Wednesday, 14 July, part two
After our visit to Pink Poppy Farm, our work day began.
The Red Barn
I was delighted to see and give a biscuit to the dog named Dog.
And Bentley got his biscuit, too.
Diane’s garden
Allan weeded along the roadside today.
I tended the septic vault and container gardens.
The lavatera at the corner of the house needed lots of cutting because it has rust. This probably will result in the whole plant being cut down, as happens most years.
Misty got her biscuit as we were ready to leave.
Patti’s garden
Stella got her biscuit.
The Depot Restaurant
Sometimes, I find Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ too pushy, but it sure looks great here, especially on the dining deck when Allan went there to make sure there was no bindweed on the lattice.
Susie’s garden
I was going to plant a few baby shrubs and my precious small European bladder nut tree from Markham Farm in the back yard, as part of a mixed hedge, but a tall utility pole is going to be removed, so I decided to wait. I just might plant the tree at home because I’d like a back up in case the one I planted two summers ago fails. We just planted one thing in Susie’s back garden today, a Viburnum opulus in the southeast corner.
The front garden:
Port of Ilwaco
I had been dreading watering at the port. It made me feel kind of depressed to ask Allan to do the three hose drag from the docks to the west garden beds. I’m not sure why it got me down so much. Partly it’s because we could make the gardens better if we could spend time actually gardening instead of watering. Allan’s photos of the west end beds show that they are shabby.
He shows the hose route on this satellite photo:
Meanwhile, I weeded and watered at Time Enough Books and three curbside port office beds with the port office hose. April from the port office waters the bed on the south wall of the office, so I just have to check up on it once a week.
I also added a bag of potting soil to some planters by the Captain’s Quarters lodging. I think its name has changed to Fishermen’s Quarters, which might make it clearer that it is a rental. As you can see, the shrubs will benefit from some more soil around their roots.
We then repaired to the boatyard to water, where we ran into exasperating watering problems. Allan had tried to save precious time by not coiling each hose after the curbside beds, resulting in such a tangle that he was flummoxed at trying to stretch three hoses along the front of the garden from the gate to the north end. Meanwhile, I had blithely gone to the south end to use the excellent boatyard hose, only to find that its end had been locked into the water utility box, maybe so no one could use it after hours. But why???? I always use that hose.
I walked back to Allan and his pile of hoses and suggested he take one of our hoses to the south end and that I would water from inside the fence using a hose at the north end that I thought a friendly boat guy had said was hooked up. (Are you with me so far?) But when I got there, all the guy had said was that there was a faucet, which of course I knew. So I had to walk back though the boat repair obstacle course to get one of our hoses. Allan walked down to the faucet to hook it up me, because my arthritic right hand makes that hard.
It all took lots of extra time and reminded me of the many hose struggles I faced on my own back when I used to water the boatyard alone while Allan watered the Ilwaco trees and planters. It helps to have someone to share the frustration.
One advantage to watering from the inside is that I could finally pull horsetail from the base of the fence. This made up for the maddening feeling of seeing weeds and a scorched lily with a chain link fence between me and them.
Allan had to jet our hose hard to try to reach the very south end of the garden. Because he had to hook up to the gate faucet. Because he couldn’t use the lock box faucet.
Next time, we will be prepared for the watering to be difficult. This job takes a lot of….
J Crew Cottage
Finally, we did the tiny bit of watering across the street, where the sprinkler just doesn’t reach a couple of roses and a hydrangea.
Tomorrow, among other jobs, we will have the rest of the curbside gardens to water, with more than half remaining to do, including the three hose drag for the east end.
Gee, sweet pea in July! It must be nice.
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Ha! Like the clever way you worked the ‘Perseverance’ in there. Also really like those deep-deep colored (what I think is knautia(?) in Patty’s garden. And Bentley is my favorite of your doggie ‘regulars’!
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I look at your photos of Patti’s garden and want to grab my sheers and fill a few vases! Such cute doggies in today’s post… and damn but watering should be so hard!
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Patti’s picket fence is all about flowers! She has more formal areas in the back. Her previous garden was huge but this one is considerably downscaled from that.
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Love all the cute dogs! Sorry for the hose problems–that is a lot of hose to drag. We need some rain! Wishful thinking, I know.
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