A more fillied in look

I am not sure if it is the camera or the operator, both I am sure, but the curb out front sure looks better than in the picture.

In the last post I showed a picture of one of the rose bushes I planted. And the dahlias are coming along fine. Also, I had bought some "oh my gosh I am dying" dianthus and zinnia plants and they are doing very well too. Here in the next couple of days the seeds I planted should start coming up and filling in. I planted some Four O' Clocks, some statice, English daisys and some forget me nots. I would love to start a seed business. I would just have to make the time to collect them when they mature.

Alan and I just got back from going out to eat for our anniversary. It is actually tomorrow, but since there is work on Tuesday, we thought we would go tonight instead. Anyway, I just wanted to put up a little post before heading up to bed.

Pretty Flowers

So, I finally remembered the name of the white flower I used in the front of the house - it is called "Profusion White Zinnia". Things are starting to fill in a bit, as you can see, and I am very happy with the results. I mentioned it on my other blog about trying a new type of flower, a Calla Lily, and it too is growing very well. I will put pictures up as soon as it blooms. The yellow flowers you see are Stella de Oro day lilies. Day lilies are very easy to grow and the varieties are amazing. I am looking to get more some time to add to the collection.

In the second picture you see my front yard. I mentioned putting in grass plugs of Amazoy Zoysia. I received the grass on Wednesday as I was walking out the door to work and put most of them in yesterday. You all, this is hard work. It comes with a little plugger to pull out the old grass, but with my yard it was so hard I had to wet it to be able to cut through the old sod. And I raked and pulled out tons of weeds. If you look close at the picture you can see the left overs of the old plugs I pulled out. It kind of looks like the yard has popped out little growths or something, like in Gremlins - HA! I will keep you posted on how it all comes out, I sure hope it was worth it.

This is one of my latest additions. I don't know the proper name for it but it sure is a pretty rose. The bud starts off sort of orange looking and once it opens it is yellow with a slight pink tinge around the tips of the petals. The longer it exists the paler it gets. It is a "grandiflora" which means it bushes and gives single and multiple flowers at the same time. I am pretty sure I have a hybrid tea and a florabunda too. I forgot and it really doesn't matter to me. These were added to the space out next to the road and I am very pleased that this one is blooming already.

Oh, I just discovered this little bit of information and wanted to share it with you all. Four O' Clock flowers, among others, are poisonous to Japanese Beatles. I hate when they eat up some of my favorite trees or roses and they need to go!!! Of course you can use Milky spore or Nematodes as an organic choice to rid yourself of these voracious little beasts!!

Progress

On the 11th this is what my taters in a bucket looked like. This new thing that I am trying is really very easy. As you can see they are growing. In the next picture, which I took this morning, you can see that they are growing very well. If I am not mistaken these pictures are of the Yukon Gold potatoes. I am growing red potatoes as well and they too are doing good.

I am enjoying the gardening journey, things aren't growing as fast as I thought they might and something is eating the pepper and tomato plants but I will figure it out.


The cucumbers and beans are coming through the dirt. I planted them from seed. I don't see carrots or beets yet and the brussell sprouts are doing ok I guess. Like I said, I just expected them to be further along than they are. Maybe some manure tea is in order. Here in a month I will probably be wondering why I thought I could fit so much in that little piece of dirt - HA!!

Just a quick mention of something I "discovered" recently. Epsom Salt as a Fertilizer. There is a new link over on the right there. It is something I just never thought about. And as I mentioned above I am going to get me some horse poop from the barn where Meaghan rides and start fertilizing the plants with that. If you want details, I can give it, but it is a pretty gross process and not many people are willing to do it - well except me that is.

Fresh plantings

So, here is the garden freshly watered and full of stuff. Too bad you can't really see it though. That will come with time, but for now you will just have to take my word that is it full of veggies. Starting from the left is brussell sprouts, then cheyenne and sweet bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, beans and beets.


I got the front of the house landscaped as well. I used new guinea impatients, lobellia, and a white flower that I have forgotten the name of. It will come back to me eventually. I am still waiting on the things I planted out near the road to poke through. Some of the dahlia's have but not much else.


And I have ordered some grass. This stuff looks very promising. I will let you know how it works. I used some of my birthday money to get it, 600 plugs of it. It might take a couple of years to fill in, but according to what they advertise it is impervious to a lot of stuff and requires little "maintenance". I know the people around here will like that cause not many of them like to mow the grass like I do, I just don't have the time. I will keep you posted!!