| Flowerfreak Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 08:32 am: |   |
Love the pic of the Eternal Bliss :)
lol
It feels good to get compliments on your yard when you work your tail off, doesn't it?! Your yard does look terrific. Thanks for sharing your stories & pictures :)
Gee, I wonder why:
| Heirloomgardens wrote on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - 02:29 pm: I just started seeds of giant pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelons, hardshell gourds, and lettuce. ........ Just finished sowing Ipomopsis, unknown Nasturtium, H. appendiculum, sedum, and Aquilegia, too. |
Shoo! I am tired from just copying all you did into this post. I can only imagine how tired you are! |
I love it! It was so nice to hear it in person from someone!!
Thank you so much.  This is the happiest I've ever been with it. Just yesterday, I was looking at it and thinking that I may not be able to divide and spread those Colossal Daffodils throughout the beds like I'd wanted to... the beds look crammed and jammed full as it is!
Hahaha, that's hilarious! I'd be seasick if I'd gone back and forth to copy and paste as much as you did! LOL! When you summarized it all like that, it did make it seem like I have good reason to be tired. When the work gets spread out over so many days, I feel like I'm not really getting as much done as I should. I might rethink that train of thought now. LOL! |
May 29, 2008 (Thursday)
It is 51 degrees and sunny (6:33 AM).
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I replanted the rose. Hopefully I got it right this time.
'Senior Prom' Rose
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Yay, the Brug and Hydrangea are here! They look pretty good, although some of the Brug leaves look a little yellow. I sure don't feel like digging a hole for the Hydrangea. UGH!
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I almost didn't get to plant the Hydrangea anomala petiolaris where I wanted to. It is very rocky next to the porch and house foundation. We'll see how it likes living there. I'll give it a few years, then move it if it's not getting anywhere.
Hydrangea anomala petiolaris
I put the Brug in a pot, but just a temporary pot. I didn't have a 12" one, so I had to settle for 10.5". Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to find a better pot for it. I haven't been able to find anything anywhere.
Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi'
Shades of Bouncing Bet
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I am glad that most of tomorrow's scheduled chores are either already in process or are very simple because I think tomorrow I'd like to plant the seedlings that I have sitting outside on the metal stand. It looks like the weekend might be cloudy and maybe even rainy, so this will be perfect timing. I am also glad that the seeds germinating in the plant room aren't rushing to come up (only the lettuce is up so far). That might actually give me time to get those seedlings taken care of in a timely manner.
Today has been a lazy day. The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, my chores are done, and thanks to a little disenabling (LOL!), I have decided to sit back and enjoy things. I've wandered around the garden a few times, strung up the Perennial Peas once again (they are taking over and are starting to look like a topiary of some kind), watered some of the veggies, sat in the shade on the porch, and sat inside where it's cool... the front door hanging wide open, the bamboo wind chimes softly clacking together, the flies coming in. A good day, all in all. LOL!
Perennial Peas |
I do the same thing, DJ.
Good for you. I think you deserve it :)
I'm glad you mentioned the hydrangea. I've been wanting to get one for over a month now, but refuse to buy it until I get the hole dug. If I don't, I know I'll end up trying to rush to get it planted & not do it right. I have some tulips planted where I want to put the hydrangea, so I'm not sure what to do or when your supposed to move bulbs. |
Smart move. Digging holes has to be my least favorite thing around here and I always seem to put it off until the last moment, and then things never go the way I thought they would and I end up digging several different holes just to plant one plant. LOL!
I wouldn't recommend this, but I move bulbs whenever I have to, and I do mean *whenever*. At the same time, I choose to tell myself that they weren't really that important so that I'm not too disappointed if they don't come back. LOL. So far, that seems to work for me.
