I got the 150 onion plants planted: Walla Walla, Mars and Copra from Territorial Seed Company. I planted most of them in the new small back bed. I still need to label the rows. According to description, Copra is a 104 day, long storage yellow onion that is high in sugar and particularly good in French onion soup. Walla Walla, is NOT a storage onion. They are meant to be used quickly but they are sweet. Mars, a red onion, can be stored for 4-6 months, is a good raw (or cooked) onion.

The mailman brought a package fro Select Seeds (my two hardy lilies). I unpacked them but did not plant them. The UPS guy dropped off another box from Territorial Seed Company–with two tomatoes and my pepper order. I’m letting the peppers harden off on the front porch. I did plant the two tomatoes in the kitchen bed–Sweet Million and Bambino. AND I put in the towers.

I also managed to finally plant the sweet peas and morning glories. I planted them along the side of the deck and by the clematis trellis’ on the front porch bed and the east side bed.

The pin cherry is blooming. Gorgeous as usual. I really like this tree. You see them along rural roads creating a cloud of white. A sure sign of spring. Since Sunday, most of the trees are showing signs of green leaves and our crab apple is starting to open.

It is the end of the semester, so I’m in the battle between school work and trying to get stuff done outside–I’ve still got a lot to do both places. I’ve got the sweet peas and morning glories seeds soaking–I really should go out and plant them now, but I don’t think I will. This weekend, half the neighborhood was cleaning their garages. It’s weird how they all seem to pick the same day.

If I get home at a decent time tomorrow, I’ll plant the soaking seeds and start planting the onion plants. If I’m really ambitious I’ll get the rain gauge out too. It would have been nice to have it last night. I rained (complete with thunder) from about 9:00 until at least 2:00. I didn’t get much sleep–too noisy. However, the grass is definitely greener and taller. I’ll need to call about mowing this week or next. Today it was 47 when I left for work and it was 69 when I got home about 5:45.

The blood roots are basically done and the May flowers are finishing up. The spring beauties are going strong and the trillium buds are showing some touch of white. Still no sign of Jack-in-the-pulpits. The bluebells are just barely starting to open. I have a couple dozen daffodils in bloom in the back side bed. Due to the exceptionally warm weather this weekend, some things are rapidly growing. I have a few clematis with buds (Westerplatte, Crystal Fountain, Belle of Woking and Multiblue). I can’t believe how rampant Westerplatte and Crystal Fountain are. They basically died back to the ground and they both are about 2-3′ high already. Of course it helps that they are against the wall of the garage with a southern exposure. Betty Corning and Duchess of Albany are about 2′ high (they of course die down to the ground every year). We won’t talk about my Virgin’s Bower (I think I’ll need RoundUp again). The viorna by the electric fence came through the winter well as did crispa which is looking better now than it did at the end of last summer. So far, no sign of life from Carnaby, Killian Donuhue, Victor Hugo, Bee’s Jubilee, Ochroleuca, Fremontii, Pitcherii, Hirsutissima, Texensis, Vesuvius or Avante Garde–but I’m not giving up hope yet–some other stuff hasn’t come up yet either. A few of the peonies (near the house) are showing signs of buds–others are just barely up.

I expect I’ll see plant orders arriving late next week. Hopefully, the weather will be good this weekend so I can get stuff caught up and ready. I’ve got a stack of twigs/branches to take to Brush Control and it looks like the raspberries (both red and black) are ready for pruning. The dandelions are starting to sprout so I’ve got digging to do. Anyway, spring is sprung!

I’m really tired. I did the WOW thing on the yard. I really need a new spreader, the one I’ve got, the bottom of the line, allows no adjustments so I needed to spread twice–a lot of walking. Wish I had had my pedometer on! I also spread some Milorganite in the lawn where I think the deer walk through. I also spread Milorganite in the flower beds I’ve finished cleaning: Sister’s bedroom bed, Sister’s maple bed, the white pine bed, the pin cherry bed and the east side of the house bed. In all the aforementioned beds, I’ve done the final cleanup and pulled down the wires and put up the peony rings (for anything that is showing). I did the final cleanup on the east side bed, but didn’t get around to the Milorganite part. I also hung the deer deterrent bags in the blueberries, white pine bed, part of the raspberry bed and Sister’s bedroom bed. There’s definite munching in the last bed occurring. I didn’t spray. I also fertilized the black raspberries. They are really greening up.

