Mid August

I've been ignoring my garden for a while, other than picking regular tomatoes and green beans and some basil.  I'm pretty surprised that the cherry tomato has held on for this long.  It was at least 6 weeks ago that I thought it was dead.  There's stuff dying on it all the time, but now I'm seeing lots of new green leaves growing near the bottom.  Maybe it will come back happily.  The tomatoes I'm getting off of it are not great; they're kind of small and the skins are pretty tough.  That might just be the variety.  Will not grow again.

Today I would like to go out and clean up the dead branches from the cherry tomato and use the plant ties to redirect it to the cage.  It's looking like such a mess.

The Better Boy tomato is doing really well.  I'm getting several nice sized tomatoes every week, enough that I have to give them away.  They're a little small recently, which I don't have a problem with, but I think that's because it hasn't had very much water.  We're not going to get much rain over the next week so I want to really deeply water it today.  And the green beans are of course doing really well.  I do still find this big overgrown ones in weird spots that I didn't see several days before when I should have picked them.

I might also try to clean up the green bean mass a little bit, just pull off all of the dead stuff.  The strawberries under there may or may not make it, since I think the beans kind of shaded them more than I would like.  And I'll rip out that sunflower.  It was nice, but only for a week or so.

Now, I think the tomatoes keep going through September, so I won't be pulling them out until then.  In a few weeks I might get sick of the sad Cherry tomato and rip it out so I can plant some of the fall veggies.

I started some bok choy and some random lettuce to go under lights, and I have a few Swiss chard and Radicchio starts going.  But they have been kind of neglected, so I don't know how well they're going to do.  I bought another bag of seed starting mix yesterday so I can get going with more of these starts.  I think I will start some more Kale, I might need to give away the starts eventually because I don't know what kind of space I'll have.  I'm actually going to order some Romaine, and some Sorrel, which I've never grown or anything but it's like a salad green or stir fry green, and it's so pretty!  I might just fill up the window box with it.

And this morning I topped off the Gutter Garden with the compost, and I'm going to sow a bunch of lettuce and mesclun and arugula seeds in there.  I'll soak it down really well first and then I think I just lay them on top.  Maybe I'll be smart and do a whole row of arugula, a whole row of mesclun.  I'll also have some containers free by the time we get to October.  So those can be used for other fall veggies, like maybe some Swiss chard or some Kale.  Actually, I think I will do at least one container full of Cilantro.  I've got some really nice starts under the lights right now, in the water bottles.

Ok but seriously.  I really want some romaine, so that's my first priority of what should go in the raised bed.  I think the first thing to come out of the raised bed is the cherry tomato, so that spot can take a few heads of Romaine.

So I'm thinking, I've got like, six Swiss Chard starts that seem to be doing well; they've got lots of root growth.  I think I will keep them under lights for another week, and then I will plant them in the window box.  They will get a lot of sun there, but I'll need to be pretty diligent about watering.  And once they get growing they're actually very pretty.  But since I just put them into larger containers, I don't want to put them in there today.  I'd like to let them get settled in there and put on more root growth before that.

The zinnias are big, but not as prolific as they were last year.  I guess that's a sun thing.  I did give them some compost around the base, but I wish I had put down some bone meal or some other fertilizer.  Same with the Morning Glories- they're finally starting to put on some volume, but they don't have nearly as many flowers as last year.  Last year I gave them a few feedings of flower boost Miracle Grow, and I think that really did help.

They came around and pulled all of the massive amounts of weeds out of the sidewalk bed, and now it looks pretty great.  I'm so glad we divided those ornamental grasses because now they're looking really good and they make a really nice filler for that area.  I do still really want to put in some other perennials, and now I can actually see where they would go.  I'm thinking just Coreopsis.

I really need to deal with the compost.  There is like, one pan full of almost compost in there now, and I should just get out there and sift it. And that's the easier part, once I do that, I need to move all the crap in the garbage bin into the tumbler, and incorporate all the coffee grounds I have.  I'm scared of digging out all the plant stuff from the garbage bin.  I did drill a lot of holes, so I think it's dry enough.  I don't notice any smell from it, so I don't think it's all rotten and disgusting.  But there's a good chance it is chock full of spiders.

I'm thinking I will wait until the sun has gone behind the house, and I'll drag out one of the plastic tubs.  I'll just pull the whole top off the bin, and transfer it by the handful.  And as I pack that in, I'll just throw in handfuls of coffee grounds.  And based on the average temps, it won't freeze until early November.  So that's like, 12 weeks from now.  That's not an unreasonable amount of time to get compost.  Mike McGrath would tell me that if I shred the leafy stuff I would get compost in like, 4 weeks.  But I think it's already a little broken down and the coffee grounds would just speed it up more.

So yeah, seeds.  I'm adding in some Kale right now, in the plastic bottles, kind of the same as the Cilantro.  I also want to try Radishes again.  These crazy things claim 30 days to maturity, so if I planted them now, they would be theoretically ready mid September, and probably wouldn't taste that great.  Actually I don't know, I haven't read anything about how they're not good if you pick them before any frost.  If I plant some right now, by the end of September if I don't have any radishes I can just say fuck it and use that container for kale or whatever.  See, this is why I had potting soil on my list, and I was like, why do I need that right now?  Well if I really feel like it, I can always get some tomorrow.

So, the Morning Glory, I think it dies with the first frost?  If I pull it all out in early October, I could use all those nice containers for other stuff like lettuce.  Well, actually for bigger things, I think I will have enough leaf lettuce from the gutter garden.  

Late July

I finally ripped out the sad Hibiscus.  It had a ton of roots, going all the way to the bottom of the pot.  I had to cut it out with the Hori Hori knife, and I ended up leaving a decent amount in there.  The main reason for dealing with it (as opposed to just leaving it there) was to reclaim the pot for the Jalapeno.

The Jalapeno plant (the original one) was getting too big for its pot.  It had a ton of branches going out laterally, and a tall, thin stem at the bottom, so it was kind of toppling over.  At one point, it had bean vine looping all over it, which may have thrown of the shape.  Also would have limited the sun a little.

So I potted it up in the Hibiscus container, and I tried to plant it a lot deeper.  Then I filled around and over top with the regular garden-waste compost.  That actually used up quite a lot.  Now it looks a little bit more stable, and I think the location will be more favorable.  That's the spot that gets the absolute most sun.  I just need to make sure I water it soon.

I dumped a generous amount of compost on to the Morning Glory containers as well.  Then I put what little was left onto the Habenero plant just cause.  So now that's all used up.

The compost in the spinner actually seems like it's still doing something; it's got a lot of heat coming off of it.  I wanted to take it out and finish sifting it and then be able to start over with the other crap. I'm hoping that the trash bin full of stuff will actually all fit in the spinner.  And I've got like, a gallon of coffee grounds that I want to work in there.  I'm really hoping that I can get that started soon.  I mean, if I can get it started by end of July/ beginning of August, then it would have 2 months to cook over August and September.  If it's just the right mix and if it starts in the summer when it's warm, maybe it will be done by mid October?  I'm shooting for that because I want to be able to empty it out, and refill it with the leaves coming down then.  And I'm going to throw in lots of the worm compost, along with the worms, in the hopes that they'll get it going even faster,

I might want to try to harvest some Worm Castings soon.  I mean, I don't really have a plan for it.  I've got the 4th tray on there, and before too long it's going to be filled.  And if that does happen, I'll need to empty out one of the bins so that I can add it to the top.  In addition, I'm kind of thinking I want to have another kind of layer on the bottom, something that keeps the compost and the worms in the bin and not in the drip tray.  That's where all the good stuff is.  Maybe just a fine screen, or hardware cloth?  When you start, you put in thick brown paper, but obviously that breaks down and as you harvest, you keep putting an already-full tray on the bottom.

Of course, I could buy more trays, 2 for $20.

I transplanted the little Rosemary plants- I had them in small containers but I was pretty lax about watering.  I've now got them in one of the longer 24" containers.  At least it won't dry out as fast,

I'm pretty disgusted with the Nasturtiums in the Gutter Garden.  I'm probably going to rip them out soon.  In August, I can direct-seed some lettuce, and I can get some nice lettuce off of that over the fall.  

The tomato is... not dead yet?  It doesn't look as bad as it did last weekend.  I can't bring myself to rip it out just yet.  The tomatoes that are on there are growing and ripening.  So I won't tear it out until that stops happening.  I'm sure it's not going to put on more tomatoes or more flowers, so I'm just waiting out the ones on there already.  When it happened, I had only gotten ONE tomato, and the idea of tearing out this giant plant after one fucking tomato was just too much.  And now I've got like, 8 cherry tomatoes.  There are like 2-3 dozen on the vines, and I don't anticipate they'll all be harvest-able, but we'll wait and see.

I got another 4 or 5 beans this evening, and I wanted to weigh what I have so far.  I have 4 oz of beans right now.  Ugh.  And the one big tomato I got was I think 7 ounces?  I want to be one of these people that knows the yields they get, because I like quantifying things.  There are two larger tomatoes on that plant, and one is starting to get a little pink.  Maybe in a week it will be ready.

I had all these Basil starts inside, still in their tiny six-pack prisons.  I ripped out the stupid Gladioli from their container.  I got like, 10 flowers off of them, and I think I have like 25 bulbs in there.  So, that's fair, they were all either holdovers from last year or old bulbs I never planted.  I'm really sick of them.  So I ripped them out, and I put in 6 of the Basil plants.  The other 6 are still sitting in their six-packs, but I need to do something with them soon.

I could rip out that stupid Hibiscus.  It's not going to bloom again.  It's obviously happy; it keeps growing and putting on new leaves.  But it's just not going to bloom.  I could try root-pruning it, but that seems like way more work than I want to do, and it seems like it's likely to kill it hard. So I should probably just rip it out.

Actual work outside

As always, I should be doing some weeding outside, although I don't really feel like it.  I might try to weed at least the front bed, because there are a lot of weeds and they're right in the front.  I might do that tomorrow, maybe?  Probably not.  I've given up on the sidewalk bed.

