Heather's Garden

Still Here, Still Raining

How's the weather where you are?  We're experiencing a little rain here.  I think there have been two sunny hours since Saturday -- one on Wednesday and one on Thursday.  I keep finding this:

 

I think I've emptied the seedling trays 4 times in the past 30 hours.  My rain gauge says 3 inches, but I'm not sure that we haven't had more rain than that.  What's a gardener to do?  Well this gardener keeps ending up with wet, dirty feet:

 

But I've also been catching up with things like housecleaning, seeing friends, and work.  On Monday after a long work day I ran over to my friend Mary's house.  She had put out a Facebook plea for empty 4" nursery containers.  Mary puts out dahlias in little pots in front of her house each spring and asks people to leave $2 in a jar.  I think she makes enough to pay for her annuals each year.  So I threw 20 or so empty pots in a bag, grabbed my garden gloves and handy Felcos and headed east.  See Mary has glorious lilacs along her driveway and since they're at peak or slightly past, I knew she would let me cut some to bring home.  Only gardeners come home from someone else's garden with more than they brought:

 

Mary couldn't resist sending me home with a bunch of dahlias.  If it ever stops raining I'll even plant them:

 

And how beautiful the lilacs were.  They're somewhat past their peak now 3 days after this photo was snapped, but they still smell divine: 

 

I stopped at Walmart on the way home from Mary's house for some contact lens solution.  Guess what I came home with -- yup, more plants:

 

I got lazy and decided that two $9 hanging containers of impatiens were worth not having to find and buy new liners for the hanging baskets on the shady side of the house:

 

They don't show up well against the fading marsh marigolds, but once that's all bare dirt I think the lighter containers will look pretty good:

 

But this rainy weather is giving all the transplants time to get good and established, like this creeping jenny in the fish container: 

 

And all the seeds are developing nicely like this kale in one of the raised beds:

The potatoes need to be hilled already.  All of the potatoes in all of the containers: 

 

And the grass is coming back slowly, but surely.  I love this shot from high on the hill in back of our garden.  I wish you could see my neighbor's funky garden.  Maybe I'll take you on a photo tour some day: 

 

I might be able to get out to the garden on Friday and get some stuff done like hilling the potatoes.  There's only a 60% chance of rain.  That's practically a clear day after what we've been experiencing.  If you're reading from the Northeast, are you managing to maintain your sanity?

Of Neighbors

Here's a sneak peek at one of this weekend's projects:

 

It has been made possible by our neighbor cutting down three 90 foot tall trees on the other side of his property.  Hopefully we will be getting a lot more sun this growing season.  This isn't the best photo, but the stumps are huge:

 

He gave me a quick tour around his garden to see what he had planned now that he would have massive amounts of sunlight.  This huge bleeding heart is sitting next to the very tall, very large raised bed that he built.  I asked the same question of him that many people ask me...why are you growing in containers?  He gave the same answer I do...tree roots:

 

As we walked through his side yard into the front, I noticed he had tons of Japanese maple seedlings all over.  I pointed them out excitedly and told him about the one I found on my hill last year and have been growing in a pot, he said I could take them:

 

Remember the three empty pots I had in the driveway near the spinach?  They're not empty anymore!  I put three seedlings in the largest pot and one each in the other two:

 

Then Lee and I took advantage of the lovely weather and took a walk this afternoon.  Spring has definitely arrived this week.  Pear trees in bloom:

 

Long-time readers may recognize Kathy's garden from previous walks:

 

I am awed by all that she does:

 

And back much closer to our house, this is one of my favorite sights of the spring:

 

Lots on the agenda for tomorrow and Sunday and it's supposed to be perfect weather! 

The Growing Season That Just Won't End

I really thought the season was over on Monday when I woke up to this:

 

It wasn't just a dusting that melted when the sun came up:

 

I took these photos at 11am.  Note that the basil is still looking great:

 

And the husky cherry tomato that the wind kept knocking over:

 

But no, the snow switched over to rain and the rest of the week was sunny and beautiful.  We had a great lazy day on Saturday, but on Sunday we had to take advantage of the nearly 60 degree weather and get some work done in the yard.  Still no killing frost, see, even the zinnias are still going strong:

 

You may remember that I had Lee clear out the back shed making a nice level spot for a compost pen of some sort.  But he couldn't move two really large chunks of concrete by himself.  We picked each one up together and moved them one at a time in the wheelbarrow to the driveway and then carried them around the house to the front.  The first one wasn't bad, but the second one was literally as heavy a thing as I can carry and my left arm is still kind of dead.  Look how huge it is over there:

 

Back to the project...I've had a roll of chicken wire set aside for a compost bin for years, I'm not kidding -- years!  First I unrolled the wire (with Lee's help), laid it wrong way down on the ground to keep it from rolling right back up, and figured out I had 20-25 feet or way too much for one enclosure.  So I cut it in half (roughly) and formed the first cage.  I just made a circle and folded over the ends over twice -- nothing complicated, and stood it up:

It was a little wobbly, but we figured the leaves would fill it out and we weren't concerned about it going anywhere so skipped stakes.  Lee had already filled up a trash can with shredded leaves (we have that sucking/shredding attachment for our leaf blower) so he started filling it immediately:

 

He went back to raking and sucking up leaves and I built the second, slightly smaller cage.  Here they are when we called it a day a few hours later:

 

I spent the rest of my time clearing the vegetable garden and starting the second compost pile.  Lee will top it off with leaves next weekend.  It's kind of sad how insignificant the veggie garden looks, but I didn't put any of the bean stalks in here.  The strings were kind of torn after a few seasons of use, but I didn't think they would break down in the compost, so they went straight into the trash with the beans still on because I really didn't want to try and unwind them:

 

But this is the first time I've tidied up the garden in the fall and I like it:

 

Lee did a great job of clearing leaves, but as you can see we still have tons on the trees, but at least they're not green so they should come down sometime soon:

 

Some bad news though.  Remember the beautiful ivy that covered a large part of the fence?  Here's a reminder:

 

See how pretty it was behind the hanging planters:

 

No more.  The ivy and the fence are actually our neighbor's property.  He said that it was destroying his fence and it was time for it to go.  Of course, he didn't tell us ahead of time and we just went outside one day to discover it was gone.  Oh well, he dug it up too, so I don't think it will be coming back: 

 

I am bringing some plants inside to try to overwinter them in the kitchen, more on that soon, but this rosemary must be pointed out.  I moved it to the steps to encourage bugs to exit before I bring it into the kitchen, but I can't get over how big it is.  We bought it last Thanksgiving in Florida and brought it home with us.  Sadly we're not going down for Thanksgiving this year, but this little piece of Florida will still be with us:

 

But I have to close with a shot of my beautiful new wreath.  I'm declaring it appropriate for Thanksgiving and if I'm really lazy, Christmas too:

 

It's sparkly and I love it!  What are you excited about these days?

Like Clockwork

It's the first day of Fall (partial or not), so guess what appeared today on my neighbor's steps:

 

Can you see them?  Pumpkins, on a nearly 80 degree day.  I can't stop laughing.  Back in the patio garden the one zuke is still hanging on, but I wish I had seen the male flower and the female flower before this afternoon so I could assist with pollination.  I'll try to remember to get out there early tomorrow morning:

 

I haven't shown you the herb barrel in a long time.  It's almost exclusively perennial herbs now, but that lemon grass in back won't overwinter successfully in my zone (6b).  I have two in small containers though which I will put in the basement.  They might make it:

I love it!  Lots of silver thyme, stevia, and sage dominating the front of the barrel:

 

Heading to the office tomorrow and I will miss my garden.  Don't know how many more truly lovely days I'll be able to spend enjoying it!

You Wait A Couple of Days To Update...

And all of a sudden you've got tons to say.  It's been pretty nice around here lately.  A little on the warm side for my taste, but until today, pretty tolerable.  Not go outside and do much of anything weather though except for Thursday when it was practically chilly -- under 80 degrees at 9am!  We decided it was the perfect time to go for a walk.  You can't actually see our house in this photo, but it's dead center of frame behind those trees and we never knew there was this dock on the river through a mowed section of the field between two condo buildings (though it's probably not technically open to the public):

 

Back in our garden I sat under an umbrella and did some work.  But every once in a while I'd hop up to take a photo.  How could I not chase this blue-tailed beauty:

 

Ten minutes later a completely different one in nearly the same spot:

 

Still a face only a mother could love:

 

Lilac bell peppers, but how do I know when they're ready to harvest:

 

I knew this Black Russian tomato was ready:

 

Ugly as can be though:

And it was delicious with fresh mozz, basil from our garden, and some tuna-fish (the meal also featured egg salad and potato salad made of our own potatoes):

Malabar seedlings along the back of the container, but something dug down and took out a bunch and the other purple basil:

 

The wildflowers actually look pretty decent:

 

The whole patch:

 

I've been loving the growth of the cucumbers:

 

The Hillbilly tomatoes will apparently all ripen at the same time -- and soon:

 

The Roma tomatoes don't look too good on the bottom, but the fruit is ripening really nicely:

 

The Brandywine Pink tomatoes look just awful, though even these have fruit ripening:

 

The last day-lily came and went on Friday in the rain:

 

The hydrangea has a few new blooms, but most are old and fading fast.  I have to deadhead it (there's still a lot of warm weather left), but I haven't found the time yet: 

 

The ever-bearing strawberries are producing fruit all of a sudden:

 

I can't get a decent photo of this spot, but it's still one of my favorites in the garden:

