I've 'discovered' this [url=http://www.meadowsfarms.com/]small local nursery [/url] over the past few weeks. I shouldn't say discovered because it's been there awhile. But the smaller places are more expensive so I've always passed them up in favor of the regular commercial =http://www.lowescomLowes and [url=http://www.homedepot.com]Home Depot[/url] selections.
The selection of plants at this nursery is just incredible and everything looked so tempting. Last weekend I picked up things to fill the outdoor planters, and by that I mean a handful of small pots and four larger pots out on the deck. I also needed to repot some especially sad looking houseplants that my mother gae to me. I mentioned I'm like soe houseplants and she just handed me the gnarliest stuff she had--- overgrown, overcrowded... ugh. They needed TLC.
So I picked up a bunch of 4 inch sized plants which they had on special for $2.60 if you bought ten. 4 inchers range $.99-$1.99 at the commercial stores so this is no special in my book, except that they had so many different kinds and everything looked so beautiful and healthy--- worth the extra money in my book. So I planted a couple of fushia's and begonia's with some accent flowers mixed in the pots by the front door. I like spots of color, rather than a rainbow of colors in one area, so this area is red with yellow accent. :roll: I'm anal about nothing else in this world, but blending a bunch of colors when planting is one of the few things that bothers me.
The repotted house plants look so much happier already. I didn't even really put them in bigger pots, just deeper pots with better soil and they instantly perked up. Mom had them in plastic lined baskets with NO drainage. I'm no expert but that does not sound good.
I have to get out and weed the veggies today, and unfortunately, I have too much to do and I don't think I'll get to it. The tomato plants are 3 feet tall and a nice healthy dark green. I heard on the news that now is the time to plant the peppers. Well, I've had them in the ground for awhile, but apparently they won't grow unless its warm in the evenings. I've been wondering why they weren't doing anything... you live you learn. :wink:
We've had several days of rain and severe afternoon storms that have left the ground impossibly wet. I managed to get out to the veggie bed and hoe up some of the rouge grass that continuously invades the fertile soil. There are flowers on the tomato plants. Surprisingly the plants that are looking the best are the ones I grew myself from seed. Go figure. :D The peppers don't seem to have grown at all, which I don't understand because I Miracle Grow-ed everything on one of the drier days.
Cicada's still aren't out in force. I don't know if the rain is holding them back or if they just aren't going to come out as bad as I assumed they would.
There is a pair of evil looking snakes that have made a home in a bamboo tree by my front door for the last two days. Hubby won't touch them. I'm sure as hell not touching them. If I knew for a fact that they were not of a poisonous variety I would knock them out and kill them. Yes, you heard me, I would kill them even if they weren't poisonous. But they look suspiciously like copperheads. I'll post a picture of them later if they are still there and you can tell me what to do. ;)
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=left width=175It's been so long that I don't know where to really begin. So I'll begin with my current joy. My roses. The first year I moved in I saw all the beautiful roses all over the yard and thought, dear God, those will be the first things I kill. I had heard they were hard to manage and keep, required lots of maintanance and upkeep, etc. And kill some I did. I also damaged some beyond repair. I pruned them in the fall instead of the late winter. I pruned them too much. Many failed. *sigh* You live, you learn.
I have since discovered the joys of rose fertilizer and did a smidge of research online to find out the proper way to care for them. I just cut one beautiful perfect bloom and placed it in a small vase on my kitchen counter and the fragrance fills the whole room.
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=right width=175Last year I had a passion for peonies after watching and enjoying the blooms of several small ones near my back door. This year I think I may be switching the passion to roses. :)
The red rose is a climbing variety that is making it's way up the side of my deck. It's currently almost 2 stories tall. The pink rose is a miniature rose from one of my flower beds. Both are in full bloom.
I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last wrote here. If you read [url=http://dumblondegirl.tblog.co...]the other blog [/url] you'd know it was because I was having techinical problems with my computer. And sorry, but when I could get online, that blog takes presidence.
So in the last two weeks what have I done? I planted some impatiens in the front. Our whole front yard is pretty much trees and not much else grows there. I'm sure that one morning I'll go out there and start crying because the deer have eaten them all. The former owners of this house put these big wooden barrel plants throughout the woods and I put a bunch of impatiens in them too.
