The Potager.

It's been slow going in the potager beds without much rain. The top dressing of horse manure and pine shavings dries out quickly. I'm watering nearly every day just to keep the soil below moist. A good hard rain is in order. Still, things are growing. Even the okra has germinated.

Most of the beans are up. I replanted one teepee this morning with asparagus beans. The flat Italian beans did not come up. I blame the squirrels.



Squash.



Cucumbers.



I planted nasturtiums throughout this bed to protect against squash bugs. Along the front edge, I've got dwarf red ones. They should trail over the front once they get going. Along the back with the cucumbers, I have a vine variety. They will grow up the same trellis as the cucumbers to a height of around 6'.



In the three lower beds, 53 tomato plants have survived. One just shriveled up and died. I think I'll have plenty.

Black Krim



Green Zebra



It's 64 degrees and sunny. I've given everything a good deep drink of water from the hose. The high today should reach the 90s again. The chance of rain for Saturday has been removed. We are now under a fire watch as humidity levels will begin to fall overnight.

On the windowsill in the kitchen, the first roots have appeared on my variegated hydrangea cuttings. I'm rooting them in water. The cloner needs to be cleaned soon. None of the camellia cuttings made it. A few salvia have rooted. All three butterfly bush cuttings survived. I'll be taking a look at the rest of the cuttings soon to decide if they just need more time or should be culled.

9:48am - It's 73 degrees. I sowed a few more seeds today, trying to clean out the seed box. Coleus has finally been sowed. They should germinate quickly with the heat. In the garden, a few new things have appeared.

Buds on achillea that were wintersown in 2008/9.



Clearance purchased Tennessee Coneflowers. Planted last fall in the crape myrtle bed.



Wintersown in 2008/9, White Swan has a bloom and many buds.



Clematis Etoile Violette





Off to work in an hour.

Oh yeah, it rained.

I wasn't here to enjoy it, but the storms over Charlotte were loud enough to wake me up last night. I was visiting. When I arrived back home this morning, the 3/4" of rain we received had sent everything into overdrive. There's a lot of new things popping up now that the ground is wet again. The gully has a lot of surprises.

Tomatoes and castor beans.



Squash? Or cucumber?



Of course there's datura.



And pokeweed.



Mimosa tree seedlings are all over the place. I'll let a few grow. They can get out of hand with the reseeding.



In the garden, Pride of Barbados survived being planted out weeks ago and receiving very little water. It should take off now.



Petunia seedlings. That must have been one virile specimen.



Cucumbers and beans are up in the potager.





I'm finally going to plant out some tomatoes. More showers in the forecast this coming week.



Near the basement door, the fragrant bed is germinating great. Four O'clocks, datura, and what I hope are nicotiana seedlings have grown since yesterday. They like the rain and the horse poo.



I'm starting to be very happy with this corner of the perennial bed. Last year it was a mess of struggling plants. It's a dry semi-shady corner with very acidic soil from years of oak leaves. I spread wood ashes all winter and transplanted a few shade tolerant perennials this spring. It's filling in nicely.



It's 72 degrees and windy. More rain possible this afternoon and evening. I'm going to plant out a few things today, at a very leisurely pace. No reason to rush.

Some photos from today.

I didn't get my entire list accomplished. I spent almost 2 hours visiting with neighbors. I took them each a yellow and a white brugmansia. I have six left to plant. Somewhere.

A new columbine has opened. The seeds were labeled "yellow". It's powdery blue. I like it.



Oxalis.



Salvia greggii. Does it realize it's a fall bloomer?



The first Dutch iris.



The view while weeding.



Nandinas. The color is so vivid.



Red clover.



The new birdbath. I need to find smaller stones to add to the bottom.



The dead oak tree is cracking apart.



Looking back.



Bath pink and yellow oxalis.



Baby hosta.



That didn't last long. "Screw you, I'm outta here."



The view from the swing. I did sit a spell.



The view from the hammock, for LeSan.



It's sunny and 73 degrees. I probably increased my water bill by $20 today. The beans, cucumbers, squash and various herbs were planted today. Nasturtiums were sown in the upper potager. Basil was sown in the lower beds. Tomatoes will have to wait. They aren't ready just yet for transplanting and separating. I know a few people who will be receiving the extras in a couple weeks.

