There is a lot to do right now in our garden.  Although, some will have to wait for time to help. Rabbits enjoyed many of our plants over the winter and we will have to wait and see if they all come back.  I think they will, but a couple were new last year.

One of our new babies that the rabbits munched on...a sweetspire.

The tasty twin.

Apparently rabbits love roses.

Our Knock-Out Rose

Yummy

My red World War II rose

Sven was tasty, too, it seems.

My miniature Chinese rose was somewhat covered, but the stems that were poking out got chewed off.

The raspberries were not spared

This one I did myself. This is the Butterfly Bush and needs to be cut back now. I didn't cover it this winter, so we will see if it comes back.

Ole is in a different raised bed and seems to have been overlooked by the hungry rabbits. Or maybe the other plants were filling.

Now that the damage has been assessed, we can see what is already growing.

Bleeding Hearts are already pushing above the leaf mulch. We will be clearing out the leaves within the next week.

We planted garlic in our "rose bed" and uncovered it about two weeks ago. The tulip bulbs we planted a couple of years ago were already poking through.

This is the bed as of last Sunday. The daffodils and tulips are racing to see who will bloom first.

There are some things that I will be doing within the next week or so, including uncovering the marginally hardy roses in the bed and trimming them back.  I also need to clean out the irises and get the dead material away from the rhizomes so they don’t rot. 

And we need to keep fluffing up the grass.  Dwayne has already gotten a lot of it, but there is always more flattened grass to rake up.

Flattened grass. Just take the rake to it to get air to the roots.

Hopefully Mother Nature will provide us with seasonal weather soon.  That will make the garden chores even more pleasant!

Dig it!

Posted under Spring

Here are some images reminding us of Spring:

From Vicky in Garwin. Spring has sprung!

Taken by Theresa an James Cook on February 28 this year, but in Hampstead, North Carolina. So they cheated, but it is still great to see.

Another from Theresa and James Cook, also in Hampstead, NC.

This could be in our back yard, too, but it is Hampstead, NC. Thanks Theresa and James!

Soon... soon... it will look like this again! From Bob Place, taken last June 9th.

Dig it!

Posted under Photos, Spring

I know.  This doesn’t have anything to do with gardening, but I had to share.  Noah Fischels’ grandma shared this with me.  Noah lives in Hiawatha and requested a cake for his 9th birthday.  Grandma said yes and this is what she made:

Hope you had a great birthday Noah. I have no idea what that is on the right side of the cake. The left side looks terrific!

Grandma Didi told me that Noah was happy with his cake (he chose the saying) but that she is never going to make Cy again… “he was too hard to do”.  Noah’s dad went to Iowa State while his mom went to some school in Iowa City.   Grandma Did did a great job!  Hopefully she won’t give up on Cy for too long.

Posted under General

Last year Emerald Ash Borer was found in Iowa for the first time, in Allamakee County.  If you are wondering if it will arrive in your neighborhood, and if it does what do we do about it you have an opportunity to learn.

There will be three informational meetings on Thursday, March 31, 2011.  The first will be at 9:30 AM in Tama Hall, room 107 on the Hawkeye Community College Campus.  The second is at 1:30 PM at the Civic Center in Waverly and the third will be at 5:30 PM at the Civic Center in Parkersburg.  Preregistration for the Parkersburg program is requested. 

Mark Shour, Iowa State Extension Entomologist, and Robin Pruisner, State Entomologist with Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, will start the interactive program by providing an overview of the pest.  They will take questions from the audience to answer specific questions and concerns.

The programs are sponsored by Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler and Grundy County Extension and are free and open to the public.  For more information or to preregister for the Parkersburg program, contact Bremer County Extension at 319-882-4275, Butler County Extension at 319-267-2707, Grundy County Extension at 319-824-6979 or the Black Hawk County Extension at 319-234-6811.

There will more than likely be more informational meetings all over Iowa as the year progresses.  As soon as I hear of them, I will post them on the blog.

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Posted under Education, Event, Pests

I got an email from Ronda the other day about an azalea plant that she received from her grandmother’s funeral. She said the blossoms are starting to dry up and drop off and would like to know what to do.

First, Ronda, my condolences go to you and your family.

