Thanks Scarlet. I hope if I get any rain that it comes your way only if you need it. Our raised beds and veggie garden need rain but under the mulch the dirt is not dry at all. It did rain on me a little when I was out working earlier but I don't think it amounted to anything. I got a lot done in the short time I was outside. Lots to do so I am hoping that the rain comes and goes so I can still get outside and get things done.

Happy gardening. Just started pouring. I can hear it on the tin rood.

No rain here. I went past the local Smokey the bear sign and our warning is now moderate I believe. Whatever the blue sign says. Much better than red but not as fun as "hibernating". I will say the soil was fairly decent yesterday and mine too that is under my compost is nicely damp.

I have not planted at all today. I'm out of pep. Instead I took some photos. One of my many hostas was looking pretty lovely today:




Somedays you just need to enjoy the simple.

Your Hosta does look very nice. I should take some pictures of mine. I went out for a while but it started sprinkling again. DH helped me secure the dump rake so it won't move on its own. Then he helped raise up the front of my old iron stove in the front flower bed that was sinking in. I emptied one more bucket of mulch. DH started filling more buckets until it started sprinkling. We got a little over an inch so far. Guess I might be done outside for the day. I did pot up some Liatris that I pulled up on purpose when I was weeding. It is so think in the front bed and in the flagpole bed too.

It poured heavily early this afternoon so no planting completed. Instead I did a walk through of the yard and I seriously need to weed. I found a new to me weed that is all over - bedstraw. Grrrr. Add that now with stinging nettle, thistles, creeping jenny and a heavy population of wood violets I may have to forego planting and take care of the weed zoo. I will see if getting up early will be the key to it tomorrow. Even if I can get a chunk done that would be a help.

What weed inundates you're gardens/beds? It would just be nice if they'd stay away but they don't.

Tomorrow we'll hit the greenhouse and I read on their site - they say they have the odd perennials. I hope so, the one we stopped at the other day had the common ones. Coneflowers, blanket flowers, rudbeckia. Does that mean people aren't adventurous to try something not common?

Jeanne: sounds like you made hay getting your deco reset and area filled in before the drops flew. At one point I looked out and it looked like a sheet of rain. Tomorrow it sounds like it will be somewhat dry and warm here and then more rain on Monday.

I've got to stop and think how to proceed and I must start getting stuff done. I wish I had the energy my youngest has, I'd have everything done lickety split. I don't know why I'm dragging so much of late.

I have a lot of grass inside the border along my back fence bed. I will have to spray it with roundup to get the roots. I don't like using it but sometimes you just have to. I won't kill a flower with it though so I pull the unwanted stuff close to my plants. Last year I put down mulch which has really help keep the weeds under control. I also use landscape fabric under the mulch. Later if I want to plant something, I just cut a circle in the fabric. But seeds fly in the air, so I still get weeds growing in the mulch but they are easier to pull before their roots find a way through the fabric.

I went outside about an hour ago to pick asparagus and before I came back in with a bag full, I had finished weeding the few areas that still needed it. This is the best it has looked. Here is a picture with the weeds still in it. I mulched this area last year and put down corn gluten which is a preeminent and put down salt over the asparagus mounds. It really helped keep the weeds down. I just re-mulched this on May 19th.

Fresh asparagus is delightful! I don't have room at my house to do so, but my MIL has quite a bit and they are garden generous with us. Enjoy that treat. I forgot to ask her is she's been out morel hunting.

I didn't plant a darn thing yesterday. We did get to the large greenhouse but I should have known better as they seriously were empty. Yes I get once the annuals were gone, but even the perennial selections were slim. So my search continues. I'll hopefully be making a stop tomorrow after clinic to see if they have a good selection of perennials and find who I'm looking for.

I'm listening to the birds outside, they sound happy with everything. I need to see if my baby robin is all fluffed out. This was the little one the other day:


We allow the nest to remain on the house each year as it's fun to watch and enjoy. Some years she nests a few times. She started out w 3 eggs and one morning I checked we were down to 1 with no evidence of the other ones shells anywhere.

Now I hope to get something accomplished (and FINISHED). Have fun in your gardens and yards today. Enjoy your families. And a thank you to all who served and those who were lost.

I have commenced planting the planters. Is anyone finding if they are using MG yellow bag potting soil it smells extremely odd this year? I think it stinks and not like any soil. It almost has a stink like something that was alive once.

