gardening and enjoying life in Salem, Massachusetts
Isn’t this the cutest, sweetest little thing? My oldest son’s friend found it hopping around in a public park. It’s snuggly and sweet and very domesticated so she and her Mom brought it here to our empty bunny hutch. It has food and water, and some hay will be coming later today.
Is anyone in Salem looking for a little gray bunny? If not, can we keep it? can we keep it Dad?
We’ll see…
Bunny compost is awesome!
Happy Sunday!
Michele
Photos taken by my little guy on our pond 🙂
Happy Wordless Wednesday!
Michele
I wrote this post two years ago for Memorial Day and thought I’d share it again today. My kids are a little bit (okay, a lot) bigger but this is still our tradition. Whether your attending a parade or service, spending time with friends with family or spending some time in the garden today, I hope you’ll take time to remember and thank those who have served and sacrificed for us. Michele
I was talking with a friend at church yesterday about our Memorial Day plans. She asked what we were doing and I shared that we’ll be visiting the cemetery. She looked a little bit confused for a second so I went on to explain that I like to use it as a teachable moment with my kids. We don’t have family buried here in Salem and I’ll admit that we don’t take the time to visit graves when we’re in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We really should do that more. On Memorial Day however we take a trip to a cemetery here in Salem and just relax for a few hours. Sometimes we catch guppies in the ponds, or take a walk. My younger kids ask lots of questions about death and dying which is always an important conversation. I usually bring some carnations and the kids and I place them on Veteran’s graves that look untended and lonely. I like for them to think about the sacrifices that have been made for them. It’s often said that “freedom isn’t free” and we need to remember that. I also use this time to tell them about their grandfathers. My Dad spent twenty years in the Army and retired as a Master Sargent. He was never far from that experience and shared much of it with us. My father-in-law didn’t serve in the military but he was a true patriot and taught us all as well. I love remembering Memorial Days long ago when my family camped together or Michael and I watched the parade in Wharton, New Jersey with my in-laws. I wonder what my kids will remember and what they’ll share with their children. I hope that you have a few moments to connect with the people you love today and to take some time to honor and remember those who have given so much for us.
Good Morning! Happy Saturday and Happy Planting Day! Yes, I’m using upper case letters because in my world Planting Day is an official holiday. It’s really Planting Weekend around here.
We have some pots to deal with. Winnie and I can’t wait!
The marigold seedlings can’t wait either. Their ready to move in to their new homes.
I have to give us a little pat on the back because we made headway on borders like this over the past week. There’s still a lot to do but it’s getting there.
Talk to me about the blueberry bushes. We planted two of these last fall and I dare say their looking good. For relatively new, small bushes they have lots of flowers that appear to be turning into berries. Should we cover them? Will the birds eat them? Anyone?
We’re eating plenty of asparagus now. My whole family enjoys asparagus. I think that’s because the kids grew up as it was becoming established and Michael and I were so thrilled with every stalk we served when they were younger.
This black australorp is sitting because her leg hurts and she’s not using it. We’ve treated her in every way possible and she’s still hopping on one leg, but she’s laying eggs, eating and seems quite happy. It’s a watch and wait situation.
Michael found a bag of yellow onion sets blowing around in the street downtown and brought them home, so now we’ll have yellow onions this year.
The red onions are cooking right along.
As is the lettuce which could be thinned out. The one advantage of a very cool spring is a nice crop of lettuce.
Kale… I bought these seedlings at the Salem High School plant sale a few weeks ago, which was a fun event!
The sweet peas are going to start climbing the fence any second now.
It’s almost time for iris!!!
And check out this awesome gardening basket that I won at the Salem Beautification Committee’s plant sale last Sunday. I never win anything. It was a great sale and a nice surprise!
The official out in the garden season is off to a pretty good start!
Plant, plant, plant!
Hope your in the garden today!
Love, Michele
I really am! This appears to be my breakthrough year in the seed starting world. I think I got it and I love it! The time that I spent this winter reading and researching really seems to be paying off. I have quite a few plants ready for the garden now and there are more coming. Next year, look out, those seed companies won’t know what hit them! Did I mention that I finally got it and that it’s fun?
