House & Garden Update, etc.

Weird... the blogger posting interface has completely changed since last I posted... methinks I do not like this new interface!

Anyway, it's been a bit, so here's what's been going on.

Two weekends ago, Saturday, I went out and had a little retail therapy:

Among other things, I bought myself: a composter (yay), some solar garden lights (marked down that week for clearance... I can't remember if it was $30 or $40 for the ten pack), some plastic containers that fit the funny shelf in the front hall, a flower pot, stuff for the garden (although the place I went was sold out of much of what I wanted... dang!), and some perennials because they were on sale:

One even came with an extra, an interesting little lichen:

Of course, the garden isn't ready for them (especially since I couldn't get the stuff I wanted to amend the soil), so they've been sitting in their pots since then. :P

Sunday (two weeks ago) I went to Sheeples for Open Farm Day with a friend and some of her family:

Of course, we missed a turn, and ended up visiting a really pretty marsh area on the way there:

(I think I want to paint that.)

At the farm day, I finally finished spinning some singles that have been in progress for *ages*, and started two-plying them. I can't remember if it was that day or shortly thereafter I finished the plying:

(Plying is *much* faster!)

Last Saturday I was working overtime, so no gardening got done, but I did get out last Sunday. Dad was over too, and hauled away a bunch of his junk. Again, I forgot to take "before" photos. Here's the "after" of one of the piles he was working on:

(Those who know the state of the back yard before will know how impressive that photo is.) I was going to work on getting my perennials planted last weekend, but, somehow, things never quite turn out how I plan. When dad said he wasn't going to take the axle because the raspberry canes were drooping over it, I went to work on (again!) tying up the raspberries. I also inspected and cut out any stems that looked to be infected with the raspberry borer (did I remember to post about that? I figured out why I kept finding the canes broken: raspberry cane borers!) and burned them in my dad's stove:

Of course, before I could burn them in the stove, I had to shovel out all the ashes that were in it. I put them where the pines are, to balance the pH:

(I still need to dig the ashes in, they're just sitting on top for now. Of course, burning green stuff produces *lots* of smoke, so I was well smoked by the end, and mom came over to see if my house was on fire.

I ran out of string before finishing with all the canes:

(I had more upstairs... I was using leftover bits of kitchen cotton, but I didn't feel like taking my shoes off to go get more right then. I did tie them up that night after dinner, though, since they're right under a streetlight. (Of course, I found one more infected cane doing that, but I didn't want to start the fire going again, so I just put that one in the trash.)

I also got my composter put together:

Yay! Then I looked at how empty it was, and on Wednesday I was coveting all the yard waste my neighbours had put out for trash pickup. (However, today I started doing some yard clean-up, and my composter doesn't look *nearly* so empty... in fact, I suspect it's not all going to fit before I'm finished!)

So, that brings us to today. The bosses decided against overtime today (yay!), so I slept *late*, then washed my mango tree (it still has lingering spider mites, *sigh*), then went out into the garden. I took lots of "before" photos, in case I ended up working on not quite what I planned. Of course, what I *did* do took forever, so there wasn't much light for *after* photos!

Hmmm... looks like it's already a long post, and the next bit is also long, so I guess I'll do the rest as a "part two".

Garden

The coneflowers in the garden have strange, mutant mini-flowers sprouting out of the flowers:


How bizarre! Have you ever seen that?

Is oregano a Winnipeg-hardy perennial? This looks like oregano and smells herby:

Of course, it could be self-seeded. It would be nice to know for sure... I'd love to make use of it if I could identify it for sure. (I'm planning to go to Sage Garden Herbs tomorrow... maybe they'll be able to identify it if I bring a sprig?)

This is one crappy-quality basket:

Something that's going to survive for a million years in a landfill should at least start out with more than one seasons worth of use! Sheesh.

Misc.

1. Sour cheery tree:
• The cherries are starting to ripen. (A few are ripe, most are not.)
• I ate one. Feels like my cherry allergy is currently active. (Sometimes I can get away with it.)
• I'm not sure I'm all that motivated to find out what's damaging the cherries, if I can't eat them anyway, and I already have way too much to do around here.

2. Dinner:
I impressed myself by cooking a dinner that involved four things, all of which finished cooking at close enough times that it was all hot (but not overcooked) when I sat down to eat.

However, either a full cob of corn currently exceeds my tolerance, or there was too much butter in the meal (corn & mushrooms), or both. The smells from the two pans I have to hand wash (and didn't last night) are not helping my stomach feel any better.

3. Some house progress has been made. I have one out of two closet doors back up:

(The second door is being stubborn.) Three of four vertical seams have been recaulked in the tub:

(You'd think it would be logical to do all at once... it probably is. However, I keep getting distracted by other tasks around the house. Like sweeping the part of the porch entryway that isn't full of junk. Or cooking dinner. Or taking showers.)

4. Awesome mom does it again: she came over and scrubbed my bedroom floor with Fantastic.

Most of the ¡underlay! is gone! (I'm calling it "good enough".)

