I Got a New Plant for Indoors

We will be heading home as tomorrow is the last day of Stampede and my garden awaits my tender loving care. I miss being able to go outside first thing each morning and finding things that need doing. My husband has been watering all plants in pots for me and I am afraid he will get attached and take over my job I love. LOL This is the guy who would not let me have a plant in the house because it was dirt. Now he is digging up spots and asking me to plant more and he amazes me when he brings home plants that have been discarded and says, " Can you do anything to help this survive?" This was when I started to realize how addictive gardening can become. Today I transplanted an umbrella plant into a nicer pot for my daughter. I told her it deserved special treatment because she has had it for a number of years and hasn't managed to kill it yet. I asked her if I could have a piece from it because I had to have a plant that could survive so much neglect. It is a lovely plant and it is getting new leaves all over it even though the ground was like dry concrete. There was absolutely no moisture in the soil. It looks so much nicer in the lovely stoneware pot instead of those black plastic throw away ones you bring your plants home in from the nursery. I did manage to get a piece and put it into that black pot to take it home and transplant. This is one plant I have never had and I look forward to seeing it grow into a lovely plant like hers.

Foxglove Seedlings

I am anxious to see the garden and also to finish transplanting a bunch of itty bitty, tiny tiny, foxglove seedlings which I started from seed. It is so hard to believe that these tiny plants will next year be 6 feet tall and so absolutely astounding. I did actually purchase 3 plants to put in so I will have flowers this year and they will probably go to seed and replant themselves but you know me, I had to try them from seed for myself. LOL It will be interesting to have them multiply quickly. With my delphiniums, hollyhocks and now the foxgloves it should be qiite a spectacular site. Since in the front of the bed the larkspurs have already filled in one spot and the Sweet Williams are quite filled in and the many, many colors are wonderful to behold. There are dianthus and a number of other plants as well and it is exciting to awaken to the new blossoms each day. I do hope to add some photos soon.

This display should cover the ugly site of the leaves from the bulbs I planted last fall when these are done flowering.

RESULTS AT LAST

It is exciting today to hear from my husband how quickly the plants are growing. He said you can almost watch them grow. LOL With all the hot weather we have been having this past week there is such a change in the garden. Even my husband and son have been commenting with a "WOW!!" statement.

I was beginning to worry that the soil needed refurbishing with compost or fertilizer, since this is the fourth year to have planted without adding anything to the soil. My compost has been in progress but working very,very slowly. I hope to be able to side dress the rows now that the plants have gotten taller. I did put peat moss between all the rows and then watered it well (both the night before and first thing in the morning again) when I knew the hot weather would be coming for a week as I had to go away to take our daughter to sing at the Stampede Talent Show.

A few weeks ago we were finally able to go and pick up the compost (which contained chicken manure) that we had started when we moved last year to a farm so I am hoping that this will help to activate the compost and get it working. We plan to put it on the top of the garden and work it in in the fall to improve conditions for the plants for next year.

But to my amazement the veggies are shooting up and looking wonderful. I can hardly wait to get home to see the garden and also to enjoy our first meal.

We have been having salads since April thanks to plants coming back on their own and the first planting of lettuce we have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks.

My new flower garden is thriving and lush with blossoms. I got a little out of control and it is about 40 feet long and about 10 feet wide. It covers almost the entire side yard. Even so I am thoroughly enjoying going out each morning at dawn to see the spectacular show. I can't help but "Praise the Lord" for His goodness in these little things. It is like receiving a bouquet of flowers every day and sometimes more than once a day. What joy it brings to see these new plants bringing forth this colorful array just for me.

I just had to cut our hedges to the 4 foot fence so that I can share this beauty with passers by and bring joy to their day. The hedges were about 10 feet tall and completely enclosed our front yard. It is nice to meet neighbors from blocks away who are now walking further to see the changes each day. They stop to comment on how wonderful it is looking and strange but no one ever stopped to tell me how much the grass had improved. LOL