Where'd May go?

     Holy cow peeps!  Where did May go?  All I know is that classes started up, my bestest friends got hitched, and it's transplanting time here in good ol' Wisconsin.  The windows have been open for the last week and the cats have raided the back porch, claiming it as their play spot for the summer.  And I don't blame them, especially since the robins, cardinals, and a slew of finches now hang out in our back yard.

But on to what's been transpiring in the gardens!  Apparently, everything decided to started blooming while I was away.  I didn't snap a picture of the palm sized poppies in the back, but the 'champagne bubbles' variety are already open. The pic shows the snapdragons (who survived winter), dianthus, and the campanula.  There are, of course, many more flowers blooming around the yard.

A few weeks back, I collected a few of the bleeding hearts and pansy flowers for pressing.  The colors stayed quite nice and it did thin the herd a bit, as they say.  The pansy have since overtaken the front retaining wall and I'm pondering thinning them out again.  Never mind the fact that the Chinese Lantern in the maple garden is running amuck...

And on the porch there is the normal suspects of black petunias.  This year they are paired with orange pansy.   I think it's a very beautiful contrast and as they grow it will be even more striking.

In the vegetable garden, the golden boy tomatoes are housed in their cage while the red bell and banana peppers are sitting cozy in their  shared tote.  I still have to get the melons seeded not to mention the bicolored corn.  This year, I picked up some apple mint that will go with the mint garden quite nicely.  In addition, I planted a 'red wine' mixture of sunflowers with the strawberry corn and blue corn on the side of the house. The chocolate sunflower from last year decided to repopulate the garden bed itself so I didn't bother adding more to the mix, lol.

the fence so far with the maple garden behind it

On top of that, I get to expand the gardens even more!  We split the yard in half to make a true back and front yard.  The walkway for the fence goes through a wooden arbor.  And since there's space, I'm going to spread out the gardens with lavender, oregano, chives, and a few other herbs among the flowers, because I can.

Needless to say it's been a busy end to spring.  Next on our list is to finish the fence, paint the house, and at some point, I need to put together the garden bench I've been planning for.

But they're so tiny!

As a few of you know, I ordered citrus trees a few months ago to add to my growing collection of container garden items.  Well, I'm happy to announce that they're here!!

L-R: orange, lemon, and lime trees

I just potted the three little citrus trees in their own ginkgo fiber pots (which makes them eco-friendly and biodegradable).  The pots should last them for a year or two.  And as you can see they're still tiny so the small pots aren't going to be a problem (they're only 7" diameter). Lucky enough our local nursery had soil for cacti, succulents and citrus so I didn't have to guess on the mixture, which could've been a hazard.  Hopefully these lil' guys do well so we have fresh citrus next year!  On a side note: the blueberries aren't looking too happy with me so I doused them in vinegar water in an attempt to keep them alive...if anything I'll pay a little more for 2 or 3 year old plants.

In addition, talk about a whole front yard make-over.  Last year, we talked about transplanting the two bleeding hearts in the front garden and a few of the hosta to the side yard where they'll enjoy more shade than sun.  Well by the time we got to it they were all huge and it was too late in the season to move them.  Finally, we caught them before they're growth spurt.  Now the bleeding hearts are on the north side of the house with a neat row of six of the larger hosta.  They all have room to grow into their full potential unlike the cramped space in the front porch garden.

On top of that we moved around the remaining hosta in the front garden, moved in two more dianthus, planted some 'Sweet William Dianthus' on the side, moved a 'Black-Eyed Susan' and got stabbed to death by the climbing roses in the back.  I'm sure there are other things that we accomplished during our venture into the small gardens surrounding the house but it's getting late and the glass of merlot is kicking in.

If you haven't already: make sure to plant potatoes (I've got mine curing), start tomatoes and basil indoors for a better start outside.