Garden Diary

• to limit the St. James vegetable garden to the few plants I am most successful with
• to stop trying to grow vegetables on Shelter Island but to cultivate a better herb garden
• to throw away the old seeds (except those that are sure to grow)
• to use plants from nurseries to populate my annual flower gardens
• and concentrate on lower-maintenance methods at St. James.

In the interim both William and Alice got married and Will and Verena got pregnant.

We had the best ever crop of cherries; there were enough for us and the birds. I tried a new system for starting plants using cells and seed starter from Home Depot. It did not work for me. Back to the old tried and true next year.

The grass seed is sprouting thanks to some rainy weather and a few days under the sprinkler. The kousa dogwood is blooming modestly; the rose of Sharon is leafing out; the cryptomeria is sending out bright green buds; lavender is about to flower; and the the nepeta is in full bloom.

Meanwhile back in St. James, the garden is growing apace. I am harvesting lettuce, spinach, cilantro and chives. The tomatoes are starting to flower and peas are forming. The cherry trees are showing a relatively sparse crop. The daffodils, tulips, lilacs, sage and iris have come and gone. The roses and thyme are in full bloom and the lavender is about to flower.

The back yard is filled with flowers: a tall red daisy with a yellow center, which I think is a Pyrethrum Daisy, known variously as Painted Daisy, Tanacetum coccineum, Pyrethrum roseum, Chrysanthemum roseum, and Chyrsanthemum coccineum; Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) in pretty pink, red and white; a gigantic hollyhock (I think) growing in the side yard, perhaps ready to bloom; Bachelor buttons (blue cornflower, Centaurea cyanus); coreopsis; Japanese iris; spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), a pale blue flower on feathery stalks.

It has been a busy month in both gardens. At Shelter Island, I planted two six packs of spreading wave petunias from Bloomin Haus in the garden isle, three aucuba plants, which I started from offshoots, next to the back fence, three "sunpatiens" from Home Depot in the side yard at the feet of the lilacs, a geranium and violet that I picked up from Kerz Nursery in the rock garden, a few more bugleweeds (Ajuga reptans) and a couple of euonymus under the amigos. I dug the euonymus from the side yard in St. James.

I am relying on topsoil from the town recycling center (dump) combined with my own compost to give the plants an even chance of survival. Today I planted two azaleas (Azalea Rosa de Girard) in the side yard. I bought them at BB&GG for $20 each. I am trying to create an island of garden (let's call it the garden isle) in the back yard that will include two winterberry bushes, two sand cherries and a Pink Fountain Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri Walgauph) which I planted today. I bought it at Lowe's for $6.99. The winterberry held its berries until early spring and I am hoping that they will form this year. I also planted a few bugleweeds (Ajuga reptans) transplanted from St. James where they are ubiquitous; a half dozen Calla lilies, also transplants; and a few euonymus plants.

My compost bummed me out. I anticipated harvesting two or three tubs of it, but it is not ready. The material in the east bin is well along, except the bottom quarter. The west bin is at about the same stage, but neither is ready for use. Alas.

Patricia Piotrowski from Bartlett Tree in Southampton suggested that I create a hedge of Rose of Sharon along the fence that fronts West Neck Rd. I transplanted four bushes of various sizes that were growing next to the larger tree behind the cottage. I also transplanted a barberry from the driveway, adding it to the hedge outside the fence.

The seeds I sowed in late March sprouted nicely. I started more seeds today: Ice plant (Mesembryanthemum criniflorum), marigold, Greek basil, both kinds of parsley, hollyhock and snapdragon. I left them in the back room with four tiny azalea bushes that Wendy bought in a single pot from the grocery store. I felt so sorry for them —their roots were so dense that I had to cut them apart. Wonder if they will survive?

Currently in St. James gardening is on hold pending the departure of a cold snap that has sent temperatures below freezing for the past few days. Most of the indoor seedlings are up and doing well. I transplanted the tomatoes into deeper pots with the intention of stimulating more robust root systems, a tip I took from Jeff Cox's 100 Greatest Garden Ideas. The seeds I planted outdoors on March 8 have sprouted and seem to be enduring the cold. As I predicted, a neighborhood cat is playing havoc with them —using the garden as a cat pan.

