Day 31 of 365

Our nice 60 degree weather has disappeared. Today is cloudy, rainy, windy, and cool. Not a good day to be working outside, so I decided to dig through our old seed packets to see what else I had to plant. Which then led me to checking on my glads.

I've never had much luck growing gladiolus. I love them all tall and colorful, but have always had problems with digging them up in the fall and replanting them in spring.  I'd plant them, they'd bloom (or not) and then I'd get too busy with school and forget to dig them out. Sometimes I even forgot where I planted them so I couldn't dig them out if I wanted to. One year I bought some that were touted as winter hardy, but after they flowered in the summer they never reappeared again.

But a couple years ago I decided I was going to try and do glads again. I was committed. I was going to mark where I planted them. I was going to make sure I didn't get too busy to dig them up and would have a dedicated container where I would store them for the winter.

Except that between the time I ordered them in the late summer and the time they arrived for planting in the following spring, I had hurt my back at work, been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and had knee replacement surgery. When the bulbs arrived in April in a box marked "live plants", I knew my gladiolus days would not happen.

Then along came my helper. (My daughter, of course.) A couple weeks later she was able to come home and get them planted. Out front, in the back, on the side of the fence, in the planter box - wherever she could find a space. My hopes weren't too high since they'd been sitting in the box for a couple weeks, but some of them did bloom. They fell over in the wind and wound up on the ground most of the time (I didn't realize at the time that we were supposed to stake them or plant them along a wall or fence for support), but they did bloom. My helper girl even dug them up in the fall for me and put them in my "designated container" with some potting soil. All I could do was hope they'd survive the winter so they could be planted again.

So imagine my surprise with the bad luck I've had with this flower when I went looking for seeds and decided to check on my glads. In their designated plastic container with a lid. Or, maybe I should say, their designated plastic container with the lid pushed off (and not by me).

I think it might be a good year for glads.

Now to just get my daughter over here...

Day 30 of 365

We finally got a break in the weather. Today is the second day the temps have been in the 60s, plus today we have no wind. I've been itching to get outside and get some planting done.

In years past we've done planting over Spring Break (which is usually the 3rd week of March), but since our our helper/daughter left home we don't adhere to that schedule as much. And last year during Spring Break I was in the hospital with my knee replacement so we didn't even attempt a garden.

Just like my big plans to hang up laundry on the clothesline all summer, we have big garden plans this summer. My husband has some things growing in the greenhouse at his school, but we needed to get some other seeds started ASAP.

So today in the nice, bright, warm sunshine I planted seeds in some pots. Some of them will stay in the pots and will eventually make it to our porch and others were planted in a pot as a temporary "growing until they're big enough to put in the ground" spot. Spinach, arugula, kale, rosemary, oregano, dill, basil, cucumbers, and cantaloupe seeds are now planted. We have them on the south side of the house where it is always so warm. I guess I'm hoping the extra warmth they'll get there will make up for lost time. Kind of like me.

I guess I'm hoping this picture-a-day project will help me make up for lost time, too.