The past week has been almost relaxing in the garden. Last Wednesday all the cutting garden seeds were put in, rows marked, and seedlings transplanted. This week the seeds have sprouted, making me excited for a few weeks from now when I will be able to cut baby's breath, cosmos, zinnias, and other lovely flowers for inside. As of right now there isn't much in bloom! The rhododendrons showed bright purple blooms in the front of the house, and lavender colored ones in the back. A pounding rainstorm took off most of the flowers though, and I am convinced that the show was quite longer last year. But, the clematis vines are full of buds, and just this morning I saw one big purple flower open on the light post. I'll post some pictures of it this weekend. The rest of the yard seems to be in transition from spring to summer as the spring blooming plants break down and the summer ones begin to take their place.
In the woodland garden (the area with the mayapples), I began weeding around my lovely transplants yesterday but left a large spot covered. I had disturbed a small
wolf spider and her egg sag, and she took refuge in the grass growing around my lamb's ear. As spiders are great for the garden, the wolf spider is not harmful, and the fact that I like spiders, I figured leaving her be and skipping a patch of weeds was ok. This
is garden spider hollow after all! Plus, I found out that the wolf spider is a wonderful mother and carries her young around with her on her back instead of them wisping off on long webs a la
Charlotte's web.In the vegetable garden, the last of the seedlings were transplanted (squash, giant pumpkin, and watermelon) and I only lost 1 squash in the process. I'm thinking it was a skunk or a hungry bird. The lettuce is giant and ready to be picked, and tomorrow I am bringing a garden salad to a party with the three different kinds we grew, plus some spinach that is ready to be picked as well. I will sow some more spinach once the three rows are harvested this weekend. Or maybe use the rows for another veggie! The tomato plants have bright yellow flowers on them, and I'm looking forward to seeing the fruit grown on the small (for now) plants. And of course my beans are strong and winding their way up the poles. I weeded yesterday, but that black cloth we put down in the spring really helps with the weeds. I had to weed in the gaps between the sheets only. As annoying as it is to work with when planing, it has saved me tons of time and back pain weeding.
We mulched the herb garden area last weekend with some nice black mulch, which has kept the weeds down. The thyme and oregano plants are doing wonderfully--very tall and thick. The lavender is coming along nicely as well, although there are not many blooms on it. However, I recently found out that the type of lavender we have likes dry conditions, and the heavy downpours we have been receiving may have pushed the blooms back a little. If you have lavender in your garden and it starts to turn gray, give it special attention as it means it's on its way out. They hate having their roots disturbed, so cover them deeply! I have to research rosemary a bit more. I grew it successfully in containers before, but it looks stunted in the ground as well. Any tips out there?
Our strawberries have gone the way of the birds and chipmunks, although I did salvage one little one yesterday. It was juicy and flavorful. Next year we will have to put a bit of netting around them.
The rest of the yard is shaping up nicely as well. We have been cutting the grass high so it won't dry out later in the summer, but I guess using the term "grass" is being kind. We have a wild yard full of violets, dandelions that grow in fuzzy clumps, clover, moss, wild strawberries, mustard flower, buttercups, and wood sorrel. Instead of fighting the "weeds" this year, we've been enjoying the flowers that these produce and figure that as long as it's green we're ok with it!
Plus, it's kind of nice to have an interesting lawn. Makes our little area less suburban for us.
Remember, a weed is only a flower growing in the wrong spot in your garden!
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