Five Hours of Fun

I got a ton of planting done on Good Friday. All of the flowers I bought a few weeks ago are now in the ground. Now I wish I had bought another flat of geraniums. But I doubt they would still have them at Costco if I went back. I'll just have to look at Home Depot or Lowe's or even Walmart.

Then on Saturday I planted the entire vegetable garden. It took me about five hours to do. But, that included shade breaks and a few calls to family and friends about Easter. All of this planting business started weeks ago when I bought the garden soil and tilled it into the existing soil after weeding and getting the leaves out of the beds. Then I had to study up on crop rotation and plot out the garden based on last year and what was planted where. I procrastinated about that for a while until I finally sat down with pen and paper and sketched it all out. So from left to right (if you are facing the playground from the driveway) this is what's planted this year: two types of lavender, oregano, a lavender rhododendron, ever-bearing strawberries, peas, lima beans, green beans, a butterfly bush, thyme, Italian flat leaf parsley, rosemary, lemon balm, four types of tomatoes, cinnamon basil, corn, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, a very sad looking azalea, and cucumbers. The squash and zucchini are both seeds that I planted directly into the soil.

cucumbers

dill, corn, squash, and beans                   

I've been watering the soil twice a day so I hope the seeds germinate and grow. I usually grow everything indoors first so this is my first time planting something directly in the soil. I am also not sure which plants are lima beans and which ones are climbing green beans. I guess I'll find out when they    start to bear fruit.

tomatoes and basil

lemon balm, rosemary, parsley, and thyme 

bush beans

lima beans

                          peas

strawberries

I still have some seedlings waiting for transplant including mini and regular sunflowers, sweet basil, and chamomile. I think I might plant the mini sunflowers in a pot and put it next to the preschool entrance. There's an extra pot I found the other day. Of course I found it after I was finished planting all of the flowers in pots and in the ground. So I didn't have even one geranium, viola, or petunia to plant in it. I could also plant the chamomile in the pot also. I think it would like the softer potting soil and I would like to be able to move it if I need to.

oregano and two types of lavender

Speaking of pots to fill. I have three window boxes that I bought last week and plan to fill and put on the balcony on the street side of the railing. Next time I get paid I will hit up the plant nursery for some 'thrill, spill, and fill.' I think the hardest part will be to pick the thrill plant/s. I was thinking red geraniums because they're the color of the Methodist Church so to speak.

 Also, geraniums are hearty and can handle the direct sunlight and if I don't get to watering them every day. Then I was think I would fill the pots with maybe a few decorative ferns or small grasses. And the spill can be ivy or vinca. Actually, that also makes me think of impatiens. They would make good thrill and fill and are hearty as well. I guess I'll hold off and see what comes out for sale after all of the violas and pansies are completely gone from the stores. I'll need to grab some marigolds for the summer anyway. So I might as well get everything in one trip if I can swing it.

 So far the garden is in stasis. That means I can focus on other projects around the grounds like pruning the saplings from the crepe myrtles, taming the vines along the driveway (while avoiding the poison ivy I saw there the other day), and getting the rest of the weeds out of the far off garden. There's always something that needs to be done. I'm not complaining though. I think I've finally hit my stride this year and I think the garden really reflects that.