Week 3 In a NY Garden

Week 3 - January 14 - 20

Weather - Mid 40's cloudy

So this week in Irish Gardens we continue to plan and look through the seed catalogs.  Not everything can be done in one week you know.  So this week we will continue to plan for the upcoming season. 

Just because we are still in the planning stage doesn't mean you are ready for that yet.  Maybe you are just joining us and have decided to start a garden this year. Well here is something else you should think about.  Do you know what zone you are in?  Check out the Plant hardiness zone map here and make sure you know. 

Here to the left is a map of NY to show you that even here we have many microclimates and there for different zones.  Irish Gardens is located in Dutchess County and in Zone 6a

 Now that you know that do you know your last frost date?  This is a special date that on average you won't have a frost after and it becomes safe to plant tender annuals on or after that day.  Click here to find this date out.

Above is the zip code for Irish Gardens.  This is what it should look like when you put in your location.. It will give you other information as well but this section is the most important to you.  

Now that you have this information when you go about planning your garden you can know what plants are good in your area and when you can plant them.  Make sure to write these dates down on the first page of your plans.  The Almanac is a good place to go for other gardening tips each month...

So what are you going to be doing in your garden this week?  Are you like me and continuing weeks 1 and 2 or are you on to a new step?  Post about it and let us know....

This week in a NY garden - Week 2

Week 2 - January 7-13

Weather - 30 degree's blue skys

This week at Irish Gardens it's time to map out the garden plans against last years gardens and what seeds we have on hand.  For me I took this survey that was done of the house in 2009 and added the gardens.

Now you can see all the little gardens that make up Irish Gardens.  You don't have to have a map like this but I like to because it helps me plan things.  Like for instance I know that the sun travels from left to right along the top of this map so all (mostly all) of the gardens in the top half of the map will have 6+ hours of sun every day.  

Next I take each garden (by name-as they have all been named) and focus on them one at a time.

Like this one circled is the Greenhouse garden....so named as it is the greenhouse.  I take each one and make a more to scale diagram of it like this......

Each square on this map is = to 1 square foot.  I mark on the map where the perennial herb crops are and now I know how much space I have left in the greenhouse to plant other crops.  I save these each year so that I can look back and see what worked and what didn't.  

Now that I have the greenhouse garden mapped out I can plan on what I want to grow in there.  

Take lots of pictures of your gardens each year and you'll be able to remember better what worked and what didn't as well as be able to visualize your garden in bloom.  

So this week this is what we will be working on....marking the perennial crops and begin planning the annual ones.  What will you be working on in your garden this week?

How my gardens have changed.

It seems every year I add a new garden bed to my collection. I am not saying this is a bad thing as if I add a new one that means that I was able to handle last years load.  Now when I say add a new garden I usually mean for edibles......but this year it wasn't just 1 new garden it was 3.....Take a look

2009:  Lets start when we bought the house.  The front yard had minimal gardens...but some

 Here there is no Butterfly bush garden or my boarder garden full of Iris

 The poor Pussy Willow in a small little circle....

The back of the house where the greenhouse is now.....certainly makes the yard look bigger with out it.

 And the kitchen garden....a cleaned up version of it but this is the shape it was in....


That brings us to 2010:  Where the first of many new gardens were added to the yard.

 The beginnings of my blog started right here with my greenhouse.

 Later that same year this is the completed greenhouse and extension garden growing away.

The kitchen garden got a bit of a make over.

Then comes last year 2011:  Where gardens were added again and some were given new life....like

 Yup the kitchen garden again....a new flower bed area was added and the rest was straightened out a little more.

 The now bigger Pussy Willow tree now has it's very own shade garden....granted it provides the shade.

 Hard to see but here is the Iris boarder garden just after it was added.....

 Unhappy with the first try the Kitchen garden had more added to it....now I could harvest all of the garden.

 Then back by the Greenhouse the Strawberry mint garden was added.....sorry Strawberry Chocolate Mint garden.

 As was what became known as the vine garden....

   Another view of the Greenhouse for reference  as here comes 2012:  This year.....

The first of the gardens to be added this year.  One for the gardening class and one for Shannon.

 Remember back in 2009 that picture of the front yard with the Forsythia on the left?  Well to the right of that is now this guy....the Butterfly Bush garden.

Oh and that Boarder garden back from 2011 the one I promised was full of Iris.....well here it is.

And finally the last of the gardens built so far this year was added on to the new one at the back of the greenhouse.  One has plants for Aiden guy and the others are some of the veggies.

So my gardens have changed a lot over the last few years.  I imagine they will continue to change not only in what is planted in them but in how they look in general....then again I hope not too much....hard to name the gardens when they keep changing.

