Today was an outside chores day for Eric and I, and so I got the mowing done and he got the trimming done despite both of us suffering from a long-lasting and incredibly annoying cold that is keeping us from being at 100%. I wanted to mow the yard and then go prep more of the garden plot area, but after I finished mowing my chest hurt and my heart was racing and I realized I had to stop for the day. An hour and change later I still don't feel quite right. No more cold medicine and then outside work for me, I think.
Today's mow at least made our yard look respectable, which is apparently a good thing for the neighbors. A neighbor even offered Eric the use of his gas-powered trimmer when he saw my poor hubby using the wimpy electric one we have. We felt a little rushed because although our yard was in sunlight, a dramatic dark storm seemed to be moving in, as you can possibly see in the dramatic image of the plum stick above. However, it appears that the storm was going past us, not actually moving in, as we still have sunlight on the west side of our house even now, while the east side continues to look like a storm.
More after the cut...
As I mowed the front yard, I happened to glance at the plum stick in its cage and suddenly stopped in my tracks, letting go of the mower which automatically turned off. The plum stick had BLOSSOMS! Real, honest to goodness blossoms on my plum stick! Now, I don't expect any fruit. I don't know that any bees are going to make it to pollinate these guys, and I'm a bit sketchy on how plums develop anyway, but I was stunned into having to pull out my phone right then and there and take a picture.
As I was stopped in my yard staring at the plum stick, a neighbor hailed me from the sidewalk and asked how the tree was doing. I said, in a state of shock, "It has blossoms!" and he walked up with the puppy he was out walking leading the way, and checked it out. "Cherry?" he asked. "No, it's a plum tree, or will be. I just can't believe it's blossoming already." We chatted a bit, I played with the puppy, hubby-Eric appeared from around the back of the house and talked with us as well. It was a nice neighborly moment.
The grafted plum hasn't made much visible progress in the last couple of weeks, but I'm not expecting it to.
As a contrast, all the windowsill seedlings are growing like... well, plants. First up are the Tiny Tim Tomatoes. Both have gained lots more leaves and grown a bit. I'm not particularly worried about either of them reaching a large enough size to transplant once the freezes are done.
I updated on the peppers earlier this week when the one I was certain was dead suddenly started to sprout with new green. In this image you can see the curled new leaves as they reach for the sun. The other seedling has started to grow more leaves. I hope that I will be able to clear a space for these once they get big enough that they need to be repotted. I suspect they will be the last plants to actually go into the ground outside, because they are fairly picky about how warm it is, apparently.
My triffids are growing nicely, as I knew they would. They will no doubt soon start making demands and trying to take over the other plants. As soon as they are big enough, one of them is going to a friend. I hope she takes it. If she doesn't, I'll probably sneak up to her house in the night and plant it in her yard. Along with one of the zucchini, maybe.
Speaking of the zucchini, they have taken to their new pots and are growing fairly well. The bottom leaves looked really depressing for awhile, but the rest of the plants are just popping up like nothing else matters.
So the plants are growing up, and even though I wasn't able to do much with the actual outside plot today, I'm sure I'll get more done soon enough. I looked at the date I transplanted the triffids last year, June 10th, so I don't feel quite as terrified that I'll mess it up. I'm trying to keep my expectations low, but my hopes high. If you want to compare these pictures with previous ones, check out all my plant posts.
