First Frost of 2009

The first frost of the 2009 season this morning. The windshields are covered with it....but am hoping that it didn't do much damage to the plants yet. I didn't cover a thing last night. I had not really expected it to frost last night but should have known better.

Susie

We lost our wonderful little Susie this evening. She was 16 years old. She had been doing really well until yesterday when she showed no interest in eating. Susie ate four times a day and would have eaten more if you'd give it to her.....so I knew this was not a good sign. That little seven pound dog loved to eat. She was much loved and will be missed so badly. It's funny what we call our pets sometimes other than their names, such as DH called her "Moo", and I'd call her "TuTu" quite often. There is no rhyme or reason as to these names other than they just happened.

Summer in Full Swing

The very last of the large daylilies are finishing their display. I really hated to see them go this year. Finally for the first year, I have them all in the same garden planted up the side of the back garden.

Fall Weather Looks Good Right Now

This heat is horrible. The heat index for the past few days has been over 100 degrees. The only thing I can stand to do outside is go from the air conditioning in the house to the air conditioning in the car. I have so much more to do outside in the gardens and am hoping the weather next week (when the forecast is in the high 80s)will give us some relief.

Whew! What A Busy Week

I have been busy for the past week in this 98+ degree heat getting my back bed in shape. I am very happy to say it is at least 85% finished for the year. I have never had this bed that close to being complete, and what a rush it is! I have the two White Moth Hydrangeas and the two Pinky Winky Hydrangeas to plant into the middle tier of the bed. There are numerous perennials to put into the same area.

Ashley and Jason visited with us over last weekend. They arrived on Saturday evening and left to go to North Carolina early Monday evening. On Sunday evening we had a cookout and musical get together. Ashley & Jason, Bob & Peg, Steve Maxwell, Bobby Wilborn and the next door neighbors were all present to visit with us. Hymie smoked pork and chicken for the cookout (absolutely wonderful). Monday morning I headed to pick up Ash to meet Peg and head for City Girls. The hose on the Lexus that had been leaking once before started leaking again. I was afraid it would over heat so I had Jason take Ash and me to meet Peg. We went to City Girls and ate at Rapheals next door. Peg took us to meet Jason at Becky's Shoes in Cleveland. No one found shoes, except Peg. It was sad to see the kids leave, seems they just got here. We had so much MORE TO DO! I wonder if we'll ever have enough time to get it all done??????

Working Wednesday

I spent the day outside (in the humid heat ... yukk). I worked on the back garden, moving some empty containers and excess plants to the upper side of the privacy fenced area. It was really miserable out, but I wanted to get some weeding done and these things moved.

I took some photos for Ashley and to post here.

Veggie Garden:


Salmon Nasturtium:


Chim Chiminee Rudbeckia:


Red Nasturtiums:

Saturday or is it Sunday???

DH took Friday off work, and I have felt as if it was Sunday all day today......how inconsiderate of him to confuse my weekend like this....LOL

Yesterday I worked in the yard for a few hours helping DH load up some junk for the dump, and I finished up with cleaning the front porch steps. They need to be cleaned several times a year with bleach water to get the greenish moss off them. When it rains, those steps are slippery but not so much when cleaned regularly. I also started potting the two Crimson Mandevilla to hang on the side yard white fence. I had planned to spray the front bed with roundup as soon as all the dew was dried on the weeds and grass just before noon or so . But................................

Around noon I received a call from DH's Mom asking me to go to Parkridge Hospital in Chatt. to pick up her husband, Tom. He had a pacemaker put in this week and needed a ride home. It took me until around 4:30 that evening to get everything done (prescriptions & groceries picked up for them etc). By the time I got home, I was "done in".

I have been trying to get the front bed sprayed with round up for two weeks now and have had rain showers everyday, some very heavy. I am distressed that the bermuda grass is getting larger and tougher with each day of heat and rain. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it sprayed. That is the lowest percentage of chance of rain we have had recently. It has come a couple of showers off and on today as well. Seems every time I head out with the spayer, the dark clouds gather. This roundup stuff is so expensive, I have no plans to use it unless I know we will have most of the day without rain.

Late this evening, I decided to do my weekly week whacking in the veggie garden and found my first squash. There were actually two but decided to leave the other one on the plant until tomorrow evening when I cook dinner.......that will give it a day to grow just a slight bit more. The one I pulled was a really good sized one that somehow I had overlooked............it is still tender but had DH not noticed it and told me about it today, it could have gotten tough before I noticed it. Amazing how fast squash plants produce. These have not been in the ground long and to have been grown from seed, they are doing really well.

Reading on GardenWeb this evening about favorite garden related quotes, I remembered and posted a reply about something my Mother told me when I was a little girl. Even now when I smell a rose with dew drops all over it, I feel warm and fuzzy remembering that day, what she said to me and how loved she made me feel. Thank you, Mother!

"Seeds are given by God to eventually bless us with joy. You were once as a seed and now you are someone's joy!"

This is one of my first memories with my Mom out among her flowers, while holding a dewy rose under my nose to smell and hugging me close, she told me this.

