Thurs. June 1, 2023: The Start of This Year’s Enchanted Garden

Photo by Devon Ellington

Thursday, June 1, 2023

2^nd Quarter Waxing Moon in Scorpio

Pluto Retrograde

Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn

Sunny and warm

We finally have some warm weather! It’s not too humid yet, so even with the temperatures up in the mid=80’s F, it’s pleasant enough. I’m going to enjoy it while we can.

Over the weekend, that meant that we could start setting up the Enchanted Garden on the back balcony. The pictures at the top and bottom of this post show the progress so far. There’s plenty more to do, especially with hanging baskets, etc., but it’s a start, and it’s a lovely, peaceful space in which to spend time.

Moved the plants out of my office, and either onto the back balcony or the front porch. I can’t believe how big the night-blooming jasmine is. I hope it actually blooms this year.

The St. John’s Wort and the Marshmallow shoots are coming up. Only a single Angelica shoot came up, and it expired, and the rosemary gave up the ghost pretty darn fast.

I hope, this weekend, to make the rounds of a few garden centers and buy some hanging baskets, some herbs, and some other plants to round things out. I also need to get more potting soil, so I can do the repotting necessary, and I want to plant some of my other seeds today and tomorrow, which are planting days.

We’re supposed to get some much-needed rain over the weekend, and then it’s a little cooler next week.

How are things going in your garden?

Photo by Devon Ellington

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Thurs. May 25, 2023: Lilacs!

image courtesy of Gabriele Lässer via pixabay.com

Thursday, May 25, 2023

1^st Quarter Moon Waxing in Leo

Pluto Retrograde

Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn

We’re still down in the 30’s at night. I haven’t been able to put the plants outside, or set up the Enchanted Garden on the back balcony.

The marshmallow and St. John’s wort have sprouted. Only one angelica shoot made it, at least so far. There’s not another planting day until June 1, but I may try to at least repot a few things over the weekend.

On a happier note, the lilacs have been blooming. Lilacs are my absolute favorite. I miss the lilac tree we had back on Cape, and the various potted lilacs I cultivated over the decade we lived there. I do have one potted lilac my friend gave me when I visited last autumn, but it’s too young to bloom yet.

My hope is that I can do some garden stuff, along with home-and-hearth stuff over the Memorial Day weekend.

What’s new with your garden?

Thursday, May 18, 2023: Too Cold To Plant

image courtesy of 💚🌺💚Nowaja💚🌺💚 via pixabay.com

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Dark moon in Taurus

Pluto Retrograde

Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn

Sunny and cold

29 degrees F when I woke up, dropping to 27 while I had my first cup of coffee.

It’s been too cold to plant.

The marshmallow started coming up, and the cat grass is doing well, but it’s been too cold to plant any of the seeds that didn’t need to rest in the fridge. The rest of the tulips and mini daffodils never came up. We’ll have to keep them inside if the weather is this whacky next summer. It’s too cold to put the large plants outside, or even put the night-blooming jasmine on the front porch.

I may have to start seeds and put the pots in my office or the living room, where there’s good light, or they’ll never come up this season.

Haven’t yet bought the lettuce plants, nor have I bought the hanging baskets, because it’s just too cold to leave them outside. Maybe the lettuce would be okay, but the rest would not.

I’ve noticed, the past few years, that winter starts later in the year, and pushes farther into spring. And then there tends to be a leap from cold weather to hot weather without a lovely stretch of cool in between.

I prefer cool to hot, but I also like a stretch of gradual warmup to summer and gradual cool down to winter.

What’s going on with your garden? What have you noticed changing the past few years?

Thursday, May 11, 2023: Finally, Some Planting

image courtesy of onehundredseventyfive via pixabay.com

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Third Quarter Waning Moon in Aquarius

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Celtic Tree Month of Willow

Sunny and pleasant

It’s still down in the 30’s (F) at night. Yesterday, I woke up to frost on the car. This morning, no frost, but still, 37. The temperature goes up into the 70’s during the day, which is lovely, but it’s still too cold to put plants out on the back balcony, and too awkward to put them out during the day and bring them in at night.

