112 DEGREES!

There is definately a learning curve with the greenhouse. I didn't think it would start getting this hot in the till later this spring or summer. Yesterday it got up to about 93 degrees and the vents opened up. When I got home today it was 112. I was so glad that I had put up the shade cloth yesterday.




Here are the vents opened up. They are automatic and start to open up when it gets to 70 degrees and above. They will completely open up when it gets hotter.



Here is how the shade looks with it just up on one of the walls. It sure helps keep things from burning up. I already had to take some things out because the leaves on the verbena and geranium were burning.




I went to Vassey Nursery today and picked up some Walla Wally Sweet Onion sets to plant this weekend. Mark is going to till up the garden tomorrow.




My friend Carla has a clawfoot bathtub in her back yard that she has goldfish in and waterlillies. I love it and hope someday to get one too.




These are Carla's chickens. I go over and get my chicken fix and visit them. One of these day I too will have chickens.

Yesterday I potted up twelve winter jasmine. My friend Lil had given me a winter jasmine about three years ago and it has done very well. I was able to find twelve rooted shoots that I cut off the mother plant and potted up. I was going to keep them in the greenhouse but with the heat so hot I took them out along with the other flats for the plant exchange. They should do just fine outside the garden room door on the cement.

There is going to be a new bed in the back yard soon. It's going to be 25' to 30' x 5' to 6' wide. I have about twenty-five plants and shrubs to plant there now. So that is our next project. It's getting late now so ta ta for now!

Greenhouse Update

Well, I have picked out the greenhouse I want and will be ordering it in about 3 weeks I hope. It is one of the Glass Gardener Greenhouses that I left a link to on one of my earlier posts. I Can hardly wait. I am so excited. We are even going to have them set it up. It only takes them about eight or nine hours from start to finish. On my post for Feb 22nd I have a picture of the site where the greenhouse is going to go. It's quite exciting.

There are daffs coming up all over the place. In the bed in front of the garden room that is a whole row of bunches of about nine or eleven opening up and under the dining room window there are about fifty getting ready to open. I would show pictures but since we had the computer worked on I can't get the camera to download pictures. I can upload older pictures but no new ones:(. Hopefully that will fixed on Wednesday night.

Had my first birthday celebration on Saturday. My friend Carla picked me up in the morning and we went nursery hopping in Sumner and had a picnic at the park there and then walked around Sumner and went into some shops. It was a great day. One on the things we did was go into Indulge Cupcakes and each picked out a cupcake to have with our sandwiches and they were soo good. I have an Orange Creamsickle. That's a very good way to do it instead of a whole cake to have to deal with. Here is a link to their website:
indulgecupcakes.com/
If you are in Sumner you really should go there and check them out.

As I sit here looking out the window at the hazy sunshine I pray that it will get a few degrees warmer so that I can go outside and play. (After I take the kids for a walk of course.) I have sod to take out where the greenhouse is going to go and more flower beds to finish digging. It's going to be a great year in the garden! Ta ta for now.

Dreaming......

Could there possibly be a greenhouse in the future for me? This is the big
question. Mark had the taxes done last night and was talking to our tax lady who knows one of Marks work friends. He built one for his wife who absolutely loves it and is thinking of building one for me. We are going to go out to their place on Saturday and have a look at it and see how it looks. I have wanted a greenhouse for ever so long. At one point we were saving money for one and Mark got a Harley instead. That was about 11 years ago and one may be in the future for me. If I get a greenhouse this year I may have to forfeit chickens for another year. I think I can do that. I've gone without them for this long, I can wait one more year.

I did get to work outside yesterday and today. I love it when the weatherman is wrong and it benefits us. So it was beautiful the last couple of afternoons and I was able to get all my bags of amendments (poop) and work in my pea patch. Then today I had to make another place for my pea patch because the first one is right where Mark will build the greenhouse. But that was ok because it was for the cause.

It would be in very close proximitry to my garden room. Just a few feet away. So when I need a little break I can go and sit down in the garden room and read. And what will I read? Maybe I will have my computer in there and I can read blogs.

I had a thrill a couple of days ago when Sharon Lovejoy my favorite garden writer left a comment on my last blog. That was so exciting. I have been a fan of her books for so long. There are so many other blogs to read and enjoy.

Well, this is getting long and I don't want to go on forever so have a great night and ta ta for now.

The Seattle Flower and Garden Show

Cold Frame

I got to spend all day at the Seattle Garden show Friday and had the most wonderful time. I went with 3 friends. Carla picked me up at 7:15am and we didn't get home until 9:30 that night. What a day!

I hadn't been to the show in about 6 years. A former boss and me used to go every year and sometimes spend 2 or 3 days going to lectures and touring the gardens and shopping. So it was a real treat to go again. It was fun to see all the gardens. There are some talented people out there. Three of them featured chickens. I was glad to see them because it shows how popular they are becoming.

The fragrance when you walk into the convention center is very powerful. It's like a whole room of hyacinths and daffodils and clean dirt and so many other things all together. It's heaven!

I still don't have the picture thing figured out on here yet. That's why there are pictures with no writing. Some day I'll get this figured out. So here are the descriptions of the pictures.

The first one is three Barbies sitting at a patio. They look quite relaxed don't they? I wish I could look that good sitting in my garden. I've never seen Barbie weeding. I woner how Barbie would look after three or four hours of weeding. Hey Barbie, got a minute?

The second picture is of a chicken in the cab of a small truck. They planted the bed of the truck with a vegtable garden and made the cab into part of a chicken coop. Quite clever. In the lower part of the door there was an opening cut out so that the chickens could go into the coop that was attached to the truck. Very cool.

The third picture is of a cold frame that I'd love to have. I know that they are not supposed to be that hard to build, its just finding the right place. And the window and the time, blah,blahblah. (I can make up a long list of excuses.)

And the last picture is of a John Deere chicken coop and chicken. I really like this one because it was what is called a chicken tractor. That means that you can pick up the whole thing and put it anywhere in your yard that you want and leave it there until the chickens have eaten the lawn and fertilized it and then you move it somewhere else. Very cool.

The other cool thing that I saw at the garden show where Sunglo Greenhouses. I have greenhouse envy for anyone who has one. I know there are many kinds out there but I know someone who has this particular one and she really likes it. I hope to get one this spring if possible.

There's so many things coming up in the garden. It's hard to keep track of everything so I walk out there every chance I get. I do have what look like paperwhites coming out by the back walk. Very exciting!

I worked out in my potting area today just cleaning it up. It felt sooo good. I'm always so embarrassed when someone comes over and it looks like a tornado hit it. So, it will look nice till I start potting things up again.

Well, its time to get something to eat. So,ta for now!