We're finally having an actual Spring!

Not in the previous four years that I've been back in Missouri have we had a proper spring.  We've had a few days each year at what's normally considered springtime, but this year, we're actually having lovely spring weather all of April to date.  And it's absolutely marvelous.

The 'Improved Maestro' peas I planted on the 2nd are coming up nicely.  Germination was very good - for peas.  Admittedly, I plant quite densely.  I like this variety because it produces nice, sweet peas in pods averaging 5 to 8 peas each, and they don't have to be staked.  They're not climbers; they're bushes.  Picking means you're standing on your head, but raised beds would take care of that.  I'll gladly stoop to avoid having to make a fence for them.  I'd crawl to avoid that.

This year instead of onion sets (baby bulbs) that I have always planted before, I thought I'd try seeds just to see how that goes.  I was getting a little concerned that they weren't coming up, as I planted them on the 6th of April.  But two days ago, on the 22nd, they started sprouting.  I don't have a picture, because they're still hard to see, and just look like grass weeds.   And you're thinking, am I sure they're NOT?  Yes.  Unless the grass weeds have learned to grow in nice rows.

I made a note to myself to plant the arugula two weeks after the lettuce, but I forgot anyway, and I planted them in a bed alternating with beets and carrots.  The arugula, of course, came up right away and is ahead of the other two, which are visible if you're looking very closely.  For now, it looks like I have a very spotty stand of something.

The lettuce bed is starting to fill out.  I planted saved seed from what I labeled as an arrowhead leaf (but they don't look like that's what they are)  along with a Red Wing Mix from Baker Creek Seeds, and celtuce, which Baker Creek says was introduced from China in the 1840s, and is grown for its "giant, crunchy stems that are tasty raw or cooked."  I'd never heard of it before last year, and I'm eager to taste the stems.  The leaves at this stage are mild and almost sweet.  Very nice.

Bunnies ate most of the celtuce that I put out as transplants, so maybe the ones I direct seeded will  have a better chance at surviving amongst the other lettuces.  I also transplanted some small celery plants I started way back in January (they grow ever so slowly), and they seem to be especially tempting for the bunnies. 

I recently potted up the tomatoes to 4" pots from the six-packs they were growing in (on the right in the picture below) and will be planting them out in a week or so - whenever the roots fill out the new pots.

Top row: 'Missouri Pink Love Apple' and 'Sun Gold' tomatoes

Bottom row:  (L) 'Savor' and 'Petit Gris de Rennes' melons; (R) Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)

Same goes for the melons (bottom left in the picture above).   I tried a new variety (for me anyway) last year from Baker Creek: a French Charentais melon called 'Savor', and it was so good, I ordered itseeds again this year, plus another one called 'Petit Gris de Rennes' just in case it's possibly even better.  I doubt it, but I'd hate to say I hadn't tried to find out.  'Savor' was a small melon with firm, super sweet flesh.  The vines didn't produce a lot of fruit, so I'm planting several more this year, sacrificing the space I used for zucchini in previous years.  I set them out the end of April last year and began harvesting a month later.  I can't wait.

The grapevine finally opened a leaf bud!  It held out as long as it could.  

'Golden Muscat'

The raspberries I planted last year didn't flower or fruit.  There are three different varieties.  I hope at least one of them will feel like producing fruit this year.  A couple of days ago I bought two thornless blackberry plants, variety 'Navaho'  (yes, with an "h"), and situated them near the raspberries (in the wildflower garden).  I'm excited to start getting some berries.  They won't make it as far as the house if they do set fruit.  I won't need to take a basket out. 

'Navaho' blackberry

The rhubarb is growing large.  I haven't harvested any yet, although I could, but I did purchase two new plants - 'Canada Red' variety, which I could see actually has red stems.  Hopefully they stay that way.  Three years ago, I went online looking for seed to the reddest variety possible.  I got three from a place that only has rhubarb - all kinds.  I chose two varieties for the fact that they're supposed to be spectacularly red: 'Holstein' and 'Cherry Red', and one: 'Victoria' that I'd seen as small plants in nurseries.  They were also supposed to be red. I grew several plants of each.   All Victoria were green through and through, And while some of the other two varieties are red at the base, they're mostly green, too.  

Rhubarb

You have to remove the flower heads on rhubarb as soon as you see them so the plant will put its energy into leaf stems, since that's what you harvest.  But they're so pretty when they first pop open.

Since I have so many plants, and don't care if I don't get more green stems, I thought I'd leave one go to see what becomes of the flowers.   They're just as disappointing as the green stems.

Fortunately, the leaves are always nice, so they make a pretty garden.