I had to come on in as we had a quick rain deluge. It's over and the sky is still kind of dark so I'll wait a bit. I'll share what remains of my annuals to be potted up. Most don't have blooms right now but w being outdoors and the like I hope they just take off well. My sweet potato vines look horrid as I had dirt gnats when wintering. It doesn't matter how many ways I can treat for them I still get them!


Edited to add the planters are all done. I have some extra calibroachas I had taken cuttings of and will pass on to my sister in law. I'm tired. You wouldn't think planting planters shouldn't be tiring but it is. I'm glad that job is done. Now this week I need to fit in the garden planting, the weeding and rest of the bed plantings. Yes I'll be busy, but I may not get to it until this next weekend. I'll be glad when everyone is growing on their own and doing well.

Nice flowers Scarlet. I have only put annuals in one planter so far. Some day I will have to go flower shopping. My DB did give me 3 Geraniums today, one each of white, pink, and red. Not sure what I will do with them yet.

I finished mulching the long front flower bed. So glad that is done. I took out the wheelbarrow and replaced it with a glass bird bath I made from recycled glass.


The front bed goes all the way up to the Blue Spruce tree.

I thought this was an appropriate place to put my farmer plaque.


Does anyone have any idea what this bug is?

Jeanne: his legs and coloring look like a stink bug but his head doesn't. Maybe he's a new uninvited species. My hubs squished an emerald ash borer yesterday on the drive. They are such a pretty green but wreak so much havoc. My little town has lost most of its trees due to it. A lot of trees previously were lost in a big storm. It's crazy.

Your long bed looks lovely. Do you have a lot of weeds to deal with or do you have it well protected?

AM: I got the planters all done and feel like I didn't accomplish a darn thing. You know how it is when you pot them on up and they look super stressed? Yeah, well that's where mine were at when I came in. Everyone is in place on my deck and porch. This week I may do a bit in the garden but since we are finishing school up this week I may not get that in. And it's suppose to be nice and cool this weekend so maybe I will wait to tackle the garden and remaining beds. Oh and the dreaded weeding.

We had a lot of rain in the middle of the night. I'm sure it will encourage lots of mosquito growth. Someone bit me I discovered yesterday but I think it was a spider. I do not need to be an insects meal.

On a way different note: Does anyone plan to watch the rocket launch tomorrow? I'm going to have the kids watch as they have never seen something like this. This new system intrigues me. Even the spacesuits are so different with this mission.

I may have irises soon. With the warm up I'm seeing a poke of color at the top of the buds. I think these are my dark red ones as they are always the first to bloom. My lighter color ones are all later in the season which I find interesting. Can I ask if NOid means no ID? Or is that something else? My oak leaf hydrangeas are ready to explode w blooms, so finally some more flowering items.

I found a great new tool thus far! My mom had bought me at Christmas one of those garden knives that is serrated on one edge and trowel-ish on the other and somewhat curved in the center. It worked lovely for putting in the front bed and cleaning up the excess growth I didn't need. I'd recommend getting one. Just be careful not to cut oneself.

Hope everyone is well and ready to start their summer times.

Thanks Scarlet. The weeds in my beds are getting fewer with the more mulch I put down. I tend to let some get out of control while I am tending to other things. I have more mulch to spread but will have to do a little weeding first. The flowers in the flagpole bed are really growing so it may be more difficult to get a good mulch cover in there.

I still haven't had a positive ID on my bug but I put it on the insect ID thread.

A NOID anything means that you do not know its name. I received plants from others without their name plus the ones I started with 20 years ago did not get labeled thus they are NOID.

Thanks for the info on the NoID. That's totally me, if I don't write it in it my Garden book when I get the plant and I don't save tags, it's name is gone for good. Too many to remember!

I found my helenium today while I was out I got a mariachi salsa one. Yeah! It will go along my coneflowers, liatris, green eyed rudbeckia and delphinium. Then the dahlias, zinnias, dill and my list goes on. I'll be glad to have everyone in the ground.

Right now the sky is super dark with sun. We are to have severe storms today a bit later in the day I guess but the sky tells a different story. Just as long as it doesn't damage who I have growing right now I'll be fine w the rain.

Have a good afternoon. I'm on the case for the missing school library book. Good gravy! It's got to be turned in this week w the other items. It's always something at this house.

