Topic: What did you do in the garden today? 2

[bayou girl]

i will have to look on the seeds.  that will be tomorrow's post.  today, i did some dead heading of mom's roses and pansies.  scott watered her garden.  i didn't do anything with mine except take a few pictures and look at my seeds.  they are coming up nicely

[duh]

It's raining I can't even sit out on the deck and enjoy the morning, grh.

[duh]

So what did I do?  I bought some lisianthus seeds from parks and decided that spending money wasn't a good idea so I went out and dug up rocks.  I thought about jenn all the time I was doing it too.  I managed to get enough rocks to surround 6 of the peonies.  I even found one that I didn't know I had.  Fun huh?  And I cut up a load of saplings with the pruner and put them in the bottom compost pile.  So the right of way is clearer than it was and the shade garden is a bit more organized.  There is till loads to do before the end of spring but I'm making progress. 

[duh]

It's nice that you worked in your mom's garden. 

I don't have enough energy to complete my garden.  But I did do 1 hour and 15 minutes today.

Right now the grass cutting is whipping my backside.  I got between the shade bed and the birdbath cut and raked, barely 99 gallons. 

Then I weeded the rest of the sidewalk flower bed and mulched it.  Next will be taking the miniature roses out and and planting them.  Leaving enough room for the lisianthus.  Then I can color that bed done. 

[duh]

Well it's been a few days but I got out there today.  I had to put on long johns to do it but I did it.  I cut the grass at the top of the yard and I raked up the cut grass and the leaves.  Some I left along side the tree side because I was running out of energy but I got the rest in the compost pile.  I think it was about 66 gallons. 

Then I got the weed wacker put away and the electrical cord neatly put away, that's always a bear.  Then I got the three minature roses planted in the sidewalk bed leaving plenty of room for the lisianthus when the seeds get here.  I'm excited about that. 

I got the leaf mulch out of the left foundation bed so it is ready to be weeded and the gladiolus planted in the future bulb bed.  I'm going to be transplanting a lot in that bed.  I'd better make that a focus for tomorrow if the weather is good. 

[bestofour]

duh, Johnny will be proud of you for neatly putting away your electrical cord.   It aggravates him that I leave the water hose in a mess.  I can never get it coiled tightly or neatly enough to suit him.

When are your church services?  Seems like you work in your yard every day of the week.  I don't know how you do it.  I get over whelmed with all that needs to be done in this yard and it's never ending.  You know several years back I tillered  the grass on the sunny side of the house and made a wildflower garden and it was beautiful for 4 or 5 years but then I realized I was weeding or transplanting or composting every free second of my life and the drought would make everything look so pitiful so last year I tillered it up again and we planted grass.  It's my only full sun area so now I don't have a place to plant things that require full sun.  I miss the flowers.  Looking out my windows just now I think I might have a spot on the driveway side of the house where I can stick a few cone flowers.  Should have saved some seeds.

[duh]

My church services are from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30.  I garden from 6:00 a.m. to around 8:00 a.m.  Somewhere in there anyway.  This year I'd like to get a second session of gardening in in the afternoon between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. if possible. 

Yes it is neverending.  Here are some things that I do to help me manage the work.  The shade bed doesn't get nearly the number of weeds in it that sunny beds do so that is my largest bed. 

Weed barrier fabric in the sunny beds help keep the weeds down there.  Weed before the weeds have a chance to set seed.  I don't use preen because the seeds just sit there and accumulate until the year I don't use it and then I have a real mess.  Better to weed a little bit every year than be overwhelmed all at one time. 

Most of my flower beds are structured in a way that I can reach clear across them without have to weed from both sides.  This means when I reach the end I'm done rather than having to then do the other side. 

I cut alittle bit of the grass each day and rake it, then let it grow enough that I have something for the compost pile when I cut it the next time.

I weed or do other non-labor intensive work before the heavy labor stuff because after that I am done.

I hope this helps.

[duh]

Today was rough.

I weeded the left foundation bed.
Dug up the ground and mixed the humus into the clay.
Removed the extra soil from the bed to use where I removed the mums in the sidewalk bed.
Dug a trench to put the gladiolus bulbs into the bulb bed.
Spread mulch over the bed. 
Raked up the rest of the leaves at the top of the yard and put them into the compost pile.

[duh]

Today was super light, probably to make up for yesterday.  I dead headed the daffodils and tulips right down to the bottom of the stems.  Then worked on the bottom compost pile. 
I brought the compost and potting soil I'll use for the lisianthus onto the deck.  That way when the seeds arrive I can get right to work.  I thought they would be here by now.

[duh]

Ok in the pots...I planted 8 Apeldoom Tulips they are a pinkish red tulip.  Then in two more pots I planted 18 crocused mixed colors.  I hope they manage to survive.  These were old bulbs that I got on sale and they looked very dried out.  Cross your fingers for me.