The forsythia is in full bloom and the daffodils are beginning to come out (interestingly, trailing their cousins on Shelter Island). The lilacs are budding; the privet, maples and cherries are beginning to leaf. The roses, which I cut back two weeks ago, are breaking dormancy. Periwinkle is in flower and the phlox will be in a few days. The rosemary did not fare well; it may or may not survive.

I planted fours rows of seeds from Select Seeds: Creeping Thyme Thymus serpyllum, Viola 'King Henry' (free), Viola 'Bowles Black', and Snow on the Mountain Euphorbia marginata. I saw Snow on the Mountain when I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and loved it. I am a bit concerned that its sap is poisonous. Not quite sure how to warn people (including myself) off from it.

On Shelter Island, the daffodils are popping up, the magnolia tree and forsythia bushes are about to bloom, the trees, lilacs and roses are budding and the nepeta is sprouting. I'm busy removing leaves and cleaning up the gardens. I cut all the dead wood out of the roses and gave them a moderate pruning. The roses got some rose food and the bulbs some bulb food. Everybody should be happy.

The Latin name for the plant is Sempervivum, ever-living. Certainly Grandma's chicks live on, perhaps not at her house on Hume Ave, but in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and in the memories she created.

I started seeds in the basement as usual. Most came up, except the chives and (as usual) spinach. I don't know why, but I cannot grow spinach (or radishes).

Many of the plants in St. James, including the boxwood and hydrangea, were battered by the severe winter. The cherry trees in the side yard produced a few cherries, but not enough to make a pie. The tree in the back yard yielded a good crop. I tried to coax the grape vine into production with minimal success. It set only one real cluster of grapes. Next season will be better.

We paid Natural Images Landscaping $3,000 to recover the driveway ($1,500), prune the barberry plants and transplant three Alberta spruce from the back yard to the head of the drive. They were my three amigos — but they did not survive the two–month drought while we rented the house. The kousa dogwood and the cryptomeria suffered as well, but they survived (barely). The contorted filbert remained intact, as did four of the five lavender plants. (The fifth succumbed to the drought along with the hanging plants; for some reason, the renters neglected to water any of the plants.) The privet along the front of the house were infested with leaf miners, so I cut them back severely. I pruned all the plants around the perimeter of the house to prevent any of them from touching it. I spread a big pile of wood chips, supplemented by mulch from the dump, around all the plantings.

Continuing our quest for large swaths of daffodils, I planted 100 new bulbs, 50 each of Narcissus Goblet and Narcissus Tahiti, which I purchased for $69.20 from Van Engelen Flower Bulbs.

Near the end of the season I planted a Winterberry bush (Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite') in the back yard. I purchased it at the Peconic River Herb Farm in Riverhead. When I got it home, I discovered that it needs a companion male holly plant to set berries. When I complained, the lady at the herb farm gave me a 'Jim Dandy' holly, which she averred would "do its duty" when the time came. I also planted a purpleleaf sand cherry bush (Prunus x cistena) nearby as part of an incipient cluster garden. The Winterberry plant is just beginning to drop its berries. It looked wonderful throughout the fall and into the winter, especially against the snow.

Now, like every gardener, I look at the winter garden and see spring. As I clear away the debris left by the falling leaves and winter storms, I see sprouts and buds emerging along with the inevitable and not so welcome weeds.

I started my seeds in the basement in late March and early April, using leftovers or Burpee seeds I bought at Home Depot or the nursery. Eventually everything came up except the chives.

Last summer I planted two Double Knock Out roses outside the fence where the daylilies used to be and a Red Drift rose and a Sunny Knock Out rose in the rose garden. They were modest in their growth through the latter part of the summer, so I am anxious to see if they live up to their reputation as a hearty carefree variety.

The tomatoes were great. Five plants yielded cherry, plum and beefsteak all summer long. They are still going strong with no sign of the blight that afflicted them in summers past.

The lettuce and arugula were good, as were the beets.

Out east we bought a kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) for the back yard to replace a flowering dogwood which had died, a cryptomeria for the front yard and a flowering tree/shrub (whose name I will try to find on an invoice) for the pool area. We purchased them from Christian Clark, who put the cryptomeria in the wrong place then left for Idaho to go elk hunting or some such.

Yesterday, I stopped by Kunz Nursery to buy some soil builder and spotted a contorted bush, similar but smaller than our Christmas tree, for sale for $39.99. It turned out to be a Corylus avellana 'Contorta' commonly called Harry Lauder's walking stick (I see a research project in my future). I brought it with me to Shelter Island and this morning decided to plant it at the corner of the patio.

