Heather's Garden

CALENDAR-WORTHY?

Sunday was a beautiful day in the garden.  The bees were loving the sunflowers and so was I:

Now I need your help.  Which of the following photos is calendar-worthy?  Make sure to click on them to view full-size so you can make an informed decision.  Number 1:

Number 2:

Or Number 3:

  

I really need your opinions, readers!  Whereas I'm pretty sure this photo is calendar-worthy (I particularly like how the near petals are out of focus):

The rest of these photos have not been deemed calendar-worthy, but I thought you'd still enjoy seeing them.  I can't seem to stop shooting this dahlia (Hootenanny):

And these small eggs on the underside of a morning glory leaf begged to be photographed:

I thought you'd get a giggle out of how heavy the Brandywine Pink tomatoes are and how lazy a gardener I am for just letting the bent branches stay that way:

And lastly my Big Early Bell peppers are finally showing some color. Big, yes; Early, not so much:

Seriously, please tell me which of the sunflower shots is calendar-worthy.  I'm totally stuck.

PHOTO FRIDAY

It's alliterative and easy.   Here's a little lesson in the development of a sunflower along the side of the house:

Then you get:

And finally:

Next year I'll do a whole row in the ground here, cause the 3 are kind of sad (though you may remember I started with 6 seedlings in pots): 

This post needed some color:

And a little more:

 

Excellent news...the volunteers tomato plants have TOMATOES:

And the zucchini might get a last minute reprieve: 

Because if you look closely at the photo above there are female flowers forming.  Here I'll help:

Off to bring youngest step-son to college.  I'm going to be a blubbering mess later today.  How can the little boy who used to hold my hand in the Walmart parking lot be old enough to go to college?

BEE-TI-FUL DAY

I haven't figured out where to plant the bee balm that Layanee gave me yet, but I think something's wrong with it.  I'm thinking it shouldn't be covered in white spots.  I swear I didn't do anything to it.  I only cut off the spent blooms and put it on this table until I could decide where to plant it:

The rest of the bee theme is far better news:

It's just so much fun to take close-ups of bees on flowers:  

Now a few without bees.  The morning glories are both purple/blue and pink/dark pink: 

The pink flowers look so delicate:

Next year these towers will be planted with Kentucky Wonder beans and a second variety still to be chosen.  The morning glories will move to the trellis where the purple hyacinth beans currently reside -- more sun over there and beans can apparently take some shade: 

Which is not to say that I won't still find a spot for the purple hyacinth beans because they're too pretty not to grow:

   

Because I would really miss these flowers:

The red dahlia just keeps on pumping out the flowers:

And it looks like I may finally have a flower on this one in a few days:

Now, for the reason this post is titled Bee-ti-ful Day:

They're all over this dahlia plant: 

All kinds of bees:

Calendar worthy:

I was petrified I was going to get stung sticking the camera in that close, but definitely worth the fright.  Have you done anything dangerous to get a good photo in your garden lately? 

TOMATO LOVING

This post is a little delayed because I actually picked my first tomato on Saturday, July 26th:

It was an Early Girl and I'm rather disappointed that it didn't taste any better than the very expensive vine-ripened tomatoes that VPH has been buying at the grocery store.  Probably letting it sit around for 2 days until I finally got around to eating it on Monday with some fresh mozz and my grown from seed basil didn't help with the excitement of the tasting, but we had a crazy busy weekend.

I have another Early Girl ready to pick and a Park's Whopper too.  I hope these do more to wow me:

The Celebrity and Bonnie Original are a few days behind, but showing some color too:

The Sweet 100 cherry tomato is going to yield at least 100 tomatoes since I know I've taken at least 30 off already.  It's too bad that I don't like them as much as the Husky Cherry tomatoes (too sweet for my taste):

The zucchini plants are completely failing though and I just don't know why.  I should be harvesting more zucchini than I can handle and I think I've picked 7 since July 4th:

The Red Peter peppers are blossoming like mad and setting little peppers all over the place.  The sudden increase of pollinators in the garden is certainly helping to form all those peppers:

The Royal Purple Bush beans have the prettiest blossoms: 

Rapidly and awkwardly changing topics...I have been posting on veggies pretty heavily and have neglected to update you on the rest of the garden, though I haven't been neglecting it.  I had to cut back the evening primrose (and sadly only days after discovering what it was) because it was completely blocking the walkway to the side door:

 

Sure I could have staked it, but I missed seeing my little retaining wall, heather plant, rosemary thriving in a pot, and the calibrochoa that needs some more sun:

A nice shot of the wildflower patch last week:

You can just see the beautiful hydrangea flowers dragging on the grass on the right side of the above photo.  Here's the whole bush on July 7th:

After I cut off half the flowers and raised the wire support beneath it, VPH said "Who took away my hydrangea and left that baby bush?"  Note the sunflower on the ground behind it:

The roots of the sunflower grew right through the drainage hole into the ground throwing it off balance until it fell over:

Now they're all staked and forming flower buds, but they're still ugly:

The Parkland Glow is reliably giving me red dahlia after red dahlia:

And the Bay State Angel is covered in white blooms:

I'm loving this whole arrangement including the purple hyacinth beans, though I'm disappointed that the cutback petunias aren't blooming yet nor have the cutback osteospermums:

This container is also a little bit disappointing and I'm wondering if I should just deal with it (it's not butt ugly), cut it all back, or pull some stuff out and plant different flowers there:

Suggestions?  Advice?

SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST TASTE IT

It's getting to be that time of year again.  Pillows are being dusted off, reviews written, nervous gardeners are watching birds, weather reports, and pacing back in forth in anticipation.  It's tomato time!  It looks like Early Girl is going to win in our garden:

I've already had a taste of summer with the 2 cherry tomato plants we're growing.  I am plucking about 5-6 tomatoes a day off of the Sweet 100 (and inserting them directly into my mouth), but this Husky cherry tomato is promising a nice little harvest tomorrow:

I've seen some amusing stories about first tomatoes, but this is the first time I've seen a First Tomato Road Trip (I may have suggested that Virescent bring that almost ripe tomato on vacation with her and let it sun ripen a bit, but she's the creative one who came up with the road trip slideshow). 

In other veggie news, we have the first Red Peter pepper growing (you think the eggplants have been phallic -- wait for these!):

I'm still trying to figure out how I will be able to tell that the purple bell peppers are ripe: 

The zinnias are helping to bring pollinators to the garden -- and they're pretty: 

I love how they're all slightly different: 

I caught this tiny little bee in action: 

I had about 50 of these shots and narrowed it down to 2 photos.  I think one or the other is a strong calendar candidate: 

I finally figured out what this is:

I wandered out to the patio last night around 8:00pm and saw the plants in full bloom.  One quick Google for night blooming yellow flower and I came up with Evening primrose: 

It's hard to capture these flowers at this time of night without the flash, but this is as close as I can get to true color (and not a blurry mess):

It's been insanely hot non-stop and we haven't had more than a sprinkle of rain in weeks.  Thank goodness VPH doesn't mind watering.  Any bets on when that Early Girl tomato will be ready to eat?  I'm taking the 25th.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE (THANK GOD) NOT THAT UGLY

I could stare at poppies all day:

They're just so fascinating -- even in the bud stage:

The Endless Summer hydrangea is doing fantastic.  So much better than last year:

The hostas are blooming:

Well, all but this one which is not long for my shade garden looking like this:

The morning glory leaves are being eaten by something (and I'm pretty sure they're not getting enough sun here and that's why they're not flowering):

This dahlia bud shows promise of some color for the garden: 

This may be October 2009's photo: 

 

I'm enjoying cutting flowers and putting them into these little vases on the kitchen windowsill:

Did you identify what was good, what was bad, and what was ugly?

ALL DONE!

Make sure you read that quickly in a little girl voice, kind of like AH DUN.  I'm amazed myself, but I got all of this finished today in the few hours that I devoted to gardening:

• Transplant passalong dahlias to plastic containers
• Transplant Brandywine Pink tomatoes into temporary containers
• Plant pentas
• Plant all the herbs

First up, I had to split those 2 Brandywine Pink tomatoes into separate containers while I still could.  Their permanent homes are the containers in which the peas are merrily growing.  So into these hanging planters the tomatoes went (these planters will be the home to the Red Peter peppers, which will hopefully be big enough to transplant by then):

I can't believe this hanging a string and pulling it to the soil then wrapping the sweet pea around the string technique actually worked:

The passalong dahlias from Mary all potted up in plastic pots joined the rose on the lilypad stepping stones in the wildflower patch: 

The wildflower patch isn't looking too bad these days:

Just in case you looked at the photos of the Adirondack chairs and said what's Heather smoking, those look fine -- see how the footstool is completely falling apart: 

And this is the seat that split and was gorilla-glued back together.  It's getting worse: 

The pentas are potted up.  With a little TLC, I hope they'll be attracting lots of butterflies soon: 

Now for the fun part -- the herbs!  I started off by grouping the pots together with the container in which they would be planted: 

Note the upside down pot in the large glazed container to save some potting soil.  I tried to make sure each grouping had at least one thyme, one basil, and one sage plant.  Each one also had to have some purple and some yellow:

This is the grouping for the herb barrel.  I figured the perennials that had successfully overwintered in the barrel should probably go back there plus some annual herbs: 

The cilantro went into this pot (formerly home to the oregano that was invaded by an ant colony): 

The glazed pot all planted on top of its stump.  The herbs here are lemon basil, sage, sweet basil, cinnamon basil, purple basil and golden oregano: 

I took another photo a few hours later when this area had moved into shade.  I found the blue tones interesting enough to share: 

In the hanging basket I planted rosemary, more purple basil, lemon thyme, sweet basil, purple sage, and creeping thyme: 

I picked up the basket to hang on a hook and the hanger broke: 

So instead the container will live next to the carrots.  Note the two Brandywine Pink tomatoes hanging on either side of the trellis planter: 

The herb barrel and neighbor herb containers: 

We've got lemon grass, parsley, golden sage, sweet basil, opal basil, chives (which I will cut back once it finishes blooming), purple ruffles basil (which I suspect is going to die soon), thyme, and hot & spicy oregano: 

The lavender is covered in buds: 

I can't decide if this volunteer at the base of the lavender is cilantro or parsley: 

I still have lots of sweet and cinnamon basil seedlings growing in the greenhouse so I'll use them where anything doesn't succeed.  But in essence I'm done.  I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself now.  I'm happy to be finished, but I'm sad that my long hours of puttering in the garden are over.

I'VE BEEN A BAD GIRL

I can't wait to see what kind of Google hits I get from that title.  I've been a bad girl.  I can't seem to stop buying herb plants.  In my defense, I needed an oregano plant.  When I pulled out my oregano plant to repot it I got a nasty surprise.  A colony of ants had moved in.  I don't know if the plant was salvageable, but I really didn't care to find out.  Off to the bastard garden it went.  It's not my fault that I came home with both golden and hot & spicy oregano plants and I have no idea why I decided to buy a lemon basil plant, except that it smelled so good!

