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| Miniature Daffodils in our bird garden |
The moon is full tonight and so ends our month of Shoots Show/Growing Time. It's been a very lack luster month, weatherwise. We've had almost non stop cold, rain and fog. My poor peas are only an inch tall! It's been so bad that I can't even get the plants hardened off.
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| Setting out Kale plants today |
Today we had a nice day and I finally set out all of the plants that should have gone out at the end of April.
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| Early spring herb bed |
The herb bed is looking lush. These herbs like the cool and damp weather.
We haven't been able to do much planting in the garden, but we've used our time to improve the garden area. We've cut down the amount of planting space to 2,212 square feet. This was done by removing four feet of less productive area around the outside edges.
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| New northern edge of garden |
We laid ground cover over this area and covered it with wood chips. This gives us a nice four foot edge between the lawn and the planting beds. Maintenance will be much easier.
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| New southern edge of garden |
We also laid ground cloth around our small fruits plantings. We are still in the process of laying chips here. Bob gets the chips free in Ithaca, which helps the budget.
Despite our lack of produce from the garden, I have been able to get some things into the freezer.
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| Chopping herbs to freeze |
I've got six boxes of chopped mixed herbs put away, That's my quota for the year.
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| Rhubarb sauce ready for the oven |
Yesterday I made ginger rhubarb sauce and froze ten boxes.
The weather is apparently conducive to the growing of mushrooms. We got our first three shiitakes of the season last week.
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| Six inch Shiitake |
As you can see, one was huge! A meal in itself.
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| Morels from our woods |
Bob found morels in our woods and we got three nice meals from them.
The weather has also been holding up progress on our bathroom project. It's too cold and damp for the sealer to cure properly, so the floor work isn't done yet. We've been dragging our feet a bit. Bob is still quieting squeaks and I'm sanding edges that the big floor sander won't be able to reach.
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| Installing ceiling trim |
All of the ceiling trim is up and it looks very nice.
We've been enjoying a variety of birds in our yard and at our feeders: Humming birds, a Red Breasted Nuthatch, an Indigo Bunting, several Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, White Crowned Sparrows and Baltimore Orioles.
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| Apple blossoms |
The Orioles have been especially interested in our blossoming fruit trees. The nectarine was the biggest hit. (It's my favorite, too!)
Robins are nesting outside both of our back doors. It's a bit troublesome, but it's only for a short time.
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| The dreaded cone |
Our Lunette had been a bit unwell. She has a sore which is not healing. We've been tending it daily as per vet's orders. She has to wear the cone to prevent her licking the area. She's scheduled for surgery to remove the spot on Tuesday. I hope the recovery is quick. It's been a long three weeks already.
That's about all of the news for now. Let's hope the weather is finally turning around so things can get growing.
Till next time, take care,
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette
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| Lovely morel mushroom |
