Happy May!

First Week of May Garden Update:

May 1: Happy Beltane & May Day!!!!!Today I pulled out the fall-planted cover crops: fava & crimson clover. Which was almost sad because their flowers were beautiful. They did a great job surviving the winter and just exploding in the early spring. They nourished the soil and blocked out weeds. I added them to my new sheet mulching projects. The bed they were planted in is becoming my new perennial bed, which I prepped for planting by amending with black forest compost and my custom vegan fertilizer blend. I pruned the roses which are really leafing out and installed a new wooden trellis for the climbers.

May 2: Oh my!!! This was the crazy little storm that came on suddenly and with much power-the black clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped, the winds picked up and got to 50mph gusts, downpour of rain, and lots and lots of large hail. It was just crazy! I was watching some of my trees literally bend in half and bounce back in the gusts. I watched from the window laughing and in total awe of the power of mother nature. Luckily, all my seedlings and garden babies survived. Unfortunately this storm took the life of one Portland resident when a tree fell on the car he was driving.

May 6: As of today Portland has had 2" of rain in May. That's 2" in 6 days! Fun! Fun! Won't need to water the garden for a while. Really need a break from the rain to mow the lawn though. I scored some free dahlia bulbs from the nursery because they were old and dried up. I'm soaking them in liquid kelp to try and pump them back up. So far they are really plump and juicy, we'll see if they grow when I plant them.

May 8: Today it was a beautiful sunny day and I worked in the garden for 6 hours non-stop. It was heavenly and divine. So peaceful and nourishing of my soul. I planted my new perennial garden with hollyhocks, gladiolus, english daisies (bellis), agastache, artemesia, lots of sunflower seeds, nasturtiums, marigolds and alyssum. I planted a wooden container box with lots of my favorite annuals: bedding dahlias, million bells, creeping zinnia, sweet potato vine, african daisies, purple orach & more. I also planted another flower bed with blue hyacinth vine, morning glories, bells of ireland (my favorite!!!!), black & blue salvia, cerinthe, and sunflowers. I prepped my summer squash bed, which is a 4'x8' area I sheet mulched last October.

I'll post some photos soon.
Happy May, Miss Jolie Ann