Thursday, May 21, 2009

Trying to Catch Up!

I'm way behind this year. Way, way behind. Usually by now I've got my whole yard planted. In past years by the third week of May I have the annual flower beds planted, the containers are filled, and the veggies are securely tucked away in their summer home. I'm several weeks behind at best. Today I decided to get serious, so I visited my four favorite nurseries in town and bought a bundle. At the first stop I bought some items for my containers. Million bells, sutera and lobelia were loaded onto the cart.

Then I spied this sweet little ceramic blackbird and lost all concentration. I'm such a sucker for garden nick-nacks. I paid for the flowers and the bird, got in the car, realized how easy it is for me to get side-tracked, and decided to get more serious.... (He's cute, isn't he? He has funny little beady eyes and a smile on his beak.) Uhhh, where was I...

At the second stop I bought two grocery carts full of container plants. You could say I was getting warmed up. I filled the trunk with geraniums, gerbera daisies, African daisies, marigolds, New Guinea impatiens, nemesia and nicotiana.

At the third stop I bought some plants to add "interest" to the containers, like ... spikes, vincas, asparagus ferns, and coleus. This last purchase facilitated a stop back home because there was no longer any room in the car. I spent the next half hour traipsing back and forth from my car to the back yard dumping off all the loot.

Back in the car. I was just getting started. Four flats of impatience were added to the car at the last stop. That's 288 plants. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Then I had to buy 7 large bags of potting mix and 3 large bags of compost. The back of my car barely skimmed the pavement as I rode home, and the car took on the air of a cow pasture. A little too "earthy" for my taste.

The good news: The impatience, all 288 of them, got planted. Six containers got filled with a variety of beautiful blooms.

The bad news: I'm so sore I can't move, and I have many, many more containers to fill.