Best laid plans

The slide toward summer is not as easy as I had predicted for the gardens.  The leaves of my small Japanese maple are drying out, the hot peppers are not growing well and may be under attack, one of the tomato plants looks like lace due to a small green worm I finally uncovered.  I have been spraying the vegetables but can't tell if it's working.

A pleasant surprise, however, is the new growth on the magnolia.  New leaves are appearing and what looks like flowers budding.  The rain has helped other new plantings like the ixora and blue daze in the front yard; I hope it continues.

I'm really excited about a new garden space we have.  My husband sold his boat and gave away a car frame that he'd stored in the side yard.  So now I have a space at least 15 feet long by 10 feet wide to experiment with.  I already have some ideas -- one of which is planting a cherry tree -- but it will be a long process of preparation.  First on the list is finding the sprinkler pipes on that side.  Years ago, Jim capped at least one, possibly two, sprinkler heads so they would not rain well water on the trailers and vehicles.  I can't consider planting in that area without a source of water, so I could spend the next months digging, especially when I can only manage 1-2 hours at a time, several days apart.  I already dug 2 holes and a trench 24 inches deep without any luck.  It doesn't make sense to me that the pipe isn't there but I must persevere.   Wish me luck.

I'll keep you all updated on that.

Don't forget to smell the roses (or whatever flowers tickle your fancy).