What a Difference A Day Makes

On one of the Facebook gardening pages, a person posted that she had gotten everything planted but she had a lot of anxiety over whether or not anything would even sprout.  Was that a newbie gardener thing?  No - that is an every year gardener thing.  Because every year no matter how careful you are, something will fail.  We spend all this time making plans, imagining lush plants, abundant flowers and bountiful harvests.  We put a lot of work into planting everything.

And then we wait.

This week was the point when my garden turned the corner.  Yes, things are going to grow.  There are some frustrations but they can be replaced with things that are exceeding expectations.  Its going to be OK.

 

 The potatoes are sprouting.

The broccoli and cauliflowers are thriving.

The pepper plants survived transplanting.  

The mail order spice bushes are going to break dormancy after all. (whew!)

The pear tree will need some serious thinning.

This Sorbet peony is chest high and has more than thirty buds on it.

My Marigolds from seed are looking great.  It was really tough at the nursery this week to pass up ten inch high flowering Marigolds.  I had to remind myself that if I were to plant a ten inch high Marigold in May I would pinch it back anyway.  Which put things into perspective.  These will be set out next week.

I finished buying all of my annuals and put together the five planters on the entrance side of our house.  I had to make changes as I went along.  I found enough ivy, but not enough euphorbia.  I decided to try some Prince Tut papyrus which meant I had to rearrange the geraniums.  The caladium bulbs I bought have shown no signs of life at. all. so I planted that planter to match the deck planters.  The dahlias I bought to put in the landscape where I usually have geraniums are just now sprouting so I've decided to use Marigolds in the most visible flower bed and plant the dahlias somewhere else.  Its not always easy to put the annual plan into action because you have to roll with the punches.

Of course not everything is great.  I am still going around taking stock in what did not survive the winter: half a dozen grasses (mostly new plantings from last fall), at least two butterfly bushes, my favorite heuchera...  These things happen.  Some I will replace and others I will not.

My strawberries are looking a little peaked compared to last year.  They've finally started to bloom but I am not happy with the variety and this is the third year for them.  They have not sent out enough runners to replace themselves so I am going back to Honeoyes.  I ordered two dozen from Stark Bros. half price and stuck them in where the tulips were.  I'll move them to the berry bed come August.  It is fascinating what a change 24 hours and half an inch of rain can effect on bareroot strawberry plants.

Little green leaves appear overnight

Today I planted the first bed of sweet corn and the first row of bush beans.  This coming week I will be planting the pole beans and tomatoes and seeding cucumbers, summer squash and cantaloupes.