Rain-kissed.

Memorial Day weekend may be the traditional start of summer, but someone forgot to tell the weather in Seattle.   At least I won't get sunburnt, working in the yard.

And the lilies look gorgeous..

Fertilzer Friday: May 28, 2010

Looking out the window, you'd be hard pressed to believe it's almost June.  It's   cold.  It's wet. It's gray.  It's definitely Seattle, but the end of May?  


Oh well, despite the weather, the garden is giving us signs of hope that summer can't be far away!

The poppies are starting to bloom!

The Ladies Mantle is tossing out loads of chartreuse fluff....

Salvia 'Raspberry Delight' delights me!

The front yard is about to be a mass of lily blooms--Red and Orange first, then yellow, then pink--then the Orientals!  Lilies from now until August!  Hooray!

The iris are placeholders for lilies to come.  And honest, when I planted them, I took the blue ones and the yellow ones, mixed them up and planted them.  I don't know how they ended up so separate!!

I love this lupine...it's more than waist high on me.  I rescued several little plants when my mother-in-law was ripping them out as weeds.  Just goes to show you that weeds are truly in the eye of the beholder!


That's about it for today from my wet, soggy Seattle garden.  Here's hoping for sunshine and some warmth!!  (My tomatoes really want to move outside--the laundry room is getting a little cramped!!)


Don't forget to go on over to Tootsie's and see who else is flaunting their flowers this Friday!

I confess!

I totally bought this lettuce simply because of the name.

Sunday night, another good weekend of gardening in. Working out front this evening, the neighborhood "yardcare guy" slowed his battered pick-em-up truck down in front, where I was doubledigging a bed and said "Your yard looks great. ..Sure you don't want a yard care service?". I told him that I really enjoy doing it myself. And I do!!

Bloomday!

Squeaking in under the wire for May Garden Blogger's Bloom Day! It was just too nice to come inside (until I was enticed with Thai take-out! )

It finally feels like Spring is popping here in Seattle. The front yard is coming to life..Forget me nots and english daisies start the parade...

The Spanish Lavender is trying to escape the parking strip...

The first of the salvias is pretty in pink....and has lots of pink-shaded friends to keep her company...

The yard is postively Columbine-riffic!

Other things are starting to get moving, too.....there's this old rose that lived here when we bought the house 5 years ago....It smells heavenly. Here's the bud....

.

And the whole bloom....

And the irises are starting to show some color...(maybe not techically a bloom, but a promise of blooms to come!)

Moving to the backyard, the Solomon's Seal is ringing in the season...

The bleeding hearts and hellebores are still going strong...

The buttercups are a pain in the patootie, but they sure add a pop of bright color (just ignore the dandelion!)

The Carolina Spice bush blossom is gorgeous, and smells great...

These sweet little petunias are 'Pretty Much Picasso' supertunias. They must be new this year, because I can't imagine not buying them before..

The strawberries are blooming like mad....

As are the chives....

I was hoping that I'd get to share peony pictures...but this is as far as they are..

But isn't that the best thing about gardening? There's always something to look forward to!!!

And luckily, the weekend isn't over!!

April 2010 Bloomsday Post!

For a long time, I've enjoyed everyone else's Bloomsday Posts, now I'm finally ready to jump in with my own.... Here's what's blooming in my Zone 7ish Seattle garden.

It's a 4-fer---Welsh poppies just about to bloom in the foreground, hellebores, and two kinds of Bleeding Hearts.

I can't resist up-close pictures of the bleeding hearts...

The hellebores continue to go strong. Ciscoe was right, cut off those old leaves! And those bleeding hearts...I love 'em.

These little primroses are reliable little shots of brightnesss..

Trilliums under the Solomon Seal...with a bonus Welsh poppy about to bloom.

Lilacs! The sure sign that spring has sprung, in my mind.

Chives in the garden.

A volunteer tulip in the veggie bed...not exactly sure how it got there, but it's gorgeous.

The last of the kale---it's so light and airy that I can't cut it off yet.

So there it is, spring in Seattle, April Bloom style.

