July 4: Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar
Category: spring
June 28: gardening in the rain
Today was a perfect day to move plants around and to spend a good amount of time in the garden: the temperature was about 72 ℉ with a light drizzle all day long. I transplanted a few plants, including two Russian sages, refilled our flower boxes, and planted lantana and artemisia, all without worry of shocking them by planting them in the heat of summer.
The overcast sky and cool sprinkles kept me comfortable while I spent most of the day outside. I liked not overheating while I was out there in almost-July.
The photos aren’t great since they’re from my phone instead of my real camera, but I wanted to grab photos of some of the stuff in bloom.
June 27: basil and bee balm
The basil is finally starting to get enough leaves that I feel like it’s actually doing something now. The bee balm is starting to bloom, too.
June 18: feverfew and coneflowers in bloom
June 13: critters
June 8: snake in the garden
Sorry, Mom 😬
On my lunch break today, I watched this snake slither out of the forsythia, across the garden and part of the lawn, and then rest in the shade of the oak tree.
June 5: Dianthus in bloom
May 31: Pollinators pollinate while I read a book
May 24: Weekend of green leaves, books, and flowers
Time has slowed down since the pandemic began. Weekend errands, drives to and from the aquatic center, and swim meets are all gone. We planned to sail on Saturday. We had the boat hitched up and drove further away from our house than we have in 72 days now.
But the highway was closed, and traffic on the detour was backed up for miles. We turned around and came home. My boat hat transformed into my reading in the garden hat.
I sat in the garden and read Saturday and Sunday both. If the sun was up, I was outside. I finished one book, and then another. And I took some photos of the lush emerald green. The garden never as deep and fresh a green as it is in May..
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May 17: fertilized, sowed seeds, and got a new bird bath
The weather this weekend was glorious, and I celebrated in the garden. I hate fertilizing, so I did that first to get it out of the way. Then I played with plants. I divided black eyed Susans that were encroaching on other plants, and I moved the divided clumps to the back bed where they can spread as much as they want. I sowed zinnia, cosmos, and blanketflower seeds, and I finished filling our raised bed. When I was finished with all of that, I tied on a handmade mask my friend Pam made, drove over to our local nursery during a time of day I thought it wouldn’t be crowded, and picked out a new bird bath.
I’m happy for winter to be over.
Front yard
Back yard
May 17: raised bed
In April, when quarantine was still relatively new (eg, day 30 instead of day 65), our daughter wanted to build a plyo box for working out. Meanwhile, we wanted to grow tomatoes.
We’d been talking about the idea raised beds for a while. We have no level ground on our property — the only level ground is in the shade. Where we do have sun, we either have lawn or flowers. I don’t want viney tomato plants and their cages in the middle of my flower garden.
We found a hardware store that delivers lumber, and we didn’t want to make them drive all the way to our house just to deliver a couple pieces of plywood for our daughter’s plyo box. So we researched what we’d need for a raised bed and figured what the heck, let’s give it a try and see what happens.
I dug out the grass; my husband leveled the bed and boxed it in with 4x4s. Today, I filled it with top soil and compost, then planted four tomato — 2 beefsteak and 2 varieties of cherry — and an habañero plant.
We’re ready for summer.
Andrea's Gardening Blog 