Seedy Saturday - Things are Looking Pretty Good

First off, let me say up front - 

'I will NEVER have a tidy garden where everything is ship shape and manicured.'

There, it's said. 

A lot of the chaos in my garden is I get distracted or, more likely, run out of steam in the middle of something. 

But, I like the way it's heading and how it is now. Plus I take comfort in the fact several YouTuber's, whose gardening videos I watch, have less than pristine gardens. So there!

Anyway...

No, this is not a hole Slider has dug in the garden. It's a hole which took me almost 3 hours to dig out about 8 large banana plants.

The 'banana grove' was at the end of one of my garden beds which I wanted to extend further. So I had this grand idea of simply digging them up and moving them on the other side of the house so they would have more room individually to expand and to form a bit of a privacy hedge.

There are two rows for banana trees, some from the crater and some from a large container of baby trees. Apparently the banana tree I dug out of the ground started out as one tree and had sent up sideshows over the years. The 'root' of that sucker was HUGE!

So that was Monday's job.

Then on Tuesday I planted the following...

A baby fig tree near my other fig tree I bought a couple of years ago. My original fig tree needs some pruning I feel. I think I'll prune out some of the more horizontal branches on it which appear to be dead wood and give it a good feeding of fish emulsion.

I transplanted out of pots 4 black berry bushes I 'rescued' last fall and was too lazy to plant them in the ground sooner. I also was gifted a new black berry plant. 

And these are the raspberries I planted last year. Please ignore the cardboard which has blown around my back yard and the make-shift support for them. I'll be replacing the stakes with taller metal ones and add actual wire to tie them to in the near future, especially since my 'berry patch' has expanded. 

There is one 'fun' thing, or maybe I should say experiment, I'm trying.

I was also gifted 3 olive trees. I am in zone 7b and they are rated for 8b and above. However, I have this southwest facing corner of my house where the extension was placed on the house. The brickwork is painted black and about 6 feet tall. So it gets sun most of the day, fairly protected and with the black brickwork, will absorb heat. 

There are 3 little trees planted there. And since they are moved out from the house a bit (in the hope they do grow at least a little), I am repotting my Meyer Lemon into a larger container and also placing in the corner behind them. I'm labeling that area my 'Mediterranean' garden - fingers crossed. Guess I need to get some rosemary started to plant around there too. Or maybe seed thyme as a ground cover. Hmmm...

The bed of potatoes is going well. Actually, I am pleased only part of the potatoes I planted are growing. Between the 6 tubs of potatoes in the front yard which are going like crazy, this whole bed of potatoes would be way too much.

What I will probably do is plant beans in and around the potatoes. It should work out ok. My feeling is, try it and see if it works. If not, it's ok.

I kind of remember planting this plant last fall in the back corner where my olive trees are now located. but I have forgotten what it is. Time will tell, it died back in the winter, but it has popped up and seems to be doing well. 

The 4x4 beds are doing well. Have a couple of lettuce and spinach plants I need to start picking from. I do have a few more lettuce I need to set out and not sure where that's going to happen. Probably in one of the flower beds. And another bag or 2 of mulch is needed to finish going around the beds. My plan is to then plant out some sunflowers all the way around the outside of the 4x4 bed area. I am really looking forward to getting some seeds from my Hopi Black Dye Sunflowers. I know a couple of people who would be interested in making dye from them for artist uses. 

The catmint loves this yard! In fact, if I am ever missing, check out this plant, it may have eaten me. While it's not the most pleasant of scents, I don't mind giving it a pat every now and then and breathing in the scent. It does grow on a person. 

This picture of my front bed was taken about a week ago. At this point, the peony has now really grown and Buddha is getting well shaded by 'Christine'. Fingers are crossed I might get 1 bloom from Christine this year.

Lilies and some amaryllis I rescued over the past couple of years are emerging. I can't wait until the day when the bed is packed! Hopefully, my hollyhock I transplanted will survive and grow well.

The Mexican Anise is situated and mulched in her corner. Since I removed the 'water feature' from that corner (which was severely neglected last summer), I need to really clean out that tub and start it up again. Surprisingly, the water lilies in there have survived and are regrowing, so it needs to be done soon. I think I am going to place it in the yard near my newest flower bed. And probably get a new solar 'fountain' for it as the other one is a bit crap.

But there are a lot of things I still need to do in the yard. This weekend will be a mowing job before it rains (hopefully) on Monday. Also, I want to go around and give everything a dose of fish emulsion - a bit of a spring tonic, so to speak.

One thing I am learning about myself is that the days of 8 hours of yard work are long gone. I am also learning to take it one bag of mulch or compost at a time. There is a large part of me which wants it all done right this very minute. But, economically if nothing else, that isn't happening. 

Of course, if the Northern Sea Oats seeds I planted have anything to do with it, I'll be screened out from the world in no time flat!