 

Especially now that the moonflower has tons of buds on it:

 

I decided it was time to see what we got for beets and onions (though I left half the beets and probably missed half the onions under all the carrot foliage):

 

And while I was harvesting, I figured I'd grab the eggplants and cucumbers too:

 

Lee decided to pickle the beets, and he used some of the onions too:

 

I glanced over at the kitchen table and thought, "Wow it looks like summer in here."  Basil ready to be used, plastic dishes and whatnot for eating outside, empty pint containers for harvesting, empty pitcher for sun tea, and the fan in the window:

 

One of our favorite summer meals -- perfectly grilled hot dogs and veggies from our garden (first time beans have been part of a meal here this summer):

 

We have a new addition to the gravel alley next to the house.  SS2's grandparents were with us on the 4th of July and they noticed that we were composting and offered us their spin composter that they weren't using.  Uh, yes please and thank you:

I know right next to the front door is kind of a strange place for it, but that's where we keep our trash cans.  It's a pretty sunny spot and rather level, so we figured it made sense.  Lee's already loving the easy access and I don't think it's bothering me aesthetically:

Now what do I want to plant in the containers where we had potatoes?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - June 2010

Carol's been hosting GBBD for years over at May Dreams Garden, and now I'm a monthly participant after years of observing.  But my garden is not cooperating with the calendar.  The Siberian iris, lupine, and the Blue Mist clematis have come and gone since the last bloom day.  I am going to "cheat" and use some slightly older photos because I like them better than ones that I shot late yesterday afternoon.  My favorite trio of planters right now:

I'm especially enjoying the heuchera blooms:

This heuchera on the shady side of the house is putting on a show (thought it's hard to see in this photo).  And the baskets of impatiens hanging next to the walk are quite cheerful:

Nearby the impatiens on the stump look great too.  If you look very carefully you can see the white blooms of an astilbe in the blue pot on the right (look at the top of the fence).  It's much more striking in real life:

 

The same pot from a different angle to show you the pretty pink flowers in my neighbor's yard:

I carefully walked through the poison ivy in the back of their yard to get a closer look (in flip-flops no less...good thing I still appear not to have a reaction to it, or I just rinsed off my feet and flip-flops in cold water quickly enough to avoid a rash).  Isn't it pretty from here:

 

I looked it up and it's definitely an eutrochium or Joe-Pye weed.  The poison ivy was making me nervous though, so this is the best shot I got and I'm not sure which variety it is:

 

While that wildflower isn't precisely in my garden, this Bladder Campion is:

Of the many astilbes blooming or just about to bloom on the shady side of the house, this is my favorite:

 

Heading back around the house via the front door, the containers with the Purple Gem rhododendrons flanking the front porch have filled out quite nicely:

Strangely, this is where VPH and I spent most of our time hanging out in the garden.  Maybe it's because we have all these places to sit.  And those Adirondack chairs on the right are in one of the sunniest spots in the garden, from 10am - 12pm.  The hanging baskets of flowers are all calibrochoa:

And one of the brightest spots in my garden each day isn't even a plant that I bought!  Remember the Gerbera daisy that I brought home from a fundraiser ages ago?  I swear it's given me 10 gorgeous flowers already:

 

And the osteosperum basket that I picked up cheap from Walmart also makes me happy, though dead-heading it is already getting old:

 

I took this photo from one of those Adirondack chairs with VPH walking away (in his lawn-mowing gear) to show just how huge the Endless Summer hydrangea is this year:

It's covered in beautiful blue flowers:

And right next to it the peas still have some flowers:

 

Another older photo, but the lemon thyme in bloom is so beautiful (and fragrant):

 

The rest of the blooms in my garden are veggies in bloom, like this nasturtium in the raised veggie bed (so far only it and one other of the 20 or so nasturtiums I have are blooming): 

 

Lots of marigolds around my tomatoes for color and to ward off aphids.  Please note that this beautiful Black tomato plant that I grew from seed has flowers:

This is a flower on one of the Lilac bell peppers.  I hope it sets, the ones on the Ivory bell peppers didn't: 

This cluster of flowers on one of the Brandywine Pink tomato plants got me so excited!  I think it almost looks like a bouquet and I'm tasting those tomatoes already: 

And that's it for actual blooms in the garden, but I do have a few buds.  Like on the Royal Purple Bush beans:

The Yukon Gold potatoes: 

I'm astonished by this, but one of the containers of petunias that self sowed from last year's hanging baskets and I carefully transplanted are about to flower: 

All of the hostas are about to burst into bloom, but this one in the containers up on the big stump by the road is the closest to blooming.  I love the purples of the bud with the dark heuchera in back:

 

And probably the most highly anticipated buds in the garden are the day-lilies in the patio garden:

Let's see if they're still blooming by July 15th! 

