I’m trying something new this year in the way of seed starting.

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…in the gardens.
Today, one of my nieces gave me an afternoon of help out doors. Last weekend, when I should have been out doing yard work, I was inside. So this week, I’ve been playing catch up. I’ve planted four of the six dozen tulips, and now I’m running out of space. If I can find two matching containers that are not terra cotta, I may try planting the last two dozen in pots to be set out on the sidewalk next spring.
My niece raked the small lawn at the front of our house while I cut back the peonies, removed their supports and covered the stalks with compost. The compost helps to insulate them over the winter, and gives them a slow release feed that makes the peonies glorious in the Spring.
My attempt at lasagna gardening last year was quite a success. I managed to reclaim a long stretch of garden that had been over taken by grass. I added two more small sections of lasagna garden today, and hope to do one more small area before we quit for the winter. Normally, a “Lasagna” garden is created by putting down layers of wet newspaper and then layering “browns” and “greens” over it. “Browns” are dried leaves, shredded paper, straw or leaves. “Greens” are hotter materials like manure, kitchen scraps, or grass clippings. You need to make a stack six inches or higher to get an effective compost pile. I cheated. I laid down a heavier layer of paper, and then we put ready made compost over it, to hold it in place. That will deprive the grass of light, and kill it off! YEAH!!
Then, my niece moved a bale of hay to the covered area at the front door, and we decorated it with a potted mum, pumpkins and gourds. We cleaned up the leaves that had blown in, and either cut back or removed spent plants. I have to make room in the garage for several plants that will be wintered over, but things look much tidier now.
There are a number of plants in the gardens that edge either side of the sidewalk that are still going strong. I refuse to kill off something that has that kind of heart, so I can expect to be out in freezing weather cleaning up the rest of the gardens. I hope that they don’t all die the day before Thanksgiving!
It was chilly this morning, but I was comfortable as I ran errands in a heavy sweater jacket. Then the wind picked up, and as we worked we could feel the temperature drop. By the time I went in for the day, my fingers and toes were really feeling the cold. Dear Husband and I collected two tarps of leaves for the compost pile and called it a day. My niece and her boys joined us for dinner, and it was nice to end the day in their company.
I still have 50 crocus to plant. It will be worth it, when they bloom next spring!

This is a view of the garden at our front door. The sidewalk is brick, and the verbena and ornamental grass must love the heat it retains, because this year they are trying to meet in the middle.
It won’t be long before this will all be taken by frost, and I’ll have to cut it back for the winter. The mats of verbena will last the longest. Lilies have already gone.
In the center of the picture, if you look closely, there are dahlias. We have Victoria Blue salvia, chrysanthemums, lavender, several kinds of ornamental grass, a Palace Purple huchera, one poor dying rose, LOADS of iris, coreopsis, vinca, day lilies and several other things I’ve planted that I can’t identify! This garden is at it’s best in late May, but it’s not too shabby this Fall.
Closer to the door, there are a dozen pots of plants. I’ve encouraged my mother to take over the container gardening, so that she can keep her hand in as a gardener. I have a pot of herbs, and she has filled the rest with Million bells, snapdragons, coleus, sweet potato vines, small mums, petunias, straw flowers, geraniums and a dozen other plants.
Variety is the spice of life! We may not be elegantely coordinated, but we certainly enjoy the variety.

It’s a gray rainy day, today. I’ve had the pleasure of working at my sewing machine. I’ve answered e-mail and lazed through the day.
I was standing at the kitchen sink, and I could see the pile of cedar mulch waiting for me. I noticed it looked a little worse for wear.
As I watched two chipmunks and a grey squirrel made their way over the pile, and burrowed in, apparently leaving stashes for the winter.
Won’t THEY be surprised when they come back.
Hmmmmmm….maybe I will be too, once that mulch is spread! *G*

We feed the birds all year long. My mother enjoys watching the birds and animals that come to our feeders, and it’s a simple enough thing for us to do. Filling the feeders is part of my early morning list of chores, and I enjoy the quick visit out of doors before I start my day.
I’ve been watching the fruits of my efforts. We have a clutch of tiny goldfinches who like the chipped sunflower hearts that I put into a dark green silo feeder. The brilliant goldy/yellow of the bird’s feathers shows up elegantly against the green feeder. The little birds jostle for position as they wait their turn at the feeder, and when they have finished, they fly over and cling to the brick on the side of the house.
This morning, I watched a male downy woodpecker put himself into position to eat from the feeder. That’s no mean feat, because the perches are meant for small birds, but a woodpecker can go just about anywhere he wishes!
Black capped chickadees have made their appearance. Can fall be far away?

