Since the first of June, I’ve planted the hanging flower boxes. We have them swinging in the breeze at the shop and at the front entry of the house. I fill them with plants that are kept over the winter. I usually have to buy a couple new wax begonias because the winter ones are looking bad.
Why have Wax Begonias in the Garden?
I like their bright white and coral/red flowers. We have a few pink ones included in the small collection. I started with white because our house is a bright rusty-red. The red begonias don’t clash too much with the house. Red seems to be more vigorous for surviving winter. For a few seasons, I bought impatiens, but they don’t like the heat of the day. They ‘faint’ for several hours if in sun and heat. The begonias thrive on the heat and can handle drier weather too.
R planted corn and beans. I sowed more alsike white clover and buckwheat in a small patch that will be fallow for the summer. The beans are up already.
Today, I put a large pat of sedum with a decorative iris included into the ground near the big lily bed. Four sedum clippings rooted. They were tucked in near the bigger pot. I try to thin the clumps of sedum out so they can grow bigger. That thinning yields a few more. The plants in the pot are from a seed plant that showed up in another bed. They are bedded and mulched in newspaper.
We’ve had MORE rain this month. I’ve not done as much gardening as I would like. I’ve been getting some pdf files finished for the Resource Library.
Using a little creativity to ‘up-cycle’ things I’ve been hanging onto around the house has been entertaining for me and contributed to posts and files in the library.
I do a little container gardening. Primarily herbs and decorative plants. We have two large raised beds, but they don’t count as containers for me.
I have never EVER dropped a glass coffee pot carafe! But, I always save the carafe when the coffee pot stops working! Creating a planter for water-loving plants, using one of the carafes, helps me justify my glass carafe collection! Writing about containers at Gardens and Containers Go Hand-in-Hand was a pleasure!
I started seeds in peat moss early in May. The tomato plants were going to get too ‘leggy’ during the middle of June. We were gone for a week, visiting friends and family in Indiana.
To save the plants, I tried some different methods of holding them. The process seemed to be working. The plants were thriving and ready to be put in the soil a few days after we returned.
I’ve been a little surprised at how much they seemed to ‘shock’ with my process and hope they take off better than they’ve looked for a few days.
They received a feeding of egg water and some Epsom salts sprinkled around them this week. More about some of the things I ‘feed’ my plants in future posts.
In other seeding, I had terrific germination for the marigold seed saved from 2018. The new seedings with calendula and zinnias didn’t do as well. We have terrible damp springs, making sowing directly into the ground difficult. This year has been worse than others.
However, there are plenty of marigolds to put out along with the puny collection of zinnia and calendula. Will try again next year! I may pick up some more seeds and try putting some out in the fall if we can get a spot tilled.
The morning of June 28, dawned foggy and wetter than usual. We went to town to get feed for horses and chickens, do the weekly shopping while things were still to wet to work. The areas we mow are covered as of this afternoon. I could do some trimming, but waiting for the temperature to drop some before going out. Sandy and I will go out for eggs shortly. The hens have been giving us a steady supply that often has an extra box for friends.
Closing June — Moving into Summer
Closing June on a bummer note! Pests in the garden make me doubt my intentions. I understand there are always pests in the yard and garden. But, do there have to be so many? Does this make us ‘luzer’ gardeners when they are giving us all sorts of trouble on a small patch? Today, I’m feeling like a big failure. Come on, July. I’m going to bed and let you come in the night with inspiration about the next few weeks.
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