Planted June 10, 2010

Marigold French Vanilla Hybrid
Calendula Híbrida vainilla francesa (Burpee)

Zinnia Purple Prince
Zinia Príncipe púrpura (Burpee)

Basil Thai
Siam Queen (Park)

Tomato Park S
Razzleberry Hybrid (Park)

Sunflower
Kid Stuff (Burpee)

Marigold
Happy Days Mix (Burpee)

Moonflower Giant White
Dama de Noche Gigante blanca (Burpee)

Yesterday I planted Heliotrope Mini Marine and Plectrantus Silver Shield in the flowerbed with the other plants. I didn't plan to put them there, but since I didn't prepare the bed they were supposed to go in, I had to put them somewhere. They probably are better in the ground than in cramped little peat pots.

I also planted the Butterfly Weed, the Swamp Milkweed and one Salvia along the road where it was already mulched. I planned to dig out that bed and prepare it, but its too hot to dig right now and removing turf and tilling the soil is really hard work! I guess I will just have to put up with the ornamental grass that had been previously planted. Maybe everything will look good after all, once the flowers have come in. Three of the Butterfly Weed (they seem to do well from seed, so I had a good number of seedlings to work with) went in the back in a corner formed by the stacked stone wall and stairs.

Three Salvia Fairy Queens were planted where the spring tulips were planted. I also surrounded the space with a 5 in high stacked fieldstone wall. The fieldstones are from preparing new planting beds. There are LOTS of them!

The nasturtium has started to bloom this week. There are only yellow ones so far.

I planted any parsley that was still showing signs of life into the raised bed in the back near the rest of the parsley.

Some of the leaves on the Johnny-Jump-Ups at the front of the house turned purple. I wonder if it is because they are getting too much sun. The ones in the part shade bed seem to be doing well.

The buds on the rose bush have started to swell.

Petunia Double Cascade does not seem to be doing very well. The flowers are opening up, but are not very attractive. They seem a bit wilted and flagging despite watering. I wonder if they are stunted because I planted them out so late.

I also planted the two baptisa australis along the rusty fence near the side of the house just to get them into the ground. While walking B last night, I saw what I believe to be a very large baptisa. I wonder if these will grow as large. If so, maybe I shouldn't have planted the two so close together.

Actually, I think I planted many of the plants too close together. But again, if need be, I can always pull some out.

Sweet Woodruff and Strawberries

I guess I didn't mention it before, but just in case I forget, I will probably not use peat pots again since the roots on some of the plants have a difficult time penetrating them. Will probably plant in plastic 3" containers the next time around or in plastic trays with individual cells (although it is sometimes difficult to lift out the seedlings). Maybe root trainers are a good idea. I ripped off the peat pots before planting the seedlings in the ground. Last year, the marigolds planted into the ground with the pots seemed a bit on the small size.

Yesterday I worked on creating a border bed on the left side of the house (looking at the front). Chives were placed around the rose bush to keep the Japanese Beetles away. Petunias were planted in a row with Johnny-Jump-Ups in front of them. I spaced the Petunias closer than I probably should, thinking that if they become too crowded, I can always pull some out. In case their growth is stunted because they were planted too late, then even if they are stunted by half, they should fill in nicely.

I really like the Johnny-Jump-Ups and the Pansy Plentifall. They are very cheerful looking.

The Pansies do not seem to be fragrant though, so I'm a little disappointed about that. Still, they are pretty and I would definitely plant them again though. I planted them in both sun and part shade and they seem to be doing well in both, although I think the ones in part shade seem a bit stronger.

Although I've planted Johnny-Jump-Ups in the back where there is part shade, they seem to take to the sun better and have more flowers. I was worried that the sun might cause them to wilt, but it seems that with regular watering, they are fine. Hmm, the Johnny-Jump-Ups are supposed to be fragrant too, but if they are, I can hardly smell anything. Still, I would plant these again too. They also look pretty when weaved into a braid.

For next year, use May as the last frost date. All of the cool weather plants were planted too late this year, it seems since the weather is already beginning to become very warm. I also lost some plants since they sat around too long before being planted and were too overgrown for their tiny peat pots. The Chinese Lanterns developed a spider mite problem and the Heliotrope's edges have browned a bit (from overcrowded conditions with unseparated peat trays?)I probably lost half of the strawberries I planted, if not more.

