It's May!

Earlier this week the weather was on the cool side--in the 50s but yesterday, the temperature was in the 80s. This morning we has a crazy thunderstorm and the rain was intense. In fact, it rained so hard that many of the trees that are in bloom lost their flowers.




The tomatoes that I have been growing under lights are doing great. All of the seeds have germinated and the plants have their first true leaves. I'll have to lower the shelf this week because the plants are almost touching the light bulbs. The pepper plants haven't germinated yet.

Many of the early blooming perennials are beginning to set bloom and even flower. The coral belles are sending up stalks of flowers and a few are beginning to open. The bleeding heart also has flowers on it. The columbines have doubled in size this week and are covered with buds. They'll probably have flowers on them by the end of the week.



Most of the bulbs have finished blooming. There still are a few daffodils left in the back yard but they are definitely at the end of their cycle. The yellow tulips are still in bloom in the front yard but I noticed this morning that the rain storm has knocked the heads off of some of them.


I went to Lowe's last Sunday to buy some more violas but they were out of the six packs that I had purchased at the beginning of the month. I planted the purple and yellow pansies in four hanging pots and six planters but I have not planted the orange ones yet. I'm waiting for the cherry tree in front to finish blooming because I don't want clashing colors.

I also went to Panettas on Thursday to buy onion sets. Ken has finished one of the raised beds and as soon as he fills it with soil, I will plant the onions. I'll place them around the edges and then put green beans in the center when the weather warms up. I will plant the sets close so that we can pull up some to use as scallions and let others mature to full size.

The weather has been beautiful during the day time but in the high 30s at night. All of the plants have been able to weather the cold nights without any negative effects.

I was ill last weekend so I wasn't able to do any gardening. However, I have been trying to make up for it during the evenings this week. I now have four hanging pots and 10 planters filled with violas. They really add a splash of color to the gardens in the backyard. Also, I have planted two containers of lettuce, one container of radishes, and three containers of carrots. Yesterday, Ken and I planted four cans of potatoes. Two of the cans contain Yukon Golds (early to midseason), one can contains Russet Burbanks (early to midseason), and one can contains Red Norlands (labelled best early season). We filled the containers two-thirds full with a mixture of top soil and composted manure.

We also planted two types of two year old asparagus roots (Jersey King and Mary Washington) several weeks ago. I have wanted to raise this crop for more than thirty years but I never seemed to get around to it. So I decided that this was the year that I would do something about it. Ken dug a long, deep ditch next to the house next to the sunroom. Then he spread out the roots of the plants and put three to four inches of soil over them. On Thursday (April 22), he mixed some of the soil from the trench with the worm compost that he had been making this winter and spread another few inches over the plants. When they begin to emerge from the ground, he'll mound more dirt around them and then we'll add mulch to keep the weeds at bay.

In addition, I started seeds indoors. On Friday, April 16, I sowed six different types of tomato seeds--Lemon Boy, Super Sweet 100, Sungold, 4th of July, Italian Romas, and Jubilee. I have grown all of these varieties in the past except for the Italian Romas. These specific seeds were from Botanical Interests and the label on the package says that they are "an excellent old heirloom tomato used for sauce or canning and that they have firm, meaty 3 inch oblong fruits with few seeds growing on compact determinate vines."

When I went to water these tomatoes on Thursday, I noticed that all of the seeds had already germinated. Last year, the peppers would not grow and I had a feeling that it might be the peat pots that I was using. So yesterday, I decided to try growing peppers again. I planted jalapenos, anchos, and poblanos.

PURCHASES

This year I want to be more vigilant about how much I am spending on the garden. So here it goes!

Thursday, March 11

• Six packets of vegetable seeds (English Gardens): $7.80. This price includes a 30% discount.

Wednesday, March 17

• Four packets of vegetable seeds (English Gardens): $5.89. this price includes a 30% discount.

Thursday, April 1

• A pair of Woman's Work gardening gloves (English Gardens): $24.99 plus tax. However, I had a coupon for $5 off so I saved this amound off of the regular price.
• Four packages of potato seeds (English Gardens): $19.04. They were on sale for buy one get one half off. Each package was $5.99 so the two half-off packages were $2.99.
• Two packages of asparagus (English Gardens): $10.49 plus tax; They were on sale for buy one get one half off. Each package was regularly $6.99 so the half-off package was $3.50.

Friday, April 2:

• Two bags of pottting soil (Lowe's): $15.00
• Flat of 18 Violas (Westborn Market): $14.99 + tax. If I had purchased the six packs separately, I would have spent $5.99 for each one.

Friday, April 9:

• Two flats of 36 Violas each (Lowe's): $10.68 plus tax. The violas were priced at 89 cents per six pack and there were 6 six-packs per flat.

Sunday, April 25

• One 32 quart bag of Moisture Control Potting Soil (Lowe's): $8.97 plus tax

Sunday, May 2

• Four bags of Cocoa Mulch (Panetta's): $23.29

Sunday, May 9

• Bronze Sierra Planter (Lowe's): $19.97 plus tax (-10.00 discount)
• All Purpose Potting Soil (Lowe's): 2 x $3.67 = $7.34 plus tax
• Four bags of Cocoa Mulch (Panetta's): $18.00 plus tax (On Sale!)

Friday, May 14

• Four-pack of broccoli (English Gardens): $2.11

Saturday, May 14

• Four hanging baskets (Targets): $25.40 ($5.99 each)
• Four bags cocoa mulch (Panetta's): $19.07

Sunday, May 23

• Two bags of topsoil for potatoes (Lowe's): $2.50