Hi forum!

No pics just yet, but hope to get some real soon :)

Kinda just an update to the new garden I started last year here in our new location in the mountains of Central Idaho. We moved here Nov. 2011 and I winter-sowed that winter, made new beds that very spring and planted! Whew.... lot's of work for this ol' lady!!

I wasn't quite sure of our hardy zone, but am now pretty sure we are at least zone 5. However, our season is quite short compared to my old location. Our last frost wasn't until beg. of June....pretty sure I wasn't able to transplant the tomatoes and peppers to the garden until at least end of 2nd week..... and our first fall frost arrived the end of the first week of Aug or beginning of the 2nd week and hard frost shortly followed....ugh!
Not every container I sowed last year came gave me anything, but all the perennials I planted are back and coming up strong! I planted:
Coreopsis lanceolata
Linum perenne lewisii (Blue Flax)
Penstemon 'Husker's Red'
Dianthus 'Siberian Blue'
Geranium 'Biokovo'
Lychnis viscaria: German Catchfly
Common Chives
Snapdragon 'Black Prince'
Swamp Milkweed

A few perennials germinated way late in the season and those I actually wintered over in my 'cool' room indoors to plant this spring: Maltese X, Lavender and Red Cardinal Flower.

Of the annuals I planted, the only ones able to grow long enough to produce mature seed was my Calendula 'Citrus Cocktail'! That is pretty sad pickin's let me tell you!! I also had:
Cynoglossum amabile: Chinese Forget-me-not
Larkspur
Dill
Nicotiana alata
Zinnia 'Cosmic Orange'
Marigold (dwarf mix)
Sunflower (from Moulin Rouge parent plants)....I was able to get some seed from only from the first few flowers.

I thought Malva 'Braveheart' was a perennial or is it an annual? They bloomed nicely last year, but so far no sign of them yet. I really thought mine came back bigger and better the 2nd year at the old place....hmmm

The Rosa rugosa shrubs I winter-sowed in 2009, never were planted before we moved and those finally got planted last spring and all is well with them!!

So far I only have a few containers starting to germinate from this wintersow season:
Echinacea purpurea
and
Columbine (purple variety which I scored seed from an abandoned home here last summer....nice big plants!)

I also sowed and hope germination is better this year for:
False Blue Indigo
Columbine *yellow-white bi-color*
Kinnickinick (from local stock)
Butterfly Weed
Grape-leaf Anemone
Bleeding Heart
Creeping Thyme
Sunflower
Cleome
Celosia
Marigold
Calendula 'Citrus coctail'
Verbena bonariensis
Datura
Morning Glory 'Star of Yelta'
Four O'clock
Impatiens balsamina
African Daisy
Yvonne's Salvia
Red Russian Kale
Lettuce 'Buttercruch Bibb'
Mustard 'Tatsoi'

All the annuals sown between 4/28-4/30

I also started tomatoes and pepper indoors early April. I know at least a few of the tom's I started will never bare a fruit, but I refuse to give up that easy lol!! Besides I think my seed were getting a little too old for a good trade! These were: Purple Cherokee and Black Plum. I also started a few early DTM varieties: Black Cherry and Manitoba. Peppers are: Black Pearl, Medusa and Thai Hot. Last year I had tons of Medusa to gather and now made into flakes and powder :)

Oh and most important.....if anyone is still reading this loooong post....the deer repellent spray "Deer Out" worked GREAT!! There was a few times I forgot to re-spray after a rain and found a few tops taken from the Dill, Chives, Snaps, Calendula and Malva, BUT over-all with the huge amount of deer, that was minimal damage!! Mostly seemed like on both of those occasions, they more or less tried a bite, but were not interested in taking another one. Also had a "resident" female juvenile deer who darn near followed me around like a puppy-dog waiting for one of us to refill the bird feeder 3x a day .....breakfast, lunch and dinner LOL!

Happy gardening,

Vera