Getting it Done Before the Rain

Don't you just love the month of May? I do, even though I work a lot, but that comes with the nursery business. I still have time though to enjoy my gardens even if I use my one day off to work in it.  Work in your garden? When you love gardening as much as I do, can we really consider it "work"?

With the forecast of rain during the afternoon, I figured it would be a good day to finally plant the new beauties I bought last week before the rains came. I love planting right before it's going to rain, it saves me the time of watering, that is of course, if I'm 100% positive it's going to rain, and if you live in NJ, you've got a good chance of that happening every week it seems lately.

I decided it was time to focus my thoughts on my side garden. It's a bed that sits next to my den filled with windows, so it's important that this area look nice so I can sit and enjoy it all summer long.  It seems that I focus on one area of my garden at a time, probably because I'm a self admitted organizational fanatic, and I like to start and finish one project at a time.

This particular bed has been lacking plant material for some time. After planting my Camellia last year in this same garden I decided it was time for a whole new "do".  Now that the Camellia is done blooming, and a long bloom time it was, I could see how everything would blend in with the Camellia's lush, deep green leaves. 

What did I plant? 

Sneaking in between the exising plants of Tiarella, Ligularia, Astilbe, Ferns, Lamium and a host of other plants that are just starting to peek their heads up I planted some new friends..

Doesn't this "All Gold" Japanese Forest Grass look simply stunning next to the dark leafed Lysimachia "Firecracker"?

How about this Gibralter "Exbury Azalea" behind one of my favorite plants called Bugbane!

Here's a look at Gibralter all by itself, isn't he a beauty! Orange in a shade garden is so surprisingly enlightening!

What I didn't get a picture of was the "Fried Green Tomatoes" Lobelia that I planted today too!  Where do they get these funny names for these wonderful plants?!

From here, let's turn around and start walking down to my vegetable garden.. Do you see my beautiful ferns waving overhead the pachysandra? They do this every year and I absolutely love it!

After last years severe disappointment with my lack of vegetables in my circular garden I decided it was time for a change. The problem is all the sand and clay in this area from an old pool that was originally there. No matter how much soil, compost and amendments I added, the soil is just not complimentary to vegetables. I think I've conquered that dilemma this year with my new raised beds and containers. It might look kinda strange, but I do believe that it's going to be a banner year for my vegetable gardening efforts and I'm very excited!

Last fall I planted lots of garlic as a test in containers and as you can see, I think they like it!  The year before I planted them in the garden itself and I got one big fat clove of zero garlic!  Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

In another raised bed called my "Hillbilly Bunk Bed" planter I have a bumper crop of parsley, arugula and some lettuce. Some will remember that I took the top bunk of my daughters bunk bed and made it into a raised bed and put a trough inside last year.  Even the basil and oregano look great, right?

It was one of those days where you just kept going, it wasn't hot and it wasn't cold, perhaps a little dark under threatening rain skies, but it was that kind of day that you could feel proud of the work you accomplished.  Even the "Bird Tree" got a new look today as my husband finished spreading the Timberlite stone around the bottom of it. I wonder if the birds will notice?

Now why did I finish that bottle of wine that I stuck in the purple pansy bowl? I surely could have used a glass of it tonight!

If you've been following me for some time, you know that I post when I can in between my work schedule during May and June. However, you can also keep tabs on me through my new work blog called, "The Dean's Greens Gazette".

Check it out as I'm posting oodles of info for all you gardening fanatics!

Until next time!

Leslie