Busy Week and Heavy Rains

This week seems to have flown by. Wednesday evening I saw what a flash flood must be like. In about a five minute period of rain, there was over an ankle's depth of water standing in our back yard, with muddy water rushing down our driveway like a river. You couldn't see the driveway, only the muddy red water. The two drains in our back yard couldn't handle the amount of water fast enough to keep it from flooding. The end of the drains at the side of the yard has never done more than a heavy trickle. This is what the "heavy trickle" looked like Wednesday:

What A Really Strange Past Two Days

Monday:

I called Jimmy (works for Tony & Mike...also Mike's BIL) and his girlfriend, Pam, to ask them over to dig up some plants I had promised to give them a few weeks ago. I was glad to see the pampas grass in the back edge of my back garden go. I was also giving Pam the yukka plants in the front flower bed. I had dug out about half of it last summer and just gave up. Anyway, Jimmy is young and strong so I kept insisting that they take ALL of the yukka. After having him go back and dig more of the roots up, even he was exhausted. At least I have a start on that front bed that has had me so intimidated, and they have some adult plants to begin some new beds.

I hoed weeds and watered the veggie garden. The bulk of the afternoon was spent using my mini-hedge trimmer to cut back the ivy on the front porch posts and the front and side sections of the underpinned area of the porch. Its growth was getting out of hand. It now looks like a young kid just back from the barber shop with his new summer cut!

Tuesday:

Jimmy was to come back this morning, after a call from me, to dig up a really large lorepetulum shrub to transplant to the entrance of one of Tony's subdivisions. Angie (Tony's wife) was going with Jimmy to the subdiv. to make sure the shrub got planted correctly and watered in well. I was up around 7 AM to iron a shirt for DH. At 7:20 I decided to step out onto the porch to feed the cats and discovered that Jimmy was parked outside.........just about that time he came around the house with the large shrub thrown over his shoulder to load into the truck. Thinking he would get an early start on the day and not bother me, he had started the work without me...............my heart sank as I saw the roots of the plant had been severed and there was no root ball of dirt with the shrub. Not know any better, he assumed the shrub could be dug up as carelessly as the yukkas the day before. I had planted this lorepetulum when it was about six inches high to grow for the subdivision entrances. It was now huge and perhaps four-five feet high x three to four feet wide. I doubt the shrub will make it, but Angie has potted it, placed it in shade, and will keep it watered for a while just to see if it will recover. So instead of gardening like I had planned to do all day today, I now had to go with Angie and Jimmy to try to find a suitable tree or shrub to plant at the entrance of Wildewood. Angie went to HDepot and Lowes at Hamilton Place while I went to their stores at Ft. O. I found a lovely purple/red leafed Forest Pansy Redbud (about 8' tall) on sale for $20 at HD. Angie and Jimmy met me, picked up the tree, tree support and tree trunk protector & went to plant the tree. Angie called me later to tell me it really looked great. What a stressful morning this was!!!

Later today, I mixed the poison ivy Round-Up in the sprayer and started to work on the vines up the side of the new yard and in the bed areas where I want to plant oakleaf hydranges, hosta, etc. I also resprayed the area inside the kennel fence and was surprised to see that the leaves on the vines were dying back from the spraying I gave them last week. So glad to see that.

I will spray the front bed in the morning around 11AM after the sun dries the grass and weeds from the night dew. I also plan to clear the back bed of all the unused pots (putting them inside kennel area privacy fence) tomorrow morning so I can see what areas I have to work with more clearly. I'll start using those areas for plants and not storing unused pots out of DH yard.

DH's sister called yesterday about Mark and his wife expecting their first baby just after the first of next year.

..

Lazy Sunday

DH and I decided to take a short trip today along the 90 mile Hwy 41 Yardsale. Lots of interesting stuff.............kinda' hated to waste my energy and the early part of the day on this because the yard beckons, but I can work some this evening AFTER MY NAP!!!!

Later:
Well, no nap taken and I only got the two gardens and the veggie garden watered this evening. Amazing how fast this day went by. I met Peggie around 7PM at Ft. O to pick up my Choco Vine. We ate at Wendy's, yapping the whole time like a gaggle of geese!

I just read an email from a friend concerning a story of an American World War II pilot, This poem was in that email. I really liked the poem and wanted to save it here:

"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."

Paint Job Saturday

We have workers in today painting the new carport and grill shed. I got up this AM at 6 to move cars and get all my gardening "stuff" out of the way for their arrival. While I was waiting, I hoed weeds in the veggie garden for about thirty minutes. Everything is looking good but the squash and zucchini vines were laying kinda' sideways this morning as if we had had some wind last night.

I looked over my directions for putting the green house together last night, and it's not as intimidating as first appeared. I actually think it might be done in about twice the time it took Ashley to do hers!!!! :-)

Speaking of Ashley.....she had an auto accident today in the jeep (making a trip to pick up mulch). A girl in a pickup truck, coming toward her, turned left across traffic in front of her. Thank goodness Ashley was unhurt, but the jeep may have serious problems, such as being totaled!

Monday, Monday

Another hot clear day .... I got a late start to the morning because I couldn't sleep last night. By the time I was out of bed this AM, it was already too hot to be out in the sun. Ashley and I had a long conversation this morning about her herb container, and we posted an inquiry on the herb forum, along with photos.

