Heather's Garden

IF THE SUN EVER COMES BACK...

The rain stops, and the thermometer gets up over 70 degrees, I'll be back out at my current favorite spot in the garden.  We found raccoon prints on the edge of the wading pool one day and we just couldn't go in it anymore.  So off it went to a friend's house (cleaned first) and the double-lounger went into its place (please note my nifty watering can table):

The dahlias are beautiful and since they're about the only thing flowering in the garden right now, really doing a great job of attracting pollinators:

Wait, I take that back...I've got marigolds blooming too!  the ones I grew from seed are finally flowering:

I'm inordinately proud of them:

And the peppers have suddenly started getting color out of nowhere:

 

And best of all I have a big beautiful Black Russian tomato sitting on the kitchen windowsill to have with lunch on Monday (our luncheon guest, Christine, doesn't know how lucky she is yet).  Now we just have to get through moving SS2 back to school tomorrow!

A MARAUDER!

I walked outside on Friday afternoon, looked up at my container on the stump and gasped:

  

It was even worse up close.  What interloper would have the gall to dig up my hosta:

 

I replanted the hosta and filled in the other small holes.  I had clear plastic forks on hand and really hope they 1.) prevent any further attacks, and 2.) don't hurt any animals in the process:

 

You can't even see them from below:

I never tire of the fiddle-heads on the ferns.  Should I ever do a vertical calendar (doubtful) this would be calendar-worthy, I may even print and frame this pic I like it that much:

 

I suddenly realized on Friday morning that the tomatoes in the pretty blue pots by the fence on the side of the house weren't getting enough sun.  The sun hits the top of the fence around 9:30am, but doesn't get down to the bottom until nearly 11am and then the shadow from the house covers the whole side of the house by 2:30pm, so they had to move to the gravel patio. 

Friday afternoon we went out to Old Saybrook to visit Carole at Maynard Greenhouse.  After a pleasant but short vist (Carole was working and I had VPH in tow and he's not endlessly patient), we headed towards home with 2 Cherokee Purple tomato seedlings (you didn't think I could visit a greenhouse without buying something did you?).  We passed two Ocean State Job Lots on the way home, so of course we had to pop in to see what containers they had left.  Success! 

 

The two blue square ceramic containers on the ends were only $37 each.  Look at the size of the those things!  They each took 2 cubic feet of potting soil and a Cherokee Purple tomato:

 

I really like the splash of color they give the patio.  I asked VPH if he thought we should get a blue umbrella now.  He laughed and said we could put a white tablecloth on the table and celebrate the 4th of July all summer.  Note that the containers of beans are now inside the trellises:

 

The patio garden is growing like mad.  See the lupine in front?  I think it may actually flower.  The herb pots are all planted up now:

I love this photo.  If I had planted the cilantro and dill and taken this photo on Friday, I would have entered it into the GGW photo contest:

I have a feeling that variations of this angle will be a frequent subject this summer as the herbs fill in.  But I include another here so you can see all the herbs growing on the corner.  Back row left to right -- spearmint, basil, rosemary, lavender (goodwin creek); middle row left to right -- lavender (I gave this some fertilizer today, it has growth, but it's taking its sweet time to come back), fernleaf dill, lemon thyme; and at the front right -- cilantro (I picked up this pot on Friday too...hey at only $8 how could I not?):

And while I'm in the patio garden...the moonflowers are growing nicely with a new set of leaves and I was shocked to see the clematis growing down at the bottom of this photo (sorry it's out of focus), I thought for sure it was dead.  Now if I can just get it to grow towards the trellis:

We're still trying to get the grass to fill in before we put the chairs back in their normal spot, so for now we'll relax here:

 

The greenhouse went back into the basement today and the containers and furniture are in their rightful spots:

 

I'm quite pleased:

 

All of the dahlias are really taking off this year.  Small cages will go on each of these containers as soon as I can find 4 more:

This is essentially my to do list now.  The hose has to go on the fence so I can get running water to the vegetable garden, fresh mulch needs to go onto all the mulched areas, and the plants all have to be potted up (though I'm still not sure what to do with all the impatiens):

 

The new shed needs to be assembled and then the rest of the mess will be stored away out of sight.  We're close now.