If you've ever driven down I-95 through Branford, CT then you've passed Vaiuso Farms.  In the old days when 95 was a toll road in CT, there was a toll booth just west of Vaiuso.  I used to ride into New Haven every day with my parents and I spent a lot of time staring at their greenhouses and fields. I always wondered what went on there.  Turns out they are open to the public, though not the way that North Guilford Nurseries is since their greenhouses are for employees only.  Their plants are lovely and inexpensive and they have a great selection -- I finally found pentas:

So that's it for me.  No more shopping for plants (unless something dies on me).  After tomorrow I will have everything planted and I'll be able to relax and enjoy the garden.  Like the planter table that's so pretty right now: 

I did plant the morning glories much too early.  The second round of seeds that I planted on the 18th are already popping up (3 to date).  The one surviving seedling is developing true leaves and the one not-so-surviving seedling (at 12 o'clock) looks like it's trying to develop a true leaf too, but I have my doubts: 

 

It kind of looks like I'm torturing the sweet peas, but I've been mulling over how to get them to grow up the trellis.  I've come up with a solution and I will show an after photo once I've completed the project:

I divided my chive clump and gave half to my friend Mary in the green container below.  She returned the container with a dahlia root and gave me 3 more clay pots complete with dahlia roots.  I'll move them into some plastic pots I have (the clay pots just dry out too quickly for my half-assed watering habits): 

The first bean sprout is a Royal Purple bush bean:

I can't believe we have an eggplant flower already: 

This is an unidentified (as yet) flower in the wildflower patch: 

Pretty, but throw some afternoon light on that sucker and wow! 

I'm really enjoying my new container on the shady side of the house:

Tomorrow I will get all the plant-related items on the to do list finished up.  I can't wait to spend the day in the garden!

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?

DON'T WORRY, I'M STILL HERE

I've just been incredibly busy with work the past few weeks.  It's amazing what walking outside to the garden will do for my disposition though.  I was a cranky brat after working non-stop from 10am to 6pm on Thursday -- literally taking 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and inhaling soup for lunch while I typed with the other hand.  I took a much needed break that day at 6pm and stepped out to the garden for the first time in almost 48 hours.  Before I knew it, an hour had passed and I had to head back inside.  It's warmed up quite a bit over the last two days.  Thursday it was in the 60s and today it was in the low 70s.  The plants are loving it.  Bay State Angel dahlia:

These 5 dahlias will make the cellar entrance (one of the first things you see entering our garden) a little less in your face ugly.  We'll have to be careful to keep the one on the right watered since the overhang kept the nice steady rain we had for 2 days from wetting the soil at all:

I can't decide if I like that little pot of pink petunias there or not.  Thoughts?  Keep in mind that the trellis will be covered with purple hyacinth beans soon: 

Moving to the veggie garden.  I can't believe how quickly the Brandywine Pink tomatoes are growing.  I think I may have to get them into separate pots soon:

The mesclun lettuce basket is already much taller than this photo from Thursday shows:

The first tomato blossoms of the year are on the Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant:

Ya think I needed to thin the carrots?:

Look at all those poor baby seedlings dying in a mass grave:

The Ichiban eggplant is really happy in it's new home.  Since the purple and green (my favorite color combo) is right in its leaves, I'll be photographing this plant a lot:

Did you notice these thorns on the leaves and stems above?  I had to look twice in real life to make sure I was really seeing them:

Moving over to the herbs.  The chives buds are opening up:

The warmer temps and nice rain are helping the herbs to explode.  L-R creeping thyme, spearmint, Mammoth dill, parsley, and more spearmint.  The zinnias are looking good in front too: 

 

I have yet to find the right mix of sun and angle to show you the planter table's true beauty.  The colors are striking and vibrant in real life with dark purples and hot pinks:

My friend Mary came over and took one look at the purple flowers in the wildflower patch and said, "False Phlox."  She's good.  Here's the info from American Meadows (I used their seed to start the wildflower patch last year, though other seed has since been added):

Dame’s Rocket is often called “Wild Phlox” since the flowers are phlox-like in clusters on tall stems. However, these florets have only 4 petals (phlox have five), marking this species as a pink/purple member of the mustard family. Dame’s rocket is spectacular in early meadow bloom, and also carries a delightful clove-like scent. “Rocket” reflects the super-rapid growth in spring before bloom. The “Dame” in the name marks this flower as a favorite of women and mothers in medieval flower lore.

It's sure pretty no matter what you call it:

The wildflower patch is getting there slowly.  It doesn't look too bad from a distance:

The heather blooms are fading fast, but it's got new growth all over it:

The maple trees throw the west side of the house into dense shade, but the late afternoon sun through the canopy almost makes the shallow roots that kill any ground cover we plant on the steep bank next to the house worth it:

Do you see the mushrooms on the foundation just above the hosta?  Remember them.  Without a flash I couldn't get a decent photo, so this blue hosta looks rather green: 

Here's one of those perspectives you would never see in real life.  There's no way I would have laid down in the mulch to see these mushrooms up close:

 

I'm hoping to bang out the rest of the to do list this weekend before we have friends over for a cook-out on Monday.  Then I don't know what I'll do with myself!

HELLO STRANGERS

I was so swamped with work that I wasn't able to garden at all this past week.  I know, I'm crying for me too.  I've done a little here and a little there, but today--today VPH and I banged out a good bit of the to do list.  As it stood before our busy Sunday:

To Do List

• Put together shade annual baskets
• Plant up herb barrel
• Transplant eggplant
• Transplant bell peppers
• Plant Royal Purple bush beans
• Plant Kentucky Wonder pole beans
• Plant hyacinth beans
• Transplant tomatoes/marigolds
• Transplant zucchini/plant nasturtiums
• Transplant cucumbers/plant nasturtiums
• Weed and mulch vegetable garden
• Weed, mulch and fertilize rhododendron/hosta bed
• Weed, mulch and fertilize perennial shade garden

After a hard day's work from both of us:

• Plant up herb barrel
• Transplant zucchini/plant nasturtiums
• Transplant cucumbers/plant nasturtiums
• Weed, mulch and fertilize rhododendron/hosta bed
• Weed, mulch and fertilize perennial shade garden

I guess the manufacturer wasn't kidding when they instructed the buyer not to hang the thermometer on southern-facing wall.  The real temperature was just under 70 degrees, not nearly 90.

I moved it to the shady side of the house over the perennial shade garden (dear landlord, please do note how badly the window frames need painting):

20 minutes later:

 

I did finally get the hanging baskets for the shady side of the house together.  As soon as the rest of the marsh marigolds die off these will provide some badly needed color against the dirt/root hillside backdrop:

You may be able to tell that I used double impatiens, coleus, and torenia in these hanging baskets:

Now it may seem like I hung this basket way too high, but it's the right height to see it from the living room window over the air conditioner when it goes in:

The plant labels for my records:

I also finally planted the calibrachoa over the retaining wall.  The heather is growing quite nicely in its pot (though the blooms seem to be fading) and I really like the little rosemary plant in that shiny pot:

I guess zinnias do grow quickly (planted on 5/11/08):

The lettuce box is doing great, it's almost ready to start cutting:

The mesclun basket is on the same schedule as the zinnias:

Today's big project was getting the vegetable garden in order.  VPH raked the mulch to kill the weeds that were poking through and together we put down another bag and a half of fresh mulch:

I will introduce the new additions from left to right.  In the first trellis planter we have a Park's Whopper tomato on the left and an Early Girl tomato on the right with marigolds in front:   

Purple Bell pepper:

Big Early Bell pepper:

I ran out of the Farfard potting soil, so the zucchini and nasturtiums will have to wait for me to make a nursery run tomorrow.  The two wooden troughs in back have Kentucky Wonder beans:

Ichiban eggplant:

On the left is a Bonnie Original tomato and on the right is a Celebrity tomato (the only determinate I am growing this year):

The 4 small brown pots (there's one more out of frame) have Royal Purple Bush beans in them.  The green container will be home to the cucumbers and nasturtiums as soon as I get that bag of potting soil:

One more shot of the full vegetable garden from a different angle.  You can see the peas on the right on the gravel patio.  If you're a really observant reader you will have noticed that I didn't plant the 2 Brandywine Pink tomato seedlings yet (too small).  I hope that by the time I'm ready to put in the seedlings the peas will be done and I can use those containers for the last 2 tomato plants:

Like I said before, the vegetable garden was the bulk of today's work, but I did get a few other things done.  The morning glory seedlings (all 4 of them) have been mysteriously failing.  I found something on-line that leads me to believe that the 2 weeks of wet cold weather we've had caused this:

I planted 8 more seeds today to join the one surviving morning glory seedling:

The purple hyacinth beans went into a planter at the base of a trellis.  Last year I only planted 3 beans, this year I used 8 -- I don't think we'll be seeing much of this trellis once the beans sprout:

Now I will turn my attention to the herb garden (and the poor neglected hosta/rhododendron bed in back of it):

The perennial shade garden doesn't need much other than a little raking, fertilizer, and fresh mulch:

Soon it will be time to put away the greenhouse (doesn't it look different than it did last week?):

I wonder when I became the kind of person who enjoys sitting and watching birds.  2 grackles sitting on the fence waiting to see if I will go away and leave them to eat in peace:

I hope to mark a few more items off the to do list tomorrow during my lunch hour, but I feel really good about where we stand.  I can't believe how much we have done this year compared to last year.  I didn't start blogging (or photographing) until late June last year, but I'm pretty sure we didn't have 1/2 of what we've done this year completed until at least a month later in 2007.

THESE LEAVES AREN'T LYING

I arrived home this evening from work and VPH met me at the door.  "Talk a walk around the garden," he said, "see if you notice all the things that I saw today.  There's a lot going on out there."  After yesterday's high winds and cold temps, it was a pleasure to walk around the garden in the late afternoon sun with the temperature at about 65 degrees! 

Trucking right along are the sugar snap peas (planted 4/19/08):

Lots of true leaves showing up all over the place.  Nante 1/2 Long carrots (planted 4/19/08):

Mammoth Dill (also planted 4/19/08):

Black Beauty Zucchini with true leaves and the Spacemaster Bush Cucumber is almost there too (both planted 4/16/08):

Sweet Basil (also planted 4/16/08), and the Cinnamon Basil is nearly there:

The Red Peter Pepper seedlings I mentioned yesterday:

This is the first sign of life in the sections of the seed tray where I planted marigolds: 

My little rose bush is only showing signs of life in 1/2 the plant:

I think Osteosperum hybrid Soprano Lilac Spoon (hereafter referred to as lilac spoon) will be one of my favorite flowers to photograph this year.  This one's not even fully in bloom and I already love it:

The gerber daisies will also be a frequent subject:

I got to thinking, maybe I shouldn't be training the birds to head towards the vegetable garden for food?  I present the bird feeder in its new location away from the veggie garden:

At 5:30pm today VPH saw a big fat raccoon on top of this fence leaning over and batting the feeder back and forth (and yes, that's hours away from dusk here too).  The damn raccoon has also knocked over our trash the past two nights.  The bird feeder may not be long for our garden.  But I am enjoying seeing all the birds come visiting, like these two perched on top of the fence:

Not too bad for a photo taken with the zoom on my little digital camera from a good 30 feet away.

I had hoped to take a vacation day tomorrow to knock a few things off the to do list, but I have too much work to get done and I'm afraid that either I'm having a wicked allergy attack or I've caught VPH's cold.  I'm going to bed right now and I hope after 11 hours of sleep I'll feel better. 

WEEKEND WARRIOR

How excited was I to have 2 days of nice weather forecast for the weekend and no social engagements on the calendar?!  I just didn't count on VPH catching a bad cold on Thursday.  My heavy-lifting help-mate was not available all weekend.  I had to haul all the heavy bags of soil around to get those annuals into pots by myself!