Husband got a 'wild hair' and decided to pull out all the overgrown rhododendrons (I know that isn't spelled right) from in front of the house. They were really beyond controllable. Then I took a trip with my mom and step father to [url=http://www.southernstates.com...]Southern States [/url] where I picked out (and stepfather paid for) some holly bushes and begonias to plant there instead. Hubby just got the stumps of the rhodies out yesterday right before it rained. I may get the hollys in this morning if he gets the tiller through there. I'll take a picture of that :)
Right after hubby pulled the bushes out, my mom had hers pulled out (she's a big copycat!). She lives two houses down the street and has already got her replacement plants in. She also picked out holly (a shorter variety) and she put in a climbing rose and some other random perrenials of various colors.
My mom's gardens are beautiful, without a doubt. She has a dark, deep, forest green thumb that I can only be in awe of. BUT one of my pet peeves with her gardens is that there is a mis-mash of color and plants everywhere. For me the plants need to be unified some how. Like either the same colors or same type but different colors... I'm sure I'm not explaining this right.
I've done a bunch of weeding. Tons of weeding. I've been ho-ing the veggie garden every other day. I sprayed all around the perimeter of it with weed/grass killer. I also started tackling my huge project... the septic tank flower bed.
The previous owners put a flower bed on top of the septic tank. I'm figuring because it's hard to get grass to grow there. When we first moved in the big problem was wild (or not, maybe they put it there?) mint, which I still find random clumps of, but not so much. Now the problem there is perenial sunflowers and some other white stalky flower that is out of control. Plus the usual wild strawberries and violets, which I have been pulling out by the wheelbarrel load. So anyway,I started hacking away at the weeds in that bed.
I have written enough, so I'll be going now. :lol:
It has seriously rained all week long. Every single day. Non-stop rain. It's very frustrating. I feel like I haven't enjoyed any of the spring flowers because they've been rained on for the last two weeks and most of them (daffodils) are about spent. I have 'toured' the property daily to check the progress of things. It's very relaxing to just take 5-10 mins and circle round the house to see what's popping up--- even in the rain.
It looks like the veggies I've planted are going to be fine. They seem to be holding their own. It should be drying out over the next couple of days and I'll be happy to see the puddles of mud and water disappear from the garden. The peas are sprouting, but they need the sun to come back out.
The rose I transplanted hasn't kicked the bucket yet. It actually seems to be doing alright and the rain is probably wonderful for it because it's root system needs to re-establish itself. I've been eyeing some rose plants in the [url=]http://www.jacksonperkins.com... & Perkins Catalog[/url] and thinking about adding to my meager collection. I had no idea how to take care of roses when I moved in and managed to kill two beautiful plants that first year. Now, I've learned a bit and feel confident that I can take care of them... or at least keep them alive.
The suns coming out this afternoon! Yay! This weekend should be beautiful. Of course, I have a wedding to go to that is going to consume the majority of my time. Figures! :lol:
Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon laying mulch and putting in edging. The ten bags that I thought would finish the back yard, didn't even finish the one of the beds. I'm going to need at least 10 more bags. I should have just ordered the mulch and had a pile delivered. Maybe I'll look into that, because I still have to do the front. I also dug up and moved some plants.
I love to see wildlife in the yard (I make an exception for snakes and black widow spiders). This year I made a point to fill and hang two bird feeders and I love looking out the kitchen window watching the birds enjoying their free meals. I have a row of butterfly bushes and the girls love watching the butterflies flitter about (haven't seen any butterflies yet). Last year there was at least one hummingbird nearby that would visit the yard. Even squirrels and deer don't bother me. That is until they start disturbing my plants.
Anyway, I dug up and moved a climbing rose that I had planted two years ago at the base of the deck. The idea of having it climb up the deck and around the railings was nice, but I wasn't thinking about thorns. Duh! So I dug it up and moved it next to an arbor. It looked very sad after it was moved. I think I may have killed it. :(
I really need to get some garden gloves. I couldn't find any at Lowes the other day. My hands are so blistered and red from the digging...
Well, today my father offered to watch the girls while I ran out shopping so I headed up to Home Depot and bought another 2 rolls of landscapers edging to finish my bed project and I got 10 bags of mulch. I hope this will finish up the backyard.
I resisted the urge to purchase annuals. I just can't bring myself to buy them yet. I haven't 'planned' what to do about the containers on the deck. I don't want to just buy a bunch of pretty stuff and stick it together like I have in years past.
I'm tempted to put the raspberry and blueberry bushes I bought two years ago into containers and move them in to the house. I really wanted to grow them because my grandmother has a huge bush and she always let us pick them and eat them. I just thought the girls would enjoy doing that. So I planted them where I had the space... in a bed out by the shed. The problem is that the DEER love that bed and usually gobble anything out there right up. If I see any signs of life from the sticks that used to be bushes (and I expect to) I will replant them, otherwise they are a loss. You live and learn.
