Planting tulips

 My husband and I took advantage of what may be the last weekend before the snow flies (ugh, I hope winter doesn't arrive early!) and cleaned up our garden and yard.  I planted a few tulips in scattered places around my garden, in a likely fruitless attempt to keep the tulips hidden from the squirrels.

Last year, I forgot where I planted some of the tulips, and then I was surprised when the tulips popped up in a random spot.  So this year, I tried to take photos so I wouldn't forget where I planted them.

I also planted a few new irises to add a little more variety to my spring garden.  I'm trying to stick with a yellow and purple color scheme for the spring.

I didn't spend a lot of money on tulips this year, because the squirrels always seem to dig a few up.  Is it just me, or are the squirrels being extra "squirrel-y" this week?  This squirrel was freaking out right in front of me. Either it's because the little guy is preparing for winter, or maybe because my husband saw a hawk up in our tree :)

Yep, the squirrels are already digging in the garden.

 

So far, the squirrels haven't found the tulips. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they won't!

Garden update: April 2012

Well, my garden has slowed down a bit because of the cool, rainy April weather.  It's quite a contrast from March, when we were enjoying 80 degree temperatures and the tulips seemed to pop up from the ground and bloom almost overnight.

I still have quite a few tulips that are blooming, which is a nice surprise.  I guess it helps to plant different varieties that bloom early and late in the season.  It stretched out the tulip season for more than a month!

I couldn't resist buying a couple tomato plants when I saw them on sale at the Earl May garden center.  These tomatoes are supposed to be perfect for container gardening.  I'm going to plant them in buckets when the weather warms ups.  One is a regular red tomato; the other is a yellow pear tomato.  I'm trying to grow a "rainbow" vegetable garden this year, so I'm hoping the yellow tomatoes are a success.

I also planted a few more carrot, lettuce and radish seeds before the warm weather arrives.  So far, the seeds I planted in mid-March are growing well despite the early April frost.  In fact, the biggest threat to the radishes so far are the rabbits!  Those little buggers have nibbled up quite a few radish tops.

Lettuce and radishes are slowly growing.

Those pesky rabbits have gobbled up a row of radishes!

I'm also keeping a close eye on the strawberry pots I planted in early April.  They still haven't grown much, but there are a few blooms that may yield strawberries if the weather warms up next week.

My two strawberry stack-a-pots.

My husband's favorite clematis vines are also blooming right now.  But with the high winds, the blooms blow away pretty fast. Yesterday, we had 40 mile per hour winds!

One of the biggest surprises of the week:  My husband found half a dozen morel mushrooms under our back deck!  Unfortunately, they were too dried up to pick and eat.  But maybe next year?  Can you see the morels in the shadows?

 It will be interesting to see what the weather will be like in May.  Will it be cold and rainy like April?  Or dry and hot like March?  I'm hoping for something in between.  Just as long as the winds calm down.  I can't hit the bike trail when the winds threaten to knock me down!

Tulip time

My backyard tulips started blooming about a month before normal thanks to the warm spring weather. However, it's been rainy and windy this past week, so the tulips are looking a little shaggy.  I managed to take a few photos (in the wind!) of the blooms before they blew away.

I tried to "scatter plant" a few tulips in a garden bed, but they ended up a little spread out.  I like it better when the tulips are in bunches.  I'll have to remember to plant the tulips a little closer together next year.

I also planted a few rows of lettuce, radish and carrot seeds last weekend.  Even if we get another frost in April, these cold-weather crops should be just fine. Have you planted anything in your garden yet, or are you waiting for warmer weather?

How my garden grows!

I can't believe how quickly my garden has changed in just the last week, thanks to the much-needed rains we received in central Iowa.  Look how different my tulips and pansies look in just one week's time.

March 17

March 25

March 17

March 25

I can almost make a salad with the lettuce I planted last week!  The fall-planted garlic also looks great right now.

And as I type this, my tulips are just starting to bloom in the morning sun.  And it's still March!  I just can't believe this gorgeous spring weather.  What a blessing!  How are your gardens growing right now?  Have the warmer temperatures sped things along?

