My name is Mud.

Just when I think it MIGHT dry up a little... more rain today.  We still went out and bought more dirt and decided to take a trip to a (sort of) nearby greenhouse.  It's one of my favorite places for it's size and selection, Wyattville Garden Center (I think is the name of it).

I mostly bought herbs.  I have dedicated a small portion of the newest raised bed for herbs.  I have dill, parsley, basil, lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme.  I also will be planting asparagus at the other end of the same bed. 

My forget-me-nots are just peeking out.  This one is blue, but I'm hoping a few will turn out pink.

White mystery flower.  It smells great, I'm just not sure what it is...

Ferns are starting to unroll.  Fiddleheads!!

Bleeding hearts.  I think I was taken, and that the white bleeding heart I purchased last year was not a perennial as advertised... *grumble*  Not a sign of it peeking up anywhere, while the pink one is very happy.

Tomorrow I'm running a 5k!  Hopefully will have a bit of time when I get back to put a few more stepping stones in.

Still more gardening!

No, I'm not tired of gardening.  I think I'll have the tomatoes and broccoli and other seedlings hardened off enough to put in to the beds next week.  Today I got another raised bed in.  And ran out of dirt when it was halfway full.

Blast!

So I'll be heading over to home depot to get a few (cheap) bags of topsoil tomorrow... because I think a few bags will do it, and I'm not going to get another truck pulling in here... I do need to get mulch in a couple weeks though...

So now I have many raised beds.

Seven.  One is dedicated to perennials for propagation of more flowers to move around to different places, and one is dedicated to garlic.  One will be mostly broccoli, and one to two will be for tomatoes.  One is already full of lettuce, so I think I'm booked up with most of the seedlings I have.  I'm going to put a few more stepping stones in tomorrow, and really try to get the dirt in that last bed evened out.

With all the rain we've had in the past week, and the sun finally peeking out the last two days, things are greeny up like crazy.  Most of the trees are blooming and leafing out (I'm so so so glad I do not have any seasonal allergies), and I think I'm going to go for a trail run tonight to catch how all the little spring blooms are doing.  It should be about time for trillium, maybe sassafras, maybe wood anemones... we'll see!

Hosta are really opening up.

My roses are doing really well.  One was a bit sluggish on the output, and i'm thinking of trimming it up a bit, since it's not budding out as much as the other two.

Pretty and smell sooo nice.

Saw this perennial and scooped it up.  I dislike buying plants at the retail giants as a general rule, but when I see something I really like, I'll grab it.  I hope this one does well and comes back next year.  It's called Lithodora(Grace Ward).  Not sure we're I'm going to put it in, but I'll figure out a spot.

Now for a nap before my run!

Hauling Dirt.

So yesterday, Martin's Mulch delivered 3 yards of dirt.

 Eli was thrilled.  3 yards is about... six small pick-up trucks full of dirt.  A big dump truck dropped it off... I figure I probably saved money having them deliver it than driving six 40 minute round trips with gas prices being what they are.  So I had a large tarp, spread it out, and the nice gentleman dumped the "super-soil" (a mix of compost and topsoil).  I paid him and he was off!

Eli and I started filling the beds yesterday, and finished up this morning.

I put a little of my own compost from the backyard (with worms) in the beds as well, and smoothed out the tops.  It was kind of back breaking, but I wanted to get the soil in before it rained today, which I did!  Whee!

Zoe finds a stick!

Grrr. She does like her sticks.

The remaining soil.  I still think it's at least a yard left, maybe a little less... but I think i'm going to build another bed in the front yard, a garden bed, not necessarily a raised bed, and move my couple of blueberry bushes into a sunnier area.

Grape Hyacinth's coming up.

Forsythia in full bloom finally.

Flowering shrub beside the house... not sure what this is, but It's very pretty... tiny tiny flowers.

Hyacinth's blooming... they smell great.

So event though it was pelting snow a bit yesterday and this morning, spring is trying to make an appearance.  Now if it would only get a tiny bit sunny so my lettuce will sprout...

More Raised Beds!

Finally we're back from vacation, and finally the weather is beginning to cooperate, at least for... the past 2 days... tomorrow will be rain again, but at least I took the opportunity to get the raised beds I built a few weeks ago into position, and got the ground cover underneath dug up.

I'm not sure if the pachysandra will come back with a vengeance, sneaking and poking the roots of my tomatoes and asparagus and brussel sprouts, but I'm going to hope that a foot and a half of dirt on top of them will discourage them.  This spot is sheltered and warm and gets all of the afternoon sun, so I'm hoping the tomatoes and things will be happy there.

Here they are!  Next week, if the weather cooperates, I'll anchor them and fill them with a mix of compost and topsoil from our handy mulch people down the road.... well down the road, but down the road.

The garlic I planted last fall is looking amazing.  I'm very tempted to snip some of the greens for the next time we have steak salads... Mmmmm.

And I planted lettuce in this bed yesterday.  Iceburg, buttercrunch, mesculin mix, loose leaf mix, and spinach.  I'm not terribly worried about frost, because even though I'm guessing we'll get a frost, the area of the back yard is very sheltered, and my plants haven't been affected by frost as of yet back there.

I'm really glad I made a "perennial" raised bed last year.  It gives me a nice place to throw things I've thinned to see how they turn out.  I also had extra room this year, so i planted some sunflower seeds and sweet alyssum and snap dragons and tythionia. We'll see if they pop up.

Also, I'm not sure what this is.  It's a perennial that I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago, and though I'm sure the lady told me what it was, I can't remember for the life of me.  They're little white flowers, and they're budding pretty strongly, so I'll repost when they bloom and see if I can get any help here.

Anyway, I'm pooped today, going to see if the kiddo will let me have a nap, and maybe tomorrow, or this weekend, I'll move the blue-berry bushes!  The poor things need more sunshine.