I’ve been simultaneously eager about and dreading the final round of seed-sowing. Seeds are a lot of work, and while I want the seeds to be in the ground and the plants to be grown and flowering, I didn’t want to have to put the seeds — all the many scores of them — in the earth myself.

But I did. What cost us $50 in seeds will give us an enormous number of plants that probably would cost $300-$400 to buy them fully formed at a nursery.  The past two days I did a ton of tiny things in the garden that are currently invisible — I sowed seeds directly in the flower beds:

• Entire packet of Sunflower Dwarf Sunspot seeds
• Entire packet of Sunflower Snacker seeds
• Entire packet of Nasturtium Jewel Blend seeds
• Zinnia Thumbelina seeds
• Bean Bush Jade seeds
• Sweet William Double Blend seeds
• Zinnia Northern Lights Blend seeds
• Nasturtium Black Velvet seeds
• Morning Glory Heavenly Blue seeds

I also did the equally unexciting job of transplanting seedlings that I started indoors several weeks ago:

• Scabiosa Pincushion Flower – Isaac House Blend
• Sunflower Mexican Torch
• Sage Garden Broadleaf
• Grass Little Bluestem
• Tomato Bush Better Bush
• Tomato Grape Jelly Bean Red & Yellow

And, because all of those things require tons of waiting, and I want instant gratification, I took a trip to the nursery. Actually, I think I went to the nursery every day — Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I got caught in a spring shower there yesterday, which was fun. The plants look so pretty in the rain.

In addition to the seeds I sowed, and the seedlings I transplanted, I also bought some already flowering plants (and an ornamental grass I’ve been waiting for) and put them in the ground:

• Lollipop vervain
• Straw flowers
• Purple Haze Nepeta
• Nepeta Junior Walker
• Muhly grass
• Dwarf hummingbird mint (agastache)

As far as everything else going on in the garden, the indigo Salvia is in bloom — the first of the perennials to flower — and our buttery snapdragons look adorable against the blue. The yarrow has fat flower buds now, and the new veronica I bought a few weeks ago is starting flower spikes as well.

All the perennials I moved from the front to the back hill beds seem to be surviving, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to survive and thrive out there. I spend a lot of time now sitting on the table on our back deck so I can watch the garden grow, and watch the birds at the bird feeder. We saw an indigo bunting yesterday! It was a gorgeous deep teal, almost a peacock-blue color, but a little less green.

The hardest work is done now: killing the grass, mulching more than 2000 square feet of flower beds, digging in rocky soil, transplanting dozens of plants, nursing seeds for weeks indoors before moving them outside, prepping the earth to sow seeds, actually sowing seeds in.

I’ve only got a few more things left to do (besides the constant weeding) — a few more transplants, starting some basil seeds. I think my gardening from here on out will primarily consist of maintenance, watching things grow, and enjoying it :-).

Here are some photos from early May. I always like to compare later in the season — it looks so bare now compared to how it’s likely going to look in July.

Back bed: dark patches are newly sown seeds

Front bed with dwarf sunflower seeds sown

Under the dogwood

Rows of dwarf zinnia seeds

Herb bed early May