The June garden is so, so pretty that I can hardly stop taking pictures. So much is in bloom that it’s a veritable bonanza out there for gardenporn right now. After a raining Saturday yesterday, we were really itching for some nice weather, so we could get out there and get stuff done. So even though the sun never actually came out, we decided that gray and gloomy was still better than rainy, and called it a nice day.
For a while this spring, we were thinking we were quite caught up with all the chores, but with all the rain, we are days behind now, and some of the beds are really starting to show it. The clover in particular has been something else this year, especially around the borders. There are still a few beds that I haven’t got to at all, as well, and it shows.
We decided to split the day between the current garden and the new garden, though, even though there is enough stuff to do in the current that we could spend all our time there. But no progress forward would be made that way, and I think it worked out nicely.
So — stuff that got done in the new garden. I got some of the plant trades I’ve been getting in the mail in exchange for the trillium planted out. I put some creeping thyme under the pergola between the steps, and some foxgloves near my other foxgloves. I really like those plants, even if they do reseed madly. I plan to really deadhead them more faithfully this year so they don’t take over. Frank had heeled in a few things that came in while I was out of town, but those didn’t get moved yet.
I tackled the bed on the edge of the pergola, where the chives are all blooming. The clover and vetch had really made a mess of this bed, and it was discouraging to try to get it back under control, but I did it. Frank sprinkled Preen where I had turned up so much of the soil to try to keep the disturbed soil weed seeds from germinating, and then re-mulched the whole bed. It looks quite tidy now. That vetch, though, was all over the place, and I know I didn’t get all the roots out. I guess there’s nothing to be done except keep pulling it.
Things that are blooming right now: lilacs, pink columbine, blue columbine, the iris are just starting, the blue bachelor’s button, and the allium. The lupine are starting, though will really be in full force in a couple of days. The chives are starting as well, including the ones I transplanted into the window boxes up on the upper balcony.
I think we might have some compost burn, though. I noticed that there is quite a bit of yellow of foliage on many different plants, including really tough things like day lilies and lamb’s ear, as well as more tender things that often turn yellow easily, like allium. Maybe that compost wasn’t as ready to spread as we thought it was?
Then we moved over into the new garden. Frank cut down the remaining trees right at the stone wall, and I ran the chipper. Just even that little bit yielded five wheelbarrows full of chips, three of which went into the new compost bin, filling it up with coffee grounds added, and two piles went straight onto the edge of the potato bed.
We’re not sure what else to do with the chips except pile them on the ground and let them compost in place. I’m hoping it will also help keep the vegetation down in there until we can start building the raised beds. When we finished, Frank raised the chipper and hauled it out of there on the back of the tractor, and I’m surprised how much what we did showed.