Pansies. 5.1.2021

A few of the pansies that I planted last month.  These were purchased plants from Tsugawa.  They are in a vegetable raised bed.

 

Planting Cucumber and Swiss Chard Seeds. 5.1.2121

 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.

I planted a short row from each packet.  Those from 2014 are pretty old.  We'll see if they grow.

Lilacs Today. 5.1.2021

 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.

Tomato Seedlings Update

 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.

Transplanting and Unintended Forsythia Cutting. 4.27.2021

 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.