It’s still to early to grade my seedy efforts, but I think its fair to say, at the very least, the salad greens are a resounding success!
The first salad will be enjoyed this weekend!
The beans has popped up and are growning quickly. The peas are much the same, despite Furby’s “help”
I’ve harvested a few radishes. I don’t eat them, but Dave says they “taste like radishes” so that’s a success. There’s lots more coming. Some will probably end up in that salad.
I’m trying a new thing with the potatoes… growing them in a laundry basket. There are three layers, separated by straw. The greens are supposed to grow out the sides. Having put it all together, I’m not totally convinced by it. But time will tell.
The sunflowers, and other sprouts are all looking good. The sunflowers, at least will probably go out into the yard soon.
May is drawing to a close, but the garden is really getting started. Something new blooms pretty much every day.
Regular readers will recall that these particular poppies weren’t planted. In this spot, I planted a solid red, and a solid white. But poppies are promiscuous, and they cross bred, and this is their offspring. I really can’t complain. I’m curious to see if there are any solid red or white left. Time will tell.
Because of the Iris Borer Moth, it’s been a pretty poor showing for the recovering irises. This one was completely unaffected however and it’s just stunning.
Happily, my Shaker’s Prayer Siberian Irises are not susceptible to the moth. I split it up into several different spots last year and they all seem very happy about it. Each bloom only lasts a couple of days, but boy are they gorgeous when they do.
The chives are very floriferous and the bees are loving it.
And I’ve got a variety of alliums coming up almost everywhere else. They are mostly out front, but I do need to split them up so they will probably spread to the backyard this year.
I have a couple Verbascum in the garden and I would like more. This little magenta one is always the first to bloom.
All my Widows Tears are blooming. they will bloom on and off all summer long. The dark purple also need to be split up so it will probably make it’s way to the backyard too.
I’ve got this lovely little Alpine Aster at the front of the sidewalk garden. It doesn’t last long, but it’s a little bit of cheer while it’s around.
The Lupin are in full bloom. Sadly, it’s just my purple ones. My pink one disappeared. I bought a new red one this year, and I hope it is actually red. Several years back, I bought white, and got more purple! I’d love to have them in every colour.
My purple lilac has finished blooming but the pink one (Tinkerbell) is in full glory. And oh does it smell wonderful.
I have several ornamental sages, but I think this pink one may be my favourite.
And this little Geum is absolutely blooming its heart out. I absolutely love it. I bought it last year – it was on the pricier side. If it wasn’t, I’d buy several more. When it’s done blooming, I may just see if I can split it up a bit.
And of course, there’s so much more to come. What’s blooming in your garden?
After finishing up the last pair of socks, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to knit next. I was pretty sure it was going to be another pair of socks…but I had no idea what yarn I was going to use.
That is, until I did my studio clean up.
I bought this skein from Lens some time last year when I was visiting with Mom (she bought a skein too). And then I promptly left it at her place. When I was down there in February, I tossed it in one of my bags, brought it home and there it stayed until I finally cleaned the bag out on studio clean up day.
I originally planned to make Dave a pair of socks with it…. but…. I don’t have any grey socks. And I have a fair bit of grey in my wardrobe (as demonstrated by my dress fabric behind the skein).
With that determined, I needed to decide on a pattern. Years ago I made the Broken Seed Stitch socks. I wore them constantly until I ultimately wore them out. So it was time to make anothe pair.
Paired with some solid black Regia, I think these are going to be a great pair of neutral socks! Of course, I have to finish them first… so back to knitting!
In addition to my garden borders and raised beds, I also have quite a collection of containers I like to fill with annuals. In fact, the collection gets a little bigger every years (thanks thrift stores), so it took a full day while I was on vacation to get them all planted up.
Here’s a look at some of them.
I’m not a huge fan of Geraniums. But this year I bought a full flat.
You may recall that last year, I discovered that they can be used to help control the dreaded Japanese Beetle. The beetles are attracted to the leaves… but eating them stuns the beetles. It makes them easier to pick and dispose of, and often the beetles never recover and dry out in the heat.
I had a handful of plants last year and while it didn’t make a HUGE difference to the overall damage across the garden, it did kill quite a few beetles. So I decided to go wit a full flat (18 individual plants) and planted up a pile of containers which I’ve placed throughout the gardens. I added in some petunia for interest as well.
