Year Two ...

This is the second year of the first garden I started from scratch. I am pleased with how it's looking and filling out. The building was originally a chicken coop that was converted to a potting shed. First we fixed the building, then....time for a garden! There was a large rose bush where the pump is now that we just moved. I think I will mulch an oval area around the pump as I know we won't weed whack around it!







The right side will fill in more as the summer progresses. I tried marine bells last year and loved how they mounded so I planted them at the front edge of both sides again. The sun drops are huge this year and I love Apple's foxglove behind them. The fever few in the back by the windows should bloom soon. I have little white markers where I planted dahlia bulbs. They should look nice with the marine bells infront.





The left side has really filled out. I did lose one of my three delphiniums so there is a small replacement out front. Last year the pink daisies didn't bloom but they are putting on quite a show this year! I have no idea what the tall white flower to the left of the pink daisies are. It was a plant swap flower that was not marked. I have asked my gardening friends but no one is familiar with it. If none of you know, I will have to break out the gardening books to figure it out! The window boxes have water wells in the bottom which saves me some watering.



A few close ups....

Winding Down

It's our busy time at work and it seems as though I have been there more than at home the last few weeks. It really hit me yesterday when Ron was all excited that I made a ham for dinner...."a real meal." A ham dinner isn't all that hard but no one tell him that, I got great pointage! LOL

It made me think, I haven't taken time to "stop and smell the roses" lately. Well my roses are pretty much done and my garden is definitely winding down. I have even cut a few things back already because they were looking scraggly. I have all kinds of things to move and plant. I intended to play in the dirt a bit yesterday but I didn't make it outside. Today I took a little walk to survey things and decide where I might plant some of my new treasures. I was surprised to find so many blooms. The delphinium I purchased this spring is in it's third bloom! What a deal! Well only one of the three decided to bloom a third time but I'm not complaining! Do you see that little pink guy in the background?

Here's a close up of it. I can't decide if it's a flower or a weed. The greenery on it reminds me of a weed but I rather like it. I am always getting pass-a-longs where I don't know the name and things are always getting moved so I could have put it there.....Anyone know what it is? I just may keep it, weed or not but if it is a weed, I want to know to keep my eye on it!

This is the first year I tried Marine Bells. I had actually never seen them before and bought them just because they were blue. Liz loves blue and always asks why none of my flowers are blue. I added the blue delphiniums and the blue marine bells to the new garden by the green house. The Marine Bells get two thumbs up from me. They are in full sun and it's been a dry summer. They mounded nicely and are still going strong! I have a list of things to research this winter and one is to find out if there are any other annuals in this family that might perform as well. One of the speakers at the symposium last weekend mentioned them too. I was so excited to know about and have one of the plants they talked about! My trumpet flowers are there in the background. They just keep blooming as well.

Hollyhocks are one of my favorites. There were some here when we bought the place but they were all white or pale pink and I wanted a bit of color. I tried scattering seeds but with no luck. Apple convinced me to try seeds inside this year and I actually got them to grow! Baby steps.... I have a lot of color now, the seed packet said "perennial" so I will be curious to see if they really come back next year. I always thought they were all biennials. Today was the first time I noticed the center of the flower has a star pattern (you may have to click on the picture to see it.) Isn't the detail in blooms amazing?

Here is one of the white ones that came with the place, I like how the shape of the flower is a bit different. I wonder how many years they have been coming back? I think it's pretty cool to think someone that lived here 50 years ago or more may have planted them. Maybe some of my blooms will give pleasure to someone long after I'm gone (to a bigger house that is....lol)

Here is my mystery bloom (OK my second one) that I am hoping someone can identify for me. A friend gave me bulbs and said she had know idea what they were but they were pretty. They have been blooming a few weeks and are still going. They are about three and half feet tall and drop down. Very pretty. I had no idea what to expect other than white. It's fun to have surprises in the garden!


This may be my last nice rose bloom as my garden winds down for the winter. I hope you all find time to smell the roses this week.

Heirloom Blooms

We always had peonies in the back yard while we were growing up. After they were done blooming Mom would mow right over them and every year they'd come back. Two years ago she was no longer interested in keeping the one remaining bush and let me dig it out. I divided it into three and last year got just one bloom. I'm thrilled that all three have bloomed this year.

This one is near the back door where I walk by several times daily.

This one is not as happy looking but still blooming.

The third one only has one bloom so far. The foxglove in front just started blooming yesterday. The foxglove I found growing at the edge of the woods and moved to the garden.

BJ and Angie decided they wanted to rip out everything the previous owner had planted along their front porch and start from scratch. So of course I helped myself. I was quite surprised by this bloom yesterday.

The columbine that Country Girl gave me last year is still full of blooms.

I'm loving this little patch of salvia, tickseed and dianthus right now.

Delphinium started from seed last year.

A huge patch of daisies. Another gift from Country Girl.

Blanket flower started from seed last year. I moved this to the new bed at the back of the house and now every bloom is facing towards the house.

St. John's wort shrub. I just bought this last weekend. It's supposed to get 5' tall and wide, covered with this little flowers.

Also blooming:
Iris
Bleeding heart
Pincushion flower
Fushia
Stella D'oro lilies
Lupine
other day lilies
chives

Tanks to Carol for hosting the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

Slow But Sure

We had round two of company last weekend. Ron's father and step-mother came for a visit. I should have been washing windows or baking but I was finishing up the new bed the morning of the day they arrived. It has been a slow project and is still in progress but I thought it would be fun to show you the before and after......

This is what the greenhouse looked like five years ago... It was a one time chicken coupe converted to a greenhouse in need of a lot of work!

When we first bought the place we had a lot of work to do (we still do for that matter but not like then.) Anyway, we knew the structure had potential and wanted to save it so we put a new roof on the first summer we were here and then let it sit. We figured the rest could wait. The next year, Ron scraped it, painted it and replaced the windows. The windows were rotted so he took the old ones from the the house and put them in the greenhouse. He had to build a frame for the windows so they would fit. I was quite impressed as this was one of his first "do it yourself" projects. I think he surprised himself as well!


This is what it looks like today with the new roof, windows and the bed we just put in. It doesn't match the vision I have in my mind yet but I am pleased to have the idea a reality.

The pictures didn't come out great but you may be able to see what's in there. Most are "passalong plants" but I did add a few new ones. My big purchase was the three blue delphiniums in the back left corner. I really hope they do well in this location, I love tall plants with shorter ones in front. I also planted three pink dahlias, some yellow daylilys, black eyed susans, a yellow iris, a painted daisy, hot pink thrift and marine bells in the front. I got "a tall white plant that is pretty" from the garden club plant exchange. I have no idea what it will look like or it's name but it's there in the back.

The iris' on the right side were there so I left them as is for now. I wanted something in the back so it wasn't just window and put in the line of fever few. Now that they are in there, I wish I had planted them in a clump but I will see how things look as the get more established. Apple gave me some scarlet sage she started from seed. They seem to be doing fine. You can't really see them but they are in front of the fever few. She also have me two datura. One doesn't look like it will make it but the other might. I hope that takes off; it will be the eye catcher of that part of the garden! She also gave me some foxglove. Two are from last year and two from this year so I am hoping for blooms this year from at least one. I had a few things that were in front of the windows that I just moved into the bed but I can't remember what they were, one has been nibbled on so I will have to wait and see. There is a columbine in the front, some sundrops and more marine bells. This is the fist year I have used the marine bells and I'm looking forward to seeing how they spread.


Now we just need to tackle the inside. I am also thinking of a stone entrance by the door....

A Bit Behind

I seem to live in a time warp area where we are two weeks behind the surrounding areas. In town the azaleas are blooming (mine are just budding out) and the hosta have been coming up for a while now (I hunted and finally found some tips just poking through). I still don't have much blooming but things are starting to come along.

