Annuals

It's too hot and humid to do anything outside.  I should be emptying out the finished compost so I can load it up with more stuff, but I really don't want to.  Actually, there is a long list of things I should be doing.

Instead, I want to think about what annual flowers to grow next year.  I'm still not sure how I feel about the gladioli.  I think they're very cool, they do make everything seem very lush and colorful, but they're a little... I dunno, tacky?  I still have two boxes I didn't plant this year, so I will probably end up doing something with them.  But DON'T buy any more.

The Morning Glory are not worth it.  I'm getting like, 2 blooms at a time, 3 tops.  And if I had bean plants in their place, that would be so much more productive, and so easy.  I mean, seriously, I put way too much work into getting those things started, and this is the 3rd year I've tried it, and I think I should just stop.  The Moonflower were even worse.

I'm very enamored of Zinnias right now, so I say let's do a bunch of those.  They can be in containers, or whatever, but now that I know what I'm doing, I think it will be really nice.  Just don't put them in the window box again.  And the ones I got from Home Depot are some sad little fuckers.  I should have ripped them out after a week.

The nasturtiums aren't that bad, the ones in the grow bags.  The raised bed really doesn't have space for something decorative like that.  I mean, maybe petunias or something would be more graceful, but I think these are cute.  I will definitely do all one color again.

Everything about that wall planter seems kind of shitty.  It obviously dries out like crazy.  Everything I put in there dies, except the Thunburgia which looks like a messy weed.  (Um, that's cause I need to cut it back.)  I think next year I will put a plastic liner in it so it doesn't get so dried out.  And I don't know what to put in there...

The Mandevilla was not a great choice.  I wish I had gotten a Clematis.  Not that they're really comparable.  I'm just disappointed that he's not actually climbing.  Putting a container in that spot in the bed was fine, I guess, although I think it looked weird for a while.  But the big hole in the bush has filled in, so I think we're good!  I was planning to bring the Mandy inside for the winter. I think I still will, because it sounds easy to care for over the winter (unlike the Clivia...) and it would be a plant that I could have inside, which would make me happy, and because reasons.

Let's see, what else did I plant...  The Vinca look great in the front bed.  I am kind of starting to understand the way people who are serious about gardening want to have purely perennial beds, but it really works well to just fill out the front with little annuals.  They look so good with the Sweet Potato Vine.  And they were cheap, and they live forever no matter what you do to them.  The ones I put in the container look good, too.

I bought that pack of...um... Lantana?  And they were supposed to be pink and yellow, which were my colors for the front bed, but then they looked more red, so I put them in the Bed of Neglect, where there is a red and yellow yarrow, but then they started to turn more pink, and now they're kind of pink and red and yellow?  Google Images seem to have the same problem.  But they are tough as nails.  I have basically ignored them (I mean, I banished them to the Bed of Neglect) and they're growing all happy, with their weed friends.  Ha, weed friends)

And... I put some calibroachia in the front bed, because it was pink and yellow, and I guess it's fine?  I never look at it, because it's on the other side, but it had a few rounds of flowers with no attention from me.  I guess things in the ground are pretty safe in general.

Now, on the patio- the hibiscus is so sexy with its big-ass flowers.  I want to try to overwinter her inside, as well.  I just asked the internet how that would go, and the internet was like, "Ooh, yeah that's going to be tough, she needs 2-3 hours of direct sunlight a day."  Relax, internet, I got this.  I have southeast-facing sliding glass doors, and I actually get more direct sun in the winter.  I did learn that it is in too big a container. (The container is insane, it's like a bathtub)  So I think I'll transplant it first, which I would have done anyway.

Both the Mandevilla and the Hibiscus need to come inside before nighttime temperatures drop below 40.  So, Mid September.