Another thing that I learned last year is that small pots dry out FAST. And I have quite a few small pots. To help with this, I bought SEVERAL flats of portulaca
Portulaca can take being hot and dry for much longer than many other annuals, giving me a chance to get out and water them before they dry up. The petunias I planted in small pots last year were definitely a fail.
This was especially true for the pots in stands I have at the front door.
The portulaca should be just as colourful and fare much better.
And I’ve added a pile of new small pots!
Like this large candelabra we found a thrift store last year. They will look fantastic when they fill in a bit.
Thrifting has also provided me with a nice little collection of decorative bird cages
This is just two of them (there are six total outside) and they also have portulaca. I think they are going to look amazing with the stems start falling a blooming through the bars.
Another things that does well in pots…
Hens and Chicks! The first two pictures are new “Collector Chicks” apparently. They are “Chocolate Mint” (Red), “Appletini” (green with dark tips}, and “Gold Nugget” (yellow). the third picture is a pile of babies from other hens that broke off.
Established containers include…
My pump half cask with “Blue Fountain” salvia and white bacopa, and my cauldron, with celosia flames, bubbling over with a white dahlia and alyssum.
And last…
Because of the cooler spring, my porch pansies are absolutely THRIVING! It will interesting to see how they last once the weather really heats up. I may pot up some marigolds and set them aside to fill this is the pansies give up.
Decent progress was made on Miss Woodland Fairy. The leaves on the front of her dress and sleeve were finished up. And I even had time to complete the ones that lined the lower part of her skirt.
I think I might work on her rippling ribbon this coming weekend!
Vacation has, sadly, come to an end. But it didn’t go by without some time in the studio. Two days, in fact!
We are refinancing our mortgage this year, so early in the week we had an appointment for the bank’s assessor to come through. That meant I had to so some cleaning because the studio was in bad shape!
Yeah… it was that bad! Surprisingly, it didn’t take terribly long to get it back in order.
And I have to say, when I went back in there a few days later, it was so nice to just start sewing – and not have to clean anything up first. I really do need to get better at cleaning up after I work in there, instead of saying “Ill do it later,” and shutting the door.
And here’s what I was working on…
Yup… it was time to finally get those arrow blocks together into a top. Since they were 16″ blocks, it didn’t take long.
We just sewed them up, added a quick, plain white border and it was done!
It finished up at 56″ x 72″ so a nice size for a small bed, or a big lap quilt.
I’ve had this quilt planned for several years, including this flannel backing for it. And I decided to go with some scrappy binding using more fat quarters from the bundle.
There’s still LOTS of fat quarters left, so I’ll be making another quilt from these fabrics at some point. But not just yet. Now I’m in the mood for something completely different… stay tuned!
I gave you an update on some of the seediness going on here mid-week, but there’s still more!
The sunflowers I started late have germinated beautifully!
If all of these, and all the ones that re-seeded in the gardens, survive – it’s going to be one sunny garden this summer! Of course, I have learned that the squirrels LOVE sunflower seedlings, so chances are at least half of these will get eaten.
The tray below it is doing just as well. As I mentioned before, it’s a mix of annuals. I may just plant those nasturiums out in the garden this weekend.
Out in the containers… I’ve said before it pays to be patient…
And those tiny bits of green are the proof. You’ll remember that some weeks ago, I planted a pile of foxglove seeds out in one of the raised beds. Then the squirrels came along and dug up all the soil. Foxlglove need light to germinate, so if they get buried, no foxgloves. I figured this lot was lost…. but decided to give it a bit before planting anything else there. And as you can see – that was a good call! It doesn’t look like the Rusty Foxglove, or Chinese Foxglove beside it, made it – but I’m happy the Yellow ones did.
The swiss chard has also taken it’s sweet time.
I planted seeds weeks ago, and I’m just starting to see sprouts.
These chives were started from seed in 2022. It’s so nice to have them come back year after year. (and nice to add the chives to dinner on occasion!). At the townhouse, I learned chives can take over if you let them, so I keep them in a pot now.
My strawberry seeds did not germinate at all… so I picked up three new plants to add to my existing strawberry beds
They are the ones with the dark pink flowers (one in each bed). The strawberries never make it into the house – they are for in-garden snacking!
Wandering Cat Studio 