Sights of a Minnesota Gardener

Gardening is a labor of love. Spring comes & I am on a mission to do my part to keep our family eating well with the freshest produce we can get. 

Hummingbirds frequent our backyard & have for years.  This is the first year we've had a feeder out & so far these are the only birds that are snatching up the dripping nectar. I was amazed to hear that you are supposed to clean & replace the nectar in the feeders every 2 days. That's crazy right?! Others have said they only clean it when it's empty - I have settled on doing it once a week. 

The nectar in the feeder is clear. I'm not convinced that "red on the feeder" alone is enough, so I'm getting some red nectar to mix with the clear to see if that makes the hummingbirds come more quickly. I bought another feeder with a bottle that is blue, but now looking back on the decision, I shouldn't have chosen that one! I put together a red floral arrangement as well - hoping that the hummingbirds love it as much as I do.

The Clematis are blooming.

The peonies were gorgeous.

Even sneaked a few pics of the neighbor's varieties - so different than ours.

This is one of the stinkers eating on the plants in our landscape  

- also enjoying our plush grass.

Therefore the best of the produce is grown on the deck - far out of reach for big eyes like these, although the squirrels now venture up to steal a tomato or two quite often.

A small sampling of the plants from seed we have going: Flowering Eggplant (from Tyrant Farms)

FLowering Tomatillos (from Tyrant Farms) for Salsa Verde.

Austrian Winter Peas (from Tyrant Farms)

Sugar Daddy Peas, Super Snappy & Blue Podded Peas (from Tyrant Farms)

There are 3 varieties of carrots in this pot. (Incl one red cored from Tyrant Farms)

Garden Beans & Royal Burgundy Bush Beans (from Tyrant Farms)

Flowering Peppers (from Tyrant Farms)

So many new experiences thus far due to it being the first year I've sowed from seeds almost my entire deck garden. If you don't know about Grow Journey seeds yet, Google it & be prepared to be enlightened & tempted to take a plunge & give the subscription service a try.

I am not being compensated to talk about Tyrant Farms Grow Journey seeds.  From one year to the next, I've learned so much about what to do to improve each year's gardening experience. Documenting will be key to understanding what was done well & what needs improvement for the next season.

May Showers...Early Flowers

It's Mother's Day 2015 & I have a healthy jump at this season's Gardening.  Yesterday was the better of the two weekend days & I took advantage of it - transplanting a few starts from seed into 10 containers on the deck. Today is pretty much a wash out as it began to rain in the early afternoon just after I paid for a few things at the local nursery.

Last year for Mother's Day my MIL gave all of the girls - her daughters & we "outlaws" tulip bulbs. While I'm a pretty good container deck gardener - learning a little more every year, I'm a rookie landscape gardener.  We dug up the existing borders that line our backyard patio beneath the deck. Hubby let me take over the bed & do whatever I pleased. These are the tulips that were planted last fall.  I had no idea which varieties they were so I just planted them & prayed they would come up & look halfway decent.

The anticipation was immense, but totally worth the wait:

 

 

 

 

I also received a Home Depot basket of bulbs from my big & little boys with both Daffodils & more Tulips, so come fall, those will be added to that same bed & hopefully they will all return next Spring, filling out the bed even more.

 

 

For Mother's Day today, hubby got these fun birdhouses to add to the deck, which has become a haven for so many birds, bees & butterflies.

 

 

These blooms always appear early under the shade of the deck.  I don't know off-hand what they are called but they're so pretty & unique.

 



 



The gardening process is always a marathon - not a sprint.  It always takes a few months to get everything into place & then before we know it the season here in the Twin Cities is gone in a heartbeat.