As has been my custom for the past three years, I erected a trellis for the peas. This involves a fairly elaborate process of digging holes in the soil and planting the poles in them, threading string though quarter–inch holes in the poles using a bent coat hanger, and pounding pegs in the holes to hold the string in place. With soil preparation and planting, the endeavor can take an hour or more — a small price to pay for a bowl of freshly picked peas.

My fears that the garlic planted last fall had been eaten were unfounded. Tiny sprouts are poking up through the mulch.

Back in St. James, the garden got only the meager measure of attention I could muster after a day at work. I did manage to pull in a respectable batch of peppers, which I shared with the CPEP staff. We had good arugula late into the autumn. Morning glory, marigold, borage and zinnia bloomed nicely.

Today I organized my seeds for 2014. Since I have so many left over from prior years, plus seeds that Alice grew at Oz Farm and homegrown seeds from my garden, I did not place an order this year. I will see what I can get going on Shelter Island as well. The soil will certainly need amendment.

Not much is going on — at least not on the surface. The trees are beginning to bud, but the gestalt is more brown than green. The crocus, periwinkle and violets are out; forsythia and daffodils look ready to bloom; shoots are popping up under the leaves.

I planted two flats of seeds on March 11. See chart. I followed the instructions on the seed packets, not planting any that said to sow outdoors. I hope that is not a mistake. Most of the seedlings are up. The cosmos shot up the first week, outpacing the others by so far that I had to take them out of the flat and put them in the window. Yesterday I transplanted the Big Boy and Roma tomatoes into larger pots and sowed the Sweet tomatoes I got from Burpee. I also sowed another six pack of vinca.

I dug up the gladiolus this weekend. The 16 bulbs I planted in March were miraculously transformed into 28. I snipped off the stalks just above the bulb, washed them in warm water and laid them out to cure on the desk in the garage. I gave the same treatment to the dahlia tubers. I pried them apart, washed them and set them to cure in the garage.

As the leaves fall, I am trying to get the compost emptied and the frame repaired to receive the autumn leaves. I spread the compost we harvested in July on the beds in the back yard. Next I need to empty the western bin. Too bad Will isn't here.

A dahlia outside the bathroom window is blooming beautifully. Not sure where I got it — perhaps at the Hitherbrook sale. The chrysanthemums are a mixed lot this year. Those that overwintered from last year did well while three plants I bought from BB & GG wilted quickly. (I suspect they were overfertilized at the nursery.) The New England asters are fading. A few roses are blooming. Marigolds, rudbeckia, vinca are still in full bloom.

Continuing my season-long neglect of this diary, I have a long way to look back. William was of immense help in the last few weeks of July. Not only did he paint the fence and help me fix the garden shed, but he dug out the chameleon plants that were getting out of hand, dug out the money plants outside the fence and helped me turn the compost. The compost was a major effort. We emptied what was left in the garbage cans onto garden plots, refilled them with freshly dug compost (which we took from the eastern-most bin), rebuilt the bins and cleaned up the entire back area.

The hydrangea bushes bloomed well. So did the coreopsis, cleomes, and vinca (though they went in late). Actually, I think there may be something to be said about planting vinca, zinnia, and snapdragon late. They are just coming into full bloom at a time when new color is welcome. And speaking of new color, the crepe myrtle in the front yard is full of flowers, much to Wendy's delight, though she prefers the darker variety.

Now it is almost time to store away the gladiolus bulbs for next year's planting; plant next spring's daffodils, tulips and garlic; and harvest kale seeds and dried beans for next year's crop. The gardener's thoughts have indeed gone to seed.

Sweet William came up outside the fence this year. William had given me seeds for my birthday last year, which I planted in the spring. When they came up this year, I didn't know what they were until they bloomed. If I can get my act together, I will try to get some started this year for next year's bloom.

In the vegetable garden, the Italian flat beans came up in abundance (they have not produced fruit yet) and the bush beans from yesteryear produced a modest crop. The Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard and cucumber came up nicely. We have been eating lettuce started inside from seed.

The seedlings are doing okay as well, but since I was so slow getting started, they are small for the time of year. I put them out under the cherry tree to harden off. Everything came up except the Bloomsdale spinach and some of the Berriwinkle vinca.

