Thursday, June 14, 2012

A good season so far

A new garden season is always exciting. I don't care how long I have been gardening -- it still feels like an absolute miracle when seeds sprout and perennials "come back". And of course it is a miracle, the miracle of life.
I got my Earthboxes planted up over Memorial Day weekend. 

They are already about twice as big as this.  They are doing so well!  I love Earthboxes.  On the left are two tomatoes, then 6 assorted peppers in the other two boxes.

I also planted some annual herbs to go along with my perennial oregano, thyme and sage.  I planted Italian basil, Thai basil (my favorite!) and rosemary.  I'll be ready for any recipe!  Here are my little baby herbs.  The rosemary is in the clay pot.  The huge clump on the left is the oregano.  It is growing like gangbusters this season, and I have already snipped quite a bit to use in my Greek salad dressing.  I am also going to try to make some herb vinegar.

In the front garden, the Aruncus (Goat's Beard) is in bloom with it's beautiful white plumes.  Of course it is supposed to be standing straight up, but mine never does.  I kind of like it hanging down the way it does, though.  I planted a new shrub in the corner, an Itea Virginica "Little Henry".  The soil is so horrible there that I decided to put Little Henry in a container.  He is doing really well, with lots of fresh new growth since I planted him about a month ago.  So far so good!  In the winter he will live in the garage along with the boxwood and the Hakonechloa Japanese grass.  That Japanese grass is so beautiful, I just love it.  I need to get that repotted, though.  I can see the roots near the surface of the dirt in the pot.


Here is a beautiful combination of orange Oriental poppies and purple Siberian iris.  I love this color combo!

Happy gardening!


Friday, June 8, 2012

Long time no Blog

I haven't blogged in a long time!  I am going to try to get back into it.  It's fun to go back and read stuff I had written several years ago.

A lousy new development in my garden -- an influx of rabbits.  Wascally wabbits.  They are so cute, and so damned destructive.  I planted a few marigolds the other day -- went to water them the next morning and they were chewed all the way down to the dirt.  Unbelievable!  Then the rabbits went after my collards, so Dan constructed a chicken wire fence around them.  Then -- and this is when I declared war -- they went after my beloved 20-year old delphinium.  Ate half of it, and when I saw that I almost cried.  Delphiniums don't grow well in Chicago, they hate heat and humidity.  They love misty, rainy English gardens.  I have been nursing this one, brave delphinium along, coddling it, for 20 years.  It is puny and tired looking, but it is alive, and it has bloomed reliably every year. A gorgeous, sky blue flower.  I am terrified that the rabbits have killed it.

When Dan heard my delphinium tale of woe, he went to Menards and bought 150 feet of rabbit fencing.  We are going to encircle the entire back yard and hope for the best.  What I would REALLY like to do is destroy those little furry creeps before the entire neighborhood is overrun with them.  But there are strict laws in Chicago against flame throwers, ouzis, high-powered rifles, napalm...............but I can dream.