Countdown to Mother's Day

This past Wednesday, I went to Arbor Farms Nursery and Do It Best Hardware to look for herbs.  I found everything I wanted except catnip.  I will check at other stores when I can.  I sure don't want to start it from seed!  All I know is that with our feline family members, catnip is a MUST!

Arbor Farms was really busy, as expected.  The weather here has just been beautiful, and a lot of folks are planting early. The nursery was just getting its annuals and veggies in this week, and I was pleased with the herb selection.  I got basil, cilantro, oregano, dill, rosemary, and stevia.  Yes...STEVIA!!!  I was so thrilled to see that.  I am very eager to try it in tea, my protein shakes, and lots more!  I also couldn't resist getting a beautiful hanging basket with pink verbena, white snowflake bacopa, and pink snowbell petunias...oh, also got a Boston fern.

At Do It Best, I bought begonias, alyssum, and dianthus (Sweet William) to put in the south-facing sides of the straw bales that are by the front porch and garage.  I checked through the inventory of veggies again -- I would like to get starts of acorn squash -- but didn't find any (there or Arbor Farms), so I picked up a 4-pack of butternut squash.  Also bought one cayenne pepper.  We are going to have SO MANY peppers!  I love it!!!   I bought a bag of hardwood mulch for the area in front of the birdbath where I planted the "extra" tomatoes and yellow squash.  I'll need more bags of mulch for the flowerbed on the west side of the garage (where I have two more straw bales), but that's all I could load on this trip.

Wednesday's Haul
Herbs, annuals for the sides of the front yard straw bales,
butternut squash, hanging basket, Boston fern, and mulch.

My Combo Beauty
Pink verbena, white snowflake bacoba, and pink snowbell petunias
make a gorgeous hanging basket for out front.

I got all the herbs -- plus the butternut squash and cayenne pepper -- planted on Thursday.  When I got home with everything on Wednesday, I read about growing butternut squash.  I was relieved to learn it vines up to 15 ft. instead of growing in a "hill" clump like zucchini or summer squash.  I don't know where I would have been able to put it if it didn't vine like the eggplants will.  As of now...I am OUT OF SPACE on my straw bales...except for the flowers on the sides of them. 

Front Yard:  Bales in Flowerbed Behind Shrubs -- DONE!
Herbs in front two rows.
Eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes fill the rest of the bales.

On Friday morning, I picked up my friend, Staci, and we did some "errand" shopping and lunch.  Our first stop was Menards.  Staci went one direction, and I headed all the way to the other end of the store -- to the lawn and garden section.  Still no catnip! 

The Watering Hole
This time, Mama Lucy is ponied up to the bar.
Just another reason I need heavy-duty catnip!

But I did find acorn squash -- HOORAY!!!  The young plants were big and sturdy, and they came in a 6-pack...which was fine, of course, but 2-3 healthy seedlings were in each section.  Since I was able to put most of my herbs on top of the front yard bales, I cut six holes in the front sides of the back yard bales and planted most of the seedlings there (2 seedlings/hole) and the rest on the ends of the bales.  These will also trail like the eggplant and butternut squash.  My original plan was to put one or two acorn squash plants in the side of one of the back bales -- so, obviously, I was a bit overwhelmed to come home with 16 seedlings!