Plant Shopping

One of the nurseries in town is having a sale on plants—buy sixteen 4" pots of perennials and get 20% off. I stopped there yesterday to do some shopping:

This haul included both herbs and flowers. I am moving some plants to the herb garden from elsewhere on the property and getting donations from friends, but I had to buy a few, too. I do love primroses. We are supposed to have cooler, rainier weather this weekend, so getting these into the herb garden is on the schedule for Saturday.

I also got a container of praying mantis babies and let them loose in the big garden. The husband commented that it’s like an episode of “Wild Kingdom” out there. I’m glad, because it means that I have cultivated a healthy ecosystem.

Guess who is hanging out by the chicken coop again?

I am pretty sure this is the same one I relocated last week. It has returned to the all-you-can-eat mouse buffet. I just hope it doesn’t go into the chicken yard or coop and get attacked by chickens.

The mama robin has two new babies in the nest in the porch rafters.

While I was at the nursery, I looked at their selection of birdbaths. They cost more than I want to spend. I thought I might get one with a pump so I could have moving water, but I am not spending $500 on a spa for the robins. I have a few other ideas.

Today’s #1 task is getting the corn and beans in. Yes, it’s late, but I am hoping that having given them a head start in the greenhouse will make a difference. The rows of lettuce and arugula are up in the big garden.

The grapes still have not leafed out, although there is some new growth at the bases. I checked with a friend of mine who is a vineyard manager in North Carolina and she said I can cut everything back to the new growth and re-train new trunks, so I plan to do that. I also lost a few cucumber and melon plants to that cold snap. They looked okay initially, but it’s clear now that they didn’t make it.

We are still eating strawberries. I am going to start freezing what is coming in because the raspberry tsunami is on the horizon.

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I want to sew, but the garden requires my attention. I’m trying not to be too impatient about this. Gardening season won’t last forever and we’ll have snow again before we know it. And if we get a few days of rain this week, I’ll have a reason to stay inside. In the meantime, I have been sneaking into my sewing room occasionally and doing some prep work so the projects are ready when I get a chunk of time to work on them.