spring chores

What I did yesterday and not necessarily in chronological order:

Fertilized and mulched the rest of the azaleas which was 5 small bushes.

Turned and added dirt to one of the small squares, employing my fire ant remediation system several times and getting the cantaloupe seeds in. I planted about 15 or so and I'm hoping at least 6 of them will sprout as these are last years seeds.

Worked the dirt around the poppies that volunteered in the other small square that had the carrots this winter. The poppies, so lush and tall and blooming so profusely last year have failed to return this year except for a few isolated plants in this square and another in the compost pile. They came up by the hundreds where they were planted last year but then most withered and died. The few that are blooming, are very small. But the rocket larkspur are pretty full.

I took some pictures of Big Mama and fed her some watermelon and then I rinsed out the foam and charcoal felt layers from the filter of her pond which were thick with green slime. I also took some pictures of the new biological water filter/fountain in the small/water lily pond for Gail. It's not quite a biological filter yet as I don't have the gravel, sand, or parrot feather.

Finally got all the rest of the nasturtiums planted, some in the food garden and some in the little garden around the water lily pond. While I was at it I cut back the rosemary by at least a fourth. It is big and was getting greedy.

I planted zinnia seeds again for the third time! The first time I used old seeds and none came up. The second time I bought new seeds and 6 out of the whole packet came up. So now I have planted a new packet.

I transplanted some seedlings of a Texas star hibiscus, a native species, that I had sprouted, into a small pot and got a clump of fern planted.

I moved the naked little boy from his spot on the side of the house around to the back where I want to expand a flower bed. I haven't been able to get anything to grow in the pot on his head where he was so I moved him where he will get more sun. I put new dirt in the pot and planted it with silver pony foot.

I pruned all the dead canes and branches from the climbing rose bushes on the fence in the Little Back Yard and extracted the fallen branch from the pecan tree. As soon as they quit blooming I'm going to prune them back pretty hard as they have become completely unruly.

Then I took a shower. so sorry, you don't get a picture of that.