Still wearing sweaters...

Other than Saturday, which reached a balmy 74 degrees in the early afternoon before making a rapid decent back into the 50s as the evening storm rolled in, there has been no resemblance of an upcoming summer in the weather lately. It's supposed to be rainy all week, though I've heard a rumor that it might actually be warm?! At this point, I'll believe it when I see it.

Weather pitfalls: My tomatoes, peppers and eggplants have given up on growing and flowering I think. All my recently planted seedlings have been super slow to emerge and/or drowned out and washed away. My roses are full of leaves, but my hopes of them flowering for Memorial Day weekend, as they did last year, are declining. The spring flowers that were/are in bloom were largely destroyed by the multiple torrential downpours last week. My poor irises look like they've been through a war and the ajuca, which I had hoped to stay in bloom until June, was pelted to death--all the blooms fell to the ground as a result.

Weather benefits: I haven't had to do any manual watering lately. My cool weather veggies are thriving and nearing harvest time. I was really late getting all my spring veggies in the ground, so looking at the bright side, I might actually yield a decent harvest from my broccoli, peas, carrots, beets, and radishes. Speaking of radishes, two in the row revealed their red crowns this weekend, so we got to pluck and enjoy them. Well, I didn't, but Cavan and Hubby did. I'll try the next one. It was pretty exciting picking the first vegetable out of your own garden. I can't wait for a major harvest, when we get to reap the rewards of all the hard work and effort and patience over the last few months.

Despite the rain and the cold, I was able to make some headway in the garden this weekend. I continued my pursuit to rid the herb garden of wild clumps of grass and weeds. One more day ought to do it. (This wouldn't normally be a three-day job, but it's extremely tiring wielding a hoe, tiller, and pitch fork with a baby belly, especially when bending over has become a robust challenge.)

I was then able to plant my 16 hosta roots, most of which actually sprouted in the plastic bags they were delivered in! Seven were used as the herb garden border and accents around a strategically placed boulder. The others were amassed between two trees bordering a stone staircase leading to another tier of our property. I will be interest to see how big each of these hostas get and if the spacing I used was appropriate. Ideally, they will all gently overlap without crowding, but when mixing varieties it's hard to tell how they will actually spread, despite following the spacing guidelines.

Still on the list to plant are my three remaining burning bushes. And I just received an order of eight astillbe plants. And my petunias for my hanging baskets should be arriving any day. I'm interest to see the size and condition of how these arrive--I usually buy my hanging baskets from the nursery, but I thought I'd try to grow my own this year. And a replacement rose bush should be coming soon. It will be nice when I can just focus on maintaining the garden rather than all these new plantings, but with two acres to manicure, that might be a while.

Veggie garden update

Cavan planting bean seeds in the veggie garden.

Quick update:
1) Radish, beet, and carrot seedlings have emerged and seem to be growing well. I may have to thin them out this weekend.

2) Pea transplants are now staked and thriving, and the pea seeds I sowed directly into the garden have just poked out of the soil.

3) Spinach seedlings are not dead, but are floppy and reflect little growth since moving them to the raised beds. You can't win them all, I suppose.

4) Bean and cucumber seeds were planted yesterday, with the help of my sometimes-dedicated-assistant, Cavan.

5) Lettuce, carrot, and pepper seedlings started indoors are still waiting to be transplanted. I have to till the third garden bed before this can happen. Maybe I'll get around to it this weekend, if I'm not too tired.

6) Broccoli transplants are doing well. They are just now sprouting their second pair of leaves.

7) No action with the strawberry roots I planted, gosh, how long ago was that? Hmmm. Disappointing.

8) All starter plants bought at the nursery are doing great. The eggplant leaves are multiplying and two of my tomato plants are already flowering!

9) Hubby built a three-foot critter fence around the veggie beds to ward off groundhogs and rabbits. The groundhog trap has seen no action since my tulips were eaten. I hope critter has moved on to someone else's property.

'Till next time. (Ha ha, "till"!)

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.

Seedlings smushed :(

Cavan watering the seedlings
with her spray bottle.
She's such a good helper!

Limp and matted to the soil were how I discovered my  seedlings a couple mornings ago. Not all of them, but the tray that was three weeks old and doing so well. The tray that had successful germination in nearly each of the 36 soil pots. The tray that was growing all my favorite veggies (bibb lettuce, broccoli, spinach, and carrots). The tray that I really cared about. And to make matters worse, I think I am the cause.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day, albeit a bit breezy. About 60 degrees and sunny. What a treat for my baby seedlings, and outdoors they went. But perhaps they got a little too much fresh air because they all looked weak and floppy when I brought them in.

I hoped a little water would wake them up, but no such luck. I waited several days to see some rejuvenation, but this morning I plucked out my perished plants and reseeded the pots. Let's try this again. Apparently I must read up on "hardening off" my plants before attempting another outside adventure.

But wait! These were all plants that I was supposed to sow directly in the garden (but couldn't because my veggie beds aren't ready). How the heck would they survive spring rains and winds on their own if they couldn't even handle a few hours of a beautiful brisk breeze? Confounding.

But all is not a disappointment on the seedling front. A few of the members of that tray did tough it out and seem to be progressing. The peppers that I had given up on earlier in the week are finally show signs of sprouting (after three and a half weeks)! And same with my peas. My marigolds have just doubled their leaves, from two to four. My eggplants are growing strong. My herbs (basil, mint, cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, and lemon balm) are all sprouting, though I'm still waiting on signs of life from the rosemary. And my zinnias are already about two inches tall.

All this growth is so exciting, but I'm nervous for transplant time (only a couple weeks away). Letting my babies out into the wilderness to fend for themselves! I hope I have a success story to report.