Planting Out

As of yesterday I have a bigger better bed next to what will be a patio area in our backyard. I already had some bulbs, poppies, and wildflowers.


The red near the middle are the flowers for some freesia I planted around the same time as the daffodils, in late winter.


This last week the poppies I planted out about a month ago really started blooming, a beautiful mix of oranges.


Then there's the fluffy bunch of various wildflowers behind the freesias, three of the plants in the mix have just started blooming.


Gilia Tricolor and unidentified yellow flowers


And two short baby blue eyes, hidden below the other taller two.


Everything to the right of those plants are new to the ground.


I finally planted out what was a baby Dietes. I separated it from its mother when it had only three blades and I found it quite rootbound when I popped it out of its pot yesterday. To plant it I tried to stick a shovel into the ground but even with all my weight I could only get about two inches down because I haven't watered that spot all year. So I took a hose and filled it with water and let it drain sloooowly for the next twenty minutes. Meanwhile, I took my hand-pick and worked on a trough in front for my Five Spots, 7 little pots all from seed. Still have three more to go.



These little plants have popped right back since my taking them out of their pots.

Lined up behind them, are a bunch of Tidy Tips plants just about ready to bloom and taking a close look at my little transplantees tonight, I noticed that despite their short time in the ground, my tidy tips already have a little defender: this ugly ugly lady bug larva. I've been seeing ladybugs every which way since it's started to warm up and before moving out to Oakland, I had never noticed a lady bug larva before but now they're everywhere.


Last weekend, I worked with my garden spike inch by inch trying to clear away the grasses and weeds around what will be the dry river bed to plant out all these little plants I'd started earlier this year. I cleared quite a bit as you can see but you can also see I have plenty more to do.


In this picture, what you can't see in the grass is the other trench we dug in order to form a cute little island, I want to have that entire area and two feet all around the other side cleared of grass eventually.

Also, on another subject, two weeks ago, I found this little maple tree up in the field of my backyard and decided to keep it since it had the cutest soft fuzzy leaves. I'm a sucker for soft fuzzy leaves. It lost all its old leaves but has since grown all these and is now a good 6 inches tall.


And for fun, here is a Stig in a box. (I didn't put her in there, but I admit to leaving the empty basket because I love seeing here jump in and out)