Walking Iris, Apostle Plant

...otherwise known as Neomarica gracilis. This plant took forever to actually bloom; and then, in one morning, it burst open. The first two pictures were taken during the days we waited for the bud to open.

When I woke this is what I saw from bed...

literally about a minute later it had opened...

by the end of the day it was done.

Spring Has Sprung....Indoors

Our first seed starting set up- a little awkward but getting there. There is a heat mat under the plant tray to help jump start germination. And the bulbs are regular fluorescents (6500K T-8s to be exact).

Seeds sprouting! Hurrah! So far there are sprouts of Gaura, Little Bluestem Grass, and Sweet Peppers. The tag that is somewhat legible says Beach grass and notes seeds collected on our very own Wollaston beach.

Barn Raising Time

Spring seems like it's here...

...which means the weather has given us some time to prepare for actual springtime. We took advantage of a warm weekend to start preparation of the vegetable garden...first we tackled some thorny old shrubs to make more room.

The compost piles gathering...

Indoor plants looking out- yes, there is a daffodil.

The beginnings of a bed- with the necessary tools of creation: a pick axe and a shovel. Our soil is actually pretty nice. It wasn't frozen at all and we could easily dig into it; but the vines of the Autumn Clematis and Dutchman's Pipe, along with other aggressive shrub roots, make it challenging to clear.

This is a small existing bed with plants brought from Ithaca.

The ever present Dutchman Pipe roots...

We bought some trex decking material to build vegetable beds- we plan on facing it inside-out so it's not the faux wood grain side showing but the back of the planks shown here:

Flush #2

After some resting, some resoaking and some misting, the second round of shiitake mushrooms fruits!

Round 2...

Round 3...