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.

28 comments:

  1. Wow, you really did get a lot done. It is looking good too. I wish we were barely tipping 70s down here, but we are well into the 80s and have been hitting 90s too. In the end it is all worth it. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everything is looking real good you have the right to be tired...I was worn out just reading what you had done, I felt every step..now please for my sake REST.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an inspiration you are! Wonderful results.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We hit 84 today...and I'm totally drained! Your garden is going to be the envy of the neighborhood! You put me to shame!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kris, I'm just hoping we don't get a freeze now! I really should have waited another week to set those tomatoes and basil out, but I just get the itch to plant! I have backups, I always plant too many seedlings.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wasn't it a lovely day today? Like you, I spent the whole day out in the garden and am pooped! I planted out a few items that may prove risky too, but like you I am willing to take an educated gamble once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kitsap, absolutely beautiful! Grandson Kevin came over, and we sat out on the patio for a while. Our first patio use of the season! I have so much I want to get done, but I have to try to get the dirt out from under my fingernails. I have an important lunch date on Thursday ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ginny, I'm resting! Of course, it's 9 o'clock and dark, so I have no choice.

    ********
    Kris W., thanks! But I didn't can any dog food today ;-) My dogs weren't impressed with my gardening chores.

    ********
    Lynda, your garden puts most of us to shame, silly girl!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm a new reader and just wanted to say hello and I'm enjoying your posts so far!

    P.S. You may not want to tell people you have a pot garden! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks, Renee. Don't worry, Granny's "pot garden" is pretty well known. We do have a way of making fun of it ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my gosh granny, I can totally relate to your post! I worked like a dog this weekend getting all my gardening chores done. I had lots of my list. Small chores but chores that needed to get done. But I feel like I was beat up! I also need a pedometer because I can't count the number of times I had to go back to the garage for the glove, back to the garage for the shovel, back to the yard for....It was ridiculous!!

    I bought a Bloody butcher tomato and planted it out this year. Have you grown them before? I just picked it because it was early and had a cool sounding name. I forgot to seed an early tomato this year. DUH!

    Looks like you managed to get lots done this weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Holly, even Mr. Granny laughed at me and said I should be taking the hose to the plants (one trip) instead of hauling all the plants over to the hose (8 trips). I just start working and my brain stops working!

    I have never grown Bloody Butcher. Mr. H. sent me the seeds, and they were the first, the largest and already blossoming. I was only going to plant one, but I couldn't pass up two gorgeou, blossoming specimens.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love the variety of basils you're growing. I tried a bunch of them this year too. Do you use them in cooking (the cinnamon?) or is it for the scent?? I use my regular basil, but my Blue Spice I use just because it smells so heavenly in the morning dew. I'm trying a bunch of new ones, but admit, I don't really know what to do with them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh good. This will be our first year with the Bloody Butcher together. LOL! I still laugh at the name. I can't wait to see how it does. I'll have to remember to save seeds!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. You got a LOT of work done! It's a good sore though, right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. You got so much done! I too had lots of raking up "yuk" from under shrubs this weekend, disturbing quite a few toads LOL. I keep laughing at everyones "pot gardens" and now you've gone and surrounded it with POPPIES, you keep me smiling Gran! So glad your tomatoes are out and growing now :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I agree with Ginny, I got tired just reading about all the work you did!! You put all of us to shame!

    Maybe this is a slow growing time of the year for Leona. She will be happy once the weather gets a bit warmer.

    Everything is looking good!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nice garden roundup. Its a lot of work to get tired. But results are beautiful. Granny, do you leave the herbs(Oregano) in the pots during winter and they come back in spring? Just wondering how do you overwinter herbs?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sue, other than the opal basil, I've only grown the plain Italian Large Leaf before. I love the opal for its color in the garden, but it's rather ugly when dried. I have no idea what to use the others for, probably in bouquets for the kitchen, for their scent, like you. I also have the Italian basil, as well as Lettuce Leaf and Sweet. Those three will produce more than I'd need in a lifetime of cooking! If you find a culinary use for the scented ones, let me know!

    ********
    Holly, I've read both pros and cons on BB. I do know tomatoes don't always grow and taste the same from year to year or even from seed to seed. Last year none of my tomatoes were sweet, and I do like a sweet tomato. I hope I get sweet ones this year.

    ********
    Megan I'd say you've got that right.....until I tried to get out of bed this morning. That wasn't such a good sore, I couldn't hardly straighten up!

    ********
    Erin, send me a toad or two. I have no toads in this garden! I want one. Do you think the drug squad will be raiding my "pot garden"? Wouldn't be the first time, LOL. Now, before any of the newbie readers get excited over that comment, I must point them to...

    http://tinyurl.com/3cq8qxf

    ********
    Robin, I hope Leona perks up. I'm tempted to prune her back a bit now.

    ********
    Sarada, this is only my second attempt to grow oregano, the first time (last year) it never got larger than a pencil eraser! The only herb that has over wintered here is my thyme, and it is so old and gnarly it will probably not last another year. I'm still working at removing dead growth from it. My rosemary traveled south with us one winter, but I left it in the ground up north this year and it winter killed. So I haven't had the best luck with garden herbs!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Cinnamon basil works well in middle eastern cooking!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Erin,

    But....but...I'm a northwesterner!

    You've never cooked for Mr. Granny. Other than American Chinese, he'll not eat anything but American Boring.

    ReplyDelete
  22. tee hee! I think we will be doing another Middle Eastern dinner to celebrate the demise of what's bad there and eat the good! Now I'm going to be thinking of Mr. Granny while I eat it LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  23. We were in the 80s one day last week and I just couldn't stay outside. I was dying in the heat. Luckily the house was still cool.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Daphne, although it was technically 70 degrees yesterday, I took the thermometer out in the sun where I was working, and it registered 90. That's why I was sweating!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Bloody butcher....now that sounds like one good tomato! Is that variety, as well as the Cherokee Purple, an heirloom?
    I enjoyed your pics! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Peggy, both the Bloody Butcher and Cherokee Purple are both heirlooms. I've never grown Bloody Butcher before, the seeds were sent to me by Mr. H. from Subsistence Pattern. I think it is a rather small tomato, maybe somewhere between a cherry and a normal sized one. They must be really early, as they had both blossomed already.

    ReplyDelete
  27. You know you have done lot of things such as you have cleaned your whole of the garden and now you have given them a totally new look. And now it’s looking more beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thank you Michael. It was quite a job to relocate all those garden beds this spring, but so far they seem to be working out just fine. Next year will be much easier on me.

    ReplyDelete