Friday morning my sister and I went to
one of the sort of local nurseries that usually has a good selection
of native perennials. This time I remembered to bring my list of
plants and came home with some of what I wanted but not others. She
didn't have the germander (bird's eye) speedwell or the coral
porterweed or the loosestrife which has now been designated so invasive
that it's illegal to bring it into Texas but I did come home with the
valerian and the mullien verbascum. She had the grevillea, a large
shrub/tree native to Australia which has very cool flowers, but she
wanted $65 for it. There are some bulbs on the list but didn't ask
about those.
I also picked up an ox-eye daisy,
something I've never had luck with and the last ones I had were wiped
away as if they never existed by the flood, oh well, ever the
optimist me, and a pot of Brazos penstemon and a Hinckley columbine,
something else I've never been able to get to bloom but I am nothing
if not stubborn, a yesterday-today-and-tomorrow since neither of the
two I transplanted from the city house survived, and three small pots
of rudbeckia. So the rest of Friday and all day Saturday were spent
out in the yard though only got the valerian in the ground. I did
more weeding, just about have all the flower beds done now with the
old garden spot being the last still to do but it's pretty much wild
all the time and I got three of the plumerias in the ground and moved
two small azaleas that weren't blooming where they were. I have
another plant to move that involves digging up iris bulbs first that
haven't bloomed for three years now that were always reliable and the
first to bloom because I want to move it where they are but that will
have to wait. Not on the agenda for today.
Today I got everything but the
rudbeckia in the ground though I put the ox-eye daisy in a pot
because I couldn't decide where to plant it so I figured, in a pot, I
can move it around until I decide. I also dug up a volunteer althea
(rose of sharon) that had already gotten to be about 4' tall in a
place I did not want it and put it in a pot for the time being as
well as some of the firecracker fern that I dug up yesterday which
has never bloomed very well and was just getting bigger and bigger.
It was mentioned at one of the garden club meetings that it didn't do
well in the ground, liked to be potbound, so we'll see. I had to do
the potting over at the shop yard since that's where my dirt is.
The main item on the agenda today though was
getting the tomatoes in which meant I had to transfer dirt from the
collapsed raised bed into the white raised bed which, after two
seasons was only about 3/4 full but first I pulled all the weeds out
from around the blueberries which aren't doing so well, aren't
blooming nearly so well as last year so I guess they didn't care for
the fall and winter of neglect and then I had to repair the hose
which had got run over by the mower so I could water everything. But
I did finally get the tomatoes in
and then walked the dog and sat and
visited with my neighbor Judy and finally got my shower. And let me
just say that after 6 days in a row of working in the yard, then two
days off and 3 more days in a row working out in the yard, I am
bushed toast.
I think maybe tomorrow I'll lay on the
couch all day and finish my book.
Woman! You deserve at least three days of lying on the couch! What an amazing amount of work you've gotten done! I'm struggling along here with my yard but not getting much done. For some reason, the invasives which I have tried so hard to control have just become invested with super powers this year and I am almost paralyzed with being overwhelmed. I need to finish planting the summer garden and then I need to mulch it and the very thought of raking and hauling that many leaves makes me sort of want to die. I really think that this will be the last year I do this size of a garden. It's not efficient and I can't keep on top of it enough to make it produce enough to justify it.
ReplyDeleteYour soil in that bed looks like chocolate cake!
ReplyDeletecause it's wet. I had just watered them in.
DeleteAs usual, I'm exhausted just reading this. I did clean the bathrooms & vacuum my house on Saturday, and I scrubbed 12 potatoes yesterday, but I think that was it for manual labor. Instead, I sat around & crocheted & then visited with my aunt - walked around the woods on her property looking at bloodroot & other interesting spring wildflowers.
ReplyDeleteNow I do know a couple of things that I bet you already know. The iris need reset; they have simply nestled too far in. Their necks need to be out of the dirt. And, in my gardening days, when I only had weekends and evenings, I did the same as you.The girls went with their dad on Saturday and I tackled weeds. Sunday all of us worked. I kept a "truck garden" of tomatoes, squash, beans, cucumbers. Eggplant one year. I was the only one who ate it. I decided truck garden means what you can truck into the house.
ReplyDelete"A farm where vegetables are grown for market!" Well, toward the end of the season a lot of produce went to work, to be "rid of". I think a lot of zucchini died nobly in a company trash can.
Deletetruck farm, where you pile your produce in the back of your truck and take it to market. I've always put in the little japanese long skinny eggplant but am always the only one who likes it and since the cook doesn't, well, lots goes in the compost pile. won't be planting it anymore. I'll move the iris where they can get more sun.
DeleteI got a double bloom shasta daisy that has sure spread. some are wild around her
ReplyDeleteI just spent about seven hours working in the yard. My first day, and I am beat. You have far more tenacity, vision, and energy than I!!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I call dedication! Have a read, more than one book.
ReplyDeleteWe are not even close to any of this, the tomatoes have sprouted though but the spuds are late and should be in the ground. We are doomed!
I'm late getting the tomatoes in. as for the rest, it all needs to be done before the heat and humidity slams us. it's another gorgeous day out there so I imagine I'll get out there today too.
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