Oh, and sometime last week I planted a hosta called Fragrant Bouquet.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to weed the steps to the street and also plant the 2 or 3 Chinese Lanterns I have left. Not quite sure where to put them though. I was planning to plant them to the left and right of the stairs, but I think maybe catmint might look prettier there.

There is so much landscaping work to do with this property that it's overwhelming! Towards the back of the house, there are weeds which need to be controlled so that poor C isn't always cutting them down. We are planning on using newspaper to suppress the weeds and mulch to cover it up. It would give the back a more woodland feel, hopefully. The lilacs and holly also need pruning and I need to find out what sex the holly is, so that I can find a mate to make berries.

Visited Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve yesterday during their yearly spring plant sale and planted them today. I thought that I should record the information on the plant labels here for future reference.

Polemonium Reptans (Jacob's Ladder)
Perennial
Blue flowers, May
Moist soil, shade, self-seeds readily
1 ft

Polemonium Reptans 'Stairway to Heaven' (Variegated Jacob's Ladder)
Perennial
Blue flowers, April-May
Moist to average soil, sun to shade
1.2-2 ft

Athyrium Felix-Femina (Lady Fern)
Perennial
No flowers
Moist soil, shade, clump-former
2 ft

Matteuccia Struthiopteris (Ostrich Fern)
Perennial
Separate Fertile Fronds
Moist soil, part shade to sun
4 ft

Polygonatum Biflorum var. Commutatum (Great Solomon's Seal)
Perennial
White flowers, May
Moist soil, part shade to shade
3 ft

Baptisia Australis (Wild Blue Indigo)
Perennial
Blue flowers, May
Avg. moisture, sun, interesting dry fruit
4 ft

Hopefully they will do well in the shade garden, especially since they are native plants. Wanted to purchase Joe-Pye Weed also, but alas, not enough budget. Maybe next time. =)

Today was a sunny and warm day. Weeded and mulched Harlow Carr, mulched sweet peas, culinary garden and shade garden. Also watered primroses, pansies and Johnny-Jump-Ups put in yesterday. Bagged lilies that were pulled out weeks ago.

Today I worked on the shade garden against the north side of the house. It was much easier to use the fork to lift the top layer of soil and to unsettle the weeds than it was to pull the "weedlings" out by hand. Although I had mapped out where everything was supposed to go, I only loosely followed the plan and altered it when I thought it would look better. Some of the seedlings that went out are

Arctic Primroses
Drumstick Primrose
Johnny Jump Ups
Pansy Plentifall

I forgot to add sweet woodruff. Hopefully I will remember to add them tomorrow. I also added some of these to the culinary shade garden that I worked on yesterday.

To my surprise, I found that the bed had already been edged with large red bricks now covered over with grass. The bricks appear to be heavy and well worn, so maybe it was installed a while ago. I had brought some edging material, but the bricks would look so much better. After all the work with tilling the soil, working in a bag of compost and planting, I was too tired to clean up the edges. Maybe tomorrow I will have a bit more time.

I also have to look into getting larger plants to help landscape the bed. I hope to include some ferns, hostas, astilbes and azaleas. Bowman Hill Flower Preserve is holding their annual plant sale through this weekend. I think I would like to go and pick out a few plants: some ferns, baptisa, bleeding heart, Jacob's ladder.

I haven't added the mulch yet, so maybe I will do it this weekend.

Today was an overcast day (about 55F) with a forecast of rain. Seemed like a good day to get some plants into the ground since the rain will help to water them in for free.

Set out some strawberries (Alpine and Fresca), sweet woodruff (Blue Surprise), nasturtiums, parsley, cilantro and dill into the culinary part shade garden today. Amended with half a bag of compost. Fertilized with hydrolyzed fish and seaweed fertilizer.

Also set out sweet peas at the front of the house near the metal fence. They are too small to secure to the fence at the moment, but hopefully they will grow quickly. Fertilized with hydrolyzed fish and seaweed fertilizer. Did not add compost since I may later plant lavender there (lavender likes lean soil)

Gave Harlow Carr 2 gallons of water mixed with Miracle-Gro Rose fertilizer. There are some dark spots on the leaves, but not all are round. Pulled affected leaves off and discarded.

