been busy potting up all my wintersown perennials - it has just been way to hot to actually put them in the gardens - i want them to grow larger and maybe plant them in the fall

had a truck load of good garden soil delivered a few days ago and been top dressing gardens and just making my soil better

since my mother is now pretty much confined to her bedroom and bed we have been concentrating on the view from her bedroom - a new annual bed with her fountain as a focal point

The extreme heat of last week really set me back on alot of things I had planned to do but hopefully we will get a cooling trend - I sure hope so.....

Lynne

I believe I am working on heat stroke, skin cancer, and sun poisoning lol.

Today I worked mostly on re-potting some of my seed sown plants and finished the fire pit on what is going to be a patio.

I don't know if anyone remembers the half flower bed of mint I posted a while back but Monday started the process of getting rid of that and preparing that bed for other plants. The previous owners had the property graded beside the garage and used the extra dirt to make a 70 X 30 ft raised bed. Apparently there was gravel beside the house when they graded and I am just finding out that the soil is slap full of gravel. The dirt has been extremely compacted as well so we are having to till a row, pick the rocks, trash, and stray mint roots out of the soil, push the dirt back in the hole, and till some organic/compost material into the soil. Needless to say after working on it for three and a half days we are only halfway through it.

Inserting greenhouse here:

{{gwi:580390}}

I'm pretty much just working on watering, and more watering. Thank God for the little bit of rain we saw yesterday...now we need much more. I'll plant some more stuff in the fall, maybe. It's just too hot to do anything!

No major projects, but I did take on some things that I've never done before as a gardener. This spring I sowed seeds for annuals for the first time. Not a big deal to a seasoned gardener, but since it was my first time I was very apprehensive. In my mind, I thought it was going to be way more difficult than it actually was. I don't think I'll ever buy another annual again and next Spring, I'll venture into some perennials. I know it won't always be so easy, but at least now I know I can do it. The only problem is that I had at least 100 zinnias that I had to put into the ground!!! And I bought the seed packet at Family Dollar for .25c, so I can't believe the savings of it. Of course, I spent tons of money on planters and soil, so the price did go up, but even still I'm thrilled with the results of my first seed expedition.

Also, I planted tomotoes and herbs for the first time too. Last night I made tuna steaks and used basil from my own garden and man the smell just permeated the entire house. My husband was incredibly impressed. I've been using my parsley quite a bit aslo. Over the weekend, I'll be dipping into my sage to make some sage-butter Mahi-Mahi. I'm hungry just thinking about it!!

For the most part, I've been doing odd projects. Moving a perennial here, dividing one here, cleaning out my mailbox garden which was completely overrun with tiger lillies. Then of course, I had to plant over 100 tiger lillies!!! Yikes, now I know why I'm so tired. I didn't think I did much, but in reality I've been planting my butt off!!

But what I'm most proud of, is the little patch of bramble and tree stumps that I started to take over last year, by turning over the soil and planting a few hydrangeas and a crepe myrtle that my mom propagated for me and brought up from Florida for me to plant. Last year it was totally scraggly, and I think I was the only person in the world that knew it was an actual garden in progress. This year, I've added some salvia and some dianthus, not too mention 50 of the 100 tiger lillies, and now it's starting to look pretty good. I still have to edge around the border, and the weeds are really overgrown, but even a fool could see that it is a garden. Now a fool may think it's a really messy garden, and they'd be right, but at least it is recognizable!! Hopefully throughout the summer and next Spring, it will be a beautiful garden!! Fingers crossed!!!

Also, I know I don't have much, if any Spring blooms, so this Fall will be dedicated to planting lots of tulip, daffodil, crocus and other early blooming flowers so I can delight in my garden come March and April.

Besides praying for rain (I'm about ready to do a "nekkid" rain dance!) and trying to keep the transplants watered, I'm clearing new paths and potting up winter-sown seedlings and volunteers from the perennials. Still transplanting the rest of the heirloom tomatoes, but it's tricky with the weather. Alicia, the high 90's nearly brought ME to a "screeching halt" this past week! Way too hot to be outside!
I'll be extending the hosta bed, mostly winter-sown babies in their 3rd year, snd also working on the next two lasagna beds as I get materials. There is the weeding and mulching that is ongoing. . .
Harvesting whatever is ready in the veggie garden. Had a lot of sugar snap peas, turnips, radishes, and now the beans are starting to climb. Tomatoes, white cukes and zucchini are doing well despite the heat.
Day lilies and monardas are starting to bloom, and the lavender is in full, scented glory. Should be seeing hummingbirds any day now. . .
Deirdre, it is wonderful to have fresh herbs, isn't it? I have always loved growing herbs, and continue to add to my collection as I find new ones. I like the ones that have a medicinal use as well as the cooking herbs. Your sage-butter Mahi-mahi sounds wonderful! And your new garden will only improve with time. . .
Well, I'll be heading out to my garden early in the morning to tackle the projects before the heat overtakes me. . .I love Saturdays! :)

heh - I got interested in gardening about four or five years ago when I found a herb book at Goodwill. I started out by planting all of each seed packet and since my confidence level was so low I planted three or four packets of each type of plant. Most were herbs but I planted a few flowers and some peppers and tomatoes. I ended up with literally hundreds of peppers, tomatoes, and various herbs and flowers. I had so much I was giving them away to people like the cable guy.

I learned a lot that first year but the catch is that as I learn more about growing certain plants from seed my germination rates get better. So I cut back every year but I always end up giving away a bunch of plants because I still have way too many.

Maintenance mode. I planted a few things early on from division/transplanting and added a few left-overs from a fund raising sale.

I'm going to take some cuttings to root to fill a few gaps here and there.

IF we don't have a serious drought into fall, I plan to order alliums and more Dutch irises. I've got some shrubs that I need to re-locate so that I can tweak the design. I don't like to shear shrubs all the time, but they are growing larger than they are supposed to...time to move them in the fall.

I'm at a weird place in my gardening life. The beds here are pretty much full. I have way too many rooted cuttings of things I thought would be more difficult to keep alive so I've been finding homes for extra plants and composting the ones that just don't look full and lush (gardening is a cruel business). I am in a "purge" mode. This is the season when I normally take cuttings from flashy tropicals (they like heat and humity) so I am rethinking what I want to propagate - if anything.

For the last few years I've been growing plants and selling them, first at the Raleigh Flea Market and then last year at the Wake Forest Farmers Market - so I have areas of the yard all organized for growing and sorting lots of baby plants to sell. Selling was soooo much fun (I didn't make a killing doing it) that I want to persue it further but with the drought I just can't sell someone something that they will struggle to keep alive so I took this year off.

Now I'm looking at other property nearby which is completely different sunshine wise with far fewer mature tree roots to contend with - so I may be moving! (just a few miles away, nothing major).

So now I'm looking at all the plants in the ground and wondering who I should groom for digging and moving to the new place (if that even happens). It puts a whole new perspective on gardening when you think you might not be staying at your current place.

One bright spot - some of my new tropicals that kinda wimped out on me has really turned around with the high heat.

I'm wanting to put a greenhouse in, so I'm envious of that site. It looks very nice Karen W, enjoy it!! :-) Triangle John, do you have some pics of the tropicals??? I would love to see as I'm trying to create a bit of the tropics here in the sandhills of SC for my yard. I'm curious, what has been successful this year so far, and what has failed? Right now I'm trying to get my first solid beds up and running this year. And trying to get my veggies running as well. My Nearly Black Rose is now budded so I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've got some other things that are doing well too. It's a fun season this year, lots of new things and room to play!! :-)