May Update

Today is the second day of May and I think it’s finally going to be warm. This Spring has been so wet and cold, that I am so behind on my outside chores.

But before I talk about them and other outside stuff, here is some ice dyed fabric that I played with Jacquard deColourant and a thermofax screen. I love how it added another layer to the ice dyed pieces.

I was planning on cutting out the pattern pieces for sewing, but I have misplaced my favorite rotary cutter. Now to search a bit more before I can continue!

We are finally harvesting asparagus. Due to the cold they have been slow to come up. However, we had enough for me to grill them the other day.

Then yesterday Dave made Asparagus Mimosa. Such an easy dish – steamed asparagus, shredded hard boiled egg, capers, a little olive oil, and salt. He served it with a piece of his homemade bread that he grilled. Yum!

I finally finished mulching the asparagus patch. I lay down cardboard and then cover with straw on the walkways. It’s been so windy that one day after I had the whole area covered with cardboard, the wind blew most of it off into the neighbor’s yard. Monday was a calm day so I was able to finish the job. I then watered it down just in case we get more wind. Here is what it looks like now.

One thing good about all the rain was that it was easy last week to dig up the hostas. We are tired of fighting the deer. If we don’t spray practically every day they will eat the hostas to the ground. Last week I spent three days digging up hostas and giving them to friends. It was sad, but it also was great to be able to find them new homes. Here is one of the hosta areas. The dark spots are where I have filled in with new soil where the hostas were planted. We’ll be adding some new plants this weekend.

Here is what this area looked like last summer before the deer.

And after they finished eating.

Due to the cold winter, my lavender plants all died. Usually one or two won’t make it, but this winter killed all of them. My days of growing lavender are over. I think I’ll move some of my remaining irises to this area. The ones you see in the picture I planted last year, and several look like they are going to bloom. It would be a nice small space for them, as opposed to the large areas I’ve had in the past.

The blueberries are coming on!

Today I finished washing down the porch and getting it all set up for some porch sitting! We ate our first of many lunches out there today.

Several of my painted rocks have lived outside this winter. I was surprised to find that one weathered well; the other not so well. Now to figure out what ink I used on which rock.

The cats were happy to have the porch open although they usually don’t stay out there if we’re not there. Ace loves his rope bowl, but he also likes this cloth box.