Late this afternoon I watered the veggie garden and both the flower gardens. Some of my potted plants are already suffering from lack of moisture, even with all the rain we had last week. Potted plants are a pain in the *&^! I must get a few of the drip irrigation hoses done for the containers I don't plan to plant out into the gardens. The porch shade beds are starting to fill in nicely, though I have not done anything with the first bed in that trio yet. It has some potted plants sitting in it but nothing really planted. I think I will put the peppermint hydrangea and the two white hydrangeas in that bed for now. They are all showing a lot of budding...........very happy to see them doing well as these are new to the hydrangea world. I was unsure how they would return this summer. Photo of them last year:

The front bed is truly a nightmare. I am horrified that it is full of bermuda grass. I really am at a loss as to whether I will even be able to save it or not. I keep putting off doing that bed because I am so worried about it. That doesn't make sense.....seems that should be the first thing I try to do, but I think it makes me feel overwhelmed. Wow is there a lot to do here!

Warm Weather Weekend

This weekend has had no rain with really clear skies. Saturday was breezy with low humidity and tho' the temps were high, it felt cool. Sunday is a different story. I walked out onto the porch around 8:30 this AM and melted down. The humidity was high and it was already miserable outside. I have been outside to water some plants and check on the seedlings that have not been planted out yet. The temp is in the low 90s but feels much higher due to the high humidity.

I have decided where I am going to place my greenhouse. I had hoped to place it in a wooded area beside our newly cleared backyard, but DH did not want it there at all. It would really have been a good place and a pretty place for it but he has something else in mind for that area of yard besides anything to do with my plants and gardens (too bad, since I am going to plant some hydrangeas, hosta and woodsey wildflowers there anyway). 

I am placing the greenhouse inside a privacy fenced area I used years ago as an exercise area for my show dogs. It surrounds a kennel building and three chain link runs. I have plans to turn the old building into a garden shed for myself and all area inside the enclosure will be shade garden and storage for empty pots and garden "stuff" I don't need in the gardens or the yards. In some ways it probably is best as I now will have more incentive to get busy on the project of cleaning that area. There is lots to clean in the enclosure relating to my dogs and just some junk that needs to be carried to the dump. I can work on it this summer since it's all shady with only very light dappled sun throughout the day. I still have way too much to do on the the front and back gardens to start anything else at the moment. Today I did take the weed sprayer of roundup inside the enclosure to spray some rather healthy areas of poison ivy. About half the area inside has some poison ivy growth. The rest of the area is basically clear and not overgrown, except for a few areas along the wooden privacy fence.

Lots More Rain

Sixty percent change of rain today was too low an estimate by the weather channel. My cousin, Sondra, asked me out to lunch today at The Italian Village..........yum yum! We stopped by her house so I could take a look at her hydrangeas and instruct her how to prune some of the out of shape branches. She also wanted me to take a look at one of the cuttings I had put into a container for rooting last fall for her. Somehow she lost all the others. She was sure it was a Lady In Red hydrangea because the leaves had a reddish color to them. Needless to say, I was surprised when I saw it and realized it was the purple smoke tree cutting I had also given her last year. Great news even though she had lost all of hydrangeas I had set up for her to root. This tree was really healthy and already big for a first year rooted plant. I was so pleased to see it but sorry no one else's cuttings had rooted.

Rained All Day

This was a really soggy day. There were thunderstorms off and on all day. I met my friend, Peggie, for a lunch at O'megos around 2 PM. 

I have not been able to get my greenhouse set up because it has been raining so much all this week. Maybe tomorrow will be more forgiving in the rain department. 

Memorial Day

I bought the items needed to make a cloner (per Token's instructions) today at Walmart. The air pump was only 7 bucks in the pet department. DH is off work today so all that will have to wait until tomorrow. 

I took these photos of the Lilacinia Lacecap Hydrangea today. Really pretty blooms.......

'

I posted a few questions about my cloner on Token's blog. His answers:

I use a second shoebox as a cover to control humidity. The lid is white but it shouldn't matter too much. You'll just have to keep an eye out for algae and green goo. If you're painting the bottom box like I did, go ahead and paint the underside of the lid to block light. 

I move my cuttings from the cloner to containers and place them in full shade. Some get baggies or covers to hold in humidity especially now that it's so warm. After a week, I move them into sun if that's where they will live, but remove the cover. Then, plant them out when I get around to it. :) They do need to be hardened off since their only light source has been a fluorescent bulb. Good luck! let me know how it goes. 

Best advice, sterilize the box and your cutting tools with 10% bleach solution before taking any cuttings. If a cutting rots or turns to mush, try again later in the spring once the growth has firmed up a bit.

A Blue Grass Day

DH and I went to the Armuchee Bluegrass Festival today. Lots of music, pickin' and seeing some old friends that we had not seen in years. The weather was perfect for an outing.........overcast and 80 degrees with a soft breeze. Wouldn't this have been a great day to garden - YES!!

