We enjoyed our well earned day off by, of course, working in the garden. (In the evening, Allan rewarded himself further with a brief motorcycle ride while I had to endure two tedious hours of billing…thus avoiding a complete day off of work.)
My main mission at home was to get all my plants and seeds in the ground, and Allan’s was to mow the lawn and do some weeding in his garden beds.
I’m not very good at growing things from seed, but I tried these:
beans and sunflowers
I like beans with gorgeous colours as I rarely get around to harvesting and eating them. Also planted some Nigella ‘Chocolate Sundae’. It looks lovely but I think I should have planted it earlier. I misplaced the packet. I also lost and found a packet of Cosmos…and have lost it again. Same for some Nasturtium…but I certainly do not need any more nasturtium here. It has reseeded far too freely and I am pulling some out in the mixed borders as last year it got too smothery.
I ran out of fence to plant beans on, and have some lovely long bamboo poles. Despite my laying them out, and hinting, all Allan did was TELL me how to make a bean teepee, instead of making one for me.
He did switch all the smelly compost from one compost bin to another so that he could move the old one and set up a new rotating bin that we got for free.
Before planting anything, I did two enjoyable weeding and editing projects. I wonder how well the difference shows:
before, front garden (east side)
after
Well, that is not at all clear, is it? I had to switch angles for the after photo or my shadow would have been all over it. This section is much more impressive:
before
after removing loads of wild impatiens
Also removed one stepping stone to fit in a variegated Jacob’s Ladder.
I had two visitors:
Gracie from across the street
Gracie is a good old girl who sometimes gets in trouble here for chasing cats through a garden bed. She responds obediently to “Go home!” when need be.
Phoenix and Gracie
Phoenix from next door is more of a rascal….a tailwagger who won’t let me near him.
the elusive Phoenix
Phoenix’s own yard is across the fence to the east. He hightailed it to the back of the garden and suddenly was on his side. I KNEW he had found a place to sneak under. Today we were able to find it, as there was a pile of green debris and he had dragged some of it under with him, so we blocked the spot with a board. It looked too small; he must be able to make himself very flat.
I got my plants into the ground and now the only plants left (till I buy more) are the three artichokes for Leanne! and an Erysimum ‘Fragrant Star’ that I am adding to an Ilwaco planter, switching it for ‘Apricot Twist’, whose tag reveals it may stop blooming in June. Fragrant star is supposed to be an all summer bloomer.
just three!
We even had time to put out some decorative touches:
little birdhouses behind Fragrant Star
wall of china
We think it is safe to hang the plates in the wind tunnel between the house and the shop…but I have one nail that has no plate. I wonder where I put that plate…
Allan’s mom’s pot with water
at last I put my flock of chickens out!
An early evening walk through the garden revealed these good things:
Hebe ‘Quicksilver’
shows actual size
a planted table
Siberian Iris
another iris
Allium albopilosum
Sambucus ‘Black Lace’
Sambucus ‘Sutherland Gold’
Sambucus laciniata
looking south
It would have been the perfect gardening day had I not needed to go inside before dark to work on billing.
I am hoping that starting next weekend we can get two days a week off. This would be quite extravagant, and perhaps financially unwise, but if I have twenty or fewer years left as an active gardener (I would hope for more but am basing my estimate on my mother’s life), I need to spend more of it in my own garden.
Tangly Cottage Gardening 