It's peony season! And iris season and sweet william season and lady's mantel season and so many other seasons as things are finally awake and ready to bloom. It's been a spectacular year for roses! Every rose bush I have seen is loaded with blooms and buds. I guess it's true, roses like to drink!
This past month has been exhausting at times. Every morning I'd get up and race to the wheel barrow. Happy to say all the mulching is done! The rain barrels are in place and now to get everything hooked up! So far we really haven't needed them this year. We seem to get rain when we need it but I know that is about to end and the dry spells will be here.
Mother's Day was a day off and we took a spin out to the Black Door in Madison. What a great get-away spot for an afternoon. The food was good and the drinks even better.
I love small plates instead of a big meal. I don't need to come home and nap after small plates :)
Then home for a nice FaceTime with the Alaska Sisters. I'd call that a perfect day!
Monday it was back to finish up mulching and start planting annuals. The baby chicks were evicted from the kitchen and moved to the studio. And now a month later they're about to be evicted from the studio to a bigger pen.
By May 15th I thought OH NO! here comes summer. It was ridiculously hot and I still had so many projects to get done.
Thought it was a good day to cross one quick project off my list. Deciding it a good day to put a new trellis system down the driveway for tomatoes. Thought I'd be out by 1 or 2 pm. Nothing says welcome summer like standing on a hot asphalt driveway digging post holes but they were done by evening and so was I.... stick a fork in me!
And the garden kept doing garden things.... What a Spring here this year!
I slammed marigolds and a few other perennials in the front beds, big mistake. Summer really wasn't here yet and then the rain and cold hit again. I think I have lost half of the six flats I planted. They were becoming root bound and really needed to go out. So between being thrown into the elements and being root bound, they struggled.
All the pots and flower boxes were planted. Potting soil was made this year, decided I could do better than the big box store stuff and it was a significant savings.
May 18th arrived and I went into hyper cleaning mode. Living in a small house is a wonderful thing as I can pretty well whip this place into shape in a day and half. Floors scrubbed, bedding laundered, wall scrubbed etc. May 19th, Rachael's roommate from Alaska arrived for 4 days. She had appointments at Cleveland Clinic and we were so happy we could offer a bed and hot meals! While Raina was at the clinic I pulled out all the fence posts in the old garden, rolled up the old fence and planted more marigolds. We took a trip to Middlefield to stock up on pork, sending it back to Alaska in same box the frozen salmon arrived in. We'll see who the next meat mule is! We are calling that a win for everybody! Raina departed on Thursday afternoon with a box of pork and happy to head back to Alaska as the weather in Alaska was better than the weather in Cleveland!
The studio has been clean out ...... again! All tools put away. Garden piles put away or removed. The shed got a good cleaning again and we still have one more shed to go. It houses all my booth stuff from years of doing shows so that is going to be bitter sweet but I can honestly say I am done doing do shows. Not so much done doing pottery but in these uncertain times; weather & political, my priorities have shifted and I am much more interested in growing food. The disposable income is not out there and people are worried about the current state affairs. The raku kiln has been disassembled and bricks saved for a future pizza oven. Those years are over too. Amazing what turning 70 will do for your priorities.
Finally on May 25th I started planting peppers and tomatoes! I knew we were not quite done with the cold weather but all this stuff needed to get in the ground. Sure enough May 31st frost warnings went up. I was hoping the lake would keep us warm and it did but we dropped to 38 degrees. I covered everything the night before and was happy I did, 38 degrees is just too cold for peppers, tomatoes, squash and melons. Yes, I have enough frost cloth to cover the half acre of gardens.
Meanwhile things had started producing!
The rhubarb has been out of control this year, there are three big bags sitting in the freezer waiting for me. Rhubarb BBQ sauce is on the horizon.
And of course the flowers......
The hoop house has been cleaned and cucumbers are in residence. They seem to like their new home.
May 26th we hosted the neighborhood Memorial Day picnic. Canopies were up, the grill was hot and the parade came down the street, then the neighbors arrived. No one on Casement will ever starve!
The party ended around 10:30 pm and we all waddled home. It was another perfect day. I have to say we live in a great neighborhood. I love that we have a core group of 10 people who have lived here a very long time and we enjoy hanging out for holidays and getting together whenever.
By Tuesday it was back to planting tomatoes, fixing trellises, wrestling a big ass hydrangeas out of the ground and replanting in the back 40. The hole was replaced with hot peppers, eggplant and watermelons.
and yes, this is the front yard :)
The great pepper experiment started. I mixed up more potting soil and filled 10-10 gallon grow bags. I planted one pepper and one marigold in each bag, sprinkled with azomite and moved them to the back 40 against the fence. I want to see if these portable peppers will grow as well as the peppers in the ground.
It's been a very busy month as May always is and I suppose will continue to be. It has kept me away from the news and TV and for that I am grateful. I love plants, that is all. The dehydrator chugs away nonstop on the counter and I'm about to drag the canning stuff out of the nooks of crannies in this old house. The basement isn't as empty as I thought it would be as I have canned throughout the cold months this year. I guess canning and preserving season never really ends.
I've spent so much time on my hands and knees but have made some amazing friends....
This one has much better opinions than anything coming out of Washington ☺️
Welcome June!