The tulips and jonquils are fading.  They sure were a beautiful early spring sight.  So now I want to do two more plots, and - this will not surprise anyone who's been paying attention - I already have chosen all the plants I want to use.  I'll be getting them from Tulips.com again, as these were a great success.

The deer ate the large 'Orange Emperor' tulips after about three days, though. 

By the way, that little windmill wasn't made to withstand 30 mph winds.  I had to have it welded back together for the second time.  It spun its top off.  

'Grande Amore' rose has the most incredible new foliage.  It will eventually turn all green except for the new tips, but right now it's brilliant.

Alas, the deer have also been "pruning" my roses.  I forgot they did that, so I didn't get them sprayed in time.  In the past, I've used Ortho Deer B Gone, which seems to work well - but it did burn tender magnolia blossoms last year.  I was careful not to spray the blooms themselves this year.  And they were beautiful.

Magnolia 'Jane'

Some day, I'm going to get one of those yellow-flowered magnolias.  I saw one a few days ago that was just gorgeous, although it did look to have some limb damage.  I don't know which named variety it is. 

In the meantime, check out the old lilac bush we do have on the property:

It doesn't bloom long, but it's unbeatable while it lasts.  And nothing smells better.

 

I hope you're enjoying this spring as much as I am.  

P.S.  I saw the first hummingbird of the year yesterday.  If you're in mid-Missouri, put out your feeders.

Tulip tangent

While waiting for seeds to germinate and seedlings to grow, I'm going to drop in a quick tulip post.  I'll be able to transplant more vegetables from the greenhouse to the garden in a couple of days, but right now there's nothing to do but enjoy the tulips and daffodils.  The last few days brought another cold snap, but nothing was damaged, and I won't complain about having to move trays from the greenhouse into the cellar at night, because people in the states east and north of us got blizzards and up to two feet of snow!

The perennial oregano and chives are off and running.

The rhubarb is putting out flower buds.  Those are supposed to be removed if  you want more foliage - and thus stems - and you do.  But I have so many plants that I'm going to let this one have its flowers to see what becomes of them.  They're quite pretty in this stage.

Meanwhile, the seedlings in the greenhouse are looking very healthy.  Particularly the tomatoes.

If you're thinking most of those don't look like tomatoes, it's because they're 'Missouri Pink Love Apple', a potato-leaf variety.

In the last post, I added this picture of the 'Orange Emperor' tulips I potted up last fall, saying it wouldn't be long until they opened.

Indeed, that afternoon:

In this year's tulip bed (I have two more planned for 2020 and 2021),  which I planted last fall, these darling two-toned grape hyacinths (Muscari latifolium) have been blooming for just about two weeks.

The 'Orange Emperor' tulip was the first to blossom of the tulips, with the parrot varities 'Princess Irene' and 'Rococo' close behind.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the parrot tulips.  They were nice looking in the pictures at Tulips.com, but they're so much prettier in actuality, and a joy to watch develop.  (Incidentally, I added a link to Tulips.com in the right sidebar "Where I Buy" because I'm very pleased with the quality of their bulbs - all of this bed were ordered from them.)

The parrot buds remind me of the alien plant Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors".

Then they blossom into gorgeous flowers.  

'Princess Irene'

'Princess Irene' and 'Rococo'

Foreground: 'Princess Irene'

Background: 'Thalia' and 'Hawera' (right)

'Rococo'

The insides are rich, satiny, solid colored with a contrasting center and showy pistils and stamens.

'Rococo'

The two Narcissus I planted in the tulip bed are a sweet-smelling white mid-height plant called 'Thalia', and a small dainty yellow one called 'Hawera'.

I guess it's probably more appropriate to call these bulb beds, but I started out thinking of them as tulip beds, and that's stuck.  When I'm finished, there'll actually be more Narcissus than tulips.

'Princess Irene',  'Hawera', 'Thalia', 'Rococo', 'Orange Emperor' and Muscari

It's a beautiful time of the year.  Trees' leaves are opening, and the forsythia and magnolias are loaded with blooms.  The best year since I've been back (five years) for flowering trees and shrubs.  And the lilacs - possibly my favorite - are just about to open up.

Cheers!

Magnolia 'Jane'

Forsythia

At last, some sunny days!

I've been able to spend 6 to 8 hours a day getting the garden in shape and planting, as the last few days have been sunny and gorgeous.  Make hay while the sun shines, they say.

The whole shebang: left: in progress perennial bed; top: vegetable garden; 

bottom left: rose bed; bottom right: cut flower bed. I need espalier fruit trees on that shed wall!

The seedlings in my portable greenhouse are coming along.  Those that have to wait until consistently warm days and nights before being planted are looking good.

