What I planted

This was formerly called "Planting done" but I never got back to making the video that would go with it.  So here is what I had planted...


Front garden:

Easy Wave White Petunia
Easy Wave Red Petunia
Black Petunia

Gatekeeper

Coral rose zinnia
Dreamland mix zinnia
Zahara starlight rose zinnia
Double zahara cherry zinnia
Ironweed
Cardinal climber vine
TBD

Deck bed

Bufferfly something...

Moon Garden

Moonflower (discovered these are annuals :( )

Bridget garden

Britt marie Crawford Big Leave Ligularia

Food beds

German grape tomato
Yellow pear tomato
Black cherry tomato -- These are the ONLY ones that were productive. The rest of all the tomatoes either did not grow, did not bear very many fruit, or bore fruit that appeared to be super susceptible to the very wet-then-very hot conditions of the summer, so that they burst easily on the vine, allowing bugs, etc. to come in :(
Romas
Berkeley tie die
Cherokee purple
some other red

Patio planters
Impatiens
Lanais blue verbana
Setcreasea
3 California wonder sweet bell
nasturtium
lemon grass
geranium

Basil
Rosemary
Marjoram
Oregano
Thyme
Parsley
Cilantro

Beltainne is coming! (Also Flora and Fauna update)

I know, it says May 3 on the calendar, but you'll recall from my ridiculously infrequent postings, that I don't celebrate Beltainne until the frost-free date, when planting can happen, so we're at least two weeks away.

"Spring" as defined by warm weather has not official sprung in Central Ohio until this week, and has basically bounced right into the 80s.  "Spring"  as defined astronomically (which, let's face it, is what it anyway) has of course been here and even through snow and sub-freezing temperatures, the birds and plants have been doing their thing, although annual ant-migration inward was delayed a bit, starting a few days ago.  While I try to ignore them, if they get on ME they may get squished. Except last night we watched the Marvel movie Ant-Man, so now I'll probably feel bad about it.

Official pre-Beltainne has begun.  It has moved from the mere "musing about what to do" to getting down to the brass tacks of what to do.  The current to-do list:

• Begin the round of weeding. Somewhere, some botanist probably knows why weed tend to sprout forth before the things you actually planted did (please answer in the comments), but either way weeding must start.
• Clean out beds and planters of last years' stuff.  I did clean out the vegetable garden beds last year, and two got torn out. The planters I just left in place, mostly to attempt to hold the soil over winter.  I'm hoping to score a few more from a colleague who's elderly neighbors keep dumping them on her.
• Fix rototiller. Seamus has everything we need to fix it, so hopefully I can get him to do it, or better yet show me how to do it.
• Survey raised beds for repairs. Some of the planks are coming apart, so we may need to just re-attach them somehow.
• Re-establish new beds to replace the ones ripped out.
• Make list of herbs and plants.  It's in my head, but if I don't have it in writing before I go to various sales, I'll come home with NOTHING I actually need.
• Order dirt/mulch.

This year, I am switching it up. Because I like to can, this year is going to be tomatoes in all four beds.  Two beds of "slicers" and two beds of paste tomatoes.  Hopefully that can get us a nice stockpile, including sauces and salsas, in addition to just plain ol' canned. Next year I'm thinking all string beans, all the time, for the same reason, and then the year after that is back to adding zucchini, squash, peppers, etc.  Maybe I'll try corn again.

I have however done some spring harvesting.  Last night, with the help of a neighborhood girl, we sat in my front yard and picked dandelions, some of which are hopefully fermenting in my kitchen for dandelion wine, the rest of which will get made into dandelion bread.  I thought we had picked the front yard clean, but when I walked out this morning, it was like we hadn't even done a thing! 

That's all to update for now. The birds and squirrels are back.  The blue jays come for their morning peanuts when we whistle for them, and the squirrels don't automatically run when they hear the back door open.  I'm not sure when the juncos left, but they've been replaced by goldfinches it seems.  I haven't seen the hawks yet, so I'm not sure if they returned, but as I think about it, it might be an every other year thing.  Mr. Cardinal and Mrs. Cardinal II are back also, and still waiting to see if Waddles the Skunk is around. Stay  tuned!