time to plant, a time to weed

okay, Maria is right, more time to garden, less time to blog.

Yesterday I was at the yard waste site at 8 a.m. with a trailerload of brush from the neighbor's house.  She is recently widowed, and after having to care for an elderly husband with cancer, she has not had time to put into her yard, so the neighborhood chipped in a couple of days while she wasn't around(she can be , picky, (difficult) about weeding, and clearing.   I stopped and weeded at church for a bit, and then ran home for a shower to clean off any poison ivy that may have been in the pile, I never trust what other people have gathered.  then ALL morning pulling weeds, and finding the sweet potato vines under all the greenness around them.  Just in time to satisfy the stupid groundhog's urge to come at dinnertime and start munching on them.  Stinker.  Then second shower of the day.
Tied up and trimmed bottom leaves from  tomatoes, they are reaching for the sky.   Ate my first one last week, not quite ready, but I thought third week of June was a good time to start in on them.  I did keep hold of two or three big bags of raked leaves from the neighbor's, they are now mulching my new strawberry bed. 

I have started some nice big flower pots, now if we would just stop having nice, big thundershowers, they wouldn't fill up with water so fast.   I'm going to have to put them up on bricks so they'll drain better.

I'm sad that the strawberries have finished for the year.  Not a great year, didn't reap large, heaping pots of berries. Talked to another gardener at Lowe's,  she said the same thing, that this was not a good year.  We've had some way ups and downs with temps, that may have been the problem.  Maria,  I have a patch of berries under my flagpole, since they are being shaded out by lilies now, how about you come and transplant them to your yard in the fall???  Right along your driveway, lots of sun.  Strawberries need cool, shorter days to grow, so spring and fall are time to transplant.  This would be the time to get a bed started, weeds pulled, composted, line up some mulch.  Also, you have until about September, so not a backbreaker. 

Now, if you want something fantastic for your garden that takes little effort on your part,  next spring find some Asiatic lilies in those bags of 6 for $5 at WallyWorld, or Lowe's, wherever.   Dig a little hole, plop them in, and   tahdah!!!   Right now my yard is full of beautiful blooms, they last a long time, and are great cut flowers.  They can stay on the ground, and will multiply nicely.   Next year I am investing in several more bags, to keep church supplied.
The broccoli is starting to bolt,  if you keep  harvesting before the flowers appear, then you can keep the plant going longer.  Once it has flowered, it has done its job for the year, and will die off. 

I have a big double row of brocs, so when they are done, I'm pulling them and putting in some vining stuff that takes up space, and maybe by planting mid-summer, I'll avoid some of the pest issues.   Yes, it's fine to plant stuff now, like lettuce (may need some afternoon shade),  brocs, brussel sprouts,  cabbage,  melons, zukes,  cukes.   If you have some space, or you have given up already, don't, just push some seeds in the ground,  mark with a stick , so you remember where stuff is, and mulch with cut grass once seedlings are up.   Bribe a kid with extra movie time or a treat to rake the yard when you mow.   Dandelions aren't blooming now, so grass  should be okay to use on garden.

I'd post some pictures, but people keep running off with the laptop, that stores the pictures. I'll get some later. 

P.S.  if you are in the Chicagoland area, I highly recommend going to Cantigny Park in Wheaton,  fabbbulous perennial beds, lovely gardens, just fabulous.  Wonderful rose garden,   test veggie garden, children's garden.  Lots of perennials, in full growth, so you can see how they will look once out of the scrawny pot at the nursery. 


Dianne,   living where the pollen is cheap and plentiful