Next, azaleas are not usually winter hardy here in Iowa.  Some are hardy to zones 7-9 while a few may be hardy to zone 4. You can keep them as a houseplant pretty easily, though. After the plant is finished flowering, put the azalea in a sunny east or west window.  Make sure that you water it properly since that is extremely important to the health of the plant. When the soil surface is dry to the touch, thoroughly water the plant.   Pour off any excess water.  If the soil is allowed to get too dry, wilting and leaf drop may occur. Wet soils can lead to root rot. Fertilize monthly with an acid-type fertilizer while the azalea is actively growing.

You can move the azalea outdoors in late May. Put it in a site with partial sun with morning sun and afternoon shade being the best.  Don’t remove the plant from the pot.  Just dig a hole and put the pot in the ground up to the rim. Be sure to water the plant during dry weather. Don’t fertilize after mid-summer.

It may be difficult to get the azalea to bloom again, but it is possible. The prompting for the flowers is in late summer/early fall when the temperatures start to cool.  Bring the plant indoors right before the first hard frost. Place it in a well-lit and cool location, keeping the soil evenly moist. If the plant is happy, meaning it gets the proper care, it should bloom sometime in winter. 

Click here to go to the Azalea Society of America’s FAQ page to find out more.

Dig it!

Posted under General, Houseplants

It is finally March and I, along with many others, are ready to get outside and into the garden.  It is still a little too early for that.  However, it is not too early to start planning what you are going to put into that garden, whether it is flowers or vegetables.  Or both.

I went online and signed up for a bunch of seed catalogs. 

This is what we have so far. There have been a couple of repeats. Louie loves tomatoes, so he wants me to buy all tomato seeds. Sorry, Louie.

As an experiment, I signed Frankie, Louie, Barney and Clyde (my “boys”) up for some of them.  So far Frankie, Louie and Barney each have two in their name and Clyde has one.  I did manage to get most of them sent in my name.  I want to see what kind of mailing lists the cats get onto.  I’ve done this before with Louie’s name and he got mail for satellite television, credit card applications and even a postcard asking if he wanted to subscribe to Playboy.  I shredded all of them.  He’d spend too much money on things he doesn’t need and watch too much television.  He gets crabby when he doesn’t get his 18 hours of sleep!

The goal of all of these catalogs isn’t just for my garden.  It is mainly for the Vinton Community Youth Garden. The kids loved selling their own produce at the Vinton Farmers’ Market last year and the customers seemed to enjoy supporting the kids along with the other local producers.  So this year, I will be looking at the calendar and figuring out when the best time to plant the veggies will be so that we can maximize the produce going to the market as well as spreading out the length of time we can take each kind of vegetable.

I'll go through the catalogs to see the growing time for each plant and count backwards from when we want to sell at the market.

One of the things we did at our last meeting was picked out what they want to grow this year.  Here is the list:

Lettuce, sugar snap peas, radishes, bush beans, cucumbers, wildflowers.  We already have seeds for these items.  They were donated by Earl May.

The rest of the list:

Tomatoes (sandwich, sauce, cherry, pear), zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, strawberries, corn, pumpkins, celery, broccoli, pole beans, cabbage, peppers (green, jalapeno, anaheim or banana, any others we have room for), sweet potatoes, potatoes, eggplant, carrots, onions, bok choy, parsley, rosemary, basil, oregano, sunflowers, tomatillo and loufa.

I have strawberries that need thinned out so that is taken care of.   Rosemary and oregano may come back from last year, so that will help save some money.

Since I have four cats and no good light source, I won’t start anything from seed, but will probably buy the warm season plants from area nurseries.  The seeds will more than likely come from one of the many catalogs that the cats so kindly signed up for.

Guess I better get going on those calendars so I can see how many seeds I need to order.  And I’ll get some for my own garden, too!  Louie, I’ll get the tomatoes in plant form in May.  You’ll just have to wait.

Dig it!

Posted under Spring

Beautiful female Cardinal sent in by Joyce Meyers near Spillville. She takes great pictures. You may have even seen her photos in magazines.

Another one from Joyce

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker that visited Gaile Ackerman of Cedar Falls.

Gaile found these Wild Turkeys, too.

Gaile had ten squirrels visiting her feeder. Normally they don't like to be near each other... must have been one of the cold snaps! (You can see the tenth squirrel's back in the foreground of the photo)

Gaile is fortunate enough to have one of the stop-off points of the Monarch migration. This is from last fall.

And, my favorite picture... and not because I took it. The others are better photos technically. I just love this one because it is the first Robin I have seen in Urbana. I heard one a couple of weeks ago and other people have told me they are around, but he finally showed up to my house! Spring is here!

Dig it!

Posted under Photos