Scenes From A Lazy Weekend

No gardening going on here, just enjoying the fruits of our labors.  In fact, on Saturday VPH wanted to go by Barnes & Noble to buy a book he wanted.  I agreed to the trip, but said if I didn't walk outside and see zucchini seedlings popping up in the patio garden we'd be making a trip by Vaiuso on the way home.  I walked out the side door with my camera in hand and came around the corner to:

Oh yes, that's a bird in the bird-bath and he didn't even fly away.  I snapped the photo above without zoom so you could see just how close I was.  And then I used the zoom to get a closer photo and I'm pretty sure it's a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:

I snapped about 20 photos before VPH came barreling around the corner chatting loudly and despite my subtle shush, he startled the bird into flight.  But then I was able to focus and see that I had not one, but two zucchini seedlings so no trip to the nursery for me:

Another photo of the patio garden because why not:

 

Something was really digging into the raised veggie bed and even uprooted some of the carrot seedlings:

 

Yukon Gold potatoes -- I can't tell you how excited I am about these:

 

So off we went to B&N and we stopped in to the grocery store on the way home because I saw there were a lot of radishes ready to be harvested in the raised veggie bed.  I read on-line that a wonderful way to eat them was on good crusty bread with butter and then thinly sliced radishes on top.  We came home with two different kinds of butter: 

 

And:

 

And a fresh out of the oven loaf of French bread ($.79 on sale): 

 

How cute are these?  And they were delicious.  The bread and butter made the radishes less spicy, but still tasty:

 

With all the birds stopping by the feeder, I've looked a little on-line to try and identify them, but with little success.  At B&N I bought the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Eastern Region) that my friend Meg had at her house -- very easy to use and lots of good information.  Now I know that this is a Black-capped Chickadee (with a big seed in his mouth):

Another view helped to verify the identification:

 

Also identified on Saturday, the Common Grackle (which I already knew) and House Sparrow (which I was pretty sure about).  I think this book is going to get a lot of use.  Sunday dawned cloudy, but around noon the sun came out in force.  It didn't look like we were actually going to get any rain, so I watered the garden and weeded a little as I went.  I left this rather large seedling in with this habanero pepper because I want to see what it is.  Looks like it could be a cucumber to me, but time will tell: 

Then I sat down with VPH, a Coke Zero on ice, and a book.  Within moments I noticed I had little bits of pollen all over me:

 

I was wearing a black sleeveless shirt which showed the pollen very clearly, like this bit on the button:

 

VPH is so much better that we actually went for a walk on Friday afternoon.  A slow, short walk (only 8/10ths of a mile), but since it was his first one in 5 weeks we were both really happy about it.  Today we took another walk, a little quicker and a little longer -- just over a mile.  This route brought us past Kathy's house, do you remember her garden from a few years ago: 

 

I can't imagine how much time and energy she puts into this magnificent garden.  She wasn't outside as we walked past, but since it was 3pm, she had probably already called it a day.  I certainly didn't see a flower that needed dead-heading or a leaf out of place:

 

We enjoyed our lazy days and the Lost finale tonight with SS1 will be the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.  I hope you had as nice a weekend whether yours involved working hard in your garden or relaxing in it like we did!

DOES THE TITLE REALLY MAKE YOU READ THE POST?

I hope not, because I am having the hardest time coming up with titles these days.  I put off drafting this post for an hour or so while I tried to come up with a good title...no luck.  I considered NIMG (Not in My Garden - originally coined by Carol of May Dreams Gardens?):

Yes, those are topiaries, anchors, lengths of huge rope, and no, you're not insane, that's the Three Stooges in golf gear on the pedestals:

 

We pass it every time we go for a walk, but today was the first time the home-owner wasn't out there playing around so I dared to stop and take a few photos.  Then I considered a fall theme of some sort, but the only fall color I could find was this cinnamon fern in my garden:

 

A post about dahlias was a legitimate possibility, with these colorful specimens all blooming in my garden, and now decorating my kitchen windowsill:

And these beauties:

 

In the living room next to the couch, as viewed from the couch:

 

But nothing clicked.  It was nice to get outside for a little while on such a beautiful day.  I probably should have spent time cleaning up the garden, but our trees are all still green and no leaves have fallen yet.  Maybe by next weekend.

