Gardening While Stay at Home

I've done my share of ordering plants while I stay at home. What about you? Since it's recommended to only go out for essentials this is my excuse to misbehave. Today a new arrival for the yard but not a plant.

I like it. Light weight charcoal concrete planter for the yard to replace one I no longer like. I'll move that somewhere else in the yard. Tomorrow my daughter and I will move it to the yard so I can plant it up. Ordered 2 hosta, 2 Japanese  anemone, and 1 maidenhair fern. One heuchera,  2 begonias, and a few impatiens or some vinca from Home Depot. It should fill out nicely by summer.

Don't have to worry about drilling a hole since I have a cordless drill but haven't yet found the charger so it's useless for now.

Pepper seedlings. Shouldn't be 2 in the pot but will have to do for now.

So what's going on out here? A lot of clutter.

Stopped working on sewing my chair cushions and put the old ones back on until the mood inspires me to sew again. You would think that being at home since March would motivate me. It has not. My house inside should be immaculate with things donated to the Goodwill and spare bedrooms cleared out. They are not. Seedlings from Burpee and tiny others from Select Seed to plant. I removed pansies from a planter outdoors and put in summer annuals. Guess what? It's cold again especially at night. Well only the tough survive. Hopefully my zinnia seedlings planted in the ground don't die. I'd really be upset. They say plant after Mother's Day. Who says it won't be a frost after then?

Chicago Fig is doing well. The tiny bear root blueberry, strawberries, and lilac are in plant heaven. Won't be buying those tiny bear root plants in a box from Home Depot any more. Until next year. I have to do better. But the fig survived.

Patio Eggplant and will supposedly stay small. Can't wait to see this. Haven't planted any for years. Eggplant has beautiful blooms.

Gave kitty her cat nip. After smelling it she laid on it and rolled around. Those are the remaining hairs from her fur that I didn't pick off. Thought she'd killed it already. Cat grass that I sowed filled the pot and she enjoyed it. Although it doesn't last for long. I'll have to sow some more. The porch obviously was too cold for it also. When I move the pot indoors the seeds germinated quickly.

A porch chair needs to sit here so eventually everything on the floor has to be removed. Pumpkins from fall still here. What type of pumpkin lives this long? They are rock hard. Said I'd bake them and make soup but you can see where they are.

Lettuce finally emerged. Seemed to want more darkness and warmth. Didn't germinate until I covered it with something that blocked the light. The same for the sage below.

Love the begonias from Bloom Box. Unfortunately I hope the ones planted outdoors survive our expected cool temperatures later this week.

Didn't know columbine would continue to bloom if you dead head the old blooms. This is the second set of blooms.

Geraniums stained by plant fertilizer on the leaf. Sitting here until I line the container with plastic and add soil. I found this in my shed while searching for my drill. Never used. Seemed like a good purchase at the time.

Yes I did buy a maidenhair fern for the yard. You know they like to be moist. This should be interesting when June-August arrives.

Harvested lettuce is growing back. Maybe I'll get enough for another salad. That dead looking plant on the side of the container is a black eyed Susan vine before I removed the seeding from indoors. I have to do better. Watered it and hopefully it'll revive.

Nasturtium are doing good. Won't ever start them indoors again. They did well direct sowing.

One amaryllis starting to open.

Planting Perennials

From Gilbert H. Wild and Son. Ordered 3 digitalis and received 1. Ordered 2 bee balm and received 5. Sent a e-mail and they responded promptly. Will send out the 2 digitalis and can keep the bee balm. Nice brunneras. The bee balms are tiny. Planted some perennials in the yard today. I wanted to get them in the ground so they can benefit from rain tonight and tomorrow.

The heat of July and August will tell how well they do in my yard. One planted in the fall is beautiful. Different sites have conflicting information. One said brunnera does well in dry shade and another said it likes moisture. Time will tell. I plan on watering my plants in the yard this summer. Added a lot of plants this season and don't want to see them die once it heats up. People normally water plants in the summer. In my yard, not usually not me once the heat arrives. As I always say. Only the tough survive. This summer will be different.

Planting hardy and woodland aster. Pressing the limits of what can grow in dappled shade with some hours of sun. Hopefully they'll do well.  Six asters, 2 brunnera, and one foxglove. Slugs ate my digitalis started in the house the last time I planted some in the yard. Hopefully this won't happen with these.

Digitalis. I tried sowing some twice indoors. Normally they do well but not this season. So I bought a few and hopefully they'll self seed.

Hardy Aster

They look good.

The yard is filled with fallen pollen, still falling from the trees. Leaves have emerged on the Norway Maples and soon shade.

The blooms are lasting a long time on the brunnera. Maybe throughout May. That would be nice.

Time to do something different in this spot. Liked it when I put it there but not anymore. I'll remove the stand which is a pot and place the container in another place in the yard after painting it. Ordered a square 31" wide planter for this spot with plans to plant, 1 Japanese fern, 1 hosta,
1 heuchera, flowering tobacco, and impatiens. Can't wait until it arrives so I can plant it. And maybe some cardinal flower if they aren't too tiny when they arrive.

Ostrich Fern is getting larger.

A perennial planted here in the fall didn't come back so I saved this space and another for 2 other perennials when they arrive. Aralia cordata (sun king) is emerging on the right. Wonder how large it'll get. This plant is supposed to get big. Hopefully it'll do well and finally produce berries for the birds in the yard. Since I stopped filling the bird feeders because the birds weren't getting any food, they've returned to the yard. Drinking and bathing in the bird bath. Cardinals courting, male and female. A large robin surveying the yard and eating earth worms. I also enjoyed it's bath yesterday. A large blue jay which I haven't seen in the yard in years. And doves, 2 types of sparrows, and birds whom I can't identify. If  I'd known that squirrels caused them to avoid the yard, I would have stopped filling the feeder sooner. Haven't heard the wood pecker yet this season.

Another space for a perennial.

Surprised anything came up in the containers after squirrels dug them up. Maybe some lettuce, broccoli, and mustard greens soon.

Should have labeled what I planted where. Seedlings are all looking the same.

Used to have a lot of native wild flowers in the yard before I knew much about gardening. I dug them up and they stopped coming. I miss the wild violets and fever few. Thinking this may be a fever few. They're several in the center of the yard which I'll leave this year and let them bloom. Ordered 2 wild violets, blue and yellow for the yard. My neighbor has a huge block of violets on the sidewalk in front of her house. I would love to dig them up since many people think they're weeds. The flowers are beautiful.

Love the purple color in the yard.

Sowed this a few days ago but seeds were old so I don't know if they'll come up.

I'm going to harvest the romaine lettuce.

Potted up Persain sheild until I decide if it'll be added to the window box.

Before cutting. Planted more lettuce seeds in there that didn't come up. Ordered fresh freckles lettuce seeds and will sow again.

Washed and dried and put in the refrigerator in a sealed bag until I eat it this week. Can't get fresher than this.

Brought a little table on the porch so I din't have to bend down to sow my seeds. Only did the herbs.

Tulips about done.

Cat grass for kitty, lemon basil, a mixed pack of different types of basil, and mesclun lettuce.

Lettuce

This picture was taken last week. No sun today. Overcast and expecting rain tonight and tomorrow. Sorry that the pictures aren't loading in the previous post. Don't know what happened. Will hopefully try to fix.