wintersown pink poppy
wintersown Cerinthe
coneflower
crazy floppin' daisies
peppers
My little container vegetable garden is really flourishing. You can see what it looked like at planting time to really see how much it's grown.
This is my monster zucchini, which I planted because I thought the easy-grow factor would be good for my gardener's ego. Plus, what's not to love about a plant known for producing more veggies than you can use? I'll take that challenge! This monster zucchini is even more impressive in person (at least to me and the neighbor). As you can see, it's almost taller than the fence! Actually there are two zucchini plants in this Earthbox, along with the two poor peppers that have been completely overtaken. Note to self, in the future plant two zucchini plants per earthbox, max.
I have lots of baby tomatoes growing on my six tomato plants that are also in Earthboxes, although according to past experience I probably have another month to wait before I'll be tasting any of them.
I even had my first harvest today! I hadn't been watching my zucchini closely enough, and when I looked today I was delighted to see four zucchinis ripe for the pickin'. Yep, so far I'm pretty pleased with my zucchini growing experience.
I'm so excited to show you my very first peony bloom on my very first peony. This is my second attempt at planting a peony, the first one died over winter. But this peony is very much alive and smells fantastic. Now I want more peonies, much more! If only I have endless room to plant them!
Finally, it's a good year for dianthus in my garden.
These little dianthus are some of my 33 cent bargains. They didn't bloom last year so I was surprised to see the delicate magenta blooms.
I just solved my own little garden mystery and found out these are Sweet William. I swear these were winter-sown and planted last year and didn't bloom, which was why I didn't know what they were when they bloomed this year for the first time. That always amazes me when a little seedling seems to disappear, but returns next season and thrives.
Allium orephilium
Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms out there, especially the two who read my blog, my mom and Hanna. Won't you come into my garden? As you can see above, it's about to burst. Three years ago this bed was empty except (after my mom pulled out all the weeds one day) for a rambling rose at the far end, so I'm pretty pleased to see all that green sprouting up this spring.
The chive blossoms are the new arrival in this bed. I'm really starting to love chives. It's great to have fresh herbs just outside the kitchen to spice up my food, and they come back bigger and better every year despite my neglectful ways. Plus, the flowers are pretty and edible (but I'd break them up rather than eat them whole, I almost choked on my first blossom after I popped the whole thing in my mouth. They're STRONG!)
I uh, forget what this is but it's pretty!
My cats love rolling in the catmint!
My tulips have almost faded away, but a few are hanging on and I couldn't resist including them. Aren't they pretty?
Thanks for visiting my garden, come again anytime. Now go call your mamma!
This past week has been tulip week on my garden. One day of mid-80 degree temps and bam, all of the tulips were blooming. This patch of purple and white tulips is my favorite.
But it certainly isn't the only patch of tulips in my garden. Could you ever have too many tulips? I don't think so.
I think these daffodils came in a mixed bag I planted last fall and these beauties are my favorite of the lot. Aren't they gorgeous?
I love these miniature white daffodils as well.
My garden helper and I took a stroll through the garden today on this lovely Indian summer weekend. Even though we've had a couple frosts, including a hard frost or two, a few tough perennials haven't given up for the year yet.
Clockwise from left:
The asters are perennials so they went right into the garden, my first permanent fall flowers. Now it feels like fall.
Real life has been interfering with my blogging and a garden update is overdue (or so says my friend and one faithful reader, Hanna). I'm happy to oblige!
There has been some excitement recently, my winter-sown Irish Eyes Rudbeckia bloomed! Aren't their pretty lime green faces fabulous? I just love them and I take great pride in seeing anything I grew from seed bloom.
The lavender and roses are beginning their second flush of blooms, which is great because I enjoy them so much. This also gives me a second chance to clip and dry some lavender, as I didn't get to the first flush of blooms in time.
The veggie harvest this year has been GREAT! I've picked early girl tomatoes, golden girl tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes (lost the tag so am not sure of the variety), lemon cucumbers, green onions and peppers. Unlike last year, when I didn't even have enough tomatoes to feed myself, this year I've made several batches of salsa and given a dozen tomatoes away. What made the difference between this year and last? Earth boxes. Yup, the tomatoes in the garden didn't grow, didn't produce much and are half dead. The tomatoes I planted in the earth box? Still producing ripe tomatoes daily. The lemon cuke seeds I planted in the garden? Didn't even germinate. The ones planted in the earth box produced the lovely specimen above and others. I think the key is good soil and consistent moisture, something I haven't fixed in the veggie garden yet.
before and after weeding today
This spring I finally delved into the world of summer bulbs and planted some pink and purple gladiolas. The pink glads planted in the front bed are starting to bloom. They bring a great dash of color to the garden at a time when a lot of the summer blooms are beginning to decline.
Next year though, I plan to plant some dahlias as well.
My yard and garden have been neglected for a bit and have quickly grown into an overgrown jungle for spite. So instead of blogging about gardening today, I actually got out and gardened for three hours. And oh, am I paying for it now. The pain starts around my wrists and radiates up past my elbows. I'm not even 30 yet (I can still say this for a few more weeks yet, so I plan to take advantage), what the heck am I gonna feel like in 20 years?
I wasn't doing the fun gardening stuff, like planting or harvesting. No, I was watering, weeding and doing some major trimming/pruning of six bushes. The pic above is a before of what I had to attack. It was the pruning that got me and my burgeoning carpal tunnel. And now it huuuuuuuuurts.
On a happier note, the part of the garden I'm most excited about right now is probably these lemon cuke blooms. I fell in love with lemon cukes after trying them in Seattle a few years ago and I've been craving another taste ever since. I hope they have time to grow.