Okay, enough… here’s what I have at the moment:
This is my seed starting set-up. It’s simple; two shop lights with one fluorescent and one plant bulb in each. Next year I’m hoping to add a third light in the middle so that the entire table is covered. I used the plant bulbs here at home, but at Bass River (work) I used one cool white and one warm white bulb. The seeds did very well there but I do see a faster growth rate and a sturdier plant with the plant bulb. The idea is to create light that mimics the light outdoors and the plant bulb is much brighter which is ideal for seedlings that would thrive in full sun.
These cantaloupe and watermelon seeds emerged from their bags (you can read about my handy dandy bag system here) the other day. They’ve been living in soil for two days and their well on their way.
This is cumin and purple alyssum. I have a love/hate relationship with these jiffy pots. They dry out quickly and I need to keep a very close eye on them. Actually, keeping a close eye is very helpful to new seedlings, peat pot or not.
The cilantro on the left is organic slow bolt, and the pots on the right are coriandrum sativum… there’s kind of a big difference in success rate so far.
We’ll have three varieties of basil this year; Genovese in the back, Red Rubin in the middle and Siam Queen in the foreground.
I started a little bit of summer squash in a jar a few days ago, planted it in the soil last night and I think they’ll be ready for the garden by the end of this coming week. I have some new ideas to help deal with the squash bugs this year so I caved and planted zucchini, even though I swore I’d take the year off after last year’s difficulties.
Up in my office the marigolds are showing their second set of leaves. I’m probably moving them outside later today to maximize the light and good air circulation.
These pumpkins and cucumbers from a few weeks ago need to be planted out asap. The weather looks pretty good so they should be in by Monday.
If I could go back several weeks, I would have transplanted these tomatoes into larger containers. I think/hope the yellow at the bottom is because they need more root space. Looks like it’s time for these to hit the garden too.
As you can see I have a lot more to do. The carrots need to be direct seeded, the beans will follow the peas that are growing, and the squash will probably be quick started then planted outside in the next week or two. I think I missed the window for growing peppers. What should we do? Start them indoors now anyway, direct sow or buy some plants?
My little girl started these seeds all by herself.
This is the best motivation in the world to share the garden with my kids, and with all of you. 🙂
Hope you plant something today!
Love, Michele
Happy GBBD-May 2014!
I haven’t looked at last May’s Bloom Day post but my worry is that it’s very similar to this year’s. Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day is making me think about adding new plants and changing the garden around a little. We’ll see what happens with that.
Here’s what I have:
Tulips are still hanging in there.
Lots of pansies everywhere. Did I tell you that we grew our own pansies from seed at work this year? They need a little special care in the beginning but their not that hard and it felt like quite an accomplishment. These are not those homegrown pansies, but maybe I’ll try it here next year.
My mother’s Day plant…petunias, verbena and marigold…kind of an interesting combination, don’t you think?
Solomen’s Seal
Lamium
Rhubarb, sorry I can’t help but include it, it’s a bloom!
Bleeding Heart…
Bride and groom… This is always such a tricky flower to photograph.
It’s so pretty but it barely stays still.
Primrose
Spirea
And we’re finally seeing some crabapple blooms! These are very late this year…
…but definitely worth the wait.
And a little bit of dogwood bloom.
Last year this tree was covered with flowers. This year we have just a few. Was it the winter? Does it need a boost of fertilizer? I’m not sure but we’ll keep an eye on it.
So, that’s it for us here at The Salem Garden. Nothing too flashy or impressive, all common names, very imperfect, but full of love! Love works for me!
Grab a cup of coffee or tea and be sure to check out the other garden blogger’s posts for GBBD on May Dreams Gardens! What a treat!
Enjoy everything!
Michele
Last night after our lovely Mother’s Day dinner in the garden, our first this year, we played a little bit of soccer. I’m an absolutely wonderful player and I really think that the reason my team won was because of the way I screamed and covered my head every time the ball came toward me. I’m a little sore today because I played so hard and so well!