My Mother's Poppies

Yay bike ride!

With beautiful weather, and recent rains clearing the air, I couldn't resist a bike ride this afternoon!

I rode over to and up the bike path along the former rail tracks to Chief Peguis Trail, noticed there was a path along CPT and so rode it to Rothesay (it is just gravel, and so not as nice as the bike path), then came back home via Rothesay, Roch, and Brazier.

First flower of the season:

(Crazy early spring!)

Home From The Chiro

Crunching better today, but still not 100% yet. Two more appointments scheduled for next week.

Spotted on the way home:

Yeppers. Although I used Transit's trip planner to find a bus schedule that would get me there 10 minutes early, or on time if the 2 minute transfer time was insufficient... I arrived 10 minutes late. Thanks, traffic. :P

(I like that the businesses at the corner near my place like to put up fun sayings on their boards!)

I got this great old hoe at an estate/yard sale not far from my place:

Old tools are the best... they're actually built to handle the Red River gumbo we have around here! Even better, when I asked how much, the guy said $1! I tested it in the front garden before coming up, and it uprooted a bunch of weed seedlings like a charm! (Once I have a place of my own, I really should have my own tools.)

I have no clue what the hole on the blade is for. It looks original, rather than added later. Perhaps for hanging?

Ow.

Gardening hurts. (It's not just me, right?)

Today I filched a bunch of mom's compost

(well, I asked first, so I guess it's not filching)....

...and turned this:




...into this:




That last bit didn't get any compost or peat moss dug in... I ran out... both of the "magic soil" (what my landlord brought when I asked for peat moss, but beggars can't be choosers) and of "get up and go" (it "got up and left").

Notes:

The area with the orange annuals also needs the soil amended, plus the dirt in front of the other shrub.

The shrub on the right is also smaller. (The caretaker came out while I was gardening, and complained again that it was bigger than it used to be... so I dug up parts of it.)

The bare spot will get plants once the soil is amended.

The crowd of day lilies will also be dealt with later. I'm "storing" them there until I have their final spots ready for them.

Yay Bike Ride!

Bike rides, actually. These photos were from a bike ride three trips ago.

Me, looking well padded on top of the Chief Peguis Bridge:


Manitoba parfait:

(I had a scoop of chocolate brownie in a waffle cone.)

Weeding update:

The trash people actually *did* pick up all the weeds!

Today was brutally *hot* (by Winnipeg standards, and I am a wuss). Tomorrow is supposed to be better, but, instead of bike riding or gardening, I'm going to the art club with my mom. (Yeah, I'll have all afternoon, but I'll probably have a nap then. After all, I'm getting up at 8, and it's already 2 am!) Thursday is supposed to be *hot* again, but Friday I may get out and dig in the dirt. I guess that means Saturday is bike riding day! :D

Weeding

I went over to my dad's place to get the weeds over to the trash for pick-up tomorrow. I also pulled some more weeds that didn't get pulled previously.

Hmmm... this box is full, I wonder how I'll get it to the trash?:

Perhaps if I stomp on the weeds to compress them? ...Nope, bad idea:

(Grrr... crap boxes!)

Looking better:

(Not good, but certainly better. Good will happen after I move in.)

Dad asked me the other day why I was gardening at the apartment block, rather than at his place (which he called my place, even though he hasn't moved everything out, and I'm not living there yet.) Possible reasons:
1. It's still his place.
2. It's not yet my place.
3. My brother is living there rent-free, and not doing any weeding.
4. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with stuff at my place. (I may not be paid for the gardening I do here, but it makes it nicer for me to live here.)
5. Or, perhaps, it's because his yard looks like this:

Really?!? I'm supposed to have incentive to weed around his junk?

The weeds were brutal. They had thorns and spines that went right through my soft leather gloves. Near the end, I discovered this stick:

This stick was my friend. I could use it to push down the weeds, and, using a motion like twirling spaghetti, I could bend the ends of the weeds to get them in the box too. (The weeds were much longer than the box was.)

Here's a before and after shot that I *did* remember to take today:



You know, if the trash people took one look at this, and left without taking anything (they do that when people put out an unreasonable amount of trash), I don't think I'd blame them:


That's six boxes, one garbage bag, and three trash cans all full of weeds and pruned branches. :P

PS: I was hot and foul-tempered after dealing with this many spiny weeds with no assistance from my dad. The other gardening on today's list will have to wait for another time.

Dreaded To-Do List

I have about a month of unpaid leave between terms right now. I have a *long* to-do list. I keep getting pulled in different directions with all the things that need doing, so I thought I'd make a list of all the things that need doing, and break it down into manageable chunks.

Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, here's what I put on the list so far:

• apply for jobs
  
• call dentist
  
• call scope
  
• gardening (inside & out):
  
  • dad's weeds
    
  • dig in soil, (& transplant)
    
  • plant spruce seeds
    
  • transplant vft, amaryllis, (others?)
    
