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Tag Archives: peonies

April 27, 2010 · 8:03 pm

Tammy Appleseed

I LOOOOVE SPRING! It seems as if you can just throw seeds in a pot and they just grow and blossom with very little effort. Remember the potato pots I started..

Yukon Gold

red potatoes

Well, here they are now……

red potatoes

Yukon Gold

Isn’t that amazing! I hope I get some potatoes out of these. I should be able to harvest around June or whenever the tops start to turn yellow and die down.

I also planted some lettuce seeds in a wooden box I found in the garage.

I believe my son made this in woodshop several years ago. (Hope he doesn’t want it back.) It is perfect, because it has handles which will allow me to move it around when the sun begins to heat up.

That was a about a week ago. Here they are now…

I also have beans coming up – speckled butter beans, Maxibel Haricot Vert beans and pinto beans!!!

These are the pinto beans.

These are the Maxibel Hericot Vert.

These around the round trellis are speckled butter beans.

and purple hull peas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My pepper plants are starting to grow. These are anaheim.

My pumpkin seeds have sprouted, too.

Hoping they will climb UP the trellis. Inside the teepee I planted Tom Thumb lettuces. They are miniature bibb lettuces about the size of a baseball. Don’t look too hard, they haven’t sprouted yet, hehe.

Here are the rest of peppers to put out: some are bell peppers others more anaheim and jalapeno.

Last but not least are the tomato plants.

I have Porter planted here and a basil in front (it looks lime green but it was just the way the light was shining, it’s actually fairly green). I also have San Marzano, Arkansas Traveler and Rio Grande in quart pots I need to put out. oy. But, would you get a load of my peonies! This is the prettiest they have ever been.

Tammy Appleseed is now resting.

Peony Pleasure

I have to admit it. Sometimes, just sometimes mind you, I can be really hard-headed, stubborn even. One, of those times, is when I believe I am right and the other is when you tell me “Oh, yes, but you can’t grow those here.” Hmm.

Such is the case with peonies. “Oh, it doesn’t get cold enough here.” “Those are for up North, zone 3 (granted, that is ideal)”. So, I was determined to have them.

I planted them on the northern exposure of the house. I planted them in an area where they could grow undisturbed (in front of my white azaleas). Did you know that peonies can last for 50 years? I planted the root with the little eyes at just the right depth (one inch depth for warmer climates, zone 8-9). And then I held my breath… because the first year they barely bloomed. But I was patient, or stubborn if you wish, and sometimes that pays off.

Since it was going to rain and storm on Saturday evening, I ran out and cut a bouquet. Because, you see, there is nothing more beautiful, more spectacular, or more glamorous than peonies.