[duh]

Ok, I planted the cilantro and watered it in.

I transplanted the mums that were crowded in my ditch bed.

I cut the grass that I missed between the shade bed and the house. 

I raked into 3 piles the leaves and the grass clippings but that was all I could manage.

Hopefully this afternoon I'll be able to get out there and rake up the rest of the leaves and grass clippings and get them into the compost pile.  That's the plan at this point anyway. 

[duh]

Ok, The grass and the leaves from the front are all in a compost pile.

The compost pile is raked back into a 5x5x5 pile so the front and the back match.  (no obsessive/compulsive here)

The mums that were running into the sidewalk have been moved to the mailbox bed.  It's nice to have flowers there again.  When I moved the mailbox to the other side of the mailbox I moved the mums that were there to the ditch bed.  And I hadn't planted anything in the new spot.  So now it has some color.  Yeah! 

The huge weeds that was intimidating the hosta between the house and the shed has been removed.  Now the hosta is free to get going.

I noticed while I was out there that one of the miniature roses has buds on it.  Can't wait to see the flowers. 

[duh]

It's raining so I don't have to do anything.  I'm so glad to see a soaking rain.  I was starting to plan on how I could get everything watered with the outside faucet broken. 

Now the plants are getting the water they need, the composts are getting wetted down like they need.  It's great.

I might take the pruners out there and go after the saplings.  The trees really want to take over.

[bayou girl]

trees always want to take over.  i have red maples that drive me nuts.  but not nearly as much as the sweet gums.  i detest those trees.

[duh]

Our weed trees are the empress trees and the locus trees.  Have to constantly look out for new ones that try to sprout in the lawn especially the drain field. 

[duh]

I got the lisianthus seeds.  It's been raining out but I want to get out there and plant this in seed cups and then put them in the windows.  I'm excited.

[duh]

All done.  I ran into a problem though.  The seeds are pelletized and it says they need light to germinate.  That sounds like a conflict to me.  I hope the shell disolves over the next few days. 

[duh]

They haven't dissolved yet.  I'm spraying water right on top of them hoping for the best.

I can't get photobucket to play nice or I would have pictures of the garden.

Today I couldn't resist some rusty orange asian lilies at wal-mart.  And of course once I start putting things in a basket I can't seem to stop.  That will teach me to go to the store without a reason. 

So I ended up with something called an Annual Dahlia.  I thought Dahlia's were tubers.  Anyway it is so cute.  It's burgandy with white inner petals.  I really like it.  Not in my color palette but sometimes I just have to go with pretty.

Then there was this bush like thing that they say is a perennial gaudia.  It looks like a purple bush so I bought it because it was on special for 3.33.  And who can resist that?

Everything is planted except that last one.  Trying to dig into clay is hard. 

[bestofour]

I watched it rain on my garden today.

[Jim]

I watched it rain on my garden today.

And the day before and the day before...

It's rained so much lately that I haven't been able to get in mine to get it planted.  We have 9 tomato plants that the neighbor gave us and that is all.  It's about too late to do much now.   

[duh]

Maybe for the long growing season ones to do from seed but there is still plenty that requires a shorter growing season.  Green onions, carrots, potatoes, and if you buy plants you should be able to do peppers right?  Don't get depressed you can do it.  That's what I keep telling myself and I only have about a 25 percent success rate.  Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

[duh]

I did manage to get out there and plant the gauda.  I hope it does well in the spot I chose for it.  I hope it isn't too shady. 

Then I did it.  I transplanted the pine tree to the front yard tree line that runs along the property edge.  I so hope it works.  It's a good looking little tree and I hope it grows there.  Pine trees remind me of home so I like having them in the shady areas. 

I just need them to stop sprouting in the septic field.

[duh]

The septic field is a swamp, not mud hole but swamp.  I sunk up to my ankles and almost fell over.  I'm so stubborn.  I did get the blackberry canes and runner root out of the blueberry bed and the composting area.  That was one long runner.  I guess they like compost too.  I tried to dig up the other pine tree that is to close to the septic tank but there is a huge root running right by it and between that and the soaked clay I was having a hard time staying upright.  So I cleaned off the shovel, weeded the pot of tulips that I need to move to the other bulb bed.  Took the trellis for the tomato out and put it over the plant.  That tomato looks like it is developing rust.  I'm worried.  But I'll talk about that in veggies. 

And that's all I accomplished but considering that it started to rain again after about 20 minutes I'm going to consider it a success.

[duh]

Today I got out there and weeded the sidewalk bed again, The sidewalk again, and the foundation bed on the right side as your looking at the house.  I also pruned back the mums in the foundation bed on the right side. 

I had planned to cut grass after that.  It didn't happen.  Maybe later.

[duh]

I cut the grass today.

tomorrow weather permitting, I'll weed the side foundation bed, bayer the roses, and cut some more grass and rake it into the lower compost pile.