Today Entropy Girl and I put a few more plants into the garden, another example of hope springing eternal. We haven't had rain in forever and I fear for my ability to keep things watered. Anyway, because hope really, really springs eternal we went out today and bought a few more starts to tuck in and around here and there. I think I've covered most of the local garden centers and a few of the big box places on my way to getting cool stuff I can now say that I am, more or less, satisfied. True, I never did get any okra or tomatillos, and I'm still very interested in trying to grow ground cherries, but for now I am at as much gardening peace as it's probably possible to be.

In addition to the radishes and lettuce planted a few weeks ago (and coming up nicely, I might add), we now have: 3 yellow squash, two zucchini, one eggplant, three purple cabbage, three watermelon, three cuke, one canteloup, three pumpkin, six green bean, six basil, two dill, two cilantro, one rosemary, one thyme and one sweet woodruff. Oh, and about 18 tomatoes of varying kinds and three hot peppers and three sweet peppers. With some luck and attention, at least some of this will result in actual food.

I'm still working on the front patio and the slope of yard that leads down to the house. The front of the house is almost entirely shaded all day long (which makes me very cold now, but which I'm sure I'll come to appreciate in mid-Summer) so I've got a lot of pots of things that can stand the limited sun. It looks as if previous residents have put some hydrangeas and peonies at rather random locations. The hydrangeas I'm not so worried about but the peonies in the shade, while leafing, don't have the large buds that their sunnier siblings have produced. Ah, well. Not much can be done until the fall, I guess. I like the idea of putting a row of peonies along the driveway and if I can divide and transplant the underperformers already on-site that would be grand.

As for the hydrangeas, propogation time is coming (generally in June) and they're so easy to root that it would a shame not to make myself a whole mess of babies. Oh, and I also need to trim around the roots of a bunch of rose bushes out by the barn wall. Farmer Newell (the man who leases the production fields here and who keeps the cows) told me that the roses have been here "forever" but that they took a beating from the last service to maintain the grounds. Well, not on my watch. I told him that I'd trim around them and give them a nice mulch, basically to clean them up and give them a perimeter of protection. I don't see any buds yet, and if they're that distressed I guess I might not. Hopefully a little TLC will carry them through to a bloom next year. What was that about hope springing eternal?