Can we talk for a second? Is that okay? Good. Because I really need to discuss some of the things that are not doing well in my garden. Some plants really aren't cooperating. If you have experience in these matters, please help.
This sweet little Dianthus was doing well for the first year of its life. Now, not so much. The brown, dying part just grows as the plant grows. It's supposed to be planted in a dry, sunny spot, right? Then what gives?
This area is the farthest edge of the front yard, closest to the hot, hot, street on a western facing slope. I'm trying to grow Fleur de Lawn here which is an eco-friendly lawn made up of clover and little wild flowers. Watching it grow has been like sucking molasses through a straw. Why won't it grow in this patch? I've put seed down here three times. You might be thinking, Julie, I'm looking at that patch of dirt and it looks as hard as a rock. In fact, is there even any dirt there to plant seed in? And I would reply, I know! But that's what the rest of this area looked like and the seeds grew everywhere else! Please advise.
Here's the pathetic Hawthorn. Can you even tell what's happening here? It was green all winter and now it's totally turning brown and the leaves are falling off. It's another slow grower, too. Like a filling-the-swimming-pool-with-an-eyedropper kind of slow. (Don't ask me why I'm making these comparisons, my dad used to do it.)
Oh Lordy, what is wrong with the peach tree?! It had a bunch of healthy leaves on the branches just a few weeks ago and now it's totally naked! Last summer we had tons of big, juicy peaches. I brought one in to try for the first time and when I sliced into it, earwigs came streaming out of it and all over the counter. Arden was with me and she FREAKED out. She screamed and ran into the bedroom which made me scream and run into the bedroom. But then I imagined millions of earwigs climbing over the walls of the kitchen so I forced myself out of the bedroom and with a power I didn't know I had, washed them all down the drain with the sprayer. Mike came in after it was all over (of course) and was like, What is going ON? After we told him what had happened, he went into the kitchen and sliced off the buggy part of the peach and then ate the rest (yuck). When he went back into the bedroom where Arden was hiding, he pretended there was an earwig in his mouth. I have never seen Arden so hysterical. She hasn't touched a peach since. I haven't forgiven him yet, either.
Okay, I'm officially disturbed. Let's look at something pretty now, shall we?
Ahh, blueberry buds. I'm feeling better already.
