The Front Yard Needs to be DONE Already...

Unfortunatley, my plumbing disaster in January, followed by my truck disaster in March put the kybosh on landscaping the front yard all at once. Luckily (or perhaps, unluckily), I have a very determined boyfriend.... After mowing the lawn (finally- I thought we might have to bale it instead!), Matt decided that the bush in the corner of the yard HAD to come out. Behold the results: A great big hole in the corner of the yard! Here he is rototilling after he and Bob (my next door neighbor) pulled the stump out with a Jeep and a chain.

The stump!

As the boys worked, I saved as many muscari bulbs as I could find. They've naturalized in this corner of the yard and I'd like to keep some for my bulb spirals.

Here's what the front yard looks like now. A mowed lawn and a great empty spot, waiting to be filled.

I also got two half wine barrels from a very nice gentleman off of CraigsList. They worked beautifully for potatoes! I managed to get all my seed potatoes planted this weekend and I'm hoping for a better harvest from last year!

Here are the two containers I got free from work, full with Red Pontiac seed potatoes.

And since I didn't raise chicks this year, I could finally use this planter for it's original purpose- growing russets!

Some progress was also made in the back yard- mainly transplanting tomatoes into bigger pots, but my columnar apples are also flowering. I hope the bees find them...

Ever since I trasplanted it into a larger pot, the rhubarb has been much happier. These are the biggest leaves it's ever put out.

Mom and Dad bought these trellises at the Iron Works place and couldn't fit them in the car to take to LA. Darn. I'm testing them out with sweet peas...

And here are the tomatoes- in bigger pots and ever growing!

Sunday dinner was special this week. It was the first gathering of the Girls Cooking Club! I was the host for this first dinner and picked a French theme for the night. Of course, I decided to make Boeuf Borguignon. I started cooking at 11:30 and was finished just in time to eat at 5:30. My prep: Onions (pearl and regular), home grown carrots, and mushrooms (yuck).

Searing the stew meat...

As I coooked, the kitties napped...

And voila! The French dinner table!

We had Potatoes Anna,

Braised Leeks and Frisee salad,

My Boeuf Borguignon,

And Almond Cream with Strawberries for dessert! It was really, really good. It was so nice to only have to concentrate on making one dish, instead of a whole meal. Next month- Greek!

Spring!

This month is my garden's one year anniversary! What better way to celebrate than to post lots of garden pictures? My Citron Bleeding Heart has come back this Spring vigorous and blooming like crazy!

The white Bleeding Heart isn't too far behind!

A couple of the checkered Lilies I planted last Fall have come up- they have a truely unique flower.

Tulips that I planted last Fall...

I tidied up the strawberry pots by removing all the dead leaves that were choking the new growth. All the strawberry plants are putting out flower stalks since I took this picture.

All the onion seeds I planted are coming up. There are cipollini, red, yellow, and scallions under this greenhouse.

I've put some pansies in by the blueberries for a little early Spring color...

Most of my sweet peas have found homes on trellises- this one was improvised from an upside-down tomato cage over a pot.

I also completed another craft project. This is a window frame that I'd seen outside a thrift store I drive past every day on my way to work. The glass had been partially broken out of it, so I got it for a few dollars. I removed the rest of the glass, strung wire across and hung my seed packets from it! It's great because now I can see all the seeds I have at one time instead of sifting through stacks of folded packets.

I also cleaned out the chicken coop last weekend. The girls are always thrilled with new straw. They love digging through it for the occasional hidden oat...

And now for some rediculous, shameless cutness! A typical day for Alice and Cooper: Nap on the couch...

Nap in the storage bins...

Climbing the laundry basket...

Then, more napping while Mom cans jam...

That's it for now; the plants are growing faster than I can post. Stay tuned for more updates!

Annual Sausage Party

A few quick pics of the sausage party at Janell's house this weekend:

Italian Sausage!

And here's a trivet I made out of the seams of old jeans:

And another pic of the babies. Enjoy!

Being Spontaneous

Is not something I'm usually good at. When your spontaneous, you haven't planned (obviously). When you don't plan, you aren't prepared. An unprepared Becky is an unhappy Becky, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. This, according to my family and friends, is why I'm such a wet blanket. A stick in the mud. Stodgy. Cynical. Bitter. These, among other adjectives, have been used to describe me over the last few months. While I know I don't like to do things at the last minute and I don't like when the "plan" goes awry, I didn't think that I had degenerated into someone that wasn't fun to be around. Apparently, I have. Mom's cure: get a kitten. Since Sam left to go back to Matt's house, I've been relatively cat-free at my house. I have most of the equipment for a cat (cat box, scratch pads, toys, cat litter), but no cat. I had been more than happy contiue being cat-free, but after the debacle with Velvet, I starting to think it might be nice to get a kitten. I mulled it over for several months, then Matt told me that his mother's cat had just had kittens. It seemed like a sign. So, I went over to see them and they were indeed as cute as you might imagine. All seven of them. After eight weeks, they were ready to go home and I claimed a brother/ sister pair out of the litter. Introducing Alice and Cooper:

After heavy doses of wormer and Advantage, I started to let them out of the bathroom and play in the house. So far, they've charmed everyone who has stepped in my house.

They are both so small and cute that I feel like the Winter Worlock after getting his train...

Saturday was glorious in Silverton- a whole 68 degrees with no rain! Matt and I decided to go to the Oregon Gardens to see their spring flowers and get out of the house a bit. All their daffs are blooming!

They have also put in a chicken coop since the last time I was there! No chickens yet, but I was really excited to see that they planned on getting some. Apparently, I'm a trendsetter in Silverton! I wonder how they got around that pesky city ordinance....

I also found this herb spiral that is exactly what I want to do in the front yard, except make a bulb garden out of it instead of planting herbs. Imagine daffodils, hyacinths, muscara, irises, lilies, and tulips going up and around? Sounds good to me...

We also saw these neat domes from a distance while driving in. I thought they were cloches, but they turned out to be bio-filtering water. These domes cover tanks of water plants that filter water continuously pumped through. Very cool!

After the gardens, Matt decided he needed a break from the computer and I needed a break from gardening. We decided SPONTANEOUSLY to go to the coast for the afternoon. We packed Matt's car and headed to Newport to walk on the beach and have dinner at Local Ocean. It was a wonderful unexpected detour, so there!

Grow! Grow!

Just a quick update to show you how things are going in the greenhouse: fast! Lettuce and Cilantro...

Gherkin cucumbers...

Bush beans and sugar snap peas (from seed I saved last year, I might add)...

Brussel Sprouts and Celery...

Broccoli and Cauliflower...

The strawberries that I rescued from the strawberry tower...

Sweet Peas...

Tomatoes...

And here are a couple of vertical gardening prototypes I made- one with small pots and one with medium sized pots. I've made them so they can hang along the fenceline and planted them with parsley.

A wonderful Spring morning in Oregon-

All I have to say is: Brr!!!