I do need to plant all this basil soon.  If the tomato dies, that's obviously where they are going.  If not... I don't know, maybe I'll put them in a pot.

My herbs are not doing well.  I  haven't watered it, because we got so much rain I wasn't thinking about watering.  But of course those are under the roof and never got any rain.  I'm not sure the Mint is going to survive, which might be something no one has ever said.  Actually, let's bring those poor bastards inside and soak them in the sink.

Let's talk about these containers.  The Gladioli are done, I think.  I'm not getting any more flowers.  And the ones I got weren't all that great.  I kind of like the way I did it, packing them into a pot as bulbs early in the spring, because I don't have to deal with them in a bed with other plants.  I guess I'll leave them through this season, because they aren't bothering anyone.  But they're not that great. The Hibiscus is growing fine, and I think it's healthy, because he keeps putting on more nice green leaves, but it shows no sign of flowering.  I have read that some hibiscus don't reflower.   And some say you need to prune the roots.  I don't think I can do that.  That's insane.  I don't really want to throw it out, because it looks so healthy and I took care of it through the winter.  But if it doesn't flower, I don't really see the point.  It would not be that expensive to just buy another one.  I'm not going to rip it out or really do anything to it, because I don't have anything to put in its place.  When it gets cold, I won't bother ti bring it in.  Or maybe it would be smarter to just pull the plant out instead of having to deal with it later.

COMPOST

I need to finish emptying the compost tumbler outside.  I've done more than half of it already, and it's not that hard.  I've been putting it all through the sieve, which is nice but of course takes some time.  The stuff that I'm filtering out seems to make a nice mulch; it's just a slightly less broken down version of leaves and some stemmy things.  I've almost filled the plastic tub, I think it's like, the 11 gallon kind?  I don't really know what to do with all this nice compost right now.  I can't get to the base of most plants to compost around them.  I can put a nice layer on top of anything in containers, including the herbs.  And if I have to pull out the sick tomato I can back fill that area with compost.

But anyway.  Once I empty that thing out, I need to refill it with all the stuff in the garbage bin on the patio.  I think the only way to do that is to just take a tub over there, fill it up with handfuls, and dump it in.  And of course I will mix in that big bowl of coffee grounds I've been saving.  My hope is that if I get this done early enough, like this weekend, it will finish up by the fall.  There are a lot of leaves in there, of course, but also some other dried out plant stuff.  It's not shredded, of course, so it won't be that fast.  If I'm industrious, I could try to chop up the big stuff, like the longer grassy stuff.  Now, it won't break down into perfectly smooth soil looking stuff.  But it should get pretty far along, right, if I have a lot of coffee grounds mixed in with a lot of dry brown stuff.  I could also throw in a few handfuls of stuff from the worm bin to try to move it along faster.  And if it gets mostly composted but there are still chunks of leaves and stuff, it will make great mulch.

Fall Vegetables

I can start thinking about the fall season of vegetables.  And what would those be...?

• Kale
• Radicchio
• Romaine
• Bok Choy
• Radishes
• Peas
• Spinach
• Mesclun

Or I could try some new stuff....

• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Brussels Sprouts

If I am going to go for a Fall harvest, maybe I will try some of the longer Days to Maturity.  Things like Brussels Sprouts or Cauliflower take 60-90 days, so if I plant them in August, they should be ready to pick in October and November, when it's nice and chilly and they'll be happy.  I am worried that they would not get enough sun right there...  It's not as big of a deal as the tomatoes and stuff, but something that puts on as much stuff as a Brussels Sprout plant would need a lot of energy.  Same with Cauliflower and Broccoli, those are basically large flowers, so they would need a lot of sun.  Maybe Carrots.  They grow in nice rows, and they're just roots, so the light limitation wouldn't be as bad, right?  But carrots have to be direct-sown, so I'm worried the seeds would get eaten by bugs or birds.

I'm leaning towards more Radicchio.  They're actually pretty nice looking plants.  And they take 90 days to reach maturity, and definitely need to be harvested when it's cold.  Same with Kale, although I'm honestly kind of over Kale as a food.  So yeah, I think I will start some Radicchio seeds inside here, and then I'll transplant them in like, mid August, and then in late October I will hopefully have some Radicchio to eat.  And yeah, I'll start some Kale.  I'm going to do all those in the plastic water bottles.  Actually, I also want to start some Cilantro, maybe I'll do that first.  If I start Kale now, it will be ready to transplant in mid August, which is maybe too early?  I mean, go ahead and start whatever you want.  If it starts to grow too fast, that's not really a big deal, I can just keep potting up larger as they get root bound.

So how many should I start?  I mean, I only did 6 Radicchio last spring, and they were nice and they do get pretty big.

Ok, I just read the Burpee blurb about Radicchio and it says "For midsummer plantings, cut off all the leaves above the crown in early fall.  New growth in early fall produces small, cabbage-like heads."  So that's what I need to do!  That's easy!  I can start them now, and transplant them out there in like, mid August.  Then in mid September, I can cut them back!  By then they should be strong enough in their root system to continue to grow.  I guess I don't cut back all the leaves.  Hopefully, the new growth in the fall will grow the stuff I want.  How did I not pick up on this before?  I should really learn how to read.

I'll start 2 six-packs of Radicchio this weekend.  And I'll start 8 Cilantro in the water bottles.  I've got Drake's cactus starting mix, which is basically the same thing.  I guess I could mix it with peat moss, and perlite and compost to make it more like regular seed starting mix.  I might also start the Kale.  I'm going to do those in the water bottles as well, but I could probably get away with starting them in six-packs first, like I did originally.  Maybe by the time their roots reach the bottom, I'll have more water bottles and I'll have transplanted the Cilantro.

Tomato Problems!!!!

Oh my god, my poor tomato looks like it's dying!  It's totally wilted, like it's been in a drought, and I know we've gotten plenty of rain.  The soil around it feels pretty nice.  It wasn't wet or even damp, but it definitely wasn't dry.  And it's only the cherry tomato.  The other tomato is right next to it, and it doesn't seem to have any problems.

I went outside and dumped a watering can onto its roots, even though I don't really think that's the problem.  I'll watch now and see if it starts to perk up.

One other thing I noticed- that tomato has some large branches that seem to be snapped off near the top.  I'm not sure how that happened, I guess it could be squirrels.  Or children.  I'm thinking that kind of damage would cause it to lose water through the top?  Or maybe if it was messed with when it was soaking wet, that would cause it to get pretty sick.

Now I do have to acknowledge that this is the tomato that was planted in the exact spot as last year's tomato.  This is only the second year, though!  It does not seem at all fair for me to only get one year out of an area, and then have to leave it without any tomato for 3 damn years.

I don't think it looks like Fusarium wilt.  From the pictures online, it looks like that just shows up as the lower leaves turning a little yellow at first, and then it starts to wilt.  This seems like it's just wilting, no yellow.

But if it is Fusarium wilt, there's nothing I can do about it.  I can try throwing some compost on it, I guess.  But it will just keep on going and it will be dead in a week.

Maybe it's not that.  Maybe it's something weird and it really just needed that extra water.  I'll dump another can of water on it and see if it helps.  If it's not perked up in the next few days, I have to give up.

And then what?  I mean, if it totally dies, of course I need to rip it up.  I don't think I need to be proactive about that; it's not a disease that spreads plant to plant, right, it's just in the soil.  If I end up ripping it out, I'll have all that space to plant something else, I guess.  I'm not sure what that would be, actually.  I could put one of the peppers in there.  I kind of wanted to keep them in their pots so I would have a better chance of keeping them alive inside over the winter.  Maybe it would be better to put in all the Basil starts.  They grow well next to tomatoes, and I have a ton of them (12).  If I had any Swiss chard, I would put that in there.  Nope, just put the Basil in there.  IF the tomato dies, that's what I'll do next weekend.

Other vegetable updates:

The purple beans are starting to produce.  I got like, 12 of them this morning, and there are a few that are going to be ready in a few days.  They don't seem as prolific as last year, but honestly it is kind of early.  I remember last year the purple beans started significantly earlier than the green ones, but I thought that was due to their different locations.  The beans are also broken off at the top, so whatever happened to the tomatoes probably happened to them.  I'm a little saddened that they are only really producing near the top. It looks like the bottom 2 feet are not putting on any flowers.

The Swiss Chard are growing and stuff, although not as nicely as I'd like.  That one Radicchio is still there, and it does seem to be heading up nicely.  I don't know if it's totally eaten away by worms deep in there, but pretty soon I'll pull it out and see if I can eat it.  I don't see any cool days or nights in the forecast, so I might just go ahead and pull it up tomorrow.  And that frees up even more space, but not really a sunny enough spot for Basil.

The only other things in there on that end are the Parsley and the Chives, and they seem to be doing ok.

July 6th

Yay, day off from work!  If I was smart, I would use this to do all kinds of stuff I don't have time to do, like run errands and buy groceries and cook and get my hair cut.  But I'm probably not going to do that.  I might get around to doing something outside.  It is a little muggy outside, and it's going to start raining in a few hours.

WEEDS.  I could try to pull more weeds out of the sidewalk bed.  I got big plans for that spot!  This fall, I'm going to try to get some sale perennials and fill it out a little better.  I might even plant more Daffodils.  I think there are at least 100 in there, but you literally cannot have too many Daffodils.  I don't remember being all that impressed with the show last spring.  And they're so easy to plant. This new Burgess website seems to have unbelievable prices.  I can get 80 King Alfred Daffodils for $27.  From White Flower Farm, that many would cost more than $100.  If I did 10 patches of 8 Daffodils in there, that would be enough for it to start to look really full.  I never did cut back the leaves of the Daffodils.  I don't think that's a bad thing.  They didn't start to turn brown until like, now.  And I didn't see any reason to cut them back; maybe having that small amount of space occupied made for slightly less space for weeds to grow?

Anyway, the weed situation in there is out of control.  And my philosophy on weeds in beds is that there shouldn't be any exposed dirt for weeds to use.  Why wouldn't you fill the space you have?  If I can get some cheap perennials in there, it would at least reduce the opportunities for weeds.  And eventually, the bed will be basically self sufficient, and I won't even need to do anything.

