shopping day & planting tomatoes

We had rain again today, so I couldn't do much in the way of work in the yard, though I did do a little weeding. Instead, I managed to do some shopping and got some good things for the yard.

First stop was Country Boys, where I got some more tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers and some double impatiens and coleus to go on the porch. From there, it was off to Garden Treasury, where I found some great things. I got some Golden Hakone grass for the planned side bed, a big pot of black mondo grass at a great price (!!!!), a beautiful dark purple hellebore that I'm not sure where will go and a beautiful purple ranunculus that I will add to the perennial border. I also got some pot feet for the large hydrangea pot. Then it was on to Lowes where I got more grass seed for yet another attempt to grow grass.

When we got home, it has stopped drizzling for a few minutes, so I spread the grass seed along the ditch and in some other areas in the front yard that were looking bare. I also pulled some weeds around the forsythia. The forsythia is fully leafed out now and the area around it is solid weeds. I'm amazed at the diversity of weeds all growing on top of each other. It is a real mess...

Then it was off to the back yard to do some planting. I planted up:

Tomatoes:
Tumbling Tom
German Pink
Cherokee Purple

Hydrangea:
Peppermint (in a large plastic pot)

Eggplant:
Ichiban

At this point, I ran out of potting soil. I need to get back to Sams Club. We made a late night trip to Lowes, which netted me a plastic bag holder for inside a cabinet door (got to do something to control all the plastic shopping bags) and a Japanese painted fern for one of my shade garden projects.

I really need a few good dry days when I'm off work. I have a bunch of work to do in the yard but my two most pressing things currently seem to be weeding out the side yard so I can sow grass seed and digging in the other 1/2 of the perennial bed, which will allow me to move/plant a number of other plants. The perennial bed will require soil that has not been rained on for at least a few days. On the other hand, we are still in a drought, so all the rain is more than welcome.

As of 6:30 PM we had over 1 1/4" rain since I last emptied the gauge. It is currently raining.

Small daffodils:


Purple ranunculus:


Margaret Davis camellia after the rain: