More gardening weather for a day or two

It was overcast the whole time I was gardening and then when I called it a day, the sun came out.

Today and tomorrow are a bit warmer so I'm taking advantage of these milder afternoons and getting a few hours in the veggie garden today and tomorrow. Today I built a new, small, raised bed and planted it with some lettuce and broccoli, and re-planted my terra cotta strawberry planter with ten Quinault ever bearing strawberries. That makes 35 ever bearings planted this year. The other 25 are in a raised bed. 

I have some June bearers on order, so hopefully they will be here soon, so I need to get another bed made for them. This year I decided on planting a lot more strawberry plants than I think I'd need because once the birds and other critters take their share, I never seem to have more than a couple of berries left to nibble in the garden. 

At my old house, a neighbors dog loved to help himself to my strawberries. I like to share; but hey guys, leave me at least as much as you take, alright?

My lone artichoke survived the winter thanks to the mulching I did in the fall. A couple of days ago. I planted a few peat pots with more artichokes  I should have done that a couple of weeks ago, but hopefully they'll do OK this season. It's a variety that produce a larger fruit and since the type my local garden centers sell only produce medium fruit it was time for me to find a variety with bigger fruit since I loved making and eating stuffed artichokes.

Tomorrow I'll be back in the veggie garden AKA the secret garden to make another raised bed  and plant spinach seeds. I already have a bed of spinach starts planted, so these seeds will keep me in fresh spinach later in the spring.

My snow peas aren't up yet but they've only been in about a week. This year I planted a 3 foot section of them, which will be plenty for my stir fry dishes and in my salads, and some to snack on in the garden.  

Well, that's the garden report for today. Time to clean up, get in my pj's and start on my linguine with clams comfort food dinner, and tune in the Grammy awards later.

Planting weather

It's been over 9 months since my last blog post here and so much has happened. My husband Jim passed away two and a half months ago after a  5 year battle that he fought with optimism and courage; but in the end, the cancer won out.

I've been spending the past few months trying to deal with all the paper work and that is still not finished, but I am beginning to see a light at the end of this paper work tunnel. Living alone has it's own set of challenges, and one is the temptation to just grab any old thing to eat, so I've promised myself to not get into that trap and I am cooking healthy meals for myself.

My body was so stressed after those last 6 months of taking care of Jim and the house and animals, that I lost a lot of weight. I'm getting my strength back now and hoping to keep the weight off.

Cooking just for myself is easier, only because, for the most part, I'm cooking simple dinners for the most part and often have leftovers even though I'm halving my usual recipes.

My kitchen was in the middle of a remodel when Jim passed away and it took another month after his passing before it was completed and another week or so for me to organize all the cabinets.

Life goes on amid the loss and sadness and with a short bout of spring weather this week, I'm taking advantage of it and have purchased a lot of bare root berries, roses and perennials. I planted 25 ever bearing strawberries the other day and have June bearing strawberries and asparagus on order.

Tomorrow I'll start planting the packaged perennials, and then the roses. The berries are temporarily covered with soil, so planting can wait for those.

Today I bought some spinach, lettuce and swiss chard starters, so I'll need to prep another two of my raised beds and get those and spinach seeds planted tomorrow or the next day or so.

This lovely, warm, high 60'sF weather is due to be here till Thurday when rain is expected later in the day,  and cooler weather is coming in with it. Hopefully the planting and some new raised beds will get made before the weather turns back to more typical early February temperatures.