The Mountain

I realized a short while ago I have never shown any pictures of the mountain mentioned in the title of the blog. 

South Mountain is not particularly high, it tops out at about 1200 feet in this section.  It is a long sprawling affair that actually looks like a few mountains,  but is actually just one.  The mountain is 70 miles long and 12 miles at is widest.  It is the northenmost mountain in the Blue Ridge chain.

View from the deck.

This what I see from the front of the house.  The house is located towards the base on the western side.  From my front door I can see the Washington Monument that is at the summit.  This is actually the first monument in the country that was dedicated to George Washington.  The residents of the town actually crowded into the top of the monument to watch the battle of Antietam (which is the next town over) during the Civil War.  There was also a not well known battle fought on the mountain itself.

View from the front porch, the monument is circled.

Close up of the monument.

Just a little information about the blogs title...

The Freeze: One Day Later... More Damage

I should have known better and remembered that it can take a day or two for hard frost damage to show up. 

It seems that was heavy damage on rapidly growing perennial and bulbs.  It wasn't garden wide, just in certain spots. 

The roses were the hardest hit, they had several inches of growth that is now wilted and crispy looking.  The bleeding heart completely collapsed and my hydrangea is completely brown.  The biggest surprise was that some of my daylilies and Asiatic lillies have MAJOR damage.  I'll know in a few days if they have chance this year.

On a brighter note, I noticed tiny roots on the pepper seeds from Granny that I started pre-sprouting on Sunday!

Surviving the Freeze

Yesterday morning when I left for work it was 28 degrees .  It was very unsettling walking passed frozen tulips.  When I got home the first thing I noticed was that all of the magnolia blossoms had turned into ugly brown blobs.  Hmnn...

When I went out back to check the potager I was able to breathe again.  The only thing that had slight damage was the arugula.  I find this odd since I've had arugula over winter with no damage at all.  I guess it's growth stage determines winter hardiness.

I was hoping that the forest of volunteer tomatoes and morning glories would be history.  Of course not, they all looked hale and hearty and if they had tongues they would have been sticking them out a me!  I may save a volunteer tomato or two, but the morning glories will be gone this weekend.  Even one or two strays will take over like last year.

I'll concede this one to Mother Nature...

Run Between the Raindrops...

Finally, a typical spring day here.  Overcast, light rain off and on, temps in the fifties.

I went out between the showers and got a few more pictures and even got a few more seeds in the ground.  I chitted some old beet seed on Thursday and when I checked them today they had mostly started to send out roots.  I planted a row of mixed 'Detroit Dark Red' and 'Golden Detroit' and half of row of 'Albino Verduro Improved'.

The spinach has settled in and appears to be starting to grow.  The 'Scarlet' spinach is growing like gang busters.

Spinach patch one week after planting.

'Scarlet' spinach.

More peas are sprouting, and the 'Blizzard' snow peas are really taking off.  Can you believe that these were sown last Saturday?

'Blizzard' snow peas.

The arugula is doing nicely.

Arugula and 'Giant Nobel' spinach.

These are volunteer tomatoes.  They are springing up like grass everywhere.

Volunteer tomatoes.

Elsewhere in the garden, I found the first of the 'Grandpa Ott' morning glories have sprouted.

The volunteer bleeding heart are blooming.

My variegated honesty is also starting to bloom.  I have two strains- white and purple.  I love the frosted look of the leaves.

Indoors I began to pre-sprout my peppers and tomatoes.

Now I need to figure out what is eating my radish sprouts...

Curses, Foiled Again!!!

By Mother Nature, who else?

I knew we were supposed to have a chance of thunder storms all weekend.  When I got up we still had had no rain.  I hoped I get outside and do a bit of planting before the rain, as well as take a few pictures.

Just as I got out side with the camera, there were a few drops of rain.  No problem, I started snapping pictures... within five minutes it was a drenching downpour! 

Oh well, I did get a few good pictures, and I really need to get caught up on my indoor seed starting.  The only problem is I keep hearing chuckling coming from somewhere...

The raised bed, daffodils at their peak with tulips starting.

'Obdam' daffodil.

'Thalia' the "orchid flowering" daffodil.

Tulips, daffodils and 'Woodside' columbines in the front.

Seeds are Sprouting

The first of the seeds planted in the potager have sprouted.

First to sprout was the arugula, on Tuesday.  A record for spring taking only 3 days.

Clumps of arugula.

Today the first of the peas and radishes popped up.

The first of the peas sprouts.

Radish sprouts.

It took the radish and chitted peas only 5 days to sprout.  The warm temps and the 4 drizzly days must be the key. 

On Saturday the temps are supposed to cool down into the 60's for a while, much better temps for the new sprouts.



Today in the Garden- March 18, 2011

Today started out overcast and little cooler.

I did get the hollyhocks transplanted and a few of the extra iris rhizomes (yes, I know it is the wrong season!) that were in the potager.  I then topped of the bark mulch in the paths.  The only planting done was few 'Unwin's Striped Mix' sweet peas that I had pre- sprouted.

The spinach patch is now covered with bird netting.  Last year was a double whammy for spinach.  Germination was very sparse and as soon as the few came up, they were snipped off by birds.  This year will be different!  There are now 42 spinach transplants covered with netting.

Speaking of sweet peas, while going through the stash I found I had quite a collection of heirloom varieties.  I'm starting to pre- sprout them now and hope that I can some of the more interesting ones to germinate.  The seed is between 6 and 4 years old.