Getting No Where Fast

I don't know how time goes by so fast.  I discovered years ago if I had a project planned and had to leave the house "just to pick up a few things I really needed" the day was gone. How does that happen? I planted some WS seedlings out today but needed more soil to fill in an area of the bed that had settled a little too much. Naturally while I was out, it made sense to pick up the groceries while I was at Walmart to get the soil. Next I realized I was hungry so off I went to have something to eat. I remembered I needed to go by the tag office to check on the tag for the Lexus. I was able to get a temp tag so had to stop by the insurance agency to pick up a binder form showing coverage until I get the title for the car. Whew.........day gone. By the time I got home, DH was home from work (early) mowing and weed eating the yard.  

This week has been a really perfect weather week, no rain and on the cool side for this time of year.  It won't be long before the heat will take all the fun out of gardening, except mornings and rainy days. The back garden is starting to show some progress (I didn't say great progress, but some).   I am so disgusted by the bermuda grass in that front flower bed! I almost feel like giving up and turning the area over to DH for grass and yard......ALMOST.  If I have good weather next week, I will remove everything I can from the bed and spray it with Round Up. It's that bad. 

Things were getting a little dry so watering was in order late this evening. I may have to start watering the veggie garden more as it seems to be "standing still". I found a video clip today on "How to Install Garden Drip Irrigation". How easy this looks. I will definitely be trying this in the back garden.

http://video.about.com/gardening/Installing-Drip-Irrigation.htm

I drove the Lexus tonight to pick up some things I forgot to get at the grocery earlier today (senior moments are becoming regular visitors). What a fun car to drive!

Just Have To

I just have to get the rest of my WS seedlings into the beds. I have been promising myself for the past two weeks that this will get done today. Just hope today is the day for that promise to be started and finished before the first of next week. Great weather this morning with sun and still cool.

I have to take some time to read on the forum about pinching plants back. I am wondering how that applies (and when) to these WS seedlings. If I pinch them back at the wrong time, will it kill them or make them bushy and pretty as they grow. If I can't find an answer on the forum, I'll just experiment with some of the plants I have with lots and lots of seedlings.

Late Start To The Day

I got into bed last night sometime around two or so. Ashley (MY WONDERFUL DIL) and I had a ball setting up her blogspot, but I bet both of us were slow getting started this morning. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to get up to go to work and definitely did not get an early start on the day.

On my way to pick up another foldable book shelf at Big Lots to match the one I bought the other day, I met Tony, Angie and Chris for a late lunch at Ft. O. I had to pick up some more paint brushes at Lowes. Arrived home around 4:30 PM to find the painters working on DH carport. DH was NOT in a pleasant mood this evening so I went outside to hoe weeds out of the veggie garden. I was so surprised to see the cantaloupe (seeds from really great melons bought at Walmart last year) are coming up nicely as well as the corn is starting to sprout. I watered the garden and the WS seedlings.

I forgot to pick up a bottle of Grass B Gone at Home Depot in Dalton today. I was having it held (last bottle on the shelves) so after remembering it tonight I drove the ten minutes to pick it up. I surely didn't want to lose perhaps the last bottle I can buy locally. Angie told me today that the Home Depot in Chattanooga told her they were discontinuing this product (bad news)!

Cool Tuesday Morning

This morning was so chilly again. I loved it! After deciding to get up this morning, I swung my feet to the floor, rested them there for a brief second then slid back under the covers to snuggle down to sleep another hour. It was great. I talked with Tony about fire insurance on the rental house on Pine Hill Rd. and delivered the CPA instructions to him (he was visiting with Mike and Jimmy for a short time early today) for Steve to write up a financial statement.

I met my friend, Peggie, at Panera Bread in Ft. O at 2PM to help her work on her upcoming change in July to Medicare PD plan D. After finishing with helping her, I went by Home Depot to pick up some more English Brick for my back flower bed and Kills Paint, paint brush and caulk for Jimmy to paint DH carport and grill building starting tomorrow.

I rushed out when I got home to water seedlings that needed it, and discovered I now have two muscadine seedlings (from Randy's tame seeds). They took forever to sprout. I hope the other seeds in the two containers also sprout.

Maybe This Is Blackberry Winter?

Wow is it chilly. I was busy most of the day away from home but what a great day to garden wearing a sweater. It is going to be 38 to 40 degrees tonight.

Sunday Morning Rain Coming Down

What a wonderful reason to sleep late............rain, rain, rain. It is very overcast and drizzling rain. I think it's supposed to be really chilly tonight and tomorrow night.......perhaps 40 or so. The day was a bummer for gardening or even getting out to enjoy the garden because of the chilly dampness and drizzle. Tomorrow should be much much better for outdoor activity.

I went to PO around 2PM to help do some computer work on route extensions and brought home work on route adjustments for 12 and 15. ME will hopefully be retiring this year, and I'll finally be out of the PO business for good. Even though I have been retired for three years, I continue to help JP and ME (JP retired on April 29 of this year).

My Lilacina lacecap hydrangea (overwintered in the well house) is rather shabby and needs to be cut back to really give it new healthy foliage growth. It has bloomed in the last few days so I will enjoy the blooms for a while before cutting it back sharply to get that flush of new growth. This is a hydrangea that blooms only on old wood. When I saw how poorly it looked this spring, it was already too late to cut it back without losing all blooms for this year. I purchased it last year at Lowes for around 7.

