Start your Spring planting engines....

Time to start your Spring planting engines.... its almost May. Still a little dangerous for those warm season veggies (tomatoes and peppers) but the full green light to the lettuces, broccoli, kohlrabi, and others that can tolerate some cooler nights.

I have some balcony containers planted, and we saw the sun for the first time in a long time! It was a great day for the garden centers... people have been couped up for some time now. Its been a slow start.

Tomorrow I will officially have a 'real' garden for the season (in addition to the balcony projects) and it will focus on heirloom vegetables and flowers, grown outside of Ames. My cookbooks have been out today, gearing up for new recipes with fresh produce. I am working slightly backwards...that's how excited I am.

More details and pics to come...

Happy Planting!
J

Spring bulb gardening... bending/breaking the rules!

I've been known to bend the rules a bit. I call it bending, Adam calls it breaking. Nothing too serious (except for some previous speeding tickets and a brush encounter with the juvenile deliquent lady at Le Mars Community Middle School. Honest to God, there was a mix up and there were two of us with the same name- they got the wrong girl). I'm a nice, law abiding citizen.

Some of my absolute favorite plants are the Spring bulbs, as you probably have known...
Crocus, hyacinth, muscari, daffodils, and finally (my favorite) the tulips are triumphly announcing their return now. They are everywhere: grocery stores, florist shops, the independent garden centers, the home improvement warehouses, landscapes and so forth. Cut flower bunches, bouquets, container plants- everything imaginable. I'm a little overwhelmed but in a good way.

I've been buying bunches of tulips weekly, since they first were in season. As you probably know, I am also very limited in my gardening space (AKA my balcony). And here is where the bending/ breaking happens....

As more and more people are moving towards small space gardening, either because of smaller residences (apartments, townhomes, etc.), less time or energy, or even less resources- container gardening is on the rise. Someday, hopefully very soon I will be able to have some serious space for gardening so I can try out the latest and greatest, but in the meantime I have to sit tight. Traditionally, Spring bulbs have been floral/ potted gift items or in the landscapes. And here is where I am bending the rules a little bit.

Here is a little container I put together over the weekend:
Tete a Tete daffodils (back), muscari (blue flowers to the right), and front and center are orange ranunculus. The ranunculus are annuals for us the Midwest but some of my absolute favorite flowers.

Enjoy the little dose of Spring... and Happy Easter!

Busy, Busy, Busy Bee

I haven't posted for quite some time.... Spring rush is underway. On one hand, its like "finally" and on the other, "sllllloooooowwww down"! I am a bit torn.

 More posts will be coming soon... it helps me unwind. Like detailing my adventures at the Japanese Steakhouse with the 'back home' gang and the tornado this past weekend - while we were at the Japanese Steakhouse. Not to worry, the tornado was in the next town over and I believe everyone was fine, except for the buildings (60% of the town was damaged!). In addition to an injured cat, a vacationing/ golfing husband, volunteering for the Chamber of Commerce AKA coming to the rescue of a good friend, seasonal stresses/ migraines, and allergies- it has definitely been a week! I am actually allergic to olive oil and trees, so I have to adjust my cooking and continue to be my own worst enemy by selling and shipping a tremendous amount of trees.

I guess the one thing we can count on, is the fact that nothing can be counted on.. Smoother sailing this week... I sure hope so! 

And the lettuce is up... and new season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.