Here at home, the peas and indoor seedlings (most of them) are sprouting. I worry about how they will fare while we are away for three days at the end of the week.

I transplanted a sprout from the aucuba plant into a pot outside the bathroom window — and tried to coax a few more branches to put down roots. The clematis vine died. Fran said it was probably disease and suggested that I not plant another clematis at the same place. Alas.

April stirred the gladiolus roots to send up tender shoots. The peas (most of them) have popped up. The seedlings are spouting in the basement under fluorescent lights. I added a second set of lights over the table next to the oil tank, using sunlight bulbs.

I sowed four flats of seeds and put them under fluorescent lamps in the basement. I planted them in Jiffy-Mix, which I bought at Kunz Greenhouse for $10.99. I have not used Jiffy-Mix before, but I like its fine texture. Several of the seeds have already sprouted.

I devised a fairly elaborate trellis made from 2x2x6 boards with 8 holes drilled in each and painted with sage green exterior paint from Aboffs. I strung twine secured with a loop at one end and a peg at the other. We will see how they fare. It seemed like a lot of fuss for a couple of bowls of peas, but if the trellis works as planned, it can be used for several plantings.

I've been faithfully watering for the past five days, but no signs of life yet.

It is past mid-March and I've done next to nothing until last week when I harvested the compost. I put it off for months, procrastinating. We've had a remarkably warm winter with little snow and few freezes. Perhaps I couldn't be ready for spring without having endured a winter. I filled six trash cans with compost from the west side of the bin. There is plenty more buried under the east side.

Garlic sprouting

I ordered seeds today (finally!). Another example of procrastination. I will list them when they arrive.

This year we had an exceptionally warm spell in late November which fooled several species into thinking it was spring. Islip Airport recorded highs of 66 ° on November 28 and 29.

Marigold

Phlox

Phlox

Forsythia

Rudbeckia

Stonecrop

??

Periwinkle

Alyssum

Rose

Rape

Rugosa

Here's a picture of a worm that was slithering across the back yard (at about 80 mph worm-speed) in late October. I almost ran over it with the lawn mower. This has been an exceptionally good year for fat juicy worms. I suspect it has to do with the Long Island Compost mulch I've been using for the past several years, although it might also be associated with the Master Nursery bumper crop soil booster I started using this year. The worms love to hang out on the edges of the gardens under the grass or weeds. I've noticed a lot of worm castings.

The first frost hit on October 31, while I was in St. Louis. When I came home, the morning glories and basil were dead. Within ten days or so, the zinnias, vinca, Mexican heather and impatiens had been killed by cold as well. (By the way, the Islip Airport weather station posts a record of past weather reports.)

The New England asters and marigolds have gone to seed. I pulled out the pepper plants last week. The roses are still showing a few blooms, as are the rudbeckia. The herbs are still intact: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, chives. I am still harvesting swiss chard and kale. A few arugula plants are still alive, but bugs ate them.

The seeds I planted in the cold frame last month were eaten as soon as they sprouted, leaving me with nothing. I think I'll try the basement. The garlic sprouted and is now about four inches high.

Fall clean-up has a certain sadness about it, but it is also a time to prepare for next year's plantings. Every spring I wonder what I was doing last fall. Why didn't you pull the weeds, rake the leaves, turn the compost? Next spring will probably be no different, though I am here to testify that I am trying to get the garden ready.

I sowed lettuce, arugula, spinach and cilantro in a flat, which I will keep in the cold frame until I bring it inside. This year I am going to try to keep some herbs and greens going in the basement under florescent lights.

Note: You may have noticed the phrase "dark purplish red" in my description of the roses. I found it in an on-line dictionary of color names that is well worth bookmarking.

We were away all last week—first to Lake George, then to Cheshire Massachusetts. While we were gone, most of the tomatoes went bad, though a few endured. The bok choy grew to eating size; the zucchini plant produced a squash the size of a small Zeppelin; the beans and cucumbers matured nicely. The swiss chard looks anemic and burned. The pepper plants, though producing fruit, seem perpetually thirsty.

I harvested one small, half-eaten zucchini. The plant looks healthy enough: just have to fight off the slugs and bugs eating the fruit. I planted zucchini seeds last week. They are just popping up. The peppers are starting to set fruit. We are eating kale, chard, and lettuce from the garden—and, of course, tomatoes.

