My May Gardens

Lamb's Ear

After planting perennials for 20 years or so, my May gardens have new blooms every day. The most spectacular of those are peonies. I have a pink peony that has expanded and produced more flowers every year. It's about 3 feet across now and loaded with flowers. Lamb's ear, iris, and azalea are also  blooming.

Peony

Bearded Iris

Another fun thing about the May garden is starting vegetable plants from seeds. I have bush beans and zucchini started. We're holding off on tomatoes and eggplant. I had a problem with those plants collapsing from a fungus last year. This year they will be relocated to another location in smaller quantities.

Zucchini Sprouting

Zucchini- 1 month after planting seeds

Bush Beans - 1 month after planting seeds

As an experiment, my husband bought a couple of strawberry plants last year. I enjoyed a few tasty bites while working in the garden. Through the fall and spring those plants sent out runners that developed into two dozen strawberry plants. I have strawberries ripening everywhere ya'll! It's a lot of fun to check on these.

I hope your gardens are off to a good start. All the best!

The April Garden: Ready to Roll!

Bearded Iris

It's early April and, while I am cautious about a late frost, it's time to plan and start on spring garden activities.

Asparagus

Vegetable Gardening

The asparagus bed has started producing. A weekend away resulted in a couple of foot-high stalks.

Asparagus Harvest 4-8-2018

About a month ago, I discovered new strawberry plants shooting off of a couple of last year's. With just a little replanting, I have two respectable rows of strawberries. Some of these are flowering and small green fruits are visible.

Strawberry Plant with Flowers and Fruits

If you read my blog, you might remember that we put down tarps and barrier fabric between rows and around plants. This was a super easy way to control grass and weeds growing around the vegetables. For the first time, we left most of the tarps down for the winter. This has saved us a lot of work as the rows are ready for planting.

The uncovered part of the garden is full of weeds and grass and will need tilling. In the past, I have planted sunflowers in this area. The squirrel predation was heartbreaking last year, and I am undecided about planting the sunflowers again.

Because of serious losses due to a wilt virus, no tomatoes or eggplant will be started in this garden. I'll have a few container plants on the deck.

Bush beans, zucchini squash, and yellow squash grow great and will be planted from seed soon.

Azalea

Flowers

I've transitioned most of my flowers to perennials. The bearded iris and azaleas are blooming now as the forsythia fades away.

Over the winter, we cut down two 20-year old camellias that had outgrown their locations. Although the blooms were gorgeous, these bushes were small trees and blocked window views. Sometimes life gets busy and plants really grow out-of-control. Guilty as charged. I am so excited to see out these new open views to the wildlife around the house.

Thanks for reading! I'll write more after I get some vegetable plants going. This will be soon I hope!

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Winter Comes Roaring Back in March

Beautiful Daffodils in February 2017

In central North Carolina, we enjoyed extremely mild February weather, and the most beautiful daffodil crop in recent memory. People were wearing shorts, and even I wore sandals on February 12 when temperatures hit 83F. The mean temperature for February was 53.3F which was higher than the record set in 1887. 1887!

It was a glorious month! We were planning our vegetable garden. Fortunately,  local meteorologists cautioned that April 15th is the average last frost so most gardeners resisted the urge to rush spring planting.

Dark-eyed Juncos Hung Around for Winter's Return

Winter came back in March. I'm writing this on the 19th, and temperatures have dipped below freezing on 7 days. I have never seen vegetative damage from a hard freeze this severe. Because February teased the plants into an early spring, more blooms and tender leaves took a beating when temperatures dipped below freezing.

Frost Damage on Leaves of Butterfly Bush

Cold Temperatures Drop Irises

 

Sedum was Unaffected by Cold

Young Peony Survived Frost without Damage

 Have you had unseasonable weather in your area? How has it affected your plants? Please share in the comments below. All the best everyone! Nice spring weather is just around the corner.

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