Friday, May 29, 2015

Garden Goodies


A few things growing in our garden! By the way, zinnia people, please tell me how you do it. I have tried zinnias nearly every summer and only twice have had good success. This year, zero of my zillion seeds came up - so sad. I always plant a ton of zinnias hoping for huge beautiful bouquets all summer and everyone I ask says they are the easiest thing to grow. Hmmm, boo.

Also, I've cut hydrangeas and brought them in this year like I always do and they are dying in less than 48 hours inside. What?! The first flowers I cut and brought in lasted their usual week but subsequent flowers have wilted very quickly.

On the other hand, our blueberry bushes are loaded, can't wait for them to ripen up!






After taking Rachel to the farmers market she declared she wanted a stand there to sell her own things. Um, hmmm, pretty sure we'd have to get serious about gardening to do that. I think we are more of minimalist gardeners - we do the bare minimum to see a few results.

It's not that I don't want to garden, I just have this very large aversion to heat and bugs. There ya go, I said it. We've enjoyed our mint and lettuce so far this year and just harvested our first onions. Rachel accidentally picked our green pepper so we'll enjoy that soon too!

7 comments:

Shelby said...

Love the pictures, not sure why the zinnias aren't growing, boo. The hydrangea might be having this problem, sticky substance that clogs the stems, preventing moisture from reaching the blooms. Try this and see if it work:)

1.When cutting hydrangeas, take water to the garden in a container.

2.Immediately after cutting each bloom, drop the stem in the water.

3.Indoors, boil water and pour it into a cup or any container.

4.Cut the hydrangea stems to the desired length.

5.Stand the stems of the hydrangeas in the hot water for 30 seconds.

6.Immediately put into room temperature water and then arrange.

Simply Quaint said...

Monica have you tried soaking the seeds in a cup of water for a day or so....this helps jump start them I soak my morning glory seeds for a couple of days and they are harvested off of the previous years morning glories.....they do wonderful...give that a try.... I am buying Sunna seeds today and will do the same and let you know how the do........ Love your veggies... We are in Ohio so planting season was just this past weekend.... We are getting a few strawberries, onions are popping up, and I've cut rhubarb to make a pie.......

Love your daughters idea of a stand maybe a little one with a few garden goods some of your handmade items as well...it would be fun...
Blessings
Rhonda

*carrie* said...

Nice to see pix from your garden. We're too early to have anything yet, but Eric said spinach is a couple weeks away!

We haven't had troubles with zinnias, so maybe someone local to you will have some insight? How fun to have your own blueberries! Nat would love that!

Tiffany said...

nothing taste better than onions straight out of the garden.

Abbi said...

Pretty garden pictures! We were working at planting our garden today - so fun! I am not sure the issue on Zinnias - they generally are an easy flowers to grow - I wonder if there could be something in your soil that they don't like??? Hydrangeas do need lots of water so if they should run out they will wilt quickly - or if their stems should get blocked up so that can't soak up water they will also wilt quickly. It is best to cut flowers in a cool time of day (the morning or right after rain) to help them be fully hydrated when you cut them - they will last better that way. Often times hydrangeas will wilt but then can be revived just by cutting the ends of their stems again and giving them fresh water. If they are really far gone sometimes you can revive them by soaking the whole flower in water.

Lauren said...

Hi Monica! I just read this recently about how to keep cut hydrangeas from wilting at Jones Design Company blog... Hope the link will work! If not, just google jones design company hydrangea and the link should be the first thing to turn up! :) http://jonesdesigncompany.com/flowers/how-to-keep-cut-hydrangeas-from-wilting/

Unknown said...

Your pictures and garden are beautiful! My zinnias didn't come up this year either. I planted them where I always plant them. In previous years, I've always added 2 new bags of fresh, healthy soil to the area before planting the seeds. This year I didn't do that and only 3 or 4 seeds actually grew. Wondering now if that area is too depleted from the previous years of growing zinnias.

~Andrea L.