It's getting harder and harder to make any forward progress here. We've had very warm temperatures and lots of rain and intermittent sunshine...perfect growing conditions. And the WEEDS have taken full advantage of it. Fortunately, so has everything else, which is both blessing and curse. I had the opening in the Forsythia hedge nicely cut and neat just last week, now it's so overgrown it's hard to get thru it. My Storybook Garden that I was bragging about last week? Is there even a garden there?? The monster grass is so tall in spots you can't see the plantings. I vowed to myself this morning that I would not, never, no way, no how go anywhere on the property without carrying secateurs. It's that bad. 
The beautiful show of iris and peonies is over. We had some brief, very heavy downpours on Wednesday evening and combined with high temperatures, everything peaked and then melted pretty quickly. My gardens are entering the early summer "Great Green" where everything is lush and green with very little color until the phlox and daylilies light up. The roses are spectacular though!
I've got to get serious about the veg. I finally got my red cabbage, chinese cabbage, celery, and sweet potato plants in this morning. The cabbages and celery are pretty tiny so I've got to be vigilant about keeping them weeded and watered until they take off. The sweets look very good. This year I've got two smaller beds of sweets rather than one big patch...it just worked out that way. I still need to plant my pole beans, summer squash (2 varieties), winter squash (3 varieties), and cucumbers. No beets this year; I still have several jars from last year in the pantry. I've also still got to get my seed-started sweet and hot peppers into the ground or grow-bags. They just never really took off for me in the house this year and are still very small. The bigger plants I bought at the Master Gardeners sale are in the ground, but they took a lot of damage from slugs until I dusted them with Diatomaceous earth and "mulched" them with a thin layer of wood ashes. That really seems to keep the slugs at bay. I'm going to have to ramp up the War on Slugs...they're getting bad again.
Strawberries were phenomenal this year. Loads of fruit, very clean and beautiful. I will never grow strawberries uncovered again. The plants have been under garden fleece since I think March and are thriving. It looks like I may have a lot of black raspberries this year, but I still haven't got the netting up on the berry cage. If I lose them all, it will be my own fault.
Back tew't, as my imaginary Scottish Gardener would say. Those weeds won't pull themselves, missy.
This has got to stop. But then, who can pass up a Master Gardeners Annual Plant sale AND a deep deep discount going out of business clearance sale at a local nursery? I ask you. Who?
So, despite POURING rain, I found myself standing in a line of about 50 other plant addicts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday waiting for the gate to open so we could "score our fixes." I got a small winter jasmine, a white siberian iris, two pots of golden Japanese forest grass, two pots of sweet bell peppers and one pot of hot habenero peppers (all my seed-started pepper plants are soooo tiny...). There was only one small Japanese maple for sale and some other addict got it before I did. Drat. Curses. Foiled again. 
After that, with wet feet despite wearing wellies, I decided that what the heck, I'm already all the way up here in Chambersburg, might as well see if Snavely's is still in business and what is left on offer. I'm glad I did. There wasn't much left and what was there was 60% off. I got two big ornamental grasses and a pot of German Statice (which I only bought because I felt sorry for it and did not even know what it was...the big leathery leaves intrigued me). Apparently I did not see those two big grasses when I was up there a couple weeks ago and I'm glad now because I got them for only $12 each. One is a giant miscanthus and the other is (I believe) Arundo donax or giant Spanish reed. The miscanthus will be an excellent addition, but I'm going to have to be cautious with the Arundo because it can spread by roots and become invasive. I will most likely keep it in a very big pot. Both will be in the new Tropical Garden (both are winter hardy here). I couldn't resist having grasses that can top 10 feet tall. Fortunately, neither spreads by seeds. (Our township has a problem with Johnsongrass, which can spread by both thick rhizomes and seeds and let me tell you, you do not want Johnsongrass in your garden. I've been digging out the same clump for YEARS and nothing seems to finally kill it...not digging, not weed killer, nuthin'. And I just recently learned that although fresh Johnsongrass can be very nutritious grazing grass, if it is wilted by frost or drought it contains enough cyanide that it can kill a cow or horse. I'm not sure how that works because I've also heard that it can make fine hay.)
Heavy overcast again today. I brought home a big load of wood chip mulch and some very nice flat stones from the township Transfer Station on late Friday. The mulch went to the newly tidied up Asian Garden area and most of the stones went onto the Folly Wall raised beds. Both areas are looking better now.
Like maybe, maybe I am ACTUALLY making a garden here. The weather has been rainy but mild and everything is growing like crazy. I've never seen tulips that huge and now the iris are also outdoing themselves. I have a white "Immortale" iris that is honestly the size of a large grapefruit.
But what really has me "chuffed" is that, yes, by gum and by golly, the outer areas are definitely forming themselves up into gardens, instead of just weedy patches with some flowers or shrubs sticking out. The Storybook Garden is (for now) very beautiful...I know I'll have a problem with Monster grass later in the year, as usual, but right now, I can see the layout is "getting there" and it's just what it's supposed to be--a long narrow garden that leads the explorer up through the forsythia hedge, up the hill, to the Folly Wall garden.
