just before

the freeze, I took these pictures. My older sister sent me a packet of wildflower seeds (deer resistant). It was late in the season, but I scattered them in one of the empty garden beds. And some grew! They came up a month or so ago. This is definitely a marigold- and one of the few left still alive after the chill.

These I think are alyssum

and this one came up in the middle of something else, looks like a monarda

I don't recognize the others- and it was hard to tease out the small weeds from among some of them

but they're all done for now anyways, from the cold

more plants out, and 4th sowing

A few days ago I planted out parsley, dill and chervil. Parsley into planter boxes on the deck railing, chervil into deck pots, half the dill in deck pots and the rest in a garden bed, alongside the arugula (which has gone bitter now) and chard.

Last year was not a good one for summer savory, but this year looks promising! So many little seedlings I am probably going to double them up in pots, and discard the smallest.

Only eight tithonia seeds sprouted, but I got a whole thirty marigolds. Which is fewer than normal, and just enough to handle. I went ahead and potted them all up.

Moved basils to pots too- these are the purple aromatto.

More stuff got pricked out of seedling trays and potted today: blue sage (fewer than I'd like- only six)

Clary sage- saved from seeds on plants I bought at the nursery last year, then planted out just too late for the flowers to be enjoyed in the yard. But now I'll have plenty!

Mishap: my two fenugreek seedlings died one day when it got too hot in the mini greenhouse. I sowed borage in the empty tray, but then a far-too-tiny seedling sprouted the very next day. I think this is one of the fenugreek that hadn't sprouted the first time around.

A while back I sowed two large trays with over a dozen seeds from a cedar shrub (small tree?) that grew in my mother's yard. I'd harvested those seeds 12 years ago, wasn't sure any would sprout. Stratified them in cold, between a layer of damp sand in fridge for month and a half. Only one came up, so I am really trying to be careful with it!

Also potted one culinary sage- I'd sowed five or six seed but only got one. My sage out in the garden hasn't shown signs of growth. Also no sign of green onions yet this spring, I sowed a tray of that too. And two trays of celosia, to put out in the mailbox spot where nothing is growing yet.

a few garden things

My lovely scented geranium looks recovered now, and is even blooming.

Kale was cut back down to the ground (because I ate it) and new leaves look better, just a few bug holes (I caught the caterpillars)

Zucchini is a grand thicket, but some of the fruits are rotting again before I can pick them. Turn yellow and shrivel, don't grow out nice. My sister says they do this if fail to get pollinated.

I am still not fond of marigolds, but I do appreciate their job- the scent seems to keep away the deer and rabbits (who have eaten all my hostas again). I wonder if I could plant a low wall of marigolds around the hotas. But there's not enough sun. Or at least in a spot that would deter the deer from entering the yard? Hm.

Made a new recipe (from a borrowed library book): lemon bars with thyme in the crust.

I thought it was delicious! 

before the heat

My golden snap peas grew taller and flopped over. I stuck bamboo poles on one side to hold them up. Pulled a handful of beets for eating today- and they're beautiful. Helped my kid plant out his herbs, and I planted one of the beds with the benne and amaranth 'calaloo'. Nasturtiums went into planter boxes on the deck railings, and peppers into larger pots to sit on the deck. I carefully disentangled the cardinal climbers from each other and set them in place alongside the new trellis- will put them in the ground tonight. I've had to do most of this in the early evening, when the day cools off, it's getting too hot otherwise. 

Still in pots to be planted out (or moved up to grow more): asters, hollyhock mallow (zebrina), tithonia, a half dozen stunted marigolds I'm not sure if it's worth the bother to find spots for them.

failures

I'm giving up on some plants. They're just so stunted from the poor soil I used when seedlings, when I couldn't buy the ProMix. Some I have repotted in better soil, or am hoping they might recover when planted into the ground soon. Others I've already thrown on the compost heap, think they'll never get over the lack of nutrients in their youth. Like the fenugreek, so pale

and all arrested in growth. My basils have okay color, but haven't grown any. The peppers have remained this size 

compared to the bought ones

Of all the alyssums, only the white one has grown any at all- every single pink and purple is stunted. Even those I planted out in the front perennial bed weeks ago, haven't grown at all.

One of my dill pots is decent

the other pathetic

Chervil also stunted. Cut a bit of it to toss into a soup but it wasn't much more than a garnish.

All the second set of marigolds have been this size, with oddly upfolded leaves, for weeks and weeks

while the few I planted earlier (decent soil) are ready to go in the garden

At least my tomatoes seem partly recovered, so I hope they might do better once in the ground

A few have little tomatoes on them already

That's not the end of it, sigh. Benne, amaranth 'calaloo', thyme, summer savory, tithonias, zebrina flower (hollyhock mallow), asters are all arrested in growth. It makes me feel ashamed, to look at all these tiny halted plants compared to same kinds I saw at the nursery just a few weeks ago. 

and on the deck

Lowest temp was just above 60° last night, so my tomatoes spent their first overnight in the coldframe.

Some of them are starting to look better- and even flower already

My older set of marigolds are flowering 

and one nasturtium, although its leaves are small and few

I cut down the tops of citrus geranium, and replanted in its same pot

Have decided that, even though I like folding paper pots for seedlings (mainly because it's two forms of recycling- reusing brown paper packing and brown paper bags as pots, then tearing them up to compost in the bin after the plants are grown out), I am going to ease up on that and hoard more small nursery pots (or even buy a ton of them) instead. Because the plants just do better in more spacious, plastic pots. The smaller herbs seem to do okay in folded paper pots- but I'm guessing because they dry out quicker and crowd the roots more, a lot of my plants don't. Like the tithonias. In nursery pots:

In paper pots- sad:

more paper pots

for my second group of Marigolds

Nasturtiums-

and the sweet alyssum

the largest one looks has a bud forming!

I've also potted up my tomatoes finally- this is half of them-

and pricked the sweet peas out of their seedling tray. This year different- I made a tripod of poles in a pot and planted three, four  sweet peas around each. For on the deck.

marigold and nasturtium

It's about time to pot up these marigold seedlings-

but there are more nasturtiums coming up in the tray from below!

There's at least four, maybe five-

So I'll wait longer and then have to tease them apart very carefully.

mostly coleus

Potted up the first marigolds- there's only four

and the leeks- only five. I let that seedling tray sit in the greenhouse; last year a few leeks sprouted later than the others.

The second set of coleus cuttings all have nice root growth, so I moved them into pots today-

These two sets of 'crazy rodeo drive' were in different spots- those on the left got more sun. Darker color, also thicker stems (thought they could be older cuttings, I can't recall).

One 'watermelon' stem has rounder leaves again- but the newer foliage is already growing out normal

Two of my favorite kinds I had not taken second cuttings of yet at all. Did so today. 'Kiwi fern'

And 'exhibition limelight'- I'm especially looking forward to having this on the edge of the garden just under the deck. Two stems per jar here- there will be lots!

the discarded leaves:

Had another discard, among the newer houseplants. This calathea 'medallion'. Good thing it was my least favorite of them.