SPEAKING OF LOWES, I forgot to mention that on my way to the PO today I stopped at Lowes. LOTS of their plants were half price. I could not turn down two very nice sized Crimson Mandevillas for $6 each. They were extremely healthy with lovely leaves and blooms. I am not sure why they were half price????? Anyway, I love these plants even tho' they are not winter hearty here in zone 7. Maybe I will try overwintering them this winter to see what happens. I'll add photos of mine tomorrow. Here is a web photo of the color of the plant:

Chris Graduation and More Rain

Chris graduated today at noon. All the families were there, and he was delightful. DH and I left to go have lunch alone (DH is not a social butterfly). After going by to pay for the Lexus (gulp), Chris called to ask me to go with him, Leia, Angie and Tony to the new Star Trek movie at 5PM (awesome movie!!!!!).

The only yard work I did today was to move all my "stuff out of the way for DH to mow the yard after we got home. It started raining really stormy around 6 tonight. Maybe tomorrow will bring more gardening.

Chris graduation videos:

Lexus Day

Today I drove the 2000 Lexus (I am going to buy) for the first time. Mike let me drive it home for the day and let him know tomorrow if I definitely want it. I think it is too good a deal to turn down (just over 64,000 miles), although it will wipe me out financially until I can recoup. The old Volvo I am driving now is probably near the point of some serious need of repairs, and I'd rather put that money into another vehicle. I have really loved the old Volvo, a very dependable vehicle for me for the past five years. It is an 850 (just love the five cylinder purr of this vehicle). Now if I can sell this car for around $2500, I will have a little money to work with. Being retired can be a real pain money wise, but it's well worth the "pain".

Cool Day, Rain Expected Late Evening, Chris Senior Night

This day was a whirlwind of activity. I started late morning working on finishing the side seedling bed on the outside edge of my back garden. Finally it is filled in and ready to plant out seedlings. The front part of that bed will also be filled in as a small border type bed.

I decided to go to Red Lobster for a late lunch at 2:30 before getting clothing together and getting ready to go out tonight with my family.

Tonight was my nephew, Chris' Senior Night at Redbank Baptist Church. What a wonderful tradition for this high school, a special event with honors and awards given to the young men and women graduating Saturday. Chris was given special mention for his school spirit, attitude, influence and stamina through all the hardships he has. David, Dad and I attended, followed by a family dinner at Logans for Chris, Tony, Angie, Dad, David and me. We laughed and had a joyous time together. Wonderful memories for me....

Slightly Disenchanted

A glorious sunny morning with that wonderful coolness still in the air is a great way to start this day. I have plans to work on the beds around the front edge and side edge of my back garden today.

Since my experience yesterday of planting out my first WS seedlings, I have been slightly disenchanted by the fact that the seedlings seemed so fragile and spindly. I am used to adding plants to my beds that are huge, healthy and blooming already...... quite a change and I have to keep telling myself these WS seedlings will look wonderful in a couple of months. I will be sadly disappointed if they don't. From the photos I have seen on the WS forum, such as Token's WS plants, I think I have made a mistake by not putting the seedlings into the ground when they were very young and small. I will sow earlier next year and plant out lots of stuff in late Feb. and early March. What does not make it can easily be resown and planted out. I knew my first attempt at WS would be a learning experience, and it has proven to be a true fact.

Late this afternoon, UPS delivered my walk in greenhouse from Ashley and Jason for my Mother's Day gift. I was delighted (lots of my disenchantment slipped right away with this new toy)! Ashley also got one of these. We're both excited to use this in our WS plans for next season............also for annuals we don't have sown yet and for a jump on perennials this fall and winter. How exciting this is!

Oh What A Day - Blackberry Winter

What a refreshing cool morning we have..........it's blackberry winter. I love this weather with that crisp coolness in the breeze, but it is not the best weather for plants to grow well so I won't wish for it all the time (tho' it is what I love.....I hate summer heat).

DH has a terrible problem this morning with gout (it started yesterday evening), and he can hardly put his weight on his foot. He called the Dr. for an appt. at 2:15 this evening. I know it must be painful. (Posted later: Dr. prescribed Indomethacin Cap 50mg for pain and inflammation).

I worked on my seedling beds in the back garden this evening and will start early in the morning. I must work faster on getting these beds complete before the really hot weather starts. When it starts, I'm inside except for early mornings and late evenings. One of my biggest problems is the uncertainty of where I should plant things. The perfectionist in me wants it right the first time, but I have to accept the fact that these plants I've never had in my gardens before may work or may not work where I put them. They can be moved later so................PLANT PLANT PLANT!!!

I planted out some of the styrofoam cups of zinnias into one of the medium black tubs (concrete mixing vinyl tub from Home Depot). I am a little concerned that these seedlings just aren't going to do well. Everyone on the WS forum swears this works but the seedlings seem to be very fragile to me. I have to be patient and realize other people are doing this with success.......so can I.

