Wednesday Wandering - Naturalizing Daffodils and Winter Sown Progress

 

I have several areas of the property where I've been naturalizing with daffodils since deer and rabbits don't seem to bother them.  This area is shaded by an old pear tree and near a wooded area we have fenced off and now let the neighboring farmer's cattle graze. When we first moved here over 30 years ago we planted a lot of trees in that wooded area because at that time our house was heated only by wood. 

I planted this area with miniature daffodil bulbs last year after I found a good deal on 100 bulbs. Of course the bulbs arrived in the fall one of those times my husband was in the hospital but I did manage to get them all planted in time for a glorious display this year.  Now hopefully the cute little daffodils will continue to multiply. It's a short walk from the house so good incentive to get a little exercise. 

This is another shady area divided up into little areas by stepping stones with a dying dwarf peach tree in the center of the area.  To the right and out of sight is our bean/corn field we contract out to the neighboring farmer.  Bordering the field a lot of scrub trees like mulberries and honeysuckle have sprung up and we have not been able to keep them under control since kids left home and hubby got cancer. I go along and trim out most new bushes. Well, anyway, the north winds have given a lot of those old mulberries a big push right into some of my flower gardens.  I made the best of this old mulberry that fell many years ago. I thought it looked like a nice place to sit and rest and enjoy the scenery. When I sit on that fallen tree branch I am surrounded by a lot of shade loving plants. If I look farther in front of me there is a cottage garden and to the left and across a wide grass path is a cutting garden.    

Right now the lightly scented miniature daffodils are in bloom along with a few fritillaria and muscari and wild violets.  

Back on Feb. 4 I celebrated winter sowing.  I showed this picture and wrote: "Also the last few days I've been celebrating Winter Sowing. You can Google to find more info on winter sowing. I've been doing it for years.  So far I've sown seeds of several different Larkspurs and Delphiniums, Love Lies Bleeding, Forget-Me-Nots, Verbena Hostata, Cowslip, Wild Primrose, Sea Holly, Snapdragons, a couple of different columbines, a couple of different Foxgloves, Butterfly Weed, Rattlesnake Master, Hoary Vervain, Borage and Jacob's Ladder.  I will probably post more about this in some future Wednesday Wandering posts.  If my packet has a lot of seeds I sow in milk jugs otherwise I sow in 4 inch pots. "

Well, all these months later here's what my 4 inch pots hold now - sprouts. Most of these seeds were very tiny and sown on the surface of the soil. 

The seeds I sow in the milk jugs are larger seeds and here's what's in the jugs now. 

I already have leaf lettuce, spinach and mustard greens sown in the veg garden.In the milk jug I started several different butterhead type lettuces I want to grow into little heads. I hope to separate and plant those out into the veg garden today or tomorrow. I'll put a row cover over them so the groundhog, rabbits and deer don't feast on the lettuce before I do.   

In the cutting garden I noticed that this year that last year's larkspur reseeded itself and I have a lot of larkspur sprouts. Before I saw those sprouts I was doing an experiment by planting larkspur seeds in milk jugs in Feb. and then planting larkspur in the garden in early April to compare growth. The milk jug sprouts are ready to plant out and the seeds planted in the garden are just now coming up. 

And I have sprouts in all of the other milk jugs too. Oh joy! 

So, if you don't have a lot of room in the house to plant seeds you might want to Google "winter sowing".   I've been doing it for years. 

And sow on...

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 21 - Finished reading The Thirteenth Child by Mark deMeza -- a WWII historical novel based upon a true story. It takes place in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation.  The weird thing is that I was reading in the book about the Amsterdam General Strike of 1941  that took place in opposition to the round up of Jews at about the same time I was reading the news of Pro-Palestinian protestors shutting down major roads in the U.S. 

April 22 - Earth Day! I dug into the earth and planted gladioli bulbs - about 100 of them. Here in Iowa we have to plant them in spring and dig them up in the fall. 

April 23 - I saw a Painted Lady butterfly. Painted Ladies remind me of my deceased granddaughter, Kayla. I celebrated her life with a Painted Lady butterfly release in the county park the summer after she passed away.