Set out Bleeding Heart and Lily-of-the-Valley pips in the shade garden on the north side of the house. I brought them from Home Depot a while back, so I'm not sure how they will do since they looked rather dry when I took them out of the bag. I watered them in but did not fertilize these since I'm not sure if they will even grow. Soil was amended with some compost.

Getting ready to harden off some of the seedlings. The weather is till cool, so I'll put out the cool weather plants first.

Bleeding Heart
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Forget-Me-Not
Larkspur
Linaria/Toadflax
Lupine
Nasturtium
Pansy
Peas
Petunias
Primroses
Snapdragons
Sweet Peas
Viola
Violet

Checked on the pink and purple zinnias and the sweet peas outside. The zinnias are not doing very well and are severely wilted, probably because of the high temperatures we have been having. I have set them in a tub of warm water and hope that they will survive. It seems that keeping the seedlings outdoors mean that they require more water. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they are in peat containers too.

It's a bit cool out now that the mini heatwave has subsided. I think that I will start to harden off the cool weather seedlings now and maybe bring in the warmer temperature seedlings back inside.

Just for my own future reference, here are the cool season annual which I am currently growing:

Larkspur
Nasturtium
Petunias
Sweet Peas
Snapdragons
Viola/Pansies

Soaked David Austin's Harlow Carr in a small basin since a larger and deeper bucket was not available. The roots were in water, but the bulb-ish part of the plant was not. Hopefully it will not be a problem. Planted it today according to directions, sans rose food, since I didn't have any available. Dug an approximately 18" square hole, 18" deep as the directions stated. Back filled with original soil and some compost and used Start to get the roots off to a healthy start. Top dressed the soil with compost and watered with 2 gallons of water. I planted it at about 5 or 6 pm after the hot noon sun was beginning to temper off. Hopefully there will be rain for the next two days so that the plant is not too stressed. It was difficult work and there was a lot of large stones in the soil, some of which I removed.

Also purchased three heathers (Erica darleyensis) as well as some Miracle-Gro rose food, a set of 10 Lily-of-the-Valley and a set of 3 pink bleeding hearts.

Weather has been really warm lately. Right now it is about 80 degrees F. Tomorrow will bring temperatures in the 90s. From weather reports, it seems uncharacteristically warm for this month.

Been watering plants with hydrolized fish and seaweed fertilizer each time. I wonder if I should only do it every other time.

Hardening Off
Linarias are looking a bit frail.
Lupines are drooping a bit despite watering. 2-3 of them died. Was it the cool temperatures from before?
Sweet Woodruff are looking a bit ruffled too. Will probably move them to the back since they are shade lovers anyway.
Sweet Peas are doing okay.
Thyme seems a bit wilty when given too much water.
Alpine and Fresca strawberries seem to be doing okay, but will water anyway.

Received Harlow Carr today (or did it come yesterday and I just didn't notice it?). Will soak it in water tonight and plant outside tomorrow. Need to buy some rose food for it too. It should rain on Thursday and Friday, so hopefully the rose will get off to a good stressless start. Also brought some Start to encourage root development.

Last week on Friday, I pulled out all of the orange "ditch" lilies from the raised stone and mortar bed outside the back door and will probably plant herbs and a small vegetable garden in its place. Gave a clump to Aunt J since she seemed to like them. Will also later dig out the yellow daylily from the bed along the road to give to her as I'm not a bit fan of lilies. At least not yet... ;)

Aunt J and Uncle L gave us a brilliant pink azalea plant. I am wondering where would be the best place for it. Would like to plant it near the backdoor, but I think that the north side of the house could use a bit of brightening up which this plant would certainly do.

Planted on Sunday, March 21, 2010.

Oregano
Cilantro
Dill, Mammoth
Rosemary
Chives (2009)
Gomphrena
Basil
Larkspur Blue Cloud
Alyssum Summer Snow
Lemon Grass (2009)

Put together a mobile greenhouse stand and started to harden off some seedlings.
Nasturtium
Thyme
Sweet Woodruff
Lupine
Fresca Strawberries
Alpine Strawberries

Watered some of the seedlings today as well as thinned some of them out.

Asclepias Cinderella does not seem to be doing very well. There is only one tiny seedling pushing its way up from the soil. On the other hand, Asclepias Tuberosa is doing very well with many seeds germinating. Too bad, I liked Cinderella a bit more because of the pink coloring. Will probably share some of the Tuberosa since I have more than I want. The yellow cosmos will probably look good planted with them.