And... I also have some New Guinea impatiens and some begonias that never flowered and some coleus.  Coleus is fucking amazing, and that's why I'm going to grow it my damn self next year, because I couldn't find any this past spring.  I see they have it all over the place at work, so I think they must have hoarded it all.  I think I will not be doing the plant stand next year, just the raised bed that I set up.  And I would like to fill that with primarily hostas and ferns, but I kind of know that's a bad idea.  I mean, I know Mike McGrath would tell me not to do it.  He'd probably be like, "They might not necessarily die, but why try it when you could just leave them in the ground where they'll be happy and healthy?"  And he would be right.

The smart thing to do would be to fill that spot with things like Begonias, Caladiums, Coleus and Elephant Ears.  3 out of those 4 are tubers that can be dug up and stored inside over winter.  So I could develop this really lush patio landscape of big leafy things, a Hibiscus, and a Mandevilla, and as long as I pay a little attention, I don't have to keep buying them.

(BTW- remember that container at Mom's, with the gorgeous foliage plants for shade, like the begonia and the other weird thing?  If she doesn't want to save it, I should try to get a hold of them and save them, and then repot them for her in her own containers next year.  So smart!  Good Mother's Day gift!)

Other annual flowers (god, I did not realize I had done so many)- the Sunflowers.  Ok, so I have like, 6 of them, in a nice little patch in front of the AC.  They're like, 4 feet tall, which is not too offensive.  But, like Mom said, they are fucking ugly.  (Actually what she said was, "I think they look best when there's a big field of them, far away."  But that's because they are ugly.)  And it's the end of July and they don't really show any signs of blooming.  The ones at Pete's looked great the first week of July, and 3 weeks later they're looking a little spent.  So, best case scenario is still not great.  I don't think they're that awesome for home gardens, unless you have a lot of land, and you want to entertain kids with them.  Because I can see how it's a good project for a kid, this tiny seed can grow a total monster of a plant. (which looks like a nasty weed and has an unremarkable flower, woo!)

But wait, there's more!  I threw some Sweet Alyssum seeds into the Side Bed around April, and they're actually growing and it makes a nice border.  I kind of want to put Thyme there, though.  The Thyme is so low-growing that it just does not stand a chance in the raised bed.  I don't think it gets any sun.  But if I put it along the side of the side bed, next to the sidewalk, it would get great sun, it would drain well, and it would be more likely to perennialize because it's close to the house.  And it could be pretty, I could get some flowering kind.  Or I could also get some Sweet Alyssum seed, and start them inside.  (Calm down, you have one grow light.)

Longwood

My trip to Longwood yesterday was great.  I could wander around, thinking thoughts, and walking and totally different paces at different sites.

Their perennial beds actually looked a lot like mine- lots of herbaceous perennials blooming like crazy with no real order or scheme.  By that point, my phone's battery had died, but I would have taken lots of pictures otherwise.  It kind of looked like there wasn't a ton of care taken- like, an above-average amount of care, for sure, but not the Longwood type that I would expect.  (I also think the vegetable garden looked a little under-tended, but we don't have to talk about that.)

All I want in the world is to get that front bed to be the bestest perennial bed, where it just fills out and looks lovely, no maintenance. It's 80% of the way there.  I just need to put in another Echinacea, or maybe they'll even self-sow and things will be good.

Vegetable Plants Aren't Here to Make Friends

Let's talk about the veggie and herb growing situation that I hope to have next year.

First, what did I do this year that was awesome?  Well, that tomato is kind of insane.  Last year I grew one in a large container, and that was cool, and I got some tasty little tomatoes.  So this year I was like, a) I can't put it in the same place again, because reasons, and b) let's try it in the raised bed, even though it isn't the most sun ever, and see how it does?  And I bought a Sun Gold type something cherry tomato and Lowe's (the Bonnie Plants brand) instead of the yuppy place with my mom like last year, and I planted it after drawing a lot of pictures on graph paper of the one square foot it would need!  See, on the paper, how many pictures of plants I can fit into that space?  HahahahaaaAwesome!

So I put a tomato plant and a jalapeno pepper plant side by side, like lil buddies, with matching trellis...ess...s that were 15 in wide. and like not even 4 feet high, thinking they would grow up side by side and make nice little vegetables-that-are-really-fruits together.