The lily behind the garage bloomed and faded, but it was spectacular while it lasted. The vinca outside the fence is thriving, as is the germander. I must set out more of both next year. The boxwood basil, bee balm and marigolds are doing well beneath the trellis and the morning glory plants are beginning to wind their way up. I harvested 27 beautiful big garlics, washed them and set them out to dry. We are cutting the lettuce, arugula and cilantro that I sowed on June 14. The mesclun from 2007 did not come up. The tomatoes are just beginning to turn red. We've had a few cherry tomatoes.

Yesterday I transplanted kale, bok choy, swiss chard and zinnias that I sowed on July 2. Since only three peas from June 28 came up, I sowed cucumber seeds (Burpee Straight Eight, 2010) in their place. I sowed a row each of beans (Burpee Tenderpod, 2011) and bok choy in the plot next to the hedge outside the bathroom.

My camera is acting up. Hopefully Wendy will get it fixed today. I finally set up the template for individual plants and created a few. Check them out.

The hotter it gets, the less willing I am to take on the big dirty jobs, like moving plants around, but this weekend there were some things that had to be done. I planted the echinacea, veronica and parsley I bought at Hitherbrook, plus a purple pepper plant I bought at half price at Olsen's Discount Nursery. It appears that all the St. James Nurseries are following Hitherbrook's lead this year.

I found a place for the lavender by digging out the wild rose bush that was intertwined with the fence (a nasty job), consolidating the irises, and cutting back the day lilies. What appeared to be one clump of lavender separated into ten small pieces, which I duly transplanted.

I dug up the center section of phlox and planted a few clumps of it outside the fence at the end of the driveway. I dug out the dianthus/sedum mix and separated the two (a dusty chore), buried a few strips of plastic landscape border to keep them apart (dream on!), planted the sedum in front of the loosestrife, and the dianthus between the remaining clumps of phlox.

Today, I fixed up the rose garden, pulling weeds, cutting back the invasion of grass and clover, and deadheading the roses. Only a few leaves have turned yellow.

The seeds I planted on July 2 are sprouting, though something is eating the zinnia sprouts. Only three of the peas I planted on June 28 have sprouted to date. I put the sprinkler on them in the hope that water will do the trick. The Brussels sprouts seeds from July 2 have yet to make an appearance. Green tomatoes are getting larger. The garlic is about ready to harvest. Bachelor buttons are in bloom.

I arrived a little after 7:00, having scouted the place the afternoon before. Perhaps fifty people were ahead of me. I had my eye on a couple echinacea plants, which I hoped were shorter and redder than the ones growing outside the fence, and a veronica, which would go well with the eryngium I bought last year. I got both, plus a parsley plant, a hanging basket of ivy geranium, a bag of Plantone fertilizer, and grass seed. I was back home before 9:00 ready for a day in the garden.

I started a flat of seeds, hoping to have a nice crop of flowers and vegetables in the August and September.

The seeds I planted on June 14 are sprouting nicely. We got a good harvest of peas, which is now finished. Today I planted a second crop of peas inside the fence in the back yard, using Master Nursery bumper crop soil amendment.

A couple of weeks ago I planted a few bush beans (Burpee Tenderpod 2011) and a few summer squash seeds. They have popped up along with the morning glory seeds. Blackberries and grapes are forming on the few bushes at the back of the garden. We are bringing in basil, lettuce, endive, swiss chard and kale.

Before we left, I quickly planted out anything that was still in flats - two Roma tomato plants inside the back fence, a few peppers and a parsley plant in the garden, and a row of box basil under the trellis next to the drive.

Irises and sage are spent but the day lilies, butterfly weeds and lavender are poised to bloom. Coreopsis is blooming as are the two other (as yet unnamed) yellow plants outside the fence. The roses are past their prime, but will have a second flush. Marigolds and clematis are blooming.

The farm is an outgrowth of the international Camp Hill community and is supported by a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Seeds and seedlings are nurtured in greenhouses and cold frames, then planted out by interns and volunteers into the outdoor gardens. The inhospitable clay soil is made fertile by compost from the farm animals.

We also visited the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens (pictured at left), which is less a formal garden and more a walk through the woods on the side of a mountain. Here too, the mountains form a beautiful backdrop to the rough landscape.

Meanwhile back home the weeds are growing, several plantings have gone to seed and the lawn needs mowing.

I transplanted three more tomato plants (one of each variety). Three potato plants - left over from last year - popped up on their own. I planted red and white impatiens from BB & GG.

