A small grove of young beech trees (Fagus grandiflora) grows at the scraggly wooded western boundary of our lot. The white/grey elephant leg trunks highlight a mostly morose forested winter backdrop. Though they are most definitely the nobility of our humble slice of the forest, I hadn't paid much attention to the beeches, beyond acknowledging their presence, until just the other day. Days of rain recently have left our yard a spongy mess. My feet were muddy when I could no longer hold the 3 cups of coffee I had after breakfast so, not wanting to take my shoes off to go inside, I walked down to the wood's edge to a certain strategically screened spot next to the big tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) to release some pressure. As I turned to walk back up to the vegetable garden I noticed how a few of last season's leaves still clung to the branches of the beech tree next to me. Thin clouds overhead cast a soft, full light on the leaves and buds. I quickly returned with my camera and made this image before the light was gone-- the remnants of seasons past and the promise of seasons to come.

Planted 3 Styrax japonica seedlings today. Bought some more pickets-- I love their fresh pine smell. bm

March Showers Bring May Flowers

It hasn't been a particularly pretty Saturday; overcast and slightly chilly, but it was great weather for working outside. We got all the chicken wire up and Bill made a wonderful gate for the garden fence. We also spent some time constructing a small retaining wall in a corner of the garden that is lower than the rest of the garden. We have 1 lateral support left to put up and then all that is left are the pickets. We'll likely knock out a good number of those tomorrow.
I also began transplanting some of the iris's that are in my soon-to-be flower/ herb bed. I hope we will have numerous clusters of iris flowers scattered around the perimeter of the yard in a few months.

When the rain came around 5pm, we called it quits for outside work and decided to plant our starter tray with tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, watermelon, cantloupe, zucchini, and pumpkin. Those seeds should sprout in the next week or so, and then be ready to go in the garden in about a month.

We are rather worn out now, so I think it's going to be an evening at home with a rented movie and leftover pizza. Perfect!

First plantings!

I know we haven't written since last week, but that's because we went to WVa for the weekend. It was beautiful weather and I think both of us felt a little guilty for not working in the garden. We did, however, collect 3 buckets of cow manure to fertilize our happy veggies.

Some photos of our work last week:
Painting the pickets-
Screwing the pickets to the lateral support 2x4s-


Taking the painting job very seriously-

Our compost pile, which we started last spring-

I also took some "before" photos and will post them when we have an "after" to go with them, hopefully in the fall.

This evening, I planted carrots, spinach, and lettuce. The germination time is 7-12 days, so in the next few weeks, we may have the beginnings of some succulent munchies!

This coming weekend, weather permitting, we will finish the fence and continue planting our early-spring crops.

Mid-week make-up

We got rained out last weekend and so we kept inside. However, today was beautiful and warm, and although it is Wednesday, Bill was able to take the day off and work on our garden. And what a difference it made!

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday evening, we installed another section of chicken wire fencing to our garden posts. It is hard to get that stuff to lay flat, but we managed to get it nailed on to the backside of our garden fence, between 4 posts. I'd like to say that we'll finish the wire fence this weekend and begin putting up lateral supports, but I'm not so sure the weather will go along with that plan.
We woke up this morning to almost an inch of snow on the back porch. Rain in the forecast for the next 2 days.
Maybe I can paint pickets under the front-door overhang.
Besides our vegetable garden, which is tops on our priority list right now, we also have several smaller areas for perennials, shrubs, and other gardens. I am hoping to get working on an herb-perennial garden under our Crape Myrtle. Maybe after we get our veggie seeds in the ground.

73 yesterday and snow tomorrow.....March!

Yesterday, we went to Lowes and bought about half our needed pickets. They are 6' tall. so we'll have to cut a foot off the bottem of each one. They are untreated pine, so we can easily use or burn the off-cuts.
We also bought a splendid green/grey paint for the fence. If we don't have snow or rain on Sunday, I'll be painting pickets!

After our Lowes adventure, we had dinner with the folks and brother, sister-in-law-and new baby. It's nice to have family around.

Saturday, my Achitectrual History class is going on a tour of Staunton. Yes, we are going to check out buildings with columns so we can talk about what "style" they are.

10...is the magic number.....

Our lovely Lenten Roses:

We did it! We now have all 10 of our beautiful posts in the ground. As a bonus, Bill has already begun digging the trench (6-8")around the perimeter to hold the chicken wire fencing, which is sunk into the ground to (hopefully) prevent the intrusion of tunnelers. The wire fencing is 4' tall, so it be about 18" shorter than our wooden pickets when we are done. I don't think this will be a problem, but we'll keep you posted. post..ed. Ha.

Ahhhh, at last, photographs

Alrighty gang, here are some "mainly-before-but-also-kind-of-in-progress" garden photos.
Our compost area and the BRUSH pile:Our garden area:After a long day of building fence:

Purty weather peeking in

This weekend should be lovely. Perhaps even in the 70's. So while I am spending the beautiful weekend studying for a professional exan, Bill and Chris will be working on the garden fence. It will be a lot of digging with shovels, clam diggers, and a digging bar (to chip out the rock). We will have to use concrete for at least the gate posts and maybe for a regular post or two. I am hopeful that we can get all thew posts in this weekend (and I will tear myself away from the books at least for a few hours on sunday to help).
Photos soon, I promise. Until then, just picture a 20x20 area of dirt with 4 wooden posts around it. Impressed?
By the way, I added a few photos of our Gingerbread Chapel to the pre-Thanksgiving post. Check them out, and let us know if you'd like a custom Gingerbread model of your house. :)

disclaimer

This blog can be moody at times

In like a lion

It snowed on March 1st. The most snow we've had all year-- that's right, a whopping 4inches.
Before that bit of weather, we managed to get 4 of our 10 fence posts in the ground. We are having to cement-in several because we hit rock at about 18inches. We have some photos and will try to post them soon.
We are hoping that the next 2 weekends will be good ones for working on the fence. We have gotten almost all the seeds that we ordered and will list them all as we begin planting.
It's becoming Spring, and that means the gardening is ON!