The forsythia still looks pretty good. The Mayflowers are fantastic! One of the plants in bloom has at least two dozen flowers open. All three are looking very healthy. More blood roots have sprung up overnight and opened. I’ve got about four patches, each with 8-12 plants. Some spring beauties are in bloom in the white pine bed today as well. A number of trilliums have emerged as well–not in bloom though. With this heat, I expect things will happen fast.

I haven’t done anything with the front beds yet and I still have to finish the garage and kitchen beds. Hopefully, I’ll have time after work this week, but it’s not looking very hopeful.

With the warm weather a lot is happening quickly in the yard.

My wildflowers in the White Pine Bed have survived nicely (I think). I’ve got three May flowers (hepatica) in bloom. Two are white, one is pink. The pink one has a least 20 buds. I couldn’t tell how many buds were on the other plants. I’ve also got about half a dozen blood roots in bloom in three clumps–more blood root shoots are coming up. There are leaves of dutchman’s breeches showing–just. The Jacob’s ladder is about 6″ tall and the leeks look healthy. I think I’ll need to thin the waterleaf as I see quite a few coming up. Bill Mackenzie clematis is alive, there are buds and I think a new shoot. I raked the excess leaves out of the bed today and removed the wires from around the blueberries–they all look pretty good. I need to get deer deterrent stuff out there tomorrow before they are grazed to nubs. The deer are nibbling on my lilac and have almost eaten the summersweet down to the ground. One of the rhubarb plants is just coming up.

The small wildflower area around the big side maple is showing a lot of life as well. There are a half dozen spring beauties in bloom, the Jacob’s ladder is about 6″ tall and the meadow rue is up.

I finished cleaning the east side bed completely. All leaves are cleared. The peony rings are up on Sister’s bedroom bed, her maple tree bed and the east side bed. There are some signs of bleeding hearts coming up in the east side bed. That’s one I need to divide. The virgin’s bower, Will Goodwin, texensis and Betty Corning clematis on the east side bed are showing signs of life. Hakuree, in Sister’s bedroom bed is looking good as is Polish spirit in Sister’s maple bed.

I worked outside for about four hours today. I mostly worked on raking leaves out of flower beds and then grinding them up using the leaf vacuum. I raked out the garage bed, kitchen bed, pin cherry bed and back side bed. I got six bags of ground leaves. The rest of the cleanup will need to be done by hand. I also need to prune things back in each of those beds. I’ll see what I get done tomorrow. It was fairly windy today, not the optimum for picking up leaves.

Yesterday, I got home from work early and worked outside for about two hours. I put stuff outside:

I also pulled down the garden cart and put on a bag for tomorrow (Saturday). I unpacked a tower and two trellis’ that arrived from Smith & Hawken. I now have a bunch of cardboard to tear down and recycle on my front porch.

I pulled the bags of leaves off the rose behind the garage and the rose along the side of the garage and I picked up all the garbage that had blown into the yard over the winter. At long last I actually removed the not-so-festive Christmas garlands and wreath from the front porch. I’m sure the neighbors are relieved. I pulled up or cut down all the deer deterents I had placed last fall–I probably missed a few but I think I got most of them. The deer are definitely visiting and munching. Fortunately, there is not much up yet to munch.

Today, Saturday, it was about 27 when I got up and the highest temperature I saw was 56. I worked outside without a coat, just two sweaters, for about three hours. I managed to cut back all the clematis, pick up sticks (there was quite a pile as a result), pick up the sod disrupted by the snowplows, started pulling leaves off two beds and assembled the two trellis’ and moved them into place–I’ll stabilize them tomorrow.

