Time to Grow

It has been a long time, I really don’t know what I have been doing, working perhaps. At any rate it has been time to grow. School is now officially out and the garden is growing. Lots of spring doings. I keep a list of to do list for the garden, ( OCD thing ) yet also, it is so rewarding to cross items off that list.

The daffodils were wonderful this spring, and several tulips did return.

Last fall I had planted tulips in large pots, and left them to overwinter in the garage. It worked out pretty well. The tulips knew it was time to grow. I will do this again; however, I did learn that I really could plant more in the pots. So next time I plan on planting 50 bulbs in each pot. More importantly, I already have my fall bulb order in. I have found out, that it is best to order right away. Items sell out or you just lose that inspiration.

I also dug out the tulips as they finished blooming, trying to keep the foliage intact. I then placed the bulbs in boxes to dry out.

I plan on planting these again in the fall. I will plant them in the raised vegetable bed behind the tomato plants when they are well finished, and just see what they do. Perhaps I will get a nice bouquet. The vegetable bed is the perfect location for bulbs to be planted as an experiment. I planted the forced daffodil bulbs there last fall, and I did get a few nice blooms to pick.

The Virginia Bluebells have reseeded all over the garden, yet they did a decent job with this grouping. I have finally adapted to just pulling out plants that I don’t want or pulling them if they are not in the right location. It is easy with the Bluebells as they are heavy self seeders and reliably return every spring.

I have two new best friends. This collapsible container is just the best. It is lightweight, large capacity, and has several handles. I drag it all around the garden with me. My next best friend is the garden knife. It is a Nisaku Stainless Steel Hori Hori Gardening Knife. I never knew life could be so easy. It was just great for digging up bulbs, weeding, and working the soil. I just attach it to my belt loop and off we go.

Now the peonies are showing off, it is time for them to grow. Unfortunately, we have had a pretty severe lack of rain. I always put hoops around the peonies, but I guess I didn’t need to this year. We always get a heavy rain that causes the peonies to flop to the ground. I would rather have the rain.

The dark peony is Buckeye Belle. I just love the contrast of this one with the yellow peonies, although they didn’t have much overlap time with the blooming this year.

The post planters are finished. I don’t know how I will do this when I am 80. It is somewhat tricky, but well worth the effort, at least at this point.

The iris were stunning as usual, but really short lived. The unusual spring heat that we experienced, kinda wiped them out early. I also missed the window to fertilize them. In the past I have used triple phosphate and it has noticeably increased the amount of blooms. There were fewer bloom stalks this year. This iris has always been my favorite, and I know I post pictures of it every year. I find that people either hate it or love it. Coffee Trader is the name.

One lone poppy bloom. I don’t know what happened. I have lots of poppy foliage, just no buds or blooms. The Lupine are growing well, so that makes up for the lack of poppies.

Looks like it is time to grow. I will be pulling the dead daffodil foliage, and mulching in the plants. I will also certainly be pumping water from the lake. Time for road trips also. Lots of fun to be had. Happy Gardening.