I did try to make the huge ceramic pots a little lighter (and save potting soil) by turning a plastic pot upside down inside each of them.  Apparently the annual flowers don't really need all that space for their roots.  If I were planting perennials in these pots, I wouldn't have done this:

Planter #1 which isn't quite doing its job of hiding the ick under our front steps:

I decided that I should keep some record of what I'm planting in each container.  In addition to the Gerber daisy and some leftover petunias this one has:

Container #2 (and my favorite):

This one has a Gerber daisy and:

Dave gave me a call on Saturday morning and said the dahlia roots were ready for pick-up.  I ran out and bought 5 new containers to add to the 3 appropriately sized pots that I had on hand and headed over to Dave and Dottie's house.  I neglected to bring my camera with me, so I don't have any photos of their fantastic garden for you, only pots of dirt with dahlia roots planted in my driveway (nor have I made it back to Kathy's beautiful garden yet -- too much to do in mine!).  I'm not supposed to water these dahlias until they sprout:

Dave suggested that I keep the two dahlias that had already sprouted out of the direct sun for a few days, so this guy is tucked under a chair:

And this one is under a bench:

These planters from IKEA (last year, don't know if they still carry them) will be the new home of my beans in a week or so:

I threw the old white Rubbermaid patio storage bench on Freecycle Saturday mid-day and it was picked up within 60 minutes.  It just didn't do the job I wanted it to, not waterproof, not insect proof, and not comfortable to sit on -- and frankly, it was ugly.  Taking its spot in the center of the vegetable garden are 2 new huge containers that will be home to my zucchini plants.  To the right and left of them along the fence will be the wooden troughs for the Kentucky Wonder beans (you can see the one on the right peeking out) and I'll throw netting over the fence again for them to climb.  In the empty spots between the stumps and the trellis planter on the right I'll put smaller pots with a few Royal Purple bush beans.  Note that the lawn is filling in a little:

The second lettuce planting:

Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant (in Fafard potting soil and Bradfield Organic tasty tomato & veggie fertilizer):

Husky Cherry Red (I'm using the same prep as above for all the veggies):

The planter table all done up.  I'm looking forward to everything filling out.  It looked so thin in spots that I stuck the leftover petunias in there, blue, purple and pink.  I'm not entirely certain that I'm happy with how this turned out:

I photographed all the labels from the plants in the table, but my camera ate about 30 photos (or it was operator error downloading Sunday evening -- I'm tired, give me a break) and I had already thrown the labels out, so I'm going to have to take a trip to the nursery to remind myself of what I planted.  Here's a shot that kind of shows how tall the peas are getting:

As does this one:

I put zinnia seed in the large pot in the front on Sunday.  The 2 lettuces are on the table and the rest of the pots are herbs that overwintered (with varying degrees of success).  I'm hoping that they start growing more quickly or my belated Mother's Day trip to the nursery is going to net 100% herb seedlings:

In the lost photos I showed how I put recycled screening from the destroyed gazebo into the bottom of the herb barrel, anchored it with some potting soil and then layered empty 2 liter seltzer bottles and Coke Zero cans in the bottom.  I did that to keep the barrel at a weight where we can move it if we need to and to reduce the amount of potting soil needed for the barrel by half.  So it only took 2/3 of a 2 cubic foot bag of potting soil.  I am dying to get some herbs in there:

I'm not sure if this one is going to work...I took the forsythia branches that I forced inside this spring and stuck them in a pot of dirt.  Supposedly they'll take root.  Maybe this time next year I'll have a new bush to plant:

The sweet peas are coming along.  They're definitely leaning in the direction of the sun.  I think I'm going to end up with sweet peas only on the front half of the trellis:

I was lamenting that only 3 of the morning glories have come up when lo and behold I have a fourth(in the center):

The wildflower patch is looking better.  They are actually some little seedlings coming up now if you bend over and look closely, however I was too tired to do that for you:

That mystery plant is blooming:

Can anyone identify this one for me:

I almost finished everything that I had planned for the weekend.  I didn't get to putting together the hanging baskets of annuals for the shady side of the house, though I did find time to pick up 4 matching hanging baskets and 2 needed hanging brackets. 

My zucchini and cucumber seedlings are showing signs of developing true leaves (another photo lost) so they'll be ready to transplant soon.  I saw the first Red Peter pepper seedlings on Sunday -- woohoo!  I'm still a little nervous about leaving tomato plants out overnight outside of the greenhouse, but the lowest overnight temperature in the forecast over the next 10 days is 44 tomorrow night.  Wednesday is supposed to be beautiful.  Maybe I'll take a vacation day and garden.

I've placed a to do list on my sidebar (in part to amuse VPH who says I make lists for everything).  What's on yours?

I MAY HAVE A BIT OF A PLANT BUYING PROBLEM

I did the bulk of purchasing my annual plants on Wednesday after I had lunch with my friend Mary.  She mentioned at lunch that she and her husband, Jeff, would be doing their plant shopping the following day.  My Wednesday purchases were made at Van Wilgen's and W-Mart (mostly at Van Wilgen's):

They may not look like much now, but come mid-June, I think I'll be happy:

I definitely stuck to a pink/purple/blue/white color palate this year:

With all that plant buying done, I was free to spend the afternoon on Thursday with Mary and Jeff with my camera in hand.  Our first stop was North Guilford Nurseries.  Family owned and in the middle of nowhere, they are mainly a commercial grower, but they'll let random off-the-street (dirt road) shoppers wander in and buy.  As you go through these photos, keep in mind that this spread is only 10 miles northeast from my house.  We pulled up next to these guys:

We walked into the first of EIGHT greenhouses and it was plants as far as the eye could see:

I was almost giddy:

I loved these organic heirloom tomatoes.  I couldn't resist getting 2 tiny little brandywine pink seedlings:

Even outside of the greenhouses there were tons of plants:

Did you spot the gold metal horse in the background?  The owner and his 2 sons use it to practice roping.  I heard water running as I took this photo and walked to my left to find this brook running by:

I could use one of these:

Would you ever have thought that there was a machine that filled pots with potting soil?  I didn't.  It starts with a huge hopper that you fill with potting soil:

You put the empty pots on the belt and away you go:

I want one:

Just think what we could do with all those bushel baskets:

I've never seen a hanging planter like this before, I didn't ask how much it was because I was pretty sure I would have bought it:

Lest you think it's all pretty flowers, streams, and baskets...it's old school male territory around here:

We regretfully left (I'll show you what else I couldn't resist buying a little later) and headed to:

I cannot find a birdbath that I like anywhere.  I thought this collection was particularly garish:

Luckily it was the only thing about this nursery that was.  I was a little tired after the last stop, so I sat down on a beautiful bench.  This was the view in front of me:

I'm not a little kid, but even I was drawn to this little purple playhouse:

I so want these pots -- they came in a bundle of 3 (large, medium, and small) for $39.99.  It was all I could do not to buy a set.  They're a really dark blue and you never know, I might break down and go back for some: 

Our last stop of the day was the Madison Flower Shop.  Really nice plants, good selection, and beautiful displays:

Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to walk away from this entire row of herbs looking all fresh and beautiful:

I finally know what kind of grass I have in the perennial shade garden (the one we bought last year didn't have a label):

3 hours of plant shopping later we were pretty much exhausted and overwhelmed.  Mary and Jeff headed home and I did too.  I was such a good girl only coming home with this: 

That's 2 flat bushel baskets (future home of our 2nd and 3rd lettuce crops), 2 rosemary plants (because last year's did not overwinter), thyme (it was just so beautiful I couldn't resist), 2 brandywine pink tomato seedlings, a package of zinnia seed, and a package of nasturtium seed -- only $15 total. 

The siding hanger worked and the thermometer is happily hanging on the wall over the wildflower patch:

Ever wonder what $150 worth of annuals looked like?  All tucked up in the little greenhouse because today's forecast called for downpours, heavy winds, and temperatures falling into the 40s:

The birdfeeder most definitely did not work in its former location.  The squirrels hit it hard (too easy to run up the tree trunk we think).  VPH actually watched 2 squirrels scare off birds while they ate the seed, so we moved the feeder to one of the hooks over the vegetable garden:

This will be a very busy weekend with all that stuff to plant.  I can't wait!

HAPPINESS IS 70 PLUS DEGREES

Today was the first really warm day we've had.  We actually sat on the patio in t-shirts and ate dinner al fresco.  I love this time of year!

I'm not altogether pleased with the size and location of the thermometer -- it's just too far away from the seating area to be seen.  Doesn't it look tiny over there to the left?:

Do you remember that I had 6 sunflowers growing along the foundation?  Do you only see 5 now?  VPH somehow managed to step on one when mowing the grass yesterday and smashed it to bits.  Better it than the hydrangea which apparently he was trying to avoid when he stepped on the sunflower pot.  Think I need to hit this area with the weedwacker much?:

I finally have teeny-tiny cinnamon basil seedings popping up joining quite a few sweet basil seedlings:

The maybe chives are growing like weeds:

But still nary a sign of a single marigold.  Looks like I'll be picking up a flat of marigolds somewhere:

I've got MORNING GLORIES!:

The peas are growing gangbusters:

I'm definitely going to have to thin these carrots:

We purchased a bird-feeder and a bag of mixed birdseed at HD.  Does anyone have any advice on how we can help the birds to find it?:

I just love this photo.  The afternoon light, the grill at the end of the walkway that started this whole garden adventure, my perennial plants that came back up like magic this spring, the yellow buds that have been falling from the trees, the pile of weeds on the walkway showing that I've at least started cleaning up the bed, the thriving heather plant, and best of all the knowledge that delicious chicken for my dinner salad was cooking on that grill!: 

Do you have a part of your garden that's making you really happy right now?

GARDENING IN THE DARK

We took a late run to HD last night and by the time we got back it was getting pretty dark in the garden.  I was not impressed by the selection of annuals at HD.  I was hoping to come home with all the plants I needed to get the planter table finished, but I only found some grasses and 2 Gerber daisies:

I did find these 2 huge cherry tomato plants though.  On the left is Sweet 100 and on the right is Husky Cherry Red:

I'm excited about this thermometer and hydrometer (humidity measurement) and I'm even more excited about the push reel mower beneath it:

In fact, after we put it together (silly easy), we took it outside and while VPH held the flashlight I tried it out.  Yeah, he was laughing at me too, but he's going to mow the lawn before I get home today and I didn't want to miss the first attempt to use the mower!

I finally got around to breaking up the hanging herb basket.  The golden sage is actually looking pretty good: 

The creeping thyme (I think that's what it was called) is looking kind of sparse still:

The other thyme has lots of really small green growth around the base, but it hasn't changed much in weeks.  Maybe being alone in a pot will help?:

 

I'll share VPH's review of the push reel mower when I get home.

UPDATE: VPH is reserving judgment until he mows again.  It didn't get the variety of really tall grass (in our lawn of many different types of grass) that was overdue for mowing (6-9 inches tall), but I suspect if we don't put it off again it will do just fine.  It took a little longer to mow because it's not as wide as our old mower, but not an excessive amount of time.  He also missed the neat lines that showed which direction he mowed.  Have I mentioned that he's rather particular about his lawn-mowing technique?

THE START OF A TREND?

What a fun weekend we had and almost none of it was garden-related!  VPH and I traveled up to Boston Saturday afternoon and spent the night at our favorite Boston-adjacent hotel, the Quincy Marriott.  Another fantastic dinner from room service and a quiet night of TV followed by an early morning on Sunday so we could head into the city proper to the Prudential Center where I had an audition for Jeopardy.  It was a really fun morning and if I ever get a call to go out and be on the show I'll tell you about it.

