Friday in the Garden: The Good, The Bad, & The Scary

The Good

A camellia purchased on a whim last November, kept in the original container all winter, planted in March, denuded in May (need I even name the culprits?!), and babied all summer has its first blooms! What a great surprise as I wasn't expecting blooms this early. The bush is full of buds, so hopefully there will be weeks of beautiful flowers. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of this variety . . . maybe I'll pay a visit to the nursery where it was purchased and see if they can help.

The Bad

Bunches of young lettuce planted way too close together. So, the bad thing here is the gardener! We've been planting lettuce seeds in two week intervals in hopes of a long harvest season. However, when I planted the last seeds a big gust of wind blew the seeds out of my hand and they landed in a pile which I was unable to disseminate. You guessed it, when they sprouted they were too close together - way too close together. I have been reluctant to thin them as the seeds were from a mixed packet so there are several different types of lettuce and thinning them will require throwing away several types. Now they're all jumbled up and it's probably too late to separate them . . . it's sad when bad gardeners happen to good plants.

The Scary (no photo included for reasons that will become obvious)

A squirrel's tail. No, not a tale about a cute squirrel who lives in a cozy hollowed out tree and wears a vest and hat. Rather, a tail that used to be attached to a squirrel. Left in our yard by someone's cat. Yuck! Why can't cats either: 1) stop hunting and stick to chasing yarn balls, or, 2) take their bounty back to their own yards? I know gardeners shouldn't be squeamish, after all there are some pretty disgusting things in the compost pile, but I am squeamish and I don't like finding these little 'gifts' in my flower beds. Luckily my husband doesn't mind removing the moles, mice, voles, etc. that mysteriously appear. We have an agreed-upon division of labor - I weed, he removes all dead and/or yucky things! What a great plan . . .

Here's hoping your garden brings only good thing this weekend!