We really needed rain. But gee, it’d be nice if it would stop for a day or two! I’ve got lots of stuff to plant. Not garden veggies but flowers right now. I bought 25 assorted Hosta roots from Gilbert H. Wild & Son, cheap. They came, bagged up. Nice roots but very small. They’ll like the rain to get started but I’m running out with five at a time, in-between rains. Ugh! My feet are wet. I’m going to have to switch to boots, I guess. The good news is my knees are slowly getting much better. Whew, I was getting nervous when they seemed to stay very sore all the time. And June planting is coming up on us like a freight train!
The creeks around here (and rivers) are in flood stage. Our little beaver pond is overflowing and getting larger by the day. That’s not a bad thing though, as we love watching the wildlife on it. Otters, beavers, muskrats, ducks, geese, swans, and pelicans are all fun to watch. Our mama and papa geese have moved their brood onto the big beaver pond for the summer and another pair is now claiming the small beaver pond in front of the house. I sure hope they nest.
I have all of the melons, squash, and pumpkins out on the back deck, so they get rain and sunshine. But lately, we’ve had about three inches of rain, and I have to go out and dump out the excess water from all the flats every morning, so they don’t drown. Yep, I’m hoping for the sun they say is coming out tomorrow!
— Jackie
I harvested two ripe strawberries today – at least a week earlier than usual. 10+ years ago we were out of town over Memorial Day weekend and I’m pretty sure I did not start harvesting until over a week after we got home. I *have* to thin out the patch come end of summer as it is solidly covered with plants.
A couple of volunteer tater plants popped up – always pleasant and welcome.
Working our way to peak cicada season, they are everywhere.
And another dozen or so today.
Wow, that’s exciting to have those first ripe fruits!! Ours have just started to bloom. We love those volunteer potatoes, popping up here and there. Unless they’re in a real bad spot, we leave them be and make pets out of them.
Hi! We are strange weather this year. Snowed on May 1st and 2nd, then did again yesterday. Nothing stuck down here but was around freezing for the high. Covered our mountains here again. Living at over a mile up with taller mountains surrounding the valley means weird weather. I don’t have my garden outside yet. Between the weather and having a nasty bug called a para flu little is done except for planting up seedling pots. We get freezes into June. Jackie, aside from wall o’waters and thermal covers for plants can you think of anything that will protect plants cheaply? I hope the rain slows down a bit for you. Thanks bunches.
Sounds like you live in Flagstaff or Colorado.
We live in South East Idaho by Soda Springs. We’re a little lower than Soda and a 3800 feet higher than Poky. Pocatello Idaho, that is. Not too far from the Utah border or the Wyoming border. Beautiful area my second year here and love it even more. Most folks are Mormon in this area with other Christian denominations mixed in so a definitely conservative area. Farming and ranching, with outdoor activities are big here. We’re in a valley that when you come over the mountain spreads out in front of you. A lot national forest lands around us up on the mountains around us. Tallest peak I see out my living room window is 8000 feet. Yes, I really love this area. Taller mountains in the county to about 12000 SW of us. Decent stores nearby and other towns within an hours drive. Our vet is 40 minutes away and is just great. We’ve got several elderly cats 18, two 17 year olds and then it goes down to a three year old. Because I was vet tech he just gives the shots they need, we pay for the medicine and he takes the pet care program we use for the bills. We took in a friends cats when she passed away. Her family wanted to send them to the pound. Anyway, that life here in Idaho. If you want to move to my neck of paradise let me know and I can refer you to our realtor.
Yep, mountain living is sometimes challenging. One time, when we lived at 7,600 feet in Montana, we had a snow storm on the Fourth of July. It took half an hour just to get down from our place, on a washed out, rocky trail. Wouldn’t change it for the world!!! We loved it, challenges and all.
I am getting rain and hail this morning. Yikes!! we need the rain as we have missed much of the rain that has been around us and we were getting pretty dry again. The county just to the west of me has been hammered with rain and even a tornado and we got nothing. Strange how weather works. I put straw around my garden plants yesterday and got the tomato stakes in. I sure hope this hail does not kill my plants. So glad to hear your knees are getting better. Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Thanks for the prayers. I’m sure they are working! We are sure having weird weather this year! Thankfully, no tornadoes. We are too far north for really bad ones.
What fertilizer do you use for the seedlings?🌱
We use fish emulsion, kelp and sometimes MiracleGro (until they go out in the garden, then no more chemicals!).
Oh Jackie, that lilac is such a beautiful color! I butchered my lilac bush so only had one “bloom” the size of my pinky fingernail! Maybe next year it will get back to normal. Fingers crossed.
I’m so glad your knees are starting to feel better.
I love your beaver pond. We had beavers for several years but they have moved on. I loved seeing the fruits of their labor.
I love the beavers too but Will was getting tired of them cutting down trees too close to the house, so he cut a hole in the dam to let out the extra water. They didn’t like it and moved on. I’m hoping they’ll come back and won’t cut down more trees they shouldn’t. Due to the logging we had done across the creek a couple of years ago, there are lots of poplar seedlings coming up that will be much more tasty for them than the old trees here.