AT LAST

It only took 6 months, but we have a shed!  I left the men to finish up on Saturday as I headed off to an appointment.  They ran into a problem and gave up.  I came home and fixed the issue in less than 5 minutes but it was too dark to finish up.  They headed outside before me on Sunday and I came around the corner of the house to find this:

Yes, that's SS2 climbing on to a table to climb onto a chair to reach the middle of the roof.  And VPH hiding his face in shame as I snap the photo.  No one was injured in the assembling of the shed:

 

Getting the shed done in under an hour gave VPH and I time to take a walk on that lovely day (possibly the last one over 65 degrees that we'll see in 2009).  Our destination was Dave's garden (the lovely man who got me started growing dahlias).  His dahlias are so beautiful: 

Every color you can think of and so lush and full:

 

VPH told me to be sure to snap a photo of the flowering tree behind the hydrangea here:

 

I can't remember what it's called, but it's Hawaiian and Dave digs it (and the other 2 or 3 he has) up to overwinter in his basement each year (please note even his grass looks awesome):

 

Back in our garden...I'm loving the wildflowers blooming all over the place right now that are making the hill next to our house a little less ugly:

 

A close-up of the wildflowers that shows a few slow-moving bees that are loving them too:

 

Here in southern CT on my 35th birthday, it's rather cool.  Some years my birthday is a short-sleeved t-shirt Indian Summer day, but not this year.  At least the shed is up and once we get the insanity of the American Girl Fashion Shows out of the way (tickets still available here), we'll get the garden tucked in for the winter.

OKAY, DON'T LAUGH

This is what happens when you ask your husband to plant while you're at the office.  Once I got home and we stood together staring at the 12 coleus plants in the ground, he said, "Yeah, it might have made sense to put the tall ones in back along the rocks and the short ones in front."  I added, "And maybe mixed up the colors a little?"  Well he's sweet to plant them regardless and they'll fill in soon.  Plus he mulched the whole bed, so really I'm not complaining:

 

Remember how it rained for June?  At some point during those weeks of rain, I decided that the sun would return and we would need a way to cool off.  But this is the summer of cheap and as you know we don't own this property.  4 years ago, before we started gardening, we asked the landlords if they had any objection to us putting up one of those big blue inflatable pools...they did, turns out their insurance premiums would have gone up.  Which is retrospect really worked out for the best.  We never would have started gardening if the yard was dominated by a big blue pool.  Do you see where I'm going with this:

 

Hey, it was only $20.12!  Though it's on clearance now for even less.  This is the sunniest part of our garden with full sun from about 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.  We put down a tarp we had on hand (luckily it was about the right size and blue) to try and protect the bottom of the pool since once the grass dies (sigh), there won't be much between the pool and the glass and rocks that seem to be the main components of our soil:

 

This is also about the flattest section of our garden, but it's still not level.  There will be a deep end of this pool.  I should stop calling it a pool.  The package called it an aqua lounger, which amused VPH to no end:

 

We also picked up a solar cover at a local overstock store for $33.  But even the smallest one they had was more than twice as large as needed, so we cut it in half and stored the rest for future use, so I'm only going to include $16.50 in the aqua lounger expenses.  (The directions for the solar cover recommended letting the cover sit for a few days to straighten out before you did the final trim to size and shape, lest you think we're just dumb.)  Another $7 got us a skimmer.  So that's a total of $43.62 -- well we already got an afternoon's amusement out of setting it up, in my mind that's money well spent.  VPH included in photo for scale:

 

I am so excited to see what color the daylilies on those tall stalks will be and still taking endless pleasure in the patio garden:

  

The Green Zebra tomatoes are definitely going to have the first ripe fruit, I'm just not sure how I'm going to know when it's ripe.  Lots of squeezing tomatoes I guess:  

  

The first beans are Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, though the Royal Purple Bush beans (not pictured) are running a close second:

 

See how much better the weather is (knock wood) -- basil that's not rotting: 

 

The mystery bush in a long weedy hedgerow on our evening walk:

 

We walked down to Dave & Dottie's house, which we do several times a week.  Remember them?  They gave me my first dahlias last year and serve as inspiration for all who pass by their home.  Walking by their garden these days smells like walking into a florist shop.  They have easily a hundred lilies blooming right now.  Their dahlias are all in, growing like crazy, carefully staked and labeled:

 

I love all the different types of hosta under the tree:

 

Some of the scads of lilies:

 

I don't know what this was (can anyone identify it? I remember seeing it on someone's blog not too long ago), but it was sharing space on an obelisk with a clematis.  Each bloom? seedhead? was about the size of a silver dollar.  Definitely calendar-worthy:

 

Nor do I have any idea what these Dr. Seuss-like plants were:

 

But the bees were loving them:

 

I have to go into the office on Thursday, so no time in the aqua-lounger for me, but VPH is going to complete the mulching and mow the lawn, so he said he might relax in it once he finishes if he and the weather are warm enough.  Remember, don't laugh!

