Patience Pays in Gardening

Pictures of our work the past few days.  We finally built the flower bed on the hill and I got to plant in it!  I need to get all these plants in the ground! And there are still more to plant, but I need to draft some plans before I add to an already established bed in front of the porch.  I will take a few days off from planting to do other stuff.

Well, here is the end product!  I couldn't get the pics placed at the bottom and I am too tired to fuss about it.  Since our soil is clay, I filled this box with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of top soil (leftover from a truck load we got for the veggie boxes), sphagnum peat moss, compost and pine bark mini nuggets.  I decided on this mix based on lots of reading on websites and talking to some people.  (I like to grill the garden center employees to compare answers.)  I have found it to be very light and easy to plant, transplant and weed in.  The peat moss is acidic and the pine bark is also (although not as much as the hardwood of the pine).  I will eventually test the soil to see how it comes out.  But for now, I am praying over my plants.  After all, some planted, some watered, but it is God who makes things grow both spiritually and physically.

So, what did I plant, you may be wondering.  I planted three rows of fairly well spaced perennials in here.  Although if they all grow to their fullest potential quickly it will get crowded and need thinned out.  In my mind's eye, I picture a beautiful collection of taller plants (12'' or higher) placed so that the highest ones are in the back.  A stunning collection of blooms and foliage visited by many a butterfly and hummingbird.  (Please, please with sugar on top.)  :o)  IN THE BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Lupine seeds because they can't transplant as seedlings, a pink Foxglove, Snow on the Mountain (people allergic to latex need to be careful handling this plant), another pink Foxglove, more Lupine seeds (Tutti Frutti mix). IN THE MIDDLE ROW L-R: a Poppy, a spike plant with a round ball from my aunt and uncle's garden (last minute addition, not time to research), Echinecea and Black-Eyed Susan transplants from the seed start barrel (I think), another tall Spring blooming plant from my aunt and uncle, another Poppy.  THE FRONT ROW: violet Penstemon, Clustered Bellflower (purple), another Clustered Bellflower, Verbascum, two Bee Balm transplants (I am pretty sure). I also planted two small transplants in a "cleft" of the hill (with a few handfuls of good soil) to see what these "native plants" are able to do.  And I tucked Graveyard Moss Sedum (a ground cover) in six cracks in the stone wall Dave built for the flower bed.  Now, we need to pray for rain.  It's been blowing past us all day long. 

Dave worked hard last Thursday building me a flower "box" on the back hill.  

I don't know why, but I just have this urge to conquer the back hill.  Maybe because it's a third of our entire yard.  I imagine so many lovely things growing back there. In addition to this flower garden, I am hoping to establish some native plants that will flourish in pour soil.  We won't know until next year if this flower box will be as striking as I imagine it.  Got a major deal perennials back home in Ohio which saved me from my failed attempts to grow perennials from seed.  (Not always possible with some varieties.)  Dave had a fun time trying to fit them in the car.

Creative shade for some transplants. I transplanted about 40 zinnia starts (about 2-3 inches tall).  I LOVE zinnia flowers.  They make great cut flowers for summer flower vases.  I usually buy them from a farmer at the farmer's market who sells them for a reasonable price.  Hopefully I will have some of my own this summer. 

More creative shade for the zinnia starts.  I had such a fun time adding the zinnias to this herb garden because we had worked hard to create a nice loamy soil.  I am hopeful that in addition to my herbs, I will have a beautiful border of flowers to cut from later this summer.

The zinnia starts were fading the next day in the harsh sunlight.  I think I have lost 3-4 of them between my 4 locations (3 plus the original start location).

Feeding herself yogurt and watching her Daddy work from inside the house.  She is 15 months old today.  I also learned that today is one of her great grandma's birthday.  We love you Great Grandma Doris.