Blank canvas

Monday, April 20, 2009


Front yard panorama
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter
So the blank canvas in my front yard continues to stare at me. It's because I decided to hold off on installing the plants I bought, at least for a little while. I had some major plumbing work that needed to be done first. 

See the line of fresh dirt in the photo that stretches back toward the house? There's a brand new water supply line underneath there. For years the water pressure in the house has been low, and I decided that now was the time to finally deal with it. Replacing the line helped some, but it was the new meter that the utility company installed that really made the difference. Finally, I can water the yard and flush toilets at the same time!

So I guess now I have no excuse for not planting that front bed. I'm still waiting for the seedlings to be big enough to transplant, but they're coming along nicely. Here's a shot taken on April 6. Since then, the okra seedlings have also popped up. As always, you can click on the photos to have a closer look.

Seedlings popping up

Certain seedlings have suffered an untimely death. I'm not sure what killed them. Cutworms perhaps? Some of them seemed to be severed off at the soil line. Though a few were uprooted entirely, which is often the work of nefarious squirrels.

Seedling damage

Two of the six castor bean seeds that I sowed have come up. I'm not sure why the others haven't. I also wish that the ones that came up were the bronze-leafed variety. I wasn't sure what I'd end up with since I bought a mixed pack of seeds, but I really wanted the kind with the purplish leaves.

Castor bean

I'm going to try to get the yucca and bromeliads in the ground this week. I'm also probably going to buy some yellow bulbine to add. I can't wait!

3 comments:

Stacy said...

I've lost some pepper and melon sprouts to the same thing, cut off at the soil line, and I'm inclined to blame the catbirds that have been stealing my strawberries. I think they're plucking up these sprouts and then tossing them aside when they don't taste very good. Jerks.

Kim Taylor Kruse said...

I hadn't thought about birds. Come to think of it, I saw a pair of birds hanging out by the seedlings and collecting sticks for a nest they're building in my orange tree. Maybe they're the culprits.

Jake said...

I have found the Castor Bean one of the easiest seeds to have germinate. But, Wicked Gardener said the seeds I sent her hadn't sprouted eithier, wierd. I am glad to see some progress. I have seen the orange Bulbne here in Jacksonville, I really liked it.

Jake