Montana Happenings

Time Flies When...

Good grief!
I can't believe how long it's been since I posted.

Guess I've been spending all my time on Instagram!  If you want to connect there, find me as VictoriaJeanW.

So what have I/we been up to?
Enjoying winter I guess.
And it's been great!  Lots of time to do the things we love.  For me that's knitting.  For Kim that's keeping up with the stock market and the news.  And he's been busy with some projects around the house.

Spring is slowly approaching.

The girls are coming out more, as long as we're around to keep an eye on them.

Last fall Kim planted 50 daffodil bulbs in a bed out front.  They're just now getting around to showing themselves.  I'm sure they're later because it's their first year.  We've seen daffodils in bloom on our walks.

This fall I'd like to add some grape hyacinths to this bed and possibly plant quite a few of both in the back yard.

As far as flower gardening goes we've purchased one clematis so far.  It's one we had in Boise that we liked.  And deer are supposed to leave them alone.  Fingers crossed.

Kim wants to do some veggie gardening so he's been very busy designing and building a large cold frame.

We're in the process of dismantling it and reassembling it to it's permanent spot out in the field where the garden will be.

Our big excitement recently was having this bluebird somehow fly into our stove pipe.  Lucky for this sooty fellow Kim managed to fish him out and the bluebird shook himself off and flew away.

I recently spent some time visiting with both my children and their children.  It was a lot of fun.

I tell all about it in my knitting videos.







We still have one small snowbank left but spring is definitely on its way!!!

Spring Veggies

Kim harvested these this week from our cold frame.

I know we have a lot to learn about raising veggies, but he's doing something right.

Growing Things

We've finally had some decent weather on my day off and were able to get into the garden and finish a lot of the clean up. Sadly, three of the five roses in our moongarden died this winter and it will take a full day to take them out. That will have to wait for another day off. I've asked around and it seems other people lost roses this winter also.

Happier news is that Kim and I are getting some extra use from our cold frame. We've been using it for years to house our new perennials and to sun our tender annuals. But we've never planted in it directly.

Here it is after Kim cleaned it all out. (After he built his shed.)





Then he put in some beds.







Now we have lettuce, chard, radishes and carrots growing inside.


















































We're newbies at this so we know there will be a learning curve involved but it's nice to put this space to some use.




And finally, a headless chicken?







No, just Jelly Bean enjoying one of the compost piles.

Meet Our Coldframe

And I call it our coldframe because it's not heated, so to me it's not a greenhouse.

But it works for our purposes.

Kim started lettuce, radishes and carrots in there a few months ago.


















I'm hoping we can get more use out of it by installing some beds and growing some cold crops during the fall/winter season. That's my plan anyway, we'll see what happens.


Our biggest use for it now is for our seedlings. The tomatoes love the heat and sun it provides.




Kim installed an auto vent so the window will open when it heats up too much during the day. At night when the temp falls too low we haul all the tender plants into the house.



My various seedlings are doing pretty well this year. I'm happy with them.



The Empress clematis I bought earlier this year has already bloomed in the coldframe. Love that flower.



And thanks to whichever blogger it was that suggested overwintering geraniums. Two of mine from last year have sprouted and are looking great.