Happiness

Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy is to make others so.

(pic:  honeybee on avocado flowers, via commons.wikimedia.org)

Honeybees

On a chilly am, the honeybees cluster at the hive entrance.

Iris Raised Bed

 Raised bed for heritage irises and herbs.  A couple of irises are currently blooming.  Several more are in bud.  The later ones are from the Spring planted irises from Old House Gardens.

My goal last fall, until now, was for the irises to establish in this location.  They look good.  So now, some minor  maintenance, nurturing, and puttering from time to time, and hope for a more lavish display next year.  I feel fortunate that some of the Spring planted irises did indeed bloom, or will, so I get a taste of things to come.

The little blu-ish iris is Her Majesty.  It's not as blue in person, but bluer than the catalog color.  Effect of soil pH?  Climate?

New raised bed for heritage irises.  Built this past weekend, filled, and moved several irises from places where they had bee stuck due to no good places elsewhere.  The variegated iris is Iris pallida variegata alba.   The other blooming iris is an unnamed Iris I bought from a source in Tennessee last summer.  Slight fragrance.

I also planted herbs from other locations.  Chives, oregano.  Areas the will have irises later, I planted with swiss chard and carrots.  I planted the edges with sweet alyssum seeds.

Helen Collingwood

Night Hawk

Helen Collingwood.  I've been wondering if i would like this one.  I do.  It's handsome and has a mild sweet fragrance.  It has not fallen over in the rain, and the rain has not damaged the flowers, which gives it an advantage over a lot of the fluffy modern varieties.

Night Hawk.  Also a mild sweet fragrance.  Not a heritage variety, but I liked it.  This iris did fall over in the rain.  So I staked it for support.  The color on my computer looks true to the flower.

Bumblebees have been exploring these flowers.  I didn't see any honeybees in them.

Planting Seeds.

Spring Seed Planting

These are the seeds I planted in the past week.

Alyssum and Bonanza Mix Marigolds in the tomato bed.  They sprouted during the rains of the last week.  Also planted alyssum seeds in the border of the new iris raised bed.

Clemson Spineless Okra - Also in the tomato bed.  Clemson Spineless was introduced by Clemson University in 1939, 50-64 days.  That's in an ideal hot climate - possibly 2 or 3 months here if it bears at all.  After one week of rain, I also saw sprouts.  I read that they require soaking and heat.  So I started some today after soaking with 2 changes of water, for several hours.  I also read Okra doesn't respond well to transplanting.  The seeds I planted today I planted in newspaper-lined containers to reduce transplant shock.

Swiss Chard - in empty squares of the iris bed I set up last weekend.  It will be mid to late summer before I add the irises in those spaces.  I don't want to leave it with bare soil.  Space is at a premium.

Petite Yellow Watermelon ( 65-80 days) and Blacktail Mountain Watermelon (65-75 days) - Haven't tried watermelons here.  Starting in containers, today.  Then into raised bed.  Cleared some space in the raised bed, from winter vegetables.  Some of those didn't do well, others have been harvested - radishes, greens.

Minnesota Midget Canteloupe (60-75 days).  Haven't tried these either.  These are a small melon, 4 inches, and the vines are 3 feet long.  May plant them in containers, not sure yet.  Also starting in containers, today.

Japanese Soyu Burpless Cucumber (65 days).  Starting in containers today.  Will find a place for them.

Asparagus Pea (60-75 days).  Starting in containers.  Will need to fine a place for them too.

Parisian Carrot (55 days) and Red Cored Chantenay Carrot.  (70 Days).  Also in the new iris bed, for the same reason.

Also some cleome seeds for Ning's meadow.

Also the last of the sweet potatoes.  One week ago, I discovered what looked like near dead sweet potato starts in the mailbox.  They were there for the weekend.  I cleaned them up and planted the best looking ones in a half barrel.  These sweet potatoes were described as an early variety, good for the North.  The remaining set I placed in a glass of water, with daily water changes.  They also look better, grew new roots, so I planted them today.

Tomato Bed

Tomato Bed

Tomatoes, planted and ready for some sunshine.  The 3  smaller ones were plants I grew from seeds.  Late start for those.  Also some basil plants.  Last week in this tomato cage, I also planted 2 rows of okra, and edges of sweet alyssum seeds and marigold seeds, which have germinated.