My chore for today was weeding. While we were away last week, my gardens exploded! I don’t know how they did it, since everything was so dry, but they simply doubled in size…..the weeds too!
Sunday, I’ll have to continue the job I started. Actually, I’ll have to weed or do maintenence on a daily basis for the forseeable future; there’s just too much yard for one person.
The best part of today was walking through the herb garden, to determine what needs to be done. Everything needs a haircut……maybe even a buzz cut! The basil is just coming to the point where I need to do a serious harvest. If I top the plant, I should get a bushier plant, and I might be able to delay its flowering. Most culinary herbs need to be harvested before they flower to have the best flavor.
One of the first things I posted when I started blogging was a recipe for Farmer’s Tomato pie. This is a rustic pie made from fresh tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and topped with torn basil leaves. It tastes like summer, melting in your mouth. The recipe is posted here on May 16, 2003, in case this link doesn’t work. Give it a try….it makes a wonderful simple supper.

My lawn thinks it’s a hay field! It’s masquerading as a harvestable crop, and it rained today. I can hear it growing out there!
I’ve mentioned in a previous entry that I was filling in as the lawn mower of record for DH and managed to do something to the mowing deck. It absolutely SHUDDERS when I try to engage the blades. So, we contacted the dealer to make arrangements for them to come get it for repairs.
It seems that I am not the only person who has run into things, because we had to wait approximately TWO WEEKS for them to pick it up. And, now that they have it in their clutches (no pun intended), I don’t expect to see it for a week or more at the very earliest. I think I’m in the wrong business. They charged $40 for pick up and delivery, and another $30 to just look at the darned thing.
The dealer was upfront about the delay, so we bit the bullet and bought a self-propelled walk-behind mower. Unfortunately, we will have to walk behind this thing daily to keep the grass to a level the mower can deal with.
Last Saturday, two of my younger nephews came for the day and gave me some help with the yard. The youngest one, who is ten, helped me dead-head the peonies, and water the container garden. Then he walked part of the lawn, picking up downed branches so that his older brother could mow. Their father took pity on them and brought his mower over to give them a hand.
It is never possible for me to adequately explain how grateful I am to have help in the yard. The boys saved me from disaster. I have a bad back, and I suspect that I don’t have enough strength to make the pull start on the mower work. I would have obsessed about that growing grass if they hadn’t come to help. Now, we have it down to a level I can manage.
Dear Husband has a summer cold. He came down with a doozey today. So, tomorrow night, when he gets home from work, I’ll have him crank up the mower for me, and I’ll go mow for an hour or so.
Ah….the joys of summer.

Dear Husband took off for the lake this morning, and I pulled myself together, had a cup of tea, answered a bit of mail, and then headed for the herb garden. So many things have required my attention elsewhere, that the herb garden is the last to be planted. I’m fully a month late getting the herbs into the ground.

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We had a quiet Memorial Day. I was rained out of the gardens yesterday, so I needed to get the herb garden cleaned and ready for some herbs that have been sitting in the garage for more than a week. I needed to weed the chat pathway, and parts of the beds, too. I started at the South end and got about an hour’s work in before the first downpour hit.
I stopped and had some breakfast while it rained, and then headed back out as soon as the storm had passed. I got in about thirty minutes or so, and was caught in the next downpour. I left everything, and came in for another short stay. BY the end of my final session I managed to get somewhere between a third and a half of the garden weeded.
I still have the rest of the herb garden to do, herbs to plant, herbs to harvest, tomatoes and zucchini to plant, and weed eating to do around the edges of the lawn and gardens. I think this is a labor of love, and a project that is going to be done a little at a time. It’s SOooooooo much more satisfying to stay until the job is complete!
Our little area of the world has been in a drought for the past two years. We went almost through the month of April before we had rain the last day or so. By the 15th they were saying it was the driest April on record. One long day of rain gave it the appearance of being almost normal in rainfall. Statistics lie!
On the other hand, May has been soggy in comparison. Each time I plan to get into my gardens, Mother Nature lets loose. We have water standing in the swale near the road and the sump pumps have been working for several days.
Worms and the perennials I’ve planted have been happy campers, but soon the iris and lavender are going to be dying off from all the rain.
At least I’m not schlepping hoses around and paying a humongous water bill!

My Iris are just astounding this year. A friend told me that if I put some alfalfa around them in the fall, they would bloom heavier this Spring, and she was right!
I bought a bag of alfalfa pellets and scattered them around the corms. I was probably a bit heavy-handed, but the plants seem to have done well. It doesn’t seem to matter which form of alfalfa you use, but the pellets were the tidiest for our gardens.
I plan to take pictures of the gardens with my trusty disposable camera this week. When the pictures have been developed, I’ll post a few here. At least you’ll be able to see the big picture.
I have one deep purple iris that has done poorly for the past three years. Last year I had one bloom stalk on the plant and the dog snapped it off when he tumbled into the plant. This year, I think there may be six bloom stalks, and I can’t wait to have them open! Some of my newer iris are blooming this year, too. Usually I have good luck with blooms the first full season, but I moved these, and then they were heaved out of the ground with the freeze and thaw.
It looks like garnet, or burgundy is my favorite color for iris, but we have yellow, bronze, purple, and blue varieties getting ready to open. One of the most beautiful pale varieties is a delicate ruffled peach called “Infinite Grace.”
I was going to dig up and dispose of a pale lavender iris this year, but I may save a few pieces of it and plant it where it will contrast those stronger colors.
Yup, I’m iris happy. Come visit me this time of year, when my gardens are at their best!