Fran specializes in deciduous plants that grow in acidic soil under filtered sun -- Japanese maples, conifers, rhododendrons and azaleas (which Fran pointed out are a species of rhododendron).

As an added treat, we met Fran's son David, here from California for a visit. He has taken the garden tour many times, but has carefully avoided taking an interest, despairing of ever approaching his mother's degree of garden wisdom.

On a related note, I learned today that azalea is spelled with an 'a', not an 'e'. I used to think that I was not a good speller through some fault of my own, but as I have come to pay closer attention to the English language, I am beginning to think that the fault lies in the language, not with me. I saw a sign in a tavern window the other day that said "Guiness Draught", which is pronounced like "Draft", as in 'laughter'. Most 'aught' words -- caught, taught, daughter, slaughter, -- sound like 'ought', though. Tough language.

The wisteria is in full bloom and the irises are just about ready.

I transformed the Garden Diary blog this morning into the new standard format - no easy feat. I had to do it, however, because Larry said he got lost looking through the website.

The basil and pepper seeds I planted in March are finally showing, as are the spinach and arugula I started a few weeks later. Ice plant, vinca and cosmos are ready to transplant. The orange lilies Stephanie gave me last year, which I planted next to the sewer, and the white lily behind the garage are a foot high. Cherries, azaleas and lilacs bloomed this week; wisteria and irises are loading up. Periwinkle, phlox and bleeding heart are still in full bloom. Even the crepe myrtle in the front yard is starting to show signs of life.

It has been warm enough to leave all the seedlings, including the tomatoes, outside. I took the top off the cold frame.

There has been plenty of rain, so everything is lush. The cherries, azaleas, lilacs, chives, Jacob's ladder, Pulsatilla and dianthus are starting to bloom. The roses, hydrangea and maples are budding. Lilies and mint are sprouting. Tulips, bleeding hearts, periwinkle and phlox are in full bloom.

I even managed to harvest a lettuce plant and leaves from an arugula which had overwintered in the cold frame. This fall, I will see if I can tuck a few more away.

Frank from Reliable pointed out that the young maple in the middle of the yard was growing unevenly: fuller to the west and sparser to the east. He said that with the morning sun, it would 'pop' and the eastern side would fill out.

In the process I used the last of the Gardener's Gold potting soil I have been using. After a search, I found it at Kunz Greenhouse in Port Jefferson.

While we were there I couldn't help buying a few seeds. I got a packet each of Bok Choy (White Stem), Brussels Sprout (Long Island Improved), and Scabiosa (Isaac House Blend), all from Botanical Interests.

I used the Burpee seeds I ordered last week plus some homegrown pepper seeds. I also planted tobacco seeds that Bo sent me with his home made cigars.

The spinach, lettuce (Turtle Tree, 2011), Chinese cabbage (2008) and green ice lettuce (2010) are up from the March 6 planting. The cilantro (2011), arugula (2006), spinach (Burpee 2008), and lettuce (Hart 2009) are not up yet.

Two days later it was snowing. I imagine that the moisture will help them germinate, but the cold will probably put them off.

I would like to have a better understanding of how climbing roses work. I think the roses in the front yard are climbers, but they don't seem to climb.

I fertilized the roses with Espoma RoseTone -- about three quarters of a cup for each plant.

While I was at Hitherbrook buying fertilizer, I picked up a bag of grass seed (Greenview Fairway Sun and Shade mix) to address some of the weak spots in the yard.

I hope to create a page for each plant and follow it through from year to year. An ambitious goal.

I have been trying to get African violets to stay in bloom under glass - so far unsuccessfully. A gardener at the nursery in East Hampton suggested African violet plant food, which I am trying. Stay tuned.

It was a good day for raking the leaves and rooting out the weeds that overwintered -- though I did not get more than half of either.

In one flat, which I put outside under a makeshift cold frame, I planted spinach, cilantro, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and arugula, thinking that they can tolerate a little cold. In the other, I planted three varieties of tomatoes, basil, zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons, and parsley. I put them under grow lights in the basement.

It turns out that creating a webpage from scratch, using HTMLX and CSS is not as easy as it seems. I seem to be doing too much fudging for it to be right although it comes out okay on the page.

We will follow it over time to see how it turns out.

Ordering seeds, like planting them, is an act of hope.