Thursday, March 4, 2010

Gathering The Sense of Spring

Its been cold still here in North Carolina, and several of you southerners have noticed the recent late March snow we got as far south as Georgia the night before last. I do not recall the last time we ever had snow in March here!? With that thought, I was starting to lose hope in spring. Even though, like clockwork, I've started some planting inside AND out.

In the last couple of weeks I've put potatoes out in the garden (in their buckets) and popped some peas in the ground 3 days ago. I bought my very first rose, a climber called Don Juan. It went in the ground 2 weeks ago. Its supposed to be an heirloom variety, with great disease resistance in the south and a FABULOUS scent all summer. If I don't kill it, that will be a miracle enough for me. :)

This morning was sunny with little wind (its windy now) so I went to walk around and take notes of the first signs of spring. (And share the new D'anjou Pear tree my husband planted for me today.) Of course after taking some photos I found a ton of chores needing to be done. It looked like a good time to prune my peach tree, and everyone got a good spray of some Neem Oil mix for insect and disease control. I've heard a lot of good things about Neem Oil... this year I will let you know what I think.

Now for the best part, the pictures!!!!

New Blueberry/raspberry bed,  last year our berries died so we're trying again.

Hubby has started an extention of the coop's run, the chickens will be very please I think.
This raised bed is full of the Yellow Onions, and Elephant Garlic I planted in October.

 
Zoe standing and showing the extension of the front planting bed with Japanese Maple.


Our Orchard Trees: 2 Johnathon Apple, 2 Lode Apple, 1 Peach and 1 New Pear Tree


Buds on my Peach Tree.


My New D' Anjou Pear
 

My Don Juan Rose Climber has come to life!



Random tiny purple flowers have popped up in between the orchard trees.

Potato Buckets: I use 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled, then I layer dirt and straw inside. As the potatoes grow I pile more layers of dirt and straw.

New Strawberry Growth

Several of my Tulips are popping up in beds all over the yard!!!
 

 



5 comments:

  1. You are about 2 weeks behind us here in sonoma county ca with your spring growth. You are going to save so much money on produce when all those fruit trees start to bare fruit. It all looks so organized.

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  2. Its very exciting to see all this new growth. It is happening when it always happens, but with all the late snow we've gotten and the deep cold we've had that we are not used to, it seemed almost hopeless for anything to thrive. Mother nature has her ways though!

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  3. Oh yes, we did notice that snow in Georgia!

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  4. Goodness, Shannon, it all looks fabulous. I am more than a little jealous! Why do you choose to ue the buckets for the potatoes instead of just mounding rows?

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  5. Hi Donna, we chose the buckets for a few reasons. One being I have limited garden space and I can stick these right in a corner. Secondly, I'm worried about drainage. Heavy rains can cause a lot of damage to potatoes if you have poor drainage, like we do with clay soil. Lastly, when harvesting, I just dump the whole bucket into a wheel barrow and it cuts my digging for potato time into a quick minute! And I don't miss any. Not to mention how cheap those buckets are $5 at home depot in the paint aisle. These I got at an auction filled with random gardening stuff for $2.50 (and that included 3 more buckets with a bird house, bird feeder, shovels, towels, gift bags ect.). I love estate auctions! :)

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