Cloudy Monday Blues

Seems we are to have more rain today, but it is definitely cool outside with seedlings waiting to be planted out. I do have an hour before I have to leave for an appointment with cousin Mike to work on his contractor's license forms (Tn is out of date 06/11/09 and Ga around 07/16/09). Unfortunately I have to spend that hour looking for some paper work "he says I have".

I did sneak outside and plant my first vegetables in the garden this morning. I planted zucchini, squash and cucumber plants (all of which I grew from seeds). I planted one row of corn (peaches & cream), and there are four tomato plants to plant out this evening. I left the lower half of the garden bed for watermelon and cantaloupe DH has interest in putting out this year. I want to put some of Papaw Tarpley's tomato seeds into a container to see if I can get anything up and growing with those. Hope it isn't too late in the season to be growing them from seed. I am always behind with everything I do (not sure why, perhaps it may be because of doing TOO much or just being lazy and putting things off till the last minute, then the rush starts).

Only one of the three giant pumpkin seeds I have planted has come up. Hopefully the rest will soon. I am giving these to the next door neighbor for his children to watch grow, plus he has more gardening area for it to grow..........if it grows pumpkins to over 100 pounds.

7PM
I planted out the tomatoes this evening. DH brought home an eight pack of watermelon seedlings which I got into the ground for him. It was really cool outside tonight, like a sweater and sweatpants felt really great.

10PM
Off to bed so I can get an early start in the world of contractor license forms, then move right along to seedling planting out.

Mother's Day

We awoke this morning to a lovely sunny day with only a hint of clouds. A perfect day for mothers everywhere. My Mother died from breast cancer June 22, 1991..........my love of gardening and flowers is a third generation "curse or gift" from her mom. I know she would be pleased her daughter has turned into this flower, plant, gardening wild woman and is smiling down on me from her lovely garden in heaven. I miss you Mother!

Saturdays At My Home

This morning is overcast and threatens rain, though only 60%. I believe the percentage becomes more certain after 12:00.

Today is my wonderful nephew, Chris' nineteenth birthday. He graduates from high school next Saturday so quite a couple of exciting weekends for him.

Saturdays at my house, usually referred to by all who know me as The Day From Hell, usually starts with DH out early on the mower, followed by weed eater therapy, accompanied by a lot of yelling and being pissed off, mostly directed at me or my gardens (garden tools, pots, etc that are not in DH's idea of the proper place (anywhere he can't see any of them...............never happens, but it doesn't keep him from making Sat. a rip roaring good time had by all). This Saturday the grass is too wet to cut but that won't stop him after his nap. He was up early to walk, read the newspaper and work his crossword puzzle. Perhaps since we were out late last night to his company's picnic at the stadium in Chattanooga, including a baseball game (Chatt. won by the way), he needed to take a nap before starting the rest of his morning.

1:00PM
The rain held off until DH finished with the weed eater. He announced he wanted to go to WalMart to buy some ivy and other plants to put in the flower basket hanging from the split rail fence around our front yard. It is really pretty now with lovely yellows and reds planted in the basket, but not what he wanted so this should be a fun trip. We ate at subway in WM and then on to the garden center. I purchased some tomato plants (rutger, better boy, beefmaster and a larger german hybrid that I believe is hopefully similar to Papaw Tarpley's tomatoes from years ago). DH purchased two packages of seeds (cantaloupe and watermelon) and two containers of inpatients with multiple plants in each container (one set is white and the other set is a pink and red and coral mix which I hated and he loved, but it's his project so that's fine) and two containers of ivy. The ivy is to mix into the fence basket and to add to one of the containers of plants he bought yesterday.....I think the purple petunia hanging basket. He also purchased a table top container that has million bells in pale pretty shades of pink mixed with pale lavender petunias....now I love million bells but the colors are just too faded for me. I think they'd look great mixed with some vibrant colors and really show up but this is not bright enough for me. I have to say that one year his front porch hanging basket really got me turned on to using purples and reds together a lot. I'll never forget that I had been working my butt off last summer to get some beds planted that looked really great with lots of colorful blooming annuals when he came home with two hanging baskets for the front porch and commented about his baskets, "Now that's what flowers are supposed to look like!" He was quite pleased with himself. I was a little miffed at what I felt was a "dig" (no pun intended) at the flower gardens I was working on but happy he was showing interest in flowers. Everyone's idea of color is different and you just can't go too wrong when working with plants and flowers.............. I hope all his baskets and flowers turn out just like he wants this year, for it gives one such a feeling of pleasure and accomplishment to look at plants you've chosen that turn out to be a constant source of beauty all summer long.

You Guessed It.............More RAIN..........

Amazingly enough it is raining again this morning. I just walked outside in the drizzle after a huge rain to take a look at how "my attempt" at reverting the neighbor's water drainage off my container garden was doing..........not bad, definitely something I can live with. He hasn't said anything about the work I had done around the leiland cypress trees on the property line.