I was out for just a short time and got chased in by the rain storm we were not suppose to get. I saw it coming but still stayed out long enough to get wet when it did get here.

I got the 3 big sedium plants out of my wheelbarrow along with all the dirt. Then I mulched one small bed and found a place for Arnie the Ant. I will have to move him closer to the border so he can be seen better.

Next I started digging the baby ferns out of the Hosta bed where I thought I had gotten them all dug out a couple weeks ago. I'm sure I will have more showing up before I am completely rid of them.

Edited to fix mistakes.

First storm late afternoon and we lost our big beautiful tree.

How very sad. More storms this evening and there is the potential to loose 4 more very tall trees from surrounding yards. And they each have at least One pathway to land on my house or my garage. Fantastic. Our tree came down with 2 strong gusts of wind.

Hope you don't lose any more!! I know the feeling. We've lost alot of our trees here for various reasons and I have more sun than ever and hate it. Want my shade back.

So sorry to hear that Scarlet. We built our home in one of DH's farm fields so no trees. I tried planting some but only 3 (2 of which are the same kind) have survived. So I have mostly sun but the 2 same kind of trees (one on each side of the yard) do give good shade. I'm planning a permanent seeding area under the one tree near my garden shed. Here is an awful picture of the area. This has always been a disaster part of the garden but I am working on it this year. It will be slow going and I am hoping I can get the help of my 2 sons later this summer if the pandemic calms down to come and help me level the area where to pavers for the table will be plus help lay them. They don't know if yet.

The table and chairs are on the very left in the above pictures. The below picture is my garden shed flower area which is to the left of the table.



Scarlet, I hope the storms don't take down more trees in your neighborhood.

I'm just kind of meh - what else can go wrong. We've had a lot of "acts of God" events for some reason on our property. It's just sad as she was finally a nice height and had beautiful color and really provided a lot of leaves for my compost in the fall. I will be sad to see her go.

We are to have wicked weather up past 10. Let's hope it just blows on past.

ScarletTricycle said:I'm open to all the shapes. I had to laugh as my almost 90yo mom ordered me some dinnerplate sized ones and said to me "go big or go home" which I found terribly funny coming from her.

I have one of the small poms which has just a pop color in an arrangement. Last year I found most on my would like list were ones that have petals that curl somewhat under themselves at the base (still learning what that is called). This year I'm intrigued by the following: bi-color, bright colors and strangely, the color pink. I hate pink in general (Clothing, decorating etc) but found in all my beds I'm missing yellow and pink. So I've got pink, I've got 2 bicolors, I traded with a lady from church and now have 2 collarettes (she enjoys them she says because of the bees falling asleep in the petals) I guess I am open to seeing however they grow. I'm learning from the other group and their hundreds of past/future plants. And I found last year as they posted their photos the varieties I didn't even see when I passed by in a catalog or color combos etc to keep an open mind and see what I might try.

Do you have anyone nearby that also grows? I met my church lady when she brought in armfuls for the altar and spoke to her after. I have since been to her farm and beds and picked her brain as well about how to grow and care for. She gave me a call this spring w her extras. I gave her some of mine In return. I also am trading with my SIL, though she only had 2 types this last year and I have a brother who would like to try. I think thats what gardening is about - a lot of sharing. If your out for a neighborhood walk keep your eyes peeled and maybe meet a fellow dahlia fan. You never know - I only started w dahlias because my MIL found a bunch on clearance at jung two end of summers ago and bought me some - she's a total garden enabler Everyone needs one of those in their life.

Dinner plate size might be a tad big for my tastes unless the plant grows 6' like a sunflower. "bi-color, bright colors and strangely, the color pink" I was with you on the bi-color and bright colors, but you lost me at pink. I am also not a fan of pink in any form, though I do have a columbine that's pink which I like. I mostly go with blue, purple and whites in the yard.

I don't know many local gardeners. I live in a subdivision where the men send their wives to get the volunteer plants that I give away every spring. Most of my gardener type friends are balcony gardeners. I need to find me a garden enabler. LOL.

My only time out to a nursery this year was a let down. The location was a small satellite store compared to the main nursery and did not have much. I'm thinking about going out today to the main store. I have some new flower beds in the garden that I need to fill up with annuals.