Do you have any Hydrangeas already? I think they would look terrific with your house. Do they grow pink or blue where you are? |
So that means I shouldn't change my gardening habits! I move plants year round if I have to b/c I am so impatient! You never know if they will live or die until you try :)
No, don't have any yet. I've contemplated the idea of one (or two or three) in the front of my house, but now I have an azalea that is actually growing in that bed so I just have the space for one. I don't see many of them in my neighborhood, but the ones I do see are mostly pink. One house near me has had hydrangeas for a long time now & they seem to change colors from year to year (although I don't think they do it purposely). One summer, they were half & half & never really turned one color that year.
If I had the time, what I'd really love to do would be to take out the entire bed in front of my porch, work the ground real good & redo it--plants & all. |
Exactly!
Do you mean the front porch? I'm not sure why you'd want to do that... I seem to remember it looking very nice the last time I saw it! But if you're going to do it, I'd highly recommend doing it before you add any more to it. I am coming to terms with the idea that I have reached the point where it no longer makes sense to redo the beds in front of the house and it no longer makes sense to rip them out and return them to grass. It is what it is, and it's a good thing I'm finally happy with it. LOL! However, because of that, I have branched out this year and am botching other parts of the yard. In another six years, I'll probably be happy with them, too. HAHAHA!! |
May 30, 2008 (Friday) We Interrupt This Message...
It is 58 degrees and sunny, but it feels cold in the house (7:00 AM). We are running out of days of May, so I hope it warms up soon.
When I went to bring in the eggplant and peppers last night, I discovered that I had somehow managed to set the tray down on top of a tomato plant in the adjacent tray. The plant was pinned under the eggplant tray and its stem was cracked a bit, so I put a Band-Aid around it. I remember a long time ago when I patched a broken pepper plant with mud. It grew up to be stunted, but produced nice bell peppers anyway. I don't know what will become of the tomato plant, but I suspect it won't be anything as good as that.
I checked my seed inventory list and have decided that those three poppies by the chicken coop path have to be Papaver atlanticum. That is good news. I saw some Single Moss Rose coming up in that area, too, when I weeded there the other day. I think I will try watering that area and covering it with hay to see if I can get any more poppies to come up. I noticed yesterday that the Dracunculus vulgaris seems to be chugging along, but it is surrounded by what I think must be Rudbeckia, so I'm going to have to transplant something, again. Also, the first two Lupines of the season are lavender and not pink. HOORAY! I noticed that yesterday and even took a pic, but forgot to even mention it. I wonder if the pink one is still around, because I thought for sure that the big lavender one was going to be the pink one.
Russell's nth Gen Lupine
I have watered the rest of the veggie beds and various flower beds over there, so next it's breakfast, then it's possibly seedling planting time. I saw lots of poppies over in the other flower beds. I'll have to look up my list because I don't remember which poppies I put where.
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So it begins...
Planted Out
* Trumpet Vines: square plot, well, and hummingbird feeder
* Winter Honeysuckle: by Ranunculus patch
* Cup and Saucer Vines: trellis in the hummingbird garden
* Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw': allium bed
* Delphinium: Delphinium patch (great, I have no idea which delphs these were: nth gen or Galahad; I had assumed they were nth gen, but then where are my Galahads?)
* Russian Sage: newly edged part of allium bed
* White Tufted Evening Primrose: newly edged part of allium bed
* Love-Lies-Bleeding: newly edged part of allium bed
* Unknown: two different I-don't-know-whats (labels fell off) planted by the Black Parrot Tulips.... Ah-hah! I found a label. One of those things was a Swallow Eggplant. I wondered where it had gone off to. At least I can choose to let it die since it won't do much of anything after having spent so many cold nights outside.
We interrupt this message to bring you an important message: The Filipendula is here! The Filipendula is here! Aside from the fact that I've been wanting it forever, you may be wondering what else is my problem? Why so excited about a box of roots? Well, I ordered the Filipendula and Dahlias; the Brug and Hydrangea; the orange, yellow, and white Hyacinths; and the Ice Follies Daffodils right about the time when I discovered that someone had somehow heisted my credit card number. Cancelling my cc threw all of my orders up in the air. It was anybody's guess as to which orders were going to be lost in the Twilight Zone during the wait for a new cc. This was the last spring batch to be delivered (and it has arrived almost three weeks early!) and the fall batch has been taken care of over the phone (supposedly), so everything is in order. The jinx factor is over, except that this could apparently happen again at any time without warning. But I am so happy to have my FILIPENDULA, FINALLY!!! Okay, so... where are these things supposed to go? I thought I had another three weeks to figure that out!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming... sort of...