While we were out there I was struck by the amount of white in the garden. Usually by Mother’s Day the crabapple trees are blooming but this year we’re several weeks behind so I spent a good part of the day missing the beautiful shades of pink that I typically enjoy while I work outside on Mother’s Day. As it got a little darker last night the white started to glow and I was completely caught up in how special it was.
I tried to take photos last night but it got dark very quickly so my photos had kind of an evil look like this
and this.
I tend to live in the light so this morning I went back out hoping to capture some of the glow.
The white garden of this week really is beautiful in it’s own way.
I hope that you won your game too and had a great Mother’s Day!
Love, Michele
Mother’s Day is tomorrow and the scramble is on! What to get, what to give, what to do with Mom for Mother’s Day?
Around here Mother’s Day has been about the garden since my kids were tiny. I love getting a few plants and then having a few hours to myself to plant them on Mother’s Day.
Here’s some of my favorite garden related Mother’s Day gifts:
A special shrub or tree… this black pussy willow was a gift from Michael and the kids on our first Mother’s Day in this house. I love it more every year.
Some lovely gloves, boots and tools. If your Mom isn’t a hardcore gardener a pretty fork and spade may be just enough to keep the garden looking great and for her to enjoy it in style.
A nice collection of herbs. Herbs are generally very easy to grow. Their also appealing to the senses and come in handy to add to favorite dishes, scent a room or drawer, or to cut and enjoy in a vase. You can’t go wrong with a collection of herbs.
A hanging basket for a doorway. There are so many beautiful choices available this weekend and Mom will smile every time she walks by it. If you want to make some “I will water your hanging plant on a day of your choice” coupons to include with the basket, your Mom will be even happier.
Okay, you knew it was coming… my very favorite compost maker! If your Mom keeps talking about wanting to make compost, this compost tumbler may be the perfect gift for her. You may remember that we use it at work and I love this compost maker. I blogged about it here at Christmas time too! I don’t have one at home and I’d be very pleased to see one all set up and ready to go tomorrow morning… hint, hint… (don’t worry they don’t read my blog)
If your Mom is into Pandora bracelets and gardening she’ll love these pretty Pandora charms. What mom who collects Pandora doesn’t enjoy a new charm?
These botanical prints from Ikea are just a few dollars and really brighten up a room. I bought them a few weeks ago and in my state of Ikea bliss I forgot to get the frames that I intended to put them in. Their actually quite pretty propped on the windowsill and now I have a reason for yet another road trip to Ikea to pick up the frames.
Here’s my Mother’s Day gift to myself this year. This is a corkscrew rush, also known as the beginning of the pond that I’m going to create for our deck this year. There will definitely be more to come on that soon 😉
These material gifts may make your mother smile and feel loved, but I think that the best gifts of all are time with family and some time in the garden. I hope that all of my blogging friends get a little bit of those things tomorrow.
Wishing all of you a very Happy Mother’s Day!
Michele
To keep them safe, the chicks had spent most of their time in the chicken tractor until the other day. Michael let them out in the yard for a few hours and they had a blast!
The first order of business was figuring out how to get out and how to get back in
which is not an easy thing…
Really sisters, come join us!
Or maybe we need to go home..
But how?
No worries, we’ll come your way
Iris to eat, how tasty!
Or just good old bugs in the grass.
I think I’ll learn to fly in all of this open space…
Mr Mallard stopped by for dinner.
He’s beautiful and he knows it!
Mrs Mallard flew in as well.
Mr Mallard said “Be careful around those young one’s dear!”
She’s loves him but she’s very independent. I think I heard her say “I can more than hold my own with these young whippersnappers!”
The chickens didn’t seem to worry too much about the ducks visiting. Maybe that’s because Mr and Mrs Mallard often say hi as they walk past the tractor.
Time for dinner…
He always stands guard when she eats. It’s really cute!
Time to go home, this yard is a little too crazy for us tonight!
No worries, the chicks will keep things hopping…
Hey sisters, I think there’s something good over here..
On second thought, let’s head over the fence and look for some lettuce seedlings. I hear their really tasty!
Or not, depends on your palate 🙂
The party went on until they went home at dusk.
Those young chickens love to party!
I was ready for bed at nine 😉
Michele
The Salem Garden 
