157 ... and counting

The scene of the crime. And this isn't even all of them!

Do they offer plantaholic 12-step programs? I'm seriously thinking I may need to find one. Noticing that my "holding area" (formerly the pit of despair, but somewhat spruced up) is getting a little tight, I took a count of the plants I need to plant. And the total was somewhat astonishing: 157. That's perennials, herbs and veggies that I intend to get in the ground in the very near future. That does not count annuals (of which I've got hordes, but they don't count because um ... well, I have no good reason other than that it would make the total embarassingly high—which is not to say that 157 hasn't already achieved that mark) or tree starts from our various maples that I intend to just keep growing out in pots until such time as we know where we want to put them and they are big enough to survive there.

Does anyone else have this issue? I sincerely hope so because this definitely feels like an addiction.

These are just some of the hostas waiting to go in the ground. The blame for these lies entirely with Pam at Gardening with Queenie. She's a hosta addict and she willingly shares the addiction! Last I heard she's got 930 varieties and is pushing for 1,000 by the end of summer. Go Pam!

How'd I do?

Friday I posted a long list of weekend gardening chores. The weather this weekend was stellar, which we deserved after the previous weekend's 2.5 inches of rain. Here's how I did:

• Edge all beds - DONE. They look great. I don't like edging, but nothing cleans up a garden like fresh edges. (Note: I'm just looking at that picture. It looks like I might have been drunk while edging!)
• Finish weeding beds — Not done. Almost ... but not quite. Plus, there will certainly be more weeds to follow so this isn't really something you can just check off and be done with.
• Plant tree peonies — Done. I planted three: A dark red, a dark pink and a light pink. They came bare root and my understanding is that it's not a great time to plant bare root tree peonies (fall is better), but they were about $7.50 each through the co-op. There's no way I was going to pass that deal up. I hope they do well. I'm guessing if they think about blooming this year (unlikely), I should cut the buds off to focus all the energy into the roots, right?
• Divide daylilies— Nope. But I only have one that needs dividing so this a good after-work project.
• Determine if the Disneyland rose made it through the winter—Well, I didn't pull it out of the ground because I'm hoping for a miracle, but I think it's dead. I don't get what happened. I bought it potted at the nursery and planted it at the level it was in the pot. (Was that correct?) I'm pretty sure it's an own-root rose. This winter I mounded soil around it's crown, caged it and mulched it heavily (as in 18 inches deep) with shredded leaves. Not one stem is alive and there are no signs of life there. This happened with the last floribunda rose I planted too. I think I'm the only person the world who grows roses as annuals. I may very well replace that Disneyland. It was GORGEOUS last summer. And probably worth the $15 it cost even if it only lives one summer. I sure wish someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong though.
• Deal with "The pit of despair"—Nope. Still a pit. Still full of despair.
• Plant peas, lettuce and maybe beets — Check, check and check!
• Hopefully take a trip to Caan's garden center—Done! By about 2:30 p.m. yesterday I was so stiff I could barely move, so even though there was lots left to do in the garden, I ran up there for a bit of a break. Boy was I disappointed. They only had two of the six perennials I was looking for, so I picked up three variegated Solomon's Seal, and a Baptisia, and a hanging plant for my mom for Mother's Day (trust me, you do not want to be at a nursery specializing in hanging containers on Mother's Day weekend).

All in all it was a pretty good gardening weekend. But gardens should come with chiropractors!

No room at the inn

My co-op buying has reached epic proportions this year. Through the co-op I have access to oodles of great perennials at great prices. The only catch is that they are plugs—what most local nurseries buy from wholesalers, then pot up and grow before selling them to the public, for up to four times what they paid. I don't begrudge nurseries that money at all. It's hard work to pot up all those plugs, and care for them until they are saleable. Plus, pots, dirt, heat, fertilizer and help doesn't come cheap. But I want in on that action.

So I've started buying a lot of perennials through the co-op. It's the only way I could afford so many of them. When they come I pot them up and grow them out in this thing I call a greenhouse. They call it a Flowerhouse, but make no mistake, it's a glorified pop tent.

I've got most of what I've purchased this year all potted up and settled in. The only problem? I ran out of room in the greenhouse, so a few thing are just going to have to tough it out in the big bad outside.

Here's a close up of what things are looking like in there.

And here's the whole "holding area." The larger pots are hostas I bought through the co-op last fall. I buried them in the ground, covered them in a bunch of leaf mulch and they ALL made it. I'll plant them in the new shade bed this summer. This is also the location of the aforementioned "pit of despair." Dealing with it is on this weekend's agenda, but today was rough, and frankly, it's lower on the priority list so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

A big weekend

Since last weekend was pretty much rained out, I have a long list of things to do in the garden this weekend. Here's just a few:

• Edge all beds
• Finish weeding beds (groan)
• Plant tree peonies
• Divide daylilies
• Determine if the Disneyland rose made it through the winter. It's not looking good.
• Deal with "The pit of despair"—the bed on the side of the house that I've done nothing with because hopefully some day we'll be putting a deck there. It has become sort of a holding bed but it's gross, so I'm going to pull the weeds that are there and cover it all in mulch. At least it won't be gross.
• Plant peas, lettuce and maybe beets (have to check the timing on those) in the veggie garden. I'm way late on the peas and the lettuce already!
• Hopefully take a trip to Caan's garden center. I wanted to go up for their Spring Expo last weekend but it was so miserable out, I just couldn't do it. This weekend they have buy 10 perennials, get two free and a sale on flats of annuals. Not sure I should be buying that many perennials right now and it's a bit early for annuals (and the "greenhouse" is getting crowded), but I'm sure I won't walk away empty handed.

That's a pretty ambitious list. Frankly, I'll be thrilled if I get the edging and weeding done.

So, what are you up to in your garden this weekend?

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)