A little late spring planting...

I hadn't really caught the planting bug this spring, but then I joined in just in the nick of time in the last week of spring (May=Spring, June=Summer), with a little help from Mom.  Our garden needed major work.  See garden in exhibit A.

Exhibit A

See, I was perfectly content to just leave our garden this way, since Chris has inflicted a temporary no-spend policy on my house projects.

Then Mom swooped in to save the day with a casual email.  "Sara, I bet your pansies have been dead for a while now, do you want me to get you some flowers for your flower boxes?"

I promptly replied, "Yes!"  Thinking to myself, "If you're buying I'm game!"

So we met at the nursery a few days later and came home with these...
They are...hmm...let's see.
Serena White Angelonias (tall white ones)
Caberet Red Calibrachoa (trailing red ones)
Crystal Mix Zinnias (yellow ones)
Profusion Apricot Zinnias (orange ones)

I'd never planted, well anything, before so my mom showed me how it's done...

Here's the how-to on planting flower boxes, from one dummie to another.  

1. Get the soil good and loose by stirring it up.

2. Soak the soil with water until it runs out the bottom.

3. Decide where you want your plants to go.  (We went tallest in the center and filtered out to the "trailing" flowers (flowers that will grow to hang over edge) last on the outside.  

4.  You dig a little hole for each flower and place it in, only as deep as the roots.  Don't submerge the green parts in the soil, because they will rot (whatever that means).  

5. Wait till you get everything situated where you want it.  You may have to move things around several times.  Then pack it all down.

6.  Water gently one last time.  

Here's the finished product...

Before:

After:

Chris always tells me I'm a messy cook.  I guess I'm a messy gardner too!

After clean up:

(try to ignore the dishwasher sitting on our porch waiting to be sold)

After a few days of growing:

Luckily, I planted right before several days of rain so they are getting lots of water.

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading.  

(More to come on another little planting project)