| Home and Garden Page Spring/Summer 2003 |
| HOME REPAIR & IMPROVEMENT Lowe's - the new store finally opened in Langhorne Ask This Old House - our new favorite This Old House Sears - Craftsman rules! |
| June As with the rest of the website, this page was left on the wayside while Mike and I concentrated on my pregnancy and recent surgery. In the meantime, a few things have changed. The ficus trees we bought for the living room have died and have been replaced with other miscellaneous houseplants, which appear to be much happier. The greenhouse we bought from Frank's has proven to be very useful. We have had a very rainy and cold Spring. We are just know getting into the 80's. I kept a lot of plants in the greenhouse longer than I planned to because it took so long for the weather to improve. They finally opened the Lowe's near us (I think in December, I can't remember). We go there a lot now, instead of Home Depot. Their prices aren't always lower, but it is easier to navigate. |
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| June I started my seeds somewhat slowly this year, due to lack of energy and motivation. I had fairly good success with everything I started and ended up giving my Dad a lot of "extras" I had on Father's Day. Most of the beds are now full and will fill in once the weather gets warmer. I have one empty bed in the front of the house where a pine tree was removed last year. I need to clear out all of the pine shavings and add soil before planting anything there. I also still have some things in the basement that I started late (coleus and marigolds). Hardly anything that should have bloomed by now have because of the weather. I have added pictures of what has bloomed so far, which you can access by clicking here or the photo album above. We have not been getting a lot of sun and the rain just seems to keep coming. We planted a zuchini, sunflowers, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, a pepper and some gourds in the vegetable garden this year. The zuchini, tomatoes and peppers do not seem very pleased with the weather and are barely growing. We are supposed to be getting a lot of warm weather this week, so hopefully everything will perk up. Below is a list of the seeds that I started and have had success with: * Blazing Stars Kobold and Blazing Stars Floristan White (for some reason the Kobold germinated better than the white) * Hardy Geranium Vision * Hollyhock Mallow Fastigiata and Hollyhock Mallow Mystic Merlin (However, I have lost track of how many I have of each, as they look exactly alike) * Delphinium Magic Fountain Mix * Bellflower Odessa * Yellow Tropical Cannas * Red Tropical Cannas * Coleus Brilliant Mix * Aubrieta (At least that's what I thought they were, until I realized that they are starting to produce yellow flowers, instead of purple ones. I am not sure if I have confused them with the sweet alyssum I thought did poorly, or what. I guess I will just have to wait until they fill in more to figure out what they are.) These are the items, which I was unable to germinate successfully: * Hosta American Crosses Mix * Goat's Beard * Strawflowers (although Dad and Edgar bought us a plant for our anniversary) * Sundrops * Penstemon These were a few that germinated, but did not make it beyond that stage: * Silver Carpet Snow in Summer * Alyssum Basket of Gold There were also a few that I didn't even end of trying the following, for a variety of different reasons (seeds should have been sown outside, involved pre-planting requirements, etc.): Christmas Rose Bergenia Rose Evening Primrose Hopefully, I will get lucky and all the perennials I have this year will come back next year. The coreopsis I started last year are blooming like crazy right now, providing the only color in the front beds. The Asiatic lilies I planted on the side are the big showcase over there, although the marigolds seem happy, too. |
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