two seasons later

BEFORE (april 2007)

AFTER (april 2009)

spinach, peas and seeds

While tomatoes, beets, marigolds, lettuce, cucumber and morning glories were sprouting under lights this month, the peas and spinach that I had direct sewed with my mom's help in March were emerging.

April 23rd

Peas took nearly two weeks to show any signs of life, but by early April they were starting to look like they'd make it. Only 1/3 of the seeds I sewed germinated--next time I will try to inoculate them beforehand. Around April 10th I sewed a few more in the bare patches.

April 6th.

partially constructed bamboo lattice, April 6th.

April 19th

April 19th

The Spinach seedlings emerged in step with the peas, and by April 19 they, too, were taking off.

Peonies transplants are happy

With the house I inherited two stunning peony plants that someone must have planted long ago. After I cleared out all the trees and sumac and other weeds out of the overgrown back beds in the spring of 2007, several hidden treasures emerged the following spring including these, which bloomed profusely even though they were partially buried under a stone wall (photo from May 31 2008):

To make way for the rest of my vegetable bed that I planned for this season, last fall I moved this peony to the front where it would get more sun and divided its neighbor--moving half to the upper bed where it might get a little less sun but hopefully will still bloom--and half to the front. I've read that it may take a few years after moving for them to bloom again, but today I spotted three little buds on the large one. It is really shooting up this month:

April 10th.

April 16th.

Today.

The smaller one I divided shows no signs of budding but is growing well:

Early tulips blooming

Seems the voles didn't eat all the front tulips after all. I'm amazed that the little war I waged with peanut butter and mouse traps actually worked. By April 19, the Salmon and Pink Impressions in the front were all blooming and the yellow climbing roses were leafing out behind them.

Daffodils too...



And today...

Roses emerging

All 5 ramblers and three yellow climbers made it through the winter ok. I lost one of the tallest canes from the rose on the bay window to canker as well as a few tips but most looked healthy and were budding up by the end of March. For some reason most of the leaves were still clinging on to the yellow climbers so I stripped them off in March to prevent the new shoots from contracting anything they are harboring. The Nantucket rose on the front west corner and the one in the protected space between the bay window and the stoop were fully leafed out and growing by April 2. The rest were budding.

Early Spring

Well, winter finally seems to be in actual retreat. The chindoxia was blooming on April 2. The front tulips that I planted last fall survived several freezes in March and a late snowfall and were up 3 or 4 inches at the beginning of the month. The snow-in-the-summer seems to have never gone dormant all winter and is taking over the west side of the front wall. The hydrangea are starting to emerge, although the front three only from the base. Perhaps they needed some protection this winter?

history-March 2009

It was evident that spring was coming early this year by John's birthday in the first days of March. The weather broke from the 30s and 40s to a balmy 60 on that weekend and we were able to actually sit and eat outside on the patio when his family came over the celebrate. Wes and Anna built a fairy house on the table out of pine cones and sticks and several of the yellow crocuses that had just opened up that week.



My mom stopped in on her way back from a trip to Maryland on March 14 and helped me dig a new bed for spring greens. We amended it with two wheelbarrows of compost and plugged the dug up grass into the area that the tomatoes had overgrown and killed last fall. I also dug under the patch of winter rye that I planted at the end of last October and let it decompose--readying the bed for the beets and cucumbers I'll plant in it this year. In the potting room under lights I started a tray of tomatoes--brandywine, striped german and an F-1 cherry hybrid early this month along with a tray of several different kinds of beets--forono, yellow tall, red early.
On a trip to Nantucket to surprise Jareb on his 30th, we took a quick walk on the cliff and I checked in on my inspiration roses.


This row of boxwoods and climbing roses on the front of a Siasconset reminded me of England--although a bit more modern and crisp.

Jareb, Vika and baby Fiona at Sanford Farm.

Around Ritik's birthday toward the end of the month he and John and I flew out to San Francisco to surprise our ex-Brooklyn crowd. It snowed the day we left home, but in the Bay area the jasmine was blooming and the weather was so warm that people were in bathing suits in Dolores Park. The end of winter was always the greenest time out there. I was struck by some grass growing on a boulder under the Golden Gate bridge.