Planting in the Rain

    The area where the corn will be planted is once again clear of weeds, and so a few days ago, some organic white Sugar Pearl corn kernels were placed between wet paper towels in a pie tin.  They sprouted after a couple of days, and today I planted a row.  I’ve got room for five rows of corn this year, so the plan is to plant one row at a time, a week apart, to make an extended harvest possible.  It’s the same method I’m using with the carrots. 
    Carrot seeds were planted in the second carrot patch.  For these, I roughed up the surface of the dirt, then spread seeds down.  I covered them with about ¼ inch of dirt from the next plot over by picking up a handful and rubbing the dirt between my hands over the seeds, so that a thin layer of fine soil fell on top of the seeds.  I watered in the seeds, and then thinned out the first patch of carrot sprouts to about one inch apart. 
    Some more watermelon and cantaloupe seeds were planted in their respective areas.  The previously planted seeds did not germinate, probably because I planted them too early, and the soil was not consistently warm enough.  Watermelon and cantaloupe seeds get directly sowed into the ground, ½ to 1 inch deep.  I did not bother watering because it has been raining on and off all day today, and they will get rained on later. 
    More birdhouse gourd seeds were soaked overnight and planted one inch deep under the yellow ladder trellis today.  The first planting five weeks ago did not sprout.

    I soaked a about a tablespoon (probably too many) of Morning Glory seeds for planting tomorrow.  These seeds have a hard outer shell, and need to be soaked in room temperature water overnight before planting one inch deep under a trellis.
    We have two light-green leaved Heucherellas or Heucheras (I’m not sure which one they are) that in previous years were, in my experience, average sized, about 18 inches tall.  This year, these plants grew to be about three feet tall, and since they are planted right next to the walkway, they keep getting in the way when people walk by.  So I had to trim them.  Unfortunately, I cut them down to six inches before getting a picture of them… I’ve never seen them so tall. 

The Fruits of Neglect

   I had to take a break from the garden (and the blog), and now that I’m back, the garden is overgrown with unwanted plants.  Grass has sprouted everywhere.  There must have been grass seeds in the soil that I exposed last month.  It is a variety that goes to seed while the grass is still only an inch or two tall, and so there will be seeds being dropped before I will be able to remove the grass… it seems that this will be an ongoing battle.  Also, sprouts of the dreaded Bitter Dock have been sighted.
    However, many plants have made a welcome return, such as Digitalis (foxglove), Calendula, and common plantain, a medicinal herb.  We have two specimens of Lupine, one is a dark pink, and the other is purple, and they have begun to bloom.  Purple Irises are blooming as well.
   

  There are watermelon sprouts in one of the two watermelon patches, but no growth in the other one, and no cantaloupe sprouts either.  The gourds have not sprouted; same with the morning glories, and all the herb seeds I planted over a month ago.  Nothing.  I will have to replace all those this week.
   

  We have asparagus!  Well, asparagus fronds, actually.
  My uncle planted an eight foot long row of asparagus in an eighteen inch deep trench two years ago, and after so long with no visible activity, I lost faith in them, and filled in the trench, and planned and planted this year’s garden on top of the former trench.  Well, now there are about ten asparagus fronds, all lined up neat in a row, none taller than fifteen inches, growing where the trench was.  So, we’ll give it a few years, and we'll be eating homegrown asparagus.
   

  The first plot of carrots have sprouted, and are just about ready to be thinned out.  It’s time to plant seeds in the second plot.





   

  The snap peas are about six inches tall, and are grasping the twine lines strung over the row.  The peas would grow bushy and produce just fine without the twine, but this year, we're giving them a little extra support.     

  The shade garden is maturing.  The hostas have unraveled and opened their leaves.  This garden was planted two summers ago, so this is the third season of growth.

  The two Bleeding Hearts and the Hosta ‘Elegans’ are not as large as I expected them to be this year.
The Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ did not return, which is disappointing because I liked it a lot, and it was pretty expensive when I bought it.  Also not appearing is the Athyrium niobium var. pictum (Japanese Painted Fern), but it was pretty weak last year and had only two small five inch fronds.  Making a surprise return is the Astilbe ‘Deutschland,’ which was not present last summer at all.  There is one stem with leaves coming up.  I had counted it as lost; I have tried growing Astilbe before, and it seemed like they need a lot of water to survive, or at least get established, and I did not have success my first time. 

  The Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Golden Japanese Forest Grass) is looking nice, but it is also not coming back as large as I thought that it would be.  Perhaps later in the season, it will grow out; pictures I’ve seen of it show a wide leaved clump of bowing grass, a foot tall and wide.  This specimen is less than half that.  We’ll see what the future holds for this young plant.

    The white Calla Lilies have begun to bloom; these are some of my favorite plants because the flowers are beautiful, and the foliage is large and tropical looking.  They really fill up space, growing three to four feet tall, and three feet wide.  We use garden fencing around them to keep the leaves and flowers upright, because they tend to get weighted down with water when it rains.
    Much beauty unfolding, but much more work to be done to ensure continuing beauty here at Brookside.