4/23/19

Hearts and Flowers

The internet was down for a while this morning. Mike did what he could, but the problem seemed to be with our provider. Thank goodness, it wasn't gone for long. We were considering calling in the National Guard to deal with this disaster. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary. For now, we have them on standby.

Everything seemed to take longer than I thought it would yesterday, and so it didn't leave a lot of time for sewing. I drove into town because a produce market had hanging baskets available at a very reasonable price. Ordinarily, I plant these myself, but the price was so good, I doubt I could have done it myself for any less. Besides, mine would have been puny in comparison. Feast your eyes:


These are hanging on either side of our greenhouse window. It always feels as if spring has officially arrived with the hanging of the baskets each year. The purple petunias are very fragrant, and the hummingbirds love them.


While one of my errands was to get some potting soil, the baskets took up pretty much the whole cargo hold of my Jeep Wrangler, and so I'll get the potting soil another day. Still, I had room to pick up some annuals. These will be planted in the large pots that line our sidewalk. There are marigolds, cyclamen, and some purple pincushion sort of flowers I haven't seen before. I was looking for some shade lovers, and those were shade tolerant. I'll give them a try and plant some of those itty bitties around them.


Also, some geraniums. I used to plant petunias along the sidewalk, but the squirrels eat them. They are much less fond of the stinky geraniums. Love the flowers. Really not fond of their fragrance.


Toward the back of the image above is a Sun Gold cherry tomato. The one we planted last year was amazingly prolific, once it recovered from being eaten down to a bloody stump.

Below are six Super Marzanos. I was looking for Romas, but they didn't have any. The Super Marzanos are another sauce tomato, and so they'll do just fine. We generally get bulk tomatoes from our farmers during canning season, but I still like growing some in our greenhouse. We're growing fewer plants this year. We've come to the conclusion that they are too overcrowded in the greenhouse, and we're getting less yield because of it. When I look between the plants, it is dark. They shade one another, and so we'll give them a little more room to spread out this year and see how they do.


It was 2:30 by the time I arrived home. After I had everything unloaded, it seemed a little too late to get started planting any seeds, and so I'll do that today. I have enough potting soil to get me started, and so I'll plant sunflowers, lettuce, and zucchini, and get that going to be transplanted later. If there's time left, I'll plant the annuals as well. There are still more annuals to plant in the three pots on our patio. The clay pots have cracked and broken after many years of use, and so I'll need to replace them before I'm ready for planting. I looked for pots yesterday, but couldn't find three that matched. Enter Amazon.com (my favorite shopping mall), and they should arrive tomorrow.

So with that all done, I got back to the Pansy Mosaic. It's pretty slow going just now, but I sewed together two more 4 x 4 sections. Each section takes about half an hour, and with 40 sections, this will take many hours to complete. They're fun to do, however, and I can listen to a book while I work.


With the internet down this morning, I had a little extra time for my slow-stitching. May's heart is finished now.


Tomorrow I'll get started of June's heart.


That's about it from me for today. Time to get out and plant those seeds. I imagine I'll have company in the greenhouse, but the kitties are suspicious about that place. Usually, they'll only go in when I'm not there. Then, they'll fly out like rockets as I approach. Clearly, they are up to no good, but they'll keep any furry critters away.

12 comments:

Julierose said...

Gorgeous hanging baskets--nice to get a deal on them; tomorrow will be our garden center day--my eye is still way too sensitive to the light to go out
today much--even with sunglasses...so instead I cooked:
a faux eggplant parmesan casserole for luncheon (no tomato sauce-- just beef eggplant and Mozz cheese on top--yummy and very few carbs! that's a keeper) ; and made minnestrone soup for dinner and two salads to go with...

I love your baby birds heart--soo so cute...I used an Aunt Marth'a's transfer of lighthouses on light blue fabric this morning and will start them end of this week...so keeping busy...
Pansy mosaic is really pretty...hugs, happy gardening (YAY for SPRING)
Julierose

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Gorgeous baskets and plants. Still a little while for us to venture into planting. My early tulips (freebies from the critters) are just starting to open. Wow, two hearts down already!

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

I love those hanging planters--so full--and what nice flowers--
our local walmart has just put there's out--but not nearly as pretty as what you got and it is a bit early here for those kinds of flowers outside--soo--
I will enjoy yours--
I love those hearts by the way--you are doing a really nice job in the embroidery of them--wished they were still available today--I would get me some!!
happy stitching and planting!!!
luv, di

Lyndsey said...

I love the hanging baskets. My hanging baskets survived the winter but they need a little attention.I bought some plants last week whilst on holiday and tomorrow I need to get them planted into the pots. I still need to get some more as the slugs feasted on some of the pot plants over winter.

Rebecca in AK said...

So I am literally drooling over your beautiful hanging baskets! Might be because we got 5” of snow last night with more expected. I hope your tomato plants do well.

Teresa said...

Nice way to start my day - good cup of coffee and enjoying your lovely pictures of flowers. I love the embroidery you are doing - makes me want to do some as well :)

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

I have to do my baskets today, got the plants but forgot the potting soil, LOL!! I found some bargains at the big box store too, so I have to get to digging in the dirt to get them all planted today.

piecefulwendy said...

On our recent trip to New Mexico, we bought new planters for our deck. Two matching pots for the deck and a large chicken planter for our front door. I cannot wait to get plants for them, but it's just a bit too early yet. First part of May will be better. Wilbur helped me with quilting yesterday, holding down the blocks to be sure they didn't go anywhere. Most of the time he's busy with squirrel duty; they taunt him by coming right up to the patio window.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Gosh your baskets are so pretty. Annual flowers have not appeared at our garden centers yet. I'll be putting a container garden on the front deck. My grandson's church sells the most wonderful petunias as a fund raiser and I am looking forward to getting them next month. Miracle Gro turned them into a fabulouse flurry of color last year.
xx, Carol

bcarlf said...

Those are beautiful hanging baskets! The colors are so bright. I love them. Your embroidery is lovely. I really want to learn to do that now that I have more time.

Brown Family said...

Beautiful flowers! WE got another 10 inches of rain last night and it has rained off and on all day!

quiltzyx said...

Oh my gosh! Are those baskets beautiful or what?!? And at a good price too - you MUST be holding your mouth in JUST the right way!! The little purple flowers at the bottom left look like Allyssum, one of my favorites. For a shade lover, have you ever tried Impatiens? Or is the weather not friendly for them?
I had to look up what a bee skep is from the June heart block. Thanks to our pal, Mr. Google, now I know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive#Skeps