March is the start of the busy gardening season. So posts come and go sporadically as I try to prep the garden, sow seeds, transplant starts and putter around back and forth trying to get as much yardwork done as possible.
But it’s also a chance to look, reflect and gaze upon the daily pulse of spring as it progresses slowly throughout the month.
Here are some new plants that I installed this week: verbena and delphinium.
Some emerging signs of life and budding from the golden oregano, lorapetalum, serissa, ligustrum, abelia, phlox, ajuga, shantung maple and redbud.
I’m also constantly working the flower beds, with special focus on the shade bed on the side of the house inside the fence line.
My order from Annie’s Annuals finally arrived, nearly a week later than the promised delivery date. I should have known that carriers are still dealing with large backlogs and delayed delivery schedules.
The plants didn’t look too good after unpacking, despite the great packaging. I reported the issue to the vendor and Annie’s was kind enough to offer store credit.
Good news for my tomato starts; 15g grow bags have arrived. I plan to transplant them around the beginning of April, once I have acquired cages and come up with a soil mix recipe.
The hard pruning and clean up continues. I’m thinking of penning a series of “Will It Live” posts to focus on some of the plant specimens I’m hovering over.
Variegated ginger got a haircut
All the tomatoes got potted last week and they are working on their indoor tan for now.
Potted tomato seedlings stretching out their legs
Finally cleaned out some of the trash from the stock tank beds to get a closer look at the veggies. Looks like kale, kohlrabi, wasabi radish and brussel sprouts are sticking around. They’ll need their tops lopped off however.
Weird and alien discovery. I just happened to find this yellow slime at the base of my Acoma crape myrtle…it looked like dog vomit. It hadn’t been there the previous weekend, so it must have popped up sometime later. Come to find out, it really is aptly called dog vomit slime mold, fuligo septica, a fungus that springs up from mulch.
Dog vomit slime mold at base of Acoma crape myrtle
It’s March and it’s time to kick off yardwork projects. It’s slow going weeding our turf-free backyard, so I squeeze in 5-to-15 minute plucking sessions whenever I can.
Weeding sections at a time
First major project is to lay down pre-emergent and fertilize the lawn. Which necessitated a run to the big box stores.
Which meant perusing the garden center for any desirable plants.
In one instance, there were plenty of bargain bin plants that were hastily thrown onto the dollar shelves due to frost damage. I managed to snag 2 Autumn Twist azaleas for $2 apiece.
$2 Azalea rescues
The Pink marguerite daisies and some purple spotted petunias also jumped into my cart, along with some bare root asparagus and 2 bags of gladiolus.
I ended my shopping spree with 3 succulents; I’ve been thinking of how I’d be populating my succulent planter, and these sedum and echevarria will fit the bill.
My Botanical Interest seeds came in, but apparently my order from Annie’s Annuals has yet to arrive (despite an ETD of 3/4).
Meanwhile, I continue to clean out the front yard, debating on what plants need replacement, what plants to monitor, what to divide and/or move and what to do with that zone 1 drip line that doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
There are still plenty of work to be done to clear the beds of storm debris and frost damaged plants. But the seed starting bug has already bitten me hard.
End of January, I had already started a batch of veggie soil blocks which include tomatoes, habaneros, bok choy, lettuces, spinach, bunching onions, and eggplant. I was lucky enough to source most of the seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, who had them in stock at the time.
I have perennial and annual flowers started in soil blocks as we end February in a flurry of garden prepping.
But of course, there are never enough seeds to start and plant.
From Annie’s Annuals (my first time ordering with this company):
I’m not the only one with a gardening bug. Seed companies and online plant purveyors have been hammered by the pandemic demand; most are advertising low inventories and out of stock items. My normal go-to vendors are struggling to keep up with the demand, I’m having a hard time filling out my wish list. Meanwhile, local nurseries are still recovering from the winter storm, so inventories might still be scarce as of this writing.
If I do find something I want, it’s usually through Amazon and I’m highly suspect of the quality. I’m still frustrated by the habanero pepper seeds I obtained through there; germination rates are very low, even after re-sow attempts as we are enter the 4th week since I planted them. I plan on moving them onto my growing stand with the powerful lights to see if that will spur them into germination.
