Who has been tromping through my garden?

Yesterday morning I found that we had a surprise guest during the night.  It seems a rather large horse took a tour of the gardens under the cover of darkness.  Thankfully, it opted not to munch it's way through.  It is truly a surprise guest, since there are no horses in the area.  I never saw the actual horse, just tracks and a nice pile of fertilizer.  No photos of the road apples; they were promptly put in the outdoor compost pile.  
 

I must say I am quite curious where my visitor came from and where it went to.   My brother said it was checking to see the progress on the barn project. If that is the case it will have a long wait.

It always proves interesting at our little cabin in the woods.  I will be anxious to see if my wandering friend returns.

Projects progress?

My worms are doing grand.  They are eating leftovers like crazy.  I have so many now that I set a few free in the greenhouse next to the heirloom tomato plants.  They are happy worms.  

 Another project that was moving quickly, was the clearing of some trees next to us.  It has been amazing what a difference it makes clearing things out.  Since our falls are predominately yellow, gold, and green, we plan on planting some red maples.





We making good progress, until it snowed this weekend.   It has been down to the low 30's and the greenhouse is holding tough. 

I didn't get to do much except spring cleaning this weekend.  I shouldn't be too surprised as it is only April.  Usually we have snow until the end of May.  Hope everyone else had a productive gardening weekend.

Gardening and entertainment...

 Despite a very cold wind, I could not be kept in today.  I planted my roses.  It worked out that I didn't use my compost last fall, as it was much needed for my three new additions.  I got them from Jung Seeds.  I got a Morden Sunrise Shrub, Rose Prairie Sunrise Shrub, and A Henry Kelsey Climber.  Now my rose bed is complete.

This lovely little house finch sang a pretty song while I worked in the rose bed.  I sure enjoyed his company.



I  then moved to the greenhouse, where my spinach and lettuce are doing excellent.  We have enjoyed many salads already this spring.  I like spinach with almonds, raspberries, with a red wine vinegar.  Kelly likes the lettuce on taco salad and in sandwiches. 

If you look closely you can see two of the four heirloom tomatoes that I planted behind the radishes.  They were taller, but I planted them deep.  We shall see how they do.  I still have ten left if this experiment doesn't work out.  I did thin the radishes after the photo. 

This was my next experiment.  If you remember in October I went to Washington DC.  Well, while I was there seeds were everywhere.  I couldn't help myself, I pocketed some sweet gum, pine, oak and maple seeds.  How cool would that be to have a tree from DC growing in my backyard?  We shall see.

 

I also had company in the greenhouse. Two yellow sulphurs danced most of the afternoon. I finally got a closeup of one when it stopped to rest. I must say I enjoyed their display.

I finished planting the greenhouse.  Adding some pumpkins, peas, and beans. I transplanted the peppers to the long containers.  I also planted some cilantro and broccoli with the DC trees.  The big pot holds four Prime Jan and Prime Jim blackberries.  I'm not putting them in the orchard yet as we haven't finished fencing the side I want them on.  Needless to say, I did a lot of planting.  I was happy to have some entertainment from mother nature while I worked.



Don't think I didn't provide some entertainment for my gardening partner.  During my escapades, I dutifully threw Ella pine cones.   I hope everyone has as productive an Easter as mine was.





Heigh-Hoe heigh-hoe it is off to work we go...

There is always a project at our cabin.  Especially in the spring.  After a long winter you just have to get out and work.  This year's project is to clear the area next to the cabin, have it leveled, plant grass, trees and shrubs.  In a few more years we will add a barn.  One side will be a greenhouse.  Of course, that sold me on the plan.






Words cannot describe how much Ella enjoys the cutting of trees.  She seriously thinks we are cutting them just for her.  She is very smart and stays back when the tree is being cut, but the second it hits the ground she goes running towards it barking in rapture because she has all of these new sticks to chew on.  I can tell you it is very cute, until you try to pile branches and she drags them off to her shady spot in the yard.

Look at those wood chips fly. The trees are cut down and the wood is cut up for firewood. He left the stumps tall, so it would be easy to get them out. It may seem odd that we would cut down half an acre of woods, but we have 20 acres and it is thick forest.  

At this point there is some serious progress and tons of firewood.  Our friends, Rob and Heather, came with their children to take the firewood.  It was hard work, but a lot of fun.  After loading three truckloads, we were  all beat.  Luckily, someone had foresight enough to make homemade chocolate ice cream.  We enjoyed a nice break on the porch eating ice cream and visiting.  It was a great weekend.

It doesn't look very good right now, but if there is one thing I have learned in life it is that things usually are worse before they get better.  (That kind of speaks towards my style of cleaning house:)  I will keep you updated on this project.