Today I planted old cucumber seeds. I forgot to plant the cucumber seeds I saved, last fall, so will go back and do that. The potential problem with those is, I don't know if they were hybrids, so I don't know what they will be like. I planted these seeds in 4 inch flower pots.
I also planted some Swiss chard seeds, directly into the garden soil. Swiss chard is my favorite green, although sometimes they are other colors.
The lilacs are in full bloom today, so I took a bunch of photos. The two with more delicate flowers are Korean lilac. Also there's a viburnum in there, which is not a lilac. I imagine that the lilac bush in front of the house was planted by the first owners of this house. Last summer I pruned out all of the underbrush and left it as a kind of grouped tree. It's more airy that way and I think nicer.
Here are most of the remaining tomato seedlings. They are the dwarf types and the Romas.
The dwarfing trait is already showing on the dwarf tomato seedlings.
I'm growing a forsythia hedge along the fence. On the other side is a gravel road built on an easement. Since that was done, there is an unwanted view of ugly property as well as loss of property on my side. I thought about buying Leyland Cypress, but they are evergreen, so I have concerns about flammability. Plus Leyland Cypress grow so huge, which I'd rather not. There are other choices, but Forsythia is fast growing, grows a thick hedge, pretty flowers in Spring. Starting from cuttings and small bushes is a bit slower but better than nothing and cheap.
To plant the hedge, I probably need about 10 or so. On the sides of the gate, I also planted lilac starts. I found two small Forsythias two weeks ago at Tsugawa, $11 each. I have trimmings in water to start. Low effort, not sure they will grow and I doubt it. I can try some cuttings with rooting hormone as well. Finally, I have two starts that I started to air layer on the original bush, yesterday. This will probably root. I left another stem for the same purpose to try today.
Meanwhile, while trimming the original Forsythia, I noticed this small bush growing next to the larger one. Doubtless, it was a pruning that was dropped and took root. I dug it up and planted in the hedge space. Given how dry and hard the soil where it was, and the thick grass, now it's in a lot better condition and should take off and grow nicely.
Last night I planted squash family plant seeds. Zucchinis, winter squash, and pumpkins. I finally learned to write the year seeds were bought, on the front of the seed packet. These are largely known good performers - Pink Banana Squash, Red Kuri Squash, Galeus d'Eysines Pumpkin (Squash), plus last year the Illinois Squash was good. Not sure about the variety Gete-Okosomin,, Nativbe American variety which has a. probably false, legend of the seeds having been found in a clay ball in an 800 year old archeological site. The Zucchinis are heirloom types, so I can save the seeds. The one exception is "Sure Thing" hybrid which I bought last year and didn't plant.
This year the plan is to cover flowers to avoid insect pollination, and hand pollinate so that each variety is "pure" so that I can save my own seeds.