Planted Out
* Filipendula rubra: old rhubarb patch
* Dahlia 'Barbarossa': coop path
* Dahlia 'Mrs. Eileen': coop path
* Dahlia 'Sherbet Delight': coop path (the rear one of which is basically planted on a rock... or maybe it's a boulder or a rock ledge... but either way, we'll see how it does. Not like it's the first time something has been planted on a rock around here, though.)
I watered the rest of the trays outside and now I don't feel like doing anything else today. I am so tired. I have to decide if I am going to do more today, do it tomorrow in the rain, or just forget about it and do it all on Sunday. I'm afraid to look in the plant room to see what has popped up.
Planted Out
* Calendula 'Pacific Beauty Mix': first row of eggplant, along both rows of peas, and along rock path by faucet
* Cilantro: among the whole Pompon Dahlia patch (that was Rounds #1 and #2 and took up the whole patch, so I'm not going to sow any more rounds unless I need to rip some out and replant)
* Basil: among the Pompon Dahlia patch (these were just the extras; I still have all of the other ones that need to go in the Solanum bed)
* 'Harlequin' Marigold: beside Vinca and beside Kniphofia in Perennial Pea bed
I think that is enough for today. I guess I should see if the things in the plant room are thirsty, though. Don't wanna go there! ........ Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected. I sprayed the trays and that was it. The 'Clark's Heavenly Blue' Morning Glories are up, some of the sedum are up (now all I have to do is keep from killing them all again), and various other things are sprouting here and there, but nothing that needs to be potted up yet. WOOHOO!! |
| Seil Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 08:57 pm: | |
Well it took me a while to catch up here. You sure have been busy! The new bed edging looks good. I always approve of making beds bigger! Sounds like all the sprouts are doing well and things are really beginning to bloom for you. I loved the pic of the allium! And the blue and pink lupine is so lovely. |
Thanks, Seil. Good to see you around! 
May 31, 2008 (Saturday)
It is 60 degrees this morning and cloudy (7:00 AM).
I forgot to mention yesterday that 'Spiced Custard' Iris opened. Today, I have another 'Eternal Bliss' clump open, another 'Witch of Endor' clump in bloom, 'Witch's Wand', and 'Going My Way'. (I ought to link the iris layout to my journal so that I can look them up more easily.) I trimmed the pods off of the Kingsblood Tulips. I have a lot more Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' flowers open today and a whole lot of 'Harvest of Memories'. The lilac by the office window is going to have a lot of flowers this year. I keep forgetting to mention that the Snowball Bush has been open for a few days, too. It doesn't look as flowery as it did last year. I wonder what I should do to help it?
'Going My Way' Iris
'Harvest of Memories' Iris
Snowball Bush
I picked 16 lily beetles off of the various Oriental Lilies this morning. I missed three others. Ick. Uck! So I will have to check again in a moment. Luckily, I didn't see very many eggs. I seem to have checked up on them just in time.
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I planted 20 'Heavenly Blue' Morning Glories (16 around the Perennial Pea teepee and 4 by the Wisteria) and have left the tray (with other miscellaneous seedlings) outside on the metal stand. I smushed one of the three lily beetles that I missed. One down, two to go. ........ One more down. One to go.
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Hail in the forecast AGAIN?
Linum perenne subsp. Lewisii
Another nth Gen Russell's Lupine
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We went out to find a cheap pot for my Brug. I found one and also bought some flowers to fill one of my hanging baskets: two Superbells (Red and Dreamsicle), a Lobelia, and a Sweet Potato Vine.
