Seedlings

As much as I love gardening I'm not a coddler, so growing seeds indoors in little pots that require watering and sometimes transplanting in even bigger pots, was out of the question. It was direct sow or nothing, a method which offered no guarantees and great risk. I'm usually not much of a risk taker, but it was worth it not to have to coddle and it worked! I've already mentioned the peas, but here are a few other seed successes.

Sunflowers in the cutting garden. Last year the crows got all of the seeds, but not this year! I love the way you can see the actual seeds for a while after the plant begins to grow!

Cosmos in the cutting garden

Zinnias planted just last weekend! Also in the cutting garden.

Larkspur I planted last Fall. Guess where?

Dill. I hate to say use this word, but aren't they cute?



I bet you can guess this one! Basil

Borage

This is my favorite kind of seedling; the unidentified one! Unfortunately, that's happened all too often this year. I have a feeling that I've pulled some seedlings as weeds and left some weeds as seedlings. I'm pretty sure this is definitely NOT a weed though since there are eight of them in a fairly straight row which screams human, not nature!

What I Accomplished

The long weekend was a great time to get the last of the seeds (well, most of them) in the ground.

Herbs and Companion Plants in the Kitchen Garden

Basil with the tomatoes and on the left side of the edible herbs garden

Calendula, gazania and 'Bright Lights' cosmos with the peppers. I realized later that I should have done the calendula much earlier or in the fall.

Nasturtiums with the tomatoes and on the right side of the edible herbs garden.

The soil still wasn't up to 70 degrees for planting melons and squash, but if this weather keeps up it shouldn't be long.

Cutting Garden

A variety of sunflowers

The typical Sensation mix cosmos and a really pretty one called Seashells from Burpee that I'm trying for the first time.

I also moved some of the many daisies from below the deck into the bed I set aside for "cutting" perennials. They are not happy! They can't possibly be that finicky can they? They're daisies for goodness sake! I don't know if it's because I was a little rough digging them up or because I didn't give them enough water. I'm trying to keep at least some of them alive.

Lower Patio Bed

I moved out the daisies as mentioned above and gave some to my mother and sister-in-law. I found two more suckers, I mean takers (sorry Caroline!) at work. Martha are you my next victim? Really, they're not that bad as far as invasiveness. I just found them uninspiring.

Some much needed weeding was done here and, head hung low confession time, I got the leaves out.

The hostas are looking beautiful again. I had a temporary moment of insanity when I considered moving them into the newly cleared woods. While they may indeed be happy there, they're so exquisite where they are I figured why mess with beauty? Plus, when the deer start knocking again at least they'll have to work for it a little bit by walking up the slope into the yard. Yeah, that'll show 'em.

Other fun

Simon loves willow trees and while I see the appeal I know they're weak wooded and messy and not exactly recommended. Of course, all of that was ignored and last Spring we bought a Salix alba 'Tristis' and planted it just in time for the drought. I'm not very good with watering and unfortunately the lack of rain didn't change my inate habit. At one point we thought we'd lost her, but she came back! A couple of the lower branches had died as well as some of the upper ones. I pruned those off this weekend, watered and mulched well. She looks so much better! The final step--a vow among the family to take better care of Simon's tree.

I also weeded under the Japanese Maples in the front yard. These are not my favorite trees as they are not what I typically think of when I think Japanese Maple. That is, they're not gracefully shaped with exquisite leaves and beautiful branching. They have red leaves which I am NOT a fan of and most of their branches are straight. I also find the red trees jarring against the soft creamy yellow of the house. However, I can't cut them down (yet!) because FDR had a Japanese Maple near his front door in Hyde Park (my husband.) So, twice now I have pruned them judiciously removing any "boring" branches in favor of those with sweeping arcs. Slowly I am begining to find them more tolerable. Plus I'm really tuning my pruning skills and have found I thoroughly enjoy the effort. I realize this probably isn't the best time to prune, but I couldn't help myself and they look much better!

Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures because I couldn't get any decent ones with my smartphone. Frustration has finally won over common sense and even though I had absolutely no business doing it, I ordered a new camera today. Bear with me decent pictures are coming!