Sunday, May 31, 2015

In The Yard

I got more done today than expected but even more is waiting to be done. You want to help?
Got more daisies before they're gone. I have 4 to work with. Now to decide where to put them. I've decided to put them in pot and pray our weather doesn't kill them. Since I have a lot of things in pots now it's time to start thinking about how to insulate them for the winter so I don't loose any. I've never done this before but I can't keep spending money and loosing plants. Every thing was pile on the front porch last night then dragged to the shed and one by one out to the yard.
That's only a partial view of the shed. Can't find anything. It's actually orderly until fall and then gardening supplies start to be put in not paying attention to neatness. Most of the time we can hardly get out the door. I'll get it in order because I have pots, much, and manure that I need for the yard some where in there.
So lets make some more progress. It was a beautiful day. Warm but not too hot and a light breeze.



I planted some of the annuals out front. Now lets get some of these into the ground.
Time to plant tomatoes and cucumber. I also planted one rosemary. I planted rosemary in one window box and thought the sent would deter squirrels. Not so. They demolished my window box. Knocked a hosta to the top of my air conditioner and have huge holes in the soil. Larger than I've ever seen them dig. When I get the yard in order I'm going to straighten up the box and give them some cayenne pepper.
Clematis flower is pretty.
Haven't been able to eat one yet. One was deformed and open. The one on the right has been bitten. Next year, a cover.
Cucumber have grown since I bought them. All the veggies I bought have been from Bonnie Plants.

The lettuce was fresh and delicious. Broccoli had side shoots but not waiting. It's time for other vegetables. I'll plant more in fall.
Freshened up the soil with more and trying to decide what trellis to use as cucumbers can grow over 8 feet and keep going.

I know how it's supposed to be used but when I saw it at Walmart I envisioned opening it up so it would be a tall trellis that the cucumbers could climb on. I decided to use it the other way and add my old wood trellis also for extra height and strength.
One heirloom that is orange striped, one cherry, and another. I'll put the names of the tomatoes later.



I have to find my ties I bought for plants to tie each tomato to a stick.




That's an elephants ear on the right in the back. It's last years and was grown in a box from last year. Little room to dig so I laid it in the small spot dug and added more soil on top. Hope it makes it.

The lilies have been my favorite bulb this season and next year I'll have more in pots When their bloom is over I'm going to try gladiolas and what ever tall flower can be put into pots for color. Dahlias would be beautiful grown in sun and put in the flower bed when they bloom. They may last longer with a little shade although this bed gets a good deal of sun now. Digging was still horrible though. Not many places to plant anything deep. Maybe the extra soil and some compost and manure, and leaf mold will help. I'll see what happens.

It turned out just beautiful. Better than I could have predicted. Maybe I'll be ready to enter the garden contest again this time for the yard since I'm learning what will work for my yard. There's still a lot to do before I'll do that. They sent me a notice about this years contest. If you live in Philly won't you enter your garden.
Digging deep enough for this heuchera was hard. I mentioned in a previous post that I liked the purple heuchera. I didn't realize until I read the tag that this is the purple although it looks more green. I sprayed everything with Neem Oil. After our days of rain, I'll go out and add something for slugs and snails since I've seen their shells in the yard also. The yard has so many spiders.


I bought these in the spring. One is almost dead but I'm trying to save it.
A little bamboo to hold up my rose.
This was the last area to work on. I didn't have any more impatiens so I used the begonias. My pictures were all blurry so I'll show this area on another day.





Beautiful flower.

Can you believe my sweet potato vine came up. This is the first day I've seen it.
Ornamental grass bought last fall. Will go in cedar planter.





There's still more to do. See you in the yard when the rain stops.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

What Am I Up To Today

Actually staying home today on Saturday. This is not something I normally do, but since rain is expected all day tomorrow, I'm making an effort to get as many of my not yet planted purchases in the ground today. Hopefully the rain will give them a good soaking. Nothing can replace rain water. Flowers and plants seem to take off after a rain. Can't wait to finish planting everything so I can just sit back and enjoy. More like then I can start my summer projects like freshening up by doing some painting and getting so things out of the house and to the Goodwill. I'll show you what is in progress See you later with an update.


Dead pansies removed. The violas are still going and I couldn't remove them all. Some I saved for a pot in the yard.
They're beautiful and need to be deadheaded.

I added vinca, impatiens, sweet potato vine, and coleus.


On the step geraniums and coleus look picky but it's just spring.
I've finally learned how to take care of  gerbera  daisies. Give them lot of water but good drainage. I wait till they start to wilt so I know I'm not over watering. For me they like indirect light, although  this one is on the steps so it's gets a little more light than the ones I have on my porch.

I can be messy this is not bad yet. Time to add some summer annuals to the planter.
It's fully planted but I took pictures before I finished planting so there are still some empty spots.
Five coleus, 1 licorice plant, 2 impatiens, and one sweet potato vine. Asparagus fern and New Guinea impatiens were already in the container. I'm glad I found the licorice plant again this year. I tried seed in the fall with no success. I'm waiting on caladium and dwarf white canna to come up.



I love the grass. It's my favorite.



Sunflower seed my sister made me take. Hers self sow ever year and she has a lot she doesn't want. I had one here before. It was huge and the root huge.
I thought the whole thing was dying but it's put on new leaves. When I have time, I'll cut off the dead branches.


Gladiolus starting to come up. I've never had them. Narcissus dying foiliage.
Daylilly will soon bloom.
Black eye Susan vine. I also planted a bugainvilla vine.

That's my dahlia. It's getting taller and needs to be stalked.
The balloon flowers have really multiplied this year.
That's supposed to be an allium. Didn't even recognize it at first. What a waste of money.
Some allium. It'll have to do more than that for me to buy more of them.
Lambs ear is blooming again. It also has a disease starting again this year. If I remember I'll spray the plants out front tomorrow to hopefully prevent powdery mildew.

Another color other that red. I thought they would be pinker. Both types are very aeromatic.
The sedum bloomed.


My begonia is doing well. It's supposed to be on my porch. I lost the tag I taped on and didn't know what it was. Thought it was and outside bulb. I'm going to spray it and put it on the porch where I can really enjoy it when it gets bigger and blooms.
Time to get started in the yard. I'm going to stake the lilies.