Gardening 2024

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My friend Marsha, when she had hair.

https://www.kemperkeimfamilyfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/Marsha-Brown-9/#!/Obituary

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We got flash flooding rain today.  Not sure if the garden flooded but it did all around it.

I brought home a trunk load of decorative bird and butterfly houses along with a 3 foot gnome and friends.  Saved them from the dumpster at my friend's parent's hoarder house.  I'll put them out of the garden tomorrow for people to take.

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I brought home another car full of stuff for the garden.  The other stuff was snatched up pretty quickly today.  This more unopened office supplies we can use for the plant sale and gardening hand tools that seem to disappear every year.

Phebe is doing great as the pantry lead.  The cottage garden lead is walking around in a boot.  Marsha's group has decided not to continue the boardwalk and wants all the construction stuff out of there, thank god.  I need that composite to rebuild one of our bridges.  They are a little niffed I won't let them spend their budget on straight wood chips.  We get free wood chip mulch and we don't waste our money when we can get something that works for free.  I'm letting them buy more plants instead so that should make them happy.

I did pull the hippy gnome for me.  He reminds me of Tom, nothing sets him off, relaxed cool.  Put him in the milkweed garden.  Got to have a little hardscape in a garden.  Just a little though!

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We met with Marsha's husband and planned the party.  It will be in September for 200 to 250 people.  We've got this.  Basically the cancer came back sometime in May and exploded, attacked all her organs.  She was on hospice two weeks.  Kissed him and died.  Leslie reports she was at the garden, overwhelmed by sadness for Marsha and felt her go through.  She had told me that before I told her what time Marsha had died.

People working the gardens today.  The grass really needs mowed.  And I really need to get out the gas powered weed wacker.  Phebe harvested 90 pounds of potatoes, maybe a record.  Life goes on.

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I was busy last fall and busy this spring.  Never got around to lawn mower maintenance.  Engine locked up from lack of oil.  Totally my fault.  My daughter is giving me hers.  They pay a guy to mow their grass from the pot plantation.  I'm still going to beat myself up for not taking care of my tools.

The damn kiosk came up again.  Originally it was part of my plan for a self guided garden tour and welcoming area.  Then it got bumped up to the Extension, a bunch of shit and a final decision of where to put it at great expense and no plan for it's purpose.  It's been brought back up again and they want to dump it back in my lap.  I'm not so sure I'm going to take it back.   

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I like that lawn mower.  I broke it and I need to fix it!  Sandy is going to teach me how to rebuild a lawn mower engine.  Some how that feels like some badass radical joy and I am looking for that.  So excited.  

Who the hell stacked the weed buckets?!  Damn helpful people.    I know it looks nicer but they are hell to get apart when you do that.

Nice night out there.  Spent 3 hours trimming the garden.  We have a nest of baby bunnies in the pantry.

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Marsha's husband is cleaning out her growing room and bringing everything to the greