(I need to check if the Home Depot warranty on plants covers neglect by idiot homeowners.)
"Before" shots:
Here you can see five more plants waiting to be planted (one of which got planted Saturday, so that I could use the pot to give a volunteer raspberry seedling beside it to the neighbour), volunteer sunflower seedlings that need thinning, and weeds are popping up. I pulled the tops off a few of the weeds, but I need to go back and dig out the roots.
Egad, it's a jungle back there! Black raspberries are going crazy (as you can see, they still haven't been transplanted from beside the house to beside the fence), plus thistles, grass, and Manitoba maple saplings I need to dig out.
My one planted raised bed has things growing:
Of course, I have no idea what anything is with this "toss seeds in randomly" method. I may need to plant a few labelled rows just for identification purposes. I'm hoping things will get a bit more evident later.
More jungle:
Onions (walking and green) doing well, some garlic looking very promising, and others look like I'll be able to spot them when I dig them up later this summer. (Some of the garlic was started from seed, and so takes a bit longer.) Unfortunately, the weeds are also looking very lush.
My field of dandelions is looking less fluffy:
(My apologies to those downwind. I *will* get to these, I promise.)
This weekend's goal:
Dispose of this section of carpet, dig the soil underneath plus adjacent weedy bits to remove weed roots, dig again to turn in coco earth, then plant.
Progress accomplished:
Found a mouse while turning the compost (did I mention I have gardening ADD?):
Since "killing it in my gloved hands" seemed a bit cruel, I decided to take it to the cemetery to see if it might find somewhere over there it liked living enough that it didn't come back. However, since I didn't want to squish it on the way there, it managed to wriggle free when I was only halfway there, about two houses over. Oh well... maybe it'll like my neighbour's yard better than mine? (Sorry, neighbour.)
Removing the biggest piece of carpet and the railroad tie, I found a rather large ant colony:
Hopefully turning the earth will be sufficient to convince them to move elsewhere. Otherwise I'll try that thing where you boil up some rhubarb leaves... I've got lots of those. (Speaking of which, a number of them got *pounded* in today's rain... several were nothing but the ribs. My neighbour said that water was gushing from that corner of the downspout... checking the state of that section of eaves is on my list.)
And, speaking of eaves...
When I went out to dig the dirt on Saturday, it was cloudy, so I didn't bother with sunscreen. However, by the time I was ready to dig, the sun was out in full force, and a cream I'm using right now has me a bit sensitive, so I decided to tackle the eaves on this stretch of the garage, since it was shady there.
There was some good looking humus up there... and I got impressively filthy!
I also took a quick trip to the front yard to lop off the very large sour cherry sucker I found growing up through the weigela.
I'm sure glad that I didn't prune out the parts that looked winter-killed (actually the weigela, just slower to leaf out) and leave the parts that looked good (the sour cherry sucker) early this spring! I need to get a sturdy stake and tie up the weigela... it has a definite lean to the south that I'd like to correct.
Then I had to go in and clean up for two parties I was attending Saturday night.
Sunday it was cloudy but not raining when I got up. By the time I ate breakfast there was a light drizzle. I decided it wasn't raining hard enough to stop me from *finally* digging the garden, so I put on my grub clothes and went outside. It was a bit heavier than a drizzle when I got out, and rapidly progressed to a downpour. >_< I didn't get very much dug before I gave up:
*sigh*... next weekend is a long weekend. I'll get it done then. Really.
Before I retreated from the rain, I did pull the tops off enough creeping bellflower (invasive weed) to fill the two yard waste bins that I currently had partially filled... of course, *afterwards* I remembered that yard waste pick-up isn't for another week and a half. *sigh*
Since the mosquitoes have been coming out, I can't find my supply of repellant, and I might as well do my grocery shopping if I can be in the garden, I decided to check out the various products at the grocery store.
Uh... what the eff is a citronella candle *for*, if not to repel mosquitoes?!? Way to show confidence in your product!
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