We have 2 pear trees, one plum and an apple tree that all burst into bloom in the past few days. There is no frost in the next few days' forecast. Spring is such a critical time for fruit trees. There isn't much we can do if frost comes at the wrong time. We just hold our breath. And after that there is always the possibility of hail. Mother Nature can be very unkind at times.
Our neighbor brought cattle to our big pasture yesterday. Although it is difficult to count cattle in a group I think there are about 30 momma cows with calves that were born last fall. Our hilly pasture adds to the challenge. They are black Angus. By the time they leave here in a couple of months the calves will be almost as big as their mothers. They are born at around 80-85 pounds and gain two pounds or more every day. Black Angus cattle produce very good beef. As with most beef breeds the mother only makes enough milk for her calf. The calves start eating hay or grass when they are a few weeks old so by the time this group come here they are only depending on Mom for a small amount of milk.
Yesterday I sorted through my supply of seed packages and started soaking seeds. I also filled pots and today I planted the seeds and put the pots on a heat mat. I'm behind this year by about 10 days. That makes a big difference with our short growing season. Some seeds will be direct seeded into the garden rows, and more seeds will be soaked, potted up and transplanted later. The seeds I planted today are various types of squash, cucumbers, a few tomatoes and a lot of cabbages. I've found a couple of nice, small headed cabbage varieties that I really like. Katarina and Bobcat make small, very compact heads about the size of a softball. I also planted a variety that makes larger heads and plan to make kraut with those.
My newly planted raspberry plants don't look very good. I think they dried out while we were away last weekend even though I watered them well before we left. This rain we got this afternoon would have been appreciated last weekend. No sign of pea sprouts yet and I hope they survived. The onions have dry tips on some of the leaves. It was bad timing but we needed to go to a family memorial across the state, so spent one day getting there, two days with the family and memorial services, and another day coming home. Actually any time during the snow free months is a bad time to be gone.
What is it? That lavender bush that I ruthlessly cut back to dead looking sticks a few weeks ago. After pruning I looked up how to prune lavender and learned that I had done it wrong and probably killed the plant. It now has quite a few little green sprouts coming out of those ugly branches! I was pleasantly surprised to see that new growth! In a few weeks none of the ugly, woody stems will show and I will have a nice looking bush. Hopefully it will bloom this year. The bees have been busy with a flowering bush in the garden. I don't know what it is. The blooms are yellow. I didn't see any honey bees but did see bumble bees and other pollinators. Actually I heard them before I saw them.
Yesterday I planted the peas and the onions. I buy the pea and onion seed at Andrews Nursery in Ontario, just across the river from Idaho, paying $2 for 2 ounces of seed. You'd have to buy several regular seed packets to get that much seed. Our farm store sells some larger sizes of common things like corn, beans and peas, charging $6.99 for 2 ounces.
Our lawn mower is back from the repair shop, easier to start and running better than it has in years. They gave it a tune up, nothing major so it wasn't an expensive fix. Today I finished mowing around the edges of the garden, the pathways, under the grape vines, around the raised bed. It looks much better. This is the job I was doing when the mower quit and wouldn't start a few days ago. And I mowed the yard. That was also a big improvement. The flower beds are still very weedy but mowing made part of it look better overall. I learned long ago not to expect perfection because by the time I get the flower beds weeded it will be time to weed them again.
Quite a few tulips are blooming now. The lilacs have flower buds, so far not showing much color and not open. I made hummingbird sugar-water and have a feeder up. No hummers so far. They aren't as predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano on the same date every year but they do start coming when the lilacs just start to bloom.
Early this morning the temperature was 23. Today our high was about 55 which is about normal for days in April. We'll have another cold night tonight and then warmer for the next few nights. We are still 5 weeks or so from our last expected frost date which is usually around June 1. I'm thinking about planting potatoes soon but don't want to have to mulch them if we get frosty nights in late May. Probably should do that soon anyhow because I can mulch with the hay my horse wastes. I'm going to mulch the peas to help keep them moist until they germinate and then the mulch could be moved to the potato row right next to the peas.
We had a storm that gave us a little over half an inch of rain, then some sun and wind, so the garden soil has the perfect amount of moisture! I waited a day and then rototilled a small area for peas and another for the onions I have started. They need to be out of their pots and have room to put their roots down into the ground, so that is what I hope to do tomorrow. The pea seed has been soaked for a few hours to wake it up and I will plant peas tomorrow and mulch with some old hay that my horse thought wasn't tasty or tender enough. I feel like I am a bit late for putting onions in the ground and planting peas. Maybe it was the mild winter and the early emergence of the garlic that has me thinking it is late in the season.
