Three cheers for early veggies!

Wow, where did the time go? Oh, that’s right — track, soccer and basketball. The garden — and my Garden Booyah blog — unfortunately have taken a backseat to my daughter’s sports activities. That’s not to say I’ve totally ignored the garden, but I definitely have been ignoring the blog. For that, I apologize. I’ll try to catch you up.

A little over a week ago, I planted a second row each of lettuce, onions and peas. I also replanted the bare spots in the row of lettuce and one of the rows of peas I planted on April 19. Our warm March turned into a lot of cooler weather in April and early May, so they needed filling out a bit. All in all, though, I’m happy with them. If the weather stays the way it has been for the past several days — high 80s, low 90s — it won’t be long before I have fresh lettuce for my daily salad. And the peas? I think they grew two inches the past two days alone! I can already taste fresh peas in the pod for supper — as Rachel Ray would say, “yum-o!”

Is it too early to start worrying?

OK, I’m a little worried. Flowers in the new flower garden aren’t doing all that good. Some look like they’re on death’s door, although I’m hoping that’s just the shock of being transplanted. Anyway, I gave them a good watering tonight, and with temperatures forecast in the high 70s or maybe even 80 the next couple days, I’m hoping they rebound. Fingers crossed. Please don’t die on me now!

The brown spots in several places, as well as the wilted perennials, have me worried. Please get better!

The color of spring

My tulips seem a bit behind the neighbors, but they’re still pretty. So far, red, yellow and a bit of orange.

Tulips starting to show their true colors

The first tulips are showing some color, and I think they’re red. Or maybe hot pink. I guess they could be orange, too. The buds haven’t fully opened, so it’s hard to know for sure.

Only three or four have buds so far, but the others were a little behind poking up from the ground, so I think the color will come in waves.

But that begs the question — just how long will a bloom last once the tulip flower fully blooms? One week, two weeks? More? I’ve seen answers all over the place, from 1-4 weeks. My neighbor has some that have been blooming for about a week and they seem to show no sign of wilt. And another thing — because it’s the first year for my tulips, will they bloom differently this year? Will they all bloom?

It’s time to get the sod out

I’m so excited — we’re going to rent a sod-cutter Friday to remove the grass where my flower garden is going. And, I found out a couple days ago that one order of one order of bulbs has been shipped. The reality of my new flower garden is really starting to sink in!

Tulips are coming up – yippee!!

I’ve been waiting anxiously to see whether any of the tulips I planted last November would come up this spring. I’m ecstatic to report that at least some of them are. I looked mid-week and didn’t see any despite the super warm temps. I wasn’t too surprised because I haven’t planted bulbs in about 20 years and then it was in more of a garden setting.

But last fall I decided our brown mulch in front of the house needed some color. So, one warm November Sunday, I planted about 50 tulip bulbs I got at the local Stein’s. If I remember correctly, they were mostly yellow- and pink-colored tulips. I planted some in a straight line on one side of the front door, in clumps on the other side.

Today, I was playing with the camera on my new iPad (I’m writing this post on it) and decided to check again on the bulbs. I was giddy when I saw the first one, thrilled when I saw a few others. In all, there were 12 poking up today (a few of them are in photo below). I can’t wait to see if more pop up, but I’ll be happy if I only get the dozen. Can’t wait to take more photos once the flowers bloom.