Lupine and Monarda. The lupine was given to me by a student last year. The monarda was a stow-away that never bloomed last year so I have no idea what color it will be. It certainly has multiplied. :-)

Spurge. This was given to Country Girl last year and she shared with me so I really didn't know what to expect.

Ox-eyed daisy, red monarda (both gifts from Country Girl last year) and delphinium.

We had a frost overnight so I've just started hardening off my seedlings in hopes of being able to plant later in the week sometime. So in the planting department it looks like we'll be a week or two early this year.

Blooms!

When I got home from work around 9:30 everything was still under snow. By the time I left to go back at 1:30 this is what I saw!

By the time I got home again the snow was gone from most of the bed and there were several more blooms and of course I took more pictures. Unfortuately blogger won't let me post any of them!!!!!

Also coming up finally are some glory of the snow and grape hyacinth.

I was quite excited to find a few delphiniums coming up. I planted these last May and they did absolutely nothing so I didn't expect to see them this year.

Winter's Damage

The snow banks are shrinking back and starting to reveal the edges of the garden. What critter is living here and how many of my bulbs and plants did it feast on over the winter?I'm hoping there isn't more damage to this rhododendron. I still can't see any of my azaleas.
There are glory of the snow planted just under the bit of green at the bottom of the picture. Hopefully they'll be up sometime next week.


Three delphiniums and a datura germinated 3/23.
Only 1/2 of the marigolds germinated so I have seeded more.
One of the kid's zinnia didn't germinate so I added new seed to their pot.

First Seedlings

Craig asked how I start my seeds. Last year I tried starting seeds both in individual cells and by starting several seeds in one container and then transplanting the best looking ones to individual cells. The ones I transplanted failed miserably so this year I didn't bother. In each cell I planted 2-5 seeds and I will thin them later.

I only have two windows facing south and I can't use the kitchen window so our office/storage room will be very crowed for the next couple of months. There is also a west facing window. Last year I had the two large cell packs seen below. The smaller domes are from sheet cakes that I saved. I also saved and sterilized the cell packs from the plants that I bought last year. (Recycle/Reuse!) The very large, round dome is my punch bowl over a picnic serving tray holding the zinnia pots that the kids started for their moms from seeds they helped me gather in the fall. The larger pots were much easier for them to work with. Hopefully they will work out. I move the trays around everyday to try and even out the light they get.

Last year was my 1st year gardening and so I had no idea that some people think that starting from seed is hard. Maybe it was beginners luck but most of my seeds did well. I never could have afforded to buy all of the plants I ended up with and I wouldn't have had the joy of pointing out a plant to a visitor and exclaiming "I grew that!" I did learn that I didn't water the seedlings deeply enough and some didn't set down as strong a root system as they could have but they thrived once I got them outside. I will try watering from the bottom this year.

Last year I collected hollyhock, zinnia, lupine, and marigold seeds that I will be using this year. Some of the other seeds I am trying were left over from last year, others bought online last fall and I picked up some more at 10 for $1 recently. (Last years dollar store zinnia seeds just blew us away with the way they grew!)

I tried starting delphiniums outside last year without luck. I did have about four seedlings at the end of the summer that I thought might be them so I left them and hope they come back this year. Delphiniums are so pretty that I thought I'd try starting them inside this year. I've read that they don't transplant well but if they don't I can try some more seeds outside.





Marigolds started to germinate 3/16 - 6 days to date 14 of 54 cells
Dwarf Morning Glories - 3/17 - 7 days to date 10 of 18 cells
Love lies bleeding - 3/18 - 8 days - all 6 cells
Strawflower - 3/18 - 8 days - 6 of 12 cells
Scarlet sage - 3/18 - 14 of 18 cells (s/b scarlet rather than crimson stated before)

New seeds started
Zinnias - 3/14 - by kids as Mother's day gifts 1 of 20 germinated after 5 days - 3/19
Dwarf Delphiniums dark blue - 3/18
English Lipstick Daisy - 3/18