It's all about the lilies.

This weekend, "gardening" has consisted mostly of pulling dandelions and grass from the main lily bed out front. It's my own fault, I kind of let it go last fall, when I thought we were re-doing the whole front yard. We didn't, and suddenly it's an all weekend project... The lilies are going to be amazing, though. A couple years ago, I gave into one of those deals you just can't pass up--125 or so mixed asiatic and oriental lily bulbs... The first year, there were a few lilies...they went in a little late...



The second year, there were more....

If the little green shoots popping up EVERYWHERE are predicting anything, it's that there are going to be A LOT of lilies out there.



I'm going to remove the rest of (the last of!!) the grass out there, and install a couple small raised beds for tomatoes and squash--they'll get more direct sunshine out front than in back. But still, the front yard is all about the lilies.

Happy Spring!!!

Spring has sprung! Hooray!

Despite the threat of rain today, it turned out to be

a great day for working outside, once I got my rear off the couch (Hey, I was watching Cisco, that counts for good intentions, right?) and into my garden clogs.

For years, I've been gardening Square Foot Garden-ish....but I'd never taken the step of actually dividing my bed into squares. I estimated, I guessed, I planted things kind of where ever I wanted to....This year, I vowed I'd really do it. So....ta-da!

My grid is made with contractor twine--it should last for the season. I'm really toying with using copper refrigerator piping, but unfortunately, I think we're going to have to rebuild the beds after this year. These were built, nearly 10 years ago, with untreated fir, and have long outlasted their 4-5 year estimated lifetime...

So far, I've planted two different types of sugar snap peas--they'll use the trellis at the far end of the bed. Up front, leaf lettuce, and red and yellow shallots. I just haven't had the heart to pull that overwintered kale yet. It's a gorgeous purple shot of color. There's also some chard that's wintered over...it's already been yummy in stir fry!

It was a lovely way to welcome spring...

Master Gardener Training 2010!

It's sad, but it's coming to an end.
But it's happy, because a new flock of interns is about to be unleased on the world!

I've thoroughly enjoyed being a mentor for the training class this spring. I hope they've had as much fun as I have.
The WSU Extension Master Gardener program began in 1972 right here in King County, Washington. The program now exists in all 50 states and many other countries. The Master Gardener program in King County is one of the largest in the world.

Mark your calendar now for the Master Gardener Plant Sale, May 1-2 at the Center for Urban Horticulture on the UW Campus. I'll be there! (and if you want to buy raffle tickets for fabulous, garden related prizes or $100 cold hard cash, let me know!!)

Digging Makes You Know You're Alive...

Or at least, digging makes you realize you have muscles that you rarely use, except when you're digging.

Yesterday was a glorious day--not too hot, not too cold, and dry. Perfect weather for finishing the digging on the raised beds, transplanting garlic, and seeing if my newest method (bright pink string and eye hooks) would work for setting up my Square Foot Garden dividers. (so far, so good--I may try braiding it for a little more substance...)

After 5 years, the soil in the raised beds is so pretty--it's loose, with great tilth and after some compost is mixed in, it's perfect and ready for planting. I rescued the garlic from where it was volunteering, and replanted it with room to grow and expand. Everything else is plotted out (check out the www.gardeners.com website for a nice square foot garden planning tool), and dividers, seeds and plants are ready to start flowing in!

I love this time of year--even with the time change, which made it possible to play in the dirt until almost 7 last night!

So...it's been a while...

but reading garden blogs inspires me to be back out here in the community of gardeners, more than just a lurker...

So, what's going on in my garden? It feels like spring, despite the threat of snow earlier this week. The perennials are starting to wake up, and I'm itching to be out digging in the dirt.

But for now, here's just a glimpse of what's popping up out there.

I'm also spending my Saturdays being a Mentor for the newest class of Master Gardeners in King County. It's great fun going back through the training, and I have to admit, the group of trainees that I'm working with are absolutely awesome!

Another couple weeks, though, and I can devote a lot more time to the yard. This working for a living just gets in the way of gardening.

Here's hoping for bright shiny spring weather!