Bush moved

New location by the shed.

Where it used to be--yes, needs weeding.

Garden Box Updates

Box 1

Just realized the cucumbers I planted are a bush variety, instead of a vine.  Oops.

Split up the two cantaloupe, putting one in each box.

Box 3

In the place of the 2 okra plants that got nibbled, I planted sweet basil, greek oregano, and thyme.

Beans going strong. 2 of the 4 nasturtiums up.

Box 4

Looking good!

Garden Boxes

We've had thunderstorms all week, but there was one day that was just hot and humid with no rain.  It was a Wednesday, and even though I had vowed to get all my tomato plants from the Farmer's Market this year, I didn't want to wait until Thursday or Saturday to do it. Jason was home and kiddos were taken care of, so I just went to Ace Hardware and Wickman's nursery, bought all my plants and seeds, and came home and got them in the ground.  I'm glad I did!  It has rained pretty steadily ever since.

Box 1 

 Back row, against the trellis: 2 cucumbers, my Green Zebra tomato plant, a cantaloupe.

In front is a zucchini hill, a stray potato plant growing from last year's potato patch (oops, guess I missed one!), and on the far right are 2 Golden California Wonder bell peppers.  The front right corner is planted with nasturtiums.

Box 2

I decided to put most of my tomatoes in the same box this year and minimize other plants to give them a little more room.  Back row against the trellis: Sun Sugar cherry tomato, Jubilee (yellow, low-acid) tomato, Mr Stripey (red with orange stripes, 56 days to maturity) tomato, and displaced one square up, another Sun Sugar.  The lone tomato in the front middle is a Champion variety.  Far right, in front of the tomato, is 1 okra plant, and once again, the front right corner is planted with nasturtium seeds.

Box 3

This one probably has the most variety.  Back row, left to right, against the trellis: 1 lima bean (from a PAT activity that we took Jacob to--he planted it in a cup and it actually grew "big and tall," so now it gets a chance in the garden.  I don't even like lima beans, but I digress...) In the same square, I planted a scarlet runner bean.  Next square over is a cantaloupe (officially needs 2 squares against the trellis.)  Far right square has bush beans planted.

Next row up, 2 squares of okra, 2 squares of bush beans.  Next row: 1 okra, 2 Better Bell peppers, 1 square bush beans.  Front row: nasturtiums, then 3 squares of Sweet Pimento bell peppers.

I figured the okra and peppers would be stout enough to stand up against the bush beans' attempts at garden takeover.

Spring veggies, with Becca's leg in view as well. :)

Potatoes are getting big and bushy.  Already, my onions seem bigger than they ever got last year.  The beet tops are looking healthy, and the peas have started climbing the trellis.  I planted a couple of annual flower vines, don't remember the name offhand, interspersed with the peas.  If they grow they should be pretty--orange star-shaped flowers with green centers. And I discovered that this one type of peculiar-looking weed I've been pulling up from this bed has been TOMATO plants growing from last year's crop that must have fallen in the soil!  Awesome! I had just planted all my tomatoes, and it struck me how similar these leaves looked.  So I smelled them, and sure enough, tomato.  Not sure which variety.  There's one tall one in the peas that I'm going to attempt to transplant elsewhere, I think.

Here's hoping we get to sample some of the fruits of these labors before we move.

Growing Big and Tall

The purple salvia and fuschia peonies go especially well together, I think.

This is the peony that grows about 3 feet tall with blooms at the top of each stem.  I haven't seen any others like it, and I'm hoping to bring a cutting with me when we move.

Aren't these flowers gorgeous?

The rose bush is just covered in blooms this year, as you can see.

I can hardly believe how tall this purple coneflower has grown.  It must be all the rain we've gotten the past 2 weeks.  It's taller than the rosebush! It's hard to tell in this picture, but interestingly enough, the plant in front is a good 6 inches taller than the one behind it.  I wonder if it's simply getting more sunlight or what.  They started out the same size, though, so I don't know.

The other patch of salvia.  Can you tell I haven't weeded this end of the bed yet?

Front beds, flowers, and spring vegetables

I thought it odd that I left such a big bare space between these hostas.  Then this week, this little baby hosta popped up.  Oh yeah!  It was a piece that had broken off one of the others during transplanting and I decided to put it in its own space. I hope it keeps growing and catches up with these others....otherwise, it will look kind of funny.

Things are starting to look a bit crowded here.  It's great that everything is growing so well.  Not sure how to fix it at this point--or if I should even bother, considering the move.

These hostas are huge!  They loved the rain this past week.

If I decide to take cuttings with me to Washington, these would definitely be candidates.

I put all the peony pictures in a separate post, but these salvia are also about to bloom and looking beautiful.  I love the dark purple stems.

Last but not least, my spring veggies are doing great!  The rain has been good for them, too.

Peas starting to climb--I may interplant some annual climbing flowers, since so many didn't germinate.

Potatoes looking healthy and big, beets coming along, and the onions finally are tall and stopped flopping over.

It's amazing what a little rain will do!

Peonies

This is actually a photo from last week.  This is the peony I transplanted last fall, next to the sedum.

One bending bloom, next to some vigorous purple cone flower plants.

This is the biggest bush.  It has several more buds coming.

Hi Jacob!

Aren't these gorgeous?  It's so ironic that I chose this one to transplant, not knowing what color the blooms would be (it didn't have any flowers on it at all last year.) All the other peonies in the bed I took it from are the scarlet red color you see, above.  Perhaps it was just too shy to bloom in the other bed!