I moved the wintered rooted hydrangeas out of the well house yesterday hoping they will improve in looks outside. There is a water problem on the concrete floor of the well house where it is leaking between the floor and the concrete block wall at the back of the building. I didn't realize it was causing my containers of hydrangeas to be really wet. Hydrangeas don't care for wet feet so hopefully I've only lost a couple of them. We'll see. Speaking of hydrangeas, my original Vaughn's Lillie Oakleaf has perhaps ten or more buds on it this year. I only had a couple last year but lots of them the first year I had it (3 seasons counting this one). I think I will plant it out into the ground this year, just not sure where. I am not all that unhappy with it potted because I can move it to the well house in the winter for bud protection. It also keeps the size of the plant at bay so may just re-pot it into a larger pot this year.

Sunshine

We have sunshine this morning with only a slim chance of rain. No excuses for not getting something in the yard done. I got a later start than usual on the morning but motivation just seems to keep slipping out of my grasp. DH started his walking routine again today at 6 AM........I have to do the same asap!

My four new additions to the garden from yesterday look great this morning (Dianthus barbatus "Heart Attack", a Blaze Heatwave sage and two Agastache "Acapulco" Orange). The agastache has a fruity citrus smell that is amazing and the color is just down my alley.

The Blaze sage:

and Dianthus Heart Attack:


Some of us HAVE TO GET BUSY. My friend, Joy, just called to ask me out to lunch at Logans in Ft. O...........naturally I can't turn down a lunch invite. So gardening has to be done this evening.

Checked the seedlings and was disappointed to see that some of my zinnia seedlings look bad (like they have turned to mush) maybe because of so much rain. I'll just have to try again on some of them I guess. I am almost afraid to look really good at some of the other containers, just hoping they are not suffering from all this rain and not being put out into a bed.

7:30PM
I finished replacing one of my Annabelle Hydrangeas in the back bed with one that was in a container. The one in the bed had not faired well through winter and looked a little shabby. The one in the container was looking really good and actually matched the size of the mate to the one I removed. Hopefully with a little tender loving care the shabby child will become beautiful. I also pulled most of the wild "sorta" pea like vines that had become plentiful in that back bed.......they would have taken over shortly. I must weed the rest of that bed, fertilize the plants in there and add more mulch to retard the weeds for the summer.

I will start planting out seedlings tomorrow. I believe next year I will follow the lead of "Token" from the WS forum and plant out in Feb and March. He has photos of marvelous looking plants that have grown and look very mature. I don't think it is smart to keep these seedlings in the containers so long, as they begin looking spindly.

Another Rainy Day in Paradise

I woke early with stormy weather, decided to turn over and snuggle back under the covers for a few hours! Finally crawling out of bed at a disgraceful hour, I made my way downstairs and outside for a few minutes. The homes down our street are all at the base of a hill. Our nice neighbor, Rick, has a drainage problem that he continues to work on by directing the water off his lawn and onto a path right down the middle of one of my container areas. So today, armed with a shovel in the rain, I did some directing myself. We'll see how that turns out.

My nephew, Chris, has a birthday this Saturday and graduates from high school next Saturday. I can hardly believe this special child is now an adult. Chris has been in a wheelchair for the past ten years or so because of Duchenne MD. He called me yesterday with a computer problem so I headed to town for a "look-see". His mom had purchased a dianthus barbatus "heart attack" last week at WalMart, and yes I did need one badly. I found a great looking one for just over five bucks. While in town, I ate at the cafeteria (turkey and dressing) plus decided on a quick visit to The Barn Nursery. Three plants richer, I pulled into Chris' driveway for a look at the computer. I restarted the computer in Safe Mode and did a System Restore which fixed the problem. Thank good for system restore, wish I had this with some of my plants!

The rain was basically only an occasional drizzle by this time late in the evening. Hope that means clearer weather tomorrow and more productiveness from me. We'll see.

Drawing of Back Flower Bed

12:30 AM
Haven't made it to bed yet. Started thinking about my back flower garden and decided to try drawing it out. Wanted to post it here for use in the future. I've been trying to get this bed in shape for years, and I AM going to get it in hand this year...........finally!!! I PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise Blueberry Hunt AND TIP for letting plants go to seed.

The morning started early with me up to iron DH's trousers and shirt for work. I didn't return to bed, deciding I felt quite a bit better this morning and perhaps could do something useful! I had hoped to WS those packages of seeds that didn't get done Monday. After relaxing a bit with a phone call to Peggie, my phone's battery was dead again. I decided to go to town to buy a new one. By this time it was a little after eleven so I thought I'd get some lunch as well. My first stop was at WalMart. Although they didn't have the correct battery, they did have some great sprays for the Kong Coleus I'd bought last week (something is eating and leaving large holes in the leaves). I decided to get another of the coleus while I was there (the colors on these plants are wonderful with greens, yellows, reds, burgundy, etc.). So I leave WM with no battery but another plant (oops), two bottles of spray and a quart of oil for the Volvo. So on to lunch at Cracker Barrel (meatloaf on Tues....yea!!!) and then into KMart for a battery. I did find one I think will work. Just across the road from KMart is Rosewood Nursery (BIG mistake for them to have built this nursery there............yeah right) so I decided to just walk through. Nothing really grabbed me until I passed a group of gallon size blueberry shrubs for $6.99. I've been looking for a blueberry this year so WHY NOT? I bought one (was told I have to have two different varieties to cross pollinate so will have to look for another variety later). The very small shrub had several green berries already forming. Will try to post a photo in a day or two as well as the name of the blueberry. Now..........just across the road from the nursery is BIG LOTS where I needed to pick up a couple more packages of Good Sense Deep Dish containers for a few more WS seeds. As I passed by the shelving, a foldable book (dark cherry color) shelve for $39.00 caught my eye .... I've been needing something like this to clear up all the "stuff" on the living room floor around the tv. We'll see after I try it out tomorrow if it is a keeper or not. Finally I headed home with my treasures.

