21 April: the work day

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

I borrowed a pair of Allan’s size nine and a half shoes today. My toe, which seems to have a voice, screeched in pain when put into the shoe but then seemed to decide to settle for moderate grumbling all day rather than screaming.

We decided to try to polish off all of our work in one day again, partly because we are expecting visitors during the day tomorrow and partly because I just like to be at home.

First, we had a social visit because I had a hedgehog to acquire from local potter Karen Brownlee. Her shop and kiln is in a building next to her home.

The hedgehogs in question are supposed to be chia pets, which is why some are white. We chose a little brown one, the one on the right.

Not only were there hedgehogs to admire but also a lively flock of chickens.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

Our first stop gardening stop was The Basket Case for some more raised bed planting mix for my veg containers. Because Roxanne has the size feet I used to have, I gave her a pair of brand new converse that I found when looking through my not very large supply of shoes.

Hosta shoots

Roxanne’s happy feet

Diane’s garden

We parked in the field next door and were greeted by Holly (who got a biscuit of course).

Allan deadheaded the septic vault garden…

Tulips in a container.

When I went to the roadside garden, I was distressed to see how bad the old Stipa gigantea looks, even after a good combing out last time. Allan went to work clipping more of the old stuff out. I’d replace it if I had a big enough new one on hand! I do hope it blooms this year.

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Before and after, both pitiful.

The roadside garden

I’m utterly smitten with the Crambe maritima in bloom, the only one I have grown with success (after buying several plants of it at a Grays Harbor garden tour).

I’ve tried twice to grow it from purchased seed. Perhaps fresh seed collected from this plant would work better.

Diane and Holly had left in an errand and were surprised to find us just finishing when they returned. (Well, Diane was surprised. Holly just hoped for another biscuit.) I had told her we wouldn’t be long but had then found a nest of weed grass in amongst the roadside corner, and the Stipa problem and a libertia that needed fixing. Allan had given it a blunt cut last time so I took time to cut the blunt cut leaves completely down. (They been brown at the tips from winter weather.)

I forgot to take an after to prove my point that it looks better with only pointy leaves left.

The Red Barn

The garden desperately needed water so I did some weeding while Allan wielded the hose. Otherwise it would have been a much shorter visit.

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Cosmo!

Patti’s garden

We just did a bit of deadheading. I was horrified to note that the dreaded meianthemum (false lily of the valley) is creeping into the garden from the woodsy bed next door.

We did not go to the Boreas Inn garden today. I can reveal, now that it’s public knowledge, that the inn has sold and will become a private home. We may or may not make one more visit to the garden. The sale has been a possibility for the last couple of years and, like when Andersen’s RV Park and Klipsan Beach Cottages were for sale, it was hard to feel involved with a garden where I couldn’t plan for the future. For a brief time last month, it had looked like the inn had buyers who would continue its hospitality tradition and probably our gardening tradition but that didn’t happen because of a glitch in one of those complicated transactions where someone has to sell one property to buy another. It is poignant as the Boreas was our only remaining resort garden and was a beloved and beautiful place to stay. And I did have some plans for the garden…I couldn’t help it.

Susie and Bill are relocating to a tiny garden (and nice house) in Seaview. We can help Susie plant up her new garden there while letting go of the expense of buying the annual City of Long Beach business license!

The Depot Restaurant

The Depot garden looks bare without the tulips and more narcissi that I usually would have planted. I didn’t plant them last fall because I thought maybe I shouldn’t when the restaurant was doing take out only because of the pandemic. Now I think that was a mistake.

Lilies and one old tulip

Because I treat the big showy tulips as annuals, there weren’t many old ones left to put on the best show they could muster, even though most big tulips tend to get smaller after the first years.

We stopped at home to offload our bags of planting mix…

…and then went on working.

Port of Ilwaco

We worked our way deadheading narcissi and lightly weeding from east to west along Howerton Avenue.

We are saving a big weeding for next week, before the opening of the Saturday market on May 1st. Usually, May 1st would be the annual childen’s parade passing by the gardens. Not last year and not this year.

In the Coho Charters curbside bed, I reflected that even though I do not like the big old boring white heathers…

…I rather like the ones that we have added.

Looking west….

The weather was cold with a miserably strong and cutting wind.

By At the Helm Hotel

This “plant vessel” instead of FV for fishing vessel was named by Karla who owns Time Enough Books.

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South side of port office

Low tide

Before we left the port, Allan collected a pole for our property marking project.

We checked on the boatyard. Its big weeding can wait for next week. If not, we would have done it tomorrow because it would have been so unpleasant to weed in the bitter wind. And my toe hurt, although not as much in Allan’s bigger shoes. I think my toe may have influenced the grumbling that, as I proofread a couple of days later, runs through this whole post!

I was glad to be home. Allan kept working a bit longer by mowing the tiny lawn at the J Crew Cottage. We finished that excellent detective series, River, and I wept over the end of it. My new size ten shoes arrived in the mail, which Allan picked up at midnight. They fit and did not feel too big at all. I now officially have bigger feet than darling Clementine.

Our new hedgehog at home: