It's nearly June? How'd that happen?

May 18, 2016

I just found out a few minutes ago that my last post from 2015 never got published. Better late than never?

On to this year.

There's no such thing as a slow start to gardening in Minnesota. Spring comes in such a rush, and there's so much to do before it gets hot. At least there is for me, as I don't do much garden cleanup in the fall. I pull annuals, but leave the perennials for the birds, winter interest and to hold the snow. Most of my plants come back from the ground up every year, so every spring we pull bags and bags and bags of stuff and haul it off to the compost site. This year we had to make a trip to the one spot in the city that takes branches, too. Joe trimmed our monstrous barberry (at least 6 feet tall - I kid you not) back by about a third, and the debris took up (I think) six of those giant paper bags used to send grass off with the trash haulers. We had a couple more bags of other things to go, too, plus a few leftover boughs from our Christmas tree. I was able to recycle a big bag of the little pots you buy flowers in, so between those two things, the garage is looking a lot more spacious! Good thing - now we'll have room for a stroller. Happy, happy news there.

So how are things going? For the most part, pretty well. We actually spent a bit less at the plant sale this year, as I bought fewer natives and no other perennials. I did find the Christmas ferns this year and am eager to see how they do. The Solomon's seal and May apple from last year are looking really good. I think only one of the sedge plants I put in came back, but they were really tiny, so I'm not so surprised. The coneflowers certainly look perkier this year - they better start doing something. 

I'm concerned about the Russian sage. It looks like one of the original two plants is all but dead - I've only seen one green spot on it. I have plenty of offshoots, but they're in the wrong spot and aren't shaped as nicely. We'll see how it comes along. And after all these years, one of my blue false indigo plants is gone. It pretty much died last year. The other two are as wonderful as ever, so I'm stumped. I need to replant tulips and daffodils. They've just petered out. I'm just not sure how I'm going to get them in the ground! When I planted them so many years ago, either there wasn't anything else there, or it was all very small, with little root mass. After 15 years, though, there isn't much place to dig deeply enough for bulbs! My hyacinth and squill continue to do very well, so I'm not without early spring flowers.



The lilacs were lovely, until heavy rains and wind knocked so many of the blooms down. It happens.

I can't complain about the rain, though. Those few storms barely brought us back to average precip for the year. I couldn't believe how dry the ground was when planting. Barely dodged a bullet there. I took advantage of the glorious weather Mother's Day weekend and planted about 200 things. Then it got cold and rainy - yeah for rain; not so yeah for the cold. Not quite a week later we had two frost warnings in a row. I hustled out and covered most of the annuals (no worries for the perennials), and they came through just fine. The few I didn't cover - they were in tough spots and I thought them more hardy plants - got nipped pretty hard. They have some black leaves, but I'm hoping enough green ones that they'll survive. I don't think I can get four o'clocks anywhere but the Friends sale, and that's over and gone. [Update 25 May - not looking good. I may have 3 of 6 live.]

Veggies this year:

One of my big rhubarb plants is massive yet again. I've been picking it pretty heavily and have given a fair amount away and frozen more. So far it's doing ok - I'm seeing some damaged stalks, but not like the last few years. Of course, the trouble didn't really get going until later in the summer, so we might not be home free yet. The other one that was huge isn't so big this year - I'm not sure what happened. And my other two just keep plugging along.

We decided to do the straw bales again. We put in metal posts and strung 16 gauge wire between them. THAT ought to hold things up, including the tomato cage. We did the same thing in front of the flame grass, hoping to keep it from flopping over onto the bales. It's not that tall yet, but it'll get there.
I started conditioning the bales rather late. I was sick, and it was cold and nasty and I just wasn't up to the task. Conditioning involves soaking the bales daily with hot (or at least warm) water. Since our outside water is still so cold, that means hauling two two gallon watering cans at a time up the stairs. With the cough I had, that exertion wasn't happening. But I got it going and it seemed to be going well until we hit those days of cold, cold rain. I think that just about shut down the bacterial growth the bales undergo as they start to decompose and heat up. That heat is a huge part of the benefit in planting in bales, as it gives your plants a much warmer start than they'd get in the ground. I have yet to see my bales top 80, when last year I think they got to 120 and I had to wait for them to cool. I went ahead and planted anyway, as things just really need to get going. I found an article from the guy who published the book I follow and he said as long as the bales are warmer than the air, the bacteria are working away. So we'll see. We both rearranged where we planted and what we planted. The peppers are west of the tomatoes, so they'll get the late day (hot) sun. No squash to take over the world! We also did lettuce, peas, broccoli, herbs and strawberries, along with a few flowers. And we're trying potatoes again. They'd sprouted by the time I shoved them deep into the bales, so maybe we'll do better this time?

Update 25 May

Bales are looking pretty good. They're not as advanced as last year, but things got in later and the bales weren't as warm, so that's not surprising. The last several days, they've been between 80 and 90, so certainly warmer than the ground.



Oh, after years of not finding this particular vine, I happened to just walk past it at Gerten's - cardinal climber. We really like it and I'm happy to put it in in place of the morning glories I've been planting (or rather, not pulling, as once you plant it, I think you have it forever - it sends up huge numbers of seedlings, but they pull easily). I think it may be a form of morning glory, but I just like it better -  perhaps because I have such a fondness for red flowers! Hmmm - if it's a form of morning glory, how will I tell seedlings apart next year??

My baskets look good - the ones I did recently are filling in and the ones I did in March look great! I'd forgotten I did one in fuschia, and it's going to be glorious in a few days.

And our bridal wreath is pretty much at peak - or at least it was until the storms this morning. I haven't seen it since to see how good it still looks. At least I got the pictures?

I planted two kinds of bulbs a couple of weeks ago, and neither is making its appearance yet. They're not springtime ones - directions say to plant after danger of frost and they'll bloom in the summer.

The one on the left is ixia - African corn lily. Some websites say it should bloom this summer, others say not until next year, but I was told at Gerten's it's not a perennial here! Maybe it blooms next year if you plant in the fall?? Hope it blooms this year, or it was a waste of money. The other is crocosmia lucifer (told you I liked red flowers!). This one could survive winter here - it's good to zone 5, which is often where our winters fall these days. This one came in a pad - bulbs all in a round compostable pack you plant whole. Easy - now to see if it
WORKS.

If they don't show up pretty soon, I'm going to have to try to find something to fill the spots they're in. That's getting hard, as flower places are getting pretty picked over, and I really don't want geraniums, marigolds or petunias. Sorry - just not a big fan of those. Anyone know a place that sells slightly more unusual flowers?

Update #2 4 June

I can't believe how much the baskets have grown since I took those pictures a couple of weeks ago!

No shows on either kind of bulb. Grrr. I got some cosmos and snapdragons. Maybe the bulbs will still make an appearance? While planting the snapdragons, I found some of the bulbs. The pad is gone, but the two I found didn't have a single root, so I don't think they're going anywhere. They should show SOME kind of activity by now.

The Russian Sage is filling in nicely, but some of the lower leaves look like they were nipped by frost or something. Since I don't believe they were yet out when we did have that frost, I don't think that's it. Some of my cranesbill shows the same damage, and something is clearly after the daisy again. But I think I've seen all these things before, and everything was fine, so I'm trying to not get too worried. And the annuals nipped by frost? Bouncing back nicely! I was surprised to find new leaves on them. I'm sure they'll take longer to really get going, but looks like they'll make it.