Monday, 13 May 2024
at home
Allan worked more on the bridge.
He noticed one of my special primulas.
He weeded a messy area where I had had some buckets and other clutter, which can now be a grotto with a nice chair.
I still did not get the last plants planted in the ground…but I got a lot of tidying done. This resulted in finding some more plants to plant, ones that might be the only one I have so don’t want to put them in the plant sale, like an old pink daylily, nothing thrilling.
The cosmos are really sizing up and maybe we could even plant them at Diane’s this week. Maybe next week so the stems are stronger. Will decide.
The tomatoes and cukes look happy enough, although I wish they were bigger. The shelves will come out and tomatoes sit in big pots on the floor later.
I planted seeds of a special foxglove and some amaranth and some orlaya in various garden areas, and wondered what this ground cover type plant is, new to me, did I plant it?? My close up was too blurry to ask anyone for an ID. [Later, learned it’s a native plant called “enchanter’s nightshade” which is quite a runner, so I think it must go. I’ll leave enough to see what the flowers are like.)
Garden appreciation, love my gold leaved corylopsis.
Last night at dusk:
Tonight at dusk:
The greenhouse patio a couple of days ago:
And tonight (Allan will weed it).
I had had to go indoors at six with wet socks and shoes, not done watering, for the Ilwaco city council meeting which starts way too early (Long Beach starts at the civilised hour of seven) and had to leave for ten minutes during the very long meeting to finish watering so I could get my feet warm, then rejoined only to find I had missed two excellent comments from friends who were also zooming, about our shockingly high water rates. Allan filled me in. I was sorry I missed the best part. But the garden comes first right now.
When water meters started to become a thing here, voluntary installation was sold on the premise that conservation would mean reduced rates. Those that conserve save money. Go Planet! The City of Victoria, who was an early adopter, keenly embraced this, and participants trumpeted their savings and environmental cred.
More participants signed on and a funny thing happened. City coffers started to suffer a shortage of revenue raised from all those who were cutting their water usage. Whoops!
Fast forward a few years and meters are now pretty much mandatory, and very low water users pay less but rates have been jacked high for even low use to avoid cities suffering revenue shortfalls if too many people conserve.
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Oh dear. I realized yesterday if we get a nice looking rain barrel, nicer than the garbage cans we use, I bet Alicia will let us hook up to two downspouts in her patio area.
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