Our life in Oregon's Willamette Valley bounded by the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Ranges to the west, and the Calapooya mountains to the south.
My sister recently gave me Mary Engelbreit’s book: She who Loves a Garden. Then I remembered that I also had ME’s book: A Book about Tea. Since some grandchildren are coming to spend more time with us, I have been busy thinking about Elevenses, and Low Tea, and High Tea, and getting the tea things organized. My granddaughter informed me in one of our recent phone calls that she would like to do the watering of the flowers when she came. I have a watering can ready for her for that activity as well. Not to mention the doll quilts, and the refurbishing of the Pooh Club House in past posts. These two books in my ME collection represent two of my favorite things.
Repotting my four lemon trees has been on the “To Do” list ever since learning about a good potting soil mix for lemon trees. They have been under a light for the winter in the house and they were too dry, and while the light helped, I have seen them happier.
My plan was to repot them with the new soil recommended for lemon trees in pots, and letting them spend the spring in the hoop house which can get quit humid at times, and there is more natural light. I also wanted to prepare the beds for getting in my salad greens.
Marvin has named the trees, and I think this one is Jack, who will be guarding the door. It was recommended that the trees be planted in pots no smaller than 14 inches diameter, and 14 inches high. I do not recall where I read the instructions, but when I run across it, I will update this post. I grew these trees from the seeds of a Meyer lemon.
These two trees, Sunny and Su are quite opposites for having come from the same lemon. Next to them behind the end of the bed, are two hydrangeas I started from cuttings. I am giving them a little more time to mature before planting them out.
A Closer Look at the Hydrangea Starts
The fourth tree in the terra cotta pot to the back right side, is probably the healthiest plant named Hannah Banana, because the leaves are growing large and they tend to get yellow, whereas the others do not. I am hoping my new soil recipe will cure that. I also repotted an ivy I found along the fence while weeding last fall, and it will grow on the lattice, and I will put some colorful flowers in with it later in the spring. The pot with the blue star flower has a repotted geranium I over wintered, and when it gets over it transplant shock, I am going to start some petunia seeds to go around the sides. The long bed with the square white lattice is prepared for three tomato plants: two slicers, and a cherry tomato. The long blue bed on the right is for the salad greens, the bed by the door next to Jack is for peppers and a few other salad things, and a basil plant.
A few days previous, I also weeded a space to get the peas planted. I made this stick arbor for them last year, and it worked well, so I will try it again this year. I changed its location though, as it was along the fence, and it cut off sun and light to the back side, so I have it out in the front of the bed this time.
I plan to plant a small climbing pink baby rose bush on the arbor. I know a Morning Glory would probably be lovely, but I love roses, and they will bloom most of the season. I am always worried that the morning glory will over stay its welcome.
Always give credit to the opportunists who brighten their corner.
Finally, the gardener’s best friend, the potting shed. Cleaned and organized, but not cutesy, for another exciting gardening season of great expectations.
It has been a long hot, dry summer, so I was not always out in the garden as often as I would have been in previous years when the heat spells were broken up with cooler weather. Never the less, things did grow with or without me. Besides what we ate fresh, I was able to can the following: 8 pts. strawberry jam, 2 qts. refrigerator dill pickles, 15 pts. green beans, 6 pts. beet pickles, 7 pts. raspberry jam, and a jar of syrup, 11 pts. garlic dill slicer pickles, 9 pints of dill relish, and 7 pts. of sweet relish, and 13 pints of diced tomatoes.
We also ate fresh cabbage, rhubarb, pulled about 20 garlic bulbs, 48 red, yellow onions, 15 pumpkin pie pumpkins, peppers, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuces, and spinach, strawberries, raspberries, and corn. My garden journal has a long list of “no-nos” for next year, and suggestions for improvement. Still waiting on the two melons who decided to appear finally. I only got two carrots seeds to germinate after several plantings, but those two were the most perfect, beautiful carrots I have ever grown, really.