By the time we arrived back at home on Sunday afternoon, the sun had emerged and the thermometer hit 70!  I hung out on the patio for a little while and tried to only see the one blooming wildflower and not the mess in the wildflower patch:

There are, however, may of these tall plants:

That when you get really close look like they're about to bloom purple:

I hope this is the beginning of a trend -- a purple and green trend.  The lettuce box is jumping right in:

Can you believe I've had this camera for 2.5 years and I've only just figured out how to choose a focal point not in the center of the frame?  An insect's view of the lettuce:

I have lots of blooms on the vinca, which are, as their common name implies, periwinkle:

But this one is purple:

And although this one is periwinkle, its shape is completely different:

I can't remember if I mentioned that the lawnmower crapped out, but I threw it up on Freecycle and someone came to get it yesterday.  Meanwhile 2 days of rain and 1 of sun have given us ridiculously tall grass (where we have grass), so VPH and I will be picking up a push reel mower this afternoon.  I have a feeling I will also be picking up other stuff at HD, including a bunch of annuals. 

I will now go write minutes on my patio. 

THIS IS MAY?

Another cold cloudy day -- not even 50 degrees out there.  I thought I'd be planting up my annuals by now, putting tomatoes in and enjoying the patio.  Maybe next weekend...

We headed outside this morning because our landlord was coming over to pick up all the crap that VPH had pulled out of the bastard garden over the past year and do a dump run.  For those of you unfamiliar with the bastard garden -- it's the space behind the big shed at the back of the garden where VPH rescues the past their prime plants that I tell him to compost.  Our compost bins are back there as well as a gigantic leaf pile.  Previous residents of this home obviously used this space as a trash dump:

Much better:

Lest you fear that no plants are growing, I present PEAS:

And the tiniest, littlest, loneliest sweet pea (it's at 9 o'clock):

In seedling news: another basil popped up, the probably chives are coming up gangbusters, carrots and dill are looking great, another sunflower is showing signs of popping up, and the other peas are doing great too.  No signs of life with the morning glories -- I guess they really do mean 14-21 days to germination.

My next project:

No wonder the herb garden was always too wet.  I will be drilling LARGE holes in the bottom of the barrel (I'm embarrassed to admit that I did drill holes last year, but not until after I filled it with dirt and plants, so the holes are about 2 inches up on the sides).

You knew I would go back to the store where I found those great ceramic glazed pots and buy some more (l-r: $1.50, $5.00, $8.00):

I don't know what I'm going to put in that crazy reflective one or where I'll put it, but it sure is fun imagining  the possibilities.

I had a $15 credit from the garden club at Van Wilgen's (how could I have possibly spent $300 there in one year?) so I picked up this organic tomato and vegetable fertilizer for $10:

I think I'm resolved to filling the large veggie containers with 2/3 the potting soil from last year, 1/3 new Farfard potting soil, and using this fertilizer from the get go as recommended on the package.  I just can't afford to buy all new potting soil that's not Miracle-Gro.

And for the other $5, I got these pretty coleus which will brighten up the shady side of the house once I figure out what I'm planting them in and whether they'll have company:

I also hit IKEA with a friend for lunch on Thursday and couldn't resist two adorable lanterns (which hold block candles that I already have).  I particularly like the spike in the middle to hold the candle -- I can actually envision hanging them by the handle from an umbrella spoke or on a shepard's hook:

Their likely new home:

I'm itching to really get going.  This in between time is killing me!  How are you coping? 

WHAT'S THAT BRIGHT THING IN THE SKY CALLED?

4 inches of rain in less than 48 hours after nearly two weeks without a drop.  Can we do anything in moderation, Mother Nature?  I stepped out the side door and stopped dead in my tracks:

I remember those dark things on the ground...I think they're called shadows, which must mean...yes, that bright thing in the sky is the sun!  All kidding aside, it was nice to see the sun again.  The two previous weeks of sunny warm weather definitely made 2 days of cold cloudy weather and 2 more days of cold rainy weather difficult to deal with.

It was good to see that the newly planted bleeding hearts made it through the deluge unharmed:

As did the wildflower patch (not the weed strip, Layanee):

If you click on the above photo to enlarge and look along the foundation about two-thirds of the way up, you may see the flash of yellow that caught my eye.  What the heck is this?  UPDATE: It's a Siberian Wallflower:

My first sunflower seedling is poking up through the soil (though this is one of the 2 that didn't have a little sprout coming out of the seed -- what does that mean for the rest?):

I think this little guy is the first of the carrots, but it could be a weed:

I love this photo of the dill seedlings emerging.  I tried to focus on the one standing straight up at 6 o'clock or the one standing straight up at 12 o'clock.  I didn't see the one just emerging (and in focus) at 3 o'clock until I was reviewing photos on my computer:

Mr. Cucumber and Mr. Basil have been joined by 3 zucchini seedlings and 2 more cucumber buddies:

Lest the left side of the seed tray feel left out, we have a sighting.  It's a chive -- maybe, depending on what seed my mother really sent me:

This rhododendron isn't going to flower this spring, but Layanee tells me that's not unusual in the first year after transplant.  It is growing though, so I'm not worried about its health.  Note how much weeding we still have to do here, which is a bitch with the steep hill:

I still want to see if these weeds (tentatively identified as marsh marigolds) will die off some when the trees fill in since they're all but impossible to pull out of the ground with the rhizomes and all.  Oh who am I kidding, I just don't want to do it!

Do you have a garden chore that you hate and continuously put off?

G-- D--- WILDFLOWER PATCH

The original theory behind the wildflower patch was no maintenance, beautiful flowers next to the patio that would reseed themselves, but so far, I'm not loving year two.  I'm still debating whether I want to pull it all out and put in a perennial flower garden, but until I make that decision, I should at least tidy up a little:

Last year the flowers flopping over onto the patio drove me crazy, so I bought this cheapo fencing and lined the edge of the patio.  If I do end up tearing this all out, I will leave an unplanted strip along the edge:

There are some tiny little plants in there like this lupine:

And some seedlings yet to develop true leaves:

VPH and I had both completely forgotten about the ceramic lily pad stepping stones leftover from August 2006 when the patio was first installed.  If I had known then what I do now, I would have put down cardboard with mulch over it to prep the site for a perennial flower garden instead:

So you can actually see the fencing, which isn't that ugly for $10 total:

VPH and I were sitting on the patio relaxing -- me from an afternoon of gardening, VPH from a day of subbing in an elementary school.  He grabbed a non-alcoholic beer and gave me my favorite beer to drink when I'm sweating -- Red Stripe.  So I sat there, leaning back in my chair, surveying my domain and I just couldn't take another moment of staring at the ugly wildflower patch:

I had to do something.  I frantically pulled dead stems and leaves from the patch and sent VPH to the fridge for the seeds, then I giddily scattered:

Scroll back up and see how much debris is on the patio compared to before:

Stay tuned to see if the wildflower patch develops into something nice to look at or if I give in to temptation and plant a perennial flower garden instead.

I did do other stuff today...

Yesterday I receive an email notice that Christmas Tree Shops had a new flyer available on their website.  I had a pre-fab pergola that I could buy directly from an Ebay seller for $475, or I could buy the umbrella and umbrella stand at CTS for $80.  You know which one I went with:

The red is a little redder than I thought it would be from the flyer -- I was seeing more of a burgundy -- but it will probably fade a little in the sun and since there's not much color in the garden at the moment, we're kind of enjoying a shock of red:

I've decided that with the second trellis in place, this is definitely looking more room-like (and if you don't agree, please don't shatter my illusion):

My other Christmas Tree Shop purchase was a frog holding a rain gauge, because really, how can you not pay $1.69 for this adorable creature?  I had the spearmint sitting next to him on the bar and it was looking pretty chock full of roots.  I didn't know it was this bad though!  I'll be dividing it first thing tomorrow:

There's no frost in the 10-day forecast, so I decided it was time to pot up the petunias:

Using the planters from last year, I'd say buying seedlings and a little potting soil, each of these cost about $5 to assemble:

I did this one first and I think I might have been a little too rough with it:

Things are definitely looking up:

The last bit of good news today -- my first 2 seedlings have popped up:

And wasn't in considerate of them to come up next to each other and the plant labels?

Tomorrow I'll be attacking the herbs after a visit to the dentist -- social hour for me, torture for VPH.  Don't hate me because I've never had a cavity!

A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT

I've finished my seed sowing until it's time to get the beans started, but I'm not sure when that will be yet, maybe mid-May?

Today I planted the sunflower seeds that I soaked for 2 days.  I had little sprouts sticking out of 4 of the 6 seeds, I wonder if the two without sprouts will grow?  I lined up the 6 pots in sunny spot along the house.  The soil in this location is really crappy, so planting in the ground wasn't an option.  I am not sure this is going to work, but it's worth a try:

This afternoon VPH mowed the lawn and then fertilized with the worm poop.  He also over-seeded because the lawn is at best spotty and at worst, like here, totally missing:

Even after VPH mowed, I found little surprises in the grass.  I love violets:

They're such a scrappy little flower, they will even grow in the gravel driveway:

Speaking of things growing...only 7 days after planting the seeds, hello lettuce:

One of the projects that I teased over the weekend is well underway.  The supports for the gazebo have been lashed together with zip ties into a trellis and set over the pot of sweet peas (imagine it's not just a pot of dirt with seeds in it and the patio isn't surrounded by dirt and no grass for no particular reason): 

I had to run buy some more zip ties to get the other trellis together, but didn't want to miss the last light of the setting sun, so you'll have to imagine that it's already on the back left:

The other trellis will go over the morning glories I soaked for 2 days and finally planted today:

I've pretty much decided I can't spend money on a pergola right now, so I'm going to get a big umbrella for the table.  I think once there are plants growing up the trellises, the cherry tomato plants on the hooks, and the planter table is full of annuals, it will feel more like a room and less like a table plopped in the middle of the garden:

If the sweet peas and morning glories totally don't work (I am concerned that there may not be enough sun hitting that area), I have a bunch of purple hyacinth beans that I know will grow like weeds for me.

Now just a bit of weeding and mulching and then I'll sit back and watch my seeds grow.  Then a few seedlings from the good garden center and finally beans.

My new obsession is planning a perennial flower garden to replace the wildflower patch.  Suggestions are most welcome.  It's a rectangle measuring about 15 feet by 4 feet next to the patio.  See here if you're not familiar with the space.  It  is full sun.

WE ARE ON FIRE!

Today VPH and I spent 4 hours working in the garden (that's 4 hours each for a total of 8 man hours).  It was another incredible spring day, you know the kind where you can wear capris and a tank top and not be cold, but also lug around huge pots, bags of soil, and lawn furniture and not be sweating.  In other words, my favorite kind of weather!

VPH concentrated on cleaning up leaves along the shady side of the house and the front parking area.  I worked on emptying pots and filling them back up again!  I'm trying to do a lot more from seed this year.  I know I'm saving money, but for an instant gratification girl, it's tough to see all these pots of dirt and no plants as yet!

My first stop was the potting table, I had to get organized (I keep finding pots I don't remember buying).  It seems silly, but including all the emptying of the pots of old plants and such this job took hours:

Now I feel like I have a better handle on what's going where this year.  Yes, I still Have Miracle Gro products -- I will use them up on non-edible plants and don't plan to purchase them again.

