We’ve got two of the main vegetable beds in, and the supplies for another. Our plans are for four more beds on the hill, plus another long bed along the back fence. Adding a bed a year seems doable.

Bed the First has tomatoes, tomatillos, serranos, and jalapenos.

Bed the Second has lettuce, radishes, kale, and parsley. There is a large dill at one end, but it’s currently under assault by monarch caterpillars, so I don’t expect it to survive. I hope, though. There is one in the church garden that has lasted for years.

Our asparagus bed is doing well, but I need to weed it. It’s difficult to weed around the little shoots. I’d like to spend an early morning in the cool of the day weeding it. The cats will certainly enjoy that.

The herb bed has a thyme that may be preparing to take over the world, it’s huge. The marjoram has been cut back four times already this year, I may need to move it out. The feverfew is blooming, it’s got delightful little flowers. Sage and chives are growing alongside English and Elfin thyme. I’ve got one remaining lavender thyme, I need to move it. There is a patch of Monarda at the back that is growing well, it keeps threatening to bloom but has thus far refused.

I’m always amazed at what survives in pots. I’ve got two lemon eucalyptus that came back and a lemon verbena. I’d like a bed for these and flowers on the side of our yard, but we will see what Mr. Pumpkin says. There is also a lovely sage that’s three years old, a new mojito mint, and some basil. Along with back fence and on the side there lives the mint pots. Six years ago we got a peppermint in a veggie box from the local farm co-op. It’s lived through the balcony at the apartment and the move to our house. Now it lives in a huge pot my friend Kay gave me. Living with it is a pot each of chocolate mint, apple mint, and pineapple mint. Living over by the monarda is a pot of banana mint. It needed a bit of shade. I’d like to change out the pots for a raised bed back there just for the mints.

Up by the house, I have plans for a flower bed under our window, but that needs to wait for funding.

On the other side of the fence, I’ve got a happy little planting of thyme, rosemary, lavender, allium, and a magnificent Eden rose. This year’s first blooms were spectacular, I’m looking forward to years of that rose covering the corner of our fence. I have plans to extend the flower bed to cross the back fence. I’d like to have more climbing roses, and clematis, and then lots of flowers like echinacea, daisies, and lilies.

The sides of our house are a wasteland. I will not speak of them.

Yet.

Out front, I’ve got nine roses now, two sad specimens that were planted weeks after we moved in, I should have waited. They were bareroot knockout roses that have not done well in those spots. I will be moving them to the wasteland if they survive the summer. I have another knockout rose planted at the corner of our house in 2016, it’s huge and doing very well. Two roses I planted in the fall of 2017, one a yellow climbing rose, the other is a delightful cabbage rose. I planted an additional four in the fall of 2018. One is a climbing rose in front of the office window. I’m hoping it will provide some cover for the window. The cats love our wide sills, they sit there looking out at the world. We just want to provide some screening outside in. The other three are shrub roses, one is purple, two are copper colored.

I need to plant thymes out there to help with covering the soil to keep it cooler and to help with moisture retention. Happily, I’ve got a clematis that is doing well and more rosemary. Shockingly, there are a couple of lisianthuses that have come back two years in a row. None of the seeds I planted germinated, so boo on that.

The other side needs work. It’s a sad and lonely place except for two spectacular Gauras. Soon.

Note: There were more photographs, but I couldn’t get them loaded. I wrote this post last week. So more pictures at some point, but for now, this will have to do.