little mushroom popped up, looking fragile, and wishing perhaps for a visitor-

I've been cutting down overgrown currant bushes which have become a tangled mess in interest of making my garden easier to maintain and having more access to grapevines and blueberries-

It's a lot of work but at least can be done in the brief dry mornings before the rains come every day.

I had no idea how out of hand trees and shrubs could get up here in the great Pacific Northwest, so now I am paying for it in hard work.  Lesson learned- at least I am slowly getting back in shape.   I hope you are enjoying your garden work, what mistakes are you having to correct?  -Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.




Monday, March 7, 2016

Spring flowers March 7, 2016

Spring is still rolling on a little early, now the Pulmonarias are starting to bloom.  Today I am linking with-

Today's flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni'

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy


Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher


For my In a Vase on Monday post this week, answering hostess Cathy's challenge to find something in my garden to plonk in a vase,  I combined some Daffodils, Pulmonaria, Vinca major, and some variegated Elaeagnus ebbingei foliage, here in my ceramic vase with crystalline glaze-


I like the large flat-cupped type of Daffodil-


I was noticing the tiny blooms of the purple Dead Nettle, and the terrible weed Cardamine hirsuta, which has been nicknamed "Artillery Weed" since the ripe seeds can explode in your face when you bend over to pull them up.  They are very good at reseeding and can expand their territory rapidly.  I was wanting some small flowers to cut for my little little ceramic box made like a sewing machine-

To my surprise, after a couple of days the little deadnettle blooms opened more-

The sewing machine-

Hostess Cathy wrote of promises last week, significant for me since we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary last month.  I like to look at our photos as children and imagine us meeting, but the nearly four year difference in our ages means we probably wouldn't have played together much.  But I would have thought he was cute!  He has been a source of stability and happy companionship for all those years, he likes to ride motorcycles and bicycles, and is building an electric assist tricycle, so I guess I would have to call him The Motorcyclist.


Meanwhile out on the deck, I was visited one day by both a male Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus-


And the lighter brown female-


I originally knew them under the old name I like better, the Rufous-sided Towhee.

What signs of spring are you enjoying?   -Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.  I would like to return your visit so leave an URL to your blog or email address.