Saturday, April 23, 2016

Planting of the Veggies!

Hey, Hey!!
We have had one little frost since like the first of March. .
And I am having a hard time believing that it is still only April!!
So I have been chomping at the bit to get stuff planted!

We enjoyed 4.75 inches of rain last weekend. .Prom day, of course!
But everyone was so glad to see the rains after the week full of the worst fires in Kansas history right in our neighborhood here. .that NO. ONE. CARED!!
My tomatoes have been in the wall of waters for about 2 weeks now. .
And I decided I needed to get the rest of them planted.

The pictures aren't great at all. .
Boring, pretty much. .
But I needed to map the beds so I can remember which plants are what.
My biggest issue at the end of the summer. .is that I have no earthly idea what plants are where anymore. .Because I can't easily find my little tiny labels!! 
And I'm too hurried and lazy to look for them!
I hope this works much better for me!
3 raised beds on the east side of  the house.
In the front one. .Bed #1
on the north side starting front of picture to the back. .
Beefmaster tomato
Super Banana Supreme pepper
Celebrity tomato
Gypsy sweet pepper.
On the south side is, ,
Green bell pepper
Snow White cherry heirloom tomato
Valencia orange pepper
Jetsetter tomato 

Bed #3 which you can see directly behind bed #1 in the top picture. .
has 3 rows of clemson spineless okra.
Bed #2. .the northernmost raised bed.
Only 4 tomato plants at this point. .
north side is a big boy tomato
Big beef tomato
south side is a Lemon boy tomato
1 renegade potato plant from last year
and a Jubilee heirloom tomato.
Bed #4 in the front.
on the east side are two mucho nacho Jalapeno plants.
6 sweet banana pepper plants (with a garlic plant in there too)
On the south side of the bed are 5 short rows of beets, another garlic plant, and a tiny basil plant.
In between the raised beds are where I opted to plant a couple bulbs of garlic last winter. .like in January. .Oops!
Bed #5 has Straight Eight cucumbers on the north side and National pickling cucumbers on the south side. 
To the right of the photo (not very easy to see) is a huge tarragon plant that I never use because I don't know how. .some sage, chives, oregano, lemon balm, and a bronzeleaf fennel plant that I never got around to harvesting. It not only overwintered. .but I found 3 small plants coming up from seed in other areas! 
I guess I will try to figure out how to use it. .It is sure is pretty. .and gourmet-ish!!
I planted 4 tomatoes in the memory garden. .
I should repost some of the early pictures of this space. .
It has been the best changing garden in my career!!
It may be hard for you to determine that there are 4 tomato cages in this photo. .
I can tell that. .
In the cage closest to left front of the photo is a Parks Whopper tomato.
The one directly to the south is a Cherokee Purple tomato.
The farthest south near the Atlas Cedar is a Salsa Roma tomato. .
And there is one right near the pedestal birdhouse which is a Juliet grape tomato. 
Remember how I mentioned that Jeremy is becoming a gardener as well??
He had been so focused last summer on hooking his drip system up to water his tiny cedar trees. .
That my Valentine rhubarb plant got more water than it has seen in it's lifetime. .
We hooked the drippers to take care of the rhubarb and a couple blackberry bushes as well as the tiny trees. .
So the rhubarb is happy, happy, happy!! 
And so will be the gardener the day she gets a pie from this critter!! 
Again. .
being stewarded by a too-busy gardener. .
I thought all my asparagus plants died.
They have never taken off. .
probably because of neglect.
SOO. .
I bought 14 more roots and planted them a couple weeks ago. .
And Jeremy added a dripper hose to them. .
And today whilst rummaging around this back area. .
I found all of the 4 plants that I knew had survived of the first 10 I planted 4-5 years ago now.
Yay us!! 
We love them grilled. .or roasted. .or wrapped in prosciutto and goat cheese!! 
A tiny little columbine that survived it's first year in my garden!
The shady and moist narrow garden on the north side of the house may be a winner! 
Feeling cocky because ONE had survived. 
I bought a few more at Lowes a few weekends ago. .
When I caught them on a flash sale for $3.00 apiece!!
Behind it is a hosta that is supposed to be 5 feet tall. .
It's been pretty pathetic these first few years. .
But it may be settled in and ready to go now!! 
We have decided to add some privacy to our west deck. .
Something that we SHOULD have done about. .
Um. .
16 years ago!!
But I was afraid that we would tear up all the plants. .
So I dug up this clematis from his little spot there.

