There are so many things going on in my garden right now I'm having a hard time deciding what to post about. I have some great shots of shelling and cooking fava beans...but I might save that for my next mag article. The roses have been glorious. I'll post some new shots of them soon. My 'Pat Austin' has been so beautiful this spring and 'Perle d' Or' is overflowing with blooms. What to post, what to post...

So I'll update you on the potatoes. These are the fiber potato growing bags I'm testing. Despite all the cool, rainy humid weather we've been having this spring, the potatoes are quite happy. I know I might be jinxing myself by saying this, but no fungal issues in sight...so far...at the moment...knock on particle board! This year I planted 'Yukon Gold' and, I think...'Kennebec'. I'm really blanking out on the varieties right now. I've been using these bags for 2 years now and they are still in excellent condition. No break down on them yet. The potatoes have been hilled up twice so far. I'm hoping for a bang up crop of 'Yukon Golds' this year...they are sooooo good.

If you haven't used bags or container of some kind to grow potatoes before, you simply start out by filling the bottom 1/3 of the container with a loose compost soil mix, plant your seed potatoes (not too deep - and dust them with garden sulfur first). Then when the shoots are about 6-8 inches tall, begin to hill them up with a mixture of pine straw and compost. You fill this mixture in right up against the stems of your plants, 3-4 inches at a time. This is where the potatoes will develop so it needs to be loose but protected from light. Continue to hill up until you've reached the top of the pot. Then your plants will usually start blooming early summer, which means they are starting to produce potatoes. Don't water plants too much in the early spring if you're getting rainfall. Potatoes are very susceptible to fungal diseases. Water at the base of the plants rather than on the foliage and only in the early morning. You can pull away the mixture to harvest baby potatoes in early summer (make sure to put back the straw) or wait to harvest in late fall for the bigger potatoes. Foliage will begin to yellow in late fall once cooler temps arrive, at which time you'll stop watering plants, allow the foliage to die down, then simply dump out the container to harvest your spuds. MMMMM, mashed potatoes.

So, I'm still working on planting up the new large bed in the backyard. Still have a way to go, but it's shaping up. I can't quite get a good photo of the entire bed due to it's size, but you get the idea. I've added some new Heuchera 'Georgia Peach', Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly', Hosta 'Krossa Regal' and some fabulous Agapanthus. I also transplanted a small 'Crimson Queen' Japanese Maple from another part of the yard.

Happy Earth Day! OH...and this is my 100th blog post...so happy 100th post day! I'm home sick today, so what better time to update the blog? Here are a few shots of what's going on in the veggie garden.

I've been harvesting fava beans - bucket loads of them. This photo shows about the third of three large buckets I picked this past weekend. I've since pulled up all the plants, and they'll now make a great addition to the compost. Sugar snap peas are popping up all of a sudden. Yum...

We've had oodles of strawberries this year, both in pots and beds. Hopefully, we'll be able to eat enough of them before the birds get to them! They taste absolutely wonderful. There's nothing like homegrown strawberries...

We still have plenty of salad greens coming on, and the pole beans and bush beans are popping up...

I was a little worried about capturing these somewhat stubborn leghorns this morning for their journey back to East Texas. But, somehow, I managed to catch two of them at once, then rounded up the third in short order. My stealth chicken wrangling skills are improving...so anyway, thanks gals!

We had a wonderful visit with Dan Probst out at his farm in Poetry, Texas near Terrell. Of course, like a dufus I left the recorder and camera in the car so I didn't get any photos of his place. He has a great assortment of chicken breeds, impressive turkeys, bossy geese and some of the sweetest great Pyrenees dogs I've ever met. Oh, and we can't forget the two donkeys that pretty much screamed at me until they got some hay! Overals = food...Lol...We got to see some baby chicks and ducks hatching out of their eggs in the incubator...babies babies everywhere.

My New Babies

I brought home 3 Ameraucanas, one about 12 weeks old and the others about 9 weeks, and 2 Polish hens that are about 9 weeks or maybe a little less. What a hoot. The little black and white Polish hen seems to be the odd girl out. She prefers to be held and spent much of the afternoon riding around on my shoulder. I guess I have a new bud...The "blue" is the prettiest of the bunch, but also seems to be the most persnickety...those pretty girls, always such a pain!

The Polish...Aren't they Beeeutiful?

The Ameraucanas...wouldn't hold quite as still!

The oldest is a beautiful mix of orange/rust and white...like a creamcicle...the inbetweener is a brown and black striped mix, like the look of an Araucana and the little one is a lovely blue and tan mix.

So all right folks...I need names...help me out!

Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize when your root-hardy perennials are emerging....it's it what you planted or something else! In case you wonder what peonies look like when they are emerging from their winter sleep, here is a Peony 'Bowl of Cream' emerging to greet spring.

Emerging Peony
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

I've been having some nice chats lately with Michael Tortorello who is writing a series of articles and blogging on the adventures of a gardening newbie for the New York Times. Our lengthiest conversations have been those about garden poop, or manure if you want to be technically proper. This time around he's posted on his trials and tribulations on starting seeds...it's a fun read.

http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/when-seedlings-slouch/

Just thought I'd post a closer shot of the new Japanese Maple I planted the other day. It's called 'Oshi Beni'. What lovely color...This variety can grow up to 20-25 feet, although I expect this one to max out about about 20...but that's a long way off. I find this variety to be much prettier than the more commonly planted 'Bloodgood', but it does get a bit larger. So pretty when the light shines through the leaves...

Ok so I got some partial planting done yesterday. The large weeping tree that hasn't leafed out yet is a weeping mulberry that I pulled out of the front yard a couple of weeks ago. It was so established and well rooted in that by the time I got it out (quite the sight) I pretty much had to butcher the root system. Figured it was a lost cause. But after looking at it yesterday, I noticed it was trying to leaf out and all the wood is still green. So what the heck...mulberrys are tough so I'm going to see if I can't get it to root back out. It would look pretty cool there if it did. Think happy thoughts for the mulberry, lol.

Also planted a few groups of background shrubs, some Japanese Aralia, Variegated Pittosporum and some 'Spring Bouquet' Viburnum. Also a wonderful Sweet Olive at the end of the bed and an Oakleaf Hydrangea. I'll be planting another right next to the patio. Dropped a handful of perennials in the ground, some 'So Sweet' Hosta, Autumn Fern, Heuchera, Dwarf Acanthus and a few transplanted Iris. Planted a beautiful Japanese Maple 'Oshi Beni'. There will be lots more planting to do in the next couple of weeks...