garden@home

Spring is on the way, and with a beautiful sunny day today I was able to get out and do some gardening!

A photo of my shade garden, it looks pretty bare, albeit sunny.  In the forefront (right) you can see a rhody branch that broke off and I tossed.  Other than that not a lot of green in the photo.  But if you look closer…

…bulbs are coming up

…the columbine has started to grow

(a close up)

…a rogue leek (already tall) sits among the violets back in this shady flowerbed

… and a tiny patch of lamium (center) that I transplanted last summer from our front to here survived the snows.  It should grow very rapidly now!

In my kitchen garden things also are progressing toward spring.

Yes, I did neglect to bring the hose in this year.  Yes, that does mean it won’t work as well for as long.  Whoops.  You can see the camellia trees that came down as a result of the snow and ice on the right.  I trimmed them back so I could take a good look at the garden.  You can also see the leeks lining the front.  I have so many of them and don’t know what to do with them.  I’ve tried a few recipes but haven’t found a way to use the abundance that I end up with every year.  Any ideas?  Husband doesn’t like them in replacement of onions (I’ve tried).  I was worried the two types of chives I transplanted this fall wouldn’t make it through the snow seeing as I only got them in the wet muddy ground about 4 weeks before the really cold weather.

So I was really excited when I saw the very ragged leaves (behind the leek but in front of the walking onion) of one set of chives!

And really, really excited to see my garlic chives!  Yum!  This can be thrown into almost anything.  I love their flavor, a combination of garlic (yummy) and onion (yummy).  In omelets, tomato sauce, any time meat needs kick these are a super easy addition!

Another plant I mentioned above, the walking onion, is also a favorite.  You can use the tops as green onions, the root forms a more traditional onion, and the little onions you see in the picture grew on stalks above ground last fall and will increase this patch of onions (or they could be eaten as is).

Some other shots around the yard.

These are summer snowflake bulbs.  They will bloom around March just as their smaller cousins the snowdrops are dying away.

Some bulbs I dug up last fall and left out.  I think I should probably get them in the ground now.  I don’t know what they are but I love surprises!

Some daylilies I transplanted last fall.  I really thought I got them in the ground better, but if you look you will see their roots just sticking out.  Hopefully with a layer of mulch it won’t matter.

And finally, the sedums.  I cut off the dead stalks about this time every year, and my reward for laziness?  The joy of seeing the little tiny green shoots.  I love that!