After painting the front room, it seemed a bit of color from the garden was in order. The only problem is the flowers can’t bloom fast enough sometimes, and sometimes they bloom and are gone before I get around to bringing them in. It came together this time. I sent my mother some yarn for her birthday and a book of patterns. I marked a couple patterns that I liked, and she knitted the little mat and mailed it back to me. It is one of my treasures now. My sister Merrie crocheted the nesting baskets, which I also treasure. A home full of beauty. The rose in the center of the bouquet is called “Double Delight” and has the most wonderful fragrance.
Ever since my sister, Merrie, got her hoop house, I wanted to try one in my garden. I thought with our climate here in the Willamette Valley, it could be a way to stretch out our garden season. The most expensive part was buying the greenhouse quality plastic for the covering. I already had my location picked out, so early spring I got busy, while waiting for the frame work to get underway. I started making beds, and getting seeds started.
Soon it was time to get the frame work set up. I used the long blue bed I had my strawberries in that was covered with leaves above, and placed it along the shed wall. I moved the strawberries to their new location in the south west corner of the yard.
Little by little we got our hoop house ready to be moved into. The plants seem to thrive in the more controlled environment. I really needed one more bed across the back wall, but decided to experiment with some potatoes in a basket, and another bunch in a large garbage bag with a tomato frame to hold up the sides. They seem to like it. I have petunias planted in the hanging pots. In time it will get filled up.
“Double Delight ” are the pink roses, and the yellow one is a “Peace” rose.
On our 33rd anniversary, we drove up to Mount Hood Lodge for their lunch buffet. We had never been there and heard the food was delicious. Sadly, it was so chilly, and spitting snow with an overcast sky, that we did not see much of a view from any vantage point. We did enjoy the meal and exploring the lodge. It was certainly a good idea for an anniversary meal, regardless of the weather. There were surprisingly a lot of skiers finding places to enjoy their sport. Did I say our anniversary is July 2nd?! It seemed like a safe time to ascend the mountain and see the vistas.
On the way home, in the lowland, we stopped at a large nursery and bought a rose bush for our future home on Vinyard Avenue. We originally wanted a “Double Delight” , and evidently so did everyone else. So Marvin remembered when he helped a lady with her yard, that she had a “Peace” rose that had a good fragrance, so we bought one of those. It is a beautiful yellow rose with rose bud pink edges, but later when we acquired a “Double Delight” there was no comparison to the fragrance.
When I was a young child, my grandmother often bought our birthday cakes from her friend. They were more delicious and beautiful than any cake that I ever bought from a bakery. I have specific memories of the perfectly shaped roses that tasted exactly like what a “Double Delight” rose smells like. If you only have the room, or want to care for only one rose, it simply must be a “Double Delight.”
The strawberry patch didn’t get the memo. Tonight, as I was doing a slug check on the strawberry plants, I found one “wanna be” for the celebration, and I decided it deserved some recognition even though it was a couple days late. I am glad to have a strawberry from my garden any day, so this is close enough. There were a couple more contenders with yellow tips on them. Strawberries are one of my favorite plants to have in the garden. Generally, things go well for me in the small fruit department.
I have planted a lot of trees over the years, but I can’t recall doing so specifically for Arbor Day. I don’t remember even doing anything special for the day when I was a youngster in school.
According to the Arborday.org web page, a Nebraska pioneer, J. Sterling Morton, is responsible for the original Arbor Day recognition on April 10, 1872. Having driven through Nebraska quite a few times, I can understand the need for thinking about tree planting. On that first Arbor Day, more than a million trees were planted in the state. In 1885 the governor of Nebraska made April 22, Mr. Sterling’s birthday, a legal holiday for the state. Since then other states have done the same, choosing days best suitable for setting out trees in the spring. Not to be out done, Oregon has designated the first full week of April as Arbor WEEK.
With the COVID-19 lockdown, there were probably not a lot of trees planted then. I planted two fruit trees in my yard last fall, a yellow delicious (on the right) and a McIntosh (on the left). I am counting them as my 2020 Arbor Week contribution. They are both blooming now, a respectful nod to Nebraska’s Arbor day holiday on April 22.