Tomorrow it will be warm and sunny. My oldest daughter is going on a overnight trip and my 3 year old is going to a carnaval. So the plan is to work in the yard all day with my little one. :) Sunday there will be more rain so I'll be painting inside.
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=center Yesterday was a lovely day, so I finally made it outside and I planted my tomatos and peppers that I grew from seed. Unfortunately there were only 3 tomato plants that were healthy looking enough to plant. I'll just have to buy a couple more from the nursery. *Note to self: Start Peppers from seed in January but don't start tomatos until the end of February at the earliest.* They look pretty pathetic. If they don't start looking better in the next couple weeks, I'll get some more. The peppers look good though so I planted six of those. (pictures to come--- the ones I took did not turn out well)
I also planted some lettuce seeds and took note of a couple of pea plants starting to pop out of the ground, even despite some of them being unearthed by 3-4 straight days of rain. Today it is drizzling, which should be good for the newly planted stuff because I didn't goive it too much water (knowing that it would rain today).
Above are some pictures I took of some things that were flowering around my yard yesterday. The first picture is of a flowering bush. I have no idea what kind of bush it is. The first year we lived here the japanese beetles had a feild day chewing that thing to pieces. I had to cut it almost to the ground. The second year I fought back and sprayed it with Seven pesticide when the beetles started feeding. I managed to save it and this year it is HUGE :). The second picture is of some snowbells. The third is my favorite varigated VA Bluebells and the fourth is an apricot cupped daffodil. I planted apricot daffodils all along the front of the house with grape hyacynths in front of them the year we moved in. This year they are coming up totally yellow! I don't understand. My father said it's because they react to the chemicals that oak trees give off? I've never heard of that before.
PS... I battled two snakes yesterday and wrote about it on [url=http://dumblondegirl.tblog.co...]my other blog [/url] if you're interested.
It's going to be 70 today and I see below freezing weather in the near future, so I'm planting today. I am also going to RE-plant my peas because, hmm, the rain seems to have unearthed most of them. GRRR!
I'm getting really annoyed with the weather. It rained all week. Then this weekend we got a little sun, but it's been bone chilling cold. Now, I usually wouldn't mind working in the cold, but if I have to wear a ski jacket, you can forget it.
The pest of the week is a weed that I'm currently cursing. The common violet. It grows wild and while it's really beautiful, I can't have it taking over all of my flower beds. It's a pain to get rid of because it grows in annoying tuberous clumps that spread so quickly! I have some really interesting varieties throughout my property (dark purple like shown, also a light purple and a striped variety).
Later this week, I'll be hauling my mulch back from the Home Depot. I'm tempted to have mulch delivered. We need *that* much. I just don't know if it's cheaper to go that way or not.
No sign of sprouting from the seeds I planted last week, although I haven't checked today. I'm wondering if the rain did them in. :(
New things blooming: snowbells. New things popping up: the foliage for the bleeding hearts and some hosta.
Those damn squirrels dug up my pansies and the deer came and ate the tops off of half my tulips. *sigh*
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=rightAnother soggy day so there is no new outdoor progress and you get this instead: What is it? I took this two days ago so it's just starting to come out of it's winter slumber now. It eventually will grow 3-4 feet tall and have a lovely spire of double pink flowers. Any guesses?
PS--- The answer to the last "What is it" was Virginia Blue Bells (a varigated variety that I ordered from a discount catalog and if I could find anymore I'd buy them all up... the leaves are so pretty).
The weather was cold and dreary and it rained on and off most of the day. Disappointingly icky weather for working outside. :( And it doesn't look like it's going to get better before the weekend.
Took the kids to Target and let them pick out Sunflower seeds while I picked up some lettuce. Every year I've let the girls plant a row of sunflowers in the back of the garden. They're pretty much fool proof. Last year, as I previously mentioned, not much of anything grew. Only a scraggly few sunflowers survived the onslaught of rain.
So far since we've live here we've had a severe drought followed by the 2nd rainiest year on record. I definitely prefer the drought!
=http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~slichti/photos/wrg/orchi d_show_3-3-2001/images/ph otos/017-Moth-Orchid-(Pur ple-series-2).jpg width=175 align=leftI was given a beautiful fushia moth orchid as a gift for hosting my friends bridal shower a few weeks ago. When I saw it the first think I thought was I wonder how long it will last before it succumbs to the fate of every other hosue plant I have tried to raise?
