The best laid plans

I was so excited about getting all my seeds.  I had great plans for what I would have in my garden.  I was really looking forward to three different kinds of flowering kale.  Well,  what did I do with them???  As it happens in my house, things go missing.  How three packages of seeds got separated from the rest is beyond me.  I looked everywhere logical and even some not.  No seeds.

One set of my asters did not germinate, at all, the other variety is fine.  I have seeded both collected and purchased black-eyed Susan vines to see how collected seed performs.  I lost some plants to neglect.  I thought the seedlings were fine only to come home from work to find some plants permanently wilted.  The Celebrity tomatoes barely made six plants because of that mistake.  Luckily I went over-board on varieties so I have other plants to fill the spaces...so far.

Other things I am happy with.  I had good luck rooting cuttings of several plants and was able to successful divide others.  I am rethinking how many plants I want to carry over from one year to the next.  I had all three tiers of lights going this last winter and that is more than I usually burn.  I would like to look at the difference in the electric bills from one year to the next.  It may not be an accurate assessment as we also had a more mild winter last year and we used less heat than the most recent one.  I also don't know if I like taking care of so much in the off season.  If I had a well lit, sunny greenhouse to retreat to rather than a basement, it might be more appealing.  Ahh, to dream...

The spring is coming in slow but sure.  I have been able to quickly move plants in and out at night with my wheeled shelf.  I need to expand operations with a set of stationary shelves for the plants already hardened off.  So far the rotation is working this year.  I have room on the shelves for the seedlings almost ready for transplant.  It is a dance of timing and space.

The vegetable garden is at the fun stage to watch.  Seedlings are popping up in my square foot garden making a patch work pattern of greens in rows and dots.  The onions are starting to show their strength in the way they stand straight.  They are still tiny, but they are strong.  The peas are sparse due to the cold weather following my eager planting.  I will get enough to keep me happy, so I can't complain.  The spinach, radicchio, lettuce and cabbages are all putting on new growth and expanding.  I just have to remember to keep them all watered.

My bare-root shrubs that I tucked into pots are sprouting new growth and I even saw some flower buds forming on the kiwi.  I stopped at the garden center for peat pots after work yesterday and left with a Goldencrisp apple and an Alberta peach.  I may have jumped the gun on these but they were 20% off.  I want to make the apple into an espalier so I have a new subject to read up on.  I want to put this in the same spot as our new patio (which is still a pile of bricks next to the garage).  The peach tree will find a spot to stand out in the yard anticipating the ultimate demise of the male mulberry that is growing on the park side of our property line.  With all the hollow spots and cracks, it is only a made of when, not if.  We had it trimmed away from the yard to try and keep it from landing on our garage and shed.  Fingers crossed...

I came up with a pretty cool trellis for my sweet autumn clematis this spring.  I used some of the old wire clothes line and dog tie down to form a frame work.  I used the plastic netting that I ran behind it last year to train it away from the rails and stairs.  The beauty comes in with the grapevine I cut and laced over the rear fence for Christmas lights.  I cut a bunch to length and fastened them to the edges of the frame.  It is functional and attractive.  I think it should hold through the summer especially after the clematis reaches the second floor and grows onto the second set of wires which have carried it to the roof line year after year.

I also got busy with setting out the praying mantis egg sacks yesterday.  The weather has been consistently warm and the timing feels right.  I put them inside upside-down 4" pots with netting over the bottom to keep out predators.  There is one hanging right next to the clematis in the picture next to the drain pipe.  A co-worker orders and sells them every year.  It is an inexpensive and fun project.  Look back to my pictures of the little guys when they hatched last year. 
http://gardeninggwen.blogspot.com/2012/06/praying-mantis-emerge.html

Praying mantis egg case

It has been a busy week in the garden, but the pace has been an enjoyable one.  I was able to mix up the heavy work with some light duty tasks.  I even had the pleasure of going up to the Milwaukee High School of the Arts for their day with the Burpee Grow Anywhere Garden Tour. http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/(S(gf2402r0mzl3vwjqb4vdltms))/Blog/2013/05/07/grow-anywhere-tour--making-milwaukee-smile.html
I came home with a Fourth of July tomato.  They are an early season plant.  I took out my wall-o-water towers and filled them up.  I planted the tomato tonight inside the warm, insulated tower.  It will be fun to see how well the tower works to push the season on the tomato plant.  More on that later.

I certainly spent enough time logging garden time in today, but I love to look back at the digital record to see what worked last year and what didn't.  Once the flowers get transplanted, I may not get back to writing for awhile.  I also have to make at least one visit to the garden centers so I can find some flowering kale plants!