There really isn’t much up yet. The snowdrops are still blooming. I have a few crocus in bloom and some winter aconite. The forsythia is really ready to bloom. Another day or two of warmer weather and the buds will open–it should be pretty spectacular. It looked like most of the clematis are alive; about a dozen, can’t tell yet. Some have green buds but most I could tell were still alive because the wood was green inside as I pruned. The daffodils are coming up and the few remaining tulips from the previous owners. The rhubarb is still looking short (and very red); none of the rhubarb in the white pine bed is up yet. There are a few signs of my Jacob’s ladders coming up as well as a pasque flower.<p>

There’s a lot of leaf removal in beds. I know mulch is good, but this is a bit much! The leaves are almost one foot deep in places. After all the bending and picking up, I wonder if I’ll be able to move tomorrow?

I suppose I should try to take some pictures to document this year in my garden!

I also attended a geocaching introduction today at the Chamber of Commerce. It sounds like fun. There are about 700 geocaches within a 100 mile radius! Amazing!

Meanwhile, what’s been happening. So far, there are snowdrops in bloom around the yard. Not a lot but some. A few crocus have bloomed. Very little plant material is up. The rhubarb is just showing. Some monkshood, delphiniums and columbines are starting to show; maybe 1-2″. The lilacs have leaf buds that are getting very green and the forsythia is starting to look vaguely yellow (but not yet in bloom).

This morning it was 16 F when I got up. We had a high of about 34 F. There was frost on the ground and on the roofs. The cold weather is to continue for a few more days. There was only one opportunity to really work outside–when I was in Milwaukee helping Mom and Dad with stuff. Thankfully, we had a long mild fall so I managed to cut many plants down then. Now it’s a matter of pruning the clematis, clearing out leaves and other debris from flower beds and picking up stray leaves blown into the yard.

I’m hoping it warms up a bit soon. I’d like to get started on my Milorganite/deer experiment. So far, no real visible deer damage other than a few twigs here and there. Nothing really succulant is up yet to tempt them so it’s hard to say what the damage will be this year.

It’s nice to have longer days. It’s 7:30 and still light out. There seems to be a slight breeze. None of the trees in view have any signs of buds. Except for my crabapple which looks vaguely red. I’m thinking the buds are forming.

I’ve seen a hawk in the yard twice in the past week or two. I hope it’s snagging a few chipmunks. I’ve seen them running around. We need a population reduction.

A lot has been happening the past couple weeks. We had two large snowfalls of about 12″ each and currently have about 12″ on the ground. In parts of the yard the snow is deeper than that. The weather is supposed to warm up tomorrow and I expect we’ll have considerable melting.

I’ve placed my order with

Garden Crossings
Oakes Daylilies

for perennials and daylilies. I also placed an order with Kinsman for some hanging basket supplies and a garden labeler.

I still need to order some supports (for clematis) and maybe some stuff from Gardens Alive.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the web site. I have most of the data in on my clematis (bloom charts and basic information) and for the plant beds (with what sunlight/shade data I collected last year). I’ve also scanned in a couple hundred pictures (not all garden related) and I need to identify and edit the ones I want to use on the web site. Mostly what needs doing is writing the main page and getting the photos that I currently have in. Then I need to check it out on several browsers on both Mac and Windows platforms and tweak again. Of course, I need to keep it updated as the garden season progresses.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve also made a decision on a digital camera (on order and arriving any day) and I’m evaluating the pros and cons of Adobe Lightroom vs. Apple Aperture for organizing my images. More on that evaluation later.

Spring is definitely on the way. I need to get in shape for all the bending, hauling, cutting, weeding, planting, etc. to come!

I went through some of the remaining catalogs this morning to see whether there are any I can winnow out. I’ve already ordered from:

Wayside
Park Seed
Klehm’s Songsparrow
Chalk Hill
Brushwood
Select Seeds
Jungs
The Lily Garden

I still have to order from Garden Crossings and some garden supports (trellis and pillars). Otherwise, it looks like the majority of ordering is done.

I also posted my web site, The Back Forty (still being written), for testing on different platforms and browsers. I’ve actually got more content on the non-main page pages. I still need to do a bunch of scanning for the missing images. The clematis listings are almost finished. Next on those pages are entering the data from last year’s bloom chart for the one that bloomed and then finding and scanning pictures. I’m still playing with the CSS and some scripting for the site. It will be interesting to see if I actually get it not only up but maintained.