Time to Plant!

I didn't get to putting in any plants last weekend, but since Mother's Day came and went, it was time to get some plants in the ground! I spent Monday night preparing my garden by ripping out renegade grass, tearing out weeds and making sure the soil was ready to go by loosening it up with some garden tools. Today I got some plants in, though I still have a few left that I hope to get to tomorrow.

Tomatoes!

As I've mentioned before, my parents use my yard for a most of their vegetable gardening, so I don't want to take false credit here. (As much as I'd love to!) My Dad got tomatoes in, and the veggie patch is full of seeds! Marge's rhubarb came in already, and I hope it continues to come back until well after I'm gone. It always reminds me of her when I was a kid, healthy, baking and ALWAYS in high heels.

The roots of day lillies I ripped up. All those bulbs... I guess it makes sense that they come back sporadically year after year, after being ripped up. The bulbs are EVERYWHERE!

When I moved in, Marge had two areas in the back yard filled with these day lillies, as well as along the house. I pulled them out of one area to make my herb garden a couple summers ago, but couldn't bring myself to remove them all since they'd been hers. (Not that she cared for them all that much, as far as I know.) In total, I've spent the last 3 summers trying to get rid of them gradually, and let me tell you, it isn't easy. They're like weeds!

Here they are a couple of summers ago. See Bo in the window?

My neighbors were ripping out a peony bush last weekend and offered it to me, so we transplanted it where I had just ripped out about 400,000 of those day lillies. OK, that's obviously an exaggeration. It sure feels like that many though. The peony bush seems to be doing quite well! The neighbors that gave it to me were close with Marge, so it's a special hand me down. As my G-ma would say, the best plants in your garden are ones you inherited from the gardens of friends.

We also relocated a couple of hosta plants that were in front, but have been replaced by a gorgeous service berry bush. I'll share pictures of it after I get to gardening in the front. (So many flowers came back this year out there... I'm "super jazzed"!)



Relocated hostas and peony bush. This is where I just ripped out many, many pounds of day lillies. The ones in the front of this pic got ripped out shortly after I took this.



My Mom and Dad put in a new lilac tree to replace the one that was VERY old and had stopped blooming, and it really rounds out the yard. As much as I love that a blooming lilac bush means it's springtime, I wish they bloomed all year.

One of my favorite parts of summer are the fresh herbs in my garden! I still have lemon thyme and rosemary to plant in pots (you can move them inside in the winter) but I need to go get the soil for that.

Oregano; The back plant came back from last year.

Chamomile... tea time!

Lemon balm that came back. It smells sooo good!

These stupid day lillies grow under the fence, so it's really hard o get them. I pull some out through out the summer each year as they grow. Ugh.

My FAVORITE, lavender! I have three kinds.

Here are the two lavender plants that came back.

Cilantro

I also got my hanging planters set up with vinca maculata (the vine), lobelia and impatients.

There's still so much work to be done, but a gardeners job is never done. I'm looking forward to trying new recipes this summer, and making saches with dried herbs. Once those tomatoes and cilantro are ready, it's time for some pico de gallo!

What do you grow in your gardens?

Happy gardening!