I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE BROKEN THIS INTO 2 POSTS

But since I haven't posted much lately, you're going to get it all.  VPH had promised our neighbor (whose fence is the one that figures so prominently in our garden) that he would move the huge leaf pile in the bastard garden off of the fence.  Said neighbor thought the weight of the leaves was pushing his fence over.  VPH and I disagreed about the weight issue, but I agreed that the leaves should be moved away from the fence.  In addition to moving the leaves about a foot away from the fence, VPH cleared the area next to the shed where we're planning to build a leaf bin with chicken wire and wood posts:

Along with the trunks of 4 Christmas trees past, VPH dug out this pile of trash including a jump rope, and yes, he thought it was a snake too:

Still protecting VPH's anonymity, but I was impressed with how dirty and sweaty he got back there: 

I wasn't sitting around on my hands while he worked.  I started off the day by taking down the greenhouse.  VPH has since weeded this whole area so it looks even nicer now than when I took this photo:

Then I went to work on the wildflower patch.  I just found out that Dame's Rocket has been deemed an invasive plant in CT and is banned.  Didn't know that when I scattered the mixed seed it was in over a year ago.  And I've seen it growing along the road around the corner, so I'm not too worried about it, but the blooms had faded, so I chopped them down (and left VPH a nice pile to shred for the compost):

I'm happy to report that some other flowers are blooming in the wildflower patch and it doesn't look that bad from the right angle:

When I started gardening that day this bud in the wildflower patch looked like this:

And by the time I finished it looked like this:

I love how this same flower looked next to it when I started:

And at the end of the day -- it almost looks like a different flower:

Then I attacked the herb barrel with my Felco pruners and scalped the chives, parsley, and thyme:

Did you know that if you stick freshly cut cilantro in a glass of water, it will stay fresh?  Did you know that you can freeze freshly cut chives and thyme without any prep and they'll come out of their freezer bags practically fresh?  Well that's what I read anyway, I'll let you know if it actually works:

The zinnias have buds at last:

The morning glories are finally taking off:

The hydrangea is showing definite signs of blue flowers:

Now we can turn our attention to the veggie garden.  I've got teeny tiny little tomatoes forming on the Sweet 100 cherry tomato:

And the Husky cherry tomato (or did I confuse the photos?): 

The Kentucky Wonder beans are doing great despite being nearly hidden from view by the zucchini.  I guess I'm doing the 3 sisters, but substituting the fence for corn:

This little guy startled me as I was trying to photograph pea blossoms:

I did manage to photograph the snow pea blossoms too: 

The peas are taking their sweet time and the Brandywine Pink tomatoes are making a break from their temporary containers, so I had to come up with a different plan:

These pea containers will instead be home to our second planting of carrots and I went out and bought 2 more containers for the tomatoes and I swear I will transplant them tomorrow or Friday at the very latest.  They'll all live together here on the sunny edge of the gravel patio:

Speaking of the carrots...they're out of control:

They got so big so fast that I couldn't resist pulling one out to see if they were actually carrots yet.  They are!  Little tiny carrots, but oh so tasty:

The whole veggie garden on Tuesday:

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but we've been getting lots of downpours lately and after the last one, the cucumber and the Royal Purple Bush beans were a little on the floppy side.  I will use the wooden trellis from the peas for the cucumber and the bush beans weren't supposed to need staking, but bamboo and Velcro garden ties to the rescue:

And here's a handy little tip for you.  If you're using your very sharp Felco pruners to cut Velcro strips and you suddenly meet resistance, that's your hand.  At least my blood matched the handle (and in case you were worried, it was a minor cut that isn't even showing signs of infection despite my dirty hands when it happened and the fact that I kept working):

Along with the 2 new plastic containers I picked up for the tomatoes, I bought this gorgeous astilbe.  And it was begging for a new pot, so why not buy 3?  The plant was only $6 and all 3 glazed pots came to $41 -- how could I not buy them:

I don't have specific plans for the other 2, but I do still have this whole tray of seedlings to plant up:

And a potting table of other random plants needing a home:

We also rescued these purple rhododendrons from the red dot shelf at Home Depot -- 50% off of $6.99 each.  One will go next to the shed in front of the leaf bin, maybe 2.  The other might be squeezed into the rock-bordered bed of hosta and 1 pink rhododendron near the patio:

So there is my ridiculously long post on everything we've been up to so far this week.  If it ever stops raining long enough to let the seedling tray dry out enough for me to work with the plants I will be able to do some actual gardening.  Weeding is so boring!

AND I CALL MYSELF A GARDENER

I know there are beginner gardeners, master gardeners, vegetable gardeners, herb gardeners, etc., but today I met my first show flower gardeners.  Remember last weekend VPH and I took a walk and I mentioned photographing an amazing garden on our route?  Well we walked that way again today and the homeowners were outside working the garden.  Since all gardeners are friendly people and love to receive praise, I shouted out "You have the most beautiful garden." 

