The Ungulate House Garden: May 1999

May 5

planted: hosta, bleeding heart (in front)
waiting to be planted: clematis, russian sage, "iceberg" rose, arugula, lettuce, spinach, catnip.

I'm digging a big hole where one of the front shrubs used to be. Unfortunately, it's trunk is still there, and even though I'm about 2 feet down, I still haven't hit it's bottom yet. Once I do manage to extract it, the iceberg rose will go in its place. The shallots are doing amazingly well, and one more of the raspberry canes is showing signs of life. The mint I extracted from the lawn and put in an orange crate has doubled in height.

I keep walking into the backyard and alternately pleading and hollering at the plants "Grow! Grow!".  I think this will be an exercise in patience I'm not sure I have.

May 10

Oh, my poor, neglected garden. I have neglected it for a week, and a bevy of weeds have grown up as a result. The fennel has come up, but the weeds surrounding it are taller. <sigh> The chives are in full bloom, and the strawberries are beginning to flower. The peas have just about reached the top of the first layer of chickenwire-trellis -- about 2.5 feet high.

May 25

I've planted just oodles and oodles of stuff, but since the weather turned bad there are no pictures yet. We had this horrible rainstorm that killed a bunch of not-yet-planted seedlings, so Carrie and I went plant shopping, and of course found a few more things than we were replacing, but heck, we've got enough room. :) So we got tomatoes, and basil,  three colors of bell pepper (green, orange, purple),  marigolds,  snapdragons, yarrow, lavendar, rosemary, several white roses, lemon thyme (which smells *so* good I put it in a container, so it can live inside and smell good this winter), a "fiesta" daisy, salvia, petunias and columbine. Where the yucky apple tree used to be, I've made a round flower bed surrounding the stump, ringed with stones, which is just adorable. (Yes, the flowers have gotten to me. So much for my utilitarian vegetable garden.) The pink rose is blooming, the peas are almost four feet high, and there are little green strawberries on some of our plants. Whee!

(garden)