Shoots Show/Growing Time 2025

 

Mini Daffodils

The title of this installment could be "The Soggy Saga of Thistledown Gardens".

Our weather, with the exception of three days has been cool and wet. Granted, we haven't experienced any flooding, but there's nowhere you can walk without hearing "squish".

In spite of the weather, we've been busy with spring tasks.

Garden is open!

The garden season has begun!

The first harvest

We've had our first harvest! This is lettuce and chervil that self seeded last autumn. I always leave some to go to seed so we can have an early "free" harvest. We're still picking from this. It helps to bridge the vegetable gap we begin to experience at this time of year.

Planting begins

I've sown peas, lettuces and spinach already.

Peas coming up

 

The peas are up but not climbing yet. Some of the lettuce and spinach are up as well.

Chieftan seed potato 

Three types of potatoes have been planted.

Of course, expert help is always appreciated.

Cat acts in advisory capacity

Many of the potatoes are emerging now.

French Fingerling up

I've set out my cool weather starts: cabbage, Asian greens, chard, kale, lettuce, celery and parsley.

Ready for planting

Today I set out my tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zinnias. If nights get cool next week, I'll have to cover them.

While I've been busy with the garden, Bob's been attending to his chores.

He sprayed the apple trees with clay to keep the insects off of the forming apples.

Shiitake logs ready to grow

His Shiitake logs are all stacked and ready for the season.

Sycamore seedlings

Two years ago, he sowed some seeds for Sycamore trees.

He has now transplanted six of the seedlings to various locations on our property.

Planted seedling

Currently, he's replenishing the cedar mulch around our back seating area.

Fresh mulch

We participated in a protest in a small neighboring village on May Day. We finished just before the daily rain came.

May Day rally in Ovid

We had three really nice days this month. On April 24th, we walked a portion of the Black Diamond Trail in Ithaca.

Along the Black Diamond Trail

The second beautiful day was Mother's Day. We decided to stay at home and walk on our own property.

Walking our property

We also just spent much of the day relaxing on our porch reading, listening to the birds and enjoying the fragrances of spring.

A good book and a lovely day

Our summer birds are returning. The Hummingbirds returned on May 1st. The Orioles are back and have already gone through two 32oz jars of grape jelly. The Towhees are back and the Wood Thrush are singing in the woods. We really enjoy the birds.

Within the next month the garden planting will be finished and hopefully the weather will be more consistently pleasant.

Happy Spring.

Until next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Red Currant in bloom

 

Jack in the Pulpit

Blustery Winds/Awakening Time 2025

Bright Blooms

We are now finished with the month of Blustery Winds/Awakening. Frankly, the weather has been pretty crumby, with below normal temperatures and nearly every day gloomy and drizzling. Two warm and sunny days in a row would be so nice.

Fog over the garden

I have yet to even walk down to the garden. With my binoculars I can see that the garlic is up. This coming Thursday is supposed to be fairly nice, so I plan to get down there at that time.

A large flock of grackles

One sign of spring is the return of the grackles and blackbirds. Our large trees are often filled with them. Sometimes they all come to the ground to find food. A large flock can cover the ground not only in our yard, but the neighbor's too.

Potting up seedlings

My plant starts are all growing downstairs. This week I will begin to harden off all of the cool weather plants. I purchased my seed potatoes yesterday and am ready to sow my peas. This year will be my 32nd garden. That's almost half of my lifetime!

This is the first winter in 14 years that we haven't had a remodeling project to work on. We've been relaxing more and working on other things.

Harp wheels done

 Bob finished off my harp wheels kit. This is a small dolly that straps beneath the harp and makes moving it so much easier. This is my large harp. It stands 58" tall, is 28" at its widest point and weighs 24#. Since I'm only 63" tall, it can be quite a handful for me to move. I rarely move this harp, but it's nice to have the dolly for the times I do need to move it.

Bob's also been busy preparing for a presentation on home energy efficiency which he's going to give at an Earth Day event on the 26th.

The rest of his time has been spent in various committee and board  meetings, and protest events.

Ithaca protest

Ovid protest, National Day of Protest

I have joined him on three of these protests. All but one have been in cold wind, rain and sometimes snow.

Warming up!

After one event, we were so cold we came home and sat under covers in front of the woodstove all evening. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and had soup all warm in the crockpot. Soup is always a good "warmer upper".