Part of me thinks I should have used that space for the Tulips.  The problem with the Tulips where they were is that they're so crowded in with other plants, and I don't think the front bed drains quite as well as the sidewalk bed.  If they're in an area where no one fucks with them, they're much more likely to perennialize.  I guess that area might be a little more accessible to deer.  I've seen them around there before, like yesterday, in broad daylight!  What kind of deer walks around a residential area, on a weekend when we're all right here, in the summer, at noon?  Something is wrong with these deer.  But I think all I need to do is spray some deer repellent.  This "Deer Out" stuff I found on Amazon sounds amazing.  The reviews are so positive, and everyone says it just smells minty.  Active ingredients are peppermint oil, white pepper, garlic, and some putrescent egg solid, but not that much, apparently.  I don't think it will take much.  I generally have very little problem with deer, and after that one incident, they didn't even come back for the rest.  I think they have plenty to eat around here, so a mild deterrent will handle it.  I'm also planning to put a ton of Tulips in the patio bed, which I think will look amazing.  If a deer actually walks all the way up to my front door and into the patio, I will freak the hell out.  So, I'll probably not bother to spray those.

But anyway.  I'm not going to dig up all of those Daffodils out of the Sidewalk bed and replant the area with Tulips.  I'm going for a naturalized, low maintenance area over there, and Daffodils are the right choice.  Couldn't hurt to have some nice Crocus in there...  80 bulbs is only $17 from Burgess.

Now, I know that when I go looking for Perennials in like, September, I'm not really going to have my first choices.  I am definitely going to be strict about the color palette.  I only want red and yellow.  NO PINK.  I want Coreopsis, for sure.  It's not a very impressive plant, but I think it's really tough.  I've seen some at Wedgewood that have really nice flowers, mixes of red and yellow.  If they're still there, I'll go for those.  I might even be willing to pay $10 for them.  I would also do Echinacea if I can find some really red ones.  And there's always the Black Eyed Susan.

Ok, but don't get like, 2 of all of the above.  Ideally, I want to get like 3 more Yarrow that match the 2 already in there.  I'm pretty sure I have the "Paprika" kind.  I think that's a great plant to have in there.  It's really drought resistant, it flowers for like, 5 months, I can use it as a cut flower (or dried!), and the deer supposedly don't go for it.  And I like its leaf texture. I think it's a nice contrast to all the others.  (Although it's really just grassy weeds in there now.)  That's the first priority, to get the same Yarrow and get like, 3 of them, and plant them closer to the back.  Then I think the next thing is the Coreopsis.  I wold think those would be cheap.  They kinda look cheap.  I would plant those more on the sloped side, or to the right of the Yarrow in there now.  I like the idea of a lot of dark red Echinacea in there, so if I happen to find the exact kind I want and they're like, $5, then yes, I'll get like, 5 of those.  They would go near the back, I think.  They should get to be like, 3 feet tall.

Of course, there are about 8 variegated Liriope in there that really should be divided. I would want to do with them what I did with the ones in the front bed.  I want to split them into quarters at least, maybe smaller.  Then they should go primarily along the edges.  There's a lot to work with, and it could make a pretty nice border.  Unlike the front bed, I have no real desire to plant any annuals in this area, so I can totally use these as the front of the bed, or even the back.  I don't think I will get a border that's quite as dense as what my mom has, which is fine, since that's a little more of a formal kind of look.  But  my hope is that if the perimeter is filled out with something tough like that, weeds will have a harder time moving in.  I think I have enough Liriope to span the whole thing, at least the front.  I could take out the ones from the Patio Bed, even.  I do not like them in there.  I put them in because they were there, and I wanted to fill it out quickly, but that is not something I needed help doing. The Coleus are doing a fine job of that on their own.  And Liriope does not look good at eye level, it might as well be a weed, and it's blacking my view of the Begonias.  So I think I will take it out in any case.  I could even put it along the edge of the second raised bed.  It's just about the right height, it will cover up the wall of the raised bed, and it's so tough that if I kick it around a little when I'm picking beans or whatever, it should be fine.

Anything I do with the Liriope, I would be doing next Spring.  I'll wait until the landscaping people come around and chop it all back, and then when everything is thawed out, and it's rained a lot but it's not muddy, and ideally before they mulch, I'll go out and dig them up and chop them into little pieces.  The approach we took with the other grasses seemed to work.  I would dig them most of the way up, but the root ball was really too big for me to lift, so we would use the shovel to hack off pieces that were the desired size.  Of course, if I'm doing this in the spring, I will need to be careful about not trampling all the Daffodils.  I think that was ok when we did it this past spring, they had come up, so we could easily tell where they were, but they weren't blooming yet.  And at that point (like, April, I think?) the herbaceous perennials won't even really be showing yet.  I definitely want to transplant some of the Liriope to form a row right in front of the Yarrow that's in there now.  It's looking a little messy now, because those plants are 6-8 inches back from the edge, and they kind of flop over and into the sidewalk.  I mean, I could stake them, which would involve buying even more shit, or I could try to make some kind of stakes and tie them back, which might look terrible.  But if I had a dense row of Liriope there, they wouldn't fall over in the first place.  Boom, problem solved.

That reminds me- I want to make sure they do not cut down the ornamental grasses this fall.  I don't think you're supposed to cut anything back in the fall, right?  And I really like having them there after they're browned out; it's winter interest!  And when we divided them, I'm sure it took a toll and getting chopped back in the fall and then hit with the snow would not be good for them.  So what can I do?  The only thing I can think of is to put up a sign or a note or something.  "Please Do Not Cut These Back Until Spring."  And maybe a picture?  Is that insulting?  It's basically implying they can't read or don't speak English.  Presuming it's always the same people, the ones that I've seen out there today are mostly young white guys, one black guy, so yeah, don't draw a picture.  Asshole.  Should I be really sanctimonious and include an explanation?

"Please Don't Cut Down Ornamental Grasses Until Spring.  The dried stalks help to protect the plants over the winter and seed heads provide food for birds.  These grasses were divided this year to prevent die-out in the centers.  They will re-grow better if they aren't cut down before the winter.  They can be cut back in the spring, at the same time as the Liriope.  Thank you!"

or maybe just

"Please don't cut down ornamental grasses until spring.  Thank you!  Sarah, A12"

Yeah, let's go with that second one.  How to make this sign weatherproof? Maybe just write it on a piece of cardboard with a Sharpie, and stick that cardboard in a plastic bag, and tape it to that post in the middle?  Yeah that sounds good.  What's the other option, getting it laminated?  Maybe I'll do more than one sign.  How long to leave it up?  I guess until we get snow.

So clearly I'm not going to do anything with the weeds in there today.  I did pull out the really big nasty ones yesterday, but I didn't mess with the grassy ones.  I don't know if I will ever do anything.  I mean, philosophically, I am opposed to spending tons of time and energy pulling out tons of weeds from a big open space.  Why would I want to do that?  That isn't fun at all.  And it just ends up full of weeds again after 2 weeks.  Fuck that.  I'm not trying to do anything that hard.  Why would I do that when I could sit on my couch day drinking and looking at pictures of plants on the internet?  I would much, much rather fill that space out with native, low maintenance, flowering, pollinator attracting, drought tolerant and hopefully cheap perennials.  Oh, and this conventional wisdom about wood mulch preventing weeds is demonstrably false.  That stupid bed is piled with it, and by now you can't even see the wood mulch under all the weeds.

Oh wow, I can also grow Butterfly Bush from seed!  Burpee has two, one is the orange one, and the other is like, red and yellow like the Yarrow.  Hm, that one does say it's an annual, which is weird.  Still worth a try I think.  And I do want to try to fill that space with Sunflowers and Zinnias.  Might as well use it as a cutting garden, since it's there, and getting a ton of sun all day.

More Seeds

And now I'm thinking about the other seeds I'll be buying for next year.  Of course I want a TON of Zinnias.  I think I want to try some of the shorter, single flower Zinnias in front of the big tall ones.  And I'll do the same thing with the sidewalk bed, I'll do red and yellow in there and do one kind of big tall ones and a set of the 12-18 inch ones.

And of course I want some Sunflowers.  I'm pretty disappointed in the Elf ones, actually.  They are really small, and I get like a few days before they look terrible.  It's a total waste of that window box.  I'll need to put something else in there pretty soon.  I guess I could do them again, because they are kind of cute, but I then need to follow it with something else.  But I will get a lot of other sunflowers.  I like the "Elegance" kind, which are like 3 feet tall.  If I get a ton of them, I can fill out the center of the sidewalk bed and hopefully out compete some of the weeds.

I'll also get Basil and Cilantro, but I think those are the only herbs I want to grow from seed.  I might need more lettuce seed, but I think as far as all the other vegetables go, I'm pretty much set.  I have way more than I need.

The Nasturtiums that I have this summer are terrible.  There are so few flowers, and they're so sad and ugly.  I remember some that I had last year and I thought they were great.  I'll do some kind of Nasturtium again, but not these stupid pink things.

I will definitely do the standard Morning Glory again.  I'll start it a little early, in the containers, inside.

And I can start thinking about vegetables to grow in the fall.  I'm going to try another round of Radicchio and Kale, I guess.  Of the 6 Radicchio that I had, 5 either bolted or got attacked by those gross things. Actually, the 6th one should probably come up.  There's a big space now, and I would put Swiss Chard in there, except mine are just not growing at all.  They're under the lights, they're not dead, but they just don't grow.  I don't know what's wrong.  Maybe the soil?  Maybe I'll feed it some worm tea.

So if I start these in like August, or maybe July, they can go outside as soon as it's not too hot.  Maybe I'll start them now.  I've got a ton of compost.  They could go outside in mid to late August, right?

Can I "Cheat" with my Tomato Rotation?

