The Danger of Frost is Over

I really love the double blooms on this azalea.
I think they look almost like roses.
I planted some of the extra tomato plants I grew on the side of the house to see if they get enough sun there. It would be nice if they produced, but I'm not counting on it. Also, in front of them notice that the beans have come up.

On the side of the house where I scattered seeds a couple of weeks ago, some seedlings have been coming up. I have been able to only identify these ones so far--it's a Nasturtium, which is a flowering vine (both the flowers and the leaves are edible).
I also finally planted at my community garden.
Our good friend Jen called us up the other day to tell us that at the International Friendship Park downtown they were giving away tulips that were pulled up from the park. After work I drove down there to pick some up and quickly planted them. I hope they can recover for next year.
Leigha and I went to the site of a demolished house and picked up some bricks that had been left to use in the herb garden we are making. I think she did a good job arranging them.
Our giant Persian Alliums opened up. They're not as big as we thought they were going to be, but they're still interesting.

More blooms

These tulips, given to us by our lovely Aunty Betty, started out red and have been changing to pink over their fairly long bloom time. It seems that out of each plant, two flowers emerged. I'm not sure if that's just because the bulbs multiplied or not. Also, notice that our azalea (given last year to Leigha by her bosses) is close to blooming.

Here are the deep purple tulips in bloom. I really like their dramatic color. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture, but our last peony has finally started to emerge from the ground.

I've been really surprised with the proficiency of blooms on this lunaria (also called Money Plant). I planted these last year, but since they are a bienniel, this is the first year that they have bloomed. I have a number of plants, some with purple flowers, and others with white. The flowers remind me of tall phlox, and are nice since they're blooming well when nothing much else is.
I love how this creeping phlox has started to tumble over the edge of the terrace, and how it is just smothered in blooms.

Our Japanese painted fern has grown a lot from last year! The hostas also have all leafed out.
My pea plants are coming along nicely, although I don't see any of the beans coming through the soil yet.
The Bluecrop blueberry has almost completed blossoming. The flowers look like tiny white berries. I'm debating whether I should pinch off some of the flowers, as seems to be recommended. They say the blueberries will be small if all of the flowers are left on. I don't really mind so much about that though--I like wild blueberries which are much smaller. I'm wondering if the taste and vitality of the plant will be affected if they are all left on. Elliot is close to blooming, and Duke is not too far behind.

We ordered a perennial geranium (Johnson's Blue) from Springhill Nurseries and planted it last fall. I don't think this is a geranium coming up though. It looks much more like a Anemone Poppy. I'm going to have to call and see what's going on with that.
I was surprised at first to see so many ants all over the flower bud on our peonies, but Leigha said that was normal. I find it really interesting!

Slugs and Bees

I was a beekeeper for a day on Sunday! A friend of mine at church has two beehives and asked if I wanted to help him with some things he had to do with the hive since it was spring. At first I was a little hesitant--I'm not a huge fan of being stung. But after I thought about it for a bit, I realized what an amazing experience that would be! It turned out to be really fun (especially since I didn't get stung) and I learned a lot about bee culture. It just blows my mind that people keep bees here in the middle of the city! We didn't get to finish everything he had wanted to get done, so I'm sure I'll be helping out again sometime soon. After much debate and extended forecast checking, I have decided to start hardening off my seedlings. I've been bringing them outside during the day, making sure that they are fairly well shaded. I bring them in at night. Also, our Lunaria is blooming, and so far of the seeds I've planted in the attic, the Bachelor's Buttons (a coneflower) and a pink delphinium that my mom gave me have germinated. Yesterday I also planted a row each of Kentucky Wonder beans and Provider beans behind the peas. On the section of ground where our dog currently uses the bathroom, I've broken up the dirt and scattered wildflower seeds and pretty much every other variety of flower that I have. I'll be interested to see what, if anything, can survive that wasteland and actually grow.

I've been noticing lately some of our plants are getting nibbled on, so on Monday night, after getting home from small group, I thought it would be a good idea to go slug hunting. The neighbors probably thought I was crazy out there with my flashlight squatting down in the garden, but it was worth it. I probably smushed close to 30 of them...some quite large and extra juicy. Now, however, my thoughts are haunted by this image:
Thanks, grandma.

