Planting Week 2008

The last three days have been pretty much nonstop planting and finalizing the Summer of 2008 look for the gardens. The frost on Wednesday was the last hurrah of the winter, and now I am confident that the weather will hold. I'm still seeing damage from the frost, but I trust that the things I plant out now will survive.

Finished the basic planting in the garden: tomatoes, peppers, cucumber have joined the broccoli, onions and potatoes that went in three weeks ago. I even put basil out into the herb garden. The flower gardens are evolving: put out the wave petunias, some alyssum, planted the pots for the deck. Finally decided what to do with the tall, green cannas, and put them out into the garden in front of the deck. Finished weeding and chipping the beds around the back yard, and am ready to finish tomorrow with any luck.

The dogwoods are blooming beautifully this week. Also in bloom: Bachelor's Button, wild geranium, swelling buds on the viburnum along the creek. Finally got a shot of the mother duck and her ducklings. Very cute.

The last tree to break leaves and begin to create shade is the Mullberry that I got from our friends Tom and Bea about, oh, ten? years ago. Took home a two foot sapling from their yard and planted it at the edge of the woods. Now it is 30 feet tall, and at least 5 feet inside of the treeline. I guess, as my father urged us when we first bought this property, we have let the treeline e dg e out into the yard,. It's not like we don't have plenty of lawn still. Less each year, perhaps, but still a large amount of monoculture to keep up and mow. Some day this will all be gardens,with only a tiny bit of lawn to create paths between them.

There are very interesting formations on the Austrian Pines that I've not noticed before. I think they are inflorescences, may mostly fall off with a few becoming cones if they are fertilized. Never noticed them before.