Fab Friday!

Wild and busy week here ... This is the view from the newly packed mound of dirt which covers the area we formally splashed and swam. (To see this same area two (and three) weeks ago ... Click here.)

While some of this may be a repeated from previous lists, it helps me to "see" and rehearse said progress! There have been so-o many tasks required on top of the usual Spring-thang, I find myself (literally) making short lists and identifying measured sections of areas to design, clear and work on.

This year has been such a healing year and yet there remain physical realities which "remind" me that I must set realistic goals. I am also reminded that my gardens are my hobbies and what I enjoy doing; the finishing part is merely a bonus and generally signals it is time to start (at least!!) five new projects! ::smile::

• Transplanted: roses, red bud seedlings (8), daylilies, sedum, irises, creeping phlox (the red bud seedlings are "babies" from my "seedling" tree — which was several generations down from the one originally planted in my great grandmother's farm)
  
• Planted: new evergreens, begonias, dianthus, ivies and groundcover for topiaries
  
• Completed (!) raised bed for a "salad garden" NE corner of the backyard
• Front sidewalk garden cleared and planted and soaker hose positioned
  
• To-do: transplant two (2) of these tenacious elm trees at the back SW corner of the property
• Buy: yews, pampas grass, selected annuals for borders
• Buy: additional stone and Portland cement for walkway
  
• To-do:Prepare soil for sodding and seeding backyard
• Front porch "color guard" include scarlet geraniums, scarlet begonias and lime-green groundcovers; dark green blades of daylilies
• To-do:Positioning soaker hoses within my gardens to ease the task of watering
• Buy: more "color spots" for backyard gardens (pinks, reds)
  
• Ordered pink astilbe and lonicera mandarin (image below; honeysuckle family — hope I don't regret this ...)

Journaling continues to been such an aid for me. It allows me to "see" what is being accomplished (in the midst of the endless "wish list" in my mind ...) It enables me to incorporate boundaries and divide huge tasks into bite-size pieces.

Salad Garden

I have always wanted a "salad garden" — a Spring planting of lettuces and spinach, carrots, radishes, small onions, and a tomato plant and perhaps a zucchini for Summer. So, I have collected my notes to post here, my seeds and my plans to build a raised bed for this endeavor.

[If you have ever considered doing this, be sure to have a garden area which receives full sun for at least 8 hours per day. This is essential, especially for Spring plantings.]

• Mix organic compost (and coffee grounds, I am told Starbucks gives them away—I have to check into this) into your soil to ensure proper nutrients. Crushed eggs shells and the coffee grounds also discourage slugs and those pesky roly-poly's!
• Smooth the soil, sprinkle and pat seeds about 1/4 inch deep. Keep moist (not soggy). During high-temperatures, be sure to keep ground moist. This is essential for lettuce plants as the weather gets warmer. You may even need to shade lettuce during summer months.
• When seedlings are about 1-2 inches, thin out the least-hardy-looking ones.

Concerning my lettuce, I will harvest leaves at a time, snipping leaves off when they are about 4-inches tall and then allow them to regrow for future harvests.

I will also harvest "baby carrots" as I enjoy tender bites; I am also convinced this will outsmart my underground rodents — or at least keep more of the harvest for myself!

Monday Miscellany

April, 2006

Looking back to this time last year, the weather differences have certainly made a difference in what is planted. I absolutely love the cold weather, so the planting delay is not a problem. ;-)

I have enjoyed staying on task by way of list-making. Of course, I have always used lists, but my habit was to all-to-often follow proverbial rabbit trails, thus becoming forgetful of tasks I included on the priority list. Thus items I wanted to transplant didn't always get transplanted.

What a blessing to have more order in my garden, thus my life! Here is a summary of projects and things I look forward to completing:

• raised bed for a "salad garden" NE corner of the backyard
• front sidewalk garden cleared and planted (still need begonias; waited because of the freezing temps this weekend
• stem-by-stem, still clearing renegade elm seedlings; still need to transplant two (2) of these tenacious trees at the back SW corner of the property
• compiled my "to buy" list for completing my landscape plan (yews, pampas grass, selected annuals for borders)
• transplanted roses; sedum in newspaper awaiting final destination
• sodding and seeding backyard now that the pool has been "de-constructed"