Coming up and melting

I am enjoying the heat so far today (ask me again I feel about it tonight when it is time for bed and the house is a million degrees. Then I may feel more like the flowers below.)These guys are ok as they are in shade most of the day... Happy myrtle. Yeah! They are surviving the transplant.

I am surprised at how quickly this peony is shooting up.

Happy flowers here. I think this is my favorite part of the yard at the moment.

Tulips are in full bloom on this side of the front steps. Daffodils weren't so successful for some reason. I may have butchered the bulbs when I was planting the hyacinths last fall...

Round 2

Ok, so round 1 last year didn't go as well as hoped. Lawn is still lumpy and patchy with dirty and moss. My vegetable garden didn't exactly flourish. New approach: throw my heart and soul into the lawn in the fall and focus on the flower beds now. I am going to skip the wimpy vegetable garden and try get some perennials going instead. I much prefer pretty, nice smelling plants anyway. I went to town planting bulbs for spring last fall. Unfortunately a bunch started coming up THAT fall and though the stalks are turning green I think I was mistaken to trim them in hopes new shoots would come. I think the yellow stalks may have turned green and even flower. Anyway, I am kind of pleased with the new bed on the west side of the house. I am glad the tulips and daffodils are all in bloom and like the variation in daffodils. They are flopping over, though, and I rather them stand tall and more full. Baby steps. I planted a ground cover "Myrtle" in the corners of the yard and hope they take off and eliminate the need for mulch there. I like the bulbs coming up there - Hibiscus? I planted some petunias along the fence to take over when the tulips and daffodils pass their season. I bought a couple rose bushes for the south side of the house and planted some summer bulbs - Freesia and Dahlias. I swear I planted dahlias last year from seed, however, they were in bulb form at the store. Do they start as seed and grow bulbs? I am hesitant to dig up the ground in that area this year as I think I hit a bulb when my first shovel went in. Wait and see?
South wall: New Tulip

YAY! I bought peonies last year and they didn't do anything. I believe this is a peony as this has sprouted up in both locations I had once planted them...

I will pretend these ducks are to blame for my stunted daffodils. I see some lilies coming up though!

One of my favorite new daffodils.

I wish I saved the tops of the bags when I planted last fall so I would know what kind of daffodils I planted...

New corner plantings include more daffodils and tulips and Myrtle ground cover. Planted those hibiscus' around the tree (I think)

Northeast corner, similar plantings.

Late bloomer.

So, it is safe to say that my gardening/ landscaping projects this year were pretty much a big flop. Grass is still lumpy, veggies didn't grow and flowers were late and sparse. In my defense, I didn't really put all that much effort into it after the beginning of July. Until then, it actually all looked promising. My raspberry bushes are actually doing better NOW than they were all summer. They are still producing red, tasty raspberries everyday. I go out and pick 3-9 berries as a special treat for Sophia, who LOVES them. Another late bloomer is my rhododendron plant. It didn't produce a single bloom all spring or summer and then. POOF. Out popped a bright red flower at the end of September. Better late than never, right? The buds are looking promising for next spring too...

Disappointment

So, it is now the beginning of August and all I have to show for all my efforts is a bunch of 4" carrots, 4 zucchini (even though the plant itself is giant and there have been lots of flowers) and a bunch of green tomatoes (one is turning). The tomato plants are MAYBE 3 feet tall. Everyone elses are around 5 or 6 feet. My cucumbers have just started to crawl up the fence and there are a few 2 or 3 inch cukes hanging. The neighbor just dropped off a bag of 7-8" plump cukes for us. My corn is growing, and there is one cob about 7", the rest are smaller, still hope. My raspberry bushes are surviving. One is being overtaken by the giant zucchini and is the only one producing any berries - I think we have had 8 so far. The parsley is thick and basil ok. My watermelon are out of the ground. One is actually looking decent (though I know if I saw other's I would know how pathetic even that one is). It has a little melon starting to grow. The flowers LOOK like they should be great. The Cosmic oranges are about 4' tall and nice green, yet only one has produced flowers. The Zinnias are actually the fist flowers to bloom and be pretty nice. The 4 o'clock mix is finally in bloom but is more of a 5 or 6 o'clock mix and they have NO smell. Sheesh. My marigolds have finally taken off in the pot at the end of the driveway (after I decided the large fern like plants overtaking everything were in fact weeds and pulled them)