Garden update: Planting tulips

Last weekend, I spent an afternoon cleaning up my garden after the first hard frost.  I dug up as many gladiolus and dahlia bulbs that I could find.  Even though I enjoy growing a backyard vegetable garden, I really love to grow flowers.  My favorite vase was full of dahlias, zinnias, asters and glads from late summer to mid-fall.  Always made me happy to look at those cheerful flowers on my kitchen counter while I was washing dishes.

I don't have a lot of garden space in my backyard, but I still like to reserve a spot each fall for planting tulips and daffodils.  It's so much fun to watch the tulips pop up in the spring before the other perennials start growing.

This year, I once again bought my tulip bulbs at Earl May, an Iowa-based garden center.  The store has an excellent selection of tulips shipped in direct from Holland.  I like that Earl May lets me mix-and-match different types of tulips, instead of having to buy one large bag of one type of tulip.  Since I have a lot of purple spring perennials in my garden, I decided to buy purple tulips and yellow daffodils this year.

By coincidence, right after I bought the tulips, I happened to watch an episode of the Martha Stewart show about planting tulips in the fall. Martha invited a couple of tulip experts from Holland to her farm, and they showed her how to "scatter" tulip bulbs in the garden for a natural look.  So instead of planting the tulips in straight rows, they took the different types of tulips, mixed them up in a paper bag, threw them on the ground, then planted the bulbs where they landed.

I decided to give the "scatter" method a try in my own backyard.  I just mixed up the different tulips and daffodils and threw them on the ground.  Then covered them up with soil and pine needles.  (I have pine needles everywhere thanks to our giant evergreen trees.)

It was a little difficult to plant tulips this year because the ground was so dry.  We went almost an entire month without rain this October!  But Iowa State University Extension recommends that Iowans plant tulips in October.  Unfortunately, I noticed last weekend that a few squirrels have already dug up a couple of the bulbs.  I could probably remedy that with a little bit of chicken wire fencing, but I'm not sure I like the look of it, so I'll probably just take my chances with the squirrels.  But I'll have to figure something out in the spring before the rabbits get to tulips.  They ate all my tulips last year!

I also planted a few garlic cloves just for fun.  Last year, I planted a large patch of garlic.  But for some reason, the garlic died back way too early, around July 4, and never grew large enough to harvest.  My husband told me just to leave the remaining garlic in the ground and see if it will grow bigger next spring.  Sure enough, the garlic started to green up again this fall. Gardening is always an experiment, isn't it?

Did you plant tulips or garlic this fall?  Do you have any planting tips you can share? Or any advice on how to keep the squirrels and rabbits away?  I'm always looking for new ideas.

Preparing for spring

I spent my weekend raking up leaves from our trees in the front yard and carrying them to the backyard to use as winter cover for my garden beds. I had plenty of leaves to mulch with.

The neighbor's cat couldn't resist checking out my progress.

A few weeks back, after the first frost, I planted about 60 new tulip bulbs in my garden. I tried to space them between the tulips I left in the ground last year. I'm not exactly sure if last year's tulips are hardy enough to last another winter, so it will be a bit of a backyard experiment for me. But the tulips turned out so beautiful last spring, I couldn't bring myself to dig them up.

Once again, I bought the tulip bulbs from a local Earl May garden center. They are an Iowa-based family business that buys their tulips directly from Holland. I love buying my garden seeds and tulips at Earl May, because I know they will carry varieties that grow well in our Midwest climate.

Here's my list of tulip varieties I planted for spring 2010:

• Donald Duck - Early spring tulip, bright red with yellow edges


• American Dream - Mid-spring tulip, orange/yellow


• Apricot Parrot - Late-spring tulip, apricot with yellow and green


• Happy Generation - Mid-spring tulip, white with red


• Bing Crosby - Mid-spring tulip, bright red


• White Dream - Mid-spring tulip, white

I'm feeling bright and sunny just thinking about these beauties and how great they will look in my garden next spring.