And the Folly Wall Garden is shaping up. Still very very rough, but again, it's looking more like a garden than just a mess of weeds and "stuff." I guess the true test for me is "Do I want to work here?" Yes I do.
The really encouraging area is the Asian Garden. Now that I have the Virtual Koi Pond in, everything else is starting to fall into place. I moved an arbor up there this morning to provide a visual and actual gateway into the area and I'm in the process of cutting down the annual bluegrass and tidying up the place. I want to get that grass out before it drops its seeds. I'm thinking of moving some struggling iris up there too, to extend the already existing bed of iris. I also need to get a couple of small benches so I have somewhere to sit and admire all this hard work.
Now I want everybody to remind me of this post in July when I'm griping about how out of control, ugly, and desperate the place looks.
Nothing much to report except my veg garden has never looked this bad this late in the spring. Usually by mid-May things are in the ground and growing and the veg looks at least semi-respectable. This year, with all the rain and cold temps, I'm way behind in planting and getting the soil ready for planting. I can't work in that heavy clay soil when it's wet. Even though I have raised beds (slightly, maybe 18 inches) it's still too wet.
Yesterday (Saturday 11 May) started out beautifully, with clear sunny skies and cool temps. I hurried a load of laundry out onto the line, then drove to Boonsboro Maryland for the annual recycling fair. I had loads of glass from our house and my neighbor's, plus one small old computer. I got three bags of recycled glass sand in exchange and I bought two very nice little Virginia Sweetspires (Itea virginica) at the plant swap table. I was hoping they'd have more little Japanese maple seedlings like last year, but no luck. I wish I had bought 4 or 5 last year instead of 1. The one I have is doing great, it's more than doubled in size. (Still only about a foot tall!)
I stopped in Hagerstown, MD, on the way back home to buy a sack of mortar because I'm bound and determined to get more concrete blocks on to the Folly Wall this week. By the time I got home, it was overcast and by nightfall we had heavy rain.
This morning, sunny and cool again. I had a lot of house and office work to do, so did not get into the garden until past noon. The call of the big garden rooms and borders is so tempting, but I made myself concentrate on the disaster that is called the veg. You ever have one of those moments where you stand looking at a chaotic mess and literally cannot move because you don't know what to do first? It's that bad.
I decided to start by getting the teasels out of the brick path at the east end of the garden. What a big improvement. Then I just went from there. Pruned back the die-back on the fig, hammered in the stakes to hold up a wooden raised bed edge. Pulled out tons and tons of false strawberry (which apparently has decided to take over the world), dug out a small but encroaching patch of goldenrod along the south fence, re-installed another wooden raised bed edge, cleaned out both the cold frames. And even got two short rows of beans planted!
What a difference. It's only about 1/4 of the entire veg, but it's a good start and I do have other beds in the veg that are cleaned and planted and looking good. It's mostly the paths and a few of the beds I haven't yet turned over or done anything with. One thing I really need to think about is storing the tomato cages and the various fence panels. I tend to lay them up wherever there's nothing growing, then when I need that spot, they get shifted, then shifted again, and again. It's stupid and time-consuming and the effect is like a junk yard. I really should think about some sort of rack or something (probly would be a good idea to get them up off the ground too, to reduce rust).
Temps have been up and down all week, from highs near 90 to tomorrow's forecast high of 57F. Only constant is the precipitation: we've had mostly light intermittent rain, but some heavier showers, mist, a good bit of fog, and almost constant overcast. When the temps are high, it's miserably humid. Yesterday it was in the mid-70s but the high humidity and occasional bursts of sunshine made it feel a lot warmer. I had to run some junk up to the transfer station so I brought back a load of free mulch; all of it went into the Tropical Garden and I could definitely use some more there.
Put in another planting of carrots; with all the rainy weather and a fresh packet of seeds, I figure it's worth a try!
All my winter-started brassicas are in the veg now: 4 kinds of cabbages, 2 kinds of broccoli, and cauliflower. I do have a small flat of Chinese cabbage and Pak Choi in the greenhouse, along with another flat of red cabbage. Those aren't big enough to go out yet. Also a few little kale seedlings.
We've been trying to put in a new kitchen/back door and that's taken up a lot of time the past couple of days. Today we finally got the door properly hung, but I'm glad R knows what he's doing because I did not have a clue as to why it wouldn't close at first (needed to be sanded down from the bottom). Taking the door in and out a couple of times was hard work, but now all it needs is the lockset installed and we're in business. This one is fiberglass; the original door was steel and it rusted horribly all along the bottom. I'm so glad to have that mess out of my kitchen.
I think I've hit on a good way for me to get things done around here. I have a to-do list and it's always growing, and most of the time it seems overwhelming. So I've been trying to "Just Do 3". I pick three things: feed chickens, gather eggs, plant new ornamental grass. Do those. Then 3 more. Wash dishes, put in load of laundry, sweep deck. Then 3 more, etc. I refuse to get distracted. I can get other things done if they present themselves, but I concentrate on "Just those 3." It helps. And I'm sticking with my idea of a "Done" list. At the end of the day, instead of going over all the "to-do" things that did not get done, I go over all the things that I did get done. It's very satisfying.
