Rainy weekend update

The rain finally came. We had a week and a half of beautiful, sunny, 70-degree weather. While I am never one to complain about perfect weather, it did force us to start watering the gardens with the hose. Especially the veggies. I left them for two days without watering and nearly ended up with a garden of dead plants. Veggies are not as tolerant of perfect weather as my perennials.

It started raining yesterday and we are due for rain on-and-off all week. I'm actually happy; all my newly planted flowers and veggies and seeds will benefit. But because of the rain, and a short-napping toddler, I didn't quite accomplish all my gardening goals this weekend.

Here's what I did get done:

* Bought 15 strawberry plants from Home Depot and replaced my non-growing crowns in the garden. The plants already have flowers and some have baby fruits on them.

* Planted three burning bushes, a butterfly bush, an azalea bush, and a blue lace cap hydrangea.

* Bought and planted a small basil plant. I love basil and don't have the patience to wait for the seeds to sprout.

* Fertilized the veggies and roses.

Here's what I need to do ASAP:

* Finish de-grassing my herb garden. I want to plant hostas along the border (by the fence that we'll be putting up this summer).

* Plant my baby herb plants that are still growing in their tiny peat pots: rosemary, chives, and mint. The other seedlings didn't survive the hardening off process. I need more practice at that! I need to start over with the cilantro, lemon balm, dill, and parsley.

* Till my third veggie box, plant eight more tomato plants, and sow my summer veggie seeds: corn, zucchini, yellow squash, scallions, and okra.

* Plant my three remaining burning bushes.


Update on veggie progress:

* My cucumber seedlings have just poked through the soil. No sign yet of my string beans. I used last year's seeds that I had left over...they may not have been viable. I'll give them another week.

* The peas. The ones that had started to yellow look like they might be coming back, though they are still looking pretty sad compared to the bright green ones I sowed directly in the garden.

* I thinned out my row of radishes. They might be ready next week. The beets will need to be thinned soon, as well as the carrots.

* The spinach and broccoli seem to be hanging in there. I haven't noticed much growth, but they are green and sturdy, so I'm still hopeful.

One final note. Thank you Hubby for laying down a weed-block blanket and covering it with wood chips in paths surrounding each of my veggie boxes.

More than a box of dirt

On Thursday, I finally had the time and energy to plant most of my veggies, turning my boxes of dirt into an actual garden. I bought starter plants at Home Depot of the more time-consuming and difficult to grow varieties, which are now spreading their roots in the raised beds. These include six tomato plants (two cherry, two "early girl" and two "big boy" hybrids); three "black beauty" eggplants; two red bell peppers and one orange bell pepper; four brussel sprouts and four red cabbage. In addition, I planted most of my seedlings (well, the ones that survived, anyway): a row of broccoli, six peas, and a couple of spinach.

Today, I am adding to the veggie family: a few lettuce and carrot seedlings and bean seeds. Beginning to sprout from last week's planting are my radishes and beets. Still no activity on the carrot or pea seeds I planted about two weeks ago; same with the strawberry roots. I bought the strawberry roots at Walmart—they were there and I couldn't pass them up—but now I wonder about the quality. Dormant roots do tend to take a while to begin to leaf, so I hope to see some budding growth in the next two weeks. I will be bummed if I wasted $6.00! (Actually, more bummed about wasting months of growing time and missing out on a strawberry season).

Also on tap today (depending on how long Cavan takes a nap—currently, she is just playing around in her crib. I dare not go outside while she is still awake, and she doesn't sound sleepy in the least! EEK!):

*Planting the begonia tubers that I started indoors about two months ago. Eleven of the 12 are leafing out nicely; I should have blooms in about three weeks!

*Sowing flower seeds directly in the garden: zinnias, cosmos, and baby's breath. The zinnia seedlings that I started inside all died when I left them outside in the sun too long one day. Bummer. Start over. I have never tried direct outside sowing, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

*Identifying the plant that is invading one of my borders. With our week of warm, wet, sunny weather, everything is sprouting like crazy, and so is this mystery plant that seems to be spreading everywhere. I wonder if it is the pink coreopsis (tickweed) that was in the border last year? If so, this is not an all bad thing—it is a pretty plant that blooms all summer. However, if so, the spread is really out of control and I will have to do serious maintenance on this thing to keep it from taking over! BUT, if it is something else, I have a real problem on my hands...to be continued.