This year I only planted one variety of slicing tomato:  'Missouri Pink Love Apple'.  For all the other varieties and colors I've tested, this is the best one for flavor and quality, so I've quit trying others.  It's classified as a pink, but it's actually red - just not as deep red as the so-called red tomatoes.  

I started a couple of varieties of French melons, because one I tried last year was so delicious: 'Savor', and one is a new one for me: 'Petit Gris' - just to see how it compares.  

I don't know why some of the melon seedlings are so chlorotic looking.  They should come out of it okay.  I can only think that maybe I germinated them in soilless seedling mix.  Most of the time I fill the packs about halfway with potting mix and then top them with seedling mix, but I remember filling some completely with seedling mix before I caught myself, and maybe those were them.

I keep planting prairie gentian (lisianthus) flowers although they can be difficult in the germination process.  In the picture below, the left are seedlings from saved seed which I assumed might not germinate well and was very wrong.  On the right are some I purchased.  The seed is so tiny that the nursery "pelletted" them (coated in a process that makes each seed more easily handled, but the germination rates are unreliable), so I ordered the colors I want and  will hope for some blossoms from which I can collect seed.

The other issue with them is they take forever to get to a size they can be planted out.  I sowed these at the end of January and beginning of February, and this is all the further they've gotten.  Those on the left are going to be difficult to separate for transplanting, and I'll no doubt lose some.  It's amazing that the seed is much smaller than grains of salt, but eventually the flowers grow to be 8 - 10 inches tall.  And, yes, they're worth it.

Some of the seedlings I've already transplanted into the garden.  Never having grown celtuce before, I didn't know whether I need to start indoor plants, so I did, and they didn't appreciate it.  I transplanted what managed to pull through and sowed seed directly in the bed around them.  They've yet to come up.  The leaves are actually a very nice taste and texture, so if I have good luck with it, I'll be planting it again in future years.  It's a Chinese lettuce that grows a long stalk that's also supposed to be good eating.  We'll see.

Celtuce

There's a rabbit in the neighborhood that likes it as well.

Which brings me to the cabbage.

I had such a time with cabbage loopers in the spring and cross-striped cabbageworms in the fall, that I decided not to plant cabbage.  Then when I was starting seeds, I forgot that decision, and when I found I had some seed left from last year of 'Verona' and 'Kalibos' varieties, I sowed them on January 11.  Germination was very poor on both varieties, so I took what remaining seed I had and soaked it in paper towels to see if it would germinate.  After I inadvertently let them dry out and resoaked them, a few germinated, so I put them in soil.  When they got big enough, and I set up the portable greenhouse, March 8, I started putting them out there during the days and bringing them indoors at night.  

After all that trouble, I had eleven little plants that I put in the ground on April 2.

On April 4, the rabbit found them.

Kindly, Mr. (or Ms.) Rabbit left the growing tip on most of them, and they're coming back.  So now I'll have another year of cabbage worm control to deal with.  Unless Rabbit comes back for the new growth.

A couple of years ago, my grandaughter helped me hack out some old yew stumps from around their house, and I brought them out to the farm to use for firewood.  Maybe, some day.  Yesterday, I repurposed them to support an old wooden wagon wheel.  "Planting" them was infintely easier than hacking and sawing and digging them out of a bed that had been mulched with large gravel for years so that the gravel was compacted into the soil over a foot deep.

This solved two issues:  what to use for a cucumber trellis since I put in permanent grape vines and climbing roses on the arbor that supported the cucumbers last year, and how to incorporate that wheel I've had my eye on for three years into the garden.

I've been watching the two muscat grapevines I planted, every day since they went into the ground, looking for signs of life.  As a watched pot never boils, a grapevine never leafs out.  The buds are swollen large, though, so surely it's not long now.  

Some of my first seedlings have been flowers that I'm growing for my new perennial bed.  I planted nearly 200!  Yarrow, dianthus and globe amaranths (which are not perennials, but I liked the orange ones so much from last year that I bought seed for all colors this year and didn't have enough room in the cut flower garden to plant them all).

I laid them out where I wanted to plant them, and since I hadn't amended the soil with bonemeal, I sprinkled it directly on them before putting them in the ground.  If it helps at all, it was a lot easier than working it into the soil.

 

At the other end of the perennial bed, I prepared space for oriental poppies that I'll sow in late summer.  The perennial bed is the third I've created by digging up years-old perennial wildflowers.  (Don't worry, there's a whole yard of them - being overgrown with grass.)  It's not a fun chore.

The roses are leafing out, so I cut back all their dead wood, which after the harsh winter was most of it.  They're nearly lost in the mulch now, but I have no doubt they'll grow up nicely.

The Emperor Orange tulips I potted up last fall are just about ready to open.   I think they're lovely right now.