Lupines seem to be doing okay despite my transplanting them the other day.

Nasturtiums have developed really quickly and have well developed roots already. I am thinking of planting them outside soon in order to take back some space on the growing shelf.

Heliotrope Mini Marine are not doing as well as I would like. There are a few seedlings, but not many. I was looking forward to the vanilla scent too.

Lavender Lady is not doing well either, although I think some of the other lavender seeds that I planted are taking off.

Later this week, I plan to dig out the lilies in the backyard to give to Aunt J. I'm not really a bit lilies fan and she seems to be interested in them. I wonder if I should move the irises next to the mailbox. It might look nice there.

Transplanted lupine Sunrise and Sweet Woodruff today. Hopefully the lupines will survive since they dislike being transplanted. They seem to grow on long taproots. Next time, it would probably be better to plant each lupine in its own peat pot instead of together in flats. Also watered Aquilegia in egg crate which had dried out. No signs of life there yet, but supposedly it takes 30 days to germinate. Running out of space on my growing shelf that C set up for me. Already went through two bags of Miracle-Gro seed starting mix and need to get more for transplanting into 2" pots. Gardener's Germination mix has a better texture and less debris; there seems to be some shiny silver mineral flecks in the soil too. A faint odor of something like ammonia can be detected when seedling trays are placed inside a plastic bag for humidity. There doesn't seem to be a difference in germination rate though. It would be useful to do a side-by-side, A/B test with the two formulas.

Planted in Gardener's Supply Germinating Mix today:

Park Seeds

Snapdragon Twinny
Do not cover seeds; needs light to germinate.
Germination temperature: 55-65 F.
7-30 days until germination.
Transplant after 4 true leaves.
Plant 12" apart.

Linaria Enchantment
Germination temp: 55 F night.
When 4 leaves develop, transplant to 2 1/4 in pots.
Plant 12" apart.

Lupine Sunrise
Germination temp: 55 F night.
When 4 leaves develop, transplant to 2 1/4 in pots.
Plant 12" apart.


Sean Conway
Foxglove Strawberry (30-36" H)
Perennial.
Full sun/partial shade.
10-15 days until germination.
Plant 24" apart.
Needs light to germinate.


Burpee
Cosmos Gazebo Mix (30")
Annual
Full sun
Germinates in 7-10 days.
Thin to 8-10" apart.

Forget-Me-Not Blue Bird (Myosotis) (12")
biennial
Full sun/part shade
Germinates: 7-14 days.
Germination temp: 60 F.
Thin to 8".

Pansy Plentifall (6-8")
Annual
Trailing habit: hanging baskets/containers
Partial shade to sunny area.
Germination time: 12-21 days.
Transplant after 2 pairs of leaves.
Plant 6" apart.

Viola Johnny-Jump-Up (10")
Perennial
Germination time: 12-21 days.
Germination temp: 65 F.
Transplant after 2 pairs of leaves.
Plant 6" apart
Sun to part shade


Thompson & Morgan
Aquilegia Flabellata var Pumila Kurilensis Rosea (6-8")
Do not cover seeds.
Germination temp: 59-68F.
1-3 mos germination time.
Plant outside when they are well grown, 9-12 in apart.
Full sun. [?]

Primrose Arctic Mixed Colors (4-6" H)
Hardy perennial.
Part shade.
Germination Temp: 59-68 F.
Germination time: 10-30 days.
Light helps germination.
Transplant when large enough to handle.
Grow in cooler conditions and give plenty of water.
Plant out in autumn, 9" apart. [?]

Primula Drumstick Mixed (9-12")
Partial shade.
Hardy Perennial.
Germination temp: 59-68 F.
Germination time: 10-30 days.
Sprinkle compost over roots to anchor seedlings.
Plant out in autumn, 9" apart. [?]

Chinese Lanterns (24")
Hardy perennial.
Sun or shade.
Germination temp: 70 F.
Light is beneficial to germination.
Germination time: 21-30 days.
Plant out in a reserve border and move to their final positions in autumn planting. [?]
Plant 24" apart.

Nasturtium Strawberries & Cream (9-12")
Tropaeolum majus
Hardy annual.
Full sun
Flowers summer to autumn.
Germination temp: 59-68"
Plant 9" apart.