Farmers Market Madness!!

I just had to make sure that everyone knew, the Columbia City Farmers' Market reopens today!!! What does this mean? It means lots of organic, local produce and the whole community coming out of their caves for some fun.

Check it out: http://www.rainiervalleypost.com/?p=21707

The market always starts a little slow but by early summer, it's all the rage in South Seattle. One of my favorite items is an amazing garlic sauce. Hopefully, I'll be able to create my own version from the garlic I'm growing in my garden. Another gem is the chev. From a local farm, it's the most incredibly fresh chev I've ever munched. I prefer the herbed version, but any is amazing.

I may have to work on some sort of booth myself for the farmers' market. What could it be??

Some encouraging words from our sponsor...or just me

If you recall, I was moaning about the euphorbia that I'd transplanted because I uprooted it incorrectly. Remember that? Yeah, well anyways, it's doing amazingly! I'd cut back the really tall stems that had flowered and died after the transplant and now, the new growth is incredible. The stalks are strong, the leaves are healthy and I can tell that it's happy to be in its new bed.

The other plant that I'm so excited about is my climbing hydrangea. It's a silly thing, and it's just my impatience showing through, but I've been waiting for it to do anything besides be the same height with the same leaves for a year. Today, I'm proud to say that it's got flowers and has already grown about 4" inches this spring. We've had so few nice days that it's off to a slow start, but I can tell that it's got big plans for the summer.

In my posting about trying to get all agro up on this, I'd mentioned transplanting some strawberries. I didn't talk about the fear that I had of bringing in some Northwesterns in and how they react. Well, it's been unexpected. At first, they looked really sad and smashed and some of their leaves turned orange...but there was a miracle! They grew new leaves faster than I've seen any other plant and now they've got some of the most incredible blossoms. I can't wait to harvest!

The last of my encouraging words relate to a forsaken ground cover that I hand my hands on, ready to pull because it looked moldy and weak. Well, it is thriving, blooming and spreading. Snow in Summer is what I almost pulled. I'm so glad that I didn't because it brings a really bright punch to a dark corner by the fence. I'm hoping the Snow spreads and fills in around the maple tree growing above it, but I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched.

Takin' over the neighborhood

So, remember how I'd talked about the garden next door and the lady who'd moved out? Well, I've decided to take on her abandoned garden as my own. I can't let the poor plants be taken over by the joint forces of weeds and pine needles.

Yesterday, I spent my afternoon doing prep work to bring Golda's rockery back to its original, amazing state of beauty. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into at first, but then once I started pulling up grass and carrot sized dandelion roots, I saw how intense the road ahead would be.

Towering above the rockery, are about 6 large fir and pine trees. This means needles...everywhere, and thick layers of them. I went through a little internal debate as to whether or not it was worth my while to remove them and expose the rock terraces. I decided to go for it and am glad that I did. I uncovered so many struggling plants: lilies, an artichoke, honey suckle and more sickly tulip and daffodils than you can imagine. Hopefully exposing all of them to light is going to inspire them to grow and bloom. I don't expect the bulbs to produce flowers at this point, but maybe, just maybe they'll make something next year (a miracle w/o pollination this year).

The one plant that I am the most hopeful about...peonies. They were able to make it up out of the needles, but they look really unhappy. Perfectly placed with the perfect amount of shade and sunlight, I think that I'm going to see some amazing flowers by the end of the summer. Watch for the pictures to start rolling in! In the mean time, I'm trying to come up with a great way to allow the poppies to take over the sidewalk's edge, but it's really difficult to thin out the grass from them. Any suggestions?

I have a lot more work to do. I have two more levels of terrace to complete as well as have of the street level strip and the terraced walkway. Anybody up for joining in on the fun?