Hi, Mike McGrath, thanks for taking my call!  I'm in West Chester, PA!  ....  Well, I'm a relatively new gardener, I've only been gardening for a few years.  I've been more successful than I have any right to be, and I credit that to all the great information and advice I've gotten from your show!  My boyfriend introduced me to it a few years ago, and I think he might be starting to regret it, because of how often I start sentences with "Mike McGrath says..."  When I have a question about gardening, I of course think of calling you up to get your advice, but then I either find the answer in your archives, or I can use the understanding I've gotten from your show to figure it out myself.  

But I do have a question I don't know how to answer and I'd like your advice.  I have very limited gardening space (I live in a townhome), and I'm growing tomatoes in the same space in a raised bed for the second year.  I know the Fusarium wilt will build up and I'll have to relocate them.  And I do have a plan for this; I have a second raised bed for when I need it.  

I'm so giddy over the success of my current tomatoes that I've started picking out varieties for next year, and I found some appealing varieties that were listed as resistant to Fursarium wilt.  (Specifically, the Rutgers tomato!)  I'm wondering, what is meant by "Resistant?"  Does it mean that the plant is not damaged by the presence of the virus?  Or, hopefully, does the wilt not use it as a host?  If that's the case, could I grow resistant varieties for 3 years, and would that have the same effect as not growing tomatoes in that spot for 3 years?  

I suspect it's the former- I could get away with growing the resistant varieties in that spot, but doing so will not eliminate the residual virus.  Presumably, these resistant varieties are resistant to damage, but still allow the wilt to persist?  Then if I were to plant a different variety, like Brandy Boy or something, it would be the same as if I planted it after several years of tomato growing.  I'm hoping you'll tell me that a resistant variety is impervious to the wilt.  Like the New Guinea Inpatients!  Those aren't a host, it's ok to plant those, they don't perpetuate the Impatient blight.  Are the resistant tomatoes the same?  

Tomato Time!!!

I am about to get my first ripe tomato.  The Better Boy has a big, healthy looking tomato on the bottom that is now almost entirely red.  I think it was about a week ago that I first saw some blush on the end.  The timing of this is nice, because I'm going to be at home for the next 3 days, and not traveling for the next, like, 5 days, so I can try to catch it at the perfect time.

Right now it's pouring rain, and I'm not sure that's a good thing for an almost-ripe tomato.  I think it will make it more watery and possibly split.  Although we have had rain consistently, so at least it won't swell up a lot at the end.  Tomorrow is going to be dry and partly cloudy, and then I should pick it Monday morning.  And what am I going to do with it?  Well, I'll probably just slice it and put a little salt on it and eat it, while taking careful notes and pictures.

This tomato seems to be coming in almost a week before its stated Days to Maturity (75).  The Cherry Tomato has lots of green tomatoes but no sign of red.  Its Days to Maturity is 70, and I usually expect cherries to be faster than the biggies.  The Better Boy is on the side that gets a little more sun, so that probably accounts for it.

I'm obviously really eagerly anticipating tasting this tomato.  And I'm starting to worry that it will be very disappointing.  And since I'm building it up so much, that is probably true, but since I feel like I'm having success with a non-cherry tomato, I'm feeling brave enough to try a real Heirloom next year.

Not only that, I think I'm capable of starting these from seed.  That gives me a wider selection to choose from, so I can get exactly what I want.  Wedgewood really only had 3 or 4 varieties, none that I was that excited about.  Lowes and Home Depot have a lot more, but I think those poor things are kind of damaged, physically and emotionally.  There may be a better source, like the Gateway Gardens my mom goes to, but I do think I want to try growing from seed.

Luckily, if I'm not successful with the seeds, I can recover from that without much expense.  I'll figure out pretty quickly if the seed-started plants aren't going to work, and then I can go to Plan B.  Worst case scenario, I'll buy the exact same Sweet 100 and Better Boy from Wedgewood.

So now I want to figure out what tomatoes I do want to get.  I have to be honest with myself; I really only have room for two plants.  And I only have the two towers.  Now, the towers are on sale right now, $45 instead of $55!  (Jesus, did I really pay that much for them?)  If I really want to, I could grow a Determinate variety in a container on the patio, where it will actually get some great sun.  I think I do want a cherry tomato; I primarily want them for snacking and I totally will eat all of them and they're pretty much a guaranteed to succeed.

Cherry

• Sweet 100's- 70 Days- 1 oz
• Yellow Pear- 75 Days- 2 oz
• Sun Gold- 60 Days - 1 oz

Determinate

• Tumbler- 50 Days- 1 oz
• Patio Princess- 68 Days- 4-5 oz
• Fresh Salsa- 75 Days- 4-5 oz

Biggies

• Brandy Boy- 80 Days- 14 oz
• Better Boy- 75 Days- 16 oz
• Stupice- 60 Days- 4 oz

So, I should of course stagger them so they have different Days to Maturity.  Although... the early ones never taste that great.  And I don't think I can do 90 days; I don't want to have a huge plant that doesn't even start producing until August.  Then I'll have like, 6 weeks before it gets cold.  But I am feeling brave enough to try something a little more ambitious than the Better Boy.  It's down to either the Brandy Boy, or Stupice.  They're both likely to have better flavor than the Better Boy, right?  

Obviously, I don't have to decide now.  I was thinking I could go ahead and buy these when they go on end-of-season sale...  I think they end up being half price.  Part of me thinks, what is the point of saving, like, $10?  If I'm going to go through all the effort, not to mention the additional $60 I just spent on more grow lights, shouldn't I get the best quality seeds to start with?  Why introduce an unnecessary source of error?  

On the other hand, people save seeds all the time, especially tomato seeds!  And if I get them at the very end of the year, Burpee has been storing them in what I hope are the ideal conditions, it's not like they're sitting around in my damp house.  I'll start them in like, February, and I'll know pretty quickly if I don't get enough germination. At that point, I'll have plenty of time to start over with 2016 seeds.  So I either save $10 by just using on-sale seeds, or I waste $10 by buying those and then have to order them again at full price.  Yeah, I think it's worth doing.  

I was a little surprised to see that you only get 10 seeds in a pack!  I expected more like 50.  I guess that is a more reasonable number, if it was a lot more than that, you'd either need to be starting a tomato farm, or you're throwing out or saving most of the seeds.  Actually, it varies- of the 6 varieties I've picked out (Jesus, how did I go from 2 to 6?!), the Patio Tumbler has 10 seeds, the Yellow Pear has 125, Stupice has 25 and the rest have 30.  30 is a nice number; I can do 2-3 seeds in each cell and get 2 six-packs for each variety.  And yes, I will start all of them.  But ok, no I cannot buy 6 varieties.  I can either do Yellow Pear (75 Days) and Stupice (60 Days), or I can do the Sun Gold (60 Days) and the Brandy Boy (80 Days).  I think I can get away with the two Determinate kinds.  The Tumbler is so early, if it really is 50 days, that would mean I'd have started getting tomatoes in mid June.  Then, since it's Determinate, it should be finished after a month, when the Salsa tomatoes start to come in.  Also, I think the container tomatoes are more appropriate to give away at work if I end up with lots of nice extras.  

So we're looking at 2 six-packs each of Patio Tumbler, Salsa, let's say Yellow Pear and Stupice, Actually I could probably do more of the Yellow Pear if they're really going to give me 125 seeds.  Christ, I could do like, 5 six-packs of those.  I only have 10 trays.  More importantly, I don't have enough light for these poor fuckers.  I'm probably going to end up getting another light, aren't I?  Good thing I'm going to save $10 getting last year's seeds!

Rainy Day Garden

It's raining all day, that nice steady rain that is perfect for plants.  Of course that means I can't do anything today but stand around in the doorway looking at stuff.

The Raised Bed is looking really nice.  The Tomatoes have grown above the tops of the cages, and are looking really full.  None of the tomatoes are showing any  kind of red.  The Beans are also growing nicely, and I'm starting to see some flowers.  The Strawberries in front of the beans are definitely sending out lots of runners.  Two of them are shooting over the side of the bed, so I'll try to direct them back in the bed.  I'm tempted to mess with them, but I am NOT going to touch them when they're wet.  The peppers all seem good.  The Jalapeno that I got a week ago is doing great and has lots of peppers, while my original one is just starting to develop one.

Some of the Zinnias have toppled over, so tomorrow I will go out there with the supports and prop them up.  The Roses are putting on new growth and a few new flowers.  The one farthest back is the slowest to put on any growth, I barely see any.  I don't see anything eating the new growth, so hopefully the Spinosad spray took care of it.  I dumped a lot of worm tea on everything, without diluting it.  I figured the ground was already saturated and it's still raining, so it can't be too concentrated.  It smelled a little funky, but I think that's ok.

The front bed looks good. The Creeping Jenny makes this nice carpet over those areas and spills out over the sides, I love it.  The Daylilies are great, much more prolific than last year.  The big one in the middle is blooming, and it is a kind of dusky red-pink, which I would like to move later.  I don't know about the Clematis.  It's still alive, but it's not really growing much.  It's not getting enough sun, I know.  Maybe next year.  Hopefully it starts getting some sun before the plants in front of it get too tall.  The Echinacea are tall and starting to flower.

The red Daylilies that I transplanted to the sidewalk bed are growing and flowering, and they look really nice in there with the Yarrow.  The Yarrow look super good.  I badly want to put more in there, more Yarrow, some Coreopsis, maybe some red Echinacea.

The Morning Glory have started to flower!  So happy!  The leaves still look kinda sad and full of holes, but as they get further along I think they'll be ok.

I got some of that silica powder, and I've been trying to dry everything.  Lilies don't seem to be a good choice, the petals end up falling off.  Coleus leaves worked ok, but they're so paper thin they might be tough to work with.  The Yarrow worked well, using the microwave method, but the color wasn't great, so I'm trying some with the regular, slow method, where you leave it in the powder for a few days.

My outdoor compost is pretty much done.  I got a compost sieve, and maybe tomorrow I'll try to get it all out of there.  Then I can put in the stuff in the trash bin, along with all the coffee grounds.