The lawn is still pretty sad too. I will admit it is softer on that side of the house, but there are still brown patches and the spots I dug up the moss and planted seed are still black. I really should have spent a little more and used seeding soil.

Conclusions. No more seeds. I guess you really do need to start them inside and I really do not want to do that. So next year it will be nursery plants and I will add more perennials each year. A few expensive ones that will actually bloom and be nice like the pictures.

sighhhh.

Lemon Balm Tea

I went an picked my first handful of lemon balm leaves from the bush that keep doubling and tripling in size in my garden and brewed a spot of tea. The leaves smelled great, however, the tea is much weaker than the scent. Need to work on that I suppose.

I had a peak at the neighbor's garden today and noticed his tomatoes have little green tomatoes hanging off them and his zucchini already have the beginnings of vegetables visible. Me? Nada. I have a few flowers on my tomatoes and a couple giant flowers on the zucchini, but NO veggies yet. Sigh.....

I moved a bunch of flowers and cucumbers around yesterday too. The cosmic oranges were growing really well, but was being over taken by the raspberry bush, lemon balm and zucchini. I put most in front of the house where nothing is coming up, or is at least very small. I move a couple more cukes over to the fence away from the two watermelon that have decided they would grow.

Carrots are at least LOOKING like they will make a meal this year. The leaves are getting tall and thicker than they were at the end of last summer's crop.

Garden update

I took some pictures the other day and since then my first nasturtium have bloomed! the first is a yellow one and a red is just starting to open. There are a bunch in bud next to it under the peach tree. Guess that is the ideal location as none of the others around the yard have any hints of buds. The ones near my lilies LOOK the healthiest, however, they are just leaves so far. I have a single marigold in bloom and a bunch more buds in the driveway pots.

Below are some of my cucumbers. Corn is nearing 2 feet tall.
Carrots are looking really good. Might actually get a meal out of them!

Tomatoes are gorgeous (to me). 5 different varieties. newly staked.
Herb garden is there, not the star of the garden, though. Basil barely breaking ground and parsley is pretty sparse. I didn't realize, either, that cilantro isn't a continuously re-leafing herb like basil is. Once you snip it, that's it, baby.

Flower patch is coming along. Cosmic oranges in the back, Zinnias in the middle, and 4 o'clock mix in front. Seems like summer is half over already and they still aren't in bloom. Is this normal? They are even on the sunny side of the house!
Lily and flower mix (nasturtium and 4 o'clocks). These are the ones I thought would have flowers by now. Sigh...

Raspberry bush is looking fine, lemon balm is getting really bushy, zucchini has GIANT leaves. Yikes.

Instant Grits

So, I read online that Instant grits are a good way to get rid of ants. I either exterminated the ants on one side of the walk on the west side of the house or gave them a hearty breakfast from which they will each have invited ten friends to join them tomorrow.

Bon Appetite!

Flower update: My Irises are in full bloom! Yay! Flowers! I have a marigold that is in bud. ok, one bud, that is better than none! Tomatoes are growing so well I really need to stake them. maybe this weekend. My lilac bush is just finishing up it's blooming season. Only two this year like the tree, but these blossoming branches were really big. Lawn is s l o w l y filling in. Really thinking I should have overridden the seed bag instructions and dumped a huge wad on like the guy across the street did. I will be very jealous if his lawn turns out much better and fills in much faster than mine. I think all the cucumber seeds I thought were dormant/ dead have risen from this state and all germinated. There are a ton sprouting up on the mounds. I think my green thumbs are fine, it is patients I lack with gardening.

