This bed has had me in a pickle. It gets sun from mid-morning to late afternoon, stays moist in the back corner nearly constantly due to the AC drip, receives the brunt of the roof run off in a down pour, but dries out quickly…and is maybe a total twelve inches deep. I sowed a red clover over the winter to drown out the weeds and enliven the soil. I turned it under just two weeks ago and the soil is so much happier! DH wanted to go in search of some more pepper plants now that the backyard bed is mostly done. I thought we may have some slim pickings, seeing as it’s already into June, but I don’t say no when he’s the one asking to go plant shopping! So off we went to Green and Growing, and while the ” slim pickings” worry turned out to be too optimistic (they were done with veggie transplants all together for the summer) we did pick up some flowers and herbs. In the bed above, I’m trying a Bat-faced Cuphea, two Cinderella purslane, and three little color splash purslanes only named ”scarlet” and ”fuchsia.” Immediately to the right of this square is a small strip that lays below the guest room/office window. DH thought if they were out of edibles he would still get peppers and selected these playful ”chilly chili” ornamental peppers. They have to share space with the not-flowering-in-this-heat violas and zinnias to the right, but hopefully won’t mind.

The front bed by the street has more space than I wanted to leave as a blank mulch canvas, and I’ve seen these growing wild along the highways so can trust that they’re low maintenance and drought tolerant. Plus, they’re so cheerful looking!

DH’s mother has been having a blessed Basil year and after we tasted some of her homemade pesto, he has been missing having fresh basil out the backdoor. He picked up the two sweet basil below, and because the overwintered Thai basil isn’t producing enough to eat any, he picked up two of those as well.

And to dip my toes back in the seed starting waters, I thought to try once again to grow herbs from seed (I’m not very good at it yet.)