CHECKING IN

Someone just pointed out to me today that Monday is the beginning of June. I can hardly believe it. I feel like I have been complaining, or at least commenting on how busy life has been every time I write a post, so you won't hear that from me today. I'll just say that I have high hopes of getting caught up in the garden over the weekend. Although I'm just coming off a three-day weekend, the weather was not very cooperative and I've not really felt comfortable planting annuals with the cold nights yet.

Just planted, the tomato trough doesn't look like much yet, but in a few weeks it should be looking great.

I've been able to put in a few late nights in the garden this week though, and one of the things I accomplished was getting my new tomato trough planted. I had woodworker extraordinaire Ryan build this for me (Ryan also did the built-ins in our bedroom and our kitchen cabinets) and told him to do it as cheaply as he could while still using wood that would last more than a year or two. As usual, he did a fabulous job building it to my sketch and I stained it gray to match the deck underskirting.

I have two smaller tomatoes planted in it, three basil plants and a couple of parsley plants. I'll have lots more of all of them planted over in the vegetable garden, but these will be right outside the kitchen door for easy access. I'm so happy with how it turned out. It's a big container and I filled it entirely with soil mix, in this case a combination of Fafard 3B potting mix, a bag of manure, a fair amount of chicken grit for drainage and a few handfuls of Espoma Tomato Tone fertilizer.

The first clematis is blooming. Unfortunately I don't recall where I got this one or what it is called but I believe it's an alpina variety. It's growing up the new magnolia tree and the two plants blend in so well together that it looks like a weird tree with two completely different blooms.

You can tell I haven't gotten around to edging this bed yet.

Gardening after work at this time of year really is a joy. There are no mosquitos yet and the light is so beautiful. The new garden I built last year is looking pretty darn good for a new bed. I planted double white daffodils (and I wish I could recall the name) here and I'm so happy with the effect. These daffs are so gorgeous. A neighbor stopped by and said they remind her of gardenia blossoms.

I also snapped a photo the other day of a new sedum I picked up on a whim. I think it is called 'Plum Perfection' but there was no tag in the pot. I'm loving the blush of purple on it. I'll be interested to see if that stays during summer or if that's just a spring show.

The Serviceberry blooms have come and gone.

I would love to do a Friday Finds post for you today, but I've not been online much lately. I shall fix that next week! The good news is that I have lots planned for the blog for next week: a product review that I hope you'll love as much as I do, a little bit about my day as a "movie star," and weather-willing, a post about all the planting I hope I get done over the weekend.

I hope you have a great weekend in the garden!