FINALLY, I'VE GOT SOMETHING THAT ISN'T JUST GREEN

The zucchini are blooming, but so far only the female flowers.  I see a few male flowers about to pop, but I have a feeling the female ones may be done by then:

I didn't realize that the Brandywine Pink tomatoes had such unusual blossoms:

No tomatoes on these plants yet, but lots of blossoms:

The Endless Summer hydrangea flowers are blue!!! 

The lettuce basket bolted before we even had a chance to harvest any, but at least it's pretty:

I cut back the sweet basil, purple basil, lemon basil, and cinnamon basil in a few of the baskets.  I wrapped the sweet basil in a damp paper towel and stuck it in the fridge, but I'm experimenting with drying the others.  Some rosemary and thyme are also on the table (and some lupine from my friend Mary from which I plan to save seed):

The sweet basil in the container I'll be calling "leftovers" is thriving.  I'm hoping that the cucumber plant grows considerably in the next week because it's got a bunch of little cucumbers and flowers already:

I know you're all dying to see the completely assembled chairs, footstools, and table in place: 

And yes, they are just as comfortable to sit in as they look.

FINALLY!

At last the peas are flowering (Little Marvels planted 4/19):

The rain and the heat have led to insane growth in the veggie garden.  Look at those zucchini in the middle:

I don't think those Brandywine Pink tomatoes are going to be able to go another month in those little hanging containers:

There are blossoms on the ichiban eggplant:

The nasturtiums are growing like weeds and the cucumber is finally taking off:

I decided it was time for the first harvest of lettuce crop #1 (on the left): 

I filled the salad spinner:

Which was enough for a modified Cobb salad for me (grilled chicken coated in Herbes de Provences [for Genie], avocado, blue cheese and my favorite white balsamic vinaigrette dressing):

And VPH's barbecue chicken, blue cheese, and Newman's 3 cheese balsamic dressing:

 

I have to do something about these seedlings (and I have no idea what I'll do with the leftover cucumber seedling):

 

I've been wanting a birdbath forever and picked up this one cheap ($26 from Odd Lots) last week.  Now if only the birds would start using it:

I finally got around to assembling those chairs from the basement.  Only one is pictured here because I need to get a replacement part for the other one: 

The white chairs and stools have been banished to the back of the property.  VPH said it was fun sitting up there looking down on the garden, but I have to imagine there are tons of mosquitoes up there: 

In other news...the Endless Summer hydrangea is looking good and should be flowering shortly: 

However the sunflowers are looking awful: 

And this dahlia appears to be dying, but I don't know why: 

I've also harvested some basil for my dinner Monday of tomato, fresh mozz, and a little olive oil.  They weren't my own wonderful tomatoes from my garden, but not bad for grocery store purchased -- and no salmonella.

I CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE AND I'M A LITTLE SCARED

What will I do when I finish everything on the to do list?  Marked off this weekend:

• Weed around hydrangea, surround with coffee grounds and fresh mulch
• Weed, mulch and fertilize rhododendron/hosta bed
• Weed, mulch and fertilize perennial shade garden

Just look at that hydrangea, I put down so many coffee grounds that I didn't need to apply any new mulch:

VPH weeded this bed for me and I threw down a bag of mulch.  Now if only we could get the grass to grow below this bed (I've given up on the area by the bamboo fence):

I'm so pleased with the way the perennial shade garden looks.  VPH weeded here (lots of tree roots coming through the old stuff) and then I put down a bag and a half of mulch -- so not my favorite job:

The reverse angle:

I was so inspired by Layanee's post on her container combos that I went back to Ocean State Job Lot and bought the huge container that I had my eye on for the shady side of the house -- earmarked for the dirt slope where nothing will grow.  It was only $28 and I was so tempted.  It's freaking huge.  The citronella torch next to it is 4 feet tall to give you an idea of scale:

I brought home (clockwise from one o'clock) a hosta fortunei 'Francee', white impatiens (more on them in a moment), polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit', and heuchera 'Amethyst Mist':

