Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Erik and I went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum today. We missed out on most of the iris's and lady slippers but I still got to see the lilies and other beautiful flowers. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

2009 Garden

Okay, so it has been a while since I blogged... oops. In fact, the last time there was snow on the ground. It has been a cool spring here in Minnesota, but we definitely do not and have not had snow for almost three months now.

Erik and I have been busy working and playing. We started a garden at my parents in May. We tilled up the grass and added in some manure compost and some sand to loosen up all that clay they have out there. It is a 12 ft by 24 ft garden with mostly vegetables and some flowers for cutting.

Here is a list of what we planted in our garden:

Onions - red, yellow & white (8 of each)
Green Onions - I picked the first ones we planted thinking they were just grass coming up, but now the second planting is coming along.
Mixed Loose Leaf Lettuce
Cabbage
Romaine Lettuce
Jalapeno Peppers
Red Bell Peppers
Rhubarb
Tomatoes (heirloom, cherry & (I forgot))
Broccoli
Muskmelon
Buttercup Squash
Dill
Cucumbers
Sunflowers
Zinnias

Here is a picture of our garden in May (with Laura Bell in the background):

Here it is in June:

We had lots of weeds in June. Erik and I weed the garden and my Mom keeps it watered.
I also planted Marigolds in June to try and keep out rabbits and other small critters, but the Thomas and Peach (the cats) do a pretty good job of keeping things away too.

In June we finally got some warm weather and the garden really started growing.

We had an ant problem, so we've been using Cedar Oil to get rid of the ants and it has been working pretty well.

Here is the broccoli head just starting. This week I harvested 2 heads of broccoli.
Cabbage

Tomato flowers

This is the garden on Tuesday. Everything has gotten full! The broccoli is crowding the tomato plants. I cut off some of the broccoli leaves to give the tomatoes a bit more room. The tomato plants look like bushes they've gotten so big. The muskmelon has really grown out too and if all those flowers end up as fruit we are going to be eating a lot of melon. The onions are about the size of a tennis ball. The cucumbers are doing really well too and heading up the fence we built for them to climb. We have more lettuce then we know what to do with. I harvest some and you can hardly tell I've touched it. The zinnias and sunflowers are close to blooming.

Muskmelon flowers

Sunday Drive

Erik and I went for a Sunday drive after I got back from the Y, because it was beautiful with the snow we got last night. It is April... and truthfully spring, but it didn't feel like it this morning. I'm ready for the tulips and daffodils that come with spring. I did really enjoy our little drive through the woods though!

This afternoon most of the snow has fallen out of the trees and the sun is out now melting it away again. The thermometer says it is 36 degrees F.

Conservatory and Como Zoo

Erik and I went to the conservatory to get some warmth and smell of plants. We had a really nice time. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Last night we got about two inches of slushy snow.

Weekend Together

Erik and I had a nice weekend together and it was so very nice! We crashed a get together on Friday. On Saturday we went to Stillwater and ate lunch at Whitey's. It was very good! We enjoyed the sunny day in downtown Stillwater walking along and stopping at some shops. Saturday night I went to a baby shower and Erik went to a friend's birthday. Sunday we worked out and then went to REI and had a nice time dreaming there. Then we went to both of our parents' houses, without giving them much notice. :) That seemed to be common this weekend. We weren't much for planning. We had a nice dinner at my parents and enjoyed hanging out. It was a good weekend - one I certainly didn't want to end.


The St. Croix River was flooding a bit, but nothing like the other side of the state.

Plants

We recently had a couple of nice days and I got outside to split this crazy plant. It resulted in 8 pots of plants, from an original 2. This plant grows like crazy. I split it every 6 months. It is kind of nice to have such an easy plant to grow.


The beautiful result...

Some good days

Happy 4 day weekend! I needed this time! Thursday Erik and I toured two YMCAs that were not created equal. I was shocked how poorly kept up to date the first one we went to was. But the second one was wonderful and appears motivating, unlike the hole in the wall. So I joined the Y in the morning and went and worked out later in the day. They have personal tvs above the treadmills. It was pretty nice to be watching Design on a Dime while running.

I hung out with my parents on Thursday night before they left for vacation. That was nice to see them and have a nice dinner with them.

Yesterday, I brought Erik as a guest and he ran on the track while I went to a class. A nice way to start the morning. Then we went down to Miesville to go eat burgers at Kings and then we headed further south to Wabasha. Around Reeds Landing we saw about 9 Eagles right where the ice was off the river. Upstream where there was still ice, there was also a truck on the ice. I was surprised to see it still on the river. We went to the Eagle Center in Wabasha and walked around. It was warm in the sun, but as soon as you stepped in the shade the temp dropped considerably. We enjoyed the afternoon drive.



Then we went to Gerten's and I didn't want to leave - ever. It smelled so good in there and warm too. We hung out and looked at seeds. We are debating what to try to start early and what to buy plants of. We don't have the best light where we live so I think it would be difficult to start plants early here. We are excited to have a garden this summer.


Last night we watched Australia. That was very good. I enjoyed it and I think Erik did too. About 2 hours into it, it seemed like it was the end, but we knew there was another hour left. We also enjoyed some Ben & Jerry's chocolate yogurt with brownie - yum!