Thoughts for Fall

I think it is actually better for me to transplant Daylilies in the fall, rather than in late spring like I did.  Ideally, I'd like to move the funky orange ones to the sidewalk bed, because I don't like have those weird clashing colors.  I like the pale lemon yellow ones.  I feel like they were all called Stella d'Oro, but that might not mean anything.  It does appear that they're in big masses, which makes me think that one year I planted one kind, and another year it was a different kind.  I could actually tag the ones I want to move in the late summer when I still know what color they are.  I think I should wait until they die back or a little, or at least stop flowering.  I want to move the orange ones, and also the big red one in the middle.  That one is getting really big, and I don't really want all that red in there.  It would look much, much better in the sidewalk bed.  

I also really want to put more perennials in that sidewalk bed.  I'm particularly interested in some Coreopsis, I like the one that's red in the center and pale yellow at the edges.  Those things grow like weeds.  I planted some the first year in the front bed, and I didn't like them at all.  They were too big, and kind of sprawling and messy.  And I think they're quite drought tolerant.  The Yarrow that's in there now is doing great, so if I can find the same kind, with the red and yellow flowers, I'd like to put in 2 or 3 more.  And fall is a better time to plant that kind of thing, like September, so they get well established.  Perennials will be on sale then, for sure, but I won't have as many options.  Home Depot and Lowes will have them marked down the most, because they'll just throw them out.  I'd rather get them from Wedgewood, but they might actually keep them over the winter.  I should ask them.  I just don't want to spend a lot of money.  I'm hoping that if I get that space filled in with more perennials, it won't get as crazy with weeds.  

I'm not sure if anything else really needs to be transplanted.  I would ultimately like to do something with all the Liriope in the sidewalk bed, but I don't think end of the season is the right time to do that.  That's when they're going to be big and full, and I just don't think I would be able to divide them without power tools.  

Of course, in the fall I should be hoarding as many leaves as I can.  The compost in the tumbler right now is just about done.  There are some chunks of stuff in there, some bits of leaves and of course some sticks and stems, so I'll let it go for at least another week.  But soon, I should take it all out, maybe even get a compost sieve.  And at that point, I should take all the leaves and crap out of the other bin and load the tumbler back up again.  You know, if I'm smart about this, maybe I should just roll the whole thing over to the patio to do this.  Eh, I'd still have to lift it to put it back on its rollers.  

If I do this in the next few weeks, that next batch of compost will probably be finished before fall.  I'll be able to keep putting coffee grounds in, which will speed it up, and it's hot.  Then I would be able to take that all out in, like, October, and load it up with the fall leaves.  Yay!  

BULBS! 

Ok.  I do not need to put any more Daffodils in the sidewalk bed.  Well, I don't need to do anything, but wouldn't in be great to have even more?  Wouldn't it be pretty to have a ton of the Tete a Tete daffodils mixed in there, in front of the big tall ones?  Ahhh I want more.  

I could put more of the Muscari in the side bed.  They were very nice, although a little late to the party.  The Hyacinths in there were nice, and I think they will all survive.  I mean, I don't think I pulled any out.  I mean, I don't know if I will put anything in there.  I'll think about it.  

I think I retrieved most of the Darwin Tulips out of the front bed.  I'm sure I didn't get all of them, so we'll see if those come back at all.  I guess I will put them back in there, but I'm not so sure where... I guess if I take out a bunch of Daylilies, that makes plenty of room.  

I really want to try filling the patio bed with Tulips.  I think it's big enough that they won't just freeze, and oh my god it will look amazing.  I might buy the "Tulips by the Hundreds" from White Flower Farm, and I can get 100 for $50.  Or I could get the same Perennial Tulip mix and get 100 for $70.  

VEGETABLES

A lot of these cool weather veggies are probably best started in like, August, and harvested in October.  But I think the tomatoes will keep producing until then, so I don't want to pull them out prematurely.  I don't remember what the beans do.  I mean, they will still be going through August for sure, but I don't know about September.  I might just get tired of them and rip them out anyway.  

I definitely want to do some Kale, maybe some Spinach.  Maybe I'll buy some of the red Kale to get some nice color in there. And I will definitely do some Bok Choy.  Maybe some Romaine again, that turned out really nice.  But of course, I am not going to have much space because the tomatoes will still be there.  Of course I could do some more leaf lettuce in the Gutter Garden.  Ok, this will be fun.  

updates

I was gone for 5 days and I was kind of anxious about my plants.  Obviously, that's stupid.  I only plant things that I know can go unattended for several days.  And I hear we got plenty of rain over that time, so nothing to worry about.  I was also really hopeful that I'd get a ton of new growth.  When I look at these things every day, sometimes it seems really slow.  And last year, I was gone for like, 2 weeks around this time, and when I came back the tomatoes and beans had far outgrown my pathetic attempts at supports.

I was really hopeful about the roses.  They're not putting on new growth as fast as I'd like, and maybe I should have pruned them?

When I got back I immediately checked out the roses, even though it was 2 am and a normal person would just pass out.  The two that are farther back have some decent red growth near the top.  The two that are closer to the sidewalk have only a few tiny shoots of red, not much better than last weekend.

But all of them have tons of little holes in the leaves. My internet research has lead me to believe this is sawfly damage.  And several sources (including Mike McGrath) say to use a spinosad spray.  So that's great, that's something I already have, and it's just a spray which is pretty easy.  I sprayed what was left of my spinosad spray, and I might buy another.

I don't think the leaf damage is related to the slow growth.  I want to fertilize them, but I probably shouldn't. I ought to just be patient; they're newly planted, so I should be allowing them to get settled in and not mess with them.  And I did plant them too close together.  I'm sorry.  I bet in a year or two they will be really crowded and getting mildewy, and there's not much I can do about it.

The hedge was swarmed with those awful white moth-looking things in the middle of the night.  Today, I'm not seeing any, so I guess that's good.  I think I know what the problem is, and I just need to spray a lot earlier next year, like as soon as I see new growth.

The Patio bed looks fantastic, of course.  Coleus is a fucking beast.  The clippings that  I've been rooting are doing really well, too.  I cut a few more this morning to start those.  I don't know what I'm going to do with these little plants... I'm sure I'll think of something.  And the plants themselves, I think I can try to dig them up and put them in pots and grow them inside over the winter?  If I do that, I think I'll get those huge Coleus bushes I sometimes see at Terrain.  The Begonias in there are fine.  They're healthy and happy and growing and they've had flowers the entire time they've been in there.  My neighbor should have planted some of these, they would be so much more rewarding than the teeny tiny azaleas she's got.  They are actually kind of hard to see if you're not standing up over it.  The Liriope I planted in the front is shielding them.  I kind of thought of that as a low plant, because in the front bed it is, relative to the Daylilies and everything else.  I don't think it's bad.  The bed looks nice if you're actually in the patio.  When I'm sitting here on the couch, I'm basically eye level with the bed seeing a wall of Liriope.  Actually, maybe I will move that nice row to the back. You wouldn't really see it at all, but it would help with soil retention and everything and since it does get a little tall, you might even see it.  Maybe next year I'll put Liriope in the back, then Coleus, then the Begonias in the front.

In the Sidewalk bed, the Yarrow looks phenomenal.  I really should look for a few more of those in like August and plant them in the rest of the bed, because if it's doing this well, I think it's the perfect plant for the area.  I was hoping to put some annuals in there, but I think I've missed the window.  Unless I can get a flat of Lantana for cheap right now.  The yellow Daylilies that I transplanted in there (accidentally) are blooming a little.  I don't know about the bigger ones.

The Raised Bed!  Everything seems ok. The Tomatoes have of course grown, but even my first tomato at the base of the Better Boy plant isn't showing any signs of red.  It's still June, come on.  I think it will need at least 4 more weeks.

The Beans have formed a nice thick wall of leaves, and of course they want to get taller. I think I might buy a trellis for them from Gardeners.com, like the tomato towers.  Those were a great choice.

The Swiss Chard haven't grown a whole lot, but they look good.  And all the herbs look fine.

I'm listening to Mike McGrath and he's talking about home-grown Christmas gifts.  I like the idea of the little Rosemary Christmas trees. If I bought a bunch of Rosemary plants, which are probably getting close to being marked down, I could replant them in some slightly larger pots, try to get them to grow over the summer, and prune them into tree shapes.

The Gutter Garden is probably in need of some water.  The lettuce all looks pretty sad, which is to be expected.  The Nasturtiums seem to be doing well.

The Petunias in the wall planter are doing great.  I water that thing about once a week, which seems fine.  Lining it with the trash bag probably helped a lot.

I went and bought a bunch of stuff from Wedgewood.  I was hoping they would have a lot of stuff on sale, and I did get 2 hot peppers since they were Buy One Get One Free.  But I also bought a bunch of Morning Glories, since mine are so sad.  I planted them in the same containers, which did involve messing in the roots of the existing ones.  And I bought 4 Rosemary plants, and my plan is to grow them and prune them into Christmas trees and they will hopefully make nice little gifts.

So what do I need to do this weekend?

• Prune that hedge.  I think I should do it when it's sunny so I can get some good shoulder tan.  I'm only going to prune the top, but I want to bring it down quite a lot.  And I don't think I'm going to save all the clippings.  They're not really that great to compost.  I'll just dump it in the woods.  
• Fertilize stuff.  I'll just try to work in a more of that Espoma stuff.  I need to give some stuff to the Hibiscus, for sure.  I guess the vegetables might want some too.  And I shouldn't feed the Roses, or the Clematis, and I think I put down more than enough bone meal for the Daylilies.  I think I should definitely fertilize the Morning Glory.  I might even give them the Miracle Grow.  
• Pull lots of weeds.  I have some weeds to deal with in the front bed, but really it's the sidewalk bed that's the problem.  But I don't know how much time and energy I want to invest in there.  
• Clean up the patio.  I should sweep up the ant hills and put crap away.  
• Try to fix the grill?  I think something is wrong with it...  
• Plant the Swiss Chard, maybe plant the Basil

There actually isn't a whole lot to do out there right now, so I should probably spend this weekend getting my house in order.  

Updates

So we're into Mid June.  What's going on out there, and what do I need to do in the near future?