The white impatiens came in cute little straw pots.  Note that the label on the plastic handle says "Sustainable Resource" and "Simply Plant":

That's all well and good, but then they throw the whole concept away and put the adorable straw pots in a plastic tray with a plastic handle:

I had VPH rescue the lysimachia from bastard garden (it landed there when I didn't feel like cleaning up the fall planter table arrangement and then thrived).  It joined the hosta and heuchera in the enormous new planter (I probably should have said earlier in this post that I blatantly stole Layanee's container ideas):

The polemonium boreale, white impatiens and the rest of the lysimachia went into the last hanging basket up on a maple nearby:

I stuck the rest of the impatiens into a few ceramic pots I had on hand and balanced them on some large tree roots.  The hanging planter on the left is the new one:

I couldn't resist a few other inexpensive planters.  I'm not sure exactly what will go in this one, but I know I like how it looks on that stump, so the frogs will have to find a new home:

This one (the smallest) became the new home of the rose that my friend brought me when she came over for dinner last year.  I may stick a few other pots on the lily pad stepping stones in the wildflower patch until the wildflowers fill in (cross your fingers that they actually do): 

The last big job that I have, and probably the one that I've been most looking forward to, is planting all of the herbs that I've been collecting:

I have to find a home for the lemon grass, 4 thyme plants, 3 sages, 3 different types of purple basil, 3 sweet basil plants, an unidentified basil, cilantro, rosemary, parsley, and chives:

I have the herb 1/2 barrel and a hanging planter to fill.  I may also use the pretty blue container on the stump.  The lavender will stay in the container it's in and the Mammoth dill has already perked up from being transplanted to this container: 

I'm going to have to find a place for these sweet basil and cinnamon basil seedlings:

Did you notice above that all 8 Red Peter pepper seeds that I planted have now sprouted?  I'm only going to have room for 4 of them and so far no one has wanted the other 4, but hopefully I'll find a friend who will take them.  Speaking of vegetables, I pulled out some plant stands and a little white side table for the pots containing the Royal Purple bush beans.  Can you even see that in the below photo?:

It's officially outdoor time in Heather's Garden.  The cushions are on the chairs, we had our first cook-out (with guests) today, and our first fire of the season (if you look closely you can see the burning embers in the fire pit):

I have a few new items on the to do list.  The Adirondack chairs and footstools purchased at Christmas Tree Shops last year (selling for $10 more this year), did not weather the winter too well.  To be honest, the paint started flaking off almost immediately and one seat slat broke last year, but gorilla glue got it back together again.  I bought some white spray paint and will see if I can salvage at least the chairs, but it's not looking good for the footstools.  I don't think storing them in the cellar would have made much of a difference.  I bought nice wood ones last year from an on-line service that I like which we never put together (they're in the basement in their original boxes), so getting them assembled and seeing if we like them is item number one because I don't want to sit in these filthy, flimsy things anymore:

I'm so excited about my self-coiling hose for next to the potting table, the gray hose is already attached to the other one and on the hose cart.  The chicken wire and posts are for to list item #2 -- a leaf enclosure.  Apparently VPH's leaf pile/bastard garden is leaning on our neighbor's fence and he wants it moved.  There's a spot between the big shed and the fence that will be perfect for a wire circle full of leaves:

All in all it was an excellent Memorial Day weekend and it looks like we may just get everything in before June 1st -- except pentas, which I haven't seen anywhere!  What am I going to do when there's nothing else to plant?

R.I.P. GAZEBO

Do you think it's a problem that I tell a lot of stuff to R.I.P. here?  On Monday afternoon VPH and younger step-son (both home due to April school vacation) helped me to disassemble the gazebo.  If you're wondering why we would disassemble the gazebo you obviously missed this post. 

