RainyDayGarden Update

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The weather in Boston was all over the place at the beginning of May, but it has finally settled down. Everything we planted in mid-April survived the frost-warnings and 30º temperature gyrations in day/night temperatures. We also got some nice stretches of rain. The precipitation really helped get everything nice and green.

The tulips and the other early bloomers have mostly faded. Their blooms were replaced by the clematis, azaleas, and alliums. Many of the plants have started to fill out, but some of them are not quite ready to flower. It will be another week or two before the warmer temperature hangs around for keeps. That is when the day lilies and the peonies will kick into gear.

Our new raised-bed vegetable garden is in full swing. Most of the 1’x1′ squares have been filled. Everything we planted took. The tomatillos have already started to flower. The  herb section is coming along quite well. When we were last in NY, we got some winter melon seedlings. Half of them were planted last week, but the seedlings hadn’t been sufficiently acclimated to the sun and got a little burnt. We hardened the rest and planted them this weekend. Hopefully, they will fare better.

Maintaining a garden in the city is really very easy. We only plant perennials, propagate what we have, and don’t bother with the grass. We love tending (pruning, weeding, etc.) the garden, but don’t believe in watering the plants or the lawn. These simple rules minimize the amount of work needed while giving us plenty of time to enjoy the greenery. We are going to look into some rain barrels for catching storm run-offs that we’ll use in watering the vegetable garden, but that will probably be a project for next year.