Gardening - Vegetable and Fauna

Onions look great, potatoes are shooting straight up, squash and beans look terrific! According to the two or three Almanacs Dad insist we go by for planting, the first week of April will see tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in the ground. Hope to find some healthy broccoli to add to the mix this year. I would love some limas, but I hate to shell them so they will continue to come from the grocery store.


Have you tried the Cherokee Purple tomato? A real tasty treat - meaty, acidic and full of flavor. Next to my all time favorite, the Rutger, the Purple is my favorite.


Added a Japanese Maple to my garden this week along with a Butterfly Bush. I love flowering shrubs. The banana trees came back with several additional babies along the sides. I cut the slips off before the first freeze and potted those - I managed to get seven - which grew well in my dining room this winter. Now I have several to share. I think I will leave the Sago palms in their containers this year. They do not do well at all in our cold temperatures and I don't like to keep digging them up and then replanting. I will see how they fair over the summer and decide in the fall. I have been told they do well in containers year round.

I need to move a couple of Forsythia which should be safe to do now that the blooms have dropped. Like the azalea, the Forsythia does not like to be "handled" until right after the blooms drop. I have found they refuse to bloom if you wait until summer or fall to prune or relocate, so that is another project for the weekend or the first of the week.

My Easter Lilies are very proficient this year and have multiplied several times over. The same is true of my Hostas. I read last week that after they break the ground, they can be dug,separated, and replanted. Since mine are so thick I think this will be an additional project. This to do list should get me through the week and back into planting the following week.

The pollen is so thick right now, I can't work outside too long. I am hoping for rain over the weekend to bring relief to these allergies.

Until next time . . .

Happy reading!
Belle

Catch up

Enjoyed a quick but joy filled visit with my daughter, my son, my nephew and their families.  The babies are growing so fast these days and I am blessed to get to see them frequently to watch the changes that are taking place.  There is no bigger changes than the first few months after "regular" or "real" school  starts and they are exposed to the magic of learning and the meeting of new people.  The exposure to the way others live and learn is a great part of the learning process. 

Our small town enjoyed an annual festival this weekend of which I chose not to attend.  It is still a little on the warm side for me to be out with thousands of pushing and shoving people all trying to avoid the heat and still the wonderful creations that might be new to this years event.  Once in a while a new vendor will show up with something new and different and really cause a stir, but over the years we see the return of those we have seen many times before.  I do miss the basket weavers that create their wares as we stand and watch.  I could watch them for hours. 

This week, and yes I know I am behind, I will dig up the hostas and divide them and hope I get enough crowns to have a beautiful grouping next spring.  I have to move 9 crowns that are getting way too much sun and place them in a shaded area.  The sun blistered most of them until they looked horrible  in mid summer, but I should have known better than to expose them to full sun.  They will have more shade next year and hopefully be as full and beautiful all summer as they were this spring.

Until next time . . .

Happy reading!
Belle

Sago Palms, Hostas, and More

We all thought the Sago palms were done for and I had planned to take them up next week.  I have been patiently waiting for new growth to appear after a horrendous winter, but I was tiring of the brown fronds.  Surprise, surprise - New green fronds started showing themselves this past weekend. 

This week we were blessed with Hubby's lilly opening up.  It was a little slow this year, but the blooms are beautiful and more are ready to pop!

This giant hosta was a Mother's Day gift from my son and his family.  It is gorgeous and in the fall I will divide and share.  I love new plants and additions to my little garden!  Still have to get some mulch around this beauty so it will survive the hot days ahead.

The hostas I put in last year have tripled in size and have bloomed also.  Bulbs and tubers really thrive here.

My rosa rugosa is spreading its roots and new shoots are coming up all around.  I am excited that it likes its soil and light enough to expand.  Sorry I don't I have pics to share, but I will post more later.