I arrived at home around 2:45 to find DH home early and out on the mower, followed by his ritual of weed eating the whole yard. Well, my idea of getting anything gardening done was over.

Today was my brother, Tony's last radiation treatment for prostate cancer. We are praying and trusting God for wonderful results for Tony with this treatment. He is probably the rock of my life, and I only hope I give him as much!

I'm adding this just before bedtime around midnight. I saw this on WS Gardenweb today. It's great advice and seems quite clever:
When I have a Sweet William which I'd like to keep I let it flower, but not seed. If you want seeds, only let one stem go to seed, but deadhead all others. In that case the plant concentrates on it's roots and not in seed making.

What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks .... The Sun??

The wind chimes on the front porch gently sing this morning as the sun rises over the small pond across the road. That heavenly body is hardly recognizable for we haven't seen the sun in three days here, but it is a welcome sight. I sat in the swing enjoying the sounds and the view : the wind chimes and the Canada geese playing in the water for a few minutes before having my morning "fix" of pepsi . Although I no longer have a fever, I feel really wiped out and am headed back to bed for a few hours. I was up at 6:30 AM and am just not ready to be awake and up. I noticed the four azaleas I had moved last year from the back flower bed (placed in front of the porch) are at the end of their three week bloom season. They did very well and never seemed to resent the move. The deep fuchsia color of the bloom looks really well against the green of the ivy covering the area of the porch behind them. The "Bloom n Again" azaleas are in bloom now. The whites are full and the peachy pink colors are just about half. The white is a double bloom with a breath taking pure white color. It gives you pleasure just to see them in bloom. I like the fact that they are a later spring blooming azalea, instead of being one of the really early bloomers. There is not quite as much chance of them being bitten by one of our late killer frosts.

Off this topic for a second, I want to mention that the dogwoods were just starting in bloom this year on my birthday, March 29th. Every year on my birthday, I repeat to anyone who will listen what my Mother told me about the day I was born. She said that as she and Daddy were driving to the hospital for my birth, one of the only things she was really aware of, other than the pain, was that the dogwoods were in full bloom. So every year on that date, I gauge whether spring is early or late by the bloom stage of the dogwoods. Just an informational tidbit of completely no value to anyone but me. But just a warning............that won't be the last time I mention it ... LOL

I hope to be able to do something outside later today. I still have about 30 or so seeds packs to get into cups for germination. I could do that inside at the sink and kitchen counter and/or on the front porch in the swing. Checking with weather.com our chance of rain today is only 30 percent. We were expecting a much higher percentage with rain all day. This could be a great gardening day after all. I'll finish this blog later today.

Not so great a weekend!

Actually my pre-weekend started on Friday with getting sick, fever and all. I had great hopes of doing the first "plant out" of winter sowing containers this weekend. I have lots of babies needing to start their lives in the new beds I've been working on. But it was not meant to be as we have had torrential rains. It rained all day Friday, Saturday and now it looks like Sunday and Monday will be a bust for planting out. At least with all this rain, I didn't feel so guilty about not working out in the garden and staying in bed sick for two days. I'm sure Monday will be spent still lounging around trying to recoup. One good thing about the rain, I know all my wonderful perennials and hydrangeas are loving this kind of weather.

I have so many things I need/want to do in my gardens. My DH is a "lawns are meant for grass" fanatic so my gardening projects are limited to three main areas at present (I do have a sneaky way of "stealing" more areas in mind and am always expanding the current areas I have ... sometimes only a few inches every season and sometimes as much as a foot or more .... he never notices, at least not yet. Kinda like the story of the frog being put into a pot of cold water on the stove and heated up gradually.... he doesn't realize until it's too late).

One of my gardening areas is a shady side of our home. I have three small shade beds beside the house (where the steps go up onto the front porch). Two of those beds have been there for a couple of years with a large yew shrub in between them. We recently had a carport built over the driveway right beside those beds. One of the workmen fell off the new metal roofing while working on that carport back in February. He fell right into the yew. Fortunately he wasn't hurt, but the yew was beyond saving. Anyway, DH recently went on a four day training seminar trip for his work and during that time, I added a bed between the two existing ones (where the yew once lived). He hasn't said a word about the new bed so am not sure if he hasn't noticed or chose to ignore it. LOL...... Photos are of the three beds just about three weeks ago when I first added the new bed in the middle. I am in the process of adding and taking out plants to fit into my ideas of what I want in this shade area. I'm sure it will change a lot before I am happy with it. The first bed toward the steps actually only has potted plants sitting in it for the moment, except for the wood poppy and the fern. I have to make some decisions on plants for that bed soon.