I hate working outside when it’s windy so I didn’t, even though my new Disneyland rose bush has already brought me so much joy. I love staring at it and kept a picture open of it on my desktop all day. I hope I can plant it out tomorrow. Also, due to the wind, I didn’t bring any plants out for hardening off.

I did a lot of potting up over the weekend. But now I think I’m at an awkward point where I should plant this weekend and hope for the best, but I also want the plants to “rest” a bit in their new pots. As gentle as I try to be when repotting, I’m sure it’s still enough of a shock to the little seedlings. The night time weather is still going to be in the 40s for the next ten days as least, so maybe I won’t be planting this weekend. Damn me and my early planting!!! A lot of my squash already have buds on them. I think they’re a bit small for that right now, but I have plenty of seeds left over to start from scratch if I need to. They are fast growers so I’m not overly worried about them. It’s the tomatoes and eggplants I need to worry about.

It’s bright, warm and windy today so I brought all of the seedlings out. Decided to plant all my poppies and dianthus in the bed where I direct-sowed a portion of them. I decided that I wouldn’t do the hardening off of these guys because they are at a point where my taking care of them inside will either do more damage than good, so I’ll just see how they fare in the location I allotted them outdoors.

Cleaned up the driveway bed of weeds and the one boxwood that is totally dead from being one of the neighborhood dog bathrooms. In a little bit I’ll wet down the soil, plant the xeriscape seeds and then cover them up with what’s left in a compost and garden soil bag. Will do that for other areas I plan on sowing seeds in.

Bought some things at a couple of nurseries on the way home yesterday. A Felix Crousse peony that I put next to my Sarah Bernhardt peony, a Summer Wine yarrow whose foliage was just too pretty to pass up (and I have been thinking of getting a yarrow anyway), a japanese spiraea, spanish lavender and a Mountain Flame japanese pieris. I planted the Southern Comfort heuchera bought a couple of weeks ago, but I still need to find a place for the lambs ears.

My Queen of the Night tulips are in full bloom and gorgeous, but my friterallia have not bloomed yet. There are plenty of buds on it, so maybe it’ll bloom this month.

Break’s over. Time to get back into the garden.

Break #2
The front yard is done for the day. I started taking pictures to share and the camera died. So I’ll let it recharge over night and then take photos tomorrow.

I’m really dreading prepping the last veggie bed, even before I spent the first part of the day working on the front yard. I’m half tempted to just cover it in compost since it’s so full anyway. This is one of the things talked about in The New Square Foot Gardening book I got. In a raised bed with good soil, you’d just need to add compost as your compost bin is ready. No need to work the soil. I just get such measly yields though, that I think the soil could use something.

Right now, I’m just ready to have the house back. So if I can think of a way to not bring the seedlings back in, but give them the protection they need, I’ll be happy.