10 March: spring clean up at the Port

 

Friday, 10 March 2017

Skooter thinks the morning light is just too bright.

We had a break from the rain.  The predicted wind did not arrive, making it even better. Work ensued.

at home: Tulip kaufmanniana ‘The First’

While it looks like that tulip is growing in straw, it is actually in the old growth from Geranium ‘Rozanne’.

Allan noticed and photographed the same tulips.

We went down to the port, just a block south, to finish the garden beds along Howerton Avenue.  Of course, I had high hopes, thinking we could finish there, AND the boatyard, and maybe even prune roses in Long Beach.  Not bloody likely, as it turned out; my ambitions are usually greater than reality.

Curbside gardens run from east to west all along Howerton, on the landward side of the buildings.

Howerton and Elizabeth, looking west, before

after, 1.5 hours later

Partway through that first garden bed, three ibuprofen were required.

I’m kind of old and my arthritic legs ache like fury sometime when I am working.

Allan’s photos of the east end bed, before and after:

before

after

He also yanked a dead lavender out of the CoHo Charters garden bed because I felt it was bringing down the tone.

It was really most sincerely dead.

space for something new

 

Next, I made an executive decision that we simply had to get the sword and deer ferns cut back in a pocket garden in front of the former Shorebank building.  Otherwise, they will bother me all summer long…and they do show very much from the sidewalk.

before

clipping

 

A sweet 7 month old dog had jumped out a truck and came running up to me.  I held on to her till her daddy got her back.  Reminded me of my escape artist black lab, Bertie Woofter.

Oh, how she wanted to keep running.

The deer fern looked especially unsightly

 

20 minutes later.  I felt so much better at this being done.

Allan’s photo

We had done all the gardens in between the east and west end last week, so we skipped right ahead to the garden by Salt Hotel.  Allan did most of the clipping of santolinas in the river rock bed; I find that difficult to walk on nowadays.

before

half an hour later, almost after

Allan had dug out one tatty old blue fescue and, to fill the hole it left, he got a piece of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ from the garden to the west.  Someone called out from the upstairs window of the adjacent building, which now houses the marijuana store, “Why are you taking plants?”  We were thrilled that the folks there are watching out for the garden.  Allan thanked them for their vigilance.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, about to be divided

and in its new home

I had clipped all the sword ferns in the Salt’s containers along the sidewalk…because I could not stand not to do so.  The pub readerboard said “beef on weck”; I had to google it and found it was a roast beef dip sandwich.  Good thing I did not google it till I got home or I might have found a lunch break irresistible, and we still had much to do.

Next came the two beds at the west end.  These took much longer than I had expected.

before, looking west

an hour and a half later

We saw our former next door neighbour, Killer.  It had been interesting to move in and learn our neighbour was called Killer.  It means “fish killer”.

I divided and put some sedums and some golden oregano into the pot shop’s garden bed.

narcissi (Allan’s photo)

another dog on the run

In the parking lot across the street, forklifts buzzed around loading crab pots onto trucks.

Last night, when I looked out my south window, I could see the lights from the Ilwaco Pavilion building (a view that disappears when leaves come on the salmonberries and willows at the south end of our property).  This morning, the view had changed to stacks of crab pots.

We drove to the Ilwaco Community Building just to stick some starts of santolina in a sunny bed.  It is an easy plant to start right in the ground just by poking in a short hardwood cutting.

Ilwaco Community Building and its garden beds

sticking cuttings

view of shade garden from inside the building’s corridor.

crocuses at the library entrance (Allan’s photo)

Galanthus nivalis ‘Flora Pleno’ double snowdrop (Allan’s photo)

narcissi (Allan’s photo)

 

We ended the day down at the boatyard, which of course we did not get near to done.

The long, narrow garden runs along the fence by 1st Ave South.

 

boatyard, looking south, before

an hour later

Euphorbia in bloom and a disheartening number of weeds and pleasing number of poppy seedlings

so weedy

We ran into one big problem: We had created so much debris that we had to break in order to dump.  I went home at that point because it was but an hour till dark.  If I had realized that Allan had the energy to go till dark, I could have stayed at the boatyard and done more clipping while he disposed of the first load of debris.  My brain is not fully work functional yet and I did not even think of that solution, one we have used many times in the past.

I long for a good weather full work day at the boatyard.  The weeds came out like butter (smooth and easy) and it would be a pleasure to spend a day perfecting this long narrow garden.  There is still so much to do here.

boatyard garden, looking south from the gate

and looking north from the gate

The boatyard had a line of boats in every spot along the fence.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The only item of collateral damage today

The cats were happy I came home early.

Skooter and Calvin

Allan returned to the boatyard and worked till dark.

before

after

Rain and wind are again predicted for the weekend, which is just as well because we have political meetings during both days.  At this point, I am feeling behind on work and it would be frustrating to miss a good weather day with indoor events.

workboard tonight, still did not get to erase first clean up