Late April Garden

 A lot of work happened in garden last week and this past weekend. We are officially past the frost-free date, even if we're having a cool week with highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's. Next week we should be back up in the 70's and my garden will really get to growing!

This weekend I planted okra, bush beans and pole beans, all seed, not plants. I was excited a few weeks ago and planted bush beans and they never germinated, so we'll see if this round is better. I planted a summer squash, lettuce, spinach and cucumbers, and some of those have started to germinate less than a week later. The lettuce and spinach are between the cucumber plants, so by the time they need a lot of space, the greens should be done growing.

I also put in a Major Wheeler Coral Honeysuckle at the far end of my vegetable garden, to climb up the chicken wire fence and help attract bees and other beneficial creatures. This is a non-invasive honeysuckle perfectly suited for our climate. The highly invasive yellow and white Japanese honeysuckle has come into bloom in our area and you can see it all over, including parts of our yard. I'll make sure it doesn't invade my vegetable garden.

 

I did, in fact, buy a Monrovio honeysuckle, so I don't feel bad stealing their photo.

I've got pea aphids on my snap peas, so I'll be figuring out how to get rid of those. I might just use water and a q-tip to brush them off, since it isn't a huge invasion.  The peas are about 6 inches high, and I'll be training them to climb up their teepees.

I also planted the beginnings of an herb garden up on our deck. I now have 4 planters that sit up on the fence, so I have basil, lemon verbena, thyme, chives and rosemary planted. Parsley and cilantro are planted in the big garden. My mom brought me a rhubarb from their house in Wisconsin, so that's in the ground. Fingers crossed it survives! I also caught sight of what might be a wild raspberry cane near the rhubarb, so I'll be keeping a close watch.

Rhubarb, adjusting to the South

When I was cleaning out the vegetable garden a few weeks ago, I kept tossing out the old leaves and straw and whatnot. That pile of nearly composted leaves sat in the grass for far too long. Yesterday I grabbed a rake to finally fix the eyesore, only to find I had completely killed the grass in a 3 foot wide circle. So now I'm trying to decide what to do with it, on the cheap. I saw the other day that I've got a peony languishing in the shade of our side yard, so I think I might move it there, where it will get significantly more sun. I've also got lavender and marigold seeds, and I'm wondering if it might be fun to try sunflowers. The peony will bloom sooner than those plants. I'm planning on taking over the grass from most of that part of the lawn anyway, so starting now isn't really a problem. A plant, some seeds and a little mulch might just turn that eyesore into the beginning of a pretty spot.

Oh! And- there's a lot going on right now- my tomato seedlings are still indoors, still growing. And a nice red bell pepper seedling. Only a couple more weeks before I need to make some serious space for them!