With temperatures in the 70s F. and the sun shining, it was time to garden big time, especially since rain is forecast for the next three days.
I cleared two flower plots, one with a pink rose bush on the south side of the house. I started it from a cutting from a rose bush belonging to my neighbors. It was initially planted by a previous owner for his wife. When I first moved here thirty years ago, Anna was dying and Frank would follow her three years later. The pink rose was already an old bush so my guess is that it has been blooming for around seventy years.
I noticed today that the both bushes, the first one and mine, have put out "suckers" I intend to transplant to another plot. At the same time, I will move a yellow rose nearby, one that should grow into a tree. It's been in a shady area for a few years and hasn't done well there.
Gary brought out the rototiller and got to work on the vegetable garden. It is cleared and ready to go, so I started some sugar snap peas. If the rain holds off, we'll pick up onion sets at the hardware store tomorrow and get those going as well. The rest of the vegetables will have to wait until May when we'll be sure there will be no more frost.
Gary also cleared a section of the terrace strip and laid down some patio blocks. We'll likely buy some more of those blocks, and fill in the rest of the area with vinca. I have plenty to dig up in other parts of the yard. We can't have anything taller than six inches on the terrace strip, so vinca will be perfect. Even better, it will require no mowing.
Then he cleared the area next to my peony bushes. He wants to transplant some hostas there.
It was a day of hard work, but I calculate I still have some twenty flower beds to clear. That will take us to the end of April. At that point, we'll begin the final weeding and planting, which should be done by Memorial Day. From then on, the plants will take over so there won't be much to do in the gardens except a little spot weeding, mowing the paths, and perhaps some watering.
Some my think this is a lot of work, but I consider gardening a hobby. Mowing lawn is work. That I avoid.
I cleared two flower plots, one with a pink rose bush on the south side of the house. I started it from a cutting from a rose bush belonging to my neighbors. It was initially planted by a previous owner for his wife. When I first moved here thirty years ago, Anna was dying and Frank would follow her three years later. The pink rose was already an old bush so my guess is that it has been blooming for around seventy years.
I noticed today that the both bushes, the first one and mine, have put out "suckers" I intend to transplant to another plot. At the same time, I will move a yellow rose nearby, one that should grow into a tree. It's been in a shady area for a few years and hasn't done well there.
Gary brought out the rototiller and got to work on the vegetable garden. It is cleared and ready to go, so I started some sugar snap peas. If the rain holds off, we'll pick up onion sets at the hardware store tomorrow and get those going as well. The rest of the vegetables will have to wait until May when we'll be sure there will be no more frost.
Gary also cleared a section of the terrace strip and laid down some patio blocks. We'll likely buy some more of those blocks, and fill in the rest of the area with vinca. I have plenty to dig up in other parts of the yard. We can't have anything taller than six inches on the terrace strip, so vinca will be perfect. Even better, it will require no mowing.
Then he cleared the area next to my peony bushes. He wants to transplant some hostas there.
It was a day of hard work, but I calculate I still have some twenty flower beds to clear. That will take us to the end of April. At that point, we'll begin the final weeding and planting, which should be done by Memorial Day. From then on, the plants will take over so there won't be much to do in the gardens except a little spot weeding, mowing the paths, and perhaps some watering.
Some my think this is a lot of work, but I consider gardening a hobby. Mowing lawn is work. That I avoid.
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