And the pepper was like, "Tomato, you're my best friend," and the tomato was like, "Hahahah you little bitch.  I mean, sure, you too buddy."

The tomato obviously grew a little faster, which is fine, everyone grows at their own rate and that's ok.  You just do you, lil pepper.

But then, 2 months later, the tomato is like 10 feet tall and has taken over the world, and is carrying with it a bunch of thug pole bean plants, and the pepper is nowhere to be seen. I planted like, 20 seeds, but then there was hail and a bunch of them looked like shit so I pulled out about half and still they're kind of out of control.

A lot of this happened in the first week of July.  I went to Utah for work, then to DC for fun, so I was gone a solid week.  The day before I left, I watered everything like crazy, gathering up the empties from the summer festivities, peeling off the labels for decency, and filling them with water and inverting them into pre-drenched soil.  Everything survived, which is amazing, so let's do that again, but the tomato and beans were flopped over on to the lawn, unable to support their own massiveness.  Which is normal, right?  How many times did Mike McGrath explain to me that the tomato is a huge plant?  And that if you want a tomato that tastes good, at has to be a total fucking monster?

Mike McGrath is always like, Get some industrial strength steel and build an actual WWE Octagon cage-fight cage, because anything else, your tomato plant will TAKE IT DOOOOWWWWN.  And I was like, ooh you know what would look pretty, some little wooden trellis things; but not too big!  Maybe I could make it out of reclaimed 18th century toothpicks!  Blah blah Pinterest!

So I bought these cages (2), for tomatoes next year.  They at least fold up, so they don't have to just hang out in front of my house like so much garbage.  And I like that they are square.  They are 14 1/2" square, 20" diagonally, which is how I plan to arrange them in the rectangular, 24" deep bed, as a reminder of how much space they need to do their thing and to not think they're going to be friends with a pepper.  Come on.  (Actually, I got Tomato Towers, not Tomato Cages. They are tall.)

I also got these "self watering" containers (3) and I will use them for something?  Something that's going to climb up patio walls.  The Morning Glory are lovely, but I'm not sure they are getting along with the pole beans.  I think I'm getting more bean plant and less flowery plant.  The purple pole beans are so fucking cool.  The stems are purple, the leaves have purple streaks, they have purple flowers, it's awesome.  And I've already gotten like, 1/2 lb of beans, while I haven't had one bean yet from old Kentucky Wonder over in the raised bed.  And Kentucky regular-ass-green bean plant has grown a lot, like it makes me nervous hanging out near it cause it might strangle me, but no beans yet?  Is that a "too much nitrogen" thing?  But the tomato is messy with fruit, so that doesn't make sense.  The best explanation I can come up with is sun- the ones on the patio (purple) get beaten with sun, so they don't need to make crazy leaves, but the raised bed gets dappled sun for a minute and then some shade after about 3.  So I think they get just barely 6 hours.
The other reason to not grow pole beans in a tiny raised bed is that they take that shit over.

And this is at Longwood!  (So, I don't wanna be a bitch, but did anyone else thing Longwood's vegetable garden was actually not that impressive?  I mean, did you see the tomatoes?  They've kind of let themselves go.  And cut back your kale already, it's July.)  

(Longwood: "Remember those zinnias that were bigger than your fist?"  Me: "Shut up, Longwood.")

So, pole beans are really better suited to covering up ugly things than sharing space. And clearly they do not mind being in little tiny containers that dry out.  Since so much of my space is concrete, I should be doing more in containers.

But, also, the opposite of that- there's no reason I can't have vegetable plants near flowers.  The spaces that are already established as planting areas get the best sun, and no matter how many graph paper pictures I draw, I can't come up with a way to set up a raised bed in the good sun.  So maybe in makes sense to put some of these lettuce and greens plants in the planting beds?  And the herbs, too?  The thyme is really perfect for an edging plant, the basil would probably do a lot better if it didn't have to compete with those assholes Tomato and Pole Bean, and maybe a pepper and and eggplant could find a home in there as well.

