A Good Day In The Garden

Rain today. That was the forecast. We thought we’d take our chances and try to get a little done out in the garden before the rains came.  As soon as I sat down to do some weeding, the raindrops started, but they were light and seemed to come and go.  I weeded for a bit and went to get something to carry all the weeds to the compost pile. Of course I got distracted when I went in the garage, so I grabbed my pruners and a pole pruner and decided to tackle last year’s bloom heads on the crepe myrtles.  I don’t suppose they were hurting anything, but they looked messy, so off they came.  Then I hacked at the honeysuckle coming through the neighbor’s fence and climbing up in the crepe myrtles.  The neighbor’s house and yard is higher than ours, and their fence sits on top of a retaining wall that’s about eye level at its highest point.  That’s how the honeysuckle could reach out and be up in the tree. 

After hacking the honeysuckle, I picked up all the weeds Garden Man had managed to grub out and made a trip to the compost pile.  And yes, I got distracted again.  There were weeds to get and bits of ash branches and squirred-gnawed tulip tree flowers to pick up.  Once some of that was done, I thought I needed to cut out a big branch of privet that was competing with the weeping cherry.  So I did. 

When I went back to pick up more of Garden Man’s weeds, I realized he’d been grubbing poison ivy.  Not good.  It bothers him much more than me, so I’m in charge of getting rid of it.  So once again, I changed course and went on poison ivy patrol.  We have a half acre, so there was a good bit of patrolling to do.  Along with the ivy, I also found some evil garlic mustard that I’d missed on my last prowl. About the time I declared the job done, the rains finally came. 

I cleaned up and then we tackled the garage.  By the time we were done, the sun was trying to come out, so we headed to the hardware store for mulch.  I even got a trellis and a burpless cucumber to go along with my lettuce, spinach and parsley seeds.  Once home, I put the trellis in the garden and planted the cucumber next to it.  I planted more lettuce, since none I planted earlier came up, and I planted some spinach, too.  THEN, I thinned the radish sprouts for our salads for dinner and called it done.  It sounds like a lot, but it was spread out over a few hours.  I feel like we accomplished a lot, which makes me happy, but there is much to do.  Susan Harris, the Garden Coach, is coming tomorrow to give me some advice.  I guess I’m like the folks who clean their houses before the cleaning crew comes – I don’t want her to think we’re slovenly gardeners! (Which we probably are).

I didn’t take any photos today, but I’ll share this one from Monday – it’s a cuphea, but I have no idea what kind.  I bought it at the wonderful Surreybrooke nursery in Middletown, Maryland.  If you ever get the chance to shop there, you ought to. It’s not only a great place for plants, huge pots and urns and garden whimsy, it’s also the home of a series of lovely gardens which you can stroll through.  I could spend all day there, and have on occasion!

 

Happy gardening!