Mother’s Day Lunch & May Garden Chores

There are certain garden chores I like to get done mid-May before it gets really hot. So yesterday that’s what I did after my daughter and Andrew were here for Mother’s Day lunch.

She picked up three chicken dinners after church from a restaurant I wasn’t even aware we had here. A place called Raising Cane’s. We settled at my little table and enjoyed looking out on the patio. I roll over the desk chair and sit in it when they’re eating here.

Andrew made a Mother’s Day card for me.

It has been cold and wet here. Mostly wet. But the patio plants love it, so I won’t complain.

However my rosemary plant, above, might. She doesn’t like a lot of moisture or her feet to be wet. The one sure way to kill certain herbs is to over water them. I’ve done it many times.

Garden Chores Mid-May:

First thing you want to do is look around and see what plants you have in smallish pots. I had about four different colors of petunias in smaller pots, ones about 10 inches wide. You don’t want to go into the summer with plants in smaller pots. They will dry out too quickly in the heat. Especially if they’re on cement.

So I sat out there and decided what could go where in the bigger pots and in the galvanized garden space. Then I got my little rolling cart and went about repotting them.

With the soil I had left over, I walked around to see which big pots were running a bit low on soil. Over-wintering and watering eventually makes your soil recede, so I wanted to add more soil to create a bit more protection from the sun.

Cement Patios Get Hot Quickly:

If you have pots on a cement patio, the space is going to heat up and stay hot for awhile. So you need to protect your plants as best you can. Lift them up on something or add them to bigger pots where there is more soil like I did.

Then I washed out the smaller pots and put them away. I always have broken crockery in the bottoms of pots, so I washed the leftover crockery and put them away under the potting bench in a container.

Then I washed down the patio where soil had sifted out while I was repotting. I like a clean patio and I don’t want Charlie stepping in soil and walking in with it on his feet.

I had one more chore, tying a piece of jute around the top of my cucumber plant to the trellis in the pot.

So now I’m ready for the heat of summer. The good thing about gardening in pots is that you can move plants around when you see they’re doing poorly in a certain area. If you have heavy pots, put them on wheels to make it easier to move.

While I was out there, the bees hovered in the air. They acted like they might be a bit drunk on those white tree blossoms. My daughter asked me today what that tree is and every year I manage to forget after one of  you remind me!

New Pole For Jade:

I had to get a taller pole to go in the pot where Jade (my ginkgo butterfly tree) is. She had outgrown the original one. Somehow I ended up buying a pole that was about two feet too tall. So I was out there attempting to hide the rest of it up in the tree branches!

I hope a bird or squirrel doesn’t bang themselves in the head when they’re up there in that tree.

Then I got my roll of jute again and tied Jade loosely to the taller pole, so that little chore is done.

After all that I cleaned out the bird baths and was done with the chores. So that’s what I did on Mother’s Day. Mothered my plants!

Blooming Sedum:

The sedum is blooming. I honestly don’t know what any of the sedums in my garden are named. Or really even where they came from. It seems like they weren’t here one day, and then suddenly they were.

They have propagated like crazy! And I have shared them with anyone who wants a start of it. I like to help people get started with gardening, and what better way than to share what you have?

Cone Flower Color Revealed:

The cone flower turned out to be white. Which was what I was hoping.

I can hardly believe it came back from last year anyway. This is the first year it did, and I’ve planted it every spring here for five years now.

Scabiosa:

Here’s the lavender scabiosa. It has such an intricate bloom. So beautiful against the backdrop of the yellow-blooming sedum just behind it.

It is actually an herb and a genus in the honeysuckle family.

Shasta Daisy:

My Shasta daisy is about to bloom. It is all wet from the rain here. I don’t think we had one iota of sun on Saturday. It was dark and gray. But it made up for it yesterday. Lots of sun.

Lemon Grass:

Look at that lemon grass. It grows so fast. You know it was half that size when I bought it less than a month ago. Remember, insects do not like the scent of lemon. So you will do yourself a favor by having lemon-scented plants around.

Summer Outdoor Tip:

Mosquitoes and ants especially detest the smell of orange and lemon peel. These citrus peels contain organic chemicals that have the ability to repel mosquitoes and other insects.

Also, drink lemon juice. There’s a reason why most insect repellants have a lemon scent and that’s because for some reason mosquitoes don’t like it. Adding a bit of lemon juice to your water can help you to avoid attracting mosquitoes.

My tomato plant is in the tall darker green pot beside it.

Lemon Verbena:

I cut the lemon verbena down a bit so it would grow out more than up. In just a few days I noticed that it was getting rounder instead of taller.

This is one of the annual herbs I get every year because the scent is just heavenly.

Pineapple Mint:

A different mint grew up in the middle of the sedum. I think it is pineapple mint, as I brushed a leaf between my fingers and that’s certainly what it smells like.

When Andrew is here he likes to go around to all the herbs and pull a leaf to sniff the scent.

I have in the past had orange mint, chocolate mint and a whole variety of mints. I’d love to find an herb farm here like I went to while living in Texas.

Ivy Napping:

Here’s Ivy taking her afternoon nap yesterday on the quilt stack behind my recliner.

She typically plays in the mornings, sleeps in the afternoon, and then gets energetic toward evening.

Those swirly plastic toys that cost $1.75 a bag at Chewys keeps her highly entertained. She bats them around from room to room and gets her exercise.

Charlie Boy:

And here’s my Charlie boy on the couch. They love to have a quilt folded up to lay on.

I hope your seeds and plants are coming up in your garden as rapidly as mine are.