It rained.

About 1.5" in less than an hour.



At 6am, it was quiet and muggy. By 6:30, all hell had broken loose. There are trees down in the neighborhood. Most of my pineapple sage is in the backyard now. The wind ripped it apart. The thundercloud Plum in the perennial bed has a significant lean to it. All my castor beans are laying on the ground. Nearly all my plants have broken pieces and bits laying all over. Hasn't mother nature ever heard of moderation?









The worst part, about 1/2" down, the soil is still dry. Too much, too fast and little soaked in.



This used to be corn.







10:59am - I went out and pulled the cosmos and zinnias in the direct sown bed I created this spring. I planted bush beans and tossed more cosmos seed from the plants I pulled out. Not sure there'll be enough time to flower this late in the season, but I should be able to harvest the beans. 7-14 days for germination, 54 days to harvest. That puts me in mid-September having fresh beans for dinner. I also scattered pole beans around the cucumber trellis. They've got a 75 day harvest time, so that might be pushing it too far. We'll see.

The hairy balls plant (Gomphocarpus) is still there. I left it and the wintersown butterfly bush. They were getting smothered by the flowers.

70 degrees, mid 90% humidity. Light rain.

Taking advantage of the rain.

It's been raining since 7am, the exact time I arrived at work. Two hours of counting plants in the rain. Joy.

Since I'm not here to complain, I'll use the rain and side dress the corn and beans with a high nitrogen fertilizer. I'm doing this because my dad does it. The plants are still small so I hope to see some real growth on them next week. I'll also toss a little on the castor bean plants. As they are mostly foliage, they should enjoy the nitrogen too.

No picture today. Hopefully the weather will be nicer next week. Lots of things are starting to bloom or are pushing buds in the gardens.

Tonight, I've got my mind made up to do a good cleaning on the house. With the windows open, there's pollen on everything. I need to straighten up the basement too. All the rain has caused that funky smell that was here when I bought the house to return. I really need a dehumidifier for that space. Maybe I'll get one if I have a project soon.

It's 63 and raining. 45 tonight, 43 tomorrow night. Back in the 80s by Thursday. Ahhh, spring in NC.

Clearance

Everything must go, right? We won't discuss my personal life, but at the store, I spent the better part of the morning clearing out and pricing all the distressed plants. Some were things that had just been there too long. A little trim here and there, and it will mostly be good as new. I marked everything 50-75% off. As I was preparing to leave, my boss announced that any item on the clearance rack would be 50 cents for the next few hours. Fine. I brought home $7 worth of plants.



I got hardy ferns, lamb's ear, and two hanging baskets of gerber daisies (white, of course). I kept the tags with their actual name, but they're downstairs. I'm not.
The worst damage was to the ferns.



I got my clearance hosta and ferns planted in the north bed.





The gerber daisies were separated into 8 plants with 4 placed on the sunny side of the white bed, and 4 to the rear of the house.



I've got veggie sprouts in the potager. Beans



cucumbers



The asparagus I planted last week has grown a single sprout.



Tiny seedless grapes. Either Mars, Reliance, or Himrod. The tags got misplaced when I moved them this winter.



TOMATO BLOSSOMS!!!!!!!




The Potager



Over in the perennial bed, the knockouts are living up to their name even with only a couple hours of sunlight a day.





Linaria in 6-7 hour sun.



Black Eyed Susans are pushing up stems.



Poppies



Echinacea



Datura metel bloom about to open. I need to walk outside after dark.



Daylily seedlings. Collected from trades and along parking lot medians in Bethany Beach, Delaware.



True leaves on my dogwood seedlings.



And finally, a single solitary sprout in my Japanese Maple container. These were collected from Jackie's house in Virginia. I sowed them in mid-November. This one will be red.



5:50pm - Everything got some water. Planted out Sue's hosta too. Planted from the cloner: 4 Persian Shield, 11 petunia, and the third lantana. The kongmansia is just starting to push roots. I found more seeds for the white garden. The nicotiana germinated during my trip. I may save them for next year. I've already planted cotton seeds on the 25th.