Keeping it Real Gardening: By the Numbers Edition

Since I’ve never been one to shirk the task of keeping it real here at Unskinny Boppy, I’d like to give you the 6 week checkup on all the plants that I’ve purchased this Spring.

These pics are unedited, straight out of my yard shots from about 10 minutes ago. I’m not proud of what I’m about to share with you, but I feel you should know exactly what we are dealing with here. The record heat combined with my lack of watering is simply killing some of my plants. Not all of them, but a few are crispy fried critters….

So here comes my June gardening update, by the numbers:

Today’s date: June 6, 2011
Number of days since we saw any amount of measurable rainfall at my house: Just under 40
Highest temp recorded today: 98F
Last year on record that it was this hot in Alabama on this date: 1977
Temperature of our swimming pool: 85F

Number of plants I have still sitting in the black pots that I bought them in: 10

Number of plants I planted this week: 1 bougainvillea

Number of tomatoes growing on my tomato plant: 11

Number of ripe tomatoes picked from my tomato plant: 1
Number of mushy, half rotten tomatoes picked from my tomato plant and tossed to my dogs: 1

Number of hibiscus blooms that have shriveled up and died before they even bloomed because I forgot to water it: 3

Number of verbena plants I still have left from the entire flat I purchased: 3

Dahlias that have bloomed in my whiskey barrel: 2

Holes in the dahlia blossoms: 3

Number of chicks sprouting off my hens in the basket: LOTS!!

Amount of plants that survived in the bottom half of the basket: 1/2

Succulents already dead since the monogrammed wreaths were made last month: 6

Clumps of moss that died in my chicken wire basket waiting to be replaced with succulents: 3

New succulents bought waiting on Urban Outfitters to send the backordered wreath form for my auction winner: 7

Estimated date of Urban Outfitters to ship the “W” wreath form: July 14th

Number of mandevilla planted: 2

Number of climbing shoots on the healthiest one: about 10

Number of climbing shoots on the other one: None (weird right?)
Number of dead dianthus to be ripped out to make room for mandevilla and petunias: 1

Watermelon seed sprout heights: Approximately 4″

Length of time it took for the sweet potato vine to grow out of my pot like wild kudzu across the state of Alabama: 2 weeks

Elephant ear shoots coming up along the retaining wall: 4

Plants that survived inside the hanging drooping and crunchy garden of Boppylon: NONE. Told y’all this was a keeping it real post.

Well, maybe two.

But probably not. Diaper ice…. FAIL.

Ferns that are happy under my patio: 3 outta 4 ain’t bad.

Height of the obviously dead hydrangea stick that I’ve been watering since March: 10″
Height of the weeds around the dead hydrangea stick: 12-14″

Height of my azaleas in the front yard: Approximately 5 feet.

Height of the lone poke salad growing in the center of them: Approximately 7 feet.

Number of bearded irises planted by the previous owners: 32
Number of blooms I’ve seen on those irises because they are planted in too much shade and need to be moved: 0

Number of minutes it took for me to take these photos: about 15

Number of mosquito bites I took to my extremities in the process: about 35

How are your gardens growing?

No, REALLY??