Day Lilies from Friends & Other Updates

Some awesome friends gave me three day lily clumps the other day and today I planted them. They prefer to remain anonymous but I still want to thank them publicly. Thank you so much!!! I'm excited to have these three new kinds and I planted them in an area where only weeds thrive so hopefully they will crowd out the weeds (or I will get healthier and stay on top of the weeds in the future). I did pull the weeds out from the planting holes and as far around as I could before losing steam.

 It's raining steadily so I haven't taken pictures yet but it wouldn't do them justice anyway as they've been sitting in a pot on my porch for a couple days. Hopefully they'll perk up now that they're back in the ground and, in a year or two, I'll have some nice flower photos to share.

I haven't posted in a while so I'll update on a bunch of things while I'm here.

We haven't had a hard frost yet and I'm still able to pick tomatoes and kale for lunch every day, which is fabulous.  

Next year, I shouldn't start beans inside. Better to just sow them directly after danger of frost has passed. They grew super fast and had to be transplanted several times before it was safe to put them in the ground. They also started producing before they were in the ground.

The zinnias that volunteered started blooming before the zinnias I started from seed but both did great and the seed-started ones were a new kind (Whirligig) so it was fun to have them in our garden.

The carrots did well but were so small that once I peeled them, they were hardly worth the effort. I think I planted them too close together. Note for next year: space carrots properly.

The radishes and lettuce produced very well until it got too hot for them and they bolted. I saved some of the lettuce seeds (both leafy and romaine) but forgot to save some radish seeds. Or they blew away before I got around to it. 

Our apricot rose bush garnered an astonishing number of compliments from passersby and one anonymous neighbor even took a picture, printed it and framed it and left it on our porch with a lovely note about how s/he enjoyed them all summer. That was a super special surprise that touched my heart. You can see one of my pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJRjA2Hcb7/ , although I think the neighbor's is better.

I planted my first ever saffron crocuses. Apparently they're irresistible to squirrels, who dug up and ate most of them. But I was able to harvest nine strands from the three that bloomed. We had a few more that produced foliage but no flowers. I have to figure a way to protect the survivors from the squirrels and hopefully have a better harvest next year.

How is your garden growing?

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!