April Garden
For the three of you who say you like these posts...
I've finally settled on having succulents in the hanging baskets. Nothing else survives my irregular watering. I need to put in a drip system into the baskets, so that they don't drip so much on the roses. These two were transplanted from the back yard over the winter. They seem quite happy in their new home. I hope to put some climbing roses on either side at some point. I have not settled on the right ones yet. The two transplants are pink, so I'd like the climbers to be pink as well.
On the other side of the front walk, you can see that the land lords still haven't painted the stucco white I have another happy rose transplant from the back yard. I hope to have a non-windy day some time soon so I can spray the roses for fungus and bugs. All the rain has made keeping up with that a pain.
The bulbs are going like gangbusters. I hope the iris actually hibernate fully this winter. They really need to be separated.
The strawberries are enjoying their new home. I'm glad to have the space in the garden boxes in back.
Also on the front patio, I spent some time separating and repotting a bunch of my succulents. The aloe is showing its approval by preparing to bloom. While I was at it, I repotted the hanging baskets and put in new coco mats, since the birds quite enjoyed using the old ones for nesting materials. As I was moving plants, I was quite surprised to find some fifteen acorns in the hanging baskets. Either we have some supremely talented squirrels, or the birds around here are way more ambitious than I thought. The hydrangea will eventually move to the back yard to replace the one that died over the winter.
Speaking of dead things, I did lose one mum over the winter. Considering how long the rest have survived, I'm not to troubled by that. The stick in the midle of this picture is a white currant from mediea and despair_bear. It's finally growing, guys!
Along the side of the driveway are the various lavenders and the rest of my roses. The mostly-stick one in the foreground is the giant I transplanted from the back yard. It's just now putting out foliage. The rest, however, are happily blooming away. The one by the gate is leaning severely under the weight of its new blooms. I took the power trimmer through the bed not too long ago, but there are still plenty of weeds to come out.
The happy little pippin apple tree is just starting to blossom. Hooray! The rhododendron on the left has been teasing with buds form more than a month. I pulled out the rhodo that was between because it was doing nothing there. Instead I have some volunteer pansies, carnations that survived nearly being choked out by oaxalis, and a stick. I have to say how awesome I find being able to cut a branch off a current and stick it in the ground is. I'm seeing a fair bit of greenery on it already.
Near that, is the new home of my perennial herbs. Just leaning out of the pic on the left is my black currant. It wasn't happy in the shade of the catnip, so I hope it likes its new home. Also here: rosemary, thyme, chives, sage, and oregano (and weeds). I will likely put in some annuals, too. I've no idea what, yet.
That's not strictly true, I'll put in pumpkins off to the right. I'm not sure whether the zuke is going here or in one of the veggie beds.
My happy nectarine has already blossomed and shed. It got quite a severe trimming this winter. I'm hoping to correct the lean a bit by not having one side massively heavier than the other. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this tree. I only put it in two years ago!
Between the apple an nectarine are potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. These have all sprung up in the past week. I also found one beneath the peas, which I need to move.
Here's a red current branch I planted with some volunteer marigolds. In the back is the black current. Around the bases are the old coco mats from the hanging baskets in the front.
This first garden bed has cauliflower, brocolli, and beets, which are nearly impossible to see in this picture. I lost a bunch of the brocs to bolting right off the bat. Grr.
The second garden bed has snow peas, lettuce, chard, and brussels sprouts. And one volunteer carrot. The *#^&^% gopher got four lettuce, two sprouts, and a number of pea plants before I exacted my revenge. THe little blighter hasn't been back since, so I must have done something right.
That's horseradish in the pot on the left.
The third box has more brocs and cauliflower. The gopher only got one of these. The rest went with the nasty bolding episode. Back by the fence, I have volunteer catnip, oak, and walnut, which I hope to send home with Steingrim soon.
Besdie that box, is my original red currant, which has just put out the. yellow flowers you can almost see at the bottom of the picture. The gladiolus are coming up strong. The red flowers behind them are geraniums. I'm tempted to put the white currants there instead. The bing cherry there on the left has only put out a couple of half-hearted blossoms so far. Behind all that is the catnip bush. I have planty of volunteers, if anyone want some. Fair warning: they grow to 3'-4' high if you put them in the ground. and put out a bazillion seeds before dying back to a small shrub.
Along the other fence is the Van's cherry I put in this winter. It's supposed to be able to cross-pollinate with the Bing. We'll see. It won't if it keeps this kind of schedule. Behind that are garlic (nearly ready to harvest), and onions. The onions are still small, but pack the flavor of a full one. The limes there in the corner suffer from irregular watering. This will only get worse until we replace the end of the soaker hose. I may have ripped that off with the lawn mover. We have finally used enough onions that I have space to put in tomatoes here. I should do that soon.
I really need to borrow a ladder to cut back the oak there. It's leaning on the fence in a worrying way and I'd like to take some weight off. Also, I'd like to make a good space for putting a table up under the tree for a fun tea or afternoon of bocce. The hydrangeas (and token rhododendron) are growing nicely around that space.
I find myself yearning for an apricot tree, though I don't know where I'd put it. I also have delusions of putting in stepping stones around the herbs.