The heather plant is safely potted up and where I'm pretty sure it's going to stay:

I think we'll grow calibrochoa over the retaining wall like we did last year.  This may end up being my favorite spot in the garden again.  I like the added height that being in the pot gives the heather:

Sugar snap peas are go:

As are the Little Marvel peas:

The two white pots are Nantes 1/2 long carrots and the blue ceramic pot is Mammoth dill (do we need to weed or what?!):

This next photo is something of a preview of coming attractions and I'm only going to tell you that the pot contains sweet peas:   

I should have soaked these seeds over night so I could plant them today.  First task for tomorrow and I'd better go stick them in a bowl of water while I'm thinking of it:

VPH is going to clean up the rest of the leaves tomorrow while I finish up planting.  One more hour of vegetable garden clean-up to complete the task and then I think we'll get 2 fun projects done.  Am I being purposely vague?  You betcha!

UPDATE: It's Sunday now and only 50 degrees and cloudy.  The garden is most definitely not calling me plus I'm a dumbass and forgot to soak the seeds overnight.

YEAR 2 IS UNDERWAY

First, I want to say again how sorry I am, Amy, that I couldn't make it to meet you yesterday.  Stupid job with stupid responsibilities!  I didn't get to do any of the things I had planned for my vacation afternoon on Tuesday.  No seeds were planted...no garden writers met...no fun had at all!

Today was another story altogether!  VPH and I took a trip up to Agway, our local garden center, and Home Depot -- hey they gave me a charge card, try and keep me from shopping there!  I spent the most money at the local garden center, though that could be because the prices are highest there.  Oh well. 

You know exactly how excited I was to sit down at this table and work:

See what a good girl I was:

In case you can't read the labels, l-r Marigolds (3 rows of seeds from mom, but I have no idea what color they are), Chives? (also from mom, first she told me they were onions, then she said chives, I guess we'll see), Red Peter pepper (a Christmas gift from mom, but this time she ordered them and had them mailed to me complete with label), Cinnamon basil, Sweet basil, Spacemaster Bush cucumber, Black Beauty zucchini (even though I was sure after last year's heartbreak I would never grow zucchini again).

I'm so proud of myself for re-purposing this old Zabar's tray into a lettuce planter (1/2 credit to VPH for suggesting it as a planter, 1/2 credit to me for thinking of what could go in this somewhat shallow container):

With all the running around, I got to planting a little later than I had planned.  It's still a little bit cool outside, about 65 and beautiful in the sun, but once it falls behind our neighbor's house it gets chilly out there.  I still have all of these to put into pots: 

The baggy is full of seeds from the purple hyacinth beans I grew last year.  The above photo is mostly for my reference so I can decide what I want to plant where.  I plan to buy the following seedlings: 2 cherry tomatoes, 6 tomatoes, bell peppers (last year we had 4 and it was more than we could eat, we're not sure how many we want to grow this year), and we're going to branch out and try eggplant.

Two new pots for the sweet peas and the morning glories and the re-purposed trellises from the gazebo.  And the heather in the pot purchased today at Home Depot that will be its new home.  I am trying to decide where I want to put it once the heather plant is safely transplanted.  Expect a photo montage and your opinion to be solicited:

VPH is being more patient with me than usual as I assign chores and ask silly questions, like how many bell pepper plants do we need and are you sure we don't want more than one cucumber plant...no I know you don't like cucumber as much as I do, etc.  I am so happy to be back playing in the dirt!

IS IT TIME TO PLANT YET?

Last year we didn't plant a single thing until May.  I know that we went to a Yankees game on May 6th and came home to a completed gravel patio and a seeded lawn.  Mother's Day was the following Sunday the 13th.  VPH and I are pretty sure that we planted the first of the vegetable seeds that week -- peas, lettuce, and garlic (in whole bulbs no less, I know but I had no idea what I was doing).  You can be sure that I will be documenting the date that I plant every single thing this year.

I know it's a good idea to plant peas and lettuce while it's still cool out, but I wasn't sure what else I should plant early.  So why not avoid the whole issue.  If I put together the little greenhouse I bought last year I can safely start all my seeds now!

Remember this thing:

But first, I did write that I was going to buy my very first pair of Felco pruners didn't I?  You know I couldn't go to the garden center and only come home with a pair of pruners.  As we headed home, VPH sarcastically said "You can't wait to get home and photograph what we bought today and write about your possibilities and dreams."  I replied, "Oh that's definitely getting blogged."  The focus of my possibilities and dreams: 

Yup, Heather's Garden finally has a heather plant again.  I'm not inclined to put it back in the same spot where I killed the first one last year and if we ever leave this rental home, I'd like to take my heather plant with me, so I'm thinking container -- a self-watering one in fact.  Here's the question of the day: Do you think I should put it in a large container with other plants or all by itself?

At $1.25 a six pack, I just couldn't resist purple, blue, and pink petunias.  I'm a little afraid that it's still too cold outside for them at night (though there are no freezes in the forecast), so I must assemble that greenhouse post-haste.  I bought the seed starter kit because I haven't decided what I'm doing about potting soil and I want to get my seeds started immediately.  I have a feeling that I'm going to be vacillating about this potting soil issue for a while. 

But first I want to cut things with those new Felco pruners!  I opted for the #5 and thank you mom for the gift certificate that bought most of them!  I pruned the rose:

I was having so much fun with the Felcos that I decided to cut some forsythia branches to see if the warm temperatures inside the house would force them into bloom:

UPDATE:  It worked!  Less than 24 hours later:

Then I put the greenhouse together.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that the greenhouse turned out to be a little bigger than I expected.  I don't think this is its permanent home, but it was right next to where I assembled it and it was 6:30pm and 50 degrees (plus I could smell the lasagna that VPH was making for dinner), so I shoved it against the fence and ran inside:

Do give me your advice on the heather plant.  In a container solo or combine with other plants?  If you opt for with other plants, recommendations please!

A CASE OF THE NERVES

Do you ever feel like there's some horrible thing just about to happen and if you could just control everything around you maybe you could keep it from happening?  No?  Well then you're not crazy like I am right now.  I know it's anxiety, I know it's depression, but I just can't get rid of it!  I wonder if bloggers experience a higher percentage of depression than the general population or if we're just more open about sharing our mental state?  It seems like every few days I'm reading a favorite blog and finding another depressed person.

In an effort to shake it off I went outside at lunch time and snapped a few photos.  I was trying to wait to post again until the mystery plant bloomed so I could confirm that it was a cosmos (also my guess).  In answer to other questions -- I used 2 different kinds of wildflower seed in this area in the spring, but one was a cheapo from W-Mart and it doesn't really identify which specific flowers I should be seeing.  Yes, it is more fun to rake leaves in the warm weather, but still mostly green trees and not too much on the ground.  It could be an aster, but apparently this plant needs more than an hour of sunshine a day to be coaxed into flowering:

It's so close though and I'm see yellow petals I think.  I can hardly wait!

The weather man says that we had a frost on Monday morning (that's 10/29/07 for next year when I'm trying to remember).  However, my non-morning-person butt isn't out of bed before 8am, so I have no idea if we did or not.  I thought the impatiens would be toast if we had a frost, so maybe we were a little bit warmer just a mile from the water?  Because the impatiens look great:

The vegetable garden is a little straggly (I'll post in more detail another time).  I give you this photo so you can see the 3-car garage our neighbor a yard away is building at what may be the slowest rate ever!  Can you tell this is only 75 feet from my bedroom window and the pneumatic nail gun starts before 8am?  They started excavating for this project over a month ago.  I shouted over today for an ETA on completion and got 3 more weeks - OMG I am never going to make it!  Maybe that's part of why I'm so cranky.

Here it is October 31st -- Halloween in the U.S. -- but my veggie garden isn't following the same calendar.  Beans are blooming:

As are the bell peppers:

Tomatoes are ripening:

Along with actually doing a garden clean-up -- when we finally get a killing frost -- I'm going to be spending some time this fall figuring out what I want to do in this space next year:

This area is between the big shed and the fence and it doesn't get a ton of sun, but about the same as the bastard garden which is just behind the shed, and the cherry tomato grew quite well in there.  I think it would be a great place to try zucchini next year, so I'm going to ask VPH to clear it out and then I think I'll spread newspapers and cardboard out over it for the winter.  It can't be that hard to grow vegetables in the ground -- right?

ARE YOU SURE IT'S OCTOBER?

I'm trying to remember the last time I wore a bathing suit in October and laid out to read in the sun.  I'm not sure if it has ever happened before.  It was 80 degrees on Saturday and wonderfully sunny. 

The afternoon sun filtered through the planter table so beautifully:

The mums are finally blooming and I really like the way they look -- and they are purple thank goodness:

I had a ball photographing from different angles:

Just a reminder of what this same planter looked like on September 4th:

Since it looks like a completely different grouping of plants now:

Then  I had a late afternoon visitor on the cosmos:

Considering I had about 45 seconds and poor light I did pretty well:

It was a lovely lazy day and I'm so happy to have a photographic reminder of it to carry me through the winter, which I imagine will be here before I know it.  80 degree days won't last forever, it was 80+ on Monday too, but today it's raining and might hit 70, but thank goodness for the rain!

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY

The purple hyacinth beans are blooming again:

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT

Most people who know me would say I'm sort of an optimist.  But the end of the summer is making it a little bit tough for me to see the bright side of things.

My Mother's Day gift from VPH is a little overgrown and probably near the end of its run, but not looking too bad overall:

Until you walk around to the other side:

Think the lobelia needed more water than the rest of the plants in the container during our "near-drought" summer?

The hot pink calibrochoa are blooming like crazy after I trimmed them back and fertilized:

But on the other side, like the light pink ones, all of a sudden they're starting to fail:

I'm just going to keep enjoying the good-looking sides of these planters for as long as I can!

Are you a plant half-alive or half-dead gardener?

VISITING THE FALL CONTAINER PLANTINGS

I don't think much narration is necessary here.  Remember the fall container plantings:

Yesterday I found a bud on the mums showing color (purple thank goodness) and I had a ball photographing all the light, shadow, and colors in the box.  I took special note of all the different greens.  Click to enlarge the photos and I hope you enjoy!

 

You'll notice that I'm not really identifying the individual plants by name.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read any of the plant tags (I just stuck them in a drawer) so I'm not 100% sure that I'm calling each plant by the correct name and I don't want to steer anyone wrong.

GOD I LOVE MY MACRO SETTING

I was in the kitchen this afternoon when I saw a huge dragonfly land on the fence.  Seriously, it had to be 4 inches long.  I grabbed the camera and ran outside.  Of course, the moment I moved near it with the camera the dragonfly flew away.  It buzzed me a few times, but flew up high into the trees and then disappeared completely.  Oh well, at least I got to enjoy seeing it even if I can't share it with you. 

While I was over on the sunny side of the house I realized that I haven't shared a photo of the beautiful calibrochoa post trim back and fertilization.  So without further ado:

Don't these two look great?

This one, however, is not doing as well and I really don't know why -- it has been treated exactly the same way as the others:

It looks so bad, I had to shuffle things around out there:

That's the little petunia and creeping jenny replacing the light pink calibrochoa next to trellis.  The dying calibrochoa is by the shed for the moment, but if it doesn't perk up, it will be tossed (not to the bastard garden or compost because it must be diseased to be failing so quickly out of no where).  The reverse angle:

 

Standing next to the purple hyacinth bean I decided it was time to pull the dried pods off and harvest the seeds.  I got a pretty good haul:

As I was picking the pods, I was ecstatic to see new growth and buds on the beans:

I was so sad to think that these plants were done for the year and had to come out.  I'm so glad that they're not!

