Miscellaneous Garden Updates

There’s a lot going on in the garden this week. Here are just a few of the updates.

So far my potatoes-in-a-trash-can experiment is going well.

1. Both the Yukon Gold and Russet Burbank varieties of potatoes have sprouted. They’re planted in tall kitchen garbage cans, and I plan to continue to add dirt around them as they grow, so I end up with a can full of potatoes.

2. The cherry tree has  blossomed. I never noticed that it blossoms a good two to three weeks after the peach and plum trees.

The cherry tree is finally blooming.

This is a tart cherry tree, like the one we had in our yard when I was growing up. As far as I know, there’s only one thing to do with tart cherries, and that’s make cherry pie. It looks like I’ll finally have at least one pie’s worth of cherries this year!

3. I relocated the herbs. Since I moved the garden paths pretty dramatically, several of the woody perennial herbs ended up right in the middle of a path. They look a little punky after the move, but I expect them to perk up soon. I also put in some rosemary, chives and a few cilantro seeds.

4. The peas have their first blossoms this week. It won’t be long before I’m picking nice fat pods.

5. I dug up the Swiss chard that over-wintered in the corner of the garden. I’ve seen so many slugs on it that it’s just become totally unappetizing to me. This is where my broccoli rabe seedlings will go in another week or two.

6. I raked out the dead leaves from the red-hot pokers. The bed looks much nicer, and I’m thinking I’ll mix in a few different bulbs or perennials into the bed.

7. I trimmed back all the other perennials in the corner bed. Most everything is starting to sprout already, and it looks much better with the dead branches and leaves cleaned out.

8. The lilacs are blooming like crazy.

The lilacs are in bloom; it must be spring!

Like so many houses in Arvada, I have five or six lilac bushes along my back fence. I still haven’t mastered the pruning techniques that would give them a perfect, attractive shape, but who cares what they look like when they smell so good?

9. I bought most of the rest of my vegetable seedlings from Echter’s. Anaheim and Thai chili peppers, sweet orange peppers, corn (seedlings and seeds), cucumbers, rosemary, and chives.

The weather reports are still calling for daytime temperatures in the 50s and overnight temperatures in the mid-thirties, but my brain is telling me that it’s spring. I’m ready to get the rest of these babies in the ground and start the hard work of sitting on the patio watching them grow.