who turned off spring?

i don't need to tell anyone that it is too cold, windy and wet to work in the garden today.  if you step outside, you can feel it for yourself.  with this in mind, we are hoping to make it out tomorrow, which is monday the 30th from about 3:30 until about 5 or so in the afternoon.  if you can, join us.  otherwise, look for us to be out next sunday the 5th from about 10 am until noon or so.

work day 3/28

just a reminder, this saturday the 28th is our scheduled work day in the demo garden.  from 9am to 12noon we are hoping as many people as possible will come out and help us get the demo garden cleaned up and ready for spring planting.  due to the dismal weather predicted for friday, the 27th, we are scheduling a rain date for april 11th.  let's hope the weather is not as severe as they are currently predicting and that it is not too wet to work in the garden on saturday.  if that is the case, see you on the 11th!!!

3/22 & 3/23 it's looking a lot like spring

the weather this weekend was so nice and warm with plenty of sun that we decided to come out again on Monday!  on sunday, darry and i were the only lonely gardeners tending to the beds!

i spent two hours on my hands and knees, literally, just trying to get ahead of the weeds in the walkways.  even though we are applying a new layer of mulch to the walkways, i want to get out as many of the large weeds as possible.  in some areas where we have mulched over the weeds, they are coming up through the mulch!!!

while i was crawling around the walkways, darry busied himself with the blueberry bushes.  fresh from dave lockwoods lecture last week, darry decided to try and clean up the poor neglected shrubs-i hope the folks from the extension office don't mind!  there was a lot of dead wood to remove.

this small area around the little table is where i spent my entire two hours weeding.  when i stood up to survey my progress, i was a little disappointed in how far i hadn't gotten.

the weeds i pulled filled the wheel barrow about half way.  there were a lot of little weeds and weeds with taproots and bulbs that required a lot of digging.

the new layer of mulch that darry and turner have been applying.

sugar bear enjoying a trip to the garden, yes we keep her chained up when she visits.  after the deer debacle, i hesitate to even bring her!

don't forget, this weekend is our big clean up day on saturday at 9 am.  darry and i will not be able to help out because we will be attending the beekeepers workshop but we will be out on sunday the 29th at about 10am if anyone would like to join us!

3/15 too wet for me

after 5 days of rain, it was way too wet for working in the garden.  however, cherri joined us today to walk through the garden and help us determine what we need to do to get the garden ready for spring planting.  we have lots to do and we are hoping that everyone will come out on 3/28 for our first scheduled work day of the season.  we are asking that everyone come out at 9am with their favorite tools.  see you there!

3/7, saturday-lots of love needed!

this garden has burst into bloom, weed bloom that is!  it is as if someone collected every undesirable plant in the county and deposited them in the walkways of the demo garden.  we came a day early so we could spend the day at the lawn and garden show on sunday, but there was so much to do that we didn't get very far.  if you would like to help out, come to the garden for the big clean up on 3/28 from 9-12 or just come on out when you have time.  the most necessary tasks are listed in the column to the right or just read on and look at the pictures to get a good idea.

the only thing blooming in the garden was this little mahonia plant in the shade garden

the apple and peach trees have set buds and should be in bloom within a few days

the walkways are full of weeds that need pulling

the hibiscus trial garden is overgrown with sprouted straw and weeds

the brick borders for the shade garden need to be trenched in so they stay upright

the rose garden needs lots of attention.  the bricks need to be trenched in and the beds need to be weeded and raked.

wide view shot of the entire rose garden and the wrought iron gazebo

you can't see where the butterfly garden is-lots of leaves need to be removed and the bricks need to be trenched in.  probably needs to be weeded and the dead branches removed/trimmed.

the grass needs to be clipped back and the beds weeded

the perennial bed needs to be weeded and have the dead stalks removed
someone pruned the apple trees but left behind all of the branches, they will need to be removed.  wouldn't it be great if we could chip them for mulch?

there are two beds like this under the trees and they need to be weeded and raked
this raised bed looks as if it is about to be invaded by henbit!

the compost will need some help if it is to become active.  we need some strong people to remove all of the contents, stir/flip them up a bit and then put them back in the bin and water it.  the fencing also needs to be repaired.

just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a group to maintain a large garden.  please come on out and give us a hand, we would truly appreciate the help!

nashville lawn and garden extravaganza

what a weekend!  the lawn and garden show was a lot of fun to both attend and to work.  so many friendly people that like us, are garden happy.  darry volunteered to give a talk on cultivating mushrooms on sunday and i went along as photographer.  a small group turned out to hear what he had to say, but never the less, he had a great time of it.  it's too bad that the mushroom kit he started had not yet begun to sprout mushrooms  but if it should do so this week, we will bring it to thursdays monthly meeting.

darry showing off the spore print from a portobello and explaining the importance of taking spore prints in identifying mushrooms as well as how to actually make one.

darry chatting with more enthusiastic mushroom fans.

on his way back to the main lecture hall, jeff poppen stopped by and let me take darry's picture with him.  what a nice guy, the lecture was fun and we enjoyed the chance to listen to his garden wisdom and answer any questions the audience threw at him!

many members of the davidson county master gardeners banded together to create the beautiful displays.  from building fences, laying bricks and beds to painting the murals. they did a wonderful job, it was an impressive sight.

the theme was yards of flavor and each part of the display had a theme.  there were 4 displays to look at and each contained items that were part of a silent auction.

one of my favorite things, a lasagna garden!

yet another beautiful display by the dcmg!

is it any wonder that the dcmg was awarded the best show theme award?  congratulations to all of the members who worked hard to make this show possible.  your hard work payed off!

SNOW!?!

obviously, with weather like this, we will not be out in the garden today.  hopefully, next weekend we will get lucky and have a warmer, drier day for working in the garden!  stay warm and dry!