Scabiosa and Coreopsis are NOT STDs.

We made it back from our trip out of town without a hitch. Pulling in the driveway at 2:30 in the afternoon resulted in an immediate trip to the front yard so that Ardis could try out her brand-spanking-new gardening bag. The garden looked good. Several radishes were ready for harvesting/thinning, and the beets had flourished. The carrots took our absence as an opportunity to rally. Dozens of 3" tall tufts were poking up through the soil like miniature trees. The swiss chard realized it was spring, and a few more asparagus seem to have survived Penny's need for dust baths. Inside, I found that several cucumber plants that had sprouted in their starter pots.

Made a trip to a national chain hardware store on Friday. We purchased three blueberry bushes ("Millennia," "Tifblue," and "Coville") on "sale" (They were only $9.95 for gallon-sized pots- I felt it was a good enough deal). Also happened upon, strawberry plants in 4" pots on sale for $1.24. I thought it was such an exciting find. Then we found the flowers. eep. Coreopsis ("Nana"), Bachelor's button, Scabiosa, and Cosmos. I was stoked...until I had to explain to my husband that Scabiosa and Coreopsis are not STD's. My explanation did nothing to prevent the tirade of jokes to follow. The weekend finished with a trip to the other national chain hardware store where I found Icelandic poppies (despite the fact that it will be too warm for them soon enough), Thai Basil, and (glorious) Provence Lavender (for sachets and lavendar sugar next year). I chose to rescue the last 5 lavendar plants from the store when I saw that 3 of the 4 flats had not been watered recently and were ready for composting.

***

Finally seem to have a really good plan for the backyard. Last year proved that the backyard isn't the greatest for growing veggies- so I've officially begun my perennial flower garden. Yippee! Unfortunately, this plan means a lot of work for Jesse: dismantling raised beds, reassembling raised beds in the front yard, diggin holes, transplanting asparagus, making a mess. We nipped some old tires from mom's house to use for squash in the front yard. Good Friday here we come! For those of you that do not know, general "farming" knowledge and lore dictates that you do your planting on Good Friday for crops that cannot bear the frost or heavy freezing. As we live in Georgia, Good Friday planting doesn't always have to apply, but I like using it as a marker for myself.  For us, it will signal the time to move all our seedlings outdoors (tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers), plant green beans ("Contender" are my current preference), squash (both summer and winter), and whatever else I feel inspired to experiment with this year. Thankfully, almost all of our purchases have been planted (apart from the poppies, basil, and an unmentioned rosemary plant). Now if only the tomatoes would transplant themselves into larger peat pots.