THE HOUSE DWELLING TREE FROG

Every year when I put out my bird house, it does get occupied, BUT...it has never been occupied by a bird.

 

Yes folks you are seeing correctly...it is a tree frog.  Not sure if its the same one each year, but it or they seem to prefer a house to a tree.



PARIDISE ON EARTH!

Need I say More?

ALOT HAPPENING IN THE GARDEN

It has been cold in Wisconsin again, but things are still growing...outside and in the house.

I took my tuberous begonia out of the basement a week ago and it is budding nicely

My clematis is doing great

daffodils

Miniature rose bush

Some of my sugar snap pea plants.  We have had frost at night so I keep them covered with milk jugs to protect them and keep them warm

A planter full of radishes in the green house

Cattails starting to come up in the back of the pond

I have a garden window full of vegetable plants that grew faster then anticipated but it is not nearly warm enough to plant anything except the cool weather plants outside at this time...I'm keeping my fingers cross that it warms up soon!  Happy Gardening!





AND WE GOT SPROUTS!

After spring had officially sprung, I started filling up the garden window with pans of peat pellets filled with seeds.  The weather isn't as warm as it was before spring started, but at least the sun was warm and my seeds did massively sprout.

I did 4 broccoli seeds on march 13th and 3 did come up.

sugar snap pea sprouts

Onions

Yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini and herbs

Here are some of my coleus cuttings that managed to get out into the green house to bask in the sun during the warm weather.  They ended up back in the house during the cold snap we had this week.  We are expecting a beautiful 70 degree weekend, cant wait to get back out there and work up a few more gardens!

Happy gardening everyone!



COMPOSTING

The end of winter flowed graciously into spring here where I live.  We have had record breaking temps and the compost left in the box over the winter is all thawed and workable.  I have been turning the compost daily for a week now and have noticed a huge breakdown in the debris already.  We added pond sludge in the box also for the spring pond clean up...this should be a great box of dirt when its done.

I also started another area to keep my brown material in for the season, which I add as I go along.  My husband is in the process of building me another box so it will have a real place to be placed soon.

I made this new raised garden at the end of last year to use up all the rich dirt I made last year and cant wait to plant it.

I also used some to make a new rhubarb patch.



WINTER REARS ITS UGLY FACE.

I was actually quit bummed by the fact that we were going to have a snowstorm so late in winter.  Yes I no, we hadn't had no snow all winter( very unusual in Wisconsin ) but its too late now, spring is right around the corner!  My daffodil's were peeking out of the ground just the other day only to be blanketed with white stuff.

I hope that blankets warm enough!

My pond was thawing nicely from all the unseasonable warm temps we had this winter and as I looked down in the water I actually could see a few fish moving around.

I was also going to start getting my greenhouse ready for plants, and get the pots all cleaned and ready.  Foiled again by mother nature (that b#t#h)!

This is my second home during planting season

My poor potting shed, waiting for better days

Well enough grumbling about it...it is what it is!  For now I will get my gardening fix in the house and use my mini greenhouse!

Look at all the lovely experiments!









BEAUTIFUL VALENTINES BOUQUET

Ill admit, I was pretty lucky for valentines day this year.  My husband, who is not a romantic, really went all out this year.  He set up reservations at our favorite restaurant and actually has a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers delivered there and sitting on the table when we arrived. 

I cant wait until my garden starts producing these luscious looking flowers again.  The perfume of the white lilies permeate the air in the house and remind me of all the fragrances of the flowers in my summer garden.  So as the sun shines brightly today and melts away the little snow accumulation we received this week, I will be having dreams of flowers, blooming in my garden as lovely as these!

GROWING LEAF LETTUCE IN THE WINTER

Still longing for spring,and with the few inches of snow and freezing temperatures arriving on Friday, it dampened my spirits just a little.  Gardening is just in my blood and I do find a way to do some all winter long.  My new adventure is leaf lettuce in my garden window.

Lettuce is a cool weather crop and I figured there would be perfect conditions in my garden window...Plenty of light, plenty of sun but also cool enough to get some good germination on the seeds.   I put some jiffy seed starter in a domed planter flat, sprayed with a nice drink of water, spread with a thin layer of seed, sprinkled on a bit more dirt, sprayed again and put the dome on.  Then into the window it went

 So after 5 days, here is what the lettuce looks like and it is actually sprouting, so actually another winter gardening experiment has been successful!

Here the lettuce seeds after 7 days

COLEUS EXPERIMENT

I had heard that coleus were great for cuttings, but was one plant I hadn't tried yet.  I had 6 different varieties this last season and I wished, like I do every year, that I could save some.  I really didn't realize how easy it was or would be to grow cuttings of a coleus.

I am lucky enough to have a garden window in my kitchen, kinda like a mini greenhouse, to be able to keep plants happy and thriving in the winter.  These cuttings were only about 3 inch tall when put in the pots and are now  1 to 2 feet tall.

All these cuttings have been in my garden window since September 28th, 2011

A 2 foot tall coleus cutting.

GERANIUMS

Geraniums are a pretty easy plant to save from year to year and all the methods I have tried all worked.  The method I like the best is the paper bag one, which consists of cutting back each plant, dig out, put the plant in a paper bag and roll the bag down.  As easy as can be, and all you need to do is soak the roots in water once a month and re bag it.

There are little flowers on the stems

I also experimented with leaving two pots of geraniums intact, the only thing I did was cut them short and these I water once a month too and keep a paper bag covering them in a dark corner of the basement.



The plants do have growth on them, in the pots and in the bags.  There are actual  flowers on the stems each month when I take them out to soak, not sure if that's good or not. but this is an experiment after all so I'm sure Ill find out.



THE MIRACLE OF A BUTTERFLY

     Wild milkweed, what can I say about It?  It isn't a pretty plant, but the monarch butterfly thinks so!

     I first became accustomed to the milkweed plant on a hiking trip.  It was covered with monarch butterflies dancing an awesome dance,  lingering on each leaf for a moment, then moving on.  I mentally thought to myself...gotta take a few of them home.

     I planted my wild milkweed in my butterfly garden. Nothing came up the year I planted them, so I thought they were just not compatible with our naturalized way of life.  Boy, was I wrong!  The next year the milkweed came up with a vengeance.  There was so many milkweed plants that I had to pull some to make my garden look like there was a few flowers in it.  The ones that were left flourish and towered over all the other flowers.

     I noticed that there were green caterpillar's up and down the leaves and stems of the milkweed.  Upon further investigation I also noticed what looked like eggs.  I decided to make an aquarium for my new caterpillars to see what would happen.  I picked caterpillars of all sizes and put a leave or two of milkweed in there every day....The leaves started disappearing and the caterpillars started growing.

     I had quite a few cocoons all summer long and new there schedule well. Now me and my grand kids have made collecting caterpillars a summer long adventure!

cocoon

getting ready to emerge

Emerging

Unfolding

Finished emerging

Getting ready to start life

Another beautiful monarch