What’s Blooming July 15
I took the pictures on July 15 – I just didn’t post until today! Oops. Here’s everything that’s blooming right now.
Jul 18
Jul 7
Maybe Nasturtiums Like Torrential Rain… Seed GROW Project
Climbing Nasturtium Spitfire from Renee's Garden
My two Climbing Nasturtium Spitfire really took off in June. This is a bit of a surprise since we had horrible rainy weather the entire month. Some say it was the worst spring EVER, but what do I know, I was in Europe (ha, ha).
One of the plants grew OVER FOUR FEET since June 3. Now that’s impressive. I’m also pretty ecstatic that they’ve started blooming. And, I’m no longer sad that I only got two seedlings out of the entire package of seeds. I figure the other seeds knew about the weather here and decided “why bother.”
But, because Renee’s Garden has such AWESOME customer service, they sent me another package of seeds with a hand-written note! I love companies with great customer service and now I love Renee’s Garden.
I’m also happy to report that we have sunshine in the forecast for the next week. I’m confident these new seeds will do great things. I’ve already planted half in various parts of the garden, including the vegetable garden and around the back patio. I didn’t clip the seeds, soak them or start them indoors. I’m trying something different and planting as nature intended – isn’t that what this project is about?
Nellie (from Renee’s Garden) mentioned in her note that Renee had a couple tips, “make sure the soil is well drained and protect from slugs and snails.” Hmm. Maybe I kept them a little too wet when starting indoors? I have sandy loam in the garden (old riverbed) and get great drainage outside. Seems like the new seeds will do better.
Before I went out of town, I planted a couple nasturtium starts from a local nursery in neighboring pots. My Nasturtium Spitfire babies are the huge ones climbing up the chicken coop.
Climbing Nasturtium Spitfire (in chicken pot) from Renee's Garden
You can follow my progress using my Seed GROW Project tag for this site.
You can read all the participating blog posts here on the Seed GROW Project site. Like all the other participants, I’ll be posting my progress every first Sunday of the month.
“I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”
Jul 5
Our NEW Backyard Sanctuary
This past week we finally finished our back patio. We took a little time off in June to visit France and England (it was a blast). But, when we came home to a giant dirt hole, we knew we needed to get the patio finished. After all, we’ve had the stone since April! To speed up the process I invited friends over for a tea party – giving us a week to get it all done.
The main reason for the new patio (beside it’s beauty) is to have a permanent home for our patio furniture and pots. Since we removed the lawn we’ll also have less mowing and watering. Plus, it’s great for our outdoor movie nights.
We used Tumbled Pennsylvania Bluestone since it’s the same type of stone used on the front walkway and we liked the different shapes of the stones. I wanted our patio to look natural and old – not perfect! We even left a space between the stones so a variety of ground cover would fill the gaps. So far the chickens have only eaten/devoured/destroyed the Blue Star Creeper.
To see my inspiration and before pictures you can check out a post I wrote a couple months ago: My Backyard Inspiration Picture.
Here’s my new patio:
New patio looking towards the house.
View of the back of the garage & veggie beds from the house.
Our fire pit & movie watching area. We've even got a spot set aside for an outdoor outlet.
Raised veggie & herb beds.
Pots filled with Creeping Jenny, Coleus, Bamboo, Heather & Midnight Wine Wiegela.
Coleus, Hebe & Variegated Holly.
Containers full of Coleus, Creeping Jenny, Hebe, Heather, Corkscrew Willow & Bonsai Maple.
Container filled with a young Dogwood, Heather, Coleus & Creeping Jenny.
Our backyard is now low maintenance and sustainable. I love it! Now, we relax.
Gardens of Windsor Castle
On a recent (and only) trip to England I toured Windsor Castle and gardens. I especially loved the gardens. Read more
Jun 6
It Was a Success? Seed GROW Project.
I’m happy to report that my TWO Nasturtium Spitfire Seedlings are now two months old. That’s right, out of an entire packet of seeds, I was able to germinate TWO seedlings. I’m rather proud of these two seedlings since I’d be a ‘nasturtium seed starting failure’ without them. After we chatted last month, I planted the remainder of the seeds directly in the garden to see what magic Mother Nature could do. Nothing.
I’m sure most people would disagree with me, but I’m finding Nasturtiums to be the hardest/most frustrating plant to start from seed. EVER. Here are a couple random shots of my two little fighters.
Nasturtium 'Spitfire' after two months (one month outside)
Closer look at my Nasturtium 'Spitfire' seedlings
You can follow my progress using my Seed GROW Project tag for this site.
You can read all the participating blog posts here on the Seed GROW Project site. Like all the other participants, I’ll be posting my progress every first Sunday of the month.
“I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”
Gardening in My Rubber Boots 