The table's wet because it was covered in rusty water and sludge, so VPH cleaned it off.  When the gazebo collapsed, it gouged the table pretty good.  I'm trying not to let it bother me:

I didn't win the pergola on Ebay, and I'm not sure what to do.  I think a large umbrella might do the trick, but I really want a pergola.  The guy in NJ selling the previous pergola just put another up for auction, so I emailed him and asked if he has more and would he be willing to sell me one directly.  We'll see what he says.  But the poor table and chairs look so lonely now and it's sure not a garden room anymore:

I was right, the top of the gazebo is a good size for throwing over the firepit table.  After it dries off I'll clean it up and seal the hole in the middle:

I spotted a flash of blue off in the distance while the men did the heavy labor:

I've never seen these out there before, but this is the first year that the yard hasn't been completely covered in leaves come spring.  Can one of you knowledgeable readers identify these flowers for me?  [The answer was scilla siberica.]

They're not too far away from the day lilies, which VPH has promised not to mow this year now that we know they're there.  I suspect this portion of the yard was once a pretty little garden:

And most exciting of all -- I've got hostas in the perennial shade garden:

Both are looking good so far:

I have to admit that I squealed in delight when I brushed away the leaves to find actual plants growing.  Tax Day will be all about finishing the garden clean-up and getting my seeds started.

This one's for you, Mom

Is that better?  Mom said that she was really enjoying all the photos of our hoses.  We've had the most complicated water system going.  The yard is very large and we've been trying to get grass to grow in all of it, but in stages so we could continue to access at least some of the yard.  We ran the hoses through the fence posts initially to keep them off of the growing grass and then kept them there for watering the very back portion of the yard (the last to be seeded) so VPH could mow the portion of the lawn that was actually growing without having to bundle up the hose each time. 

Now we've settled on keeping the hose cart in the vegetable garden, the back wheels held tightly behind two stumps so it no longer tips over if I drag the hose to either side (this photo is from last week, the blue hose in the foreground has now been put away):

And I consciously chose a gray hose -- Mom -- so it wouldn't stand out so much against the fence.

I pulled the lettuce and peas and planted 2 large containers with Kentucky pole beans on July 1st.  Here are the beans today:

100% germination in that pot.  This one's a little bit behind.  Same exact beans, same exact soil, same exact watering, and same exact location.  Why would one be growing faster than the other?

Just another thing I can't control.  Lately there have been a bunch of surprises in the garden.  I have tiger lilies!

I think the landscaper who used to mow must have just gone right over them since they're on the edge of the yard and the weeds that used to pass for a lawn.

I love how you look at the top of these weeds and don't see much more than a flash of orange:

 

And then underneath you find these adorable little flowers:

I'm pretty sure this is the vine that covered a good third of the fence last year and then bloomed and had star-shaped seed pods.  Really pretty and sort of squash like?  It's growing up all the weeds next to the big shed which is where it originated last year.

Cherry tomato update:

Almost ripe!

Sadly I discovered the 2 biggest tomatoes had blossom end rot so off they came (well one definitely did, the other was funky and split and freaking me out):

But the rest are looking good.  We're trying to be more consistent in our watering schedule and I mulched the 2 plants on the gravel patio.  I know you can just cut off the icky part and the rest is fine, but I want the first tomato to be perfect. 

Tomorrow more garden visitors.

Our First Garden Dinner Party

I put this whole post together complete with photos, spell-checked, and then accidentally closed the window and lost the whole thing -- UGH!

Take 2:

We have the loveliest friends.  We had 2 couples over for dinner on Saturday night.  One couple, Mary and Jeff, are very experienced gardeners so I welcomed their sage advice, though I was frightened that they would identify something that we were doing completely incorrectly and we would look like utter fools.  All the gardeners that I have met have been the nicest, most helpful, generous, friendly people and Mary and Jeff are no exception.  The hostas in this bed are passalongs from them earlier in the season and they promptly started making a list of more plants that they could give us now that they've seen the garden in person:

VPH grilled lamb marinated in wine and a mixture of herbs from our own garden, potatoes in foil again with our own herbs, and our first 2 full-size zucchini seasoned with our own oregano:

Mary thought that the impatiens were getting too much sun (and this photo is from a week ago, most of the leaves have now turned yellow and fallen off):

Today they moved over to the shady side of the house in the hopes that they'll improve over there, though I have my doubts as to whether they'll survive with so little sun.

