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But here I am. What's new?
I'm having my first major pest problem this summer. I have Harlequin bugs on my cauliflower. We always have problems with rabbits, but at least they're a little less creepy crawly gross. I'll be out there hand picking them off in a few hours.
There's also a plague of Late Blight all up and down the eastern seaboard, but so far mine are OK. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because I really like tomatoes and I really can't afford to go out and buy tons of them, especially at the prices they'll be selling for if it gets bad.
I put a new batch of raspberries in last week, and I've got some blueberries to put in sometime within the next few days. My husband and my brother built a pergola, and he planted grapes in 3 corners today. The patio underneath it is half finished, so that'll be the next thing. We also picked up some nifty Japanese paper lanterns this evening to hang on the pergola.
Lowes had a hot sale when we stopped in to pick up the last of the lumber we needed for the pergola, so I picked up 35 perennials for $35 - speedwell, stonecrop, salvia, and Grecian rose.
I keep meaning to pick up another couple of bales of straw to finish mulching the veggie beds, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
The squash are ripe, and the tomatoes are almost there. I've been soliciting squash recipes from friends, because I've got them coming out of my ears. My goal is to can at least 100 quart jars of tomatoes by the end of summer.
Yep, I checked, and I'm still in Zone 7A, but apparently there was a frost warning for tonight. I never did see it show up on weather.com, but my dad's wife sent me a text after she heard a report out of Salisbury, MD. As it happens, I had the better part of two bales of straw out there, so I went ahead and covered all the wee plants up with that, and put all the seedlings still in flats back in their coldframes. The only thing still exposed is my tomatoes, which were too big to take their cages off or cover with straw, and my broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, which should be OK even if they get nipped a little.
In other news, some of my fish are finally getting to the point where they don't hide every time I come near. I think it's starting to get through their fishy little brains that with me comes *food*. We're still having some algae problems in the top pond, but it's not as bad as it was a week ago. We've got another pump, filter, etc... to put in, but I'm beginning to think he's going to end up taking it back instead of putting it in.
On my way to work tonight, my husband called and rhapsodized about the attributes of various roto-tillers for 17 minutes and 30 seconds. I know how long because I thought he'd never finish and I kept checking the timer on my cellphone. I guess we're getting one tomorrow.
I told him I was waking him up at the buttcrack of dawn to discuss our vision and plans for the garden before he goes out, buys that damn roto-tiller (oh yes, he's got one all picked out), and turfs up half my yard while I sleep. He requests that the buttcrack of dawn be commuted to 10am. I may let him sleep til 7am.
Out of the blue, a friend mentioned this blog to me today, and said she missed it, and that it was the only garden blog she ever read, and many other nice things. To tell you the truth, I'd forgotten it even existed, but lo and behold, she sent me the link and my laptop even still remembered the login information!
It's been a busy and stressful couple of years, and my garden has suffered for it, but I've wakened it back up this spring. Most of the perennials were chosen for their ability to survive and thrive benevolent neglect, so they're all doing well. The veggie garden went to hell in a handbasket, even the stuff that should've come back year to year, thanks to drought and lack of weeding. I've got most of the raised beds back under control, though, so all's not lost. Oh, and those irises my dad gave me? They were bare root, and I stuck them in a pot with a scoop of dirt on top and then forgot about them til this spring. They're finally in the ground now, and I'm guessing if they can survive that kind of neglect, they can survive anything!
We added two ponds with a waterfall between, 4 koi, and 3 fan tailed goldfish. There's a new bed around it, with mostly perennials from the discount rack at Lowes, and the half finished patio that was started way back around the time this blog was active before. We also bought a few water plants for inside the ponds, and those seem to be doing well. One of the ponds isn't doing so well, algae wise, and my husband found one of the fantails STUCK in the algae that's been growing there this afternoon. Some of the strands had somehow gone in his mouth and out his gills, poor thing, but luckily my husband found him and manually cleared out all the algae/seaweed stuff from the whole pond. We bought another pump and filter to put in tonight to keep it from getting that way again.
Next up, the half finished greenhouse. The frame is up, but it needs a bunch of windows painted before we can proceed any further. Someone put rocks through 18 window panes over the winter, so those will all have to be fixed, and I'm still picking glass out of the grass back there. Thanks, whoever you are. Hope it was fun.
