Late April garden walk megapost

On days I have time to get into the garden, it is cool and rainy--hence not many developments, and never good for my photography skills. Here are the few recent projects.


Correcting the pruning fail
Lesson learned: Chamaecyparis (false cypress) needs to be pruned or it becomes the overgrown mess you see here. I still maintain that the company hired to plant this made poor decisions--like the holly too close to the house that I can't bear to remove.
Before
After

What's in bloom
It should be a good year for berries! The strawberries and blueberries are full of blooms, and the blackberry and raspberry vines look great.
The bulbs are finishing up, and the lilac is in bloom.


The "driveway" garden is just getting started. This "wallflower" is anything but.

The bleeding heart looks fantastic!

The vegetable garden
Digging a new bed with a shovel is hard work, and I worry about "destroying soil structure" and all that, but it can't be worse than tilling. And all of this work now means rarely having to weed later--the worst gardening task I can imagine. Plus, I remove lots of root-eating grubs, and the robins feast for days. This one will be filled with herbs, plus it has a second tier in which I'll plant rhubarb (since last year's seemingly died).

The weather has been good for one thing, salad greens. The arugula is in bloom now, but still not bitter.

The overwintered carrots and parnsips are doing well, plus a few beets. The favas are sprouting.
The overwintered broccoli is still a mystery, but I am hoping this is not bolting but will contine to sprout small heads. The wire is for row cover. This bed has lots of radish and scallion seedlings.

My first english peas!