Growin' to town

Things are really happening out there. we will see how everything fairs through 4 days of above 90F heat. My four o'clock mixes are coming up nice. I even transplanted a bunch to a corner where nothing was coming up. I also transplanted some sprouts along the front of the yard and they are doing so well. It may be time to say my good byes... These Cosmic Oranges seem to like their location. I can't wait to see them in bloom.
My guard duck is watching over these mixed cut flowers planted in the basket we received from Beth at Sophia's baptism.
My first Iris bloom. Ahhhh. I took this picture yesterday and it is already wilting. A second looks ready to burst, though.

If you look REALLY close you can see some of the buds I hope will keep on going to become flowers.
Corn is about half of Dylan's height. At least this row it. I think the organic seeds I tried to use in a couple replanting rejected my non-organic soil. None would take. I replanted a third time with the first batch of non-organic ones and they are now coming up. Go figure.
Glad I ready a blog that was sent to me on basil. I never would have recognized these to be the beginnings of basil plants. YAY!
I am really not sure what the plants below are. hmmmmm.

Spring has sprung another flower!

Yahoo! My iris' look like they will actually bring splashes of purple to my front steps this year. The first two years they produced none and now this year most have buds, some multiple buds and the first one has even blossomed into a beautiful flower.

Looks like most of my seeds have at least poked through the ground. I have replanted a bunch and added more as I look out on my plants 3+ times a day and if I don't see any growth after a couple days (6+ times looking at them), I think they are duds and plant some more. Only the Zinnias haven't sprouted anything. I was in Kmart the other day buying Sophia "potty prizes" and that dang seed shelf had to be there. I bought another watermelon packet, a couple zinnias, dill and some more wild flowers. Now I get to wait and see again. This time is the last one. Really. For sure this time.

Other stuff is looking good - corn is at least 8" now, lots of cuke's popping through, zucchini had a big growth spurt, carrots looking fine...

Plant identification

I looked very closely at my seed packets and am pretty sure of two of the three mystery plantings and therefore the third is probably the cosmic orange as I saw a hint of "carrot top-like" leaf on the packet as I see coming up everywhere. I suspect this is the cosmic orange as it is the only other flower I planted in numerous locations. The first of the two "sure" flowers is the Nasturtium. It has a lillypad-like leaf where the leaf is flat, horizontal to the ground with the stem of the leave coming from the center of the leaf rather than the normal location of it coming from one end. The other "sure" flower is the 4 o'clocks that start with two rounded leaves and then start sprouting out more pointy leaves from the center. Yay! How exciting!

Weeds and rocks

Thank goodness for weeds and rocks. Give me something to tend to while I await more growth. Speaking of... here's an update. The rose bush definitely has much more new growth than old. So much so, I think it is very droopy. The new branches are soft and green and can't support their expanding weight. Once they have turned more woody I am sure they will perk up. I have had one bloom on that bush so far. They are so delicate they do not last long. First wind whips them away. My corn is knee high already. On Dylan. heheh. Still, knee high :) I really wish I recorded the flowers better. I see three distinct leaves popping up and know there were the 4 o'clocks and Nasturtium's that I planted everywhere just not sure which are which. The third is a bit of a mystery. Could be some Cosmos Cosmic Orange's. Still no sign of Zinnias or Delphiniums.
I pruned up the front bed, formerly tulip lane. Got rid of the daffodil leaves and shortened the tulip stocks. I was able to weed them and feel they look much better already.

