Farmette in Bloom

06/10/2026

A few years ago I trialed planting flowers as companion plants with my tomatoes and peppers.

Scrolling through pictures this year, I missed it. Not even for the beneficial of insect repellent or dealing with nemotodes, but for the aesthetic.

Basically I missed the color that the flowers added to the plants that stay green for the longest season and the colorful fruit I pick rather quickly.

So far I have marigolds mixed with both the tomatoes and peppers, basil mixed with tomatoes, some marigolds mixed with cabbage family patch, and although not pictured, nasturtiums with the melon patch.

I have so much more to plant and seed, so let's see what else I should add to my vegetable garden.

I'm thinking the leftover celosia and feverfew 😀

06/10/2026

This is what faith looks like. No matter the weather, you plant your seeds.

The garden looks bare now. And even the transplanted tomatoes are struggling with the week long heat and sun spell.

Landscape fabric waving in the wind as every gust comes trying to take it away, except the cap blocks are holding it down.

Sunflower seeds that I should be planning on succession planting all being planted today, at least trying too!!!

Seeds being pushed into the soil that is partly dry, partly wet from today's rain. But you don't see its progress.

A step of faith, waiting for Creation to make the right conditions for these seeds to germinate.

Gardening takes faith in the beauty that is to come. 🌱

06/05/2026

I'm obsessed with peonies and sweet William together. I planted the peony roots a few years ago. I planted the sweet William as an annual last year forgetting that it is a biennial. Oops. This spring I saved the plants and moved them to a different home.

But the shades, colors, and hues of both are BEAUTIFUL! Add in the Bachelor's Buttons in blue, purples, and pinks. Uhh, I should have saved more of them!

Now imagine a whole garden space dedicated to peonies, bachelor's buttons, and sweet William, all merged together. Y'all know what I'll be dreaming about doing!

This is what gardening is. Yea, annuals, you dream about it one day and next you can be planting the seed. Perrennial gardens, what is going to be blooming at the same time. Sometimes it is not reading a gardening book and following a specific design. It's observing nature's design and going off what it can do.

06/05/2026

The unfortunate events of gardening . . .

Also known as the weather. 😄

A week worth of warm weather and sunshine is great when harvesting flowers, but it is sure hard during planting season.

Anymore transplants are waiting in the greenhouse or on the skids behind it.

The tomato plants, although covered now, got sunburnt their first few days out. Some of the Romas have died. And on the larger tomatoes, some leaves will be needing to be taken off.

All my other plants have just stopped growing, waiting for the rain.

Even when direct seeding flowers in landscape fabric, I hose down the planting area to loosen the soil back up to stick the seeds in. Works pretty well, except Im waiting on the rain for them to germinate.

And I'm hoping the Zinnias I saved for seed in our pole barn survived the cooler temperatures of winter and will germinate. I have loads of other saved seeds, BUT these ones I tagged what color and variety they are! The other ones are just Russion roulette.

With all the what ifs and unfortunate events, all is well that ends well. Come August, I'll have tomatoes, cabbages, cut flowers, zinnias, sweet corn to harvest.

Just in the meantime, I'm praying for rain. 🌧 🌦 🌂

05/30/2026

Some days, the wind blows too much for the landscape fabric, yesterdays planted tomatoes, and the gardener who is ready for summer's break.

Add in how the weather feels strange. Local greenhouses are about empty. Folks are ready to plant. June flowers are out in bloom in May. But the night time temperature still falls in the 40s. Majority of plants can handle the cooler nights, but peppers need 50s.

Plus the possibility for no rain for a week. . .

Instead of worrying about what I can't control, figured I'd use the last bit of Friday night daylight to plant these Proven Winner Superbells with their daisy hued bells gradiating from sunny yellows in the centers to pure white. 😀

As to tomorrow's gardening, hopefully some pumpkins, sweet corn, zucchini, and cut flowers can be direct seeded into the ground. Oh, and I better not forget my dahlia tubers!

Now time to use the very last natural light to pull some weeds. There . . . Uck. Bad! Viney type with some seeds going.

05/29/2026

Coral peonies are beautiful, even if they lack in the wonderful peony smell.

These peonies are in bloom, but not much else, so it's a bit of improvisation with filler and greenery flower.

I should have saved more of the volunteer bachelor's buttons, but cornflower blue coordinates with coral pink. Add in a few Sweet William not yet in full Bloom, a white finch orlaya that volunteered from two or three seasons ago. A bit of green and also variegated hosta leaves.

Wa-la. Got myself my first mixed bouquets of the season!

05/27/2026

What's in bloom at the farmette?

Early peonies, sweet William, bachelor's buttons.

I love these peonies and buying larger roots in the fall. These stunners do fantastic every season. Im absolutely in love with the coral ones.

The sweet William and the bachelor's buttons were survivors from last seasons garden. We didnt rototill in the fall. Come spring, I spent how many hours digging and moving these plants to a new bed.

The neatest part. I didnt know the colors of the sweet William when I transplanted them. Lo and behold, the pink ones line with the coral peonies. The red sweet William lines up with the red peony. And the white sweet William lines up with pale yellow 💛 peony.

05/22/2026

05/20/2026

Isn't this just fitting from yesterdays post!

I'm out on my deck potting up a large tomato plant, only to realize I see something yellow in my peony patch.

Yes. Yellow.

When I bought my peony roots a few years ago, I splurged and bought a very expensive peony variety called Lemon Chiffon.

Man, I love all flowers, but my top favorite cuts are peonies, sunflowers, lisianthus, hydrangea, and zinnias.

I think this is the earliest I've had a peony- in May- in the Allegheny Mountains.

Sometimes, its not the floral crafts and decorations inside, but rather what is blooming outdoors.

P.S. I could grow a whole field of peonies and still want to plant more.