How in the world is May already over? Seriously. But as fast as it is going, it is reminding how this year my little garden beds are about a season behind. I will not bemoan the weather, but I will J I feel like my plants are so far behind. I had plans for a cottage garden and plants were ordered when I looked at my timeline and decided against it. Thankfully, I was able to cancel it. Not only is it due to weather but also because we found the land where we are going to build out house. But more on that at the end of this post.
So, how was May?
Garden Failures
Oh, my little novice heart if broken that all but two of my tulips were all failure. I planted Apricot Parrot and Angelique tulips, and one of each bloomed. There is a whole section of the garden bed where they are in that nothing came out. The rest of the parrot tulips, the foliage came out but they did not bloom. I am really stumped by that. Now that tulip time passed I dug the garden beds and the bulbs were intact. I thought there was a mole since I saw one hole in the dirt, but aside from one—the bulbs were there. On the other hand, the daffodils right next to the tulips were a complete success! And definitely planting next year. But I think I am done with tulips. Maybe I will try in containers.
Garden Hopes
There is life everywhere in my little garden! Even robins! After two weeks of baby bird watch, they have hatched! And it gives me so much joy! But the flowers in the garden are starting to grow too. When it comes to the garden, my heart is with my dahlias. They are my favorite flower. Something about them remind me of Victorian times and I love that about them. Last year, they were a success but I lost all my tubers during storage and it was heartbreaking. But never fear—I replaced them and made some tweaking on what I wanted.
This year I said bye-bye to the ‘Café au Lait’. That was the diva headache dahlia last year. While beautiful, I just can’t deal with her temper tantrums. So instead, I planted dahlia ‘Breakout’. Fairly similar look but more stable and realiable than CAL. ‘Chilson’s Pride’ is back because I just fell in love with it after growing it for the first time last year. Two who are not coming back are ‘Kogana Fubuki’ and ‘Intrigue’. I liked them but did not love them. Instead I am trying a few new ones: ‘Hollyhill Black Beauty’, ‘Iceberg’, and ‘Castle Drive’. High hopes for these.
That Woodland Feeling
I have a garden bed on the north side of our house dubbed “The Woodlands”. There we have lily of the valley, bleeding heart, ferns, and various trees and vines, and it is my favorite. It has that woodland feeling to it, and one of these days I expect to see a fairy there. This is in full bloom and I love sitting by it as the breeze coms through.
The Veggie Garden
Two years ago I planted a veggie garden bed and I learned some lessons like how fast lettuce can grown before it bolts. I simply could not keep up with how fast the produce was growing. Unfortunately, I am the only one in the house who really likes veggies and produce so it was a lot for me. Because of that, last year I skipped that. But this year, I am back at it. From lacinato kale to lettuce and ciaoggia beets, they are growing and I cannot wait until I can harvest. Right now the kale is growing nicely and ready to harvest actually.
For the love of roses and peonies.
This year I made the biggest investment of all in the garden and bought three David Austin roses. I decided to plant in containers because while they are hardy for my growing zone—it can get down into the -18F here in Minnesota. They are now safely potted and growing.
As for the peonies--- wow! The peonies garden are actually in the family farm but I help with that garden too. They have been established for 20 years now and every year they get better. Last year they bloomed like crazy and were huge! Here is looking to another fabulous season.
Future Home
If you have read some of my previous post, we want to build a house in the next 1 to 1.5 years and this is starting to look better and better. This weekend we think we found the perfect location. We had a previous location in mind, but this land that became available for sale connects with my in-laws farm fields, and just down their road. Which is great because they are getting older plus we love them. Here are a few pictures. The tree grove area is where we are thinking we want to build the house. The rest is tillable soil, all 75 acres, to add to the ones we already have. Yes, as the wife of a very successful farmer, I should think of all the crops we can farm. But truly, all I can think is, a new garden project! ;-) So, if you pray—say a little prayer that all goes ok and we can get it.
And this is the garden for May. How was your gardening in May?
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