Replacing them are these cute calibrachoa (hot pink, white, and light pink) hanging planters:

Doesn't this look like the outside of an adorable little bistro?  VPH loves having his coffee out here.  One of his favorite spots to sit is on the bench watching me putter away at the potting table directly opposite it.

The other couple who joined us for dinner, Ashley and Ken, have been doing a ton of work in their yard.  Their house is on a wooded sloped lot and they have cleared a bunch of trees and built really cool raised beds around the house planted with hostas and other shade-loving plants.  Unlike us they actually own the property that they're slaving over and I'm awed by what they've done so far.

They brought us the cutest little rose bush, which is an awesome gift because I've really been wanting one.  The snow peas that are no longer producing vacated the green pot and the roses went right in today.  For some reason the white roses were glowing in the dusk and I must have been really shaky because I couldn't get a non-blurred close-up.

I'm joining Green Thumb Sunday, so here's my first official post:

 

 

For more information about Green Thumb Sunday visit As the Garden Grows.

I've read that if you say thank you for a gift plant it won't survive, so Ashley and Ken, you know what I'm thinking!

It is so nice to share the garden with friends and I hope we do it again soon!

Still Planting

So I left off with VPH and I venturing into Van Wilgen's -- wow is that place awesome!  Our first trip was on a Sunday in late April/early May.  I'm astonished that I'm the kind of person who likes to wander around a garden center.  VPH is not.  He continues to point out the other husbands trailing behind their wives pushing the carts and mentally calculating what they're going to get in return for their assistance.  It takes one to know one.  I just read that to him and he said no, it's more of if I keep her happy my life is easier.  Either way, he's wandering around in a fog.  I sent him off one day to find a heather plant (Heather's garden must have a heather plant), while I searched in the opposite direction.  In retrospect I have no idea why I thought he knew what a heather plant looked like, but if you sent a woman to find one and she didn't know, she would have asked.  He passed about 20 of them twice, actually pulling the cart up next to the group of plants, but I didn't realize this until after I had already called an employee over to ask.  Once I joined him I looked down and said, never mind, tell her I found it (and you're an idiot, but I kept that to myself).  We made a few more trips to window shop, I started buying herbs to feed my addiction, and we continued to watch the grass grow.

Our first purchases in terms of vegetable seedlings were in early May (remember I'm blogging now because I can't remember when I planted anything, or exactly what I planted): a cherry tomato seedling, a 6-pack of Celebrity tomato seedlings, a 6-pack of bell pepper seedlings, and a 6-pack of zucchini seedlings.  I made a decision early on to keep the vegetable garden as a container garden.  I had no idea what kind of soil we had and the veggie garden area has a series of stumps left from our neighbor's hemlock trees which were removed last summer.  This is another reason that we're suddenly using the yard.  The hemlocks (which were infected with woolly adelgid) blocked nearly all the sun from our yard and dropped pine needles and sap on anything we put out there.  Their removal was a mixed blessing because we can now see all of our neighbors' houses -- and the condos going in at the end of our street -- but we can also see the sun in more than the 5 square feet of yard that it used to hit before the removal of the trees.  The stumps seemed like the perfect place to put containers since they're all large and relatively level.   

Here's a shot of one of the houses that we can see now (on the left).  I hope that they don't look out their windows at us enjoying our yard, but since we're not out there sunbathing nude or anything I wouldn't be embarrassed if they are!

I planted the cherry tomato seedling in a self-watering hanging basket, in part because we have the smartest, most dexterous raccoons ever know to man (they appeared in force when the condos started going into the previously woody and overgrown space at the end of our street).  It's hanging on a 7 foot tall iron shepard's hook, so I'm reasonably certain I will actually harvest cherry tomatoes this year.  I have been warned that squirrels can climb shepard's hooks though -- just another thing to worry about.  My mom told me recently that we, as gardeners, are locked in a constant struggle with the very forces of nature.  I would add that it appears to be a losing battle (poison ivy is winning the fight for our hillside and driveway, but that's a post for another day).

Here's a series of photos of the cherry tomato plant:

June 11th

June 17th

June 27th

How long does it take for a cherry tomato to ripen?  Have I mentioned that patience is not exactly one of my strengths?

Up next the tomato seedlings.