He won't die. .
But he didn't thrive there either. 
I am hoping that this area on the north side will be a little better. .
Not as intense sun. .but hopefully enough sun that he will perform. 
Here is the north side of that deck!
I am LOVING IT!!
We had some reclaimed church windows. .
In my head plans. .
I knew that I wanted slats to partially see through. .
And I also know that I don't do perfection. .
Instead, I prefer complete randomness. .
That way no one can judge my lack of measuring and precision!
I think this fits the bill!!
Jeremy, as usual, couldn't picture it in his head. .
But was pleased with it too!
The west side is almost done. .
Complete with change of slat direction and different heights on window placement too.
Hopefully by next weekend, it will be all finished up!!

In the rock planter we made several years back. .
There is a clump of maiden grass on the left and a Karl Forester grass on the right, closest to the deck. 
A darker colored sedum clump that you can see..
along with a hardy little dianthus plant loaded with cherry red buds. A few hen and chicks are loving their life there too--a swap from Gardener on Sherlock's house. 
This is the biggest pain in my butt site. .
The west side of the house. .
Hot. .windy. .nothing likes it here!
Climbing on the deck rail is an orange honeysuckle bush. .nearly ready to bloom.
I ordered some little starts from High Country Gardens. .and am hoping that they will be up for the challenge. Rock garden goes in after this if the plants are a no-go!! 
The green grassy clumps are actually old hyacinth foliage and some Magic Lily foliage.
I don't have a lot of curb appeal. .
But my little front flower bed is finally looking fuller.
The same day I got the columbines. .
They were also having a flash sale on these salvia plants!
SCORE! 
I added some along the pond. .
Where I have the same issue of too much heat. .and too much sun!
I put a couple little gallardia plants in there today. .and some more plants from HCG down to the driveway. .filling in among the existing--but sparse plantings!
The green hedge looking thing in the back. .are 3 spirea bushes I dug from my MIL's border years and years ago. .I noticed a smattering of blooms on the north side of them today. .Can't wait to see them in full bloom! 
Little water irises blooming.
My pump died this winter. .
And in delaying the purchase of a new one. .
Both of my big Koi died!! They grow super fast. .So I will have to get some more at Petsmart this summer! 
My friend Pat got a bunch of hybrid iris starts from a gardening buddy out west. .And several years ago, she shared some with me. .This is the first time it was big enough to bloom. .LOVE IT!! 
Well. . 
That's all for the garden diary today!
Thanks for tagging along during our very busy day!!

3 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you decided to restart this blog and are using it for a planting reference! We get to enjoy your garden as well.
    I would suggest some native Helianthus along that west side---I know they can take that hot drying wind and thrive as we have seen them often on our travels out west. They are gorgeous and tough as nails.
    Enjoy the day, Melanie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually do have many clumps of that in my south gardens where they will have a lot of room to expand. .I had never thought about putting them in this narrow space. .because I have tried smaller things that they would take over. .but yes, that will have to go on that list!! People can usually see those sunflowers all the way from the road and will comment about how beautiful they are!!

      Delete
  2. Whew! What a tour. You have a lot of different tomatoes. I'd want a map of where they were planted too. Glad to hear the hen and chicks are happily growing there. It's amazing what a little water will do to revive plants. Some nice surprises. Your screen is really cool. I like the randomness too. I haven't heard anyone complain about the rain here either. Those fires were so scary. Good to see your garden.

    ReplyDelete