Thomas: I hear you on not having many to converse with in terms of gardening. My sister says I sound old, most neighbors tear everything out when they move in. Yes my MIL is a total garden enabler. She sent me home w a tub of Plant fertilizer, onions, 3 tomato plants and is trying to get me to take irises she got from someone long ago and just dumped in her weed bed to grow because she can't kill a plant if it serves some purpose. Haha

I didn't go heavy on pink dahlias. Just two that I'd say are about bubble gum in color. The rest are the hot magenta's in that pink family. I met my local dahlia friend at church because she brought in flowers to decorate with for mass. I'm in talks w my local small library that maybe we can introduce a plant swap of extras once or twice a year. Maybe you have something like that? If not most librarians are open to programming ideas especially if they have help in planning. Otherwise check out your county extension office to see if there are clubs in your area or even a master gardener program if you're so inclined. I always strike up conversation when I'm at the nursery as you never know who might pipe up. I live in a small rural town, I'm now known as the lady with the flowers in the big green house if I'm asked where I live. I guess there could be worse things in life to be known for or called. I'll take the flower lady.

What dahlias did you order? Don't forget swan island has a sale right now, I'm guessing the selection is lots slimmer but it's a dahlia so to me they are all lovely! Have you checked for any local mom and pop nurseries? Up here most are empty of plants unless your perennial hunting. But sometimes they have a Nice mix. I found my helenium at one.

Pepper: isn't the weather totally weird of late? All my neighbors trees are just fine it was mine the last two years That got smacked by the wind. After cleanup she looks somewhat salvageable to the untrained eye. I wonder if part of is the others in the nigh irbid taking down their trees and not replacing them so the airflow directs everything my way? It's my theory this morning.

Jeanne: you are just cranking on your yard work! Sit back and enjoy it!

AM: well I was brushing the old teeth and looked out the window and my FIL was here w/his chainsaw. So the kids and I did serious work and what came down is now at the curb and the FIL took the bigger chunks for his wood stove. So appreciative. Lots of hard work though. The city will come by and remove what remains to their brush piles. Again appreciative of others!

Dahlias - will be going in the ground hopefully this weekend but I need the DH help to open up my bed wider. I had a good time trading and buying. I need some air space and space for the extras I tuck on in like dill, zinnias, tassel flowers.

Then it's weeding or allow my yard to be overtaken by nettle. I don't need it to bloom darn scourge of the earth! And then I need to plant the garden and rest of the beds. This weekend the low is 44! Brrrr! But it should make for ease on yard work and the like. I hope.

We are to have storms today. I have a car appointment and would like to watch the rocket launch. Having done the hard work w the tree I have reprieve from further yard work today. I decree such!

Enjoy your days! Stay safe, enjoy what sun finds your nose, happy planting and give yourself a shoutout for a job well done!

Thanks for all the encouragement Scarlet.

I was out early pulling weeds and Black Eye-Susan out of my front flagpole bed. I put down 2 buckets of mulch then had to stop for one reason or the other. Then I caned 7 jars of pickled asparagus. The 8th jar broke after putting it into the hot water. After they came out, I went out to the veggie garden and weeded a couple of Strawberry beds then decided to mix up some round up. I just mixed my second sprayer and am going back out to spray a little more. I really don't like using it as I have said before, but sometimes you just have to.

You know, they should bottle the smell of rain on its way. I'd buy it, that's one of my favorite things of spring and summer, the air before the rains come down.

I'm thinking through my outdoor time for tomorrow. If I can and if the rain holds off, I'd like to try and get some weeding done. It's just looking super hairy in my yard. Yes I have planting to get done but one weighs more than the other in my head. And once that weeding is done I usually don't have to revisit until later in the summer especially if I use preen when done.

I need to go out and pick rhubarb. Do any of you grow the Victoria type(red stalk one - see I didn't save my tag and I am going by memory). Mine never has lots of luck with long stalks. I'm never sure why. Any insight for me?

I noticed my false indigo was in bloom. That plant I love as it's gotten bigger - it acts almost as a bush during the rest of the growing season. Do any of you have surprises in your beds or garden right now? My irises are closer to opening. Yeah. Finally some more color.

Jeanne: I have never canned or had pickeled asparagus. What do you have them with? Do you do this yearly? I have canned salsa, pears and Spicy apples. Do you can lots of other things?