May Flowers

The rose bush is almost in full bloom right now and it is absolutely beautiful, but it doesn't last.

Kale:


Our big broccoli:

What I Got

Here's a list of what I've planted thus far:
Veggies
Banana Peppers - 6 plants
Beets
Broccoli - 1 plants
Brussel Sprouts - 1 plants
Butternut Squash (Early) - 1 plant
Celery - 1 plant
Eggplants - 3 varieties - 7 plants
Green Pepper (Bonnie) - 2 plants
Ground Cherry - 1 plant
Habañero - 1 plant
Ho Chi Minh Peppers (Hot) - 4 plants
Jalapeños - 6 plants
Kale - 18 plants
Okra (Burgundy) - 1 plant
Pimento (Red Pepper) - 2 plants
Purple Marconi (Sweet Pepper) - 1 plant
Radishes
Sweet Corn
Sugar Snap Peas - 3 plants, trellised
Summer Squash (Yellow) - 1 plant
Tomatoes - 7 varieties - 7 plants
Watermelon - 1 plant
Yellow Pepper (Sweet) - 2 plants
Zucchini - 3 plants

Herbs
Basil - 9 sweet, 12 Thai
Cat Mint - 3 plants
Cilantro - 2 plants
Lemon Balm - 1 plant
Onion Chives - 1 plant
Oregano - 1 plants
Parsley - 2 flat, 3 curly
Mint - 1 chocolate, 1 pineapple
Rosemary - 2 plants
Stevia - 3 plants

I also have a few more plants that I got from my sister-in-law that she was given by the horticulture department at the U of M. But they are full of aphids, so I'm gonna see if I can get rid of those before I put them anywhere near my other plants...and I have to find more room.

The corn is planted next to the garage, by our compost bin, and I also planted some sunflowers back there...all by seed and we did that earlier this week - nothing's come up yet but we are diligently watering every morning and night!

Pictures of new and old, finished projects to come next week. Stay tuned.

Still Not Done

Yesterday it got up to a record-breaking 97 degrees in Minneapolis...it was over 100 in other parts of Minnesota. Just last weekend I was scared of frost.

Last night me and the husband got lots of stuff done in the yard. Jim put in the last couple of cedar edgings in the backyard. He weeded all the day lilies on the side of the house and mulched that area. I got the ornamental variegated grass put in the front of the house, seen here:


It's a little far away...I split up a bunch of the hosta that were going crazy and lined the area in front of the bushes. That whole area was mulched before but nothing was growing in there. Then there was a big gap between the bushes that are next to the house and the hosta, so that's where I put in the ornamental grass. There was still another gap in there but it was in a semi-shady area so we didn't want to put any plants in there. We went to the garden store on Central (almost Columbia Heights) and picked up an antiqued - maybe authentically, not sure - wrought iron dragonfly to stick in there. You can't hardly see it in the below picture unless you know what to look for, see if you can find it:

Halfway Through May...Already?

I believe I am all done planting in the main garden. As soon as the zucchini and squash and watermelon plants start growing more there will be much less room in there. I am hoping that I'll be able to keep them all separate from one another and they won't turn into a big mess. Here is the finished project:


The kale, on either side of the garden in the front, has been growing like crazy. Our juicer broke last week so we haven't been picking it as much as we would normally. The broccoli and brussel sprouts, far back left, have gotten pretty big, too. I am so glad I took a chance and planted everything a little earlier than advisable. All I lost to the cold were a couple of basil plants and some sweet potato vines.

Then I don't know what came over me but I decided to start a whole new project. Actually, I was milling around at Home Depot and found these short posts and decided to clean up the yard a little bit. With all of the dogs running around the grass got pounded out a couple of years ago. So now the backyard is weeds and dirt/sand - the house gets so dusty and dirty and muddy. We've been talking about either seeding it or just mulching it. Seeding it is so much work and then we have to try and keep the dogs and cat off it while it grows. No thank you. You can see below what I've started and what we'll be finishing in the next couple of days...it actually turned out better than I thought.


I also got some ornamental grass that I'm going to put up in front of the house but I didn't have enough daylight last night to start that project - tonight!

May!

This past weekend I went to the Friends plant sale at the Fairgrounds. It was absolutely insane. I doubt I will every go to that again...well, maybe on the last day - definitely not on the first! I have injuries on my ankles from women running their carts into me. I'm not lying. I picked up some veggies there but since we had to get in and out quickly I didn't get nearly as many plants as I wanted. Saturday morning we went to the DT Farmers Market and I picked up a couple more plants - way overpriced so I won't be doing that again.

We did get a bunch of stuff done this weekend - I have Fridays off now so my weekend has been extended! Jim cleared out the out compost area and put the new bin up. There is plenty of room for a couple plants back by it, too. We'll see about that. I finished planting in the big garden, unless something needs to be replaced due to an early death. I also go the pepper plot done. I am actually almost all done planting except for one small plot that I think I am going to dedicate to beets, and I'll probably start those by seed.

These pictures are from earlier this week...here's the tomatoes, seven of them:


These are the peppers, with some lilies sharing the plot:


I am doing more container gardening this year than I have ever done, simply because Jim has a bunch of containers and I wanted to make use of them. They work well for herbs, which you will see here! (see how excited I am?):