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| "Just Add Water": Lantana (foreground), Euryops (background) |
It's not yet time to take the monthly photos of the front yard, but, I just had to take this photo to show how quickly the lantana bushes and the euryops have responded to the rain we've received! And, although they are too small to be seen in this photo, osteospermum seedlings are popping up just about everywhere I look! If even half of them survive and grow, I'll have an osteospermum front "lawn"!
The aloe flower stalks are still growing, with the individual bracts separating; there will be orange-colored flowers emerging from those bracts before long.
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| Aloe Flower Stalks |
We had a partly sunny day, today. There is a break in the rain for a few days before the next band of rain storms arrive on Saturday.
I did a load of laundry and cleared the kitchen counters, in the morning, today, before my daughter's zoom meetings started.
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| Newly Planted Snow Pea Seedlings |
Then, when M arrived to tend to the garden, we planted another six pack or so of snow pea seedlings in the back garden and put up some wire mesh around the planting bed to keep the neighbor's chicken out! I need to figure out some sort of trellis for the plants to climb up. M said he might have some bamboo poles he could give me. If not, I'll make something with branches from the garden. I think I should dignify this planting bed with some edging stones, don't you?
We also planted about six pea seedlings in the front garden, to go up the lattice panels along the walkway. If they grow, they will be done producing by the time the summer sun gets hot.
M said that something had eaten all his snow pea seedlings and some other seedlings he had started, so I gave him another dozen or so pea seedlings, as I have more than enough! I also gave M a can of the coconut milk I had bought last week, some curry leaves, and my chicken curry recipe as he wants to try making a curry. I had given him some curry powder and chili powder, earlier.
I spent a relaxed afternoon, replying to blog comments, reading a few blogs and commenting on them, etc.
Later, after watching the evening news, I cooked the dinner - spicy sauteed potatoes, curried sauteed green beans, and garbanzo beans (or chick peas as they are also called). There is leftover rice, so I didn't have to cook more rice. I also didn't make the cucumber salad that I had listed on the meal plan - I will make that another day. Brunch had been peanut butter toast.
Today, I am grateful for:
- A break in the weather before the next rain storm arrives
- M helping me with the garden
- Working appliances
- Flowers and new seedlings coming up
- Not needing to water the garden!
Today's joyful activity was gardening and planting more of the pea seedlings with M.
Plans for tomorrow include tidying the family room (didn't do it, today).
How was your Wednesday? What are your plans for Thursday?
Your garden is certainly appreciative of all the rain and looking good. The Lantana is a lovely colour and I think I can spy some white osteospermums am I right but if the seedlings do well your garden will look beautiful. I hope the wire netting will keep the chicken off your snow peas, I do like peas from the pod but not had any for years. The last few days have been dull and dark and I wait for a break in the rain to walk Tilly and we've not been very wet thankfully.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; it amazes me how soon the plants respond to the rain. Yes, you are right, there is a white osteospermum plant growing at the base of the lantana - it seeded itself there and I let it grow. So far, the chicken seems more interested in the cat's kibble, but, I wanted to protect the pea plants just in case the chicken decided it wanted some greens! There are plenty of weeds in the garden that it can help itself to, without eating my peas!
DeleteI hope you get some pleasant weather soon so you and Tilly can enjoy being out in the sunshine. :)
Look at that lantana! It's so pretty. I wish it weren't annual here.
ReplyDeleteIt has really perked up, hasn't it? Maybe you could try to grow it indoors as a houseplant? I think it will do ok in a sunny window sill.
DeleteHow lovely the garden is with the rain. What a pity it has brought disaster to people in other parts of the state. I hope M is successful with his chicken curry. He will probably add it to his regular menu if it goes as well as yours that he has tasted.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of snow but DH managed to get the car out to the road for me so that I could fulfill my quiet hour obligation in church, and I got the car back in the driveway just before the town plow came by and left a hump of snow in the entrance! Now we will stay put until our driveway plow man arrives.
It's really too bad that our rain has been coming in the form of overwhelming storms! A torrent of rain in a short period of time and the ground can't absorb it!
DeleteI hope M will like the chicken curry he makes.
I'm glad that you were able to drive to the church and back, Bushlady. Hope the driveway gets plowed before you have to go out anywhere, next.
Isn't it wonderful how quickly things wake up, given a bit of a drink? Your garden looks nice and I am particularly impressed that the bare earth (which I think you once said used to be lawn) is still looking so spruce! Mine would have sprouted weeds after the merest sniff of rain!
ReplyDeleteIt really is lovely to see all the plants respond to adequate water! Yes, the bare earth used to be a lawn, once upon a time. Now, after the rain, it is covered with eucalyptus flower bases and osteospermum seedlings! They are popping up everywhere! I took a couple of photos, today - I could barely walk without stepping on them! If even half of them grow, I'll have a "lawn" of osteospermum!
DeleteThose lantana bushes are really pretty.
ReplyDeleteReading about your snow peas made me think about spring planting. I didn't do much gardening last year.
We have been having cold mornings. It was 47F when I woke up this morning. Luckily today is my 'work from home day.' :)
Thank you, Nil; they are flowering well after all the rain. :)
DeleteOoh, those are cold temperatures! But, it will warm up soon and then, you can plant your garden. I didn't have a very good year for growing vegetables, last year, but, I'm hopeful that it'll be different this year. I want to grow some green beans in addition to the snow peas and some tomatoes and more chilies.
Hope you've had a good day of working from home, today. :)
I love lantanas, and yours are gorgeous! I plant a few every spring. They are annuals here. The rain has sure helped your garden grow! Edging stones would look very nice around that bed. I assume you'd need to keep the fencing to protect the plants from being eaten by marauding chickens, raccoons and the like!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie; they have really revived after the rain, haven't they? :) Yes, the fencing around the peas will have to stay in place to protect the plants and any pea pods that might grow! Although, the raccoons will probably be able to pull the fencing off without too much trouble! Not quite sure what I could do to prevent that, though!
DeleteThe lantana looks good and I love the colour. How long will those flowers last, assuming conditions remain good? xx
ReplyDeleteEach flower cluster will last only a few days, but, new ones come in and the plant will flower all year round if it receives enough water! My bushes do well until around March or April, then, it gets hot and I don't water much, and they don't flower so abundantly.
DeleteJust look at the luscious pink! My goodness - those plants are bursting with happiness :)
ReplyDeleteYour pea seedlings are well protected. I think it's a good idea to use the front garden trellises.
Yum - spicy potatoes.
The garden is responding well to the rain, isn't it? I am hoping the pea seedlings will escape the attention of Chicken Little. It was pecking at the sliding glass door, this evening, as if to say, "Lady, there's no more kibbles out here! Let's have refill!" LOL. The cat, meanwhile was sleeping in her new box, barely a foot away.
DeleteLove the color of that lantana - so pretty.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susanne.
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