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Planting and weeding, weeding and planting!

May 15th is considered to be the last frost date here. Sure enough we had some extremely cold temperatures that night. We have also had what seems to be non-stop rain these past few days. Will we ever see the sun again?! I know I have to be careful about what I wish for- we'll probably jump right into 90 degree weather.

I have held off on a lot of my annual plantings. I have done my window boxes - the sunny boxes got purple and fuchsia petunias, raspberry colored alyssum and the cascading snowflake plant which has absolutely exploded. My really hot box got mixed portulaca and the shady box got impatiens and coleus. The box on the shed got all nasturtium seeds. My fragrant part-sun box got stock, sweet william, verbena, and alyssum all in pinks and purples! I added polymer crystals to all the boxes this year. A couple of the boxes are a real bother to water or are under the overhang of the house so the rain never hits them. The polymers should help. They hold about 50 times their weight in water and release the moisture as needed.

I have purchased my habanero pepper plants but haven't planted them yet - these cold nights really have me leery. I still need to get my basil, parsley and whatever else excites me.

With this crummy damp weather, I spent most of the day weeding. You know it's bad when even the weeds are getting moldy. I was also pruning low branches of swamp maples and lilacs to allow some sun (if it ever comes) to reach my yard.

For the first time, I'm laying newspaper down to keep the weeds down in some real troublesome spots. Later I will place flagstone steps on top and either mulch or poke holes in the newspaper and plant low ground covers.

It is a long slow process but I am trying to make a meandering path up my wild hill! 

5/21/00