New kid on the block

Okay, move over Marigold, there's a new kid in town! Yes, you guessed it... the Whitneys have yet another "blooming flower". (Doesn't it sound like I'm British and I'm swearing?) This time we are the proud parents of a bright and cheerful nasturtium. Now, we've only got one mind you. The rest of these little devils are not looking like they are even considering putting in an appearance. However, with our rate of success, we have decided to relish these small victories!

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Today the boys and I decided to do some transplanting of those humongus Cosmo Plants. Some of the tallest ones are about 3 feet tall now, and still NO BLOSSOMS. How bizarre is that? Since they look like they are going to grow up to the sky at this point... we decided to move them to the back of the garden. Maybe we can use them to climb into our neighbor's maple trees! Or better yet, visit a giant's castle in the clouds one day! I've always wanted a singing flute.

Devon didn't want us to transplant these bizarre creatures. He was too scared we'd kill them all in the process. So, we just waited for him to go to work... and got busy. We figure it's "better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission".

Meanwhile, the veggies are doing quite well. We are still enjoying our nightly salads. We have not grown bored of shopping in our own backyard every night for lettuce. We wish that the tomatoes would hurry and start turning red. We are spending a fortune at Maceys (our local grocery store) to supplement our other salad fix-ins.

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Our lawn is slowly coming along. Now that we are on a pretty good watering regimen, most of the lawn looks green. Except for the front (between the sidewalk and road) where Devon is too stingy with water to let us use the sprinklers there.

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We did notice a couple of odd patches of non-green color (aka icky yellow) grass and Devon thinks it's because we've been using our firepit directly on the grass. So, the boys and I headed off to Lowes and bought some red bricks to place the firepit on. Being much too lazy to dig the required 12 inches deep (plus add in a layer of gravel, a layer of sand, and framing boards) we threw the patio stones down directly on top of the scorched grass. The lawn looks much better buried under those fetching red bricks, even if the whole thing does look a little wonky and lopsided.

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*** Additional note: Joshua watered the lawn tonight and forgot about our new red brick feature. Hopefully, our firepit won't get all rusty now that it's been drenched with water for 90 minutes. We usually keep it covered, but because of our need to protect the scorched lawn, we've probably ruined our fireplace feature. ***

Redemption

Okay... my wiggly worm days have come to an end! Today my first (grown-from-seed) flower bloomed. I am the proud parent of a blooming Marigold. I'm so excited!!!

Yesterday, I had a long talk on the phone with Sandy (my gardening coach/psychotherapist). She tried to cheer me up out of my "blueness", by giving me some suggestions for what's going on in my garden. Or, more aptly, what's not going on in my garden.

Sandy has suggested that I get in touch with someone at the university and see if we can get a sample of our soil tested. I will be doing that on Friday. Sandy also suggested that I get out there and FERTILIZE, FERTILIZE, FERTILIZE. That is on the agenda for tomorrow, along with transplanting my 50 feet tall non-blooming cosmos! That will get rid of the forest-like effect they are having in the garden and stop the Green Giant from playing hide-and-seek in my backyard!

We also talked about the impatiens... that I have lost my patience with. It seems that this plant can be pretty picky about where it calls home. Which is probably why it's doing so well in the grow box out front. That litte sun worshipper is probably not liking the cool shade of all those maple trees. I am going to think about whether they should be transplanted too. If I go that route, Sandy has made some good suggestions for shade loving replacements.

Needless to say... I at least feel vindicated as a human being that I have finally had SOMETHING... ANYTHING bloom. (The veggies didn't count because those are Devon's babies.) I was really beginning to feel like I should just crawl under a rock, admit defeat, and close down my blog. But, now I'm strutting my stuff all over the house with pride. It's nice to feel like Mother Nature.

The Impatient Gardener

Okay, I am starting to feel a little discouraged. And, I am thinking about changing my name to "Blue in Providence". Sigh.

My flower garden in the back yard isn't doing too well. The plants that I bought from Lowes, a few weeks back, have been pooping out. Some have died or are in the process of dying... like all their flowers have fallen off. And the rest are just hanging in there... with no growth at all. Even the impatiens that I put in back in early June, have not grown an inch.

In addition, NONE of the flowers that I planted (from seed) have any "flowers" at all. For some odd reason, they are just remaining as ever-growing stalks!

Here's my supposed cosmos... looking like some sort of weird tropical rainforest for Coco to hack her way through. The cosmos we bought at the store (to put around the squash plants in the veggie garden), are much shorter, and have tons of flowers. So what's the deal?


Here's my supposed marigolds and nasturtiums. Again, no flowers. Nothing but stalks and leaves.

I don't know if these plants are just not getting enough sun (due to my neighbours huge maple trees), they are all just being stubborn, or if I've simply got a black thumb!

In contrast to my back yard, the front yard is coming along quite nicely. Although, I think that my decision to stick with just one plant (petunias) is at the root of my sucess.

My roses are still hanging in there too, but I'm not sure if the new ones I planted this summer like it here enough to make this their permanent home. I think we're still in that "wait and see" period. Guess I better keep talking nicely to them.

The middle rosebush (tall one in the center), is still refusing to put forth any blooms. What's up with that? Devon says that as long as it continues to stay green, it adds some color to the yard, so we're should let it stay.

David & the Dahlias

David has been taking great care to water all the plants. Today he was out watering the dahlias when I snapped this photo.

