News flashes

Flash!!

• Tropical storm Beryl drops three inches of precious rain on the garden
• Alfalfa tea lavishly ladled this weekend - one barrel leaks itself empty
• Black Hen sprinkled all over garden before rain hits
• Sunn Hemp seeds sown in empty garden spaces, promises nitrogen fixing, nematode deterrance

Flash!! Flash!!

• Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR camera purchased on Ebay
• Stay tuned for the photos

• ‘Mrs. B. R. Cant’ blooms in dead shade, never touched by sun

• Fears of bloomless summer unwarranted

• ‘Venosa Violacea’ declares May 29th Purple Day

• ‘Blush Noisette’ buds bode big bloom

• Baby ‘Bermuda’s Anna Olivier’ bears first bud

• First bud opens

• Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ surprises all with appearance

• ‘Modern Marvel’ marvelous when wet

• Amber alert! Daylily missing name

• ‘Mary Guthrie’ joins in bud uprising

• ‘Quietness’ makes noise

• Caladiums voice support for shady roses: ‘Etoile de Mai’ & ‘Bow Bells’

• ‘Bow Bells’ sprouts on pegged canes after 16 days

• ‘Madame Lombard’ up in arms

• Clematis ‘Henryi’ takes first step to top

• ‘Clotilde Soupert’ beats gardener to punch, sprouts before Saturday’s deadheading

• ‘White Pet’ refuses not to bloom

• ‘Le Vesuve’ drenched, unbowed

• ‘Maggie’ voted Most Powerful Woman in garden

• Promises more, more, more

• ‘Full Moon Rising’ feeling fine after transplant

• Manifests multiple blooming laterals along horizontal cane
  
  

• Declares victory over verticality

• ‘Fred Ham’ announces campaign slogan “Go Yellow!”

• Echinacea named Flower of the Century

• ‘Duquesa’ rejoices after rain

 

• ‘Francois Juranville’ lets hair down, soon to be coifed

On a much more serious subject I’m asking for the prayers of the faithful for my newest, sweet daughter-in-law, Missy, who received word today that she has Stage-2 breast cancer and will have a mastectomy by Monday, and for dear son, Mark, who loves her so much. She’s in God’s gracious, loving, almighty hands…as are we all. From the day we first met, Missy has made Tom and me feel truly loved.

No, this isn't PBS

In my personal Vegetables 101 class today I started with cover crops aka green manure since that is the first / next thing I have to do . I learned from the online UF / IFAS that summer in Florida is not the time to grow vegetables, but it is the time to grow a cover crop that will organically prepare the bed for fall vegetable planting . And then lots of googling led to YouTube videos . Some were really helpful .

I'm also excited that this green manure will be beneficial to 'Souv de la Malmaison' since no vegetable will take her place .

A bit of a disclaimer right up front . Most gardeners are not as inadequately prepared to grow vegetables as I am, so I suspect this post may be incredibly boring for some . However, I found that watching these videos really informed my brain and comforted my nerves by providing visual information almost like being there gaining hands-on experience . For one thing I learned what the "no-till" method is . Yay! No digging-in . Also, a bit of good news - one purpose of cover crops is to give rest - to the soil and to the gardener . I like that!

So if your game, grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy .

On with the show!

Improve soil fertility in your food garden with a green manure crop

Sunn Hemp for Soil Health and Nematode Management

Sunn Hemp growing in central Alabama

Harvesting Hairy Vetch in Ohio

Cover crops and compost crops IN your garden

And now...   views from the garden .

Salvia farinacea

'Le Vesuve' - Maybe he's shivering in his roots . Mama watched a video on vegetable gardening in a circular bed, but I forgot it instantly .

'Clotilde Soupert'

'Le Vesuve' vs. the vegetables

My golden NOID - I love it!

I forget .

'Le Vesuve'