May & Early June Garden

Things have been busy. Like really unbelievably busy. May and June are always a whirlwind, but this year has felt especially chaotic with birthday season, a super busy sports schedule (2 boys = twice the sports!), the world reopening and well, me. I haven't been feeling well, which is sometimes a problem, but I've been doing my best to manage it, compartmentalize it and not let it effect the kids lives too much. It's been hard, and I don't have a lot of answers yet, but my goal has been to put the kids and fun first as much as possible. I planted the garden, incrementally, and I've been meaning to blog about it for weeks... the upside though is that it looks better now, more filled in, as things have had a chance to grow. 

So first here's what's planted - of course I modified the winter plan, as always, because I can't help myself. The winter plan is the base and then the actual plan is what happens after.

Hopefully the biggest and best change to this year is having new, proper supports in the garden. A new, much sturdier archway for peas, pole beans and malabar spinach. Extra sturdy 6 ft fiberglass stakes for the flower bed and dahlia bed. Netting for the flower bed as the flowers grow taller. Extra fencing being used as herb support in the herb beds. Everything should be a little better contained. 

Flower Bed
The biggest change here from the winter plan is that the whole section of Chantilly bronze snapdragons is now a single row (4) and the other 2 rows are rocket hybrid snapdragons (mixed colors) and Twinny Apple Blossom (pale pink chantilly). Half the bed is zinnias, and there's one red globe amaranth and 3 cosmos on the end. This year the archway is in half of this bed (because I didn't want it in the dahlia bed) so there's a section being used for peas and malabar spinach. 

Dahlia Bed
There are 8 dahlias here instead of 10. Removed from last year's lineup were totally tangerine (stems were too short to be a good cutting dahlia), preference (stems were way too short to be a cutting dahlia) and jowey whinnie (died over the winter). I had planned and purchased American Dawn and Penhill Watermelon to replace the planned removal of totally tangerine and preference, but Penhill Watermelon never showed up (I got a refund but by the time I knew about it, everyone was sold out or wanted a ridiculous amount of money), so then it just made sense to give the dahlias more room and only do 8. And I will readily admit that 10 was pushing it in the 4x8 bed... these big dinnerplate dahlia plants need space and this way I was able to put better support in place with the tall stakes and cages. 

All the dahlias had a head start this year in the greenhouse, pre-potted in containers. It was a great way to see what was viable before planting everything all over the yard and hoping for the best, and everything is ahead of schedule as an added bonus. Plus it made it much easier to give away some of my extras I couldn't fit - people are much more willing to take a living plant than a weird shriveled tuber that looks like a bad potato. 

Vines Bed
In the vines bed, I decided to leave the overwintered yarrow flower where it is instead of moving it and I have mixed feelings about it being there, but it's too late to do anything about it now! The other half of the archway is there - currently there are peas climbing up and later I will plants green beans to harvest in late summer/early fall. I bumped one of the nasturiums for mini pumpkins in a tower I used to use as support in the flower bed (but don't need now with the netting). There's swiss chard and a couple rows of carrots, but not as many as last year. There's melon on the obelisk and cucumbers about to grow up the back trellis. There's one nasturium that will eventually fill in all the "ground" space I allow. 

Tomato Bed
The tomatoes are doing well - yellow pear, bloody butcher, martino roma, black krim, early girl, sweet 100's cherry tomato (2), and a beefsteak hybrid.  There are two borage plants, one on each side of the bed, planted as companion plants because they are supposed to improve the tomato crop and last year I noticed a huge difference so I planted them again from seed. There's also marigolds growing in the corners (from seed this year!) to help keep pests away a another companion plant. 

Herbs & Strawberries
Herbs in the beds - rosemary, calendula, chamomile, sage, borage, thyme, oregano, dill. (In pots there's St. John's wort, lemon verbena, lemon balm, lavender, basil, rosemary and lemon sage.) I've planted my usual yellow giant sunflower in the middle, but this year I've also added a purple sunflower on the left which I'm really excited about. There are 3 more planted along the fence too near the elderberry bushes. 

The strawberries have been our best ever. Bowls and bowls of strawberries. I managed to get the slug deterrent down early enough and the chipmunks have been sufficiently blocked that they had to satisfy themselves with the decoy strawberries planted among my flower beds along the fence instead. Combined with just the right weather, we've had a bumper crop. Like we're picking giant bowls of them every day for a week. I don't even know what to do with them all - it's been awesome. 

Potted Things
In the pots we have all the herbs I mentioned above (St. John's wort, basil, lemon verbena, lemon balm, lavender, rosemary and lemon sage), the potted brown turkey fig tree and nasturium in the giant pot I overwintered in the greenhouse, hot peppers and flowers. I had to plant new peppers - I tried to overwinter them, but it turns out that NONE of the peppers survived overwintering (despite following detailed instructions... oh well!). Considering how much I did manage to save, it's still a big win here. 

Lavender, rosemary and lemon verbena were overwintered in the greenhouse (the lemon verbena didn't look like it was almost dead and then came roaring back with the sun in February). Lemon balm and St. John's Wort were overwintered in pots placed under the pergola against the house - protected from the worst of the weather but still exposed to freezing temperatures. 

There's a morning glory I started from seed, this year with the greenhouse I started it early so it has a head start. I added more flowers to the pot too for added interest - last year it was a big bare because the vine ran up the trellis and never filled into the pot, so this year I planned accordingly. 

Fruiting Things and Such Elsewhere
First come strawberries, then raspberries and blueberries, then blackberries in our yard. The raspberries just finished blooming and are forming fruits. The bluberries bloomed and are now green blueberries. The blackberries just started blooming. The brown turkey fig tree was overwintered in the greenhouse pot and has a chance to produce figs this way. The chicago hardy fig was properly trimmed and wrapped in insulation this year so it also has a good headstart. My citrus trees are happily transitioning to summer on the deck, reblooming and  producing new leaves. The lemongrass from the greenhouse is mainly used as a decorative mosquito deterrent on the patio and deck. 

I planted two elderberry bushes in the back (varieties Adam and John) which will take a few years to bloom and fruit, but I'm SUPER excited about having elderberry blossoms and elderberries in the future. 

Getting the garden ready this spring, having the greenhouse has been AMAZING. It's a learning process, but it has been incredibly convenient to overwinter plants and have full-sized healthy plants ready to go, and have the dahlias started. Being able to double my seeds and do all those flowers.  And I've learned a lot! Patchouli and tropical plants can't take the cold, but succulents can. I've learned that lemon verbena and fig trees will go into hibernation and look kind of dead, but then come back twice as strong. I've learned that geraniums and snapdragons bloom all winter long. Begonia bulbs do better overwintering in pots of dirt in the greenhouse than being dug up and brought into the basement (both look dead all winter, but the greenhouse ones are doing way better right now).