.LOG Garden notes for 2024 1:29 PM 9/22/2023 Giant garlic planted in garlic row 12:12 PM 1/21/2024 Snow still on ground, but it may rain tomorrow. I was picking winter-onion scallions past the end of December. 9:19 PM 2/8/2024 I dug four winter-onion scallions today. 10:37 AM 2/15/2024 I put garlic chives into my breakfast pancake. Also chopped in the last scallion from the latest digging. 9:35 AM 2/23/2024 It looks as though my tarragon made it through the winter. There are no signs of life in the lavender. 10:33 AM 2/26/2024 The scallions I dug up yesterday were much easier to clean than the previous mess -- I hooked up the hose and blasted the dirt off the roots. Won't be too long before I don't have to unscrew the hose when I'm done with it. 9:08 AM 3/1/2024 The spring bulbs think that we aren't going to have another hard freeze. 4:02 PM 3/8/2024 I put fresh thyme, parsely, winter onion, and garlic into the potato salad, but resorted to dried basil and oregano. Forgot that I had garlic chives. 12:58 PM 3/10/2024 The daffodils have had flower buds for some time. The hyacinths and tulips have been showing for a slightly-shorter time. Bulbs that I've forgotte the identity of have been up almost as long as the daffodils. One hyacynth has a flower bud starting. The ferns are still playing it safe. The daffodils in the lily bed are more advanced than those in the fern bed, the garlic chives less advanced than those in the herb bed. A few lilies are showing in the southeast corner. 12:27 PM 3/11/2024 I planted some radish seeds in the strawberry bed. 12:37 PM 3/15/2024 The daffodils have begun to bloom. I have begun to rake leaves out of the garden. 9:30 AM 3/17/2024 There are leaves on the willow and something in the mess of trees on the other side of the creek has a yellow mist on top. Saturday, 30 March 2024 12:07 PM 3/30/2024 No sign of the radish seeds. I think they were old. I shall plant the rest in a row beside them. I've got enough of the leaves out of the garden that I can plant as soon as I buy some seed. Most of the multipliers that I didn't harvest last fall are up. I've been cooking with winter onions for some time. The ones that are out of place are down to pretty puny, but I uncovered a small clump of fat ones when I raked the compost heap. Stray garlics are all over the place. I need to mark the bulbs that I plan to dig up when they are dormant. There are tulip leaves in the lawn near the lamp post. I think I'll go dig those up now. Won't be many weeks before we start mowing. 5:16 PM 3/30/2024 Didn't start digging until after my nap. First pry broke a rusted weld on the trowel. The other trowel is heavy sheet metal; I quickly saw that prying would bend it. Put "trowel" and "dandelion digger" on my shopping list. Don't see any other tool that would do the job in the shed. Monday, 8 April 2024 11:36 AM 4/8/2024 I pruned the rue and pulled autumn leaves out of it. I bought a trowel last Monday (All Fools Day), moved a tulip, but I don't think I got the root; I'll use the spade for the remaining clumps. Tuesday, 9 April 2024 7:58 AM 4/9/2024 Yesterday I was sitting outdoors when the first of the stickypods fell. This morning there are visible leaves on part of one of the cottonwoods. 8:27 AM 4/10/2024 I think I was sitting outside for the entire fall of stickypods. Thursday, 11 April 2024 9:02 AM 4/11/2024 The shape of the rhubarb suggests that I need to cut some flower buds out of it, but I'm not going out into the rain to investigate. Friday, 12 April 2024 6:54 PM 4/12/2024 No flowerbuds on the rhubarb. Asparagus spears are up. Rain seems to have stopped. The wind was hard on the daffodils. Saturday, 13 April 2024 8:36 AM 4/13/2024 I thought those leaves looked funny: they are flowers. Those that are down where I can see them are red, but a lot of the high-ups (including the first branch to pop) are green. Male trees and female trees? Yesterday I picked a stalk of rhubarb to put into the tea for today's ride, and got a flower bud with it. There's another, but I'll let it ride until I want more tea. Thursday, 18 April 2024 11:52 AM 4/18/2024 I dead-headed the daffodils in the fern bed. Something has eaten all the flower buds off the tulips. I cut another flower bud out of the rhubarb yesterday. 1:55 AM 4/22/2024 I think the oregano can spare a leaf for cooking now. It was taking the bed last fall, so I was surprised that it was so slow to grow in the spring. Volunteer parsely *has* taken the bed; I'm harvesting it by pulling up plants. I wonder whether there are dormant seeds that will come up next year? The catnip is doing well. Too late. I may be able to transplant some of it to the graves. We have been eating asparagus for some time. 12:19 AM 4/25/2024 Yesterday, Wednesday, I cut three flowering stems out of the rhubarb. Put some oregano into my pancake for Wednesday's breakfast. I put a lot of thyme into the tea I made yesterday evening for today's ride. Saturday, 27 April 2024 6:44 PM 4/27/2024 I hauled two wheelbarrows of mulch to the rhubarb bed today. Two more should do it, then I can start on the asparagus. Sunday, 28 April 2024 8:20 AM 4/29/2024 Hauled another wheelbarrow of mulch to the rhubarb. Needs one more. Monday, 29 April 2024 1:23 PM 4/29/2024 Hauled final load of mulch to the rhubarb bed, but haven't arranged it. There is worlds more, so I'll cover the asparagus bed, if the mulch doesn't get buried before I can make that many trips. I don't think I should load the wheelbarrow twice in quick succession. Pity I'm not planting potatoes; there is also worlds of topsoil. Wednesday, 1 May 2024 8:54 AM 5/1/2024 Oops, I forgot to record which day I poked melon seeds into the failed morning-glory pots. They are old seeds and I don't honestly expect them to sprout. Yesterday I arranged the mulch in the rhubarb bed and hauled three loads of mulch to the asparagus bed. I left tools in the lawn after the second load and the lawn mower came during my nap. Found the wheelbarrow, fork, and rake just as I left them, in slightly-different places. Thursday, 10 May 2025 5:49 PM 5/10/2024 I cut two more flowering stems out of the rhubarb today. They were much feebler than before. The bush seems to be doing well. Made a quick pass through the garden with the five-tine cultivator today. I did some work with the cultivator and hoe on the east side of the garden the day before yesterday. The snowball bush is in peak show. Four melon seeds have come up, three in the same pot. I intend to dig up one and move it to the blank pot. 5:55 PM 5/10/2024 I suspect that I killed the melon seed by digging it up, but one melon vine is plenty. Monday, 13 May 2024 1:02 AM 5/13/2024 The moved seedling is doing fine.