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I potted up the Brug and flowers. I didn't have them out for very long before it really started to pour down rain. I didn't think the Brug would like that sort of beating, so I ran out and brought it up onto the porch, but the hanging basket is on its own out by the coop path.
June 1, 2008 (Sunday)
It is 66 degrees and sunny this morning (7:50 AM).
The hanging basket looks perky this morning. It was a bit beaten down when I tucked the chickens in last night. I pulled a few weeds out of the spinach after I let the chickens out. I should do some more weeding before I do anything else today.
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I weeded the rest of the vegetables. The 'Black Valentine' Beans are coming up finally, as well as a few of the 'Yin Yang' Beans. I thinned the carrots. Some of the Utrecht Blue Wheat is coming up. I couldn't remember what the seeds looked like last year when I sowed them, so I just sowed the self-harvested ones by rubbing them off the stems as is. I am so glad they came up without being hulled. I hope I manage to grow some every year. It is very pretty. The 'Arikara' Sunflowers are coming up, too. All of the seedlings I transplanted the other day are looking pretty good, although one of the Calendula has disappeared. Figures, since it was in a nice single row beside the faucet path. Oh, well, it will look more cottagey that way.
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'Blueberry Bliss' and 'New Moon' Irises are open today and the lilac by the office window is really going to town. The bumble bees love it.
Since my mower is still in the shop, my husband mowed some of the yard today. He also mowed some of my poppies and ferns. That is why I have my own mower. *sigh*
I have to start some more pumpkins tomorrow. I forgot to start the second round of cabbage and broccoli Friday. I am not going to do a second round of squash and cukes. I have more than I needed for the first round. I need to transplant the first round of cukes and start the Mignonette tomorrow, too. Based on what I saw in the plant room earlier today, I'd say it's time to pot up the first of the pumpkins, too. Big day tomorrow. |
June 2, 2008 (Monday)
It is 66 degrees and sunny this morning (8:00 AM). It actually feels much cooler than that, so it feels pretty nice.
Today, the 'Afternoon Delight', 'Fringe Benefits', 'Bride's Halo', and 'Codi's Angel Face' Irises are open. The lilac is filled with bumble bees and the smell is so intoxicating. I am tempted to pull up a chair and sit for awhile. ........ Oops. The iris that I thought was 'Witch's Wand' is actually 'Stellar Lights'.
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I transplanted the Tomatoes (Aunt Gertie's Gold, Matina, Sun Gold Hybrid, Kimberly, Yellow Currant, Gregori's Altai, Riesentraube, and Fireworks), Sweet Basil (among the tomatoes), Evergreen Hardy White Scallions (right end of 1st pepper row), 'Nira' Chives (right end of back pepper row), Borrettana Cipollini Onions (left end of back pepper row), Amish Cockscomb (along the 5th row of the cabbage family), 'Empress of India' Nasturtiums (in the squash patch and the 2nd row of the cabbage family), and Tithonia 'Torch' (among the beans and cuke patch).
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Huh, I think I have figured out that the huge clump of cool blue flowers that I saw at my favorite knickknack shop over the weekend is Amsonia. Something else for my must have list. Apparently, it takes three years to bloom from seed, though. Might have to get some seeds and an actual plant or two at that rate.
June 3, 2008 (Tuesday)
It is 62 degrees and sunny (7:23 AM).
'Lady Friend', 'Ecstatic Echo', and 'Pacific Mist' Irises are open today.
I need to harrow today and pot up the pumpkins. I am hoping that it will rain tomorrow as forecast.
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I did the harrowing. The dirt is nice and soft, but it sure is dry. While I was harrowing, I noticed that the Wild Blue Lupine actually has a flower today. I am shocked, not only because it has a flower, but because of the color. I expected it to look like all of the other wild Lupine around here, but this one is royal purple. Gorgeous. It has a teeny tiny friend. If it survives and blooms next year, it will be interesting to see what color it is.
Wild Blue Lupine
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I raked out the new yard by hand. I really need to remember to buy a couple of discs for the harrow next time I go to the tractor store. I also really need to build a drag for the tractor. Raking is ridiculous.
