April 24, 2009

Well, I THOUGHT we had our last frost day last week, but the clear skies yesterday resulted in a cold night.  It got down around 35 is my guess, but it was enough to give us a light frost.  And to think it was bed time when I remembered that I hadn't brought in the plants.  Whew!  Sure the tomatoes probably would have been ok, but I'm not sure about the stevia, which is the only other plants I'm hardening off.

Here's a shot from the kitchen window...



In case you're wondering the yellow funnel in the lower left hand corner is the family chipper shredder.  Since I was the last to use it, it resides here til someone else needs it.

Then, as I was leaving for work, I couldn't help but snap this shot of my coldframe covering the peas germinating in bed #4.  I plan on using my string and 2x2 trellis for that bed since the other bed will get my big trellis again this year.



I must say, I'm happy that the coldframe is really working well.  I planted two rows of squares with peas this spring, but only the peas under my coldframe have germinated at all. 

Well, I took a break from posting and went outside to play with the kids with the main purpose of taking a picture of the sprouting peas.  Didn't happen, daddy was outside so I got distracted.  However, between pushing the little guy on the swing forever, and having the kids help pick their toys up off the grass so I could mow tomorrow, I did take some picks of my blueberry beds.  Here they are, starting with the garlic rows shooting up something fierce once the sun came out this spring.



Now, since Sandy commented on my blueberries, I thought I'd share them getting the afternoon sun.  The first is my favorite from my originals.



And here is other one that is an evergreen that grows in small clumps rather than grape-like bunches.



Now for Sandy's blueberries...



I love how this guy has the arm going over it's head.  Not sure if I should tie them up or not, they seem to be doing fine on their own.

Now for my new favorite...



I am really impressed by this little guy.  It didn't look so good a month ago, kinda like I planted it wrong.  Speaking of which, I was watching Gardening with Ciscoe tonight (TiVo recorded it), and he talked a bit about blueberries.  Apparently if I had planted any of these 1/8th inch too deep they would have died.  Thank goodness I got lucky four times, ROFL.  However, he did say in the PNW that April is the time to fertilize your blueberries with Azalea food for acid loving plants.  I also read last night that mulching with coffee grounds helps blueberries.  So at 10:30, I grabbed a flashlight, my fertilizer and a bag of Grounds for your Garden and went out to fertilize and much my blueberries.  Hehe, you should have seen me.  I would have taken pictures, but they would have turned out horrible.  So take my word for it, it was funny.

All I did was sprinkle a bit of fertilizer around the dripline of the plants, then covered with a bunch of coffee grounds.  Then I watered it all in.  I hope they like it.  Oh, and of course I had to hum REM's Gardening at Night. I'm wierd that way.

Enjoy your garden!