Side Bed

The Roses are finally putting on a little new growth, but it's a little sparse.  I guess that's good, because I want them growing roots, but I'd like to get some more flowers at some point.  The Hostas are fine.  The Zinnias are growing, but not as fast as I'd like, and of course I really wish I'd had more.  And I still want some kind of annual in there like Vincas.

I have another pile of sunflower seeds (about 30) and I was thinking about putting them in the side bed, right in front of the raised bed.  I'm also going to throw down the rest of the creeping thyme seeds in that area, knowing they are unlikely to do anything.  I do really want to get some stepping stones in there...

Things to do- plant those seeds, I guess.  I'm tempted to fertilize the roses but I don't think I'm supposed to do that in the first year.

Front Bed

The Daylilies are doing great, I'm getting plenty of flowers now.  I don't know why I got so few last year... maybe moving them around and dividing them did really help.

The annuals are ok... the Calibrocha seem to be happy, but the little purple allysum are just dying.  I wish I had just gotten more calibrocha.

The Echinacea look pretty great.  They're already forming some nice buds, and I saw a few flowers at Longwood and the ones at work are blooming just a little, so I should get them soon.  And the Black Eyed Susan have these kind of burnt patches on the leaves.  I think I did this by throwing a bunch of bone meal on that with abandon instead of digging it in to the soil.  The one it the way back doesn't have any issues.  I pulled off the bad looking leaves and I think it will be ok.  We've got at least a month before the flowers.

The Clematis... I'm so saddened by this. I'm pretty sure I broke the stem putting it in, because I was so determined to untangle it from its little wooden trellis.  If I had left it in there, it's not like it would even be visible.  What's left of it is only like, 10 inches off the ground so I am very worried it's not getting enough sun.  We will see if it survives this year.  That's the most I can expect of it.

Things to do: Pull weeds.  There are a lot in the sidewalk cracks, but some all up in there as well.  I think I will actually pull out the sad Allysum, and if I feel like it, I'll buy some more annuals, hopefully more Calibrocha.  I also need to prune the hedge.

Sidewalk Bed

The transplanted Daylilies are struggling, but I think they might make it. Of course it's full of weeds, and it's kind of past the point I can manage.  I never cut back the Daffodils, because they never really turned yellow.  The leaves don't look great, but not worse than the Daylilies.

The Yarrow looks fabulous.  They're really full, and quite tall.  I guess I didn't realize how big they were going to get... at least I didn't think about it.

Last year I put in some creeping phlox that was super cheap at Home Depot because they looked shitty but they weren't bad plants.  They did show this year, but they had a few inches of black mulch piled on top of them so that didn't help.

Ultimately I'd like to get that whole thing filled with perennials to crowd out the weeds.  I really do think a lot of Coreopsis would do well there, they are pretty drought tolerant and they grow like crazy.  The color scheme is perfect.  I might also move more of the Daylilies over there over time.

Things to do: Try to pull out all those fucking weeds.  We're supposed to get thunderstorms on Saturday, so Sunday morning would be the best time.  Maybe I will water it as well, to hopefully help the Daylilies.  I might also cut down the Daffodils so it looks a little more normal in there.

I'm kind of thinking about putting in more Daffodils.  They of course did great, and if I can leave them there with the leaves up until June, they will grow even better and naturalize and the whole space will be a crazy field of daffodils.  And I'm tempted by White Flower Farm's early special on the large scale Daffodils. It's 100 mixed bulbs for $50, and I think they're usually a little more than $1 per bulb.  And it's not unreasonable to plant 100 bulbs.  I'm planting them in patches of like, 8-10, so planting 10 more would not be a bad idea.  Now this is arguably stupid, the last thing I need is more Daffodils.  I would not regret it.  No one ever regrets planting more Daffodils!  If for some reason I couldn't plant all 100 of them, I could force some of them, or give them to mom, or plant them in another area.  Well, I only need to order by July 1st to get the discount.

Patio

The patio raised bed is delightful.  The Begonias just kind of keep going.  The flowers are showing some age, but they keep going.  The Liriope up in the front look pretty good.  It's a little weird seeing them up at eye level; they don't look as dense when you see them from the side because you see the lower stem parts. But it's nice; I like it.  The Coleus are doing great.  One of the chartreuse ones was getting pretty tall so I cut off the top, and I'm trying to root it in a cup of water.  It's been at least a week, and I really think I'm getting something but it's slow.  Once I have something I clearly identify as roots, I'll stick it in some seed starting mix,

I think I can keep Coleus over the winter?  They don't need a lot of light.  I think I will try to dig them out and plant them in containers and keep that around inside, and it will actually look nice.  I'll also try to keep the Begonias.  There's a Coleus that's the kind that's dark red with green borders, and it's getting pretty big.  If I'm successful with rooting the cutting from the green one, I'll try it with the other one.

The Gutter Garden is doing pretty well!  Last weekend it was full of tons of lettuce, especially the Arugula.  I wish I had taken a picture of it, it was the kind of display that would have convinced me to put this in originally.  This was a good idea.  Would recommend.  I harvested a ton of Arugula last weekend, and I even pulled out some of the little stumps.  I planted several more seeds last weekend, and a few are showing. I have a few more Nasturtiums to put in there, but I can't remember where I've put the seeds.

The herbs are doing great.  I'm still so irritated that I can't find that last green pot, so I can't fill the trellis.  I kind of gave up on the Cilantro, and I just threw the whole thing in a pile with other crap, and of course it's still growing and now it's got flowers.  I'm kind of tempted to leave it alone and see if those flowers form seed. But maybe that will take too long and I'll get around to cleaning it before then.

I'm kind of ok that all my Elephant Ears were such failures, because they would be a little bit imposing in there.  I mean, it wouldn't be bad, so I might try the same bulbs next year.  I do wish these plantings had a little more height.  Overall, it's like 6 inches tall.

I really want to fill that bed with Tulips next year.  Like, an obscene amount of them.  They will probably do just fine in there, because it's a little protected.  And I would see them a lot if they were there.

The Morning Glory do not look very good.  They have little holes, they're not really filling in.  And the third container which I just seeded after putting it outside has very few survivors.  I showed someone pictures of last year, and I was reminded of how amazing it was. I really hope I can get that again,

The wall container is fine.  The Petunias are doing well, they flower repeatedly. I have two petunias I didn't plant that I could put in there.  They both have white flowers, so I was kinda like, eh, white isn't exactly what I want. And I think I have the right number of plants for the space in there.  I could put the white ones in a different container.  I could put that container on the shelf, it would be pretty there.

Things to do: clean up the patio.  I need to sweep up the anthills, and get the trash out of there.  I guess I need to water things that don't get rain.  The window box seems like it's got enough dampness now, so the sunflowers will grow fine.

I'm really thinking about putting up the Wooly pockets on the patio wall and filling them with sweet potato vine, which grows like fucking crazy and would help me hide that ugly cinderblock.  I also need to put in the rest of the Nasturtium seeds.

The Tomatoes are looking great.  They're outgrown the first half of the cages, so I put the top halves on.  The Better Boy already has those first few tomatoes at the bottom, only just starting to get flowers on the Cherry Tomato.  That one is also getting some little bite holes in it.

The beans are growing up the trellis pretty nicely.  They're 60 days to maturity, so I'm not going to see any beans until mid July.  I think I should fertilize them now, so they put on more growth before then.

The Basil plants seem to be doing really well.  I do wish I'd grown more, that I'd started them earlier, etc.  Same with the other herbs, of course.  I wish the Rosemary was growing better, but it's always a slow grower.

The Jalapeno is also a little slow, but I guess that's normal too.  Maybe he needs some fertilizer as well.

I've got that big empty space in the raised bed, and I would like to put the Swiss Chard in there, but I'm not sure it's ready yet.  I just transplanted the six of them to larger containers.  I guess I could have put them right into the raised bed, and avoided two transplanting processes.  But I just don't think they're ready... I am going to leave these larger containers outside when possible so they get some real sun.  I did the same thing with the 3 Basil starts.

So I had 3 open six-packs, and I filled 2 of them with more Basil, and one with the green Zinnias.  I'm not sure there is any point to starting seeds right now, because it will be a month before they're good enough to transplant.  But I think the green Zinnias might be fun.

I'm looking at all the Zinnias on Burpee's site, and I'm thinking I should be growing a lot more.  Since they are so cheap (25 cents per seed), it would be a great way to fill a large space.  There are plenty that are shorter- they claim 18 inches.  If I get enough of them, I could pretty much fill the sidewalk bed.  Optimistically, let's say I get 20 plants out of a seed pack.  20 Zinnia plants would fill out that space very nicely.  And the reviews say they are very drought tolerant.

I also think I should put in more Zinnias in the side bed, but some shorter ones to fill out the space in the front. So I might be buying 3 packs of Zinnias next year- a red and yellow mix for the sidewalk bed, a short pink type for the side bed and some kind of big cutting flower like I've been doing.  I'll keep an eye out for an end-of-season sale, because I think there's no reason not to use last year's seeds.

So I will try to start a TON of Zinnias in March, because I want them pretty big before transplanting.  It will be kind of challenging to have enough space for them.  I'm starting to think I need another grow light... I will probably want all 10 six packs to be Zinnias when it's that time.  I should have transplanted the early spring veggies by then, into larger containers if not outside.  I should be able to plant the Zinnias outside in late April.  If I had done this better, I would have flowering Zinnias everywhere by now.

Same with Sunflowers.  I wish I had started a ton of them.  I'll definitely do the Elf ones again, for the third year.  There are 35 seeds in a pack, and I'll start them in the water bottles.  And I think I'll put one seed in each, so if some of them don't germinate within a week, I'll just add another seed.  I don't feel like I need to waste them by planting 2 or 3 in each container and thinning later.  I think I've got like, 20 of them in the window box, so I would happily start the whole packet.

There is that area in front of the dumpsters that used to have a ton of Irises and someone, for some reason, wiped them all out.  I can't even. But if I go in there and plant a ton of sunflowers, I think they would grow beautifully.  I think the area is like, 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep.  I would like to do a row of 6 foot Sunflowers in the back and a row of 3 foot ones in front, and I think I would want 20 plants total.  And I would also want to put lots of sunflowers in the sidewalk bed, along with these shorter red and yellow zinnias.  See, I think there's no reason I can't totally fill that area with these seed started annuals.  The more I fill out that area, the less weeds there will be.  And it will attract butterflies, and those are great cutting flowers.

