More blooms and a bin!

I finally got around to getting a compost bin (I know, I know, as an organic gardener I should have had one years ago but just never got around to it). Thanks to New England Plastics and a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection the city of Medford is offering discounted bins to residents. So who am I to turn down a deal?!? The bin isn't exactly what I expected but it does hold/produce 24 cubic feet of compost so I guess all works out in the end. It was a DIY situation to get it together and the directions were pretty clear but they really should have stated right at the beginning that you need four hands or two people to assemble the sucker. Tom (you know my neighbor) helped me out putting it together and now I just need to stake it into the ground and load 'er up! And now since the city is cracking down on only taking yard waste on designated yard waste days (they used to take leaves and such in open barrels all the time) I have tons of brown matter to add and the way I go through fruits and veggies I produce enough green matter to make the perfect mix. And of course a picture will soon follow : )


As for the bloomers going on now in the yard this is a picture of my mini iris - Katherine Hodgkins. They are only 2" high but boy does the leftover greens grow high! These too have multiplied but only by two or three at each planting site. I am not a huge iris fan but I really like these ones. Unfortunately the blooms only last a week or so and then - poof - gone. But the early spring bloomers a quick to follow so all is not lost.

The planting continues

A little behind in my blogging here so I will keep it short and sweet. Basically planting, planting, and more planting. The weekend of the 13th I planted upwards of 200 bulbs – primarily Katherine Hodgkin irises and Little Princess and Little Beauty tulips – both only 4” high so none of that unsightly vegetation growth waiting to die back! I had a handful of giant Hyacinths added to the mix as well as Kalidescope and Jimmy tulips (20” and 24” respectively) and the last 6 of the tradescantia. It’s been two weeks and I must say I think I have succeeded in keeping the squirrels away. I planted the bulbs at the required depth and once in the trench I added a bit of soil and then on top of that I placed chicken wire then I covered with the rest of the soil! I have seen some holes around where I planed but as soon as the chicken wire showed up the digging stopped. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps them away for good. I also added some all-natural bulb fertilizer called Bulbs Alive that I ordered from Garden’s Alive. A little extra love never hurt anything! And as an added bonus I had some extra chicken wire so I cut that and placed it on top of the irises and tulips. It is very trashy to see this all on my front lawn but it is only temporary until I know the squirrels have stopped their efforts to populate the word with oak trees!
This past weekend I planted 6 tall phlox in ice blue and 6 astrantia plants. Those all went in the back along the deck. The astrantia were rather sickly looking when they arrived but hopefully they will bounce back.
The rock garden got a few extra additions too – three magic carpet thyme that (hopefully) will have pretty pink flowers and a nice scent throughout the summer and I also dropped in 3 fescue blue grasses. They were sooooo cute when they got delivered – only about 1” high but they are expected to grow to 18”.
I am still waiting on a few more things – 1 gardenia bush, 9 hardy pansies and 3 snow in summer. After that I will be officially done with the fall planting. The winter months are going to be long….what am I going to spend my weekends doing now?