As I was walking back into the house this buzzing bumblebee caught my eye and I just had to snap a dozen or so photos of it, but I'll only post a few here (click to enlarge, some have awesome detail):

I just love his pollen covered butt!  I hope that you enjoyed your time on the sunny side of the house as much as I did.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY

The weather did not cooperate with my gardening plans yesterday.  It was rainy and cold -- below 60 degrees in the shade mid-day and windy.  Hopefully it will be nicer today and I'll actually get some stuff done. 

Say goodbye to the zinnias.  They're looking pretty crappy.  The bottom leaves are dry and shriveling up and they've pretty much stopped putting out new blooms.  I'm going to let VPH plant them in the bastard garden.  Maybe they'll self-sow out there for next year.  I'm rather sad about relocating my belated Mother's Day gift from my step-sons, but nothing lasts forever.

UPDATE: Here's a less flattering photo so you you can why the zinnias are going to the bastard garden:

Keep in mind how prominently these flowers were positioned on the edge of the patio.  They were the first thing you saw when you came around the side of the house from the driveway.   If they were in the ground the stripped stems wouldn't be such a big deal, but in the container -- ugh. 

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

THIS JUST IN (updated)

It's raining!  Not just a passing shower either.  A long steady rain with sudden downpours (not so good), but at this point, I'll take any rain!  I never imagined that I would miss rainy summer days...gardening sure does change your weather priorities.

I'll add to this post when I get home from work tonight -- I can't wait to check the rain gage!

Update: 1.5 inches of rain today.  And it's still raining off and on.  At least the grass will be loving it.  With the veggies in containers we'll be out watering again before too long, but it's nice to have a few days off!

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I don't have much to post on today, so I'll give you a few left over pics from the past week or so.

Here's a little garden mystery.  Is that more sweet potato vine or some sort of mimic weed?

I can't see the roots under the watering can lip, so I'm not sure what's going on:

These habaneros have already been harvested, but boy were they pretty on the plant:

This is the biggest one we got -- about 2.5 inches long:

There's something new on the pot rack tonight:

I read on-line that all you have to do is string up the habaneros with decent airflow around them and they will dry successfully.  I sure hope they do:

The cilantro's coming along, but I'm not sure we're going to be able to harvest any before the first frost -- mid- to late-October in this area. 

I'm almost ready to put together the little greenhouse I bought and I hope it will extend the growing season for us.  The cilantro, and many of the other annual herbs will be moving in and we hope to have fresh herbs through 2007.  Now I just need to decide where to put it!  VPH is going to make a batch of salsa to freeze tomorrow or Thursday, but I hope we get another 2 or 3 bunches of tomatoes to "put up" before the first frost. 

Are you all as sad as I am thinking about how close the first frost could be?

YUP, I'M JUST THAT BORING

Just a reminder of where we left off yesterday:

We took a trip to our local garden center on Saturday with 5 specific goals:

1. Buy a fern to replace the bleeding heart that was decimated by some sort of animal (perennials were 25% off).  Preferably a tall fern and not one that costs $20.

2. Get some annuals to fill the planter table because the current contents look like crap.

3. Do not come home with mums -- you don't like them -- even if there is nothing else at the garden center DO NOT COME HOME WITH MUMS.

4. Find some seedlings for the empty container in the veggie garden.  Not the ornamental kale that is advertised as on sale, get something that is actually edible.

5. Do not buy any herbs.  You don't need them, they're at the end of their season.  There isn't a lot of selection.  Just pass by without looking!

3 out of 5 isn't bad.  We got a great plant called a Branford fern which was developed right here in Branford, CT and it was only $6.50.  Then I left you hanging on which 2 of the other 4 goals we had accomplished.

Remember how awful the planter table was looking last week:

I had very lofty ambitions for this planter (which actually holds 4 smallish self-watering pots).  I was going to find some beautiful fall plants and put together something with lots of color and varied heights, foliage, etc. and so on.   Then we got to the garden center and found mums, mums, and more mums.  There were a couple of ornamental kale plants and a few ornamental peppers.  Yeah, this wasn't working out the way I thought it would.

I wandered around and finally found a few plastic patio boxes that the garden center had planted up and advertised as fall color.  No mums in sight.  VPH and I liked one of them very much and despite feeling like we were cheating, we decided to buy it.  It was a little bit smaller than the planter table, so I decided we would need a small plant on either side of the planter.  Yup, you know what I bought -- mums.  I couldn't help it, they were the only plant of that size and shape available.  And they're purple, well they were marked as purple, they're not in bloom yet, so we'll see.  Even with the mums, we are really happy with the way the table looks now:

The two end pots of the original plantings were still doing pretty well, so I snapped the bottoms back on them and, as you can see above, put them on either side of the table.  Here's a close up of the planter table:

See, the mums aren't that bad.  Unlike these sad, half-dead plants:

Which moved into the bastard garden:

So that's check on the fern, check on annuals for the planter table (though not exactly how I had envisioned it happening), and a big fat failure on not bringing home mums.

On top of that, the local garden center didn't have a single vegetable seedling, not one.  So now the question is what to put in the empty large container.  The only seed I have on hand is for lettuce (which we didn't eat in the spring -- it's off to the left out of frame of the photo above) and snow peas (which I have growing in two places already).  Any recommendations?  If not, the bell pepper in the smallest container is probably going to move in.

Our last goal was to come home without any herbs.  Unfortunately this one was rather easy to accomplish.  I guess it really is the end of the season, the selection was poor and what they did have looked awful.

Altogether accomplishing three out of the five goals isn't bad.  One was beyond my control -- the garden center didn't have any vegetable seedlings, who'd have thunk it?  And I only came home with 2 little mums and they're purple and green.  You know how I am about purple and green in my garden!

I'm going to take a couple of days off from blogging to enjoy what may be my last chance to sun with my husband and hang out with girlfriends at restaurants by the beach without a jacket.  Back on Green Thumb Sunday.

THE SHADY SIDE OF THE HOUSE

First, a quick update on items just hanging out there.

Today's harvest (4 tomatoes, 8 beans -- what do you do with 8 beans?, some purple basil, and our first vine-ripened habanero):

See honey, I told you that outdoor shower would come in handy!

I removed all the leaves from the sage plant that showed signs of powdery mildew.  I find it extremely odd that the pile of diseased leaves was larger than I had expected and that the plant didn't end up looking completely bald:

VPH mixed up a solution that I found on-line, which of course, I can't find again, but it was hot water, baking powder, and dish detergent.  I hope it works.  I would love to use neem oil, but I can't find it in a local garden center and purchasing it on-line doubles the cost with shipping and I just can't justify the expense to myself.  I'll keep looking for it and maybe I'll be able to pick some up during a fall sale on-line. 

The ugly tomato moved to the bastard garden:

I guess I haven't explained in a while that it only exists because VPH hates to destroy living plants.  So it's sort of a way station on the way to the composter.  Any time I say "Honey, please pull that plant and put it in the compost," -- because I can't bear to do it myself, he says, "Can I put it in my bastard garden?"  And since it's behind the shed and out of sight, I really don't care what he does back there. 

We took a trip to our local garden center on Saturday with 5 specific goals:

1. Buy a fern to replace the bleeding heart that was decimated by some sort of animal (perennials were 25% off).  Preferably a tall fern and not one that costs $20.

2. Get some annuals to fill the planter table because the current contents look like crap.

3. Do not come home with mums -- you don't like them -- even if there is nothing else at the garden center DO NOT COME HOME WITH MUMS.

4. Find some seedlings for the empty container in the veggie garden.  Not the ornamental kale that is advertised as on sale, get something that is actually edible.

5. Do not buy any herbs.  You don't need them, they're at the end of their season.  There isn't a lot of selection.  Just pass by without looking!

3 out of 5 isn't bad.  We got a great plant called a Branford fern which was developed right here in Branford, CT and it was only $6.50:

This is the time of year where the western side of the house gets about 20 minutes of sunlight right around the time I'm home for lunch so I finally got a decent shot of the shade garden:

Can anyone explain why the slugs love this hosta (I think that's slug damage):

And they totally ignore this one just feet away:

While I'm on this side of the house, the impatiens are doing a lot better (and I just gave them a little fertilizer so I expect more blooms):

This one's a little blurry:

 

I have to say I'm really proud of how the shade garden turned out and I can't wait to see the plants start filling out next year.  I think I may still add some astilbe for color in the spring in the shade portion of this garden, but I'm not doing anything more with it now and I kind of want to keep it a perennial garden, so I have more research to do over the winter.  I also have to figure out what's going in the sunny portion at the end of the walk over the retaining wall, but I have all winter to decide between herbs, vegetables, or flowers.  I'm not going to try heather again, I read that it's really finicky in my climate and I'm pretty sure my soil just isn't right for it.  Oh well, I knew not everything was going to make it through the summer.

Are you dying to know which 2 of the other 4 goals we were able to accomplish?  You'll have to wait until tomorrow.

WHAT MAKES MY YARD A GARDEN?

I had to start with this photo:

It has nothing to do with this post, but 1.) I love it; and 2.) Some people won't read a post that looks like it may be all text and no photos.  Stick with it folks, there will be more photos below.

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Sometimes I call my collection of plants in the area around our house a garden and sometimes I call it a yard.  What's the difference?

I love dictionary.com.  Some of the many definitions that they list for yard:

1. The ground that immediately adjoins or surrounds a house, public building, or other structure.

2. An enclosed area outdoors, often paved and surrounded by or adjacent to a building; court.

3. An outdoor enclosure designed for the exercise of students, inmates, etc.: a prison yard.

4. An outdoor space surrounded by a group of buildings, as on a college campus.

9. A piece of ground set aside for cultivation; garden; field.

10. The winter pasture or browsing ground of moose and deer.

Okay, the moose and deer definition has nothing to do with the question at hand, but it made me laugh.

The first three definitions listed for garden:

1. A plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.

2. A piece of ground or other space, commonly with ornamental plants, trees, etc., used as a park or other public recreation area: a public garden.

3. A fertile and delightful spot or region.

I often feel as though my humble attempt at growing things on purpose doesn't deserve the lofty title of garden.  A garden requires planning, structure, and knowledge (all in short supply at my house).  But if you go strictly by the first definition for a garden, my collection of plants most certainly qualifies as a garden.  Notice they don't specify success in cultivation as a necessary component.

I've been experiencing some rather disheartening events in the garden (see how quickly I've adopted that term).  My sage appears to have powdery mildew:

Does anyone have any good suggestions for how to get rid of it?  Keep in mind this is an edible plant and I'd prefer not to ingest chemicals.

The cute little fern that I transplanted from the driveway has been eaten:

Heather's Garden is now without heather (the brown spot at the bottom center is all that remains of my beautiful plant):

The wildflower patch is sort of straggly at this point.  I'm not sure if I can deal with this much disorder for another year (though it does look better since I cut down the really tall non-blooming cosmos):

The spiders are taking over the vegetable garden:

Most of the annuals in the planter (especially the pentas) are dead or dying:

But for all the failures there are at least two successes.  Two of the cilantro seeds have sprouted:

And I'm amazed, but the basil that the june bugs were having so much fun eating is bouncing back:

Please do comment with suggestions for getting rid of the powdery mildew on the sage.  Or let me know I'm wrong and it's not powdery mildew and I don't need to worry about it!

