Accidentally published this one in the PM so will publish the next one on Thursday!
Monday, 24 January 2022
At home
It was still bitter cold when I got outside at 11 to start moving more mulch to the willow grove.
I soon warmed up moving one wheelbarrow load and immediately felt quite tired. Surely it would be easier to move just one more load of buckets with the van, on the gear shed easement road. Allan was on the phone trying to sort out the refund on an undelivered item while I filled buckets and then sprung it on him that I had lied (not on purpose) when I said I’d do the rest of the mulch by wheelbarrow without his help.
By the time we were loading buckets into the van, I regretted my idea. It seemed like so much work…although unlike the way I felt on Saturday after moving eight wheelbarrow loads (three quarters of a mile of barrowing), I am perfectly capable of lifting the buckets.
When we were done loading the buckets in through the southeast gate, I was happy we had done it. Half the buckets stayed in the willow grove for use in the near future and half were emptied and came back, and then Allan wanted us to refill the empties so he could drive them back out to the grove. I was happy about that, too, and kept shoveling soil while he was gone, into a wheelbarrow and then stashing some in big stacked pots, a trick I learned from our Canadian friend, Kilyn.
Later, Allan shoveled soil to the sides of the driveway because our van prefers to live in the garage than spend the night outdoors all alone.
I sat down for awhile, always a mistake as it is hard to get up again, and realized at three that I had accomplished little that I’d planned for today, so back to the willow grove I went with two and a half hours of daylight left.
I raised up a bed in the Bogsy Wood, realizing later that I probably deeply buried a nice golden brunnera. This bed is where I want to put a tall hemlock. If I can ever acquire one.
In front of the grey stock tank, where the swale water had receded, I piled some rubble as a base for some rocks to hide the front. What IS the name of the concrete rubble you get from old sidewalks? People use it to build garden walls. It is rare to find it around here, and the pieces I used were rough and misshapen. (They came with the brown sand from Susie’s garden.) Before:
I wheelbarrowed the bog plants out to the tank and threw them in to sort themselves out, then made a couple of branch paths for frogs to use to access the water. I forgot to take an after except for this far away shot…
I asked Allan to zoom in on the long shot. Maybe you can get the idea of the after.
Next to the tank, I got Allan’s help to move a fragile old chair to another decorative spot…
…and then moved a euonymus, a pink pussy willow and a variegated elderberry of some sort to the willow grove. Earlier today, the new beds also got a frosty green heuchera and a brunnera.
An Escallonia ‘Iveyi’ will replace the euonymus (right, above) in a spot where I don’t want to see through the fence. The euonymus was slow. Just in case we get to keep our view of Cape Disappointment, I am starting with evergreen plants that can be clipped low enough to see over from my south window.
New homes for shrubs:
I have realized that I especially like evergreens with shiny leaves…too bad the ubiquitous holly that I am battling is on the noxious weed list, because it is delightfully shiny. Escallonia, luma, Lonicera nitida, some euonymus, pernettya, some pittosporums and mahonia all are shiny. Or glossy. Conifers are not. I am getting three eucalyptus, too, which Dan Hinkley in his book about his Windcliff garden used to make a quick privacy screen and later removed them when other plants had grown in.
I want to do more planting of the assorted ingredients that I have on hand. Even though I have planted in January before, it’s making me anxious to do so. Surely being in the ground can’t be worse than being in a pot…unless one is in the greenhouse or cold frame, which some of the ladies in waiting are. Oh what to do. I’d like the new garden beds to have plants as soon as possible. They look so fluffy and ready.
The frog bog today:
Maybe I should keep myself busy cutting down perennials now that it is just three weeks before we go back to work. Almost everything brown will be cut down:
After working on his door project, Allan sorted out the junk, I mean ingredients pile, between our shed and the neighbors. This is the before picture with a sideways sailboat dolly in the middle. Next up is another gate to make access easier because someone filled up both greenhouses with plants, including the one that used also to serve as an entrance to this area.
There is a drop off in the former grass path after the neighbors’ shed got some drainage problem fixed, so it is an awkward place for storage with the property line down the middle. We used to mow it. Now it is too rough. No after photo because Allan got done after dark. Maybe the trick is to keep using ingredients up rather than sorting and storing them.
That word you were searching for is “urbanite”. Good work in the cold! I admire your ability to just get out there. I some days simply cannot face the frozen toes and fingers I know will result, regardless of the perfect winter sunny weather.
LikeLiked by 1 person
YEEEEEES. That’s it!!! Your weather is colder than ours…inland, anyway, maybe not in Astoria…but you are more exposed to wind there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the delicate chair with plants growing up through the seat.
LikeLike
Thanks! It gets more delicate by the year, or month.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see the first crocuses of my year on your blog! So pretty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We were so happy to see them.
LikeLike
I have urbanite in two places in my garden used as stepping stones. It’s great. I like your choice of words – “Ingredient” instead of junk. I have an ingredient pile too. It looks very much like yours. Cheers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Camellias have glossy leaves, if you want to consider them. And you have to appreciate the leaves because the flowering can be so ruined by the weather.
I added to my stacked pot pile just this week! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My grandma had three camellias, pink, white and red. I liked them except for the browned off flowers but this garden had one when we moved here and it was too windblasted. I’d like one of the self cleaning ones like ‘Donation’ if we end up with a sports fortress as a windbreak.
LikeLike
Another great heap of work accomplished. I take off my hat to you in admiration.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Mr T!
LikeLike