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Cottage Gardens

Quick update

15 years ago

First of all - some of my nicotiana have sprouted! That's right, the tipped-over nicotiana that hadn't actually spilled out managed to stay intact, and I now have sprouts! Yay!

Secondly - I planted my fruit trees! I was sick Tuesday/Wednesday, and dozed most of Wednesday until about 2 pm. Then, as I was looking at the hour-by-hour forecast, I started getting really paranoid about it raining again on Thursday. So, I had another cup of tea, and got started. The kids offered to help with the digging - and ds actually did do a bit of helpful digging. (Dd managed a couple of divots in areas that didn't need to be dug, lol.) Then I called dh to come home and help, because it was lots of work, digging up the grass. I hadn't realized he was also getting sick, alas. He managed to dig up a couple of areas, then went to bed. (I also had to relocate a couple, because the tree roots from my neighbors' evergreens were bigger than I expected.) All in all, it took me 5 hours! Ds came out when I was cleaning up the sod pieces, and then was his biggest help, because I was getting pretty worn out by then - but I knew I really needed to get it cleaned up before it rained. So, of course, it didn't rain - but at least they are in!

I haven't seen any daffodils, anywhere. This is really late - they are usually blooming up a storm on dd's birthday (next Wednesday).

I'm also prepping for dd's flower party tomorrow. I have seeds (sunflowers, nasturtiums, and zinnias), eco-pots (like peat pots, but apparently more eco-friendly), and lots of seed-starting mix. I need to get popsicle sticks or something so we can label the seed pots with type and the kid's name.

Ok, longer update than I had planned...

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Comments (8)

PRO
Nell Jean
15 years ago
Hooray for sprouts and Happy Birthday to your daughter.

Nell
little_dani
15 years ago
Irene, so glad you got sprouts. Seeds are pretty tough.

If you have an old mini-blind, you can take it apart and cut it up to make nice markers for the seeds. Write on them with a regular pencil. It will not fade, rub off, wash off, but you can erase and re-use the marker.

Happy Birthday to DD.

Janie
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memo3
15 years ago
Yea! I'm so glad to hear that your flower seeds are sprouting!
It must have been real torture to go outside to work and dig while you were so ill. Sometimes it feels like there is never a moments rest even when you really need one, eh? Hope you are all on the mend and feeling better now.

MeMo
gldno1
15 years ago
Sorry, you haven't been feeling well.

Congrats on getting the fruit trees planted and the surviving seeds.

Hope the birthday party goes well!
Redthistle
15 years ago
Irene, what kind of fruit trees did you plant? (You probably mentioned this in another post, but I didn't see it.) Nicotiana is so pretty!--I'm glad you didn't lose yours.
irene_dsc
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, all! We've been a bit busy here. I missed the blinds idea until now - but I don't have any to spare right now. When we finally replace ours, I need to remember to save them for markers! I ended up only finding colored popsicle sticks, so I color coded them by variety. ;). Only a few kids got into the planting, but they all had fun, so that's cool. I still have an extra packet of each type and tons of extra pots - I'll make good use of those.

My fruit trees are: Liberty and Goldrush apple trees, Hargrand semi-dwarf apricot, and Redhaven semi-dwarf peach. I can't remember if I've posted which ones before, lol.
mary_lu_gw
15 years ago
Sounds like you have really been busy. Glad the kids had a good time planting. Have you had fruit trees before? You will enjoy them. We have several apple trees. Did plant a cherry tree a few years ago, but it winter killed last year. Replanted a honey crisp apple in it's place.

For Christmas this year my sister gave me an old fashioned collander and wood pestle to make apple sauce.
irene_dsc
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes, we've been busy! And it's not over yet - we host seder for 12 on Wedsnesday! At least the house is still mainly clean, besides needing to find homes for dd's new toys. ;)

This is our first time for fruit trees - I'm still a bit intimidated! I've been reading and posting over at the fruit forum a bit - of course, there are lots of varying opinions. But, we're all excited, too - I think the kids are the most excited.

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