Sexto de Mayo

Another month is off to a speedy start.  Almost a whole week into May...and I haven't found the time to post.  Tut, tut.

My time has been almost entirely given over to Master Gardening activities for the past couple of weeks.  I finished my Master Gardening classes the last Wednesday in April...turned in my final exam...and then the real work began in earnest.  First, I wrote another article for GoGreenTriad.com, this one on What to do in your Piedmont Garden in May.  It's up on their site right now, if you care to read it.  Just follow that link.

Meet Herb!

Next, I put in a half-day working in the Demonstration (AKA The Legacy...) Garden, plus a half-day on the InfoLine (telephone Master Gardener answer service) on Wednesday (well, I was already in the habit of driving to the other side of the county on Wednesdays, don't you know...:). 

Then, I helped set up for the Passalong Plant Sale and Festival on Thursday, when Mr. T joined me in "creating" a clay pot person for the raffle.  I've named him Herb (photo, right)...and I will hate to see him go to a new home on Saturday when someone wins him.  Sigh. 



Display done for the
Passalong Plant Sale

 Anyway, I also set up my display table on Culinary Herbs (photo, left)...a project I'd been working on at home for several days.  This subject was a natural, since I'll be doing my first MG Speaker's Bureau session on the 17th on Culinary Herbs...6:00 p.m. at the High Point Library, if anyone wants to come...:) 

We also got the coffee and snack concession table all ready to serve, come 7:30 a.m.  Even though the plant sale opens at 9:00,  people start arriving early to get a good place in line. Like a rock concert.  Tee hee.





Mist over Oak Hollow -
A cold morn in May

The first day of the plant sale started out sunny but cold for the sixth of May.  As I headed to the Extension Center early this morning, I snapped this shot (right) of the mist rising off Oak Hollow Reservoir.  Thank goodness I'd remembered to dress in layers!  Then, even though I had the first shift in the Festival area, the time seemed to fly by.  Before you could say "heirloom tomato," it was time for me to head back home.  BTW, one of the perks for working so early:  I was able to purchase 3 varieties of heirlooms before they were all sold out:  Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and Mortgage Lifter.  Yippee!



Big blooms of the
Mardi Gras rose

Putting in all this time on Master Gardening has left my own garden looking rather neglected.  The rainfall, followed by warm, sunny days, is tonic for the lettuce and the weeds alike...and the weeds seem to be winning over the spinach by a wide margin.  No matter.  Who can be bothered with a few weeds when the roses in the Way Back have been putting on a such a show for us, as you can see in the photo of some I snipped for Mom's room (left)?

I've got to devote some time...and soon...to getting the rest of my tomatoes, my peppers, squash, and melons in the ground.  They are tired of being restricted to their tiny pots on the screened porch.  The good news:  the strawberries are ripening rapidly, and the corn's coming up, despite the lack of loving care.  Woo hoo!



Salad for supper again?
The lettuce is coming in faster than we can eat it!

Even though Mom is on a higher level of pain medication that makes walking a challenge, she tries to spend a little time each day on the deck, which is about as far into the back yard as she will venture.  She can see some of the garden from that vantage point, and I think she gets as much thrill from the daily Garden Report as I do.  [...although I believe she is getting a bit weary of having a salad (photo, right) with nearly every supper...:)]

Must run for now.  Spending so much time on gardening leaves very little time left over for household chores...which ain't all bad, as they say.  But I have a list of To Do's to finish before a certain young lady and my grand-dogs her two mutt-mutts arrive later on this evening. 

I don't care if I do have to work the early-shift at the Plant Sale again tomorrow.  It's gonna be a great weekend, indeed!