Lilac Season. 24 Apr 24.

 The lilac hedge is blooming nicely.  There are no two alike.

Most of these were from a batch of tissue culture starts from the Canby garden show, 20 years ago.  A few are starts from a neighbor, or from our old house.

Making a Sturdy Rolling Garden Stool. 24 Apr 24.

 Here's my garden stool project so far.  The ends and top are a 3/4 inch thick wooden plank, 11" wide.  The back and bottom are from a piece of 3/4 " thick plywood.  The supporting parts are cut from 2 x 2's.  All of this was from the wood storage shed.

I based the height on a metal garden stool that is about right but becoming bent and wonky.  I decided I want it about 3 inches taller, to suit my legs.  Since it will be heavier than the old stool, it will be on casters.  I chose 6" casters, which add 7" height.  So, I subtracted that.  That's good, because more weight means heavier stool.

Here are the cut parts just sitting there. View of the front, which will be open to hold tools and stuff.

Back view.   Back is closed, to give rigidity.

I've assembled most of the top, using deck screws.  I think I'll back them back out, and apply liquid nails before re-screwing it together.  That should give more strength and rigidity.

Using 2x2s as shown on the bottom, will give strength for the casters.  I might use a hole saw to cut openings in the ends, to lighten the weight a little.  The back too, if a practice piece of plywood cuts OK.  I ordered a pad for the seat.  It will need a pull handle or rope.  Once the wooden parts are assembled, I will apply a coat of deck stain, same as the raised beds have.

TLC'ed Daylilies Gradually Looking Better. 21 Apr 24.

 These are the Molokai and Bettylen daylilies that had an extended stay in the garage before planting.  I planted them 24 March. They are in full sun now.

I didn't label so don't know which is which.  They have excellent root masses, so today I gave them a general purpose fertilizer, 1/4 strength, to boost leaf production.

Here is how they looked when I planted them a month ago.

And out of the box.

So far, so good.  I wonder if the larger one might bloom this year.

Seedlings. Basil, Cilantro, Morning Glory, Snow Peas. 21 Apr 24.

 The basil seedlings look pretty nice.

The cilantro took a lot longer, but coming up now.  I wondered if the seeds were viable.  The are.

I soaked some morning glory seeds in water.  They got sort of back-burnered and  wound up soaking for three days.  At that point, the seeds had roots.  So I planted them.  Two days later -

The transplanted snow peas are happy I didn't plant them where jays and voles eat them.

Ozark Beauty Strawberry Plants. 21 Apr 24.

 Here are the containers that I planted yesterday and the day before.

There is also a 4th box.  Twenty plants, total.  I think they perked up quite a bit already.  Maybe they'll start growing new leaves soon.  Then I will know we're "in business".