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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Mulch Ado About Some Things

Our apologies to the Bard for rephrasing the title of his comedy which features Beatrice as one of the characters, although she is paired with Benedick — not Grenville.

Here at The Frog & PenguiNN, Beatrice and Grenville (that’s US) have (hard to believe) had less time for posting, compared to some weeks days. We figured it was time for garden updates.

WHY?
Three words: Mulching, Planting,Weeding — repeat often.

This was my mulching project last week. Grenville trimmed branches from the Leland Cypress trees (upper left) and the clippings were cut up bottom left & center) and spread into a wildflower gardens (lower right).mulch collage0611Grenville planted all the veggies and the gardens are doing well. But, the VA eastern shore has a serious lack of rainfall; Grenville has been out watering daily in the early a.m. If any fellow bloggers can send a few cups LOTS of rain, it would be much appreciated.

And, for anyone interested, Grenville will be offering classes in gardening. His curriculum includes weed pulling, mulching, grass cutting, weeding, and summer harvesting.

GreatPumpkinThe veggies have been planted in alpha order (NOT really): beans, beets, butternut squash, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, onions, peppers, scallions, spinach, tomatoes, yellow squash,  zucchini. Later, Grenville’s putting in the Great Pumpkin Patch.

Here’s lettuce and corn. Grenville used some leftover seeds to see if any would take; looks we might have some corn-on-the cob by July.

lettuce2garden view 2

Scallions are ready to pick; the beans, peppers and zucchini aren’t ready to produce anything yet.

DSCF2941onion head

beanspepper

zucchini

Several tomato plants are sporting yellow flowers.

garden view 1tomato flower

The wildflower gardens are starting to bloom as seen in the collage below. This collage is an overview of 3 gardens in the backyard and a day lily garden (lower right) in the front yard.

WF gardens collage0607The backyard wildflower meadow that Grenville put in this spring is treating us to new blooms daily — before and current photos, more to come as the flowers emerge.

meadow0513 (2)

5th wildflower meadow (3)

 

Best news is that plants are coming UP and local gas prices are going DOWN. Here’s the current price at most area stations . . .

gas price0607 (1)Have gas prices lowered in your area too ?

13 comments:

john bain said...

You two are working far too hard. Makes me feel quite inadequate.
Gas prices, we call it petrol are outrageous here in the UK. Every journey has to be thought about carefully. Doesn't help if like me you are trying to live frugally and simply. Still, walking keeps me fit and Sadie the German Shepherd isn't complaining.

Anvilcloud said...

Kudos. I can barely maintain one garden these days.

We've had lots of rain, and the rivers re running high. But we seem to be shifting toward the dry, hot summer that has been predicted.

MadSnapper said...

well i can see from all these marvelous photos that you HAVE been really busy. that is a lot of work i am seeing here. beautiful plants. yes our gas is down to 3.57, hope it drops again, i am about to need some.

Anonymous said...

Your garden looks great! i was supposed to start my vegetable garden this weekend but the weather and I can´t agree on what is the best temperature for digging :-)

I don´t know what has happened to our petrol prices yet, i´m filling my car tomorrow again.

Have a great day!
Christer.

Scott Law said...

I looks like your gardens will be rewarding you plenty. It's a sad thing when we're happy gas has gone down to 3.59, but we are.

Linda Myers said...

I love the pics of your garden. Here in the Pacific Northwest the rainy season has finally tapered off. We'd started most of our veggies in our little greenhouse and now my husband Art is planting. I love how it feels to be out there working!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Connie said...

In spite of needing rain, your garden looks like it is doing quite well! I can see why it would keep you so busy! :-)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Thanks All for the comments and feedback. No takers on the free wedding lessons it seems.

John, yes some days like this week when the temps are climbing, we do wonder about working so hard, but then when the veggies come in we know WHY.

AC, counting wildflowers and veggie gardens we are up to at least 7 and then there's also the orchard - all on 3/4 of an acre.

Sandra, your place is busy too from the veggie and flower posts you've done. A couple of stattions here have posted $3.57/gal prices too.

Thanks, Scott not only will the veggies taste good, but provide great photo ops and they are not fussy models (usually).

Christer, we will be looking forward to seeing your garden once it's set up and growing. I know your gas prices will still be higher than ours (sadly).

Welcome Linda, I hope you enjoyed your visit to our blog. Grenville also has a greenhouse and has started most of the veggies in pots there. Hope your garden does well...we sure could have used some of your rains. COme back again anytime and I will do the same.

Hi Daisy, Grenville waters the garden daily which is why it's looking good despite rain.

Elaine said...

Your garden is looking good! I can relate to having less time for posting. I've been working in the yard, plus being busy with other things too. I always seem to be a bit behind on what I should have done at any given point in time. But eventually all the important stuff does get done. If it doesn't get done it couldn't have been that important.

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

Lovely garden photos! It is so worth the work! blessings, Kathleen

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Elaine, somehow the works gets done and the important stuff now are the gardens, especially the veggie one. Lots of weeding and watering cause there's not been any rainfall. Blogging tends to get pushed aside a bit, even though we do enjoy it...can't you tell?

Yes, Kathleen, the work is so worth it cause this week we're enjoying lettuce and spinach from the garden...lots of salads!

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

Oh the aching back but oh so lovely a garden you all have there. I bet there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the fruits of your labor. Thank you for the tour, God sure blessed you with a lovely spot of earth.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Thanks Tammy for your kind comments. Glad you enjoyed the tour. We do feel blessed even with sore backs.