I just had a crazy thought about planting onions and peas together. They are both finished growing at about the same time but the peas might shade the onions too much. It's worth making a one foot square experimental patch just to see what happens. Weeding might be a problem. Or the peas might shade the onions too much. Surely if I have thought of it someone else has as well.
Our lawn mower has been given a tune up and is back home already. I could finish what I started of mowing around the edges of the garden and bring the mower back up the hill to mow the yard. Maybe I will have enough good weather and energy to do all of that tomorrow.
There were only 4 but I got them into the ground yesterday. I changed my mind a couple of times about where to put them, and decided (before doing any digging) that they should go next to the grapes. They have been staked and watered. I should have soaked them before planting. Of course I was nearly done before I thought of that but my back was aching and it was time to change hats and cook dinner.
This morning I cleaned the salad patch in the greenhouse. Most of the plants were started about Dec 1 and were going to seed. Five months is old for lettuce, chard, beets and kale plants. Next week I will plant new ones in the garden. They'll go next to the raspberries in the space next to the grapes. They will all be out of there long before the raspberries need the space. I expect to see quite a few new plants from these original four that were bought last week.
Our lawn mower is giving us problems. It keeps quitting even though it has gas and oil. I'm not sure if we will have it repaired or replace it. The shops that repair lawn mowers and rototillers are very busy in the spring so if we choose to have it repaired we may be without one for quite a while. It's only the second push mower we have had in the 30 years we have lived here. Hubby has looked for the owner's manual and can't find it in the shop. Maybe he put it in the file cabinet?
Tulips are starting to bloom. The first few opened today. Most of them were here when we moved here 30 years ago. I checked the lilac buds to try to make a guess at when they will begin to bloom. Our hummingbirds show up when tulips and lilacs are blooming, and so today I got a feeder hung up. Most years I am buzzed by a hummer before I think of it.
This afternoon and evening we have thunderstorms and rain. Between the mower problems and the arrival of booming thunder it was a short and not too productive gardening day. However, it should make the raspberries and newly weeded garlic very happy!
This morning I checked the small enclosed trap in the shed to see if another packrat might be in it. The trap was occupied but the critter inside is black and white. Yesterday morning the smell of skunk was quite pungent but I didn't take time to check the trap because we were in a hurry to leave to drive to Idaho for a medical appointment. Anyhow, now I have a disposal problem if the critter isn't dead.
My hubby got the small lawn mower going for me and I mowed around the rhubarb. Or I should say I mowed around most of it. The mower would work for a minute or two and then quit. I'd get it started again and it would quit a minute or so later. I only have one more plant to mow around and the mower refuses to start again. So there it sits. Hubby will look at it tomorrow.
This year's onion patch needs to be rototilled so I can plant the onions I have started in pots. I suppose with the rain we just got from a quick thunderstorm that job will be on hold. We received 2 10th's of an inch of rain in about 10 minutes. More is on the way. My onions need to be planted soon. I might plant the onions without tilling the patch. Thistles have already been chopped out and I can hand pull, dig out the remaining weeds. My peas also need to be planted ASAP! It should have been done already! I did finish weeding the garlic and gave it a drink, and now this shower will take care of watering needs for several more days.
Our neighbor who owns the field east of us has been disking, harrowing and planting. He usually grows rye to make into hay for his cattle, then turns cows in to graze after the bales are removed. I hope he finished the job in time for the seeds to get this nice drink. He watches the weather quite carefully. He is a 3rd generation farmer and that is how he has always made his living. Obviously he has it figured out!
Yesterday I did some plant shopping. I bought 4 nicely growing Heritage raspberry plants. They will be set out about 4 feet apart and should increase quickly to fill in the spaces next year and make a nice row. Heritage is an old everbearing variety. Tried, true and reliable. My last raspberry patch was a bust because I started with plants from a neighbor and added some from somewhere else (nothing purchased). Apparently the second ones had a disease that caused the canes to break. I took out all of them because I couldn't tell which plants were infected until the canes broke. They looked fine one day and were broken the next. At first I thought something like an owl may have broken them but then it happened over and over. Nope, not owls, disease. The neighbor who gave me the first plants has not had a problem. So, after a few years, I am starting another row. All plants from one source and I will resist the temptation to add any free ones!
We are enjoying the daffodils now. I have a few of the fancy bi-colored ones but mostly they are the old standard yellow. Hyacinths are also blooming amongst the weeds. The weather has delayed my weeding and now the ground covering project is on hold because I am too busy elsewhere. These things seem to happen every year and I never catch up!
