Red carpet roses around Welcome sign

April has been interesting weather, cold fronts with overnight lows, then swinging to summer-like days.  Crazy!  But  I have been taking advantage of being outdoors to work in the garden, also sitting in the yard to enjoy the view and what it is becoming.  I think that is a good reminder for life.  Sometimes things are happening so fast that if we don't take the time to be present, in the moment, we will miss it.  When you think of your garden, relationships or spirituality, be present, in the moment, so you experience life to the fullest.

Wild honeysuckle over my fence

The April activities have kept me busy.  Our last expected frost date is April 10, but we had an overnight low an evening or 2 later that made everyone put tender plants under cover.  We have started scrubbing the birdbaths and trying to keep up weekly cleaning for our feathered visitors (and to keep the mosquitoes to a minimum, which seem to be bad already.)  Spraying & dusting plants with 7dust  that look like they are being snacked on.  Pruned the butterfly bush to a foot and already it is back up to 4 feet!  Sprayed and fed roses.  Hardening off plants/seedling before planting them in the garden.  Pinching back mum tips to promote bushiness (and to push back their blooming to Fall, when I want the color).  Still need to apply azalea/camellia fertilizer now that they are done flowering.

carrots growing

On April 21, I had 7 ladies come to my backyard for our Backyard Gardeners Workshop.  We talked about having the ground of your vegetable garden tilled up and amended a month or so before you want to start planting.  If the ground is extremely dry, water a few day before tilling.  A good way to tell if the ground is perfect for tilling: take a handful of dirt and squeeze into a ball.  Rub the thumb and fingers together.  If the ball crumbles apart, it is right for tilling.  If it stays a sticky clump, it is too wet to till, and will produce what is called "hard-pan"( no air pockets for good plant growth).

strawberries for my cereal

When planning your vegetable garden, you need to decide if you are planting in rows(a furrow, then cover over the seeds or square-foot gardening ( packing the plants/seed in one hole at a time).  I told the ladies how much stronger my tomatoes plants were when I took to heart burying all of the plant up to the top few sets of leaves.  Just gently curl the stem around into the hole.  Another thing I read was to fertilize when flowering, which will boost tomato producing instead of just plant growth.  One of the ladies asked what was the easiest veggies to grow.  I told her my preference is tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and green beans.  With the squashes you have to watch for pests, like squash borers.  But herbs are also easy-care plants, that do not need extra fertilizing.

a chickadee feeding

Another woman asked how much do you water.  Here in the Atlanta area, we tend to have rainy Spring and Fall, but dry Summers. I have found it is better to water once a week, deeply, then a little bit everyday.  I read where you can put a pie tin out where your sprinkler is.  Keep watering as long as it takes to fill up the pie tin.  This inch of water should be enough for that bed for the week, if you have mulch in place.  You can time how long it took to fill the tin and use that as a measure of how long to leave the sprinkler on.  I really encouraged the women, if nothing else, mulch your flowerbeds and gardens before summer temperatures start to bake things.  It will help you water less and keep things from stressing so much.

Red gerbera daisies, lavender irises and yellow daylilies

I was asked what my favorite flowers are.  I listed about 10 low-care perennials which come back year after year) that I love:  Shasta daisies(spread to fill in spaces, though droop a bit in the afternoon southern heat), gerbera daisies, coneflowers (Drought tolerent, for when we have water restrictions here in ATL), irises, daylilies (if they can handle the conditions on the side of the roads here, they can handle my minimal maintenance), mums and sedum (for Fall color), lantana and Homestead verbena( for drawing hummers and butterflies in summer heat) and lavender (draws the pollinators for my veggie garden).

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The Anatomy of a Pot:

1. Cover the drainage hole with a broken terracotta shard.
2. Layer the bottom of a big container with something other than potting mix, like pinecones or packing peanuts (uses less soil and container will not be as heavy to move)
3. Layer soil and compost mix about 2/3 up the sides of pot
4. Add thin layer of water absorbing crystals
5. Add a bit more soil if need be
6. Add plants: Thrillers (about as tall as the pot), Fillers (bushy plants that fill around taller plants) and Spillers (plants that spill over the side).
7. Top with mulch
8. Keep watered.  The smaller the pot, the quicker it will dry out.  If in full sun, it many need watering every day.  Feed as needed.

For Hanging Baskets:

red petunias, yellow calorbrachea, swt pot vine

1. Line basket with cocoa liner or moss.  I personally like the cocoa liner.
2. Add a plastic liner, cutting a few drainage slits.  I used black plastic bag pieces.
3. Add bio-degradable sponge in the bottom, which will hold moisture.
4. Add soil and compost mix to bottom 1/3
5. Add plants, filling around with more soil/compost mix.
6. Water with a fine spray.  Top with mulch.  Hang and feed as needed.

A word about fertilizing:  Some of the soil bags have fertilizer in it.  If is doesn't, add feed pellets that feed for up to 3 or 4 months, that way you don't have to try to remember to add Miracle-grow to your water.  But plants in pots may need a boost fertilizer in the middle of summer to look their best.

Nana Russler's irises in the garden

So, as we move into May, watering will become a regular routine and keeping those weeds from taking over.  Enjoy the last of Spring, because Summer is coming!