Keeping busy.

It's been very busy around here, I think this may have been the longest time between postings in awhile.  Part of the reason I've not posted was that I've just been busy with life, kids, etc.  The other part is that this cold and wet spring has gotten very old and I've been frustrated with wanting to garden and not being able to because of weather, also that it seems the garden is in slow motion.  I've also found that I lost quite a few plants, I've pulled rotted rootballs up of quite a few plants.  Anyway, we did have good weekend weather and today apparently we had our first average temperature day of 62!

Old-fashioned bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) 'Alba' are finally in full bloom.  They were worth the wait!

The white ones usually bloom after the pink Bleeding Hearts but they are blooming together this year.

I'm so happy to see so many apple blossoms on the tree.  Last year there were very few.  I forgot what a pretty pink color they are.

The shed garden has really taken off all of a sudden.  Columbines, Bergenia, Bluebells, Deutzia, Meadow Rue and Heucheras are all beginning to bloom.  I think even the variegated Rhododendron might actually bloom this year.

Aside from tulips the front yard is still taking it's time.  I'm wondering if the Mexican Orange (Choysia ternata) will survive the move back in February.  It's pretty wilted still, but I'm not giving up yet.

Today I finally was able to get some of the plants that I started inside out in the ground.  I planted out Pattypan squash, Butternut squash, zucchini, pumpkins, chamomile and roses.  I now have cookie sheets for cooking again.  Funny how many kitchen supplies I use for seed starting.

The vegetable beds before I planted.  I can't wait until they are full of things to eat, if the temperatures warm up the seedlings will hopefully grow a bit faster.

As I worked in the garden over the past month I noticed that the soil we had delivered back in February didn't look very good.  It was very gray, full of rock and sharp glass and formed a hard dry crust after the soil began to dry after all the rain we'd been having.  Many of the seeds I started began wilting.  A woman from the company came to look at the soil and told me they had delivered the wrong type.  It wasn't the special garden mix we ordered, but some other "supreme mix".  I pointed out how hard the soil was, showed her the glass and she apologized.  The company agreed to credit us back half of the money and agreed to deliver 2 yards of compost.  That meant scraping off the top layer of the raised bed, then spreading the new compost over most of the front yard.  This was another two days of hard work that we thought we were done with.  I think the soil will be fine when I mix it in as I plant things.  I was happy the company acknowledged their mistake, but not happy we had to spend all that extra time on it.

Looks like more rain and cool temperatures are back on their way here.  I sure hope we can start getting more than one day at a time of warm weather.  I know many others are dealing with a cold and wet spring too.  Hopefully things will begin to turn around.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.