Spring 2016

…or The Year I Learned to Not Give Up on Stuff.

I really love spring-I’ve been  building raised beds, starting seeds inside and inspecting everything I’ve planted for signs that they’ll come back this year.

I’ve built seven boxes with plans for one more this year.  I’ve marked what I’m going to plant where with those clothespins and now I’m thinking I’m going to want more room next year!

I started radishes and beets a couple of weeks ago and had to thin my radishes this week.  I was sad about all the seedlings I was gong to be throwing away so I transplanted most of them.  Google told me that this may or may not work but that it was work a try.  So far most of them are still looking good and within a couple of weeks I should have some purple radishes and watermelon radishes!

Inside I’ve already started almost everything else but I’m most excited about the spaghetti squash and lemon cucumbers!   I can’t plant outside until mid-May so the herbs in the back will probably go into some bigger pots and the bigger plants will get separated and put into their own cups.  I’m hoping that having them started so early will get me food faster!

(side note, I ordered all of my seeds this year from Seeds Now and I’m so impressed!  Everything I planted sprouted and I love their little 99¢ sample packs!)

In the front yard I have a lilac that is going to bloom this year!  The one on the other side of the gate didn’t make it so I’ll be buying another bigger bush this year.

For weeks now I’ve gone outside and stressed about things not growing.  Everyday I told my mom that I didn’t think the Aspen tree I planted last year lived because it has looked like a stick in the ground for months:

All the other Aspens in my neighborhood have “fluffed out” and mine has done nothing.

Except,

Today, one little fluff!  (#1, yes that’s still snow on the mountain in the background and #2 the bulges on the branches are fine and apparently common on Aspens.)

The second plants that I thought for sure were dead were the clematises by my front door.  I just knew that when I dug them up a month ago I had killed them.

But,

the big one is growing strong

and the small one might just make it!

Whew!

In my final lesson on not giving up and giving things time to grow: my peonies!

I cut them back in the fall and covered them with some mulch for the winter and didn’t pay them any more mind until about a month ago.

I looked and looked for weeks and thought I had killed them and would need to buy more this year.  But then today when I was watering I saw that I was wrong!

I don’t want to be overly confident, but so far the only plant I’ve lost has been a lilac (which was tiny, tiny) so I’m feeling like this will be the best summer yet in my yard!

-A