When you prune a lilac bush, do it as soon as it’s done flowering, no later as the bush puts on next year’s buds early. Late pruning results in few or no flowers.
lilac tip! thank you. now i know what (my husband ) over zealous pruning has done. no more this year! my but its been a wet week for all. i see your starts are fairly similar to mine. i was worrying about my starts sizes. around here, even with greenhouse its a struggle to get seeds to grow(or too keep from getting leggy). SO Happy your knees are doing better.
What are your next door neighbors doing, the one that had cleared so much land next to you when they first moved in?
I’m assuming you’re talking to me? If so, they logged off about half, dug gravel out of a big spot and there it sits. They had no idea of actually living there; it’s just a money making deal. : (
Jackie, thanks for info on the lilacs. I will have to get to mine. I wanted to make lilac syrup this year but I really sick. A next year project now.
Gee, I’m sorry to hear you’re sick. Here’s hoping you get much better real soon!
Hi Jackie- Weather and gardening- endlessly fascinating! We’re having a more “typical” spring after the scorchers the past couple of years. I’m not unhappy as we really don’t want another wildfire season like last year. The garden is slow. Got beans in last week and hope they germinate. If not, I’ll plant again. Wrapped the tomato cages with row cover and clothes pins and it seems to help keep them a little warmer. I use to use the red tomato water tubes but they’re too hard for me to manoeuvre now. Lettuce, chard and kale are all flourishing so there’s always something to eat! Hope the sun shines for you so you can begin planting out!
We’re a couple weeks from planting gardens but I’ve been busy setting in new flowers in our new part of the front yard. Almost done!! It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow so I’m really pushing to get it mostly done today. We’re happy with the rain as we sure don’t want a severe wildfire season either, living right smack in the middle of the woods!
Are you in california where the wild fires rage?
No, in BC. Canada. The fires are already bad up north due to drought. Hopefully this cooler spring will keep fires to a minimum.
Last year I couldn’t get enough rain. This year a different scenario. That’s what makes gardening and farming challenging. We had ? 60 mph wind and rain. Fortunately I had little erosion. My gardens and fields are saturated. Several trees went down but none on pasture fences-perhaps the first time. I’ve got the planting done and now need sunshine and dry weather. The weeds are thriving. Every year new obstacles to overcome. There’s always something new to learn.
Yes, that’s for sure! Our ground is saturated too. Can’t work in the gardens or haul manure, so Will’s busy building our next solar array, which will house six more solar panels. I’m fertilizing the plants in the greenhouse and planting flowers in the new part of the front yard. More rain tomorrow, but then it looks sunny for a few days. Yea!!
What fertilizer are you using Jackie? Am repeating what another person said. I’ve got miracle grow so I can make a delute solution with to use a couple of times. How do you start corn early? I’m going to use tall peat pots to give the roots room to develop. Plus slice the sides open when I plant them. The frequent snow and freezing temperatures are pushing my growing time back. I know you live in zone 4 to my zone 5. Locals are of the opinion you wait for the right time.
We use a combination, alternating them; Fish emulsion, kelp and MiracleGro when they’re in the house/greenhouse. Once outside, it’s mostly rotted manure, worked into the ground.
I wish we were in Zone 4! Nope, it’s Zone 3. The only corn we start early is very long-season corn like Navajo Robin’s Egg Blue. The rest just goes into the garden via seed. We start our corn two weeks before it’s due to be set out, in plastic six-packs. Corn transplants very easily. We can’t plant our direct seeded corn out before June 1st (on a “good’ year) or plants a week later.
We have had rain and rain the past week. About three inches of snow last night in western MT. A late spring weather system. Have not put any garden out , to cold at night. I did plant a flower bed and looks like flowers survived the snow.
I’m sure glad they did Betty. Today’s sunny but more rain for tomorrow. The ground’s saturated and so am I. More sun coming, though. Yea!! I think we’re done with snow though.
While the rain is totally not welcome, it is beneficial and we all know it. And not raining so much it floods your septic.
More cicadas every day, starting to hear them more and more. Plus find them everywhere – even had one hitchhike into the house. Fun times for the cats.
I bet the cats enjoyed their visitor. If our septic floods, Noah will be building another ark, as we’re up on a gravel hill. : )
Our risk of septic flooding is minimal too. However our elderly neighbors’ septic was in the “sweet spot” downhill. Husband drove down the skid steer, moved some earth. Husband brought down our tiller and the neighbor fine tuned it. It has been a decade plus and problem fixed. Water takes the path of least resistance so husband gave it an even less resistant path.
Both cats, but especially the female, are now on high alert for cicadas lol. I scooped out a dozen plus from one bird bath this morning – deceased, living, and recently hatched. An article I read said 1M per acre. Meaning at least a total of 9M+ given the acreage we own.
A red (or somewhat red – I did not squat and verify) strawberry in our patch. I’ll check tomorrow but even if it is truly red, early for us.
Here’s hoping it’s red and wonderful!!