Garden Gleanings

[CanadaSue]

Today was a good day - 7 hours of getting good & grubby in the garden. I must have sent 4 pounds of dirt down the shower drain getting cleaned up & I shudder to think what THAT load of laundry is going to take to get clean.

My garden ate 350 pounds of sheep manure... gobbled it up like a midmorning snack, burped & made it clear it would want more amendments later. Good soil is greedy! In the established garden, I just spread it evenly everywhere. It looks SO pretty - smooth & even. That might last 2 days - LOL. The worms will get to work pulling it into the ground, leaves blow in & pine needles drop in. No biggie - in another 6 weeks or so it will hard to see the soil anyway - it's that stuffed with plants. By then, the ground will be warm enough to smother in mulch.

I introduced myself to the new graden center manager this morning - briefly as she's very busy trying to get set up. The store revamped inside & out & the grand opening will be the 23rd or somewhere around there. She let me know there will be some massive sales Opening Week. Oh goodie! Some pallets of plants, still shrink wrapped for shipping had just come in. She let me have a peek. I whimpered. I whined. New manager wants to make a big splash & she's ordered plants on my list - varieties I thought I might have to search the city to find. Having to wait a week or more is good though - it will let the soil in the new bed settle. I mixed in the manure there - it's almost pure sand & I'm planting delphiniums & other hungry plants. I need to mix in some chopped leaves tomorrow... lots of them to give the soil some body.

I found a neat surprise today. I scour the neirboughhood for dumped plants & planters in the fall & if the soil looks half decent, toss it into the order wherever the soil has subsided a bit. Clearly I threw in something that had lily bulbs & scales because a half dozen or so small lily plants & seedlings from scales came up. I had to move them - they were stuck in deep shade but I found them a home...LOL

Tomorrow I need to find a few more stepping stones. Working into the garden is rapidly turning into a game of Twister & my creaking joints & tightening muscles are finding it tough. Don't kid yourselves - gardening is a flexibility workout! I need to starch & iron a few plants - in other words, trim off a bit of dead growth from last year I missed earlier this week.

I have a sandy border against the side of the building - otherwise known as dead ground. I threw in nasturtiums in part of it last year & they did well. I'm going to edge & clean that up - I've already got nasturtium seeds for the whole thing & I'll pick up California poppies for in between.

And oh yeah - you KNOW I'll sneak back to the garden center... more truckloads of plants were coming in today & I want to look - just look. Well... there's a pile of old containers sitting forlornly behind the garden center enclosure; looks like it's garbage. Except that some of them aren't dead. I THINK I spotted a few on my list. I didn't have time to really check. I want to have a closer look & talk to the manager again. Maybe I can get my grubby paws on anything good for next to nothing... or nothing.

A few before & after shots from today's work.

Everything will look so much better after things grow more.

[blue gecko]

Its just beautiful Sue! Can't wait to see it later this summer. I would love to see your talents applied to this place LOL. So much to do so little time.

[CanadaSue]

Happy, happy, joy, joy...

I slept like a rock. I was in the garden by 0930 & now at 1315, every last ounce of hard graft for the spring is DONE! I've dug, dug over, dug in amendments, dug out weeds, edged, cleared the border along the building & dumped a gazillion bags of weeds & bad turf & assorted crap.

Now, it's all fun. It's choosing several new plants when they come in, planting, watching things progress, photos & sitting by the garden with a good book & cold drink when the weather gets to that.

First time ever I've been ready this early.

And now...

off to the garden center!

[CanadaSue]

The garden center, (plant part), was closed but I did buy bone meal. It will provide nitrogen to the microcritters munching on the leaf mould I turned into my future delphinium bed. Then I decided enough was enough. Came inside, made supper & banana bread & whimpered over my sandpaper hands.

Tomorrow - I'll move some yarrow, bee balm, mums & whatever else strikes my fancy from the soon to be abandoned bed & border; that should be the end of my cannibalizing it & someone else who has an itch to gaden can have at them. I'll see a few parts of the garden where I'm finished messing with the soil, rake the whole thing again, scrub the garden bench & try not to get too smug. Few other people have had time to start any seaosnal work yet. Other than planting seeds & new plant purchases - I'm done with garden prep!

Here's what it looks like now - before it's planted...

[occupant]

You have really enriched the residents lives, girl ! Looks great and I too can't wait to see the blooms.
We dropped a couple of hundred today on shrubbery. New neighbors bought the foreclosure next door and since my yard overlooks their deck we are gonna screen them out a bit. Me likeies me privacy and they are heavy smokers who are out there about every 15 minutes or so. This summer is gonna get interesting...

