I am so obsessed, I go out sometimes two or three times a day just to peer at the ground to see if there are any signs of newly germinated seeds. And while I'm there, I pluck a few newly germinated weeds. I'm trying to be better about thinning what needs to be thinned this year, and I'm getting there with my Chinese cabbage plot. It could use a little more thinning, but by the time they're this big, it's really hard for me to make myself take any out.
The peas are coming along nicely, with the exception of the ones the deer grazed down. Fortunately, they didn't eat too many, but I didn't plant a lot this year, so I hate to have somebody eat them before I get to harvest.
The deer did leave at least something growing on the peas they clipped, so maybe they'll move on to more tender treats and let those alone now.
They have also clipped off a number of other things, including a couple of my dahlia plants. I've got a calendar schedule now to spray Deer-B-Gone every third evening for a while. So far, they've clipped a tulip tree sapling, dahlias, peas, burning bush, all the flower buds off the little magnolia. Although it hasn't happened yet this year, they've been known to clip my roses, so I've got them on the schedule, too.
Today, I planted 'Marketmore' cucumbers and Golden Zucchini. I planted the zucchini inside a tomato cage, which is something I read about but haven't done before. I'm feeling slightly skeptical. I put the cucumbers underneath the same trellis I had last year. We had too much rain for them last year, and the vines rotted. Hopefully that will not be the case again.
Slowly but surely my little seedlings are coming along.
Still not big enough to transplant, and most of them are flowers that I decided to grow this year, and three kinds of basil. The tomatoes are about three inches tall and smelling wonderful as tomato plants do. Only a few are still in the cellar, along with a few that I'm beginning to think are not going to germinate. Most are big enough to stay outdoors day and night now in an area that's somewhat shaded so they don't cook.
This is what the garden looks like now:
That's some very health volunteer cilantro in the foreground, left. All my cilantro is volunteer, by the way. And I get plenty of it. You only have to plant it once and let some go to seed. Oregano and chives are just beyond the cilantro (center front). And the chickweed is taking over the world outside the garden.
It's a couple of weeks now before I will plant the last of my garden seeds: okra, lima beans, beets, and maybe cowpeas. So I'll spend that time scrutinizing the ground where the tiny little carrots, celery and salad greens are coming up, watching for onions and nasturtiums to break the surface, and watching the poppies and hostas take off.
My poppy field is loaded. Can't wait to see them in bloom.
Poppy seedlings galore. See the nice little deer tracks cruising through?
I'm not a sweet potato vine fan, but I saw this bi-colored one yesterday and couldn't resist. It didn't have a label, and it was the only one (at the wonderful Dutch Bakery in Tipton, Missouri), but I believe it's 'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red'.
I also picked up some flowers to go in pots and a sweet little basil I hadn't seen before that was labeled 'Tasty Purple'.
It has very small leaves, and I probably won't cook with it, but it smells good and certainly looks pretty in my big pot with the other herbs.
That pot will probably never look better than it does right now.
Among the beautiful blooming things that are making me happy are the dogwood:
Bleeding heart, Dicentra formosa 'Luxuriant'...
And 'Sparkling Sapphire' Baptisia that I purchased a couple of days ago from Helmi's Gardens in Columbia, Missouri...
Brilliant.
The gooseberry bush is loaded with flowers. I hope they get fertilized!
And, I hope you're enjoying the spring color as much as I am.
2 comments:
Amazing! I'm planning to come over at least once a week :)
Do that!
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