The jalapeno I thought was lost in the gang violence of the raised bed is actually still there, surviving, not quite thriving, but fruiting.  I did buy another one today from Wedgewood.  He was suffering from another kind of struggle- sprouted as a seedling and potted up in about 6 fl oz of soil and left in the sun, fertilized excessively, and laden with more pepper fruits than his little pepper body could handle.  My first pepper is like the kid from the bad neighborhood, and this one is the affluent over-achiever who was planning to hang himself in his parents' finished basement. And I'm about to pot him up with some perlite and compost, while I leave the other one in the raised bed, swarmed by bean plants?  He was able to squeeze out a few little stumpy peppers to get my attention, so now I'm like, "Clearly you're fine, sorry your friend Tomato turned out to be such a dick" ?  I should think more about my choices.

Compost

I bought this lovely raised bed thingy for my patio, and I'm delighted with it, it's perfect.  But I haven't planted anything in it.  Right now, I'm just throwing in all the cuttings from any plants, including all the cut-back liriope from 3 months ago.  It's like a pre-compost, I guess.

My actual compost bin has this dark, steamy, unctuous mass sitting at its bottom.  When I went outside a few days ago, it was 7 am and relatively cool, and the sun was not yet on the bin, but the thing was so hot I could barely touch it.  So I think that's going well.

Since it's almost done, I could just take it out and pile it up in some container, and start another batch.  I could pretty much get it finished before winter, right?

Spring Bulbs, am I crazy to think about that?

Cause, White Flower Farm lists them as "ALREADY SHIPPED get your shit together." And then I'm like, but wait guys, it's July, and I can't plant them until November, so, shouldn't you, as the distributor, hang on to them until I can plant them?  How bout YOU get YOUR shit together?!

Anyway, I guess it's good to think about this stuff sooner, and not when everything's died back, because then I do things like plant all the daffodils in a row along the edge of a bed.

(Off all the gardening mistakes I've ever made, this is the most egregious.  It's just so goofy looking.)

July- vines and things

Well, the tomato is growing like crazy, so that's fun.  The purple beans are doing great, I get lots of beans already and they look lovely.  They have little purple flowers and it's super cute.  The regular green beans aren't as far along, I guess they don't get quite as much sun.  I was thinking next year I would only plant the beans along the wall, because they look so lovely and they get too crowded in the raised bed.

I was very seriously considering getting the patio wall removed.  I think it's basically useless, and ugly.  I need to get a quote on that, and if it's like, $100, I'll get someone to do it, but the internet seems to think I can handle it.  I'd need a pry bar and maybe a sledge hammer.  If I end up keeping the cinder blocks whole, I could pretty much use them for another bed?  Or should I build a smaller wall there that's hollow through so I can plant in it?  Or, I can make a bench!  That could be kind of nice.  I will probably need to ask the HOA.

The Morning Glory are finally blooming, I've got two flowers and they're beautiful, and it's 2:30 and they're still out.  I kind of thought they were shorter lived than that.  So I guess I'll just grow the same things again.  It's very possible they don't like sharing space with the beans.

Ah stop planting things!

Whelp, I went away for a week and was all like, oh no, what about water?  And soaked everything all I could, and then gave them all upside down wine bottles of water to slow-drip.  And I mean, that seemed fine, and even the vines and stuff seemed to be alive?  BUT! The tomato plant had collapsed under its own weight.  What did Mike McGrath JUST SAY?!

So, how about next time do a better job of anticipating how ginormous they get.  I mean, maybe we wanna put it somewhere else entirely, and get some kind of beautiful trellis?  I actually still don't know where I should put a tomato plant.  I just don't.  

The gladioli are kinda meh. I should probably just not do them.  Hm, but they're so easy, and they make such nice cut flowers!  I would just need to be a lot more selective about where I put them.