My mind has been on my garden for a few days now, as I observe some green shoots coming to life again. The little patch of daffodils is coming up, with buds already showing. This patch is a mixture of all yellow daffodils and some yellow and white ones. They usually bloom in late February, so they are right on time this year.
I’m watching the bird feeders closely now too, and caught a photo of a pair of downy woodpeckers. The female is on the feeder above, with the male on the suet cake. One way to distinguish them from hairy woodpeckers is by the red patch on the back of the male’s head. See how it is red all the way across? The hairy woodpeckers have a black bar down the center of the red.
On the veranda, the pink fairy lilies are growing, but no sign of buds yet. I have these planted in the pot at the base of the lemon tree. I think it is too cold here for the tree. This year, I did not take it to the Carolina room. If it leafs out again, I’ll know it will survive our winters, and will transplant it into the ground somewhere.
More birds have been coming around as the temperatures dropped into the 20s most nights this week. There are four bluebirds here, and I hope one pair will decide to nest in the birdhouse again this year. My Sweet Babboo cleaned it out, so it is ready to host a new family.
A red bellied woodpecker has been visiting regularly. He was here as soon as a new suet cake went out.
In the kitchen, my African violet seems happy, and putting out new leaves.
The orchid is growing too. I need to add some fresh lava rocks to its pot. I’ve been making a better effort to keep the rocks hydrated to increase the humidity around the plant. This seems to be working better.
The amaryllis is making great progress, now with four leaves. I have high hopes for a flower this year.
I read about using egg shells in the garden on the Farmer’s Almanac blog. You save the egg shells, bake them in a 350º oven for 10 minutes (while you are baking your dinner) or boil them for 10 minutes to kill any bacteria. Then crush them with a rolling pin in a zip top bag. Sprinkle in the garden at the bottom of the hole you dig for tomato plants to add calcium to the soil which is supposed to keep them from getting blossom end rot. We’ll see.
In the Carolina room, the geraniums are blooming. I haven’t been good about removing the spent blooms from the begonias, and this has a bonus now. The plants have made seeds, so I will have more of them this year. I need to collect them, then label the bag so I’ll remember what they are.
While I was piddling around with the plants, I decided to go through my seed stash from saving them last year. I need tomato seeds, but I have plenty of squash seeds. I have not been successful with squash, but I am ever hopeful. I found a pot of hosta seed pods that I harvested last fall. I needed to separate the seeds from the now dried and open pods, so I put them on the bench and got a plastic bag to do that job.
I also found my garden art that was originally our wedding cake topper. See how I made it into an art piece on this post – Creating Yard Art. After several years in the garden, though, the paint is flaking a bit. I still have some of the bronze spray paint, so I took it out to the bench outside. I knocked off the remaining flakes, then set it up to give it another coat of paint.
Looking good. I let it dry while I worked on the hosta seeds. It will go back in the garden when I get to planting outside, sometime in late April. See the linked post above for some photos of it with the pink dianthus. It was a great way to upcycle something stored out of sight yet full of memories, and be able to use it again. You may be unpacking things in your own closets, and viewing things in the thrift stores differently after you see how easy this was.
So, seed collecting and sorting done, everything waits for the next phase. I need some Jiffy pots to start the seeds in, and I need to clear the bench where My Sweet Babboo hung a grow light for me.
I’ll work on that a bit this week, but I don’t want to actually plant until March. Maybe this year I can get the forsythia I’ve wanted for some time.
What are your plans for your garden this year?
From My Carolina Home 
I love how you upcycled your wedding cake topper. That’s beautiful and so meaningful. And aren’t the woodpeckers wonderful? I just love them! You have a nice selection, too. Of course your gardens are ahead of ours but they always give me hope! I’m hoping my geraniums, which I brought in to winter, make it. We’ll see!
Only have room for 6 tomatoes & climbing cucumbers but I have good friends who sell at Farmers Market & they insist I take what I want. Life is good, yes ?
Geraniums ready to be trimmed/repotted then they can enjoy So. Dakota sunshine through the sun room windows until May.
I had landscapers remove excess rock out front last year then I went to work making a new annual garden. Looking forward to adding more this Spring.
There is a pair of nesting hawks (falcons ?) in the trees behind us so the rabbits were not so plentiful last summer after the “Air Force” showed up.
I’ve been using eggshells in my garden for years. You can also put them into your microwave for a couple minutes, then into your blender or food processor if you don’t have a rolling pin. I have a neighbor saving me his eggshells so I’ve now saved up a full gallon ice cream bucket worth plus working on another one. Also coffee grinds are good for acid loving plants like roses, fruit type plants. Ashes from your firepit can be added to your garden every couple years if you’re careful what you’re burning such as tree branches, leaves, plant cuttings, grass clippings.
too early for anything but indoor gardening around here – my Christmas cactus is blooming again! It;s so pretty to see your geraniums adding color
Another tidbit about egg shells. You don’t have to bake them. I leave th
I think that is the thing about gardening – we are ever hopeful that something will grow! How lovely to have the daffodils getting ready to bloom – they are my favorite flower. They won’t show up here for awhile yet. I keep looking for crocus blooms here, but not yet either.
Carole, upcycling the wedding cake topper is a fabulous idea! I love seeing daffodils in February!
I burned back the daylilies at Mom’s today. It didn’t all burn because it was still pretty wet from our last snow. I did rake through the remaining dead foliage hoping it will dry out. I’ll go back to Mom’s Sunday and pull the rest of the leaves. There’s lots of green appearing so don’t want to burn again. I’d love to dig out my daylilies and rock the area. Sure wish I was 20 years younger! Ha! Glad to see the new leaves on your amaryllis and your orchid looks good too!
My quilt gals ran inside to make me come see that my daffs were poking about 3″ up already here in ‘NY – they are always very early. I save coffee grounds, egg shells, and old banana peels in a dirt pile next to the compost pile – my new bedding mixture for Spring.
My garden is as still as night. The grass is okay but with so little snow and oddly warm temps I was hoping to temp out some blossum from the 3 trees I planted last year (I lost SEVEN trees but I’m going slowly) One Linden, one Ginkgo and one Magnolia. I put tulip bulbs around them while the men were planting the trees. Fingers crossed!
We made our list today! DH seeded cabbage already (it’s too early but he thinks they can go outside March 1! We’ll see who’s right…😂) I love seeing your daffy up!
I hope my many bulbs I planted in the fall sprout and bloom this spring. I want to expand my flower beds beyond my shrubs in the front of our home.
Dear Carole, Not sure wh
I love this post, as I am so ready to be outside and doing more (patience!!). I love how you upcycled your wedding cake topper, Carole. That’s really special. And if you plant the begonia seeds, do keep us updated on that project. I am tempted to put begonias in my annual beds. They thrive at the university campus just one block away, and always stay looking good through summer.
All the bird visitors are also welcome sights!