I've got broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, garlic, onions, shallots, tomatoes, mammoth (12'!) sunflowers, sweet corn, marigolds, fennel, chives, rosemary, and strawberries in the raised beds so far. I've got yellow squash, cucumbers, and bush beans planted as seeds in peat pots in a cold frame. It's not cold anymore, but the birds just love those seedlings, so I keep them protected 'til they're not quite so appetizing. I've got a ton of flower seeds planted in pots and seed flats too, too many to list, and more still to go in. The strawberries may very well be my best deal of the season - I bought 40 plants at $1 each from the Lowes clearance rack. I think the normal price was $4 each. I used straw mulch on all my raised beds this year, over hubby's protests. He's over it already though.
I picked up two scoops of horse poop (well composted, of course) the other night, and I've got two more raised beds, about 14x4' each, prepped and ready to go. Those will hold the aforementioned seedlings, plus asparagus, jalepenos, hot banana peppers, and zucchini. I still have another bed to clear out, not sure what else I'll put in that one - I never do much planning, I just buy what looks good and put it in whatever ground is ready.
We've also got a grand total of 5 birds' nests in the yard, at least two of which are robins with 4 eggs each, that I've seen so far this year. We also have a praying mantis cocoon I'm keeping an eye on. Ladybugs galore, honeybees appearing to make a bit of a comeback, the occasional moth, and no butterflies yet.
We're just exiting monsoon season - it rained almost every day, almost all day, for about 2 weeks straight here. Fortunately I'd just mowed the grass within 2 days before it started, but the grass was still a good 6-8 inches tall all over when it ended. Most of the stuff listed above was already in the ground before it started, and I'm just now getting to the point where I'll probably turn on my soaker hoses again tomorrow.
My friend with the horses (and well composted horse poop) gave me two different kinds of mint when I dropped by the other day, so sometime this week I need to gather up some stuff from my yard and take it up there with me this weekend when we go back to hang out longer and have dinner. Actually I don't have to, but I'd do it anyway even if she hadn't given me anything, 'cuz that's the kinda gal I am. ;) I tried to talk my NYC sister in law into a window herb garden this weekend, but she wasn't having it - already has the boxes, just no urge to do anything with them. I even told her I'd fill them for her!
I think that's all the news that's fit to print, but stay tuned, because I'll try to update more regularly.
Had a death in the family and some other sad and time consuming business, as well as some not so sad but equally time consuming business.
There's a drought out there and the earth is screaming for moisture.
In the meantime, to hold you over, this cool link.
Got my peas and strawberries in today. The strawberries were bare-root plants, not sure I liked the look of them when I took them out, looked pretty dead to me, all except 3 that were sprouting leaves. Guess we'll see. Did a little more weeding, gave all the veggies a good soaking. It's been dry for a while now, and no rain in the forecast any time soon.
Had the night off last night, so actually got to go out in the morning and work, which was a nice change. The quality of the light is different in mid-morning than it is at any other time of day. Worked out there until it was too hot to get any more done, then took off on the motorcycle to go mow grass at my grandfather's.
One of my patients' mother was having a rough weekend last Friday night, so I put together a little care package of plants from my yard for her and gave it to her, from my patient, for Mother's Day last weekend. I gave her a rugosa rose baby, 3 pots with 3 stems in each of lilac, 3 pots with 2 starts in each of yarrow, 3 pots with 3 starts in each of violets, and 2 pots with 1 start in each of oriental tiger lily. My patient is 11, has a developmental level much younger, and does not speak, but I told her mother that W was upset that she couldn't get up out of the bed and go get something for Mother's Day, so I promised I would take care of it for her. W's house doesn't have a whole lot of ornamental landscaping and I wasn't sure if her mom had much of a green thumb, so I typed up a letter from W to her mother that included how big each thing would get, what to expect from it, and what sort of care it needed. Along with some more personal stuff purporting to be from her daughter, which may seem odd to people who don't work with children like this, but I assure you, they each have very distinct personalities, know exactly who they do and do not like, and express their feelings quite clearly. At times you can even tell how frustrated she gets that she can't actually speak. I've been working with her for about a year or so now and in the very beginning her mother told me how much it meant to her that I talk to her when she's awake, as some of the nurses do their work in silence, thinking because she can't speak back that it's not important to interact with her. It seems the most obvious thing in the world to me. Anyway, she cried and said she was going to frame the letter.
I worked there again this past Friday and the plants haven't made it into the ground yet, but they're looking well, all except the rose is still a bit wilted. I think the plan was to plant them yesterday. I hope they do well.
(I didn't do anything at all in the yard today other than refill the bird feeder, so a story instead.)
