Valentine's Day

When Shane told me he really wanted this Daphne plant that his old roommate had kept for years, and it's so pretty and it smells so good, and even went so far as to bring a piece of it home in hopes to root it, I got excited!




So I searched online after local nurseries had none... And sure enough, Garden Growerhad it! It made it all the way from Oregon arriving the day before Valentine's Day! Whew!

Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata', Varigated Winter Daphne, is an evergreen shrub with long glossy green leaves with yellow edges. FRAGRANT flowers as is the case with the family in general. We're keeping this one as a houseplant here, out in the summer and in in the winter as it is zone 6.

Spring's coming!!!

I did a massive planting job for and with my dear friend, Diana, last fall. When I closed down the nursery a lot of the plant stock went into her yard, and it doesn't look like much right now but there are some signs of great things to come!


fresh Lupine leaves unfolding


baby Yarrow leaves


A really cool varigated sedum


Clematis!


Daffodils blooming already!!

Currently reading

"The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener" is my current gardening read & I love it! Who knew to underplant corn with soybeans! Excellent! This is perfect for fight now, middle of February, spring's so close I can smell it... And the garden is being planned with so much anticipation!

"Our house...

...is a veryveryvery fine house,
with 2 dawgs in the yard,
life used to be so hard...."

Bandit and Mecca in their super new pen! They love it!


We have only one tiny strip of grass along the side of the house and it's a pathway! Yes that's right... we are Americans without lawn! woohoo! No pesticides, emissions from mowing, crabgrass or lawn envy/pretension! So far it has some flowers and herbs and has been used for some veggies... I have BIG plans for it! Those boxes are cold frames.


This is a crazy old fountain that Lindsay never used & looks like it would make a spectacular rock garden...


Composting heaven! and yes, the spinner totally rocks!


This is a very bad shot of the backyard veggie growing area... it's huge and "L" shaped... I'm in *loooove*!

Our house...

full moon

The moon is bursting outside in the night sky and it has inspired me to do some research on gardening by the moon. An ancient practice based on the same theory of the moon pulling the ocean tides, it also draws on subtle bodies of water, causing moisture to rise in the earth, encouraging growth.

What I've learned so far... In the first quarter, the new moon, causes seeds to swell. This and increasing moonlight creates balanced root and leaf growth.Planting seeds in the new moon allows them to germinate in time for rapid growth brought on by the full moon, strong moonlight = rapid leaf growth. Seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon. This is the time to plant above ground crops.

I've been a bit slack buying my seeds this year, so I might plant some tomorrow and I might wait some for next month... Coming soon: germination station!

Happy full moon!

New home

Shane and I moved into our friend Lindsay's house and we just love love love it! It has a super great attached greenhouse too! I'm in heaven!

My hero

Inspired by Chris I went and created my own hero... I couldn't figure out how to name her something like "Garden Girl" or something of that sort so she's "The Amazing Feathered Condor"! I would also prefer her weapon to be a hoe or something, but the only choice that wasn't a real weapon weapon was the stick! Pretty cool!!!

I'm back!

Wordpress was too annoying and confusing, so I have returned to blogger...! I am allowed to change my mind once in a while right?!