Day 48

Ok, so it is pretty slow going out there. I look at my plants every day, a few times a day, each time expecting (more like HOPING) to see some huge growth spurt, a plant to have grown 5" since the last time I looked or something. I think next year I will go half and half on the flowers. I will do some by seed and intersperse others from a nursery. That way my beds won't feel so bare for so long. There IS progress, all my flowers are at least an inch high now and some of the cut flower mixes are about 4" high, but most remain in the inch range. Sigh.... The corn that has germinated is already a good 5" tall. I have replanted the missing stalks for yet a THIRD time and hope to see them grow next week. Dang birds.

It's raining sand

Today is memorial day and we enjoyed a warm windy day in the sun. Me-mere and Pe-pere joined us in the afternoon and helped us complete "Le Sandbox". Earlier this week I bought the wood at Home Depot and had them cut it to size. I lugged it home and sanded it down during naps. I found some scrap plywood and 4x4 in the garage and sanded the plywood too. This weekend I cut a trench in the lawn to sink the sandbox frame into and measured out the cuts that needed to be made in the "found wood". I got my big strong man to cut the wood and he screwed my kit of parts together. We carried it over to the "site" and it fit like a glove. I had some landscape fabric and was going to wait to lay it down for a less windy day. Luckily Me-mere and Pe-pere were their using their noodles and suggested the brilliant idea of flipping the frame over and stapling the fabric to the bottom. They also put to rest Ethan's and my "discussion" about where to get the sand. Multiple trips to beaches siphoning sand away stealthily in the dead of night or one trip to Home Depot and laying down +/-$30 on play sand. Jackie settled it with "why don't we just go and get some now?!" Hot on the heals of this SECOND brilliant idea, I jumped on it before the guys could veto and off to Home depot we went. I loaded 700lb (literally) of sand into our carts, 50lb at a time and we split the bill. Thank you! Back home we loaded the box and Dylan gave the thumbs up after several taste tests. Why is it babies will think nothing of a mouthful of sand yet spit out with a look of disgust a soft, sweet, juicy mango morsel? Last problem to resolve is the cover. Ethan and I are in "discussion" over this now...
Sophia laying the inaugural scoops of sand into the box.

The rest of the gang chipped in and helped to fill it up.And then they played.

My little seeds are growing up...

The bare patches of lawn are starting to fill in... Allysum is poking through the soil.
These "things" are sprouting up everywhere. I think it is the 4 o'clock mix as I have planted that everywhere and keep replanting it every time I start to get impatient with the speed things are moving along.
My cut flower mixes are coming up everywhere too. These are the biggest so far, but the new ones I planted around the peach tree and in the basket are coming up too. Question: What do you do with tulips once the flowers are gone? The leaves are nice, but I am getting bored of them. If I cut them, how short?
Again, some more seeds - either the 4 o'clock or nasturtium (sp?). Planted a bunch of both around but didn't keep track of.
Parsley coming in thick. I will wait a little longer to thin...

Flowers. Not sure which variety. Hope they end up looking like the seed packs as I kept those and would like to know what they are.
More "flowers". really wish I recorded them better. I had started when I was planting my veggies as I planted different kinds of carrots and cuke's and wanted to see how well each grew. My recording efforts waned as I planted the flowers and kept planting more everyday when I was wanting to see more progress in the growth department.
Not sure what this is. It is between two rows of carrots and looks too substantial to be a weed. Thinking it COULD be a watermelon that washed around. Carrot tops.
Zucchini.

Misc. flowers. Again, waiting for blooms to see what they are. The packs all say to thin the flowers at about 1-2", but I don't know what any of them are, so I don't know how much to thin what.
One row of lots of corn, one row of bird thinned corn. Grrr. I already replanted this row twice. Was going to get a "bird block" net, but that just seemed like too much effort for a few tiny rows of corn.
Cilantro. doing nicely :)
Perhaps a couple Basil. they haven't been coming up so I am hoping these are a couple.
TA-DA!

So, my cucumbers are NOT growing. I guess they don't like being beside the fence. Too shaded? The iris' don't have any blooms either. I will move them in the fall if I don't get any flowers again this year. The leaves look really healthy, just no flowers.