Cherry crostata

On Saturday I baked a cherry "crostata" -- a free form tart with some leftover frozen sour cherries I ordered from Michigan last year. Yumm.








On Saturday I also potted up the Johnny Jump Ups and Bellis Perennis. Cleaned up and fed the Hydrangeas. Planted the mail order plants and some plants picked up at garden centers (Quince Toyo-Nishiki, Helenium something or other, Party Girl miniature hollyhock, Hellebore). The Hellebore were probably planted in a spot that is too sunny. Forgot that I had intended to use them in a shadier spot to replace Tricyrtis that are out of place due to height. So, sigh, will have to move them. But the good news is we have a fairly sunny bed that we had underappreciated as such. Room for more perennials!

Tues: Ordered seeds for Delphinium (Annual Larkspur) Sydney Blue Picotee (plants from Parks were a total bust, should've known, will get refund); Dahlias (Lauren Michelle and a 2008 introduction, Rawhide). Friday (4/25) received shipment from Brent & Becky's. Nice plants and bulbs, but bulbs packed in box on top of plants and crushed the leaves.

Patriot's Day weekend

The weather was glorious so we got a lot done. Greg's nephew Matthew helped out on Saturday. We amended the soil in the vegetable and flower gardens; amendments included compost that Matt and Greg screened. (Very satisfying to feed that monster every week and have it produce gold eventually.) Flower bed included lime, humus/manure blend from Home Despot, peat, some old "Cock-a-doodle-doo" organic fertilizer that's been lying around, and some alfafa (if it works for the roses, why not the flowers?). Scratched alfalfa and Rose Tone around the roses. Exhausting work.

Sunday pruned the roses and treated roses and peonies with harpin (Green Guard from Gardens Alive), a plant protein that is supposed to stimulate growth and natural immune response. I'm mainly interested in the latter. Pruned the lavender. Fertilized the peonies w/slow release and 5-10-5. We purchased some johnny jump ups and bellis at Russell's; need to pot them next weekend. Greg direct sowed fava beans, radishes, escarole, cutting lettuce mix, arugula, carrots and scallions; planted mail order onion plants. Inquired about Bullseye Bioinsectide at Russell's. They don't sell it; no one seems to, need to research online.

Monday, I cleaned up the daylilies and scratched in some slow release fertilizer and 5-10-5. Greg helped out by watering the roses and spraying them with dormant oil, and spraying the peonies with anti-fungal copper soap. Planted a phlox and campanula (chettle charm) that arrived from Bluestone perennials last week. Discovered that all my dahlia tubers were rotten. May order 1-2 replacements or just do without this year. Still have hellebore (5), helenium, quince (toyo-nishiki) and tricyrtis from Bluestone to plant -- next weekend. Bought a ridiculously expensive watering can at Needham garden center.

There was quite a feeling of accomplishment for all three days' work. Gardening, like cooking, is one of those hobbies that I derive a great deal of pleasure from, but which is simultaneously relaxing and anxiety-inducing. Anxiety inducing because it can feel overwhelming, and certain chores must be done within fleeting windows; there's always one more thing that seems to need doing and must be put off.

Both lilacs are chock-full of blooms. Can't wait for them to come out. It's one of those things you pine for all winter.

The other highlights? Mysterious clog in downstairs bathroom sink. Clothes dryer broke down. Service person coming Friday.

Snapshots from trip to Rome

Finally got around to doing something with the photos we took in Rome. Decided to experiment with Picasa. (Post's title links to full size slideshow with captions.) Because we hadn't ever been there before, there are a lot of pictures toward the end taken at Villa d'Este in Tivoli, outside of Rome (I believe also known as Tivoli Gardens though no one seems to refer to it as such any more).

Kind of cold and cloudy, with occasional light rain. In the garden today:

• Cut back the sage and perovskia.
• Pruned a couple of roses, but didn't finish any.
• Cleaned up some perennial crowns. Baptisia looks like it's sending up a lot of shoots.

Postscript: Actually, Tivoli Gardens "is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. "...'Tivoli' alluding to the Jardin de Tivoli in Paris (which in its turn had been named from Tivoli near Rome).

The sunny day that wasn't supposed to be

Because we're both recovering from bad colds, we were looking forward to the forecast of heavy rain -- it would be a good excuse to stay inside and rest. Well, turned out to be a pretty nice day, reaching close to 70. We decided not to do any work in the yard anyway and will rest up for tomorrow, and may postpone all this till next weekend anyway. Need to clean up perennials, scrape away winter build up of detritus, fertilize, prune out dead stuff, etc. I've purchased Carol Stocker's book and want to try to follow her weekly "to do" lists; I may try to use this blog to hold myself to that.

I suppose that with this being the first post, I should provide some sort of introduction or charter. I'm not sure it will be intended for a wide audience (I kind of think these things are narcissistic anyway -- who has the time to read blogs, let alone WRITE them????). But as a web professional a I feel obligated to do some experimentation. (Mind you, this isn't the first one.) And it serves a useful purpose, recording the progress of the garden, creative outlet, etc.

Please don't expect anything profound or witty about politics, culture or new media (not that you necessarily would).

Seeds started so far:

3/23?

• Sweet peas- Late Spencer Choice (new), Perfume Delight, Jewels of Albion, Electric Blue (new, for container)
  
• Larkspur - Sublime Dark Pink, Gentian Blue, Cannes (new - supposedly disease resistant), Giant Imperial Mix
  

4/6

• Cosmos - Seashells, Picotee (trying for cutting garden)
  
• Sunflower - Teddy Bear, Henri Wilde (for veg garden)
• Zinnia - Granny's Bouquet, Raggedy Anne
• Verbena Bonariensis (for Hamilton border)
  
• Chervil, Marjoram (indoor pots)
• Italian Parsley
• Basil - Aroma 1 (new), Sweet Thai