<growl> I just wrote a whole entry and then when I went to post it the auto time out had logged me out. What an annoyingly short time period.
There's no way I'm going to remember to update this thing every day, that's becoming clear.
It's been rainy, cooler, and windy this week, so I'm not getting much done out in the yard. Which is actually just what I needed, because while we were spending all our time outside, the *inside* has been going to pot! We're having a dozen people over on Sunday afternoon, and I'd've been ashamed to have company with the state of our house earlier this week. It's looking better now. :)
I did get some stuff done--I got some of my ornamental pots planted. The smaller urn already had purple pansies in it, but the dogs have knocked it over half a dozen times, so it needed to be topped off. And moved! I did the larger urn in marigolds, purple petunias, and ivy. And a hanging basket in ivy, nestled in the pussy willow. I did two window boxes off the side of the back porch, both in marigolds and a silver vining groundcover I forget the name of. I still have some annuals and ivy left, and a dozen or so ornamental pots. I just need some potting soil.
My beans and peas are sprouting, I'll put them out in the bed early next week once they're big enough to not be so tempting to the birds. The irises are blooming. The lilacs are done for the year. The rugosa roses are going strong, and they smell heavenly, even from 15 feet away.
With the wind, I couldn't help but put out the bamboo windchimes I hadn't hung yet. They're scattered around the yard, and I love the sound of them. The new one I just bought dropped a chime already, and needs to be repaired. I don't understand why they don't build them more durably; it didn't even last 24 hours.
I moved all my unplanted plants over out of the way, since they were accumulating and looking pretty cluttered. They nearly cover a 4x4 ft piece of plywood. I am now instituting a moratorium on purchasing plants until they are all in the ground. Or pots. ;) I managed to resist temptation when I walked through the Walmart nursery this afternoon. I may make an exception for perennials on clearance at Lowe's.
Started looking into permits for the greenhouse and the pergola.
Took the cultivator out and did some weeding around the veggies tonight after I mowed my grandfather's grass. That's all I got done outside, but inside looks quite a bit tidier.
The Corsican Mint I bought the other day is for an experiment with live mulch. Could've sworn the label at the greenhouse said it liked full sun, but the reading I've done online since says it prefers at least a little bit of shade. I suppose we shall see. I bought it to put in the veggie beds, so I could allow it to fill in and form a solid mat of "mulch", but the veggie beds are most certainly full sun.
Hopefully I'll have time to go put it in tomorrow.
Mother's Day, slept through the alarm and just barely made it awake in time to get to church with my mother. Snuck in just as the service was starting. Was running so late I left the blueberry bushes and the card home, but it's not like I was dressed for planting anyway. I'll go put them in the ground later this week.
By the time I got back home, after going to my grandparents' house with my mother to deliver a hanging basket overflowing with pink petunias, Mr K had been working out in the yard for a good long while, from the looks of things. The mailbox area has now undergone a massive renovation. He put one of the azaleas, both primroses, and a few of the leftover vincas from a prior trip out there. What use to be about an 18" diameter circle around the mailbox is now nearly 10' long and 8' wide. It still has some more room to plant things, but that's OK because we still have some more things to plant. Of course the rest of the mulch was still in the back of the beast, so he was eagerly awaiting my return.
He's really been doing a lot out there this week. But now we need to start concentrating on inside, because we're having company next Sunday, and we've been spending every waking minute on yard-related stuff, and that doesn't leave much time for keeping the inside tidy. With 3 dogs and 2 cats running around, just the shed hair at this time of the year is overwhelming.
Gave Mr K's mom a pot of purple Cape Daisies for her birthday, and a hanging pot of vincas for Mother's Day. Gave Sylvia an orchid. I do believe that's the first time I've ever seen Cape Daisies before, and I'll be looking for seeds for next year. They were neat looking.
So Mr K got home on Saturday and off we went to Peppers. I *love* that place. They don't accept plastic, and every time we go we end up spending every last dime we have on us, and sometimes we have to go to the grocery store a few miles down the road and get more.
This time we came home with 2 blueberry bushes (a Mother's Day gift for my mother), 2 magenta colored azaleas, 2 evening primroses, a black pine, 3 pots of Dragon's Blood sedum, a dozen pots of Corsican Mint, a pot of horseradish, two pots of chives, [to be edited when I get home and can look at the pile]. Oh, and a huge set of bamboo wind chimes. I have a weakness for bamboo wind chimes.
He set to work planting things as soon as we got home, while I ran back out to Lowe's to fetch him some more cedar mulch. I picked up 3 more trowels, too, since it seems like I'm always looking for one.
