Alright, I got my Knock Out Roses!  Wedgewood didn't have any when I went last Sunday, but they nicely told me they would get some in next week.  I looked online, and both White Flower Farm and Home Depot sell them for $25.  I know Mom got them for $10 last year at BJs, so I went to Costco where they had tons of them for $13.  Perfect!  That brings the cost for 4 down from $100 to about $50, yay!!!

They seemed perfect.  Pots were heavy but not wet, the plants were all really stocky and big with some new growth and some buds.  They were kind of difficult to wrangle into the cart, and into the car, and around the building to the house.

I'm going to plant 2 in the side bed and 2 in the front bed.  I can't plant in the side bed until I move the Rhododendron, which I might try to do this weekend.  I'm hoping it's not that big of a deal.  When I do that, I'll of course have to move a lot of mulch, and that would be a great time to set up the soaker hose.  And I guess I should plant any Zinnias and Sunflowers at that time.  That's all the starts upstairs, the Zinnias in the container, and maybe plant some new seeds in there. I think the Zinnias are going to be quite tall, like 4 feet at least, so those should go behind the roses.  The mini sunflowers are like, 18" tops, so they should all go in the front.  Actually, maybe I'll plant a bunch of the big sunflowers in the back, like in a row.  They're supposed to be like, 4 feet, so that would be beautiful.

In other news, I bought Tomato plants from Wedgewood.  Kind of an impulse buy, actually; I was planning on different specific varieties, but they were just so exciting to see in the flesh.  I was going to get Brandy Boy and Sun Gold, a Jalapeno, and an Early Midnight Eggplant.  I actually bought a Better Boy and a Sweet 100 tomato and a Jalapeno.  I had chosen Brandy Boy because I thought it would be the mid-season hybrid with the best flavor.  I kind of thought Better Boy had been over-engineered  to perform well at the expense of being a banging tomato.  The reviews on Burpee are very mixed.  They complaints are that it didn't grow very big tomatoes, which I do not care about at all, and that it didn't have the disease resistance it claimed.  I'm not actually upset by any of that.  No one complained about the flavor being lacking.

These plants seem great.  They're not too tall, they're big enough.  When I pull them out of the containers, the roots are definitely up against the edges, but not what I would call root-bound.  I wasn't planning on planting them until May 15th, in 2 weeks.  The rule is to check the 10 day forcast and make sure the lows are all in the 50's.  That appears to be the case if I were to plant them this weekend.  But I have Romaine and Bok Choy in there now, but they need some more time before I'd like to harvest them.  So I might actually wait that two weeks, and I have a lot of gardening to do this weekend.

I also bought herbs- Rosemary, Mint, Thyme and Parsley.  I planted the first 3 in containers, the 12" green ones.  I have them on the tiered stand, and it's in the eastern corner of the patio.  I'm seeing that the area gets a lot of sun- starts fairly early, and doesn't get shaded until like, 2 or 3.  So, a solid 6 hours, maybe 8.  That's good for herbs.  I like the idea of having herbs in containers, and so close to the house.  Rosemary and Thyme like it a little dry, I think, and Mint can't be fucked up.  I also transplanted a bunch of cilantro into another green pot on that same stand, and it seems to be ok.  I'm thinking I would make that corner all herbs, and I've got 4 but I need 5.  Lemon Balm would be good.  I don't want to do Basil in there, I want that in the raised bed next to the Tomato.  The Parsley will just be planted in the raised bed.  It did so well there last year, at the shadier end, so of course I want to use that space again.  Lemon Balm is supposed to be great for mosquito repellent, but it has to be in containers, so, yeah, let's get that.

I haven't thought about the Jalapeno at all, but I'm just going to plant it in the raised bed and it will be fine.  I could do it in a container, but whatever, where am I going to put all these containers, right?

