Front yard

Strawberry Raised Bed

Last year I bought bundles of strawberry plants, and did not have enough room for them. So the went into containers of various sizes. With the Battleground place, there is more room. So today I dug them up and replanted them into a new raised bed. The bed is a topsoil:compost mix, 50:50 according to the place that prepares it. I did not mix myself. That is too much heavy work for now. A few wilted but most had generous roots and took the move without a complaint. The smaller ones were in smaller containers that dried out too fast. Probably less fertile medium. Now they should perk up and catch up with the others.

More Heritage Iris

Second order came today from Old House Gardens. Website oldhousegardens.comEleanor Roosevelt. Introduced in 1933. From the Heritage Iris Preservation Society web site, quoting an earlier Cooley's Iris catalog: "From the Cooley's Gardens catalog for 1937: "Deep flourite purple self, with very rich falls". Flourite purple. Cool! This is described in 1937 as the " leading fall-blooming iris in commerce today, because it increases very fast, is most reliable in flowering habit...one of the most beautiful irises in the garden... " Mme. Chereau. 1844. This description, quoted from the Heritage Iris Preservation Society site, hips-roots.com, is great: "From the Cornell Extension Bulletin 112 (1925): "Color effect a lavender-white plicata. S. White bordered hortense violet, beautifully ruffled. F. white, with deeper hortense violet, slightly purplish tinged plications." Who would have thought, "hortense violet"? Mrs. Horace Darwin. 1888. Horace Darwin was a son of Charles Darwin. I guess in those days, some flowers were named for women without actually using the woman's name. In this case, from wikipedia, Mrs. Horace Darwin was " Emma Cecilia "Ida" Farrer (1854–1946), daughter of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer in January 1880, later Lady Ida Darwin". Then again, she got a flower named after her. . Shannopin. 1940. All photos are via the Old House Gardens website, linked above. These went into the iris raised bed. There were other plants occupying the spots where I wanted to place these. Some simple transplanting was done.

Home Orchard. Progress Report.

Charlotte peach. There is some leaf curl. Not too bad. I hope this year the 3 peach trees adapt and grow. Last year they didn't have much chance. Oregon curl free has barely grown. But does seem to be curl free. Indian blood peach had such a drastic root loss with transplanting, I'm surprised it's alive. It has a little leaf curl, not much.Little columnar apples. Blooming like crazy Less than 2 feet tall.Gage plum. One branch had flowers. Last year it was nearly destroyed by deer. Surprised it survived. I also have 2 seedling trees from fruit from this tree.Graft on asian pear. WIll it take? Too early to say.Mulberry. Moved it here from Vancouver last summer. Mulberries are reported as late to leaf out. Starting too. Glad it survived.The little orchard. Although there are other fruit trees and vines on the property. I hope they settle in and grow nicely this year.Asian pear. Blooming nicely. Last year it had one pear. I planted a pollinating variety about 10 feet away, but few flowers and earlier. Hard to say what will happen as far as getting any asian pears. Next year or in 2 years the grafts should also bloom, if they take. That might help.

Raised beds. Progress report.

Iris raised bed. Growing nicely.Potatoes. Barrel, technically not a raised bed, but close enough.Onions, shallots, garlic, chinese chives. Very pleased.Various vegetables, bok choy, chinese cabbage, lettuce, beets, swiss chard, minimal snow pea growth, and odds and ends.

What's blooming?

Amanogawa cherry. This was bought as a close-out overwintered outdoors at the nursery. Turned out nice.  Pain, neuropathy, and fatigue are keeping me from doing much but I can take photos. I think the bees are flying past a neighbor's feral sweet cherry, much larger and many more flowers, for the Amanogawa.Asian pear.Bleeding heart.Cherry garden iris. This was also a close-out last summer. Diminutive. The first to bloom for me.Little columnar apple tree.Montmorency cherry. I moved this from Vancouver to Battleground last summer. Nice.Scilla.

Spring Photo 2014

Each year we have a photo with the dogs in front of the blooming cherry tree. Ten years ago I thought the tree was on its last legs. Better now than ever.

 

Tulips

Tulips. Spring is nice.

Beekeeping. Progress Report.

Today was 2 days after installation of the bee colony. Time to check. The main issue is removal of the queen cage. If she's in it, it's time to release her into the colony. As it turned out, the candy plug was gone. I did not poke through the colony to find her. Too much disruption in that. The way they are clustered together, I'm thinking the queen is at the center of the cluster. Hard to see due to lighting. Significant comb already made. Where do they get the energy and food to do that? I do have sugar syrup in the hive. In the morning, it was chilly and they were almost all in the hive. In the afternoon, it was warmer. I thought I saw a few foraging some dandelions. Not many. It's still chilly for foraging.

Front Yard

Tulips and sweet cherry.More tulips and another sweet cherry.Erythronium.