OK, so my cut flower garden doesn't quite resemble that of Lisa Ziegler. Maybe it's because I didn't have Grandpa conditioning my soil with leaf mulch for 100 years. (Gardeners love to latch onto whatever sounds like a good excuse.) I inherited a semi-flat plot next to the newly constructed barn that the excavator "kindly" flattened into a large area that was supposed to be my garden, devoid of sod and almost all topsoil. I remember the first few times I tried to till the beast, stopping every couple of feet to hoist the rocks out from between the tines. Maybe this is what is meant by a "no-till garden"? After over 10 years of working the soil and adding some organic material courtesy of the goats and horses, I am now proud that I can till the garden.
Anyway, I do have a few zinnias getting ready to bloom if the bugs don't eat them all. I am really trying to let Mother Nature balance out the good bug/bad bug ratio but it is really tempting to reach into my pesticide arsenal.
It's not all bad news though. I have at least some specimens germinating from all the seeds collected at our swap. And most of my transplants look like they will survive. We'll see what the summer brings.
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