The black pine went in over where the Zen garden will be. They're such slow growers, we figured we may as well go ahead and get it in now, with a nice healthy dose of compost, and get it growing. His mother used to have two of them out in her front yard, but she didn't like the way they looked and chopped them down. I haven't been over to see what else he put in over there, but when I dropped off the mulch, he had about a 6' diameter vaguely circle-ish area cleared of sod.
It's too bad he got home so late, we ran out of light not too long after we got home.
First mosquito bite of the season tonight.
Went back to Home Depot today and bought the Scottish Broom I looked at yesterday. It was so beautiful I couldn't resist! Then back to Lowe's to pick up more cedar mulch, and more cedar chip bedding for the dog kennel. And some sedum, don't remember which cultivar, for the front yard, the bed around the crabapple tree.
We relocated a few plants, mostly oriental lillies, that were too close to the foundation out front. We're extending that bed, making it deeper, so the bigger plants will conceal them where they were. I mowed the grass while he did some planting, took the rest of the sod out by the front porch, and mulched all the new stuff.
One of the many ways our aesthetic tastes differ is that he *likes* the look of wide expanses of mulch. He didn't realize what the way I had him plant the sedum meant until he was almost done. He stood straight up and said, "ARE THESE THINGS GOING TO TAKE OVER THIS BED???" Too late now... I hope it doesn't take long for them to fill in. I love the way the ajuga has spread under the plum tree. If I'm remembering correctly, that started as a 6-pack, little tiny plants, planted evenly spaced around a circle about 15" from the trunk of the plum tree. It's filled in nicely on the side that gets the most shade. I guess I need to pick up something a little more sun tolerant for the other side.
Mr K works tomorrow morning, and hopefully I'll wake up around the time he gets home. We're going to Peppers tomorrow afternoon to pick up some more plants. :) I'm going to try not to spend too much money! I'd like to get the aforementioned groundcover for the other side of the plum tree, an azalea or two for the front of the house, a different groundcover for out front of the house, maybe more than one, and probably a few more perennials to fill in some empty spots.
I hope Lowe's hasn't changed their policy. The last few times I've been there they haven't had anything good on clearance, or anything at *all* on clearance. I'm still thinking about going back there and picking up a few more dwarf fruit trees, which I almost certainly won't find on clearance, but they're pretty reasonably priced, about $16-25, depending on the type.
I have been uploading more photos to the May album every few days. I would rather be gardening than working right now.
Went to Lowe's and Home Depot today. Is it bad when the greenhouse staff greets you by name when you walk in? Lowe's does, but I guess I don't go to Home Depot enough. They recognize me but not by name. ;)
Home Depot has solar lights, boxes of 8 for $29.99. I've been wanting solar lights for years, but couldn't bring myself to spend the money--these seemed a lot more reasonable than any I'd looked at before. I saw them over the weekend and picked up a set then to try them out. Went back today and bought two more boxes, over the protests of Mr K. He's an electrician and considers it an insult to his profession. ;) He wants to put in low voltage lighting all over the place, but I think I like the solar lights. He can still supplement with low voltage lighting for uplights and accents.
Picked up 6 bags of sand to hopefully finish off the patio, a burning bush, a red spirea, a butterfly bush, and a red twig dogwood. Came home and went to bed, but Mr K came home from work and went straight to work on them. He's been working on a bed across the front of the house, and while I slept he took a couple of lilies out and replanted them closer to the front of the bed. He planted the burning bush and the spirea. And D sent some Red Hot Poker roots to work with B who gave them to Mr K who brought them home, so they went into the new bed too. Still need to fill it in with more plants, but it's a good start.
I had some things to do this evening, and I slept a little later than I have been lately (3:30 instead of noon) so I didn't get much time in the garden today. I did some weeding in the morning when I got home from work, but it was pretty chilly out, so I didn't stay up long.
The weather was delightful this afternoon, after all the wind and cold of the past few days. I spent about half an hour puttering around, mostly weeding and watering, and then had to go. Mr K worked on the patio some more, and removed the rest of the sod that needed to come out before he could finish laying bricks. I promised to go pick up a few more bags of yellow sand when I wake up tomorrow. He hasn't been through the bricks from the last load yet, but he'll certainly need more before he's finished, so I may swing by Delaware Brick too.
Mr
K brought home a few chunks of Red Hot Poker that D promised me a while
back. I gave her some orange sherbet colored daylillies last summer or
the summer before. I think I'll put them over near the ponds.
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