In that sidewalk bed, I would like to dig up and divide the Liriope, which I should do when it starts to grow next spring.  I'd like to do the same thing I did in the front bed, and break it into 6 inch plants and spread them near the edges of that area.  That would be the same time the Daffodils are up, but probably after they're done blooming.  Then shortly after that I would plant Zinnias and Sunflowers.

I'm looking at White Flower Farm and I'm very tempted to buy a fuck ton of Daffodils and just cram that space full.

Seeds, Next Year

I just sowed some more sunflower seeds in the Sidewalk Bed.  I hope they have enough time to grow. And I'm thinking now is a good time to sit down and go over the seed starting I did this season and how it went.

Early Stuff

The first things I started were Kale and Radicchio.  They were good, I guess, and they definitely need to be started early.  I started them at the end of January and the Radicchio grew along quite well inside.  I wasn't able to transplant them until much later than I thought, because the soil was frozen.  I guess I would do the same thing again.  The Radicchio grow fine, but I really want them to be full sized heads to harvest, not just leaves.  One of them is starting to get to that point now, but I don't think it's likely they will get far enough along soon.  I'm going to try to keep them going through the summer.

I also started Coleus in January, and that was great.  I only wish I had started more.  Not that I really needed more, but I could have potentially filled that bed entirely with Coleus and it would look great.  And I would think I could give those away.  They of course had to be in larger containers for a lot of the time under lights, but they did great.

I also started a lot of Creeping Thyme, and none of that was successful.  So I will not be trying that again, ever.

I started Bok Choy pretty early, but I think I had a full grown plant sitting on the shelf way too early.  There's nothing really wrong with that... and one of them I liked and one I did not.  I might try growing some full sized Bok Choy.

I started Peas directly in the containers, which was fine.  They sprouted, and they grew.  But by mid-May, they had not really gotten far enough along and there was no way I was going to get any peas.  So I don't think I will bother with those again.  I do have all the seeds, so I could try again, maybe in the raised bed.  No Sweet Peas either, I don't think they do anything useful.

Same with Radishes- I don't know why these are such a failure!  They should have grown just fine in containers, but they just did not grow.  I have no idea what went wrong.

I started Cilantro pretty early, and they quickly got too much root at the bottom, so I moved them to the plastic water bottles.  I like this idea, and I'll do it again.

I can't tell exactly when I started the Romaine, but I think it was early March.  They grew really nicely and I just loved them, they looked great and they were great to eat and it was absolutely worth starting them way early.

Things to do again:
- Start Kale and Radicchio very early.
- Start lots of Coleus very early, like the end of January.
- Get some Bok Choy going pretty early, like February or maybe March.
- Plant some cilantro in the water bottles, maybe even bigger ones.  (I just love growing in clear containers so you can see the root growth, it's so exciting!!!)

Things to not do again:
- Creeping Thyme
- Radishes
- Peas or Sweet Peas

I wish I had...:
- Started more Coleus at the beginning.  You can't have too much Coleus!
- Started more leaf lettuce for the Gutter Garden.
- Started more Bok Choy!  I need like, 3 at least for a meal.

I ended up with like, 12 heads of Romaine, 9 Kales, 12 Bok Choy, 6 Radicchio, maybe 12 Coleus.  I should plan to fill the raised bed with as much of this stuff as I can.  I like the way I arranged it, with the fastest stuff on the right and the longer stuff, like Radicchio, on the left.

Mid-Spring Stuff

I started some Zinnias around March 15th.  I was gone for a while and one of those 6-packs died, but the other one came back and grew beautifully.  Eventually I had to transplant them to a full sized container until I could put them outside.  March 15th might be a little early.

I started Basil around the same time, and I think that was good.  I think there's a lot of benefit to letting them get pretty big before transplanting.

In early April I started some Sunflowers in the water bottles.  I've been told that you can't transplant Sunflowers because their roots don't like it, but I think this worked out great.  As usual, I just wish I'd done more.  Although only half of them grew.

I started Swiss Chard in April, which I really thought was a good plan, but the fuckers didn't grow!  I don't know what the deal is.  I started the new seeds and they're doing great.

Things to do again:
- Start lots of Zinnias inside. I did direct sow a lot of them, and I'm sure they will be fine, but I got several of the original ones in there now and they've got flowers.  If I had put in like, 12, I would have 12 flowering plants right now.
- Start Sunflowers early, like in April.  The faster they get going, the sooner I get flowers.
- Start my own Basil.  I previously thought I just needed one Basil plant so why bother with the seeds, but I want like, 10.  And it wasn't hard to give them away, everyone grows basil.  The only problem was that I was giving them away last week, and most people had already bought their basil.

Things not to do:
- Maybe the Swiss Chard seeds were just no good?  I don't think I should have to start with brand new seeds every year.

I wish I had...
- More Zinnias!  Oh my god, why don't I have a field of Zinnias?
- More Sunflowers!  I should have had enough to pack that window box full!

So let's make a schedule for next year!

January

• Kale- 3 six-packs
• Radicchio- 3 six-packs
• Coleus- at least 3 six-packs, maybe 4
• So that's all 10 six-packs, which is fine.  Of course, that does mean I would need... oh fuck 60 containers for transplanting.  That's only if everything does well.  And while I have time on my side, I might as well try to get as many things going as I can.  I might end up needed another grow light...

February

• Transplant some of the stuff if it's ready
• Start cilantro, in the water bottles
• If this goes well, I could get all the first run transplanted into larger containers, and free up the six-packs for the next stuff.

March 

• Romaine.  I had 12 last year and I think that was a good number, so let's do 3 six-packs.
• Leaf Lettuce.  I guess 2 six packs.  
• Bok Choy.  I think I want a lot of these, too.  So, 3 six-packs
• Basil.  I wish I'd started this a little earlier, and I'm happy to have a ton of Basil.  We'll start with 2 six-packs

April

• Zinnias!  Lots of them!  At least 6 six-packs.
• Sunflowers. These I will start entirely in the water bottles. 
• By now, the stuff I started in March (the greens) should all go outside, and the Basil will be transplanted still inside. 
• It wasn't until early April that I was able to transplant the cool spring stuff this year, so by April I should definitely have the Kale, Radicchio, Romaine, Lettuce, Bok Choy and Cilantro out of the house.  I'll still have Basil, Coleus, and the flowers.  
• Swiss Chard.  I probably could start this even earlier, but that might not work until I get some stuff moved out.  

Actual Weekend

Oh man, I am killing it.

Front Bed

Ok, so yesterday (Saturday) I left the soaker hose on the front bed for like, 8 hours, so that the soil would be damp and easy to work.  I know that hose works well, and even with all that time, it wasn't really wet, or even damp, just kind of the right normal level.  So either that area drains beautifully, or it really really needed some water.

I kind of tried to get myself to start on it yesterday afternoon, but I just couldn't.  I stood out there looking at it for a while, at least?

This morning, I was ready for it.  I started digging out some of the first clumps of the red Daylilies, and promptly destroyed them by breaking off stalks that did not bring with them any roots.  So I slowed down on that a little bit.

I did ultimately move more than half of the little yellow ones.  In the process, I think I turned and loosened nearly all the soil in there.  I even pulled off lots of the mulch as I was doing this, so I have half a tub full that I can put back on if I want to.

Now the center is really nicely full of daylilies.  In the back row, I've got the Clematis, who seems very happy, and two Echinacea.  In front of that, to the right, I left the very large clump of tall daylilies.  I was originally thinking I would divide that into individual stalks, but I got really scared after my attempts to do that initially with the other red ones.  And I'm not even sure what color these are, they might be that dusty pink color?  Who cares.  Anyway, their size and shape and location makes perfect sense- they're directly in the middle, and they're the largest plant and almost the tallest.  If I moved them, it would almost need another serious plant in there.  In that same area, moving towards the left, there are the two Black Eyed Susans, and the rest of the space is filled in with the yellow daylilies, moved from the areas in the front and broken into smaller clumps and spread out.  These were a lot easier to divide.  A lot of them do have buds on them, so if everything is ok, I might see some flowers in the next week or two!

Ok, of course, to put all the stuff in the back, I had to dig out the Liriope.  That wasn't necessarily hard- the difficult thing was trying not to mangle anything else as I tried to get in there.  There were only the 3 big ones and the smaller one that was way in the back left corner.   There's also one in the back end of the right side, that's not too big but it could have been divided no problem.  I decided to leave it there because it's not bothering anyone.  And way way under the hedge on that size is a little one that doesn't seem to be growing at all. Like, it's not quite dead, but no one cut it back because they couldn't see it, and it's not showing new growth.  If I was like, in need of more Liriope, I could go get it, but I don't see that being a problem.

So of the Liriope I dug up, one was pretty small and I just transplanted it without doing anything to it.  The other 3 were divided into at least 4, maybe 5 pieces, which wasn't as controlled as I thought it would be.  I thought I'd be cutting them into nice quarters, but it was kind of just pulling off chunks that looked right.

I ended up with plenty of little Liriope to fill in the front of that bed, and it looks so much better.  They're not so small that it looks like they were just planted, but it looks much more controlled and cared for, and obviously better designed.  I should have take a "Before" picture.  And then of course I finally planted the few purple annuals in there.  There are 2 Calibrocha on the right side, where I didn't really change anything else.  The other 4 Calibrochas are in the front center kind of to the left, mixed in with the Liriope, and the purple Sweet Allysum are along the front, mixed with Liriope.

Then I threw down a lot of bone meal.  Maybe too much.  I will need to make sure it's covered with some more dirt and maybe mulch, and then give it another nice long watering.

I still want more annuals in there, but maybe I don't need it.  I got a mixed pack of Petunias, and at least one of them is dark purple, so I can put him in there.  If I do get more, which I should not do, it has to be more of the same kind of thing.  

