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| Lily of the Valley |
Shoots Show/Growing Time has come and gone for another year. It's a month that whips by because nature is bursting forth.
This month began with the planting of cool weather loving plants, like chard, kale, cabbages and lettuce.
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| Planting lettuce |
I set out the lettuce at the beginning of the month.
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| Lettuce on May 25 |
Here's how it looks now.
All of the rest are growing, too.
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| Cabbage today before mulching |
The potatoes are all up and some were tall enough to be hilled this week.
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| Hilling makes more potatoes |
Shiitake and Winecap mushrooms are also starting to come in...
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| Shiitake mushrooms |
... and we got our first ripe strawberry this week!
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| Just the beginning. |
This one was a bit precocious. None of the others are this close to being ripe yet.
We've spent the last several days working in the garden: preparing beds and planting out the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and sweet potatoes. We've sown green beans, cucumbers and squash. Tomorrow we'll begin to sow the corn and the drying beans.
We're busy, busy, busy!
Last weekend we stopped at our local Amish owned nursery for some flowers and picked up three holly bushes (1 male, 2 female) for half price!
Bob planted them in the small bed where our deck used to be.
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| Bob plants the holly bushes |
We already have two hollies in the bird garden. Until a couple of weeks ago, the female was covered with bright red berries. One day I was looking out of the window and noticed the bush rustle. I saw a good-sized flock (I lost count at 16) of Cedar Waxwings mobbing the bush. Within an hour they had stripped the bush of all the berries, except for the lowest branches. They returned the next morning to finish the job. It was quite a sight. Now they will have two more bushes to enjoy.
Our Orioles, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and Towhees have returned. The Wood Thrushes are singing in the woods again. This is one of our favorite sounds.
We've been so busy outside that Bob's not making a great deal of progress on the bathroom. The drywall is all up and the plumbing re-route is done. He needs to get the taping and mudding going next.
We were able to get away just once this month. At the beginning of the month we made a day trip to the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown.
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| Peterson was a famous Naturalist |
On the way home we stopped at the Allegany State Park and walked on the Flagg Trail of the Quaker Area. There were tons of spring wildflowers: Wood and Rue Anemone, Hepatica, Red and White Trillium, Spring Beauties and Fringed Polygala.
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| Spring Beauty |
There was an Osprey's nest next to where we parked our car. As we walked to the car to leave, the male and female birds changed shifts at the nest, so we got quite a show.
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| Osprey incoming! |
Really, we enjoyed the State Park more than the Peterson Institute.
Once the garden has all been planted, we hope to make a couple more day trips, as well as some shorter ones.
That's what we've been up to lately. We hope you've all been enjoying the spring and have some fun things planned for the summer.
Till next time,
Kathleen and Bob
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| Rue Anemone |
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| A resident of Allegany Park |