[CanadaSue]

If they're out there smoking every few minutes now, you might have some interesting summer parties on the deck once it really warms up. A shrubbery screen never hurts - it will cut down not only unsightly sights but noise & possibly keep some of the smell of smoke away.

[CanadaSue]

Ut turned into a beautiful day. We had a mild night & by noon it was into the 60s. I wandered over with a pitch fork & some grocery bags to the bed & border over at the other building I'm abandoning. One of the tenants over there - who likes his drink all too well - had dragged over one of the picnic tables & was holding court with several other tenants. He hailed me & asked me to confirm what I'd told him yesterday - that I was abandoning those two spots. Yup. Seems he & a few tenants over there want to try their hand at vegetables. Should work - that area gets a ton of sun & they live there; they can keep an eye on it.

I started poking through & grabbing what I wanted to grab & listened as he assured the younger tenants in on this with him that he knows ALL about veggie gardening. And herbs - gonna put some herbs in there too. Long story short, the more I listened, the more I realized the lot of them expect to pop a few plants into the ground, water them when they remember to & glean a bountiful harvest of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, (too shallow for potatoes unless they find a way to raise them - I suggested tires) & a few other things.

I told them before they did anything, they HAD to dig that sucker out, get rid of perennial weed roots that were creeping back in & get rid of some of the thuggish perennials I was leaving behind. What did I suggest adding to the soil? Manure & some compost - it's on the sandy side. I suggested they get to the digging this week while the grond is still easily worked & roots will come out. Get the amendmnets in & let the ground settle. They figured - including Mr. Experience - that the plant centers would have veggies available now. Um... it's a month early & we're not nearly close to our last frost date. But you know what? Not my problem...LOL. They asked, I answered - they can figure it out on their own - just like I did.

I took my time today & ended up adding about 2 dozen plants to the border along the side of the building. Black eyed Susans, a few different yarrows, a purple leafed spurge that's unique, geraniums, (perennial), peach leaved bellflower, pink Centaura & a few other things that esape my memory for the moment. I also found some Wartburg aster I'd forgotten about - it got buried - & moved that over. Four small clumps of Soloman's Seal for SO, a small clump of lily of the valley.... I know - that turns into a BIG clump right quick!

I walked down the street & horse traded for a couple of snippets of Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' - a stunning little ground cover that grows anywhere & spreads like stink... if you let it. It's really bright & in spring & fall, the leaf tips are amber & orange... almost red. I was also able to snag for Aneome sylvestris. I had a couple of starts in the garden already & they'd survived the winter so added more.

The only thing I didn't do today was throw in my annual seeds along the building. A couple of packets of nasturtiums will fill the holes & hold the 'soil' until I figure out exactly what I want happening in that border... I'm making it up as I go along. I've already scattered a ton of columbine, blue eyed grass & various poppy seeds in my main border. Some will grow, some won't - most of the seed is my own harvested from last year with a few packages of a really nice variety of Shirley poppy bought. The last few packets to add in will be done AFTER I add my last few perennials.

It was a fun afternoon - nice enough for several of the older tenants to drag out lawn chairs & provide ample supervision as I weeded clumps of pernnials before planting them. We came pretty close to solving most of the world's problems; always makes for a good day.

[occupant]

I purchased two "Valentine" variety Rhubarb plants from a mail order nursery last week. They came lightning fast in the mail packed beautifully. I wanted one for my adopted Grandparents "up North" and one clump for myself. One plant flourished and one is practically dead. The dying one had teeny little black bugs, so I susect some kind of rot. Of course I didn't check feedback of the nursery before I bought, some good some not so good. Shipping cost was horrendous ! I'm not sure that I want to give Gramma the remaining good one, all in all it cost me $15.00. That is bad of me, maybe...
Someone here was discussing Horseradish, so a month ago just before Easter, I bought one of those obscene looking roots at the produce market. Hubby was like "What the hell is that?" Anyhoo, I planted the thing in a large pot and lo and behold it is growing some good size bold looking leaves. I'll take a pic soon.
Yesterday DH planted the 6 screen Arborvites along the foreclosure houses fenceline, on our side of course. It was so difficult with 30+ mph winds but he did it and those buggers were over 6' tall. Still standing, thank Gods. Now if they just survive the upcoming cold nights ...

[CanadaSue]

Once arborvitae,(sp?), decided it's happy - it's tough.