The Year of the Accidental Potatoes

So, time for another garden update, since we spent most of the weekend working on the garden/yard. 

This year will be the year of the accidental potatoes.  We tossed some soft potatoes in the compost over the winter, and apparently nothing ate them (we've seen coons and possums frequently), because the crazy things sprouted in the heap.  We decided to experiment by transplanting them to the new raised bed that DH built this year.  So far they're doing good, in spite of a weird leaf thing that I'm blaming on tarp-contact (we've had 3 or 4 frost warnings when I've covered the garden).

We also have volunteer tomatoes in the heap, volunteer cantaloupe and sunflowers in the first raised bed, and the mailbox bed is totally populated with zinnias, marigolds and cosmos that seeded from last year's plants.  And then there are the snapdragons, supposedly annuals, that survived the freakishly-warm winter and are blooming like gangbusters.

So.  UPS delivered some replacement plants this week (Gaillardia from QVC last summer, courtesy of Mom), and I've got an order from Gilbert H. Wild in process (9 irises, 3 daylilies, plus asclepias and bleeding-hearts - I fell for their clearance sale catalog), so I needed to get a spot ready for them.  Yesterday DH put together the wheelbarrow and we hauled compost to the flower beds in the front yard.  We dug out a ton of weeds and some landscape fabric, and worked compost in to a couple of beds.  The gaillardia is in the ground now, and the blue whats-it from last year that came back got rearranged.  Don't remember what the blue flowers are, but I thought they were annuals.  But then, that's what the tag on the snapdragons said.  Go figure.

There's a bed ready for the new irises, assuming they can handle partial shade, and the front iris patch will get divided and spread out.  They aren't blooming this year, but a few did last year.  I'd guess they're too crowded and need some better dirt, since they're growing in half-mulch now.  The second iris bed, though, with the random Hy-vee iris from the old place, and the irises I rescued from under the shrubs, is going great guns and bloomed like mad.  Most are dark purple, but the Hy-vee iris is more blue, and I love it.

The garage bed is still crap.  Too much clay.  The snapdragons are okay, and I stuck two marigolds and two zinnias there today.  The violets are doing okay there, too.  The hostas got moved to the back yard, and I'm tempted to let the daylilies and the odd purple weed have it - the purple-weed seems happy there.

The driveway bed is doing great, though.  Everything survived, and the primrose seems to be working on a coup.  It's reseeding itself with passion, and I may have to start getting tough with it.  So far there are three coneflower (2 "Magnus" and one generic), 3 coreopsis (2 Baby Sun I think, and can't remember the third, but it's blooming and happy), and what may or may not be the black-eyed susan I planted last year, or possibly some of the coneflower seed.  Today I added some dianthus and seedling dahlias, and I'll probably toss some portulaca seed for kicks.  It's going to be mostly native flowers, and mostly butterfly-attracting plants.  Although Missouri primrose is yellow, and what's blooming now is pink.  I think it's evening primrose.  And it occurred to me today that my colors for that bed are kind of clash-y, what with purple coneflower, yellow and yellow/red tickseed, dark pink dianthus, pink primrose, and then yellow snapdragons.  Oy.

The perennial bed in back is okay, only one plant died over the winter.  Both delphinium survived, although one is too close to the coreopsis, and the shasta daisies are going to bloom.

Planted the dahlias from last year, although I forgot to mist them enough, and I bought 2 dozen jonquils at a yard sale on Saturday - looked like someone was dividing theres.  $1 per dozen.  They're in the spot the front dahlias were in last year - the dahlias didn't like it, not enough sun.  I'll add some daffodils this fall, and maybe one of the bleeding-hearts.  The spot gets a lot of sun before the maples leaf out, so that should work for spring bulbs, I hope.

And that pretty much covers what's in the ground now, flower wise.  The garden has peas, radishes, potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, and a lousy stand of lettuce and spinach.  I think that 80+ degree day in March confused them.  I know it confused me.