Spring 2015 aka Chipmunkpaloosa

Hello from Kentucky this wonderful Tuesday morning!

I'm not so sure about the wonderful part, since I've gotten up early for an appointment plus it's raining. But, to look on the bright side-

1. I got to see a big frog this morning, since it's raining. Just chilling on the driveway, enjoying the early spring rise in temperature.

2. I don't have to water anything I planted over the weekend. 

I thought I'd sneak in an extra post this week and share the start of my summer garden. Mainly because I completely intended to post this over the weekend, I just never got around to it. I was quite productive (garden-wise) this weekend. I went through my entire pile of seeds (scary!) and organized them into planting waves. Wave 1 was Saturday, and were all the plants that like lukewarm soil. Lettuces and the like. 

My tulips?

Growing quite well, considering the lack of attention they received in the winter. I guess the moral of the story is that if you find a woebegone bag of tulip bulbs in your garage in the spring that you forgot to plant in the fall, go ahead and plant them. I planted them not even a month ago, and I should have flowers any day now. All the plants are budding, like tis'-

Now I'm just left wishing I'd planted in the ground in the fall. Maybe I can get that done this fall? 

We can only hope. 

I planted all my beneficial flowers in moveable pots and window boxes. So when they are in bloom I can move them around to whatever raised bed I want to sit them next to. These boxes are a beneficial insect mix, marigolds, and Queen Anne's Lace. It's insanely weird to plant Queen Anne's Lace as it is an incredibly common weed in Oregon. It's all over the place out there. Not so much in Kentucky. I've yet to see any. It's supposed to bring good bugs to the garden, so I've planted a couple of containers of them. 

Beneficial Weeds

Benefits of Queen Anne's Lace

Details about Queen Anne's Lace

Romaine was planted in 2/3 of my existing raised bed. Kale will be planted in the remaining 1/3 later in the season. 

I got herb garden prepped. I worked the soil, added more soil, and mixed fertilizer in with the soil. Organic fertilizer along with a little compost. It's ready for next month!

A couple more of my moveable companion plants.

Pots of sunflowers! For the birds. Duh :)

So, to be honest, I went outside the other day to take a couple pictures of my early Spring garden. And also to maybe take a couple of pictures of some pretty Spring blooms. You know, the stuff that makes everyone deliriously ecstatic it's Spring. I became quite distracted when I realized the chipmunks were still outside while I was outside. That rarely happens. It also turned into a giant session of obsessively lurking about the yard after chipmunks with a wide-lens camera. 

At what point do you have too many chipmunks?

Oh, who cares?  I'll probably never reach that point :)

We've practically got a creek going through our normally-dry backyard. We've had a lot of water this Spring, and it's still looking for somewhere to go. 

I eventually did get around to taking some pictures of Spring flowers and buds after I got tired of chasing chipmunk tail (FYI, that line made me LAUGH)-

I caught this female cardinal winging in for lunch. Such a pretty and majestic bird. 

My birds are polite, and wait in line at the feeder.

And finally, one of my favorite-est of all the favorite parts of Spring, the hummingbird feeder. I've read hummingbirds return to Kentucky mid-April, but sometimes as early as late March. And they usually stop at anywhere they stopped while they were migrating South. I'm hoping I'll catch some migrating North! I haven't seen any yet, but I just know I'll see my first hummingbird any day now. 

Oh my gosh, I'm so stinking happy it's Spring. I'm ready :)