Gary left early this morning to help his Aunt Shirley tame her lawn on the farm in Dixon, Illinois. Me, I stayed home to work on my own property.
I planted some more ground covers on the front terrace. This requires digging up the strip with a shovel, removing any weeds manually, grinding up the remaining soil with a hand tiller, then planting each type of ground cover. So far, I've planted stonecrop, creeping sedum (two kinds), pink creeping phlox, and something called snowy mountain. Tomorrow, I'll plant more creeping phlox, lavender this time. Then there's bugleweed, sweet woodruff, vinca, and some smaller hostas. The idea is that the plants will cover the entire area in two years time.
Around each planting, I sprinkle alyssum seeds. The alyssum should hold down some of the weeds and allow the ground covers to grow slowly.
I worked on the little brick path on the north side of the driveway, pulling weeds, and replacing one broken brick.
I dug up more of the vegetable garden, again using the hand tiller, and put in the tomato plants I started from seed in February. I've put in three kinds: Roma which can be dehydrated and saved for soups over the winter, a giant variety of beefsteak which will be good in BLTs, and Rutgers about which I know very little.
I put more annuals into pots, some hanging from the deck and others that are set in odd places as surprises for my visitors.
On the west side of the house, I had to pull out Jerusalem artichokes that had taken off and grown past the hosta border. I did that once already in April, it's an ongoing problem.
I helped my neighbors, the Dorns, dig up some rose "suckers" for their mothers. It's a lovely old rose bush, planted by a previous owner for his wife. My guess is that it's at least 75 years old and still bearing the loveliest pink blossoms. I took a bit of it for my yard as well. Both bushes are in bloom now and the air is sweet with their scent.
Debby said she had been running this morning and passed a place where a man was selling hostas from his yard. She liked the variety and asked him how much. "Fifteen dollars a plant," he said. She was appalled. She never buys plants for her garden, just gets bits and pieces from mine. She now appreciated how much she saves this way.
I gave her some canna tubers a few years ago. She grows the tall flowers every year, then digs up the roots and stores them in her basement. By spring they multiply and she gives the extras away, too. This is a good thing, because I lost track one fall and didn't dig mine up. This year, I asked her for a few and started all over again. That's what neighbors do.
I ended the day sunburned, mosquito bitten and happy.
I planted some more ground covers on the front terrace. This requires digging up the strip with a shovel, removing any weeds manually, grinding up the remaining soil with a hand tiller, then planting each type of ground cover. So far, I've planted stonecrop, creeping sedum (two kinds), pink creeping phlox, and something called snowy mountain. Tomorrow, I'll plant more creeping phlox, lavender this time. Then there's bugleweed, sweet woodruff, vinca, and some smaller hostas. The idea is that the plants will cover the entire area in two years time.
Around each planting, I sprinkle alyssum seeds. The alyssum should hold down some of the weeds and allow the ground covers to grow slowly.
I worked on the little brick path on the north side of the driveway, pulling weeds, and replacing one broken brick.
I dug up more of the vegetable garden, again using the hand tiller, and put in the tomato plants I started from seed in February. I've put in three kinds: Roma which can be dehydrated and saved for soups over the winter, a giant variety of beefsteak which will be good in BLTs, and Rutgers about which I know very little.
I put more annuals into pots, some hanging from the deck and others that are set in odd places as surprises for my visitors.
On the west side of the house, I had to pull out Jerusalem artichokes that had taken off and grown past the hosta border. I did that once already in April, it's an ongoing problem.
I helped my neighbors, the Dorns, dig up some rose "suckers" for their mothers. It's a lovely old rose bush, planted by a previous owner for his wife. My guess is that it's at least 75 years old and still bearing the loveliest pink blossoms. I took a bit of it for my yard as well. Both bushes are in bloom now and the air is sweet with their scent.
Debby said she had been running this morning and passed a place where a man was selling hostas from his yard. She liked the variety and asked him how much. "Fifteen dollars a plant," he said. She was appalled. She never buys plants for her garden, just gets bits and pieces from mine. She now appreciated how much she saves this way.
I gave her some canna tubers a few years ago. She grows the tall flowers every year, then digs up the roots and stores them in her basement. By spring they multiply and she gives the extras away, too. This is a good thing, because I lost track one fall and didn't dig mine up. This year, I asked her for a few and started all over again. That's what neighbors do.
I ended the day sunburned, mosquito bitten and happy.
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