First ever sale

I love Spring! Plants that die back to the ground like Hosta and Peonies begin to grow again and grow inches each day.  Tree's and bushes that look half dead begin to show signs of life.  Little leaf buds begin to grow as do flowers.  Things seem to come alive.  The gardens get a fresh start after months of rest.

Well last weekend was my first every plant sale for Irish Gardens.  It wasn't all that bad.  Would have liked to sell more but I did sell some and got my name out there.  With the crazy mild winter we had I lost a lot of plants to late frost.  They started to grow and then bam a frost hit and killed the new growth.  What plants I did have  all had growth on them....but I think that if there was more lush looking plants I would have done better.  Lessons learned. Here are a few pictures from the sale and the gardens.

 My special little helper.  He helped me move the plants out from under the tents every day of the sale.  Even the ones that were taller than him.

 The tall plants that were not going on tables.

 My special red headed helper in the back ground checking out the price list..  On this table is was Iris, Lily, and Hosta roots as well as pots of Chocolate Mint

 The table full of plants...Fountain Grass, Four O'Clocks, Spirea....lots of stuff

And the other bench and other big plants.

The sale isn't the only this that has been going on here at Irish Gardens.....my gardens have been bursting out with color....

 My Iris decided that it would bloom last weekend.  Good timing too cause I was selling some and there were a few customers that weren't sure what Iris flowers looked like.

 A little sad looking by my columbine also is flowering.

 I bought this foxglove already in bloom.  Is that cheating?  Yea kinda...instant color.

 Now this columbine is far from sad.  It's absolutely beautiful.

 The Coral Bells have decided that it is their turn to grow like a weed.

Lily of the Valley started showing off their cute little white flowers.

And although not part of the garden he was part of the sale.  Buddy Dog joined us outside for the last day of the sale.  Spent the time between customers under the main table.

The way I measure

We all have out ways of measuring the height of our plants.  Be it a stick placed next to it.  A ruler.  Or like me, family members

Last year it was Buddy dog.  Sitting still allowing me to show off the height of my corn.  Realizing of course that not everyone knows Buddy but that many do understand the height of a Chocolate lab that at the time was 4 years old.

Earlier this spring I decided to use my son instead as I can have him stand next to what I wish to measure and stand a certain way.  Much easier to control a picture with a walking and talking 4 year old boy than a 4 year old dog.

I took this picture today.  Hard to believe that this picture was taken 1 month and 2 days after the one above.  Guess we know what grows faster around this house.  Clearly I am not feeding my son the right stuff.  Wait if he grew this fast I wouldn't have money for my garden as it would go for his clothes.

The Gardener and the Handy-Husband

Growing up the oldest of 5 kids and one of 3 females (Mom and sister) I was taught how to handle tools.  Before I could get my licence I had to be able to at least check my oil, change a tire, and drive a manual.  With 3 brothers and a father all into boy scouts camping was a regular event every summer.

While I was in the Navy I worked in a primarily male job.  The title was Fire Controlman but I didn't fight fires.  I worked on the ships weapon systems.  The big ones.  I worked with electricity and guns frequently as the only female, but I loved it.  Now 2 years after spending nearly 11 years working in a mans job I am a Stay at home Mom and a gardener.  The pace is vastly different.  The strength required is less but the energy needed is the same or more.

1 year ago my Handy-Hubby build this for me

 The base for the Greenhouse and a little extension garden.

The greenhouse on the base before the topsoil.









This year this weekend I added

 This little bed at the end of the extension garden.  A special area just for my strawberries.

It is actually 2 of these cute little kits.  I know I could have had the hubby build me a more matching addition than this kit but I wanted something different because it was going to be a permanent strawberry bed.

 After the Strawberry bed was in I realized that maybe if I asked nice I could add another small extension garden.

I even marked it out and put down some weed block stuff to help things along.  But even though my Daddy and the Navy showed me how to use power tools...including saw's I thought....no thats not right.
I knew that my Handy-Hubby could do a much better job.

And guess what?

 He did a great job. I mean just look at that...

 Between loads of laundry I added some dirt and transplanted my Watermelon, Cucumber, and Pumpkin's to this nice new bed....I think I am just going to call it my Vine garden.  As the main door to the Greenhouse opens over the bed I can't put tall growing things right there...vines should be good.








But his work was far from done.

 See the rain barrel we got to water my Greenhouse although holds water great wasn't high enough to create any kind of usable flow.  So spare lumber and some screws became a stand for the rain barrel.  Should be more than high enough now to create some gravity flow.

So now all thats needed is some pavers to complete the look.  Tonight the Gardener and the Handy-Hubby are tired.