  • dispose of dead plants
    
  • remove stumps
    
  • transplant peonies
    
  • NW garden
    
  • SE garden
    
  • SW garden
    
  • plant crocus bulbs
• format hard drive
  
• art:
  
  • prepare canvases
    
  • paint cat
    
  • prepare demo
    
  • hang art
    
  • frame block print
    
  • frame loon
    
  • finish silk painting
    
  • call to arrange silk painting class details
    
  • order silk painting class supplies
    
  • print cards
    
  • print magnets
    
  • renew membership
• clean apartment
  
  • clutter:
    
    • couch
      
    • coffee table
      
    • chair
      
    • desk (office)
      
    • desk (hall)
      
    • dresser
      
    • drawers
      
    • kitchen table
      
    • front hall
      
    • spinning area
  • bathroom floor
    
  • kitchen floor
    
  • old air conditioner
    
  • ac filters
    
  • fan from basement
    
  • oil (finish?) lr end tables
    
  • deal with boxes
    
  • mail
    
  • dust
    
  • mop
    
  • toilet
• format hard drive
  
• install lion
  
• sew pattern magnets
  
• sew pyjama bottoms
  
• sew t-shirts (pyjama tops)
  
• sew printer dust cover
  
• make stitch markers
  
• finish desk & move it into office
  
• 2140:
  
  • prepare assignments
    
  • prepare midterm
    
  • prepare final
• medical paperwork
  
• scan & send instructions

Scary, huh? Some of the things are fairly quick, it's the length of the list that gets to me. (It doesn't even include regular stuff like laundry, dishes, etc! Or fun stuff!)

For tomorrow, I've chosen the following:

• dad's weeds
  
• dig in soil, (& transplant?)
  
• Laundry
  
• format hard drive
  
• water plants
  
• trash & recycling
  
  
• office desk clutter
  
• scan & send instructions

Tomorrow isn't supposed to be too hot, and isn't calling for rain until later, so is a good day to do at least a little gardening. Laundry needs doing, and the plants are looking wilty again. I bought a new back-up drive today, and so I should check to make sure it's working, and get regular back-ups going again. (The last two items are only if I have time, although setting up the back-up drive will be easier if my desk has less clutter on it.)

I'm tempted to start the drive right now, but, as it's nearly 4 am, I *really* need to get to bed. Good night!

Monday's list so far has the phone calls and applying for jobs.

Apartment Gardening

1. Looks like my landlord took me literally when I said the stepping stones "don't need to be pretty". I meant it, but I didn't really expect to get leftovers from some other project. Not that being leftover is a problem, but they're a bit on the small size. The fact that there is four, rather than three, might compensate enough. I guess I'll find out when the caretaker goes to prune the shrubs again. (These are to go behind and beside the shrubs so that the caretaker isn't compacting the whole garden when he's pruning the shrubs.)

2. I just noticed in the photo... looks like my landlord bought potting soil rather than peat moss. It'll probably work too, but won't go as far as peat moss would. (I need to work in some (non-clay) organic matter into the soil so that it is looser, and doesn't clump and crack as much.) I suppose potting soil will be easier to dig in than fluffy, dry peat moss.

Weeding

Yesterday, the back parking pad looked like this:


Today we weeded some more, as you may be able to tell from the many piles of green stuff:

(I count six piles in this photo.)


(Two or three more piles in this photo.)

The parking pad from the same angle as the first photo:

(I kicked the weeds in the back lane into a tidier pile after taking the photo.)

I also did some weeding in the back yard under the spruce tree, and pruned some of the branches that were hanging low over the gate.

On my way back home, I remembered to drop off something at my mom's... which meant I ended up walking past their boulevard trees, which needed some pruning. I had clippers in my bag. I trimmed the water-shoots from the base of the trees, plus low hanging branches and branches over the walk and street.

While stuffing my mom's trimmings into two *full* garbage cans, the neighbour came out with his adorable puppy, so I went over to pet him. (The puppy, not the neighbour. The neighbour has a girlfriend.) I commented that he had some Manitoba maples and elm trees growing in his garden next to the house, and that he should remove them. (This is their first summer in the house... the previous owner was 96 before he passed, and wasn't quite up to the yard work the way he used to be.) Since I had my clippers (and now a pruning saw... there was a thick branch or two that needed removing at mom's) out, I offered to cut them at ground level, and he could dig up the roots later. I also hacked the several-meter-tall elm tree into three pieces for easier disposal.

I eventually did make it home, and had a nice, cool shower, followed by a nap. :)

I still have a heat-headache, though. (It started yesterday.) No matter how much I drink (and I do guzzle the water while working outdoors), I still get those. :(

Whoops!

Heh... looks like I sat on a raspberry on one of my breaks:


It's funny how raspberry stains react to soap... it immediately changes to blue-black. Here's the stain after attacking it a bit with soap during my shower:

Homemade litmus strips, anyone? (I wonder if it would change back if I poured a little vinegar on it?)

I put a bit of laundry detergent on it, so hopefully the rest of the stain will come out in the wash tomorrow.