Flowers

Johnny Jump-Ups, violas and alyssum in the flower bed in front of the kitchen window. They are reliable self-seeders, which is great for this year when I haven't had much extra time or energy to put into the flower gardens. Just when I was worried there wouldn't be much out there, they volunteered to put on a show.

Sunny flowers out front.

Johnny Jump-Up, up close.

An English lavender. I have since trimmed it down quite a bit on the sides since it started to grow over the dwarf dahlias. My bumblebees really hang out on this bush a lot. I like growing lavender because it likes our hot, dry summers. If I don't harvest the flowers, they actually still look and smell nice into the fall. I just let them dry on the bush.

Getting to Know the Bees

I am surprised to say that I am fond of my bumblebees. I say they are mine because they live in my flower garden out front. They even sleep there. They like to curl up inside the daphnias at sundown, and when they wake, they spend their entire day buzzing around my garden.

I say I am surprised because I am just slowly getting over an intense fear of bees. Just a few years ago, I could hardly stand to be outside if I heard anything remotely similar to the buzz of a bee. I would just run inside and not go out again that day. I remember on more than one occasion when I bravely went out to quickly put a flower in the ground, but then heard a bee. I ran to the front door to go inside but husband had LOCKED the door out of pure habit. I pounded on the door, heart pounding and furious. I was sure the neighbors thought I was insane.

One step forward was when I would run inside after hearing a bee, but would only stay in for a few minutes until I calmed down. I might go in and out of the house several times, but at least I was returning to the great outdoors.

Last summer was a huge turning point for me. I got most of the flowers started before it really warmed up, so there weren't many bees around. When I went out to enjoy and water the flowers in the summer, I saw how many bumblebees were around. Husband was really great and told me that the bumblebees are very gentle and slow and aren't going to harm me. I started to watch them buzz around the lavender. I got to where they could fly over my head and I would stay outside with them. I started to like them. I felt like I was giving them a place to stay and food to eat, and they were helping my garden.

I still don't like to pick flowers if they are out there. I wanted to harvest some lavender but there are so many bumblebees out there and I'm just not to the point where I can harvest in the midst of bees yet. I was able to get close enough to a few to get their pictures taken. I still don't like the regular honeybee very much, and I sure don't like anything with dangly legs. (Mud dabbers, wasps, yellow jackets, etc.) However, I might just go outside and watch my bumblebees this evening.

What in the World?

What do you think this is? Have you ever seen anything like this before? This is its first appearance in my flower bed.

I believe it is the flower for the hen and chicks. I thinned out the ever growing hen and chicks patch to make room for more pansies and violas this spring. By thinning out, I mean I just pulled out and off all the extra plants until I got down to the lower layer. All the activity must have spurned the plant into action to go to seed. We transplanted the ones I pulled out to a rock wall in the back, and two of those are also now showing this strange growth. I thought it was worthy of being shared.

Taking Care of Itself!

Well, of course the garden can't totally take care of itself, but it sure feels like the hard part is over. Most everything is seeded and growing. The fertilizer has been added. All I have to do now is keep things watered and picked. Then there are all those weeds that are enjoying the water as well. I will admit I'm not keeping them under control as well as I'd like. But with a needy baby and busy toddler, I have to let some things go. I pull a few weeds when I can. This is such a nice time. We have been enjoying some harvest for over a month now and things just keep growing.


The only vegetable produce we are buying are onions. The rest of our vegetables with dinner are from the garden. That has meant a lot of salads, but the salads have chopped green onions and fresh peas on top. And since I'm growing four kinds of lettuce, we always have a variety on the plate. I was under the impression that the lettuce would bolt by now, but the first set is still growing. I did some succession planting and now we have 16 heads of lettuce! All still going strong. So, anyway, we may have salad every night, but at least we didn't get it at the grocery store. Soon we will have so much more to add to the salads. See below!




Cherry tomatoes "Sweet 100." I have four of these plants and they all are full of little green tomatoes. What I love about these are that they are so small that they ripen really quickly. It can't be too long and we'll be tossing these into just about every dish!


Green beans starting to tie themselves on the trellis and climb up. I think it's so cute how they are leaning toward the fence. They really seem to know what they are doing. What a money saver these will be. I saw green beans at the farmer's market for $1.99 a pound. Whatever happened to the saying, "Ain't worth beans?"

Cucumbers. This year I'm growing them on the trellis to save room. They need a little help finding the fence though.

OK this doesn't go on a salad but the hydrangea is blooming! Must have done and OK job with the pruning this spring.

Miniature bell peppers in pots. We have lots of little blossoms. I will be so happy and surprised when we get a pepper to grow up here, especially if I can get some to turn red!

Yes, these are Roma tomatoes! The plants look very healthy.

The whole vegetable garden plot. Still waiting on the broccoli but the peas are feeding us well for the time. The zucchini is really starting to take off. Just heard from my folks 6 hours south of here that they are eating zucchini already. Oh well. We're just a few weeks behind up here in the north parts.

Carnations and Salad

I wish you could smell these! I enjoy these perennial carnations. Why? They come back every year and thrive in the hottest, driest spot in my garden. I just cut them back in the fall when they are all done blooming. Well, once in a while during the summer I do pluck the spent blooms and pick some for a vase. I do wish I'd planned the spot better. There is a big Rosemary bush in front of them! I didn't know the Rosemary would get that big. It was so tiny when I put it in.

An aerial view of the vegetable garden. You can see the lettuce patch has filled in pretty well. We are having salad every night. This week, I was able to add green onions from the garden to our salad. The peas in the cages are blossoming. The first set of carrots are just about ready. The beans and cucumbers are getting closer to grabbing onto their trellis at the far right. The broccoli is at the far left. I'm not sure what will happen with those, but I will keep watering them and see what they do.

In those empty looking patches are small zucchini plants and several rows of carrots and green onions whose seedlings are just starting to emerge.

Who says you have to dig up tubers?

Who says you have to dig up dahlia tubers for the winter?

You know, I think that a lot of these specialty gardening rules keep people from trying to grow new plants. If I have to dig up the bulb or the tuber every single fall, and then put it back in the ground for the next spring, well, it's just not going to happen. Also, who says you can't grow dahlias from seed? I grew dwarf dahlias from seed last spring. They bloomed through the summer and fall. I didn't dig up the tubers. We had a very cold winter for around here, so I didn't know if they would come back. They are all back and thriving. So don't let some of these gardening rules keep you from trying something. Try it your way. If it works, you'll be happy. If it doesn't, oh well. Try something else.

OK so the true dahlia experts might be irritated with my attitude, but I simply don't have time to devote all my energy to my garden. I do, however, like to try growing a variety of things. I don't garden for any sort of competition; just my own happiness when I look at the pretty flowers in the yard.

I'm saying all this because the fear of imperfection can keep me from trying new things, but I'm realizing that I can just garden my way. There is no test at the end of the summer, and I am the boss so the only one I could disappoint would be myself, but I'm not going to let that happen.

Here is a rose growing in the back. It's along the sunny south wall, so it blooms pretty early and keeps blooming straight through to November. I'm torn between putting some insecticide on it or letting things be. I'm hoping to get a population of ladybugs, so I don't want to spray it. But at the same time, it's leaves are being eaten up by some sort of small green worm-like creature, and there are aphids. I'll try to spray it off with water for now. These are some tough rose bushes I have. No matter how little attention or water I give them, they keep putting out lots of roses every year.

Tomato Row

The peas are really getting going now. It sure took a while for the seeds to germinate. Hope it's not getting too hot for them. If I keep some laundry drying out on the line, it could help to shade them a bit.

Lettuce from legging seedlings! They look fine and we've been eating them on sandwiches and burgers. Tonight we'll have a salad of mixed greens and maybe a few shavings of radish if we're lucky. With the hot weather this week, maybe I should throw a salad party before these decide to bolt (which I now know means: "go to seed").

What a shocker yesterday! Could this be a TOMATO BLOSSOM??!! Look for that little yellow spot.

Last weekend, we had some family visit and they helped me to fill my Lowe's 5-gallon buckets with potting soil. Now all the tomatoes are lining the south wall of the house, getting plenty of sun. The house walls should keep them warmer at night too. Husband drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets and lined them with landscape fabric. Then I dumped some rocks in the bottom for better drainage before we put the soil in. I tried to bury the plants with at least 1/3 of their height in the soil.

OK, so tomatoes in 5-gallon paint buckets doesn't really go with the idea of cottage gardening in any sense, but it's a cheap solution. I got them for $2.97 a bucket. The soil near the house is awful so I'd rather them be in store-bought soil anyway.

After the whole radish problem, I'm thinking container gardening with potting soil sounds great. In fact, I think I might just go try to grow some radishes in a pot. Any ideas on how to get rid of the little white wormy thing in my garden soil that was eating into them?

Other big news: We have two blueberry bushes! We sacrificed an old rhododendron for space.

I've put out some cosmos seeds and already see some popping up. They sound like a great flower. Tolerate poor soil and drought conditions! Once they grow I'll post a picture. They get pretty tall so they should help fill in some gaps in late summer and fall.

Things to do:

1. Pot the five miniature sweet red pepper plants and put outside.

2. Plant the basil in with the tomatoes.

3. Plant the alpine strawberry seedlings in the trough outside.

4. Pull out the dried up forget-me-nots and seed with asters and sunflowers.