Daisies and Snaps...

4. The other view
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

hold each other up in a grand fashion... along with the california poppies and dianthus.

Recently there was a knock at the back door and my gardening protege Aubrianna stood there with a pot of sunflowers that she had planted just for me! How delightful to have a youngster who loves gardening... and those sunflowers are about three times the size of the ones i planted. Thank you Boo!

Garden- top down view 5-27-10

Garden- top down view 5-27-10
Originally uploaded by pjslomer

There is a certain exuberance in the garden... all the seeds giving birth to all these new little plants. The violas have gone crazy!

I've noticed in the vegetable garden that the melon, squash, pumpkin and sunflower seedlings are bursting forth. The beets seem to be taking a little longer... and the beans haven't shown anything yet.

A little more planting...

Here's my little vegetable garden... it measures 7 x 12 and is nicely fenced in to keep the critters at bay (more or less).

Yesterday I purchased two heirloom tomato plants (Costoluto Genovese), along with a red pepper plant (Sweet Pimento Lipstick Pepper). They have since been planted along with a new variegated sage, a chartreuse oregano and a columnar basil. My parsley plants survived the winter and are rather voluminous... we had parsley potatoes for dinner tonight.

It was pretty special to see the look on my Dad's face when they visited today. I will remember that smile for a long time.

In go the Veggies...

This evening i took some time to finish up the vegetable garden fence configuration. I then proceeded to plant. The peppers and tomatoes from Burpee were looking weary so i really felt it a good idea to get them into the ground. I also planted seeds of melon, squash, pumpkin, beets, and beans... and sunflowers on the outside of the fence. Once my basil grows a bit more, i'll transfer it to the garden. Let the growing begin!

Two perfect days in a row... on the weekend!

Sunday was an extension of Saturday with gorgeous weather... not too hot with passing clouds. I found myself finding places to work... following the shadows of the yard. I continued with my weeding and mulching routine. I've made a pretty good dent in the three cubic yards of much. I found myself extending the southern edge bed and transplanting a day lily from my main garden. One day lily = seven new plants. I still have more weeding and mulching to do in that corner... especially thinning out the lily-of-the-valley. And did i mention that the black cohosh has come back! I was so delighted to see it bursting through the lily-of-the-valley. The goat's beard is growing very quickly... it really likes it's new home. I did some trimming of branches on the quince and trimmed some dead branches off of the birches. I also trimmed up some of the dogwoods to look like trees, not shrubs.

I noticed when working outside for those two days that the frost we had a week ago did hit some of my plants. It seems that the front of the house was hard hit, especially the hosta, fern and hedges. We also noted crisp leaf edges on the sassafras, holly and heuchera. The temperature fluctuation from 80s to 30s was more than some of the tender shoots could handle.

Perfect Day for Gardening

Today the temperatures were in the high 60s with plenty of sun, clouds and cool breezes. I found myself on a mission of weeding/mulching beds around trees... birches (2), crab apple (2) and dog wood... and also a lengthy bed along the pine tree border in the south corner. I created more piles of weeds than joseph wants to deal with! End result is a yard that looks nicer than it has in years. I'm happy to say that my energy stayed up for a good portion of the day. I tried to pace myself... weed and much, then take a break to get some water... take a short nap, refuel and go back outside.


Currently in bloom:

• bearded iris
• heuchera
• columbine
• dianthus (pinks)
• clematis
• vinca
• violets
• allium
• lily-of-the-valley
  

We saw two hummingbirds over the past couple of days. I was happy that the female found the red huechera that i planted for hummers.

Hot swings cold...

Last week we had weather in the 70-80s... much warmer than usual. My flowers took a giant leap forward (like my iris that are a good two weeks ahead of schedule) with the temperatures that felt like July... and now we are back in March... early March.

Storms came through my area an Friday night bringing with it a cold front. Saturday was cold, windy and rainy, Sunday is still blustery and cold and tonight the frost warnings are in place. (currently it is 45 degrees and with the wind chill it feels like 39). We are forecast to go down to 28 degrees tonight.

My one savings grace is that my main garden is surrounded by a brick house and brick pavers... all of which hold the heat and the sun has been shining.

Think warm thoughts!