Thurs. May 28, 2020: Things Are Growing

Thursday, May 28, 2020
Waxing Moon in Second Quarter Leo
Pluto Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Venus Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn

Not much to say, garden-wise. I’m behind on the planting. I was too tired on the last planting day to do much. Now, I don’t think I can wait until next Wednesday to replant the tomato seedlings. I’m going to have to do it this weekend.

The morning glory seeds I planted last week are starting to sprout. I hope the moonflowers, zinnias, mixed pollinators, and hollyhocks soon follow suit.

The lettuce we saved is doing well, and so are the peppers and the one little cucumber.

The lilacs are in full bloom and ready to fade. The red Stewart azalea is blooming, and our puffy pink not-sure-if-it’s-azalea-or-rhody is in full flower, too.

The grass is growing, and our lawn guy will be here sometime this week to mow it. The hostas is in full throttle, but the hydrangeas are struggling this year. Not just mine, but I see it all around.

The trees are finally coming into leaf.

We’re enjoying time on the Enchanted Deck Garden. It’s full on summer on the Cape, which means too many tourists and can’t do anything anyway – even with the virus. So we are just fine staying home.

Hope your gardens are flourishing, too!

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Thurs. May 21, 2020: Finally, A Planting Day

Thursday, May 21, 2020
Dark Moon in Taurus
Pluto Retrograde
Venus Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn
Sunny and pleasant

I’m very disappointed with the packet seeds I bought this year. Saved seeds from organic food has sprouted much better. Let’s see if they will get pollinated and actually make food.

It was too cold to plant last weekend, but it’s warming up. Since today is a planting day, I’m going to plant some flower seeds, and maybe repot some tomato seedlings. Monday is the next planting day, and I will probably plant beans and peas that day.

I still have to clean out some of the beds and trim back some plants.

The big lilac is blooming in the back; not that many flowers this year, but I will cut some and put them in water. I love the smell of lilacs.

When I own my own property, I plan to add one lilac each year! Lilacs, lilacs everywhere!

We have the deck mostly set up – the photo above is a partial view. If the idiot neighbors didn’t spend all day EVERY day running chainsaws and leaf blowers, maybe I could actually enjoy sitting outside sometimes. I’d like to be able to enjoy the reason we rented this house. For the past few years, the neighbors blatantly violate noise code 7 days a week, for hours at a time, and the town can’t be bothered to enforce it. Yet renters are required to sign something stating they “understand” the noise code. But owners can do whatever they want?

No one HAS to make that much noise ALL the time.

Let’s hope I can enjoy a few hours here and there outside this weekend.

I intend to take it as a holiday weekend, and enjoy time at home without the pressure of having to do anything I don’t want to do.

Hope you can do the same.

Thurs. May 14, 2020: Someday We Can Start Planting

Thursday, May 14, 2020
Third Quarter to Fourth Quarter Waning Moon in Aquarius
Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn
Pluto Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Venus Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Sunny and cool

That’s a photo of our blooming potted lilac, framing a hanging ornament from a basket of pansies, overlooking the freshly-mown terraced back yard area.

We lost most of the lettuce and the parsley. From the packet seeds, the beefsteak tomatoes didn’t survive and only one, teeny tiny Moneymaker tomato shoot is out. It was too cold on Sunday to plant the flowers, but I’m hoping it will be warmer for tomorrow’s planting day.

The saved seeds from food, however, are doing better. The cucumber climbs, the peppers are doing well, and both kinds of tomatoes (roma and grape) have come up. I will have to r=epot the tomatoes soon.

I’m going to start eggplants, again from saved seeds, tomorrow on the planting day.

We’re taking seedlings out for sun during the day, and still bringing them in at night, because it’s gone down as low as the 30s.

The guy came to mow our lawn yesterday — first mow! It looks great, and he was able to do it safely. He is the only landscaper I’ve seen around here that is using a mask. I sure appreciate it. He works alone, and he is comfortable coming here — I did check, because I didn’t want him to feel pressure to come if he felt unsafe, even though what he does is deemed “essential.” But he said he’d rather be out DOING, and he was taking precautions.

I hope to get some painting done this weekend (if the Target order with the paint ever shows up) and set up more of the Enchanted Garden on the deck. Maybe clean up some of the beds, if the weather holds. And, if it’s warm enough, sit out and enjoy the deck!

Since I’m not going anywhere any time soon, I fully intend to enjoy the garden even more than usual.

Happy planting, friends.

Thurs. May 7: First Growth

Thursday, May 7, 2020
Full Moon in Scorpio
Pluto Retrograde
Celtic Tree Month of Willow
Rainy and cool

Sorry I don’t have a photo today. The potted lilac on the deck has started to bloom. The lady’s mantle spills across the terraced are wall and looks lovely.

The rose of Sharon plants are budding. I prepped the pots on the deck for flower and pollinator planting, but it was too cold yesterday. I’ll either do it today or wait until the next planting day on Sunday.

We lost most of the lettuce and the parsley is miserable, which is frustrating.

But the Roma and grape tomato seeds are sprouting from the grocery store produce, which is fun. Nothing yet from the seed packets. Whatever I got from Country Garden this year is a dissapointment.

Cleaned the branch debris in the yard for next week’s lawn mowing. The guy who did it last year is eager to come back, we can manage it safely for all of us, and it takes so much pressure off me.

The peepers are out, and I love how they sing me to sleep at night. It brings back happy memories of my grandmother’s sleeping porch in Foxboro. I loved sleeping there whenever we visited in spring and summer.

I think I’d be afraid to sleep out on a porch in this day and age. I’d feel too exposed.

The mourning dove stll cries, and it feels appropriate, with all that’s going on. The blue jays are back being feisty, and we have more kinds of warblers than usual. I have to find my guide and try to identify them.

There are some fat bumblebees drifting around, enjoying the forsythia and early lilac and even the pansies. I hope the flower seeds come up nicely to give them a banquet.

Che Guevara Chipmunk is back, in fine fettle, running around on the wall and across the deck. I saw one bunny so far, a larger, browner one than we usually get.

The weather is nice for a day and awful for several, such slows everything down.

But I want to savor as much time in the garden as possible.