Our short cycle program’s peak has past, so I was back to a two-day weekend last week. After some brief socializing Friday night, I chained myself to the garden for the remainder of the weekend.
Our county has free yard waste dropout every Saturday, so that’s where I started, bagging and hauling away seven yard bags worth of last year’s debris. Then, I made two extra stops for compost and topsoil for the potato mound and herb starters for companion plantings.
with color, and this year leads
to the potato mound.
numerous works-in-progress
unfold in the background.
I finished planting the marigold border as companions in the tomato bed, planted the tomatillo bed, including marigold and basil companions, and a row of tarragon.
with the tomatillo bed behind it to the left.
I’ll pick up more basil plants
for the tomato bed during this coming week.
I am leaning further into companion plantings this year as means of both pest control and beneficial growing benefits. basil wards off hornqorm caterpillars, which we’ve had in the garden for the past few years.
is coming along: newly-moved hostas
and coral bells have been added
to those from last year. the columbine
and coral bells have begun blooming,
and the daylilies that flank the edges
of the shade are growing in quickly.
Even as heaps and debris linger, and multiple projects stand unfinished, the past efforts in the garden are showing. And I am living for it!
the columbine are the first blooms
open back there.
parts in need are thinning or replanting,
but the log-framed bed planted
last year looks amazing.
and I’ll find out if I moved the variety
that I intended.
This was a highly productive weekend, and I feel accomplished with the amount of work completed.
elevated planters from Garden Supply Co.
I like the size and heft of them,
and the self-watering resovoirs.
only four more left to build and plant.
dotting the garden with shades of blues
and purples.
through the creepy phlox, ground ivy,
and grape hyacinths. nearby, the blackberry plants are setting their buds.
with long beans, those in the foreground
need to be stripped and sowed
with mixtures of chard and zinnias.
but also waiting for English tea roses
and hollyhocks to fill in along
the retaining wall.
our cattywampus cottage 
I love the raised beds. I’ve suggested to Randy that we need something like that in our yard.
Your clematis is gorgeous! My first hubby was a gardener and I remember the day he spotted a clematis in a vacant lot on Troost. He had us go home, get a coffee can, and went back to get it.