swap day

It made me feel so happy and satisfied to fill my car with plants for the local swap yesterday! I haven't done this in such a long time. I took to give: 

12 tomato plants 

5 fleabane 

1 rudbeckia 

1 St. John's wort 

2 hellebores 

2 large clumps of 'autumn joy' sedum 

1 almond (ha ha )

6 paper lunch bags full of echinacea seed

I came back with (one of each unless noted):

buttonbush

self-heal

rattlesnake master

white wood aster

American aster

ostrich fern

cutleaf coneflower

blue lobelia

narrow leaf blue-eyed grass

baby cedar tree

half a dozen obedient plants

Most of these I have not grown before, or didn't even know what they are- I just picked them up because they looked interesting or sounded familiar. Willing to give new plants a try though it is a learning curve for me now.

I only took a few photos so far- the buttonbush was bare root so that one I was anxious to get in the ground. I put it in a bare low spot back of the yard- where it's often damp and other things have failed- one of my rhodies finally died and the other two in that area look sad. I hope this plant is happy here and fills in the space-

like the spice bush nearby is finally doing- large enough to notice now!

I also put in the obedient plants- alongside the steps on the smaller sideyard, where tore out lots of vinca last week. And then one ostrich fern. The clump of them alongside the house on the larger sideyard, where they get quite a bit of sun, are looking grand. The few I put in around maples on the easement slope have always stayed small and sparse. I used to think it was too dry for them there, now wonder if it's just too dim. So this one I put closer to the edge of the tree shade- next to an iris that never blooms.

I liked the way the overlap looked in that picture, but it's not really that close to the iris-

And just because I like ferns and these are more have unfurled- lady ferns in the shade of japanese holly (the few I had in the back bed with hellebores near the echinacea patch have disappeared).

More photos later, when I put more stuff in the ground.

It's colder today, raining and tonight/tomorrow chance of frost. I am once again bringing plants inside, and shifting others into the greenhouse and coldframe for a bit of protection overnight. For the day, I moved all my 'keeper' tomatoes (they're the largest ones) into the greenhouse, bottom shelf with the middle one above propped up out of the way. 

Summer savory sprouted today! and a few hyssop are up- so tiny. They will start life out under plastic and cages in the window, until warmer in a few days can go out into the greenhouse. They don't like a chill.

moved around

I roughly tore up all the milkweed on the larger sideyard last year- it always looks kinda sickly, and no monarchs visit. I knew I wouldn't get it all and sure enough some are sprouting up again. Two also were higher up the slope among the obedient plants and turtlehead- must've come up from seed- I dug those and moved them to a blank spot against the house wall. Maybe they will do better in a different location.

The obedient plant patch is spreading- sideways into the walking path (which isn't paved yet, just grass and weeds I keep mowed short). I dug up a bunch along the edge and resituated them further down.

Also dug up some of the 'autumn joy' sedums from the front bed- giving more room to the pulmonaria I've put in that spot

Since learning that the daisy-looking plant with nice scented leaves (when you break them) is a native that feeds the pollinators, I've been rescuing the ones that come up in the lawn, moved them to a back area under a tree where I don't want yellow salvia anymore. The fleabane actually looks nice there. Here's some I put in pots to take to the plant trade, as well.

garden glory

pink clematis! (purple one just has fat buds and is all misshapen because I did a bad, hasty job of pruning it last year when not thinking straight) 

First columbine

Alliums are starting to open in the front bed

I thought my 'espresso' geranium was dead- but it's not! and blooming

Soon clary sage will too. One of my favorites.

progress in the garden

Tokyo bekana is big enough to eat now.

Same with the lettuces- 

and tatsoi- which is getting bitten however- probably flea beetles

I had sowed more beet seeds in the gaps and some are coming up now- smaller plants on either side of these larger ones

I really like sitting on the garden bench and looking at the light through the young beet leaves- with the red veins

Have mulched the turnips- though they probably don't need it - but it keeps the beds looking tidy and uniform.

Seems like just a week ago my peas were barely emerging-

and now they're climbing up

things growing

First true leaves of parsley!

My tomatoes have grown taller than the coldframe.

There's a few nights of frost still expected, I'll have to bring them in.

And move the plant cage again- it's now out on the deck protecting some things from my cat! I put a bit of fencing around the lower part of the deck railings, so the cats don't lean out so far looking like they'll jump. They really like hanging out on the deck with us now. But Eliza chomps all the plants. The foreground pot in here is of sprouted wheat I pulled out of the mulched beds and stuck in dirt for her- but I have to keep her from chewing it down to nothing, give her access to it only occasionally. Also protected are- thyme, chives (which she chewed a lot of) and dill. The mint pot is unsheltered, she leaves that one alone.

I also had to block her from getting onto the greenhouse shelves and biting plants in there. With the coldframe window.

The cats especially like being on the deck right now because there is a bird nesting under one corner of it- on top of that carpenter bee trap I hung.

Today I managed to get a few photos of it- I think they're house finches. The male has a rosy chest and head.

From above, you can put your eye to a crack between the boards and see straight into the nest- five small very pale blue eggs. I can't wait to see the baby birds hatch! 

one more sowing

Probably the last one of the year. Pole beans straight into pots in the greenhouse. Summer savory, basil and hyssop in starter trays on top of the fridge. Sage just pressed onto the top of seed starter mix, lidded with plastic and set by a window.

Outside, I dug up the smaller of my two lovage plants to take to swap next week- one plant is really far more than I need, and the bigger one sure is thriving. In its place I put the two smaller dill plants that were still in their little pots. (So now there's two in the garden and two in a large pot on the deck). Come fall I might dig up the larger lovage entirely, move it to be more centered in the bed. Right now it kind of crowds the edge.

work outside

I've been pulling dandelions and purple dead nettle. Think am starting to finally get ahead of the creeping jenny- the patch didn't take nearly as long to clear out this year as the last time I tackled it, and only three more pieces were showing green when I walked by it again today (pausing at once to tease those out of the ground). Cleared vinca off the smaller sideyard today, will get to the rest of it on the upper area around the lilac bush soon. 

Peonies and turtlehead are up, black-and-blue salvia showing lots of leaves, joe pye just starting to peek above the ground.

The week before when I thinned the beets, I tucked some of them back into the ground. Didn't expect a high survival rate, but actually most of them are still alive and have perked up again! So I tried the same with the carrots. The bed is full of weeds and unevenly spaced carrot seedlings, crowded here and there.

I tidied it up and all the pulled carrots that actually had some roots, put them back into the ground in blank spots, using the blade of a butter knife and sliding them into the gap, then pressing tight around. Except- I think a bunch of these weren't carrots after all, but grass of some kind? Did I just save a bunch of grass bits in neat little rows. They don't have the pretty ferny leaves. Will keep an eye on them and yank out again if I've made a mistake.

At least it looks more orderly now.

Have started eating tatsoi- there's not enough of it! and lovage, which is thick and lovely. And today had some sculpit sauteed in butter with rice and carrots. There's actually only one sculpit plant left in the herb bed- I think the winter cold did them in- and two that sprouted under the deck which I will move.

Monarda all seems to be missing from the rear flower bed, too. Just one or two, and lots of mock strawberry, where they used to be thick. I wonder if it was too cold for them (but all the echinacea are alive and well). However there's this one that was in bed 9, which I dug up and moved to the larger sideyard, so when multiplies itself I can restock the back area as well.