Ice-storm

Just in case Mother Nature thought she didn't do enough damage this spring, she decided to wallop us with some more nastiness. Like ice-storm and hard freeze to top it off.  That's my cherry tree covered in icicles.  Too early to see how much damage it will do.

And woke up to go to work shivering, my car dashboard showed that it was below 20 degree as I was driving. Brrr.

Looks like my orchard doesn't have a chance of producing this year. With peach and nectarine full in bloom this is a write-off, but I hope that later-blooming trees like persimmon will make it. Not sure if apples will make it this year. And hope blueberries won't get too much damage.

Bye-Bye Gazebo

One  night, a freakishly strong windstorm and all my plans are down the drain. Yes, that's how fast things can change on you and in a blink of an eye you wonder why you even bothered and spend all that money and energy and what's the point of doing it all...

Ok I confess, I'm very depressed right now.  Two days ago I was crawling around planting some flowers while watching my hubby finishing up some stone work and enjoying warm 72 degree weather. Then Mother Nature showed her fury and overnight we dipped into 20s as the polar vortex manage to reach  us with the speed of a racing car. And no I'm not exaggerating. Honestly I'm surprised there wasn't more damage in the area - just few powerlines and broken branches, garbage cans flew away, destroyed fencing etc. And in my back yard I lost my Gazebo. The same one that took us nearly a year to find and i loved it so much as it was so pretty with intricate leaf-work :(

This is what we woke up to this weekend during that storm and it took a while to recognize damage. It's hard to see as I took a shot from upstairs balcony (and yes it was snowing too) - you can see the gazebo flew a good distance and crash landed on the fallen oak.

So there we have it - total loss. Or as my hubby said he'll try to salvage pieces and maybe build something out of them like an entry way to the patio or something.. but for now we have to find a new one to buy. Just like that over $1100 down the drain. So my plans to have a first BBQ is also gone. Maybe it's for the better but I'm yet to see that silver lining. For now I see damage. And snow. Did I mention that my peach, nectarine and cherry in bloom? The extend of storm damage and effect on fruit trees is yet to be assessed and will see it later. Now I'll crawl back to bed and pretend world doesn't exist for few more hours.

First Daffodils

Winter is being stubborn and not leaving that easily, but spring is slowly moving along and showing up in more open flowers. First daffodils have opened up already and forsythia is in full bloom.

First colors peaking through from hyacinths even if they are a bit lost in grass, more will bloom soon.

Also first hellebore opened up - Golden Lotus variety, and my pink lemon is starting to bloom.

Slowly but surely everything is waking up.

Springfest Flower Show

This weekend was fluries and temperatures dipped into low 20s once again, but I spent a weekend surrounded by flowers - representing Master Gardeners of Sussex in NJ Springfest Flower and Garden show. It was awesome! Ok, so my role wasn't that important but the show itself was great. Flowers and wonderful landscaping, lectures and so many people! Loved it. Even people were wearing "flowers" which you'll see below. So here are some shots that I got and you can see more here: http://www.springfestgardenshow.org/gallery/

All of this just made me even more impatient to plant out my gardens. Of course I have to be patient and wait for winter to go away and temps to go above 30 before even venturing outside.

Gardening Journey

Can you believe how fast time flies these days? Just as you think you did something "just the other day" turns into years. Case in point - looking back on progress of my gardens.  4 years ago on the same day (St. Patrick) I was totally exhausted from shoveling loads of dirt into the newly build beds that my hubby put together for me after I nagged him that I wanted something more useful than a brown lawn on the front of the house. Or more precisely, I really wanted more space to grow something as our original 5 beds on the side of the house was just not enough. But I guess I should step even further back in time to see bigger picture. Growing up in Ukraine we all gardened - that's how you got your food. You either grow it or foraged for it. And after moving to US I've missed that part of my life. Oh of course I had plants on balconies and patios but it was never the same. So the moment we moved into our home 6 yrs ago, Peter had build be a nice little playground on the side of the house. It was only one side that had more or less sunny location as the back side was filled with very old trees and to grow anything productively you need at least partial sunlight.

He had to work around the protruding fireplace on the side so decided to get creative and build beds in semi-circle design. As we quickly realized that wild life would be an issue given all the deer and groundhogs we saw on the back yard we had to fence it it. And put two "twigs" - cherry trees with the hopes that it will be nice and pretty eventually. And they've been growing into very pretty and productive darlings over the past few years.