I've finally settled on having succulents in the hanging baskets. Nothing else survives my irregular watering. I need to put in a drip system into the baskets, so that they don't drip so much on the roses. These two were transplanted from the back yard over the winter. They seem quite happy in their new home. I hope to put some climbing roses on either side at some point. I have not settled on the right ones yet. The two transplants are pink, so I'd like the climbers to be pink as well.
On the other side of the front walk, you can see that the land lords still haven't painted the stucco white I have another happy rose transplant from the back yard. I hope to have a non-windy day some time soon so I can spray the roses for fungus and bugs. All the rain has made keeping up with that a pain.
The bulbs are going like gangbusters. I hope the iris actually hibernate fully this winter. They really need to be separated.
The strawberries are enjoying their new home. I'm glad to have the space in the garden boxes in back.
Also on the front patio, I spent some time separating and repotting a bunch of my succulents. The aloe is showing its approval by preparing to bloom. While I was at it, I repotted the hanging baskets and put in new coco mats, since the birds quite enjoyed using the old ones for nesting materials. As I was moving plants, I was quite surprised to find some fifteen acorns in the hanging baskets. Either we have some supremely talented squirrels, or the birds around here are way more ambitious than I thought. The hydrangea will eventually move to the back yard to replace the one that died over the winter.
Speaking of dead things, I did lose one mum over the winter. Considering how long the rest have survived, I'm not to troubled by that. The stick in the midle of this picture is a white currant from mediea and despair_bear. It's finally growing, guys!
Along the side of the driveway are the various lavenders and the rest of my roses. The mostly-stick one in the foreground is the giant I transplanted from the back yard. It's just now putting out foliage. The rest, however, are happily blooming away. The one by the gate is leaning severely under the weight of its new blooms. I took the power trimmer through the bed not too long ago, but there are still plenty of weeds to come out.
The happy little pippin apple tree is just starting to blossom. Hooray! The rhododendron on the left has been teasing with buds form more than a month. I pulled out the rhodo that was between because it was doing nothing there. Instead I have some volunteer pansies, carnations that survived nearly being choked out by oaxalis, and a stick. I have to say how awesome I find being able to cut a branch off a current and stick it in the ground is. I'm seeing a fair bit of greenery on it already.
Near that, is the new home of my perennial herbs. Just leaning out of the pic on the left is my black currant. It wasn't happy in the shade of the catnip, so I hope it likes its new home. Also here: rosemary, thyme, chives, sage, and oregano (and weeds). I will likely put in some annuals, too. I've no idea what, yet.
That's not strictly true, I'll put in pumpkins off to the right. I'm not sure whether the zuke is going here or in one of the veggie beds.
My happy nectarine has already blossomed and shed. It got quite a severe trimming this winter. I'm hoping to correct the lean a bit by not having one side massively heavier than the other. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this tree. I only put it in two years ago!
Between the apple an nectarine are potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. These have all sprung up in the past week. I also found one beneath the peas, which I need to move.
Here's a red current branch I planted with some volunteer marigolds. In the back is the black current. Around the bases are the old coco mats from the hanging baskets in the front.
This first garden bed has cauliflower, brocolli, and beets, which are nearly impossible to see in this picture. I lost a bunch of the brocs to bolting right off the bat. Grr.
The second garden bed has snow peas, lettuce, chard, and brussels sprouts. And one volunteer carrot. The *#^&^% gopher got four lettuce, two sprouts, and a number of pea plants before I exacted my revenge. THe little blighter hasn't been back since, so I must have done something right.
That's horseradish in the pot on the left.
The third box has more brocs and cauliflower. The gopher only got one of these. The rest went with the nasty bolding episode. Back by the fence, I have volunteer catnip, oak, and walnut, which I hope to send home with Steingrim soon.
Besdie that box, is my original red currant, which has just put out the. yellow flowers you can almost see at the bottom of the picture. The gladiolus are coming up strong. The red flowers behind them are geraniums. I'm tempted to put the white currants there instead. The bing cherry there on the left has only put out a couple of half-hearted blossoms so far. Behind all that is the catnip bush. I have planty of volunteers, if anyone want some. Fair warning: they grow to 3'-4' high if you put them in the ground. and put out a bazillion seeds before dying back to a small shrub.
Along the other fence is the Van's cherry I put in this winter. It's supposed to be able to cross-pollinate with the Bing. We'll see. It won't if it keeps this kind of schedule. Behind that are garlic (nearly ready to harvest), and onions. The onions are still small, but pack the flavor of a full one. The limes there in the corner suffer from irregular watering. This will only get worse until we replace the end of the soaker hose. I may have ripped that off with the lawn mover. We have finally used enough onions that I have space to put in tomatoes here. I should do that soon.
I really need to borrow a ladder to cut back the oak there. It's leaning on the fence in a worrying way and I'd like to take some weight off. Also, I'd like to make a good space for putting a table up under the tree for a fun tea or afternoon of bocce. The hydrangeas (and token rhododendron) are growing nicely around that space.
I find myself yearning for an apricot tree, though I don't know where I'd put it. I also have delusions of putting in stepping stones around the herbs.