Potting Part 1

 “If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact and  the extensions of a verdant heart.” 
― Russell Page, The Education of a Gardener

 Finally! I can plant. Oh happy day!

 When I was setting up I noticed the pair of doves that nest here....

 He was grooming her

 All lovey dovey

 The two of them feed off the seed pan I have set up year round. Their nest  high up in the pines.

 Spencer from the hill. Scientia Cattus. Took a moment from his supervision duties to snooze.

 I laid out all the flats on the sidewalk by the back of the house. That way I could keep tabs on whether they needed watering. The days are much hotter now.

 It's hard to keep the flats from drying out. Time to get them stuffed into dirt.Cordelia watched from her Moai today. 

 When I do pots, I make a mess. Dirt flies.  Hanging baskets are almost always first.

 That and the pots on the porch. The shade flowers. Fuschia, Begonias, Impatiens, Lobelia, and multicoloured Coleus. I put the Coleus in the trough under the porch eaves. It can be touchy sometimes, and doesn't like to be to watered or in a wind. They especially like growing together.

 I also noticed today the sweet peas are up. Little hands reaching through the dirt.

 And the Centaurea. I scattered more seeds last fall. I think they took this year.

 “Plants want to grow; they are on your side as long as you are reasonably sensible.”― Anne Wareham

 I find it easiest to pot things when I put two card tables together and tie a tarp over top to protect  them.Then I can work standing up moving pots back and forth as they get filled.

 But I make sure to save Spencer's flower pot. Just for him. I will never plant in it. That way he can sleep in it if he wishes when he visits. These days, he's here every day.....

 This year I decided to make it simple...

 Geraniums and Verbeena for hanging baskets...

 And in the next blog I'll post the second day of planting.  I think I have about 100 or so. Took two days to get it all done.  Spencer supervised. My daughters helped lug the table and dirt pails and planted with me when they got the chance......Nothing like having dirt under your nails and slugs crawling about to make you feel great.

 “One must also have faith to grow flowers...” 
― Stella Walthal Patterson, Dear Mad'm

Patience....

 "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience..."
                                                                            -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Patience. The greenhouse is full of flats.Patiently waiting to be planted.

 Clematis pods  exploding. Waiting for the blooms.

  Peace flower  unfolds, day after day. 

 Bleeding heart droops in the air.

 Patience. Spencer-the neighbour's-cat, sits on the fence . Tail twitching.

 A tray of broken marigolds. At half price. Seem to miraculously mend themselves in their flat. Patiently hoping they won't get squashed again.

While the Smoke Bush puffs away on pollen.

 "Wait. Be patient. The storms will pass. Spring will come..."
                                                                   -Robert Schuller

 Cordelia-from-the-hill shows like a frothy ghost against the plum tree.

 Blossoms  fall. Consistently.

 Light changes. Sun moves from here to there and back again.

 Centaurea. Waits to bloom. Pops out of the compost. Like some sort of horror flick. Only there's no horror. 

 "Patience is not simply the ability to wait, it's how we behave while we're waiting..." -Joyce Meyer

 Cobra ferns twist and turn. Waiting for the weather to change. For rains to come.

 And so  skies change. And everything waits . Waits for the next day. And the next.

 And Spencer.Who has a great deal of patience.... snoozes on the porch. In the Dusk. 

                "Have patience with all things......" -St. Francis de Sales

              (Smokey (Spencer's brother)  from 2017. Sleeping in what was his favourite spot)
Photos 2018

How the Garden Grows.....

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves."
                                        ~Mahatma Gandhi

 Veggies: from left to right: Beets ( can't see them much , little red leaves  squeaking up thru  dirt), lettuce, radishes.More lettuce. A huge row of sunflowers, broccoli ( you can see them waving  feathery hats), row of knee hi sweet peas, Campanula down-right ( big ole clump that will bloom all summer), Centaurea close to fence, cabbages ( just out of range). VERBASCUM, down-left, poking its leaves thru the fence. Oh, and carrots ( really slow to get going, on other side of sunflowers) . And not just any carrots, heritage ones, purples, blues, oranges........

The garden grows. The bees buzz. 

 The sky swirls.

 And the cats roam. Spencer still likes his yellow cup.

 And the slugs....well...they slug it out.  Nothing but a can of beer won't cure.A can of beer for the slugs, that is......

 This year I'm trying real slug bait beer traps, not homemade versions.  These ones sink into the dirt. I'm also trying real beer, rather than non-alcoholic. I have yet to check the beer hot tub to see how it is working.

 I may find worms in the trap. Or beetles. They like beer too. Apparently.

 Grapes are graping. ( Not sure if that is a term, but then, explains it better).Smokey avails himself of the arbour. Daily. He has that bird's eye view....

 Sunflowers are like little umbrellas these days.

 The cat plant thrives. He still likes the pot. He doesn't seem to need re-potting....

 Sunflowers beg to be replanted. I just haul them up  out of the masses and put them somewhere else.  Douse them with a goodly dose of water to get them to reset their roots. And try to get their stems to stay upright. Like little toy soldiers on parade.

 "It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season." ~Kate Morton ( 1976-) " The Forgotten Garden"

 Centaurea is much slower this year . But up it comes. The new seed I planted is even slower than the surviving counterparts.  I'm thinking I will reseed  in about two weeks to keep a continuous supply blooming if I can. 

 Cranesbill , Many people do not realize that this perennial geranium  has potential healing powers in is roots; called a a powerful ingredient called tannin, an anti-inflammatory.

 Cranesbill will turn the yard into  a woodland paradise. The bees are drawn to it. And anything we can do to attract bees......This year, I've noticed  bees are humming more than ever ,as the cranesbill takes up more and more space. More bees. This is great. Which is fine by me. Good to preserve  a natural perennial. I think I started with ONE  small plant, and it has spread on the wings of bees. I couldn't be happier.

 SWEET PEAS  spreading  little wings. Faster than last year. Everyone's proabably tired of my sweet peas. But it's just not the same without them. This year, I spread them around. I want to see what corners of the garden will work. I have rows and rows of the Knee Hi version,like on the left, and troughs of the Climbers, like the ones on the right.  

 DAHLIAS, ROSES, SUNFLOWERS, Centaurea, all meshed together in the front bed where it is warm, and safe and protected.  I was  worried Dahlias would not grow very well ( that the soil was too soggy, or too sandy, or too something). But up they come.......time will tell......
 "My garden is my favourite teacher. "~Betsy Cañas Garmon, 

Photographs 2017