May 1, 2011 - Tired Body

I have a tired body. I get one day of 70 degree weather, and come in from the garden feeling like I've been dragged backwards through a knot hole! I didn't even get all that much done, but I think I'm going to put on my pedometer the next time I spend a full day outside. I'll bet I put in way over five miles today, just going back and forth from house to garden to shed to front yard to shed to garden to house......you get the idea. Heck, I might have walked ten miles!

I did get some things done.....

I made a string trellis for the snap peas.

I cleaned up the "pot garden", filled and planted the buckets and pots, and surrounded the ones in the enclosure with California poppies. I'd love for them to reseed there. Once everything was potted and/or planted, they all got a good drink of diluted compost-alfalfa-fish emulsion tea.

The buckets and pots were planted with (front to back) Bloody Butcher tomato (blossoming!), black pot of lemon basil and opal basil, green pot of compact dill, black pot of cinnamon and opal basil, a second Bloody Butcher tomato (budded). To the right is Leona the Meyer Lemon Tree in her new container. She hasn't been showing any growth lately, so I thought she might be root bound. I bought her a new, bigger pot and some premium potting mix, and potted her up today. She wasn't root bound at all, her roots looked healthy. Maybe she just needs some fresh air and sunshine. Next to Leona, in the square container, is the oregano. In front of them, in the belly of a sea otter, is another cinnamon basil. Alyssum will finish off this area on another day.

Of course, most of us have places in our yards and gardens that aren't exactly photogenic, but I'm givin' you the bad with the good. Last week I had my youngest son dig out the wild rose bush from this corner. It was pretty, but oh, so wicked! We had a lot of skin tears from its thorns, so I decided it had to go. Today I got the corner raked and cleaned out. The garbage can, blue crate planter and jug of compost tea are temporary, but I do have to figure out what I can put in this corner. The shed door has to swing open, and it only gets water at the very front edge. Last year I had some giant cosmos in the crate planter, and they were gorgeous. It might be too late to get them started this year, but I might give it a try.

I continued working down the line of arborvitae, raking the winter yuk from underneath, and loading everything in the garden cart for disposal. I found two big concrete stepping stones for the west garden, which will give me places to step to reach the tomatoes in the back of the bed. I set these four Cherokee Purple tomatoes into their buckets, but they are not yet planted. I'll leave them like this for a few days and nights, to get them used to their new surroundings. If temperatures happen to plunge, they can be quickly moved back into the shed.

I did get other stuff done, mostly puttering with the drip system in the front yard containers. I was either getting too much water or not enough, I'm having a hard time getting it just right, and I'd like to get these containers planted. One isn't draining at all, even though we used a hole saw to put large drainage holes in the bottom. It must be the brand of potting soil I used, as the other two containers are draining just fine. That means I get to dig it all out and start anew. More holes, different potting mix. I also installed a drip sprinkler in the lettuce garden, behind the shed. It waters with a gentle mist, and doesn't soak the cedar fence like the old sprinkler did.