May 5, 2013 - Wind, Bugs and a Busy Day

I don't know which has been worse this spring, the wind or the bugs.  Even the late frost wasn't as damaging, as the only thing that suffered were the potatoes and they snapped right out of it and started growing like crazy.  Many of my marigolds and a couple of parsley seedlings were chewed to the ground, then of course there was the cutworm damage to a couple of the cabbages and half my broccoli plants.  Now half of my bed of carrots has disappeared.  The parsnip bed is also looking a bit sparse, and there are some big empty spaces in the beets, but I think that is due to poor germination.  So....today I replant!  That is, if the wind calms down enough to allow me to plant without blowing the seeds and seed mats away.

Carrot seed mats and tapes are made and ready to go.

The weather, although extremely windy, was beautiful yesterday, so I got a lot accomplished.

I did some adjustments on the height of the shelves to allow for plant growth, and put the hot peppers and a Patio tomato there for the summer.  I had one geranium left over after planting nine of them in the front yard planters, so I potted it up for a bit of color on the patio table.

I used the leaf blower to give the entire patio a good cleaning, and a damp rag to wipe down the railings.

I cleaned the winter crud off of the barbecue, set the baker's rack up to form a bit of a divider between the potted cherry tomato and the patio, and planted two pots of marigold seeds to set on the shelves.  I gave the barbecue a good cleaning, and watered the remaining (leftover) tomato and pepper plants.  These orphans have no home, and I can't bear to toss them!

I had decided to move the hot pepper pots to the patio, so I pushed some bamboo poles into their spaces and planted Fortex Pole beans there instead.  I've grown pole beans in this spot before, and they provided some nice edible shade as they clung to the lattice patio screen.  The 3 Patio tomatoes will remain here.

I weeded and cleaned up every single flower (I should say flowerless) bed in the back yard.

Including this one, which required much pruning of lilac suckers.

And I mowed the entire back yard with the push mower, which is the only mower we have with a bagger.  Usually Mr. Granny uses the riding mower and leaves the mulched clippings on the lawn, but I needed grass clippings to put around some of my garden plants.  I'm just glad I don't have to do that every week, but it was certainly good exercise!

The shade garden got weeded, and pine tree mess was raked from the path.

Once all that was done, I moved on to the front yard.  Wind, wind and more wind had left another mess of pine boughs, pine cones and pine needles all over the porch, lawn, flower beds and driveway.  I had to hand pick it all off of the mulch, then sweep everything else up and dispose of it.  Then I planted 9 zonal geraniums into the three planters by the front porch.  

They certainly provide a needed punch of color, and I think they will be quite beautiful when they are larger and have some blue lobelia tumbling down over the sides of the planters.  I think I should move the rockers to the back patio.  It's beginning to look like an old folk's home with so many chairs lined up on the front porch!