lots of work going on...

We've been very busy in our garden, planting more (free!) tomatoes, peppers and garlic.  We dug out the Euphorbia stumps by the house and created another new tomato bed and removed the struggling sugar snap peas in favor of more tomato space.  I sure hope our summer weather gets here soon so we actually get tomatoes!!!

We've also acquired (free!) Crocosmia and Himalayan poppies and created a new flower bed and purchased a peach tree to put in it too, it looks fantastic right now!  Yesterday was "clean up the yard day" and Jarett, the NGP, even helped by hacking down the ever-encroaching Japanese Knotwood and replanting the Euphorbia stumps along the edge of the back yard.  If they live we will have a beautiful hedge there next summer.  Jen and I planted the new tomatoes, re-did the worm bin; putting it in a rubbermaid tub this time and generally cleaned things up everything looks awesome!

Things are finally starting to grow too; we have flowers on tomatillos, tomatoes, zucchini, and garlic.  We do have a horrible aphid infestation in the Italian plum tree we have to take care of but other than that things are looking good and the chickens are happy.

Here's Jen and our new flower bed - the peach tree is on the right corner.  I'm hoping it will double in size next year.

Spring is here!

Today is the first "official" day of my spring break and the first day I've seriously gotten out into the garden beyond short little 15 minute spurts.  Jen & I pulled out blackberries and knotweed that are trying to creep back in thru the mulch.  It's amazing how they are so resilient!   if even a tiny piece is left it starts to root up.  ug.

the italian plum tree that I was able to prune earlier this year is looking good, leafing out and I'm interested to see if it grows a lot of fruit this year or not.  I don't feel really confident in pruning fruit trees yet so I'm just not sure.  I dug up the yellow plum that had volunteered on the fence-line behind the italian plum and planted it in a more ideal location.  I broke some of the roots (1 was under the fence & into the neighbors property and the other ran down the ravine somewhere) so I'm a little nervous about it's ability to survive.  It's early spring though so it should be fine.  I also did some pruning on it that I'm  really nervous about, I followed my book exactly but we'll see.  Poor little tree looks a bit butchered!

While I was doing that Jen planted purple cabbage and brussel sprout starts in the deep planter bed.  I'm excited to start planting!  It's almost warm enough out to start transplanting our little seedlings we've been growing all winter.  The cherry tomato seedlings are outside enjoying the sun and we will hopefully be planting them in soon too but I'm worried that it is still to cold at night. I don't know-it is warmer than usual out so hopefully it's OK.