FINALLY! Wind Is Gone and the Temperatures Are UP! GARDENING UPDATE!

~~By NM-Girl (IA)

Well, I’ve been slaving away in the garden every moment I have over the last few days. A couple of days ago, it happened. You could tell.

The winds died down and instead of the cool weather, we started feeling warm. Warm enough to make the car hot during the time I was in the store shopping.  Warm enough to make some of the plants look a little wilted midday.  It’s all about the sun–today it’s overcast, but for the last few days the sun has been stronger.  I’m already tanning if I go out for just a few minutes without my sun gear.

I have a big hat with a flap which covers my neck and an array of long-sleeved shirts that I use when I walk the dogs and go to the mailbox.  No matter how hot it gets–and it gets HOT–I still put those things on.  I’m sure people think I’m nuts.

Saturday I planted the new Belle of Georgia peach. Even with a pre-existing hole (after I pulled out the old tree), it was still a huge job as I enlarged the whole and mixed in a lot more compost and root stimulator.

On Sunday I planted a lot of the pots and sweet potato slips.  Yesterday, I moved around a lot of extra stones which I was getting out of the way while preparing the spot for the new chocolate flower.  In the morning, this perennial does smell like chocolate. I killed one a couple of years ago in the wrong spot, so I’m trying again. I’m going to wait to see if rains tonight or tomorrow before digging so I can take advantage if any moisture helps soften up the  hard concrete-like sandy “soil.”

So, here are some pics of where things are now in the garden!

The honeysuckle is blooming now…

Blooming honeysuckle...

The cactus is sprouting…

Cactus awakening...

The mockingbird surveys the scene below:

Here’s a view across the covered patio looking toward the vegetable beds:

From the opposite direction to the other side of the yard:

The far corner of the yard where the white-tailed doves and rock squirrels eat cracked corn…a vitex tree starting to leaf out by corner…

Lots of fruit is growing now…and the squirrel was spotted in the yard…more next time!!