Dave and Dottie were as friendly and lovely as can be and gave me permission to post about their garden.  This is the first view of their property as you approach it from the direction in which I live:

Big empty dirt area with poles, what could this be for?  If I give you a hint do you think you can figure it out?  In the summer all of the poles have clear plastic umbrellas on them.  Dave and Dottie grow show dahlias: 

But the rest of their garden is just lovely, even a week ago before they had finished bringing out the plants they overwinter in the basement: 

Talk about focal points:

They have about 1500 daffodils and 500 lilies (which will be up next -- you can bet I'll bring you photos):

Dottie told me that they cover this beautiful heather with burlap over the winter.  I so want to sit on that bench:

The reverse view of the garden from how we approached.  See the pipes from their gutters?  Today large rainbarrels were connected to each one.  VPH was fascinated by this setup.  Unfortunately the rental house we live in doesn't have gutters.  So while I envied just about everything in their garden, VPH envied their gutters:

This is their side yard after you turn the corner:

Dave took my phone number and said he'd call me when they have dahlia roots in a few weeks.  He said he's always looking for people to take them.  Apparently I can grow dahlias in containers. 

Which brings me to what I purchased today: 

Aren't they gorgeous?  The big one was $14, the middle $8 and the smallest $4.  So that's $26 for 3 pots and they're not small.  That's a full-size 2-person bench in back of them.  I almost want to go back and get more.  I'm not sure what's going in them or where they're going, but I had to buy them.

Back to our walk...

We continued up the side street by Dave and Dottie's house, which eventually loops back around to our house indirectly.  I had never been up this street and boy was I missing something.  First I saw this:

Then we got closer and went wow!  There's so much going on here.  You must click to enlarge the photo and look up on the hill to the left.  Can you see the telescope and chairs?

This is about when I noticed a woman sitting on the steps of the house across the street.  I turned and said to her, "Nice of them to plant all of that for you to look at."  Turns out she was the homeowner and extremely talented gardener resting on her neighbor's porch for a moment.  Kathy gave me permission to post about her garden and said if I got a good photo she'd love it if I would email it to her.  I sent along the photos, but I'm not sure if I captured how beautiful her garden is:

She promised me a close-up tour another time (I think she noticed VPH was a little bored with me talking to strangers) and I took one last shot -- a little bit closer now that I had permission:

We headed for home with one last pause for photographs.  This large vegetable garden is around the corner and down a hill from our house.  He got his peas in about 2 weeks before me:

I'm going to keep a close eye on his progress and base the rest of my plantings on his schedule.  He's been gardening this patch for all 10 years that we've lived in the neighborhood (and many before that I'd imagine) so he must know the climate better than I do:

I'm afraid today's post will be all about other people's gardens -- VPH asked for and received a garden reprieve today and rain is forecast for tomorrow morning.  Added to that, it appears that this week we'll be lucky to hit 60 daily, so maybe I'll just let things have a chance to develop without me hovering like a nervous mama for a little while.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

It was so beautiful today that we just had to go for a walk this afternoon.  Our neighbor across the street has the nicest lawn on the block.  He has a garden in back, but I've never had the courage to take him up on his offer to go over and pick zucchini and cucumbers whenever I feel like it.  But his forsythia bush is screaming spring at us as we walk out the front door daily:

We walked a different route today, one that I've never taken on foot before (except during a big snowstorm one winter when the roads were awful and we were dying for eggs).  I couldn't believe how beautiful these trees were.  It's a little tough in the photo to see the huge magnolia in the background, but it was the largest I've ever seen:

The 10 houses before this one and the 10 after are big lawns and foundation plantings, so this one sticks out -- in a good way.  I imagine a sweet old lady has lived in this house forever and she loves her spring flowers like she does her cats:

There's one thing from our walk that I couldn't show you.  There's an amazing garden -- and I mean amazing -- that we passed by.  I took photos from the sidewalk, but the garden is obviously the resident's pride and joy and I wouldn't feel right posting about it without asking permission first.  I plan to walk down again tomorrow, so hopefully I'll catch the homeowner out and about and be able to share its beauty with you.

Back from our walk now...I picked up these clay pots (25 of various sizes) from my next-door-neighbor when he had a tag sale at the end of the summer for $3.00.  I'm having a wonderful time deciding what to plant in them:

And yes, you spotted the last bag of that horrible Miracle Gro potting mix in the above photo.  I'll use it for non-edible plants, like the sunflowers I plan to grow in those 6 large pots.  I know they may be kind of small, but it's an experiment.  In case you're wondering what I'm using for potting soil this year, purchased for the ungodly sum of $15.99 a bag at the good gardening center, I present:

And for fertilizer...I finally found WORM POOP!  It was at Home Depot of all places.  I even got lawn fertilizer so the weed and feed is officially not being used this spring (but maybe in the fall).  Genie will be so proud:

VPH spent all day yesterday cleaning up the few leaves he missed in the fall.  He is such a trooper.  Now I just have to weed the perennial shade garden and put down fresh mulch.  I also purchased 3 bleeding hearts to plant in here -- just above the 3rd rock from the bottom:

VPH also did some work on the wildflower patch.  Note the wire fence on the patio that will go in front of the patch to try and keep the flowers from flopping over onto the patio:

See why this area is problematic for me?  It's all coming in very sparsely.  And I wasn't that fond of the out of control flop over in the rain and general chaos last year: 

I've got two options here --

1.) Leave it be for a month and see what develops.  If I don't like what I see, I think we're going to rip it all out and put in a perennial flower garden, even bulbs for early spring development next year.