Growth and Frustrations

Our garden has been slowly coming back to life after the long winter.
Only our cream colored tulips are blooming so far--we also have deep purple and red ones that we are waiting to see. Our Hyacinths have bloomed, although only one of them really looks right. The other ones seem to have had their blossoms knocked off--whether by insects, hard rain, or small children (more on that later), I don't know. I was also very happy to see that our Dusty Miller made it through the winter. It kept it's shape throughout the season, but had mostly died above ground. Since I've cut it back down to the ground, I see a lot of new growth poking through. The same is true of our periwinkle, decorative grass, and Japanese Painted Fern. Our Creeping Phlox are also starting to bloom (the clumps that get the most sun throughout the day have been going first), as is our plum bush. I still haven't seen any sign of the zebra grass we planted last fall, the white salvia, or the viburnum. Two out of the three peonies we planted are coming up, as are our lilies.
About a week and a half ago, I saw my first pea seedlings starting to break through the ground. I now probably have at least 15 plants coming up. I was so surprised!
I was even more shocked when yesterday I discovered that my carrot seeds had germinated! Since it had been so long since I planted them, I had just assumed that they were a lost cause-- but one day, the carrot came up! Har Har.
Inside the house, almost everything has germinated and is growing well (some things a little too well--I wish I could plant them outside right now! I'm debating whether I should plant some). At least one of every variety of tomato I planted has come up, giving me 17 tomato plants. Most varieties of my pepper plants have also come up, giving me 12. I am disappointed that none of my Firecracker Piquin, Habenero, or Early Crisp Hybrid peppers have germinated. Also, only one seed of Lady Lavender germinated, and none of my English Lavender. Cumin, Spearmint, and Rosemary also all failed (or at least haven't come up yet). Since I really want at least a few of these plants in my garden, yesterday I decided to plant some more of these seeds. Thinking that perhaps they didn't have enough heat before (the peppers, according to their seed packets, need the temperature to be between 80-85!), I've placed the seed trays in the attic, where lately it has been starting to heat up. I'm crossing my fingers again.
The tomatillo plant I received from the Civic Garden Center has amazingly started flowering inside! I've been trying to help pollinate it by using a cue tip and swirling it around the inside of each of the flowers. Also, my blueberry cutting looks like it's about to flower. I still don't think it has set root though (I've read that you can cut flowering branches off of trees/shrubs during the winter, bring them inside, and place them in water and they will flower before they die).
It's always been a frustration with the amount of garbage in our yard on a daily basis. I'm getting a little bit more tired than usual of coming home everyday and having to collect all of the junk that's either been blown or dropped into our driveway or on our garden beds. I think it might be worse lately since more of the neighborhood kids are out an about, and also just because I'm out and about more to notice the stark contrast between the beauty of God's creation and Flamin' Hots.
Another HUGE frustration is that some of the kids were picking petals off of our flowers! They also don't seem to realize that it's not good for plants or the garden bed to be stepped on. We had to have a little talk with some of them about it. I just hope this doesn't keep happening.

First Pepper!

Finally, my first pepper seed has germinated. It's a yellow sweet pepper "Early Sunsation."

More emerging seeds

More has been coming up every day. Now I have Brocolli, Flowering Cabbage, Brandywine Tomatoes, Favorita Red Cherry Tomato, Sweet Basil, Chinese Forget-me-not, Coleus, Sweet Marjoram, Lady Lavender, World Vision Tomato, Roma VF, Burpee Big Boy, Super Beefsteak, and Thyme.

Last night I had my last Community Garden class meeting at the Civic Garden Center. I love that every time I go to that place, I come home with some free plant/supply--a tomatillo plant this time. Reading online, however, I see that you usually need two or more plants for proper pollination. Oh well. In the above picture is also my blueberry cutting. Still hoping it sets roots!

More Planting and First Seedlings!

Yesterday I planted Purple Haze Carrots in front of my blueberry bushes on the side of the house. I also fertilized the bushes with Miracle Gro for Acid Loving Plants. I just bought the bushes last fall (a 2 year old Duke, 3 year old Bluecrop , and 2 year old Elliott), and I'm really hoping I get some blueberries this year. I also pruned each of the plants a little bit (cut crossing branches, super-vigorous growth, and downward facing branches). I've tried rooting one of the prunings after dipping it in some rooting hormone and putting it in the peat/vermiculite/perlite mixture. We'll see how that does.

I also planted two varieties of peas in the other raised bed - Little Marvel and Snowbird. I don't have enough soil to fill that bed, so it's mostly just my horrible clay soil (that our dog has been pooping and peeing on for the last year) mixed with a little peat moss. I don't really have high hopes for those peas.


After church this morning, I was really surprised to see my first seedlings had emerged! The first to come were Snowdrift Marigolds and a Scarlet Zinnia. I was even more surprised to see more seedlings this evening--Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato, Siam Queen Basil, and a Hollyhock!

Planting

I've decided to start this blog as a handy way for me to keep track of dates/successes/failures as I garden here in Cincinnati.

Yesterday, I finished starting my seeds inside using roughly equal parts peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite. The seeds I got through the generosity of the Civic Garden Center here, as one of the perks of being a community gardener.
















I have them under two 2 ft. shop lights, each with two cool white bulbs.
















My wife isn't exactly thrilled with the aluminum foil wrapping I've put around the seed trays. I'm hoping it reflects back as much light and heat onto the plants as possible. We'll see! I have high hopes for my little seeds!