Right now, only a few are poking through: Ted's Choice, Tikki Sunrise, Taboo, & Junkyard Dog. I don't know if any of the other ones we planted might still put in an appearance. We shall see.

Apple Tree?

Okay, we've been patiently watching this mystery fruit tree in the backyard for some time now. It now seems evident that we may have an Apple Tree. Yum. Only question is what type of Apple Tree we have?

We will have to be patient for a little bit longer. I think apples don't get harvested until August.

Let Us Eat Lettuce!

Yesterday was an exciting day... we got to eat the "veggies of our labor". We had a homemade salad with our dinner... fresh from the garden. It was just great!

We're not quite sure what kind of lettuce this is, I'm thinking it is "bib". There is something very special about eating something you have grown yourself.

Such fun!

Rose color

In trying to determine this rosebush, here is a photo of the first bloom.

July 4th Weekend

Lots of garden activity on this holiday weekend.

First of all we had to go out and shop for tomato cages. The plants are all growing tall enough that they need to be supported. We were kind of surprized to discover that most stores are all sold out of cages. None at Lowes. And only sad and mangled ones at Home Depot. So, we took a drive up to Smithfield Implement (a 90 years +) hardware/farm store/cowboy store. They had a ton of cages there... and cheaper too.

Once we got home with the tomato cages, the nightmare began. Our soil here is so rocky that it is next to impossible to get those darn things in the ground. Devon decided to "make holes" in the ground by banging a stake into the ground (he looked a little like some fearless vampire killer armed with his weaponry).

After making four holes, he still couldn't get a cage in the ground the whole way. So, he decided the next best step was to shorten the length of the cages. Easier said than done, since we don't have wire cutters that will cut through that thickness. Out came the hacksaw. The boys tried to hold the cage steady while Devon sawed. This was not a pretty sight... thankfully there was no blood, but there was a lot of sweat and tears. After one cage amputation, Dr. Devon put away his tools and called it a day.

Then, we decided we needed to put up a little gardening fence to keep you-know-who... from "tip-toeing thru the tulips". We found a little fence that came in sections and the guys put it up in the afternoon. Of course, as soon as they were done, Coco, who was undeterred, just hopped right on in again. After a gentle spanking from Devon, our weiner is starting to get the message that the veggie/flower beds are no longer her domain.

I am working with Sandy to determine what's taking our middle rose (out front) so long to bloom. Sandy suggested that I try to determine where all the new growth is coming from. After having a good look, we discovered that all the shoots are coming from the bottom of the plant, which I guess makes it a "climbing rose". This makes sense, considering we have one bloom that is at the bottom of the plant.

Last, but not least, we are starting to see some activity in the Dahlia department. Hurray!

People keep asking us what's with all the bamboo stakes in front of our garage? Well, they are there for the dozen dahlias we planted when Sandy & Richard were here. We have seen the first glimpse of growth. The "Tiki Sunrise" dahlias (3 of them) are starting to sprout up through the ground. Can't wait to see what they look like.

Today, we're having a lazy Sunday morning. Devon and David made a great breakfast of Pancakes and Bacon. Yum. We've decided to take some down-time to read, mess with our computers, and putter. Then, we are heading out to "stake out" the deck. We want to get a feel for where the deck will go and decided a cloudy day with no plans was the best day to do that.

Roses in Bloom

The world is a rose, smell it and pass it to your friends.

-- Persian Proverb

It is absolutely thrilling to watch this rosebush outside our window literally exploding into bloom!

How wonderful to have the opportunity to "stop and smell the roses" in my own front yard.

A big "thank you" to the previous owners... for leaving us such a beautiful legacy.

Starting Over

Okay... after my disappointment with the results from our all-day weeding session (i.e. an almost empty garden), I decided to go out and buy some flowers. Even though I felt like a complete failure doing this, I would really like to look at something other than dirt! So I hopped in the car and set out for Lowes.

I tried to shop wisely and keep my purchases to no more than $5.00 a plant. I also tried to buy as many Perrenials as possible, with the hope that they will come back on their own next year. Unless, I somehow manage to kill them too.

HERE IS A LIST OF WHAT I BOUGHT - I tried to buy at least 2 of everything:

Campanuala - Takion Blue Peachleafed Bellflower (x2)

Aurora Lavender Delphinum (x2)

Camelot Foxglove (x2)

Hosta "Patriot" - Plantain Lily (x2)

Zinnia - Yellow (x2)

Salvia - Red (x2)

Salvia - Victoria Blue (x6)

Vinca - Melon (x9)

Joshua helped me decide where to lay everything out... so if it looks bad, we can blame him (big grin). We are all in agreement that the garden looks better already.

While deciding upon our layout, we tried to plant around the few flowers that are still trying to make their way up through the ground. That way, if they do survive, we can at see them.

From what I can tell, the only plants from seed -- that still stand a chance are the following:

- Johnny Jumpups (i.e. Poppies)

- Cosmos

- Dianthus

We decided to set out some stepping stones (that we found in the front yard) in front of the raspberry plants. Even though the raspberry plants we transplanted are only 4 inches high, if they end up growing as big as our other raspberry plants, we will need that space to get back there to pick the berries.

Meanwhile, we have now removed ALL the weeds from the vegetable garden, so we are virtually weed-free. I expect that to last about one day! We have also noticed that a few of our veggies have been chewed. We began speculating that mayve we have rabbits visiting in the middle of the night, but just then, we spied Coco (our weiner dog) nibbling on some corn stalks. I thought dogs were carnivores? Guess not.