New Yard After Harrowing
New Yard After Raking
'Fringe Benefits' Iris
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I watered the veggie beds and started two more types of pumpkins, plus the fall plantings of broccoli and cabbage.
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I transplanted the cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. I crammed all of the cukes into the one spot. I don't know how well they'll like that. I planted two each of the squash and zukes in the veggie bed and the extras along the edge of cucurbit patch #2.
Turns out I'm not supposed to transplant my main batch of pumpkins until the 11th. Good enough. I will pot them up this evening. It's the biggies and hardshell gourds that go out on Friday. So, besides potting up the pumpkins, all I have to do is start the Mignonette and sow round 3 of the carrots. That doesn't sound so bad.
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That is hilarious. The Fedex guy has been here so many times now that he is programmed to deliver ALL plant boxes to my house. It was actually for the neighbor. HAHA!! |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - 09:00 am: | |
Beautiful color lupine!
Your raked yard looks great. I can't imagine doing it all by hand. I helped a friend build a drag a couple of years ago. We used 2 6x6's & attatched a piece of heavy square fencing. It didn't take too long to do, but then last year he had someone come over to clear some of his land & the guy accidentally ran over it & destroyed it b/c the grass was so high! |
LOL! After I finished harrowing and drove my tractor off through the tall grass surrounding the new yard, my son was quick to point out that I had hooked his butterfly net with the harrow and dragged it off. I turned and saw not only his butterfly net off in the middle of the grass, but his little red wagon (full of toys and tractors) knocked over, too. I totally did not see that when I drove out of the yard. I checked them all out and everything was okay. WHEW!! I never would have lived down a holey butterfly net and a crushed wagon. LOL!
My neighbor's father has said I could use the chain link fence drag that is beside our property (might technically even be ON our property), but I don't like to use other people's things. There is a big log in the back corner of the new yard that I am considering putting eyebolts on and chaining to the back of the tractor. If nothing else, at least I'd finally get it out of the corner. LOL! |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - 11:55 am: | |
same here
Free--even better!
haha, lol |
LOL! I agree. I think I even have the monster eyebolts and chains, too.  |
| Stormdancer Posted on Saturday, June 07, 2008 - 02:29 pm: | |
hey DJ!!
We just made it in a few hours ago from the mountain...I'm already missing it badly. Looks like you have been quite busy! Your place continues to look even better with every new picture of the things you are doing and what is popping up and showing such beautiful color. I'll be posting in my journal later...have TONS of pictures to go through...I love my digital camera...
catch ya later! |
Hi, there, Karen! (I just posted over in your journal. I loved your trip entry!)
Thank you. I haven't been able to upload any posts lately because of the rains. The rain always drags dial-a-dinosaur down to such a level that watching paint dry is an action sport. LOL! Even though it didn't rain yesterday, I am still connected around only 26 kbps today. UGH! |
| Stormdancer Posted on Sunday, June 08, 2008 - 11:44 am: | |
YUCK!! One of my main reasons for getting rid of dialup...do you have cable? We switched the service to the local Brighthouse cable and not only do I have free long distance (which helps keep me in contact with out of state family), but my internet service is high speed broadband...love it and the package deal for the cable, internet and phone is pretty reasonable...
Still have to unload the truck...uuuggghhh...and its miserable hot out at the moment...joys of coming home...lol |
Too funny!
We have cable TV (but only the most basic service... something like $13 a month), but ... We had an offer recently for the pkg deal (TV, Internet, and phone) - $70 a month - but I know that they will jack up the monthly price outrageously at the end of the contract. Matter of fact, I just received another offer from them and the price was $100 a month with the same sign up fees. LOL. I'd rather buy flowers. LOL!! |
I forgot to mention that dial-a-dinosaur (dialosaur?) is back up to 45 kbps, but now the skies are dark and I hear the rumble of thunder. With my luck, I'd be just about to get everything uploaded and the whole house would get blasted apart by lightning. LOL. |