BLATANT RIP OFF

Layanee's post yesterday inspired me.  Since I'm mostly gardening in containers it was a lot easier for me to photograph my plants from underneath.  By the time I get home from work the sun has long left the yard behind, so I didn't experiment too much.

A basil jungle:

Purple basil and golden sage:

Celosia:

More celosia (which I don't think I will ever grow again):

I just stuck the camera in the center of the plants near the bottom and shot.  I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and I think I'll do more of it when I have better light.

Today's harvest included beans at last.  But how do you know when they're ready?  Notice the size difference amongst the 4 that I did pick:

Like I said yesterday, we're dying to turn our extra tomatoes into salsa that we can freeze, so I picked the habanero at the first sign of changing color and I hope that a day on the windowsill will do the trick.  Not that we need it to be ripe.  I think they'll still be really hot green.

The 3 not so attractive tomatoes above are from this plant:

So I can finally pull it and dump the awful soil which created ugly tomato plant, rinse the container with a bleach solution, and plant something else in there.  Any suggestions?  We found that we didn't eat the lettuce that we grew in the spring and I've got lots of beans and peas going already.

WILL I EVER BE GOOD AT COMING UP WITH POST TITLES?

These are the last of the photos that I took on Monday.  I did pick up the camera and shoot some new stuff today, but since you haven't been staring at these same photos for 3 days like me, you'll probably enjoy them!

Monday's harvest:

Which did not include this habanero (what the heck invaded this pepper?):

We tossed it in the compost pile, just not appetizing at all.  We've got so many tomatoes that we want to make salsa to freeze, but we really want to be able to use our own habanero peppers rather than buying some.

And this poor guy just rotted right on the plant:

Quick update on other portions of the yard -- bastard garden:

The geranium is really loving it there and the cherry tomatoes are actually ripening.  However, I hit this area with a mosquito bomb Saturday morning before the party, so VPH will never get to taste one of his cherry tomatoes.

These sunflowers are about 6 feet tall and I cut off the right-hand bloom yesterday -- man was it ever heavy, no wonder they fall over:

The third purple hyacinth bean is finally blooming:

And lastly, Ashley's rose is really looking good:

My draft folder actually contains 3 posts in various stages, so maybe, just maybe, the dry spell is over.

WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS LAST WEEK?

My calibrochoa stopped blooming a couple of weeks ago and though they still looked green and healthy, I just wasn't happy with them.  I had the party coming up and I wanted every plant to look their best.  A quick Google and the overwhelming recommendation was fertilize.  Most people also said cut back, but again I had the party coming up and if I cut back and they looked awful I would have been embarrassed.   Layanee chimed in with cut back and fertilize and then I knew I had to do it, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut back before the party, so I went ahead and fertilized and put off cutting back until after the party. 

Yup they bloomed a little more, but still not the way they should, and they got leggy.  You'll see a before cutting photo followed by an after.

Pale pink:

Hot pink:

White:

I also had to attack the petunias:

Which looked really ragged when I finished cutting them back:

And though I didn't take a photo today, I can report that the poor petunia is looking much perkier.  I know my hair always looks better the day after the cut.

Conversely the mini-petunias in this hanging basket are blooming fabulously after a little fertilizer:

These ?cosmos? are at least 7 feet tall and I'm going to cut them down a few feet soon:

Again, why didn't I do this last week?

SEULEMENT DES LÉGUMES AUJOURD'HUI

Not sure why the title was so much more appealing in French.  ONLY VEGETABLES TODAY doesn't have quite the same ring.  But SOLAMENTE VEHÍCULOS HOY sounds much more festive!  (I'm trusting that Word translated that correctly for me as I don't speak Spanish.)  Anyone care to chime in with their favorite translation?  It's also a lie because as I was writing this post I branched off into flowers (no pun intended).

Luckily the sun came out this morning and it warmed up outside or the post you were going to get was something along the lines of sorry, I'm not in the mood.  I saw a bunch of butterflies out the window this morning, but by the time I changed into my swimsuit and grabbed the camera, they were gone.  Tomorrow morning VPH will mow the lawn and then we're going to set up for the party.  The forecast looks good so far -- keep your fingers crossed. 

I did a little bit of yard clean-up today, but VPH did a ton of weeding yesterday.  What I noticed the most in the yard is that my annuals are pretty much done.  So frustrating.  Do I leave the sort of crappy looking plants in the container on the gravel patio or go look for seasonal plants and replant tomorrow?  I think it's time for some research on fall annuals, but I welcome recommendations.  Here are some photos of the container taken today.  Front:

And back:

It actually doesn't look as bad as I remember.  What do you think?

Back to the veggies.  The snow peas are really coming along beneath the Eiffel Tower:

And in this container they've outgrown their trellis which I kind of knew would happen.  I don't think I can do anything about it now:

The beans are just confusing the heck out of me.  Both of the large green containers were planted on the same day with seeds from the same package, in soil from the same bag, watered the same amount, and both get the same amount of sun.  This sad looking bunch is growing beans like crazy, but has lost over half its leaves:

And this one has lots of leaves, but no blossoms or beans yet:

Some of its leaves aren't looking too good either.  Good news on the other bean container.  It seems to be growing new leaves on the bare portions:

As I said, they're confusing the heck out of me.  The bell peppers are doing great, but again, the ripe one is only turning red where the sun is hitting it:

A few days on the window sill will fix that.  Here's the rest of the day's harvest:

We're planning to make salsa for the party on Saturday, so we're experimenting with the habanero peppers to see how hot they are.  Chances are they're hot enough for salsa partially ripe.  Anyone ever grown them?  Any advice?  Or a great salsa recipe?

WEEKEND RECAP

Continuing to think about how I and others write our garden blogs, today I'm going to use all the photos I took this weekend and see if I can come up with a coherent post.

I'm still trying to show the scale of the yard.  Can you see VPH roasting himself on the far right? 

The reverse angle from the driveway just past VPH:

I like this slightly different view of the vegetable garden since I rarely walk to the back of the garden to look at it:

VPH can't stop telling me that the geranium is blooming in the bastard garden:

Speaking of plants growing where they are clearly unloved...this fern popped up in the gravel driveway, and I need one for the shade garden, so I'm hoping it will thrive now that I've rescued it:

I'm pretty sure that there's too much fertilizer in the stupid Miracle Gro potting soil, so I'm worried that the fern will suffer the same problems as the previously thriving beans seem to be:

The peppers are doing great -- one red bell pepper harvested:

It's been sitting on the window sill since Saturday and now it's completely red.  Two of the habaneros are showing signs of ripening like this one:

On a completely different topic...mom wanted to know how the hyacinth beans were doing:

Loving the purple there and loving the purple here:

This is hidden in the wildflowers.  Way on the bottom left of this photo (but I can't see it):

I love the sunflower front and center of the above photo:

And since we're on the topic of loving...VPH loves me and we both love the dish that he made us Saturday night.  We're trying to come up with interesting ways to eat our tomatoes -- I know, nice problem to have.   He made a lovely rigatoni with fresh tomato and basil -- yum!

So what do you think -- okay post for such random photos?

LEFTOVERS ARE STILL YUMMY

Sometimes I start writing a post with a very specific topic planned out.  I may have a particular portion of the garden in mind, for instance the herb garden, and use the photos I already have to tell that story.  If I need a new photo to finish the tale, I run outside to take one.

Other times I will take a look at what I've photographed that day and see what inspires me -- usually a particularly good photo will stand out and give me a jumping off point.  I keep all my decent photos filed by date on my hard-drive and often go back to see how things have progressed.

Often something that I've eagerly been awaiting -- like the first ripe tomato -- will be an obvious choice for that day's post.

But now I find myself with a bunch of random photos that I like, but they don't particularly fit together by topic or area of the garden.  Leftovers for sure.

My  Mother's Day gift from VPH -- I love how it's over-grown and English cottage-looking:

The spearmint in bloom:

A pretty pink zinnia:

This is actually one of my favorite groupings of plants and I'll definitely be using coleus more next year:

A chive blossom bud:

I've no idea why the hydrangea is growing a blue flower again, but I'm pretty excited about it:

This is the late afternoon sun coming through the trees on the shady side of the house.  I just thought it was really pretty:

The sweet potato vine is doing better and I like it on this bench, but that's not where it lives:

And I liked this shot of the bean blossoms, but yesterday's post was already too long:

You other bloggers out there -- how do you decide what you're going to post each day?   

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT

Even if I wasn't waiting all that patiently!  I finally had my camera handy when a monarch butterfly landed on the zinnias near me.

I would have been happy with this shot after all the chasing I've done:

I would have been excited by this shot:

So you can guess I'm ecstatic that I got this one:

Here are some other things that caught my eye on this cloudy day.

The bell pepper is almost red:

Let's hope that the other peppers on this plant ripen more quickly.  It's been a month that I've been watching these and waiting for them to change color.  Seriously, if they all take that long to turn red, I think there will be a lot of green peppers eaten at our house.

At the top of one of the tomato plants:

Now the question is to pinch or not to pinch.  Steven of Dirt Sun Rain writes about pinching back his tomatoes here and I'm tempted to follow suit.  I think for this, my first season growing tomatoes, I'm going to have to let them stay.  I'm sure Steven is right and next year I'll follow his advice, but if I pinched now I would always wonder if those tomatoes would have ripened before frost and how they would have tasted.  Let's hope that the title of this post is apt for those little blossoms.

Amazingly, these beans which look awful:

Have blossoms at last:

Strangely some are white like above and some are yellow like here:

I wonder if the beans will be the same?

Turns out the pentas do attract butterflies:

And bees:

And sometimes both at the same time:

Wondering who flew away when they got close to each other?  The butterfly fled, the bee chased, and then they flew off in separate directions.  I don't blame the butterfly, I run away when a bee buzzes me too!      

BABIES! -- MINE AND OTHER NOT SO NICE ONES

We did make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday, which was lovely, though full of very inconsiderate people.  Here's a photo of the boys examining the plaques in the actual Hall of Fame gallery.  Note younger step-son in middle scratching his poor back.  He was such a trouper!

Lots of parents letting their children run wild -- literally run around the museum without supervision, hitting each other, or blocking exhibits while they pushed each other into the walls.  I did speak sharply to 2 boys who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, I said "if you have to do that [push each other into the wall], could you at least not do it in front of me while I'm trying to read."  I think it may have been the first time either of them had ever been reprimanded because they looked completely incredulous, but they did stop and move away. 

Then there was the mother with a screaming 10-month-old in the movie presentation at the beginning of the museum exhibits.  She couldn't have been enjoying the movie with the crying child -- does she not realize that it's disturbing the rest of us and she can leave the theater?  We had a similar experience at a very nice restaurant on our first night of vacation.  Literally every single person in this restaurant was turning around staring at this baby that cried for a solid 30 minutes, not just whimpering, but shouting its little lungs out.  The mother finally took it outside and managed to calm it down.  I've been out to meals with my girlfriends who have small children and they're always mortified if the child is making noise and immediately rush out to quiet it -- and that's in family-friendly restaurants.  Have there always been this many rude people who don't care if they're disturbing everyone around them or is this just a recent development?

Enough of me complaining!  Back to my babies.  We've had an explosion of beans:

I did not expect them to get up that pole or the fence so quickly.  What should I do now? Stick in another pole?

The other container is growing just as rapidly, but it's still yellow-tinted and some of the bottom leaves were dried up and yucky so I pulled them off.  I don't think it could be too much water because it's getting the same amount as the other container.  All I can think is maybe I didn't rinse it out well enough and it still has too much fertilizer or something in it from the old dirt.  Overall, not as full and healthy looking as the other container either, but if I didn't have something to compare it to, I think I'd be perfectly happy.