The orchid came with a whole page of very detailed instructions on how to take care of it. It's very complicated. It wants indirect light (I have no full sun windows in my house, so this is good) and lots of water. Excellent! Because I tend to overwater and rot everything.
The instructions were idiot proof. It said water once a week when the mossy stuff was dry. It said what the leaves would look like if it was overwatered or had too much salt or any number of other conditions. Perfect for me who can't look at a plant and tell what's wrong.
Well, it's starting to look a bit droopy and the flowers are fading. And one of the buds withered and fell off before blooming. Hmm. I've been following the instructions so I don't understand. *sigh* I wonder how long it will be before this one meets the same fate as the others? Like the pretty spider plant or the hanging fern?
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=left This will be a regular feature! Someday I'll have tbucks to give away as well, but alas, not today.
This picture is pretty bad, so I'll have to describe. This perrenial has dark green leaves with lighter white/green spots. Small purple, pink and blue flowers. This picture was taken today so it is blooming now. It is perhaps my favorite plant in my garden that I am actually responsible for picking out and planting (unlike the majority which came with the house!)
A careful observer will notice this plants name somewhere else on the page. :)
Hurricane Isabel blew through our community on September 19, 2003 during one of the wettest years on record for this area. The ground was already so saturated that trees uprooted everywhere. The winds gusted up to Tropical Storm strength (50-60 mph).
Thankfully nothing fell on our house, but alas, a huge oak tree fell on out beloved new playground. Here is all that remains. Notice the large branches of dead limbs in the background and the huge chunks of trunk that need to be moved and hacked up into firewood. We still need to clear the old playground debris before setting up the new one.
We had spent months on this playground project. We built a retaining wall. Purchased fill dirt and mulch. My husband struggled over the plans for months. It had been put together for 2 weeks. *sigh* Now we have a mess to clean up!
Today it is cold and grey so I won't be outside working away like I wanted. I am DYING to get my tomatos and peppers into the ground. The very next warm day, they are going in and I'll just fight the frost.
Yesterday my stepfather and husband got the vegetable garden rotertillered. I pulled my bean trellesis' out of the shed and put those up. Then I planted a row of peas and some carrots. I think it's okay to plant carrots now. The packet didn't say and I know my mom has planted hers.
Last year my vegetable garden was a HUGE flop. We got way too much rain. Everything rotted and turned yellow and the weeds over ran the whole place. None of the beans even sprouted last year.
So this year I'm determined to grow peas, even though I don't really like regular peas, I thought it would be fun for the girls to crack them open and harvest them. I can always freeze them an add them to things. The snap peas I think will be good (that kind I do like :).
I started tomatos and peppers from seed this year and they are over ready to be planted because I started them in January like a dumb bum. The peppers are the right size, but the tomatos are 'leggy' (as my mom says) and they need to be in the garden and caged since they have outgrown my window.
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=rightI also worked on installing the landscapers edging I purchased and putting down the rest of the mulch I had. I would have preferred to use something more natural looking other than the black plastic, but the grass will grow in and hopefully you won't be able to see it as much. :)
Oh and yes, there are still leaves everywhere from where I raked out the beds. Husband is in charge of that!
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=leftGreetings! I didn't really think that my =http://dumblondegirl.tblog.co...other blog was the place for lengthy discussions on my gardening trials and tribulations, so here is my second home on tblog! This will be all about gardening and landscaping.
About my gardens: I've lived in my current home for 2 1/2 years. We have 1 1/3 acres in the suburbs of Washington DC. The soil is mostly clay.
About my experience: I have zip experience. I love to work in the yard. I love my plants. Sometimes I kill them. Sometimes the weather kills them. Sometimes they love me back. I have been experimenting with this or that for a couple of years, so I'm getting better :)
Planned features of this blog: 1. "What is this thing?" (where there will be a picture of a plant or pest or something and y'all can guess what it is.) 2. Problem of the day/week. I'll show pictures and explain some of my current challenges. 3. Current project. 4. Of course what's been planted and what's growing! :) 5. My mistakes/what I've learned. Ha! This should be quite funny.
I will probably update this daily. I have many, many, many gardening things to blog about, especially now that it's spring. Enjoy (and leave me some feedback, please!)
Pics from my Garden!
Above: Daffodils, Forsythia and Virginia Blue Bells from my gardens blooming now :)
About Me:
Name: Cindy (aka Dumblondegirl)
Location: Northern Virginia
Zone: 6 or 7
Soil: Acidic, clay