That big Daylily in the middle might start to bother me if it does bloom some kind of weird red, which is what I'm remembering.  Of course, I can certainly dig it out in the fall and move it.  It would be nice to have a deed purple day lily in its place.  White Flower Farm has 2 good ones, but I am not really going to pay $15 for a single bare root day lily, come on.

Also!  I was able to get a lot of the tulip bulbs out when I was digging around, which I had really hoped would happen.  They're drying out now, and I will bag them up and save them to replant in the fall.

Sidewalk Bed

I did plant the rest of the red Daylilies that I dug up.  I really should water them since I just put them in...  I also put in one of the saved ornamental grasses.  One section that we replanted a month ago is still just a pile of sticks, so I just lifted it (which was effortless) and plopped the other guy in there. I do still have another ornamental grass chunk, so I might put it in there.  I would also like to get some kind of nice annual for that bed.  Last year I did some Lantana and I thought they were pretty good.  I could also spread a bunch of Sunflower seeds and just see what happens.  They'll face the wrong way... but that's ok, I'll plant them on the other side, so when people walk up the path they see them all.  And that will only cost like, $5 or $10, and take almost no work.

Now, I could dig up and divide all those Liriope in the Sidewalk Bed, and spread them around, and that would fill it out even more.  Just kidding, I am absolutely not doing that.

The Yarrow that are in there now are looking great- they are very full and bushy, but no signs of flowers yet.  Maybe I'll give them some bone meal.

Side Bed

I watered this spot this morning, and after a few hours there were some puddles forming.  So I'm a little bit concerned about the drainage there.  I was able to remove that fern from the center.  It was really overcrowding everything, and it doesn't really make sense for it to be in the center of the sunniest spot I have.  Now the Zinnias are getting more sun, and the roses have more room to grow out.

The only other thing I want to do is maybe dig up the really big hosta.  It's getting too big for the spot it's in, and it's a little crowded.  If I could divide it, I would put the other half in the back, maybe the corner right near the sidewalk.  It can totally cover the Muscari that are there, because those will come up in the spring before the hosta is really growing, and as it gets bigger it will just cover that spot without interfering with them at all.  That's the spot that's most likely to get stepped on or to be clothes-lined by the hose, so I would like the idea of having a tough anchor plant there.

There are quite a few leftover Gladioli popping up in there.  I'm kind of tempted to just pull them out, bulb and all, and add them into the container that I have the others in.  I like this plant a lot.  It's so easy, it gets these huge, dramatic flowers that make great cut flowers, you just plant some cheap bulbs in early spring, which is when you want to do that kind of thing, and you get the reward for it quite quickly.  And if I just do them in a container, recovering the bulbs at the end of the year will be easy.  Maybe I should give them some bone meal too.  I don't really like them as bedding plants.  They kind of pop up and spear right through the other plants, and then they're kind of awkward and tall when they're mixed in the other plants.  Yeah, I'll just pull them out and replant them.  And after they do bloom, I should remember to leave them there, with their leaves, so they can keep growing and be just as good next year.  I did replant some of last year's, so I don't know how they will do.  I also wouldn't know which is which- it's half re-used bulbs, half old bulbs from last year that I never did plant.  The fact that the ones I just left in the ground are coming up is a good sign, I think.  They really shouldn't have survived winter at all.

So I should cut back the Muscari at some point, although they aren't really bothering me.  And I think I will go ahead and transplant the last few Zinnia starts that I have upstairs under the light.  I did a tray of them yesterday.  And hey, maybe I'll give them some bone meal!

In the window box, the sunflowers I transplanted look like they are doing well.  I also planted a lot more seeds (the Elf sunflower) directly in there, and at least one of those has sprouted.  It would not be a bad idea to put some kind of short, trailing annual in there.  If I had more of those pink Nasturtiums, I could have planted them in there... That window box is going to dry out a lot, and I don't think the Nasturtiums are all that drought tolerant.

Raised Bed

I haven't done much with this besides water it.  I think the tomatoes look great.  And as I'm watching them, they definitely are getting sun from 7 am to 2 pm.  Over the next few weeks, it will get closer to a full 8 hours.  I still have a lot of kale in there.  I was supposed to harvest it all yesterday, because that was the coolest night we're going to get in a while.  But I don't totally want to rip it out yet, because I don't have anything to put in there.

I'm really disappointed with the Swiss Chard seeds that I started.  This was the "Rhubarb" kind I grew last year with great success.  They all sprouted just fine, and then they just didn't do anything.  They're still there, and they still have just one set of leaves, and they're looking really thin and sad.  I might not have kept them watered all the time, but they don't look like the straight up died.  And usually if I kind of dry them out, if I get them watered again, they either come back, or they're totally fried.  I started a tray of the Bright Lights Swiss Chard, which I bought this year, and they seemed to germinate faster.  Maybe they'll be better, maybe last year's seeds aren't as good?  That seems odd, because usually they either germinate or they don't.

The Beans have all sprouted and they're going strong.  I think they're going to like it there, I think they will get a lot of sun, especially in the morning.  In front of them I have those few Strawberry plants, and they're ok, I guess.  They're definitely not going to produce any berries this year.  But I'll give them a shot, and maybe they'll spread a little and get established and next year will be better.

In the meantime, I will probably use that space for more herbs.  I've got a lot of Basil starts upstairs that could probably be transplanted any time.  And they will get a lot of sun there.  I've got a few sad little cilantro plants in there now, and they're already trying to go to seed!  Those fuckers.  I don't even know what to do with them, I feel like it's hopeless.

Next year, I might want to plant Tomatoes in that second part of the raised bed, since it will be the third year growing tomatoes in the main part.  I think it will be ok, although I worry that it's not deep enough and that below that, it's not draining so well.  But Mel Bartholomew thinks it's totally fine to grow a full sized tomato it just 6 inches of soil!  And a square foot of area!  Totally fine!

Near the tomato plants I have now, I planted some of the tall sunflower seeds in the back corners, between the cages, and some of those have sprouted.  I'm thinking they will definitely look nice, and they might provide some extra support.

The chives are kinda meh.  I had two very nice plants in there the last few years, and only the one of the right side came back.  I planted a new one on the other side, along with a Parsley plant, which seems to be doing very well.

The Radicchio seem to be ok. I'm really hoping they will hang out throughout the summer, so in the fall I will have these big, full, dense Radicchio heads.

Patio

Oh my god, this hedge.  (I've decided it's a Holly.)  I was pruning it, and it's full of these gross caterpillars making all this webbing everywhere!  They're so gross!  So I bought a caterpillar killing spray (active ingrediant: Spinosads) and sprayed pretty much the whole bottle.  But I'm checking on Mike McGrath's archives and he definitely pushes BT as the best caterpillar attack.  I couldn't find that at Lowe's, so I got this stuff, but I will probably need to order something with BT.

After pruning the hedge back so I could open the lid on the grill without singeing the leaves, there was this space of the wall, so I put out two pasta dishes with water and some BTI granules, in hopes that the birds will use it as a bath.  Nothing yet.

I planted a few more small bunches of Liriope in the patio bed to fill it out, and it looks really great.  Although, one of the biggest Coleus has a bunch of webbing on it, I think it's from those same asshole caterpillars.

I did plant some stuff in the wall container.  First I dumped out all the soil and lined it with a trash bag with slits cut into it.  then I refilled it with mostly that same shit soil, and put in that spiky plant that exists for this purpose only, and about 6 Petunias of various shades of pink.  And that's it, I will not be putting in anything else.

On the other side of the wall, the Morning Glories seem to be doing ok.  One has already made its way inside the wall.  I have planted a lot more seed in there, all after soaking for a day or two to get them to just start to sprout.  I really hope they take off, they look so nice on there.

This little gutter garden thing, I don't know... when I water it, no matter how I do it, it all kind of tips forwards and dumps out a lot of dirt.  I'm going to try to drill some holes in the front and zip tie it more upright.  The lettuce I transplanted in there hasn't really grown at all.  I mean, a little, but it's very slow!  The Arugula that I just threw in there is actually doing pretty well, and it does look nice, and it's easy to harvest.  I've put a lot of Nasturtiums in there, some as transplants and some just as direct sow seeds, and they seem to be doing ok.  I don't know how they will hold up in the summer heat, with my infrequent watering.

I really, really need to sweep that shit out.  I will do that today, for sure.

Things to do:

• Dig up and divide the big Hosta and plant half of it in the back.  Tomorrow
• Transplant the last 3 Zinnias into the side bed. Tomorrow
• Transplant the Basil starts into the raised bed in front of the Green Beans. Tonight
• Fix up the Gutter Garden. Tonight
• Pull up the Gladioli from the side bed and transplant them to the container with their friends.
• Water the front bed and put down the rest of the mulch.  Tonight
• Water all the containers.  Tomorrow morning
• Find something with BT and spray the shit out of the hedge.  Later
• Plant the last ornamental grass in the sidewalk bed.  Tomorrow
• Get some Sunflower seeds and plant them in the back of the sidewalk bed.  Later
• Sweep up all the mess on the sidewalk. Tonight
• Harvest the rest of the Lettuce and Kale.  Tomorrow morning
• Get more pink Nasturtium seeds and plant them in the Gutter Garden.  Later
• Bag up the rest of the clippings and yard trash to save for compost.  Tonight
• Sweep out the patio.  Tonight
• Pack up all the tulip bulbs for fall. Tonight
• Put away the really big container, and any other containers I'm not going to use.  (That should be most of them.  I should also wash some of them.  I now have a ton of little plastic pots that I can use for seed starting and stuff like that, perhaps more than I need.) Tomorrow

Damn, once I got all the crap out of there and swept up all the filth, that is a nice looking patio!  Let's have a party!  But no one can come inside!  Seriously though, if I am going to have a party, it should be June 13th.  

Oh my god, what do I need to do before I have a party?  I mean, I need to get cushions for the ottomans.  That's the least important thing, what is wrong with you?  I need to vacuum and clean the kitchen and clean the bathrooms and have the guest room ready.  And fix the dishwasher door!  And fix the bench we broke at the last party.