May Garden: Planted, Sprouted, Growing

I realized this morning that today is the last day in May, so I'm overdue for my raised bed garden post about getting everything planted. Plus CHECK OUT MY CLIMBING ROSE. It's peak magical right now.

I planted the garden one bed at a time around Mother's Day weekend, the schedule was so busy and the weather uncooperative, so the only way to get things done was to do a little bit at a time (which is often the most effective way for me to handle it anyways). 

Tomatoes:

There are 8 tomato plants from seed. Despite the seedlings getting hit with a baseball under the grow light in the playroom one night, they all survived. The lineup: Sweet 100's Cherry, Sweet Millions Cherry, Tappy's Heritage (new to me), Triple L Crop Climber (new to me climber), Italian Roma Paste, Black Krim, Early Girl and Bushsteak Hybrid. Around the corners I planted marigolds. Even though I started marigolds from seed, they didn't sow well and died off quickly. The first marigolds I planted back here got some sort of blight and also died! So this is technically round 3 of marigolds... hopefully they survive! 

There are also peas in this bed where the trellis is. I'm expecting the climbing tomato to take over later in the season, but right now the pea shoots are going up. 

Vines and things:

Cucumbers from seed? Sprouted. Peas? Sprouted and climbing. Nasturtiums? Growing. Carrots? Sprouted. Rainbow Swiss Chard? Sprouted and growing. Melon? Sprouted... it's not looking great though, just like last year. Fingers crossed it does better.

Flower Bed:

40% of this bed is zinnias, directly sown. Then there's one strawberry red globe amaranth and two pink lemonade cosmos from seed (grown indoors and the greenhouse). The snapdragons here are mostly rocket hybrid snapdragons from seed, there's possibly one Chantilly Bronze that might have survived the accidental seed spill debacle in March and there's a twinny apple blossom tucked into a corner. I also planted a celiosa here in red because I had an extra spot and felt like experimenting with something new from the local nursery. 

Dahlias:

My favorite dahlias are the highlight of the cutting garden, all of these were pre-started in the greenhouse in April for a head start on blooms. The lineup: Labyrinth, American Dawn, Cornell Bronze, Belle of Barmera, Apricot Desire, Wynn's Moonlight Sonata, Daisy Duke. Fairway Spur was replaced with Felida Solar Flare at the last minute because the Fairway hadn't sprouted yet and I thought it was dead... it is now growing in the dahlia bed by the house instead. I have SO many dahlias over there this year and interspersed through the yard.  They are so pretty though it's hard to resist. 

Herbs and Strawberries:

The chipmunks found a weakness in my defenses and ate a lot of the early strawberries. I found the hole and used bricks to block it, but they were very gluttonous and wasteful little monsters - so many unripened little strawberries everywhere. We'll see how it goes - some of the plants are still blooming so there's hope for a second wave. 

There's lavender (transplanted from being overwintered in the greenhouse), calendula (self-sown and another started in the greenhouse), chamomile (started in the greenhouse from seed), two things of sage (one from seed, one overwintered in the greenhouse), borage (direct sow), giant sunflowers (started from seed in the greenhouse), and rosemary (overwintered and transplanted). The thyme I've had back here died WAY back this winter - I'm sort of sad because I have no idea why it happened, but I'm also happy because a chunk of it survived and it made lots of room for more herbs this year. The oregano is already a monster I'm constantly fighting back. 

In the pots over here the lemon balms is trying to take over, the st john's wort is slowly returning (both were overwintered outside under the pergola against the house) and the potted brown turkey fig tree is very happy to have a half-greenhouse, half-garden life now. 

Pots:

Pineapple sage, rosemary, habanero peppers, cayenne peppers, a morning glory vine, snapdragons and basil are growing against the garage. The pineapple sage and rosemary overwintered in the greenhouse beautifully. The morning glory vine was started from seed in the greenhouse, the rest are from our local nursery. 

In the pots on the patio the peppermint came back in a hurry, the mojito mint only has a few living pieces and I might have to repot it to give the surviving pieces some root space to return (both were overwintered under the pergola on the patio). The citrus trees are blooming and growing new leaves, happy to once again be outside 24-7 (they hate being inside). The patchouli chunks that were overwintered inside my house (this tropical plant hates the cold and is not greenhouse-hardy) have been potted in new ceramic aqua pots from my birthday and should fill in quite nicely this summer. 

Other things:

The Chicago Hardy fig tree we wrapped in insulation is growing new leaves and seems to be happy. I have a few branches to trim, but it's otherwise happy. The blueberry bush was confused by the overly hot weather in early May and bloomed extra-early, it's already loaded with green fruit and Mike never had a chance to finish the blueberry boxes... those might just have to be on hold until next year. We'll see. It's not a big deal if it doesn't happen! The raspberries are blooming and starting to fruit now. Even the blackberry has its first flower. The rhubarb came back again, it was late this year from the cold April and I thought it might be dead (it's not, the weather this spring was just too strange). 

Lastly, the flowers are top notch right now. It's peony, rose and iris season in the yard. The combination is unreal. 

My bouquets aren't making a dent either - it's just so gorgeous outside right now.