Our yard in pictures - May 17, 2013

This is one of the several stepping stones the girls made

Yes, this is inside, but it's the "forest" the girls made to encourage Spring

Newly planted trees, shrubs, etc - all will hopefully produce yummy goodies for us

The chicks hiding from the drizzles

Another view of all the things we just put in - some neighbors love it, some hate it

The fairy garden, which also has potted trees: fig, banana, and pomegranate

The girls get to ride their upcycled tire horse near the fairies

The plum tree is in bloom, and has a 3-in-1 citrus and a stevia plant on its mulch

The new strawberry bed.  The other was way too crowded.  Flowering all ready!

The 6 raised beds (still needing planting for the most part), and the 8x8 acidic blueberry bed

The rabbits ate down the peach tree a couple years ago and now there are three branches.  I will attempt tree shaping around the ornament.

The rabbits ate down one of my honey berry plants.  Thankfully, I see some life.

The apple tree has leaves, but no blossoms yet.

The little cherry tree in the front yard that was a volunteer in a friend's garden and was gifted to us

Yep, indoors again.  The branch to hang the pics was a trimming from one of our fruit trees

Garden prep list

May 7th, 2013

So this list is mostly for me, but you can see what effort goes into it.  This year, with last week's 16 inch snowfall (yes, on May 2nd), a lot of things didn't get done as timely as I would have liked.

Here's what we've got to get done:
***UPDATED May 13, 2013***
*string wire for the hops to grow up the garage

Get more compost (the site is only open Saturday mornings and Tuesday afternoons - guess what I'm doing first thing Saturday.)

Fill raised beds 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6 with compost.  I filled bed 2 today with our own compost and then covered it with dirt.

Replant the strawberries into bed 2.  Toss (not compost) the diseased ones.  Pinch the runners so the strawberries put their energy into berry production instead of propagation.  Give away the rest of the bed's worth of strawberries. 

Weed area around back and side of garage.  Edge with bricks.

Weed, put down newspapers and/or cardboard, put down weed barrier, and mulch planted area on the back and side of house.

Weed, put down newspapers and/or cardboard, put down weed barrier, and mulch the area for the kiwi.

Weed, put down newspapers and/or cardboard, put down weed barrier, and mulch the 8x8 lasagna garden, after planting the blueberries.

Build/Install trellis for the grapes.  

Plant trees/bushes/etc
 - Paw paw (one that needs to be moved and replanted because I don't want it to shade the yard.  The other will stay where it is)
 - Flowering cherries (two in front, two in back)
 - Sea berries (two in back)
 - Sweet cherries (in back)
 - Elderberry (two in back)
 - Aronia (back)
 - Juneberry (back)
 - Hazelnut (two in back)
 - Goji (back)

Make an area of the yard acidic (yes, I know that I should have started this last year, but the area where my blueberries are does not get as much sun as I'd like, so I'll have to watch it closely as I have the plants that I need to plant now).  The acidic bed is now in the 8x8 lasagna bed.

Move the blueberries.

Weed, put down newspapers and/or cardboard, put down weed barrier, and mulch around each of the above, and also around the Russian mulberries, red and white currants (in back), and honey berries (on the side). 

Plant in pots
 - 3-in-1 citrus tree
 - Pomegranate tree 
 - Stevia
 - Banana tree

Make a teepee trellis for the girls to enjoy the plants that will grow on it and make the "walls" of a "fort"

Put in compost on the backside of the house to direct water away from our foundation (water problem in the basement with the ice dams on the roof earlier this winter)

Dig up a gooseberry plant or few from my friend's house and re-plant at ours.

Set up a trellis between a couple of the raised beds for plants to grow vertically (melon, cucumbers, gourds, etc can be grown up so as not to have the fruits on the ground or sprawling everywhere, but make note of companion planting, as you wouldn't want your melons, cukes, squashes, gourds near each other, or you'll end up with something like the cucumber-tasting melon we had last year).

If we have time (well, when we make the time), we need to:
*add on to the chicken coop so that the girls have nesting boxes.  I would also like to have a door on the bottom so that it's easier to get to their food and water.
*power wash and stain/seal the girls' playset
*build a hammock stand because we don't have two large trees close enough together and I want to use my hammock

Oh yes, and there's planting to do.  Here's our list:

Seeds/roots:
Lettuce (need to be replanted because of the snow storm, as nothing is coming up after a few weeks)
Beans
Peas (planted and coming up)
Beets (need to be replanted because of the snow storm, as nothing is coming up after a few weeks)
Carrots (need to be replanted because of the snow storm, as nothing is coming up after a few weeks)
Cabbage
Parsnips (planted, but nothing coming up yet)
Cucumbers
Kale (need to be replanted because of the snow storm, as nothing is coming up after a few weeks)
Pumpkin
Gourds
sweet potatoes
blue potatoes
broccoli
cauliflower
zucchini
nasturtiums
Sunflowers
spaghetti squash
turnips
salsify
cilantro
amaranth
calendula
parsley
epazote
echinacea
sage
st john's wort
goldenseal
ginsing
ginger
perennial leeks

Plants:
Melon
Watermelon
Tomato (a lot!)
Eggplant
Tobacco
Ground cherries
Peppers
basil
comfrey (I have someone who would give me a cutting, but my husband is still wary about it since it can easily take over.  We're still thinking about actually planting it).

We've got plenty more that has been planted, or overwintered, or are perennials, but I'm excited to get things going. 

So far, we have some asparagus coming up, along with rhubarb, onions & garlic.  It will be so nice to eat right out of the garden again!