Container Progress and Micro Enviro Disasters....

I guess every gardener probably has “gardener's remorse” at some point. Today was my day. I feel (very) behind. I haven't been able to spend much time with my plantings and to me, they really show the lack of attention. Then I went out to check on my tomatoes. The first row of eight that I planted had been doing great despite my lack of attention recently. Today, suddenly two were badly wilting. I thought, well, is this a disease issue? One had pretty tomatoes already set on. It just made me sick. Suddenly I thought, hmmm. They've had plenty of water lately, so that's not it. They're hybrids, so realistically, it surely isn't regular wilt. The rest still looked fine. Additionally this is a sudden development, almost like……and then it dawned on me,oh horror of horrors-maybe something had disturbed the roots! Then I saw the tell tale signs. A mole run. Sure enough upon further investigation there were burrows under both plants. But it gets even worse. I saw the ground….moving…..and me with no weapon of any kind! No hoe, no shovel, nothing. I was so angry I dug in there by hand. That would have made America's funniest videos, I'm sure. Of course it quit digging and moved….on somewhere I guess. I just thought there was no hope for those two tomatoes but I put dirt back in around them where the thing had tunneled and I watered them really good. Interestingly by tonight they had perked back up, so we'll see how it all works out. I really hate moles.

The good news in the garden this week was, I had a lot of salvia seed and also I think some coleus coming up, and the plants are so cute. And my containers really are looking great. I have two more big ones to do and decide where I'm putting them. Like I said, between finishing those and just some regular planting and the way everything is several weeks ahead this year, I feel very much behind right now…..maybe it's gardener's guilt instead of gardener's remorse.   Here are some of the Containers in the flower bed in front of the house by the sidewalk.

Ivy.

Coral Bells, Sweet Potato Vine, Begonia. This one sits in the shady part of this area.

Petunias, Geraniums.

This last photo, the pot nearest the camera is full of Rosemary, and I used a little of it yesterday to make Chicken Florentine Soup. Fresh is definitely better. It was so good!

Have a good week in YOUR garden and watch out for those mini environmental disasters! ~JB was here.