Beeswax wraps in the making

I've been busy, too. I decided I needed some smaller beeswax wraps, so I made eight of those.

I finished the sweater I was knitting and have begun work on a summer top.

Summer top begins

I really like the pattern stitch on this one.

Harp practice and reading round out my time.

Watkins Glen walk

 

The weather has been so unpleasant that we've only gotten out once. We walked the North Rim trail at Watkins Glen State Park. Even though it was cool and cloudy, we enjoyed getting out in nature.

We're hoping that warmth and sun will find us soon. This prolonged grey and cold is really beginning to bug me. So much to distress us these days. Some days are harder than others. It's too bad that I paid so much attention in Mr. Mathison's American Civics class.

Hope you're able to hang in there and that the sun and warmth find you soon, too.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

New protest signs

Flip side of new signs

Blustery Winds/Awakening 2022

Daffodils are blooming!

Our month changed yesterday with the full moon. Blustery Winds/ Awakening has stepped aside and a new month begun. To sum up the old:

Our weather has been very erratic. We have all of the seasons here. Sometimes all in a very condensed span of time! This morning it alternates between snow flurries and sunny patches. Right now it is sunny and snowing at the same time. Last week the temperature was in the 70s. That's how it goes here. 

In spite of the "confused" weather, nature is moving ahead - awakening- here.

Bloodroot emerging

Bloodroot have emerged in our woods...

Bloodroot only open on sunny days

... and violets are blooming, giving off their sweet scent. Willows and honeysuckles are leafing out.

In the garden:

Allium bed is awake

the garlic, shallots and walking onions are up, and the rhubarb is emerging.

All of my plants have been started and are up under the lights.

Sunflower seedlings

Sweet potato sprouts

Seedling trays under lights and heat tent

I've taken the cool weather plants outside to harden off before setting them out in the garden. I have already sown some lettuce, spinach and half of my peas. Tomorrow I plan to sow more peas, my beets and carrots, and plant my seed potatoes. I certainly hope I'm not planting in a snow flurry.

Bob prunes an apricot tree

Bob has finished pruning all of the fruit trees and is planning out the next porch renovation project.

New porch site

This new porch will replace one that was removed last year. It will connect to and complete the existing porch on the house's east side. What remains of the back deck which you see at the left edge of the picture will be removed and replaced with a patio.

This year we are making more changes to the garden. We had been contemplating what changes to make last year. Then, when the trench was dug for the geothermal system, our decisions were made for us.

When the trench was dug, they didn't actually dig up any of the garden, but they piled the dirt on top of 2/3 of each bed on the extreme south edge of the garden. Now the area is covered with uneven lumps of clay and is basically a big mess. We had been considering what to do with this area because its productivity had waned, in part from lack of adequate sunlight. We have decided to abandon it, returning it to lawn area. We will keep the undamaged 1/3 of the beds, using them for future strawberries, fall raspberries, compost and straw storage.

To compensate for the loss of some of this planting area, we're removing the herb bed and returning that space to annual crops. I've not been using the herb bed as much as formerly, so it's not a huge loss, but it has been a chore to dismantle.

Herb bed as it had been

We had to dig out and remove roughly 200 bricks. These will be reused elsewhere. We then had to dig out large amounts of lovage, sorrel and chives, not to mention weeds! We finished this job last week.

Digging out bricks. Who needs a gym?

Last autumn, we also dug out all of our raspberry plants. Some were in the way of the trench digging. All were showing signs of disease, so we decided it was time to start fresh.

We will put half a dozen black raspberry plants next to the currants. Another half dozen fall red raspberry plants will be put in at the south edge of the vegetable plots. That's about a quarter of the amount that we had, but just two of us don't need so many berries. I have many other interesting things to spend my time on besides gardening.

Our birthdays are here in the early spring. The weather was less than spectacular for both, so no nice walks this year. We each had a nice take out lunch for our day. I got a "chore free" day and some new harp music. My library is now far larger than my repertoire, so I need to get busy! Bob got a new sweater vest. He's so skinny that he likes these to help him stay warm. I refer to them as his "artificial fat". We also went to the art museum on the Cornell campus for his day.

That's all the news for now. By next time things will be progressing in the garden and hopefully the weather will have become more consistent.

Don't forget to look for the signs of awakening in and around you.

Happy spring,

Kathleen and Bob

Violets are up!