We started setting up the back balcony. Un-tarped the big bench and bistro chairs. Some animal had gotten into the tarp over winter. Will probably throw it out and buy a new one for next winter, since there’s nowhere to hose it down. I teak oiled the bench, the bistro chairs, the table (we use the bistro table indoors for plants during winter). Today, I will put on the cushions. I set out the birdbath, and yesterday, the top had a thin coat of ice across it.

Hung up the “stained glass” lighthouse and large hummingbird. Hung the freshly painted copper and crystal whirligig. I still have to finish repainting the wind chimes.

I’m waiting until the petunias are available, and those will be our hanging baskets this year.

I even got some planting done, the seeds which have been in the fridge: angelica, marshmallow, and St. John’s wort. And, the cat grass, which I’ve promised Willa for months. I have two pots going, and will plant a third over the weekend, so we can keep rotating three pots for the cats.

I hope, on Sunday, or so, to be able to plant the rest of the seeds I have. I still have to find black-eyed Susan vine.

The magnolias have come and gone. Now it’s white blossoms everywhere. I thought they were dogwoods, but I don’t think that’s right. My mom thinks they’re cherry. Whatever they are, they are pretty.

In the next couple of weeks, I will go to the garden center to get some more herbs and some lettuce plants. We love our buttercrunch!

I hope, by the weekend, it will be warm enough to put out the rugs, the small red table, and some of the large plants.

How are things growing in your garden?

Thursday, May 4, 2023: Rainy and Raw

image courtesy of Steve Buissinne via pixabay.com

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Second Quarter Waxing Moon in Libra (Day Before Full Moon)

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and raw

Still not much to say on the planting front. It was back in the 30’s overnight. I haven’t dared to plant anything else and put it on the front porch.

The door to the back balcony is open, but it’s been too rainy to set anything up, or paint out there. We needed the rain, but I hope we have some better weather over the weekend, so that I can plant. I’m late this year, and it concerns me. At the same time, the bulbs got frostbite, and that didn’t work so well.

Trial and error.

I picked up a rosemary plant at the food co-op. Rosemary is my favorite herb, but it grows like an annual around here, which is disappointing.

How are things in your garden?

Thursday, April 27, 2023: Wonky Weather Woes

image courtesy of Jonas Fehre via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 27, 2023

First Quarter Moon Waxing in Cancer

Mercury Retrograde

Chilly and rainy

With all the crazy weather, I have not planted, and maybe it’s a good thing. The bulbs are frostbitten, and I have a feeling the rest of the tulips won’t come up, and the daffodils are dead before ever blooming.

The back door to the balcony is still jammed.

The plants inside are pretty happy, and I guess we’ll keep them here, at least for a while.

I’m all for a long, gentle spring, but we’re still getting frost at night. In the morning, I scrape the car windshield and windows before I can drive anywhere.

I hope we do have an actual spring, and don’t just leap into summer.

How are things where you are?

Thurs. April 20, 2023: The Magnolias In Bloom

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 20, 2023

New Moon in Aries

Solar Eclipse

Mercury Goes Retrograde TOMORROW

Celtic Tree Month of Willow

As we’re headed into retrograde season with our favorite Mercury (yes, that was sarcasm), I’m still trying to get my act together and plant.

And maintenance still hadn’t come to get the jammed back door open.

We went from 86 degrees this time last week to 31 degrees last night.

Definite problems getting my act together on the garden front this year.

On the positive side, I cut the faded tulip heads back per instructions, and will wait for the leaves to die back. I still hope the other two varieties I planted will bloom. Some of the daffodils look like they’re considering a bloom, but we’ll see.

Outside, in spite of the cold snap we’ve had this week, the trees are starting to bud. The magnolias are in bloom, and they are beautiful. The forsythia hasn’t started yet.

I repainted the copper and crystal whirligig. It looks lovely. Once we get the back door open and can access the back balcony to set it up, it will hang out there. I got the copper and the gold portions of the wind chimes repainted. I still need to do the detail in yellow, orange, and blue. I couldn’t finish last weekend/early this week due to the rain, which meant it was too damp for the paint to dry properly. I will give it another go this weekend.