 

It even looks pretty in spring, but of course by the end of summer everything gets overgrown with  grapes sprawling on the fence and pole beans climbing up the supports and sunflowers towering over everything. Still pretty in my view but I'm biased of course :)

 

And as I said - 5 beds was simply not enough. So my very patient and loving hubby set out to create a new garden. Since back yard was out of question, I finally convinced him to use front lawn. Not everyone would go for this choice, but we had a line of trees separating us from main road and not very visible from sides to the neighbor so we collaborated on the design and he build it. One of the deciding factors was that trees were on the northern side of the lawn and it got a lot of sunlight from east south and some on the west side. It is partially shaded on west, but it worked to our advantage as the garden got shielded at the hottest time of the day but got the beneficial sunlight in morning and early afternoon.  This was crucial for the vegetable garden. And for the shaded part on the left side I wanted to use shade-loving greens.

It was no easy task by any means. We started in first week of March, and as indicated above by St. Patty I was shoveling. Oy. We worked non stop for several weeks, and as soon as the beds were in place and soil was in and amended with peat and perlite to make it lighter (soil was very heavy clay) I started planting. Potatoes were first.

And we kept building around it. The borders were next, then he made an Arbor for the entry. Yup, by hand all by himself. Did I mention how much I love my hubby?

 And we kept shoveling more dirt and planting more and more to make it pretty and tried to keep up with the spring planting season. It was definitely a race as I was determined to have it up and running.

 After the structures were in place and basic seeds were in soil I tried to make it "pretty". A lot of work went into it. But I also wanted to make it functional for a long term so we added grapevines to grow by the fence so we'd have our own grapes for next 30+ yrs.

 That summer it flourished! Outside the garden we paired a lot of flowers like peonies, daffodils, lavender and mixed with herbs like thyme and oregano and some annual flowers to attract pollinator bees and beneficial insects.  And of course by mid-summer it's a green maze! But I love it.

But the journey continues and I'm looking forward to cleaning up both gardens and planting them up in next few weeks and see how they'll do this year. Because this year I'll be traveling a lot more than usual I'm restricting myself on what I'll be planting and sticking to basics.  And of course still working on building out back yard patio, but update on that will be in another post. One step at the time. For now I'm just happy to move along and share all ups and downs with you :)

Spring is in the air...

Spring is slowly rolling into our area - very slowly, and at times it feels like a roller coaster with temperatures. Last week for two days it was 70+, and then down to 22 again. Nuts!  So not much of updates to really give as I'm trying to tie up some lose ends on many fronts, but here are few of them.

First is of course the seedling trays are in place and waiting, and to expand that front we got a new coldframe  

 and a new seedling "greenhouse" for the deck. It's not sturdy and not heated, but it's a walk-in and will be enough to house the cold-tolerant plants like broccoli etc. You can see how my hubby was finishing up the set up in picture.

Around the house first spring flowers are slowly trying to open up, and peaking through the ground.

Crocuses are always first to showcase their beauty, but daffodils, hyacints and tulips are right behind them growing fast.

Once they're all go into bloom my front garden will be very pretty. I also planted a lot of new bulbs around the back patio and new ponds so can't wait to see what made it through the winter.
And at home more flowers are in bloom - my orchids love this time of the year and blooms are gorgeous. My orchids at works also full in bloom and i'm loving every moment of it.

Mid-February staycation

We are half way through the cold season, or at least in my book that mark it as "plant now" after the Valentine day is over. I'm actually running behind the schedule on planting this year but it's for a good reason - didn't want my seedlings to die while I was away from home.  My hubby will water the big plants but seedlings require a lot more care than he'd like to be saddled with :)

Speaking of "big plants", the greenery in my home decided to wake up early this year. I normally overwinter few plants in the Addition livingroom where they are kept at about 55 degrees until spring and then I set them out in spring. But because my sister was visiting for 3 weeks she had that place set on high 70 and that triggered early "wake up" call for plants. I guess it's ok, they did get few weeks to rest.  Figs went into overdrive on new foliage and even started setting fruit.

My citrus went to bloom as well, but they always bloom in January so no surprise there. 

What was surprising is that my new grapevine that I'm keeping in a pot went into over-drive. I just hope that it will be ok because I'm not expecting to set this one out until mid-may at least.  Oh well, what's done is done and I just have to roll with it. Honestly I can't wait for spring to hurry up  and get here as I want to move them all outside and clean the space. And to get rid of all the aphids that have been attacking my poor plants. I don't like to spray anything inside the house so have to give them a bath instead, but would be nice to put them outside and let nature help with ladybugs and ants.

In the meantime, I'm sorting through my seeds and going to pick up seedling starter mix and get going with planting!