May 8th, 2012

It has been a busy week and weekend.  Emily's parents are here and brought over a dozen perennials from their garden in Genoa, NY.  We planted a few during the week, and got the rest in over the weekend.   On top of that, we finally put some mulch down, and the beds look SOOOO much better.  Being able to isolate the plants we like (and cover the weeds) is a big help.   Here are some pictures of the front and back beds.    They are both looking a hundred times better than last year, and a thousand times better than two weeks ago!

While I'm at it, now that things are starting to look better, here are some other pictures from around the house:

This is a bed to the right of the front door.  There used to be Hostas here, but over the last year  we ripped them all out so we could use the space for veggies.  The droopy plant in the middle is a lilac bush that Emily's parents brought.   Hopefully it perks up and takes.  It would be really nice to have the lilac grow up the brick column.    In front of the lilac is the summer squash, and all around the brick column and against the fence are Pole Beans (Selma Zesta).  In the very front is a Dahlia.  

The Herb garden in the back

Now on to the garden updates!

The biggest update (to me), is that the the pole beans in the front of the house finally took off.  They all came up at once, between May 4th and 5th.  Unfortunately, I don't know when they were planted.  I am pretty sure I planted one last group within the past 2 weeks, but I can't remember.   At this point, I don't even really care.   I was worried that it was just not going to work, but now those worries are behind me.  

In related news, I planted a few more of the straight neck summer squash seeds at the same time, and they have also started to come up.  I'll only need one, but I'm glad that a few are going to start:

Here is a shot of the crookneck squash which is really doing well:

The first planting of peas is starting to flower.  Can't wait for those peas!

On Saturday, I put the peppers out to harden.   I took them in Saturday night, but then left them out Sunday and Monday night.  At some point this week, I'll transfer them to their bed.   They look great!