Another golden autumn day.  Winter still seems far off, although  two years  ago we had a snow storm at Halloween. And of course last year was Sandy, another mess. Not so bad here in the Hudson Valley, we are far enough from the coast.

But still it did some damage.


For weeks it has been mild and for the most part sunny. It has been a good gardening season. And  I am fortunate enough to have been outdoors for much of every day.

 

It's the first day of spring! We had snow yesterday, but really the picture above is typical of March in this zone, early flowers and snow. I have grape hyacinths, pictured above, snowdrops, the first crocuses, and a viola blooming.

It makes me laugh when people get all worked up about the groundhog on February 2, whether he(she?) sees his(her) shadow or not, spring comes in six weeks. As long as you remember spring in the Hudson Valley can mean snow along with warmer sun, longer days, and budding trees, it all makes sense.

February, Can Spring Be Far Behind?

Since Christmas the days have been getting longer, and now even the angle of the light is changing. We can and probably will have plenty more snow ahead, but I bought flower seeds today, and the forsythia is starting to bud. 

This picture is from one of my back windows. No new green, but the snow is gone, for now.

The wild roses are blooming, and the air smells sweet. Along the roads and into the woods, white and purple phlox are rampant. Too bad the weeds are also thriving!

I planted seeds, zinnia, basil, cosmos, dill, marigolds and others, I'm sure. I plant them all in about a week, so sometimes I forget about them, which makes for a fun surprise. As long as I mark the places where seeds are, so I don't overplant them with something else, it's all good. The marigolds and basil are planted along one of the long sides of the pool area, with the cherry tomato plants. I use old stocking strips to tie the tomatoes to the chain link fence. This both supports the plants and hides the ugluy fence. The zinnias, cosmos and dill grow to around four feet, so the will (hopefully) cover the other sides of the fence. They are just beginning to pop up. It is pouring rain right now, which is good after several hot sunny days, next post I'll have pictures of their progress.

What a Mess!

My pool area is a mess.

And yet, we did the right things. We had all the weeds removed, landscape fabric put down, and several inches of mulch over that. We had four tasteful whiskey barrels, and felt the woods should stay on it's side of the fence. As Oscar the Grouch would say, Ding dong, you're wrong! Weeds everywhere, thriving in all conditions.

Since keeping plants out was impossible, I decided to start a new project, to add to the 20 or 30 other projects I am currently involved in. I am planting all the most prolific of my perennials, hoping they will fill in as well as the weeds have. I also figured since the pool is in the sunniest spot in the yard, all the vegetables, not just a couple of tomatoes should live there. Stay tuned!

Even Tinier Gardens

I think I need an "egg cutter" (never hace seen one, but read they exist. And I read it on the interweb, so it mjust be true!) Cutting the tops off the eggs was the hard part, especially the fresh eggs my friend Dawn provided me, from her chickens.

Succulents by the dozen!

Tiny Gardens

I have been playing with terrariums lately. Maybe because planting and maintaining them does not hurt my back! I'm experimenting with various plants to see what will grow very slowly.