Hot hot hot

With the temperatures hitting above 90 degrees I would say it's summer! The snow is off Shaffer Butte and so according to area wisdom that means my tomatoes, cantelope and cucumbers are all safe. (The night never fell below freezing from the time I planted to today, but it was mid-30's a couple nights.)

I also came home for lunch today to find my first iris blooming!

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Name That Onion!

I pulled out part of what we think is an onion to get a better look at it. We found it on the outerside of our fense among the overgrown grass we ripped out to replace with wildflowers. Is it a green onion, the tops meant to be eaten? Is it a normal onion supposed to be left in the ground longer, the root meant to be eaten? Is it a shallot?

The last of my garden is getting planted tonight. As stated in a previous blog, I attempted to start 3 flowers: zinnia, allysum, and marigold. Verdict: bust. Thank goodness for grandparents! I received more zinnia from Papa and I'm picking up a gift of marigolds from Grandmom tonight. I also attempted to start cantelope from seed. Out of nine peat pods planted with 2 seeds each, only 3 germinated. I put them out to start hardening off, but when I came home, there was a catastrophe waiting for me. Something had dug in the little pods, seeds strewn about, and my germinated plants decapitated! It nearly brought me to tears. One little start made it through the ordeal. And to my surprise, a few days later (and two weeks after originally planted) another seed germinated!

A heads up: I will be on vacation for two weeks starting a week and half from now. I'm anticipating that my lettuce and broccoli are going to be ready for harvest just as we leave. Please feel free to stop by the house and pick what you would like. All I ask is that you take only the lettuce leaves that are ready and not the entire head so that more leaves can be harvested later. Please be careful to not disturb the other budding veggies as well.

Lilacs, slugs and rain, oh my!

It was a normal morning. I kissed my husband goodbye and went about fixing my breakfast. It wasn't a few seconds before I was beckoned outside to see the "biggest slug ever!" And it was. The biggest slug that I'd seen in Idaho at least. With a girlish squeal I did the most logical thing: Grabbed the salt! It was as cool as all the legends promise. I guess I will have to add beer to my grocery list to take care of the rest of the buggers that are chomping on my iris.

Speaking of my iris, their bed is infested with some sort of weed. I can never get the root out, and it has a milky puss that oozes out of the stem wounds. Anyone know what this is or how to get rid of it?

I discovered why my lilac only has 4 blooms. Lilac buds form early. If the shrub is trimmed without knowing this, one can chop off all the future fragrant flowers. The plan for trimming the upcoming year is to cut back 1/3 of the growth at the ground, continuing with the same tactic for the following two years. Lilac bushes take 3 years to bloom so this will keep it continuously producing flowers.

Shafer Butte

I've heard more than once that warm weather crops shouldn't be planted in this area until all the snow is off Shafer Butte. But my lack of patience (ahhh, my sweet life lesson) to get my tomatoes in the ground has prompted a question: is it really true? So, I decided I am going to do a little data gathering as I embark on my gardening adventure to keep track of the last night it hits below freezing, when the snow is all gone, and in the fall when the first freeze hits.

As of today, there is still snow on the hill. Last freezing temperature: April 25th at 31 degrees.