2.) Use the perennial wildflower seed and poppy seed I have to fill in the blank spots and live with the chaos for another year.

I'm definitely leaning towards option 1.

VPH also cleared the leaves from the perimeter of the yard exposing the day lilies:

And you know how much fun he has playing in the bastard garden!  He pulled all the garbage out of the ground and piled it to the left and pushed the yard debris pile back against the fence.  He plans to put grass seed on the bare ground and do a dump run soon:

 

My forsythia bush and the weeds in full bloom.  You can't even see the bed with hostas and the rhododendron in front of the fence: 

The opposite side of the forsythia, cause I'm just digging on it:

In case you were wondering why we let the poison ivy grow out of the stump -- it's for privacy:

The lights from the gazebo are going up on Freecycle:

I've been cleaning up the veggie garden bit by bit.  When I went to tidy up the trellis planter that had tomatoes in it, I found a little surprise.  At one point last year I had planted garlic in a row in front of the tomatoes.  It didn't do well and I ended up pulling them all, or so I thought!  I can't believe one survived to stand tall front and center:

You have to look really, really, really close to find new growth on the oregano, but it's there:

We have big plans for tomorrow.  Planting the rest of the seeds, building trellises, finishing the garden clean-up, over-seeding the lawn in time for Sunday's rain, etc.  What will you be doing in your garden this weekend?

Walk Part 2

I'm working on something for tomorrow, but I need to take new photos during daylight and last week I promised you the second half of the walk home from the beach. 

I wonder if these neighbors collaborated on their landscape design.  It's very complementary.

VPH thinks this building is an office.  I think some really rich people weekend here (it's right on the river and we've never seen a car or person on the property). 

More of that same property.

Imagine what they spend on landscaping.

I do love it though.

They even worry about curb appeal.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum - an adorable little garden lovingly tended.

I love this property, from the color of the house and shutters to the large ornamental grasses.

I just want to sit on this front porch and watch people walk by.

And this was only a sampling of what we see along our walk.  Next time I think we'll venture off in another direction.  There's this one house along the road to the grocery store that is screaming for a closer look than my 30-mile-per-hour drive by is giving me.

Walk Part 1

Even though we're on vacation and enjoying lazy days by the pool, we have wireless high speed internet and I have no excuse for not posting.  However, I didn't feel much like doing anything today so you're getting a post I put together a few weeks ago.  Tomorrow some photos of the grounds around our vacation rental (pool time will be somewhat curtailed since I got a little bit too much sun today).

Since the heavy lifting portion of gardening is over for a while, VPH and I have tried to get back to our nightly walk.  #5 on Kim's post really inspired me to get my butt moving again.  This beautiful spot is .9 miles from our door exactly and if we really move up and down the hills swiftly (not big, but definitely calf-burning) we can get there in 15 minutes. 

That is the town beach and park.  People always ask why we never "go to the beach" since it's so close to our house.  It's Long Island Sound and it's pretty gross.  Also,  when you grown up on the shoreline you take for granted that the beach is a short walk/drive away and it's just not very interesting after your 100 millionth trip.  When I was about 12 years old, Mom made me do a summer class in marine biology where we spent every day wading in salt marshes and examining the flora and fauna.  Unless you fall in love with marine biology you pretty much lose any interest in salt water after that.  Give me a nice chlorinated pool any day though.

It's nice of the town to put this beautiful flower bed in the middle of the road.

See the paved road in the center of this photo?  My friend Kathy's house is to the right of it.  We had book club there last summer, what a beautiful spot.  She has two little boys and I just kept thinking what a fantastic location this is for them to grow up.  Ironically it takes about 15 minutes to drive from my house to hers because though it's only a mile as the crow flies, there's no direct route.

VPH taking in the sights.

There are some incredible gardens between the beach and our house; today we'll be taking a look as we walk back from the beach. 

We have never seen anyone at this house, so we think it must be someone's weekend place (we rarely walk here during the weekend).  They must pay a boatload for landscaping since there's never a blade of grass out of place:

These people live here year-round and obviously have a green thumb:

I love their little patio behind these flowers:

I want to know how these folks get their hydrangea such a deep blue. 

The blue is such a deep, dark blue that doesn't really translate here.  I may just have to knock on their door some day and ask what they're doing.

Walk Part 2 later this week.