I’m a little discouraged, both by the inability to access some of my outdoor space, and by the way I’m dragging my feet. How are you doing with your spring planting?

Thurs. April 13, 2023: Behind on the Planting

image courtesy of Jonathan Sachs via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Waning Moon

Celtic Tree Month of Alder

Hazy and mild

I am so far behind in my planting that it’s not even funny. Today is a planting day, so I better get my act together and plant SOMETHING. It’s also supposed to get up to 80 degrees today, which is insane for this neck of the woods in April—and then snow next Tuesday.

The balcony door is still jammed shut, and maintenance is basically ignoring it. I’ve re-hung doors myself, albeit not as heavy as this one. The last door I re-hung took me 40 minutes. It’s not like this is an all-day thing. Oh, wait: men are doing it, so they’ll make it one.

I want my balcony space back, and I want to set it up.

The front porch has been lovely to sit on. It still smells like hyacinths, although they are fading, and the yellow tulips are fading. I hope the other tulips come up. The daffodils are coming up, but haven’t bloomed yet. I take the laptop out there in the afternoons to work.

This year, I’m focusing on flowers and herbs, and not trying to grow vegetables. Instead, I’ll make full use of the farmers’ market.

Nothing’s started to bud yet, and no sign of forsythia, so the plants don’t yet believe it’s spring, in spite of the fluctuating temperatures.

If it stays nice and I get my work done early enough these next few days, I want to take some time to go up to Windsor Lake and/or take a walk at the Spruces.

What plants are coming up in your neck of the woods?

Thurs. April 6, 2023: Mud Season

image courtesy of Rudy and Peter Skitterians via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Full Moon in Libra

Celtic Tree Month of Alder

Rainy and chilly

Once again, the weather’s been all over the place this week. Sometimes it’s sunny and pleasant during the day, and then I take the laptop and work on the porch, amongst the tulips and hyacinths. Other times it’s rainy or sleety and chilly.

The Sunny Smile tulips are in full bloom; I hope the Angelique and Queen of the Night also come up. The hyacinths are peaking. The daffodils, which I expected would be first, are just coming up.

I still haven’t started the other plants. Tomorrow is a planting day, so I’ve blocked off time to do that.

We’re in mud season now; lots of rain and everything is in various shades of brown muck. But that’s necessary for the green, so I’ll go with it.

How are things growing in your neck of the woods?

Thurs. March 30, 2023: March Is Still A Lion

Photo by Devon Ellington

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Second Quarter Waxing Moon in Cancer

Celtic Tree Month of Alder

Cloudy with fresh snow

March didn’t get the memo that when it comes in like lion, it’s supposed to exit like a lamb. March is still lioning, and it looks like that will continue into April. We had snow again last night. Not that much, but enough to be annoying.

In spite of the snow on the ground, the photo above was taken earlier this week. The Sunny

Smile tulips are starting to bloom. And, as you can see, so are the hyacinths. On afternoons when it’s sunny and warm enough, I can sit and work on the porch (with the cats, of course) in the lovely scent of hyacinths.

Photo by Devon Ellington

I keep missing planting days; I’m not sure why. I have to get the seeds started, or I’ll miss the window. I might just have to plant seeds in defiance of the astrological calendar and hope for the best.

The daffodils (which I thought would come up first) are barely poking shoots out. Most of the rest of the indoor plants are doing well; one primrose died, and one of the geraniums gave up the ghost, but I think it was one of the older ones, from back on Cape, so it’s not surprising.

The jade plant tipped over the other day, so when we rescued it, we put it in a bigger pot hope it gets over the shock.

I don’t understand why it’s so hard to find trellises here that fit into pots; everything is big, for outdoor gardens.

It’s still too cold, with too much bad weather coming in. for us to start putting anything out on the back balcony, but we are enjoying the enclosed, southern-facing front porch when the weather is nice.

How are things in your garden?