More planting...but not so much planning

Strawberry update...all but maybe two strawberry plants are looking fantastic! Even have a flower. See below.

The rhubarb is coming up!  So excited about that!  See below.

The apple trees are starting to leaf out!  See below.

The flower bulbs I planted are coming along nicely...See below.

The blueberries aren't doing so well.  I may lose three out of four.  I'll have to try again on those.  See below.

The cucumbers are getting their true leaves.  Now I need to do some serious garden planning.  On the other hand the  butternut, yellow and zucchini squash haven't sprouted and neither has the watermellon.  Time to get some newer seeds I think and try again.  I may just plant them outside in the garden at this point.

I planted the Mammoth Russian Sunflowers along the fence.  We'll know in 10-14 days if any of those are actually going to grow.  Although it may take longer to see them because I planted the seeds among the grass, which I trimmed first, but now I won't be trimming for a while again.  I also threw out some grass seed in our little yard.  I figured that since it is supposed to rain every other day for the next week, I'd take advantage of the free watering service.

Planning and Planting

Spring has sprung here in Northern Utah, and as usual the weather is like a giant roller coaster.  Last week 70's and sunny (perfect!), this week torrential rain, wind, hail, and lows in the 30's.  So I rely on the saying "April showers bring May flowers" to get me through.  I also enjoy the fact that there is no watering to do because it has already been taken care of.  

On a more garden-y note...I've got some seeds going in the house, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut, cucumbers (pickling and muncher) and watermelon.  So far only the cucumbers have sprouted and I got so excited!

I've also got my columnar apple trees planted in planters outside.  There are four of them that will make a nice little feature at the front end of the yard.  Very excited for them to start leafing out.

The blueberries are ready to go in their own buckets, just needs to be warm enough at night to leave them out.

Then I also have about a billion strawberry plants...well, okay, not a billion, but 75 sure seems like a billion. I'm going to try the strawberries in rain gutter along the top rail of the fence this year and see how that goes.  Got the gutter, put in the drain holes, and put it up.  A little excited about that.

And half ready with dirt

And ta-da! 40 strawberries in their nice new home. 

What to do with the other 35? Put them in with the apples...

And make a centerpiece for the patio table. 

I got some mosquito repelling plants, lavendar, bee balm, and basil.  No marigolds at the store yet so I got some marigold seeds. 

Then I'm such a sucker...garden-in-a-can.  Dill...in a can. That is all.

Question of the week...where to put the rhubarb? 

How about in here?

And I was thinking that today might be the day to plant the sunflowers along the outside of the north side of the fence. :)

Actually, that will have to wait until next weekend. I'm pooped!

A trial-and-error plan.  I'm going to disconnect my kitchen and bath water from the mulch basin and use that water for watering the garden.  I'll keep you posted when that takes place...not quite ready for that yet, but since the title of the post is PLANNING and planting, I figured I'd better mention some future plans.  

Bench cover

It must be spring because the projects are easier to begin. Or maybe my Vitamin D is back to a halfway normal level. Whatever the reason, a long-awaited project finally rose to the top of the list. Yes, the bench cover.  I forgot how much I enjoy projects like this. So here's where we started...a cut up old mattress cover for padding, green outdoor canvas, a zipper that I decided not to use, some Velcro that will only get used if the cover decides to habitually shift, a ruler, and a measuring tape. Let's GO!

Laying out the fabric. 

I love sewing corners😜

I also serged all the edges, but I'm sure your imagination can take care of that picture. 

Done!  Of course there was pressing seams and hems in there somewhere, staying up too late and indecision about the hem stitch, but it got finished. 

Speaking of the hem stitch, I decided to get a little fancy. It is a setting on my little inexpensive IKEA sewing machine. Got about halfway finished with the hem and realized that the stitch reminded me of an old lady tablecloth edge. Oh well,  

I also got some plants planted this weekend.  Started with some bulbs...lillies, gladiolus, and crocusmia (really tall with little red flowers) then moved to some things for the garden. We've got cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, and watermelon going so far. 

Then I ordered my birthday present...four columnar apple trees, a bunch of strawberries, and four blueberry plants. So excited for them all to come. The columnar apples are super cool and I'll plant them in big pots. They grow straight up on one branch and produce regular sized apples. So excited! Oh I said that already!