Oh!  Speaking of containers.  I put all those old Gladioli bulbs into one of the grey fiberglass containers, about 4 inches deep, and they're already sprouting.  I kind of love them even though they are tacky as shit, but I think if they're planted really densely in a container, that will look phenomenal.  I'm thinking I might grab some of the creeping Jenny in little clumps and plant that around them, to make it a better overall container.  If I had something with these tall amazing flowers and something in a contrasting green spilling down the sides, it will look so good, I can't even.

The gutter garden is not that great.  The direct-sow seeds have really just started.  I did transplant some lettuces I started inside, and those look nice.  In the summer, I want Nasturtiums in there.  I have them in starts under lights, but I could direct sow them now, theoretically.  Next year, I should set up these things much earlier, and have lettuce starts ready, like in mid March.  They don't look all that attractive, the containers themselves.  And that's not because they're gutters; it's because they are not hanging straight.  I want the whole situation to be covered by something that spills over the sides. so I'm hoping the Nasturtiums will accomplish that.  I got this brand new strain of Nasturtiums because they're pink, not red, yellow and orange.  I want the other patio bed to be begonias and coleus, which will be pink, so I wanted to keep the color palette consistent.  I still want to do that, but I'm really hoping these new-fangled Nasturtiums are as good as regular old ones, and they still grow all big and pretty.  Even if they're not quite that crazy, that would be fine.

Oh, ok, what am I going to put into the Patio bed?  I mean, a few bags of potting soil first. But then?  I was originally thinking Caladiums and Elephant Ears, and Begonias, and fill in the spaces with Coleus.  I don't really think the Elephant Ear bulbs I bought are going to ever sprout.  I've moved them to the bathroom and cranked up the heated floor, like Mom did with her Caladiums.  If we get to June and I don't see anything, I should probably give up. I think I will have to move some Hostas out of the side bed, so I would happily move them to that bed.  The fern has done really well and multiplied, so I could move that as well, or take part of it.  Perennials in that raised bed might be a bad idea, they might die from freezing, but whatever, they're cheap, right?  I could certainly buy some more begonias and stuff.  Of course, Coleus would fill that space out, no problem.  I've only got like, 10 plants from my seeds.  They are fabulous, big, lush plants, and if I bought plants like that, they would be like, $2.50 each, so the seed starting was for sure worth it.  And Coleus are winners; they will look amazing, they'll thrive, and grow and fill it out.  Only one of last year's Begonias has sprouted, and I don't know about the rest.  It may be worth it to buy some growing Begonia plants.  I could even do some Begonias that are just foliage.

So let's talk about the Spring Veggies.  I wish I could have gotten them in earlier.  The Romaine and Bok Choy look so nice, but I'd like them to grow more before harvest.  The Radishes are not really doing anything, and they are getting all the sun.  I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong.  I'll obviously keep trying, because I have a lot of seeds, but I don't know.  The Peas seem kind of weak.  They're growing, they've gotten to where they are attaching to the trellis netting on their own, but we are a long way away from any peas.  And if they weren't there, I would be planting the Morning Glory now.  I'm thinking of just ripping out the peas.  At this point, they would need a lot more time to make any peas, and the Morning Glory will take off.  I can't even keep them under the lights much longer, because they're so tall and crazy.  So maybe I'll work with that in the next few days.  Peas were a failure, let's not do that again.

I would have liked to get these bitches in the ground a lot earlier.  I was totally dependent on when the soil thawed, because my raised bed was frozen through like, a month ago.  Maybe that's unique to this year.  containers are seeming better and better.  There;s no scenario in which I don't try to grow lettuce.  I am not going to wait until May and just plant tomatoes; I want greens.  Those baby Bok Choy are just so thick and green and healthy looking.  They grow so fast, I could almost do them totally under the lights between January and March, and they would be like full plants, totally under the lights.

I think I might now get enough sun for early spring veggies.  specifically, peas would not get enough sun to flower.  Greens are ok, I guess.