sprouting and flowering

Golden Currant cherry tomato the first out of the gates on March 19 followed by...
over half the Cherokee Purples and a bunch of others on the 20th.
Zucchini soil starting to rumble
Lebanese light green zucchini on March 19.
Black Beauty zucchini on March 20.
These are some cute little flowers from bulbs I planted last fall.
Anenome I bought this spring, because most of mine from a year ago didn't come up again this year.
I have had these in purple for the past two years and this past fall planted some pink bulbs.
The daffodils are just about at their peak.

Guardian of the Garden

With a face like that, I don't really think she will manage to scare away any robbers. In fact, we are rather hoping they might help themselves to some broccoli which is all about to flower.
Peas are starting to sprout in the plot next door.
Which my husband, the human-rotatiller has been busy expanding...
I tackled some weeding. I started with the lawn. See all those green bits. Those are weeds.
I did about a third and gave up. I figure the grass will turn green in a few more months and then the weeds won't stand out so much.
I turned my attention to the weeds in the flower beds.
My mini irises are starting to bloom.
And the white narcissus are getting close to blooming, too.
Flower bed post-weeding. The daffodils will be blooming soon!
I moved two extra sweet peas to the back of this flower bed. I wonder if this blue hibiscus tree is still alive?
I moved most of these hardy yellow flowers to the embankment where they can multiply to their hearts' content. They are a bit much for the flower beds.
Crocus.
Last year I got some mystery osteospermum from the weird little flower shop I frequent. When they bloomed, some of them were pretty, but one had these weird pinched petals that reminded me of a clown. I didn't have the heart to outright murder it, so I moved it to an out of the way, partially shady, totally sandy and devoid of nutrient corner. Well, it turns out that it loves partial shade, total sand and no nutrients! Look at how it has thrived, threatening to engulf this baby camellia tree.
And it is about to bloom. If I am not mistaken, I think its petals might not even be pinched any more!
One of its sisters which stayed in the flower bed has also started to bloom.

Springing!

The yellow crocuses are croaking their little hearts out. No signs of any other colors yet...
My first daffodil on Feb 22
And on Feb 24!
Apparently pansy season is over, because pansies were going for clearance discounts at the home center. I got some to fill in for ones that didn't like this year's cold winter. Only one of my pansies which I started from seed has bloomed so far. Haven't got a decent photo yet, though. I also got some anenomes because about 80% of mine didn't make it through the winter.
I pulled out most of these little yellow flower plants last summer because they were getting out of control, but they are back in strength. Quite cute, but I think I need to move them to the embankment because they are more of a hardy wild-flower (weed?) than well-behaved flower-bed-flower.
Speaking of hardy wild-flower weeds on the embankment, dandelions are blooming. The girls love to pick them. And they are cheerful and bright at a time of year when the embankment is pretty bleak.
And I have always loved these tiny blue flowering weeds. So cute! Though I do pull them out of my flower beds.
Our one strawberry meets a bitter end. So we are holding out for the blueberries...
which seem to have adjusted to their new spot on the north side of the embankment. We hope they are happier here than they were in their previous location.
None of the snap pea seeds my husband planted came up, so he bought seedlings at the garden store and planted them in the new field in the empty lot next door.
Helping keep those weeds down, every little bit counts.
Nothing like a well deserved rest in the sun after a hard morning weeding the garden. It's nice to know that the vegetable-picking basket is good for more than holding just spinach.

flowers and repotted tomatoes

iris in the morning















and in the afternoon















cornflower. I was hoping to get these growing wild on the embankment, but despite all the seeds I shook out here last year, only two have grown.











I am hoping to naturalize daffodils on the embankment, too. I planted this this past fall (2008)














I moved the tomatoes into bigger pots today, which gives me an excuse to post more photos of them. I buried the stems to strengthen the roots. Still, the tallest were only 5cm or so. I had a shock this morning at the garden store when I saw their tomatoes plants are 25 cm. Wow! I will just tell myself they must give them all sorts of nasty chemical fertilizers to achieve that, right?

bird house

The girls and dh put together and painted the birdhouse Maya got for Christmas.













When it is dry, it will be ready to put in one of the trees down by the river. The trees in our yard are still pretty small, and I think Bagus (cat) will keep the birds away.












The mini tulips are blooming, but the big tulips aren't even close to ready. The neighbors' tulips all seem to be blooming. I wonder why our garden is always 2 weeks behind all our neighbors?











The daffodils by the west fence have finally started to bloom.

enbankment 4.1.09

This is the south side (by the river) of the embankment to the south of our house. It is prefectural land. DH cleared the 2m high weeds last summer/fall. Over the winter he planted lots of trees. He collects and plants acorns, I collect and plant Rose of Sharon twigs, so we have tons of baby trees.








He also transplanted the raspberries and blackberries to the south side of the embankment this past winter.












This rose of sharon was in a pot with an anemone I thought was dead, but it has revived once planted.



















The river and south side of the embankment. I hope to get "wild" flowers growing here eventually as well as our baby tree farm.











North side of the embankment, the side near our house. I have planted daffodils, hoping they naturalize. Also, dh moved the blueberries here as they were not happy next to the strawberries. And, of course, more baby rose of sharon.










The north side of the embankment. We have taken over the flat bit for veggies and dh's wild tree nursery.