It's Amazing What I Can Get Done During Lunch And After Work

I really want to get my annuals and plant them.  I'm reasonably certain that we've seen the last of frost here in southern CT, but though I'm ready, the cold, rainy April has affected our local growers.  I usually don't go until the first week of May, but last year the spring was so early that I went in the last week of April.  So after work on Monday I dragged Lee out the door.  It certainly looked different at North Guilford Nurseries.  LOTS of pansies:

 

But the herbs and veggies were tiny.  I'll try back in a week or two.  I have a feeling I won't be planting tomatoes until mid May.  Then on the way home we stopped by Vaiuso and at least they were setting up their showroom -- a clear sign that it really is spring.  They didn't have any veggies out yet, but their annual flowers looked pretty good.  I couldn't visit two nurseries without coming home with something, so this very pretty and fragrant Goodwin Creek lavender now lives in my garden:

 

Well that ate up the entire early evening, but the warm weather had me itching to do something.  I started filling up peat pots in the living room so I could try growing some herbs again (the last set of seedlings didn't fare too well with their leggy stems, excess wind, and rain) but then I ran out of seed starter.  I had to go outside to fill the last 4 little pots with regular old potting soil and realized it was practically windless and we hadn't had rain in a few days.  I could finally burn the grass!  I would love to do this for the grasses in the patio garden, but I'm afraid that the heat would melt the siding.  So this little blaze is all I get:

 

But it worked well:

 

Is anyone still spending like it's 2006?  I know we're not and I really don't want to exceed the $100 budget I have given myself for plants in 2011.  Since I successfully overwintered this coleus I won't have to buy any this spring:

 

I have two good size cuttings sitting in water making roots.  That's three plants for free:

 

And this basil and oregano, though somewhat sad looking, will be two less seedlings that I need to buy:

 

During my lunch break on Tuesday I brought the seedlings from the previous night outside to the wire shelves, watered them and crossed my fingers that they do better than the last set:

 

More free plants.  The creeping jenny in the two containers flanking the front door had rooted in the gravel in several spots.  I dug them up carefully and then left them sitting on the front steps for the rest of the afternoon -- not a great idea, but they're pretty tough plants, so they bounced back:

 

A few red and a few yellow tulips now blooming in the patio garden with just a few daffodils still holding on:

 

But the garden was full of my very favorite sign of spring...wild violets:

  

The bleeding hearts are in flower:

  

In the direct sun it was quite warm.  I was in a sleeveless shirt and shorts during my lunch break:

 

I wandered around and did a few things, but all too soon it was time to head back to my computer.  When Lee got home I took a short break and sat with him on the patio.  While he told me about his day I had him pull the very sad seedlings whose leggy stems had collapsed so I could plant a second round of seeds:

 

There were a few tomato and zucchini seedlings that were okay, so I just filled in around them:

 

After work I headed back outside and really got a lot done.  I topped off the pots on the stump, pulled the golden sage that didn't show any signs of life (though I did throw it in a plastic pot on the wire shelves just in case), filling in the blank spots in that large pot with creeping jenny since the phlox wasn't doing a damn thing, and fertilized all three containers:

 

I bought these three containers specifically to be grouped together.  The large one has potatoes (fingerlings I think), the medium size one has Swiss chard and nasturtium seeds planted, and the little container now houses that Goodwin Creek lavender I bought on Tuesday: 

 

I got the moonflower seeds in the long container at the base of the trellis and red cabbage seeds in a row in front of the moonflower seeds.  I think I know why this phlox did so well.  When I picked it up to move it the roots had grown into the driveway:

 

I hope ripping those roots won't hurt it.  I have no idea what color flowers it will shortly be covered in, but I'm excited to see:

 

That other container in that grouping came up from the basement.  I don't know yet if the silver falls dichondra or purple fountain grass successfully overwintered, but the salvia made it:

 

The Japanese maple survived the basement!  You can read here about how I found a seedling last year on the hillside and carefully transplanted it:

 

The spinach is really taking off.  We need to harvest and eat some soon.  Also in this grouping is one container of phlox that is just not looking good, the Japanese maple, and three containers full of soil waiting to be home to something, but I don't know what yet:

 

The pansies were standing up tall at attention just begging for a close-up, so here's my best O'Keefe impersonation:

 

I liked this one too:

 

The last thing I did on Tuesday was pull the lemon grass from the fish container.  I'm not sure if it survived the winter in the basement so I threw it in a container on the shelves too, but I decided that creeping jenny would make much more sense in it because I wouldn't have to worry about putting it in the basement over the winter.  Plus it can live in the patio garden until the bleeding hearts die back in the heat of the summer and then it can move over to that blank spot.  The ideas is that it will kind of look like the fish is spitting in the birdbath:

  

Most of the pots are in place in the driveway.  Well at least their place for the moment.  You know how I like to switch things up:

  

On Wednesday during my lunch break I got outside and planted up the raised bed.  From left to right: 4 rows of red onion starts, 1 row of Swiss chard, 1 row of Kale (Nero Toscana), and 2 rows of Detroit Dark Red beets.  Nasturtiums around the edge of the bed and space at the bottom of the trellis for cucumbers when the seedlings in the peat pots are a little bigger.  I fertilized and gave a quick water:

 

The large wooden planter beyond the end of the veggie garden now holds radishes (watermelon) and carrots (kaleidoscope mix):

 

This caught my eye as I walked by, but what the hell was it:

 

A colony of mushrooms:

 

So, as you can see, I got a lot accomplished in a relatively short period of time.  There's still mulching to do (great job for the weekend) and once I get those tomato, pepper, and whatever else plants, I will need to get them in.  But for now, just careful tending of the seedlings.  I'd like Lee to mow the lawn this weekend before it gets out of hand and I will clean up the last of the debris in the veggie garden so the containers are ready for the warmer season crops.  Oh, and the dahlias, I should get the dahlias planted too!  What's next in your garden?

Comments

[Mummer]

Wow! Have you been busy! This post makes me so 'homesick' for a New England Spring, especially that pic of those gorgeous blooming trees. And isn't it fun to see what survived the winter?