April 23 - Everything's coming up ROSES!

SO many blossoms! The secret, roses experts tell me, is to keep your roses fed and watered. Maybe I'll be better at that this year. My roses can only hope.

"Golden Showers" is a climbing yellow florabunda with no smell. A thunderstorm this week broke one of the canes, but another will grow back. The fragrant David Austin lavender rose is "Othello," which vigorously grows quite tall. It's loaded with blossoms. They start off as a dark pink and turn lavendar. The pink is another climber with huge blossoms. It's flanked by the brilliant "Blaze," a red with only a faint smell.

At the top of this page, you see the beautiful multi-colored "Double Delight" that I learned about when I was working at Chinqua-Penn Plantation in Reidsville. A stroll through it capped off every afternoon. The large rose has a very strong rose fragrance. My own collection is rounded out by a salmon tea rose and the famous dark red, "Mr. Lincoln." Sniff most anywhere right now in my back yard and you'll smell roses.

The tomatoes we planted on March 14 have buds just waiting to pop open. Two days of steady, soaking rain helped everything - including pollen-clogged noses. Callie Baby, my short hair Calico has been checking on the 'maters.

The gardenias and Myers lemon trees are loaded with of blossoms. Smells pretty good in the greenhouse, too!

In the middle of all this, Joel and I have been on the road going in opposite directions. While I've been calling on media throughout North Carolina, he's been their focus - huge articles in a Triad publication, called "Yes! Weekly" and then today on the front page of the Triad Careers section of the Greensboro News and Record. Log onto www.yesweekly.com to learn about his songs. Maybe I should play the opera version for my plants!?

April 14, Good Friday - and I'm pooped!

I added a lot more muscle and brainpower to my garden today.

Since my garden blog has garnered a lively Internet following, (I didn't realize that until I was at a public function recently in Siler City and artists and gardeners were asking me about my blog.) I feel I now have to back up my garden aspirations or will receive future electronic ridicule. I recruited more brawn and more brains to make my garden really grow.

You see, my boyfriend, Joel Leonard, loves to cook with fresh vegetables. Now he says he will provide the muscle, tilling, weed killing, watering, etc. -- and to provide gardening wisdom and nutritional expertise, his dad, Dr Joel Leonard, a retired physician, says he'll lend his advice and moral support to my garden. I appreciate anything they'll help me do.

Good Friday became a good gardening day when Dr. Joel brought over 8 German Pink Tomato plants and 3 German Johnson plants. He planted the first one. Here, father teaches son how to prep a hole for a tomato and plant it.

For hours, as we rested while Boyfriend Joel, slaved over the tiller, churning through weeds, leaves, lime, fertilizer and compost. Then, I laid out about a dozen soaker hoses, put some newspaper on top and then the black plastic (got it at Tractor Supply) and then cut holes to plant the 'maters. Yes, we did it!

On a totally unrelated matter, if you'd like to get some marketing tips or ideas for a travel story, view my profile. There, you'll find my other two blogs.

April 13 - True leaves have arrived!

I got out the spray! Okay, okay, okay. I know about organic farming and know I should not use chemicals. BUT, I found a tick on me two days ago. Haven't seen indications of fleas, but they're next. So, I sprayed. I also knock off the grubs and all the other nasty critters that make my life complicated during the growing season.

Here's a picture of the Catnip Garden. Yes, it got sprayed too! Seems all the neighborhood cats enjoy marking their territory here. It can be a haven for fleas and ticks, too.

The large plants are tansy, a beautiful herb that has lush dark green leaves dotted with brilliant yellow flowers all summer. Tansy and catnip grow very tall - sometimes higher than 6 feet - until a good rain comes. Then they flop over each other, creating hiding spots for my feline children and their friends. And they do a fantastic job attracting bees.... and THAT's ANOTHER STORY:(

IN THE BASEMENT --- Oh, watching the true leaves pop up between the tiny cotyledans is so exciting! Why, I bet if I get my nose close enough, I can now smell tomato plants.

My peppers aren't doing as well as the tomatoes. I think perhaps I'll put them in the sun this weekend, keeping an eye on their fragile stalks so they don't pass out from the shock of natural light. They've been couped up in the basement under grow lights for two weeks.

Good Friday is typically the day we're all supposed to get our gardens planted. For me, it all depends upon getting manpower in place - tiller, man to push the tiller, laying out the soaker hoses on the newly tilled soil, placing newspaper on top and then laying down the black plastic or weed control fabric and securing it. A friend of mine who is a master gardener has the tiller on the other side of town. He'll let me use it - and Joel will push it through the chickweed, leaves and compost that I put in the fallow garden this winter.

If I miss Good Friday - well, there's always another day. I hope you have a nice, safe Easter.