Garden Journal Update

June 01, 2018

Garden Journal Update

Hello, and welcome to a big BIG garden journal update!

Blooming

Daffodils: bloomed mid-April
Catmint: Began leafing mid-April
Thyme, Montauk daisies, candytuft: Began leafing last week April
Tulips: bloomed last week April / first week May
Hydrangeas, beach rose, clematis: Began leafing first week May
May 25: Hydrangea bloom
May 30: Strawberries, clematis bloom

Strawberry!

Clematis!

Planting

May 5: Asparagus crowns, garlic, peas
May 6: Potatoes, carrots, beets
May 9: Strawberries and blueberries
May 19:
- Parsnips
- Leeks
- Bibb lettuce
- Arugula
- Mesclun
- Wax beans
- Green beans (bush)
- German something tomato (indeterminate)
- Mr. Stripy tomato (indeterminate)
- Cucumber (determinate)
- Celebrity tomato (determinate)
- Jalapeno peppers
- Cayenne peppers

Germinating/leafing

May 10: Garlic, strawberries
May 16: Beets, peas, potatoes, blueberries
May 26: Wax beans, green beans, arugula, mesclun
May 30: Bibb lettuce, leeks, asparagus (!!!!)

The veg gahden!

New Front Bed!

In addition to all these delights, we have also created a new bed in the front yahd. This was not supposed to happen this year. However, after Mulch Boy surprised me with the raised bed in front (where we put the strawberries), suddenly I had A Vision of how I wanted to proceed with this space.

It's still very experimental. The middle part is covered with a blue tarp: our experiment in killing weeds via blue tarp. Eight weeks from now, we'll see how that's working out.

The rest of it -- the large portion by the street and surrounding the strawberry bed -- has a layer of cardboard box laid over the weeds and then hosed down, then covered with about 4 inches of compost. In the case of the dappled willow we planted by the street, we left a substantial opening in the cardboard to allow ensure the willow gets water, and just covered that area with compost. The hope is that, by next year, the cardboard will have smothered all the weeds and then decomposed, leaving us with a nice new garden canvas to play with. I guess we'll find out if all those lasagna garden proponents are liars!

In the little strip by the strawberry bed where we planted flowers, I actually weeded, then layered landscape fabric, then cut holes in the fabric to plant the flowers, then covered with compost.

And so...

New front bed with dappled willow!

New front bed from the other side: peony, bell flowers, and false indigo.

New front bed near house: peony, bell flowers, false indigo, and Margaret.

Front yahd!

OH! And also I got almost all the things in the ground that I had in that cart in my last post. That included:

Three English daisies
Three Irish mosses
Three Scottish mosses
One astilbe
Two barrenworts
Three hellebores
One carnation
Three dianthus
Three toad lilies
Three pincushion flowers
Three poppies
Two peonies
Three false indigos
Three bell flowers
Two catmints (actually one I dug up and divided to make room for the hellebores)
One beach rose (actually a baby that rooted off my existing beach rose)
And Francis

Also, I finally -- FINALLY -- was able to get that stinkin', poorly placed giant ornamental grass out of the left front bed, freeing up valuable real estate for nicer things.

Behold!