The purple hyacinth beans are doing great:

And I didn't entirely miss the blooming period which is yielding to:

I am beginning to think I will never have a ripe tomato.  If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see lots of green tomatoes, but not a single one even showing signs of ripening.  I took off a bunch with blossom end rot.  You'll also notice that I moved the cherry tomato plant which is just about done, and replaced it with the hanging herb basket. 

It's supposed to rain today and don't you think we need it looking at VPH's poor grass above!  We're neither of us big fans of watering lawns, but since it is all new, we decided that we would try to help it out this year.  Too bad the only time we would have had to water came while we were on vacation.  I hope it bounces back quickly or he will be very upset.

More update tomorrow. 

I DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING ANYTHING

So instead of new photos of the flora and fauna at the vacation rental, here's a photo of one of the things that I'm most looking forward to seeing the progress of when I get home:

The purple hyacinth beans were just starting to bloom as we left for vacation.  I can't wait to see what they look like when we get home. 

I also finally know what this is:

As we were leaving I noticed that the top had flopped over sideways towards the sun and wonder of wonders petals were coming out -- it's a sunflower!  I had never seen one in advance of blooming before so I had no idea what I had.   I think I have 3 in the wildflower patch.  I had 4, but I lost one in the first rain storm when it fell over and the stem snapped.

Finally, I moved the sweet potato vine into this unused watering can the day before we left and I can't wait to see how it's responding to more space.

Not much hanging by the pool today.  Yesterday I said to younger step-son, make sure you wear shoes walking on the grass, he ignored me and stepped on a bee not 2 minutes later.  Then I asked if he had put on sunscreen...I don't need sunscreen he replied, but all night it was my sunburn hurts so much.  Today he's doing everything I suggest (take an antihistamine for the bee sting, drink water, put on aloe, etc.)...maybe he'll start listening to me when I tell him to study harder so he can get into a good college.  But between my mild sunburn, his bad one, and older step-son's cold, only VPH made use of the pool today.

APPARENTLY I LIKE PURPLE AND GREEN TOGETHER

I noticed on Sunday that I have a bit of a color combo going on in the garden: purple and green.  Kim at A Study in Contrasts also likes purple in her garden.  She's a lot more adventurous in her plant selection and a much more knowledgeable gardener than I am! 

In a post earlier this month Layanee at Ledge and Gardens asked her readers if they had any echo color combinations in their gardens.  I guess I do.

I never get tired of looking at this herb basket and I'm hoping you don't either:

This basket of petunias smells almost as good as it looks:

My most recent combo:

Many of the flowers in the herb barrel are purple:

The purple hyacinth beans will be spectacularly purple and green (they're a subdued purple and green now):

I've managed to turn the hydrangea into a pale purple and green combo (though not intentionally):

Mary's passalong hostas are blooming:

Purple cosmos abound in the wildflower patch:

 

It's looking pretty bad now, but when the heather was in bloom it was awesomely purple:

The teacup planters are all about green and purple:

I wonder what else I will end up planting that's purple and green?  Any suggestions?

R.I.P. Zucchini

As I wrote several times last week, the zucchini was definitely on death watch, it days numbered.  Friday afternoon's harvest - basil, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, chamomile:

After the harvest I tried to sit with my feet up and enjoy the garden and only one thing kept catching my eye:

 

I couldn't take it anymore - those sad, droopy, yellow leaves.  I jumped up, pulled all three plants, and tossed them one by one into the bastard garden.  When I pulled the last zucchini plant the stem snapped and I actually caught a glimpse of a squash vine borer.  So at least we know what killed them.  R.I.P. zucchini.  You weren't prolific (7 zukes), but you were fun before you started dying.  Now I hope the squash vine borer doesn't jump into my pretty unknown vine that looks squash-like to me.  Maybe I should have thrown the pulled plants into the garbage instead.  Oh well.  They're way back there and I'm not climbing on top of that pile to get them. 

As I've said before I really didn't notice that much difference in taste between the zukes fresh from our garden and those from the grocery store, but I won't have to worry about it for a while because our neighbor across the street is one of those people who has planted tons of zucchini and is looking for a sucker to take them off his hands.  We have an open invite to wander into his backyard and help ourselves to zukes and cukes.  We'll see if either VPH or I feel comfortable enough to do so.

Like many people, I spent Saturday afternoon reading Harry Potter Book 7.  I enjoyed it very much, but no spoilers here in case you haven't finished yet.  Every time I looked up I saw the empty planter calling out for action.

On Sunday I was finally able to turn my full attention to the garden.  Netting went up on the fence for the Kentucky pole beans to climb (most of the following photos were taken on Monday in the rain; the bright, sunny ones today):

Why are the leaves on these beans so much lighter?

Same beans, same potting soil, same amount of sun.  It's a self-watering container, could they be getting too much water?  Should I be worried or is this just one of those things?

VPH shoveled the old potting soil out of the planter (keeping it in an old garbage can for the fall lawn experiment) and I filled it up with new potting soil.  Then I planted a row of beans along the back to grow up the trellis and a row of snow peas to grow up the bamboo and string trellis I built in front.  It will look a lot better with plants growing on it!

So with the veggies squared away, I turned my attention to the various problems I was having with the annuals around the garden.  The red geranium and the sweet potato vine in this planter weren't doing great (you'll remember this photo from July 14th as my Green Thumb Sunday posting 2 days ago):

The geranium had stopped blooming and the sweet potato was losing leaves at a rate of 2-3 leaves per day, just turning brown and dropping off.  I also was never really happy with the arrangement I had planted in the right-hand tea cup planter:

It was overcrowded and unbalanced and as it grew it sprawled and developed large blank spots (look how old this photo is with healthy zucchini and peas in the background). 

I also had a hanging planter that was a combination of leftover plants and alyssum which never bloomed that looked dreadful and bothered me every time I looked at it.  I just went back through my files and I don't even have a picture of it, that's how much I disliked it. 

One trip to W-Mart and a local garden center later, I replaced the alyssum with some beautiful miniature petunias:

I pulled the sweet potato vine and geranium and replaced them with a different variety of celosia and some of the old celosia from the teacup planter.

But today I switched the pots around and came up with this.  Not sure which I like better and I have a feeling I will keep switching them around:

This coleus works a lot better in the teacup planter:

 

I moved these flowers that I grew from seed -- labeled "early bloomers" and I'm not sure how much longer they're going to last, and they're not exactly giving me tons of cut-flowers as the package promised either -- from a hanging planter on the fence to this pot on the little bistro table by the driveway:

And planted this pretty pink flowering pentas in the hanging planter:

I plopped the geranium in a pot and left in a sunny spot, maybe it will bloom again.  I've been very careful to deadhead it and there's plenty of new growth along the stem, so maybe it's just a lull in blooming. 

Then I took the sweet potato vine, which may have been suffering because it roots were severely overcrowded, and some leftover plants and threw them together in this pot:

We'll see if it bounces back with some room to grow.  If it doesn't perk up soon it will be headed to the bastard garden with the others that didn't make the cut on Sunday:

VPH is actually planting things in the pile of dirt now instead of just throwing them on top, of course now that we have the compost, fewer things are landing here.

A good afternoon's work and overall I'm quite pleased with how things are going.  I do wish we had even a hint of a ripening tomato, but nothing yet.  I do however have true leaves on the dill:

Green Thumb Sunday

July 14, 2007

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Mo' Beans

Since the zucchini are on death watch, I've been trying to decide if I should just pull them (like a band aid) or keep harvesting zucchini and watch them die a slow and painful death.  Either way, I've got to make a decision soon and come up with something to plant in that container or it will be too late for a fall crop.  I've been putting some major plotting time towards imagining what might be really happy there.

I think beans or snow peas would look very nice growing up that trellis and then the front could be devoted to more herbs!  Just kidding, probably a row of beans in back and a row of snow peas in front with a bamboo and string trellising system.  Layanee suggested purple hyacinth beans, which proves she's really smart, psychic, or a little of both -- also it's time for my purple hyacinth bean post!

Mom is getting a huge kick out of virtually watching me learn to garden and she is enjoying sending me seeds, books, advice, and soon delivering plants in person.  One of her earliest missives included a bubble wrap envelope filled with purple hyacinth beans and directions to plant them one seed height deep flat on their backs (luckily I speak Mom and knew what she meant).  I immediately googled purple hyacinth beans because Mom has been talking about hers for ages and I had absolutely no idea what they looked like.  I found this:

 

Very pretty, so I decided that the pot I had just used for dirt cake (for Jessica's shower, so it this was mid-May) would be the perfect size for 3 hyacinth bean plants.  I could put it on the stump by the outdoor shower and let the beans climb up the trellis.  I pulled out 3 beans and left them in the pot on the kitchen table in hopes of planting them over the weekend.  This was during a particularly manic portion of garden construction and there they sat for 2 weeks. 

Finally I decided that I would never get around to planting them if I didn't put them closer to the action, so I moved the pot, beans still inside, to the potting bench.  3 days of heavy rain followed and by the time I tried to find the beans, they were sitting in over an inch of water.  Two had swollen up quite nicely, but the third hadn't changed much.  I got them into some dirt at long last on June 8th.  And then on June 11th the two beans that had plumped up in the rain popped up!

Three days later on June 14th I had this:

I couldn't believe how quickly they were growing.  By July 3rd the third bean had long since sprouted and the big boys had started working their way up the trellis:

Here are a couple of photos from July 17th.  See the tendrils at the very top of the trellis waving around in the breeze?  I think it will either jump to the fence or climb back down the trellis (my preference and how I'll try to guide it).

I love my outdoor shower.  Without building a shower stall with a roof there was no way to make it private and I don't know if you've ever tried showering without hot water (the ice cold stream on my chest literally takes my breath away).  My shower is for cooling down while gardening/sunbathing and rinsing dirt off my feet and legs which is much easier than trying to balance on one foot, hold a Croc in one hand, and a hose in the other.  VPH flat out refuses to use it (unless there's a chemical spill) and my sister thinks it is hilarious.  I say it was only $39.99 at Christmas Tree Shops so leave me alone!

I had a few purple basil seedlings  left over from the hanging herb basket so I stuck them in here.  So far the junebugs have not found them for a midnight snack.  The last bean seedling to sprout (front and center below) is doing absolutely nothing.  Definitely the runt of the litter.

I'm pretty sure this is a flower bud:

I've read conflicting reports that purple hyacinth beans are edible and inedible.  I'm going to error on the side of caution and declare my beans to be purely decorative.

Thanks for talking me into planting these, Mom.  You were absolutely right -- I love them and I haven't even seen the flowers or beans yet!

Mating ritual?

Tuesday as I took some photos of the herb garden I was able to capture this beautiful butterfly on my African blue basil.

Then after I frightened the butterfly away and was admiring my mad photog skills, he/she came back.

Then a pal joined him/her.

 

I feel dirty. 

Updates:

I cut back the hot pink blooming impatiens severely and the plant is looking quite good on the shady side of the house:

As is the red blooming one:

No more yellow leaves and no wilting.  I think I'll start working on a post about the shady side of the house.  So you can see why we have a hill of dirt.

The wildflowers are doing much better.  We have cosmos now:

I have to admit that I ate cherry tomato #2 without washing it or offering VPH half -- and it was good.  It was very good.

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!