03-20-12

Gloria helped me get the new gardens laid out and the landscape timbers in.  I got some yellow and pink gladioli bulbs planted in one part.  She also got the straw down on the weed fabric by the new raised beds. 

Lots of things are blooming around here and you can see them on today’s slide show.  I am still trying to figure out the last frost date so I can get a lot of stuff out of the green house which is overflowing.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2465043k1660382o1/32912-arlenes-gardens

3/17/12

It was an overcast day today with rain off and on so I started working at 8 am.  I finished the last little bit of the wild flower garden after putting in 400 pounds of top soil and the rest of the perennial wildflower seeds.  I thinned out the Roma tomatoes, the orange Amana tomatoes and some peppers and have over 40 more pots of plants growing.  I started to move planters and birdbaths outside today and by noon I was pooped.

3/18/12

It was a beautiful day today and I had a lot to do on the computer so it was about 10:30 am before I got out to the greenhouse where the thermometer said 110 degrees!  I quickly propped open the door and window and gave everything a much needed drink just in the nick of time.

Carl put up 6 hanging planter racks for me in various places in the gardens and Ken brought in the last (hopefully) of the top soil. 

We had a lovely shower about 1 pm or so and that was nice for the newly planted containers.

The first of the tulips I planted in the old Iris bed are blooming right now.

I cleaned out some more containers today and I planted some more bulbs. I planted Mixed Single Freesia and De Caen Mixed Anemone and both are mid summer blooming perennials. 

3/16/12

It was off to BG today to run errands for things we needed here. When we returned about 2:20 pm the off and on rain had stopped enough for me to work outside.  I planted all the Pikant shallots, all the California white garlic which is a first for me and it may be difficult to grow.  I planted  half the Stuttgarter Riesen Onions and half the Conred red onions.  I finished planted all the wild flower seeds in the big bed which just needs the last of the dirt put in to finish it up.  I was able to feed all the roses and we are getting a very late rain tonight right now to help all this effort.

Ken brought in some more top soil today.  I will be in the green house tomorrow as lots of things are growing and need to be thinned out.

The Dwarf Japanese Cherry trees are blooming in the cottage garden between our house and the Creativity Center.  Hopefully I can get some help in here to weed out the stone walkways and I will be able to clean out the rest of the containers and get them filled with some good things.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2422964k2357310o1/31612-arlenes-gardens-ar-home-farm

03-16-12

Lovely weather this morning with a 66 degree temperature and overcast skies even though rain is predicted by afternoon.  I am trying to root 5 Albertine rose cuttings in the greenhouse in the plastic bag method so basically it is an experiment.

Everything is growing amazingly well in the greenhouse and it looks like a bumper crop.

By noon it was 77 degrees and the clouds were starting to gather.  My gardening help was able to get in 2 hours of weeding out the Mediterranean Herb beds.  By 2:30 pm the skies opened up with torrential rains and for the next 3 hours it was nothing but rain, thunder and lightening. Afterwards more trees had bloomed including the pussy willow, the Forsethyia, the peach trees and all the Cleveland Pear trees at the upper end of the driveway.   The cottage garden area has a blanket of purple violets all over the place.  I am noticing Grape Hyacthins down by the Mediterranean herb beds which are over 500 ft. from any I planted up by the house 12 years ago.  I wonder how they and the daffodils get to regrow in the darndest places far from where any originals bulbs were planted.

I am also noticing that over 1000 tulips I have planted here over the past 12 years that the only ones that remain are the ones in planters.  The moles have eaten all of them.

3/9/12

It was a beautiful day today with blue skies and getting up into the 50’s. Yesterday’s all day rain has many trees starting to pop out with green fringes on them and our driveway trees are getting ready to blossom. It was 3 trips to town today which is something we never do, but had to be done. In between trips I finished all the rest of the plant signs I like to make and I started and finished this commission job which is for a lady who has a cat dying of cancer and she wanted me to paint the cat’s picture on an urn box for the cat’s ashes when she has to put it down.

Then we had to scoot over to Kenny’s signs as Kate finished lettering the cargo trailer we bought for hauling stuff to art & craft shows.  Carl and I are now on roving bill boards! 

While we were out Carl went and had them put new tires on it so he is all set except for us finding a 14” rim for the spare.  I have Goggled the manufacturer and sent them an email enquiry.

We no sooner got home then I found a message from the library saying the book I was looking for was found in another county and they had it for me to look at for only a short time and we drove back down to pick it up.

Hopefully the weather will hold and my garden helper will come in tomorrow so I can finally finish the last of the bulbs and get the new big wildflower bed in plus a dozen other things. To say nothing of Carl finishing the 4 waist high beds or at least getting another lick in on it.

I also hope this will attract attention, questions and more customers and I wish we had thought of it a long time ago.

03-14-12

While we were in town this morning Ken built 2 new planters for me.  He will build one more in the same area.

He will fill them for me when he gets to make a couple of trips to town with his truck.

Carl finished the other planters yesterday and Ken helped me fill them today with me being the director and him doing 95% of the work.

Everything is popping out around here and the violets are starting to carpet many areas of our garden walkways.  The temperature got to be 77 degrees today and blossoming trees are breaking out all over the place.  All the Bradford Pear trees half way down the driveway are out in full force and one more good rain will bring the Cleveland Pear trees on the other end out in a day or two.

The greenhouse plants are loving it in there and it was in the high 90’s so I had to open the door for from about 1 pm to 5 pm.  We had all the French doors open here and it was lovely.  The birds were going berserk today.