I Heart Hurley

I really love him after seeing this post at GardenRant:

http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2009/01/worm-composting-by-the-stars.html

Seeds

So, when the going gets tough, the tough get shopping, right. After yesterday's depressing run down of dead plants, I thought I'd go lift my spirits and buy some seeds and be optimistic about the upcoming year. The seed starting period is just a few weeks away. Here is the run down:

SALVIA 'BLUE BEDDER'

PASSION FLOWER

DILL

This is for the butterflies. Several varieties of butterflies like it.



CLEOME
This has been on the official wish list for ages.

PETUNIAS

The will be held for fall. I can never find them in September, when I want them.

AMARYLLIS 'GARDEN PINK'

'Cause the crinums get lonely.

The Freakin' Freeze

This morning my husband found me staring out the sliding glass windows, looking at our big backyard, and whimpering. "I'm so sorry," he said in a hushed tone. I knew it was coming. A tropical garden can only last so long in freezing weather, and we had three consecutive days of temperatures dipping into the low twenties. It was probably the hardest freeze we've had at this house. My job keeps me away from the garden during daylight hours at this time of the year, so I couldn't check on it during the week. My husband was home during the day and would give me updates. "Yeah, it is not good . . ." Today was the first day I could get a look at it. It was probably harder on him than me. I know that the losses are actually just temporary - by April this will be a distant memory as the perennials start to come back. All he sees are dead plants. Because I have masochistic tendencies, below are pictures of each of the gardens in their peak and how they look today after the freezes.

THE SHED GARDEN

(The before is from late September 08)

THE CORNER GARDEN

(The before is from late September 08)

THE CORNER GARDEN

(The before is from September 08)

THE POOL GARDEN(The before is from last week.)

THE FRONT GARDEN(The before is from last week. This is the winner this year. I was determined to have this garden looking nice this winter. With the exception of some pink pentas and some coleus, everything lived.)

Fellow Ocala Garden Bloggers

Recently I've come across (or should I say, they've come across me. . . ) some bloggers who live in the same town as I do - Ocala. Finally! Now you can read about two other bloggers who whine about our one week of freezing temperatures a year . . .

Gardening Alligator

The Conservative Gardener

Maybe one day we'll have enough bloggers to do our own

"Spring Fling"!

It's FFFrrreeeezzzing Here!!

After 3 days of weather in the very low twenties, the plants are all dead. I know it happens every year about this time, and they will all come back by March, but I'm still bummed out. I'll show you all pictures of the carnage over the weekend.

Cats

What is up with this? A family of cats has moved in under the shed. The babies are very cute, but Mama is kind of mean and I'm nervous about my daughter playing in the yard with a bunch of strays running around. If anyone has any ideas on how to get them to move out, I'd appreciate it.

TO DO: The Pool Garden

Do you ever walk into your garden and see nothing but to do lists? That's how I've felt about the gardens lately. Gotta do this. Gotta do that. Just thinking about it makes go back to sleep on Saturday mornings. Northerners may complain about not being able to garden all year, but frankly, I wouldn't mind a break. Ok, so I've taken a break anyway. But it would be nice to have a legitimate excuse for being so lazy. Like a couple feet of snow.

(Wow - Look how dark the corner garden gets!)

TO DO LIST FOR THE POOL GARDEN

1. Clean the pool.

2. Clean up the purple queen in the corners and replace the rocks there.

3. Cut back the banana.

4. Try to find a pesticide free way to keep the caterpillars off the cannas.

5. Replant some pots.

6. Extend the patio out. (Getting rid of the sand box, which has become a huge litter box.)

7. Pull all the rye grass seedlings (I'll be doing this till April)

TO DO: The Corner Garden

TO DO LIST FOR THE CORNER GARDEN:

1. Move the crinum bulbs from the corner to the side of the shed. Replace them with some of the butterfly ginger and ti plants.

2. Mow (Ok, ok . . . That should really be on the honey-do list. I don't mow.)

3. Plant the circle with annuals.

4. Work on a border for the circle.

5. Finish a bamboo trellis for the back fence and plant it.

TO DO: The Butterfly Garden

TO DO LIST FOR THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN:

1. Fill the hole that opened up again in the back left corner. (The details of this get me depressed. Here's what happened last year.)

2. Add compost and mulch

3. Clean off the stepping stones (Somehow.)

4. Work on some sort of trellis (Maybe.)

5. Level out the bird bath (What happened to it, anyway?)

6. Keep the annuals alive. (The soda bottle was a make shift IV, dripping slowly dripping water. For some reason these plants struggled week.)

7. Find some summer annuals I'd like to put in here.

8. Get some milkweed.

8. Remove this bougainvillea. It is doing well in this back corner but it is too shady and hasn't bloomed. I'm moving it to the pool area.

In lieu of anything exciting to say about my garden, I turn instead to the wisdom of my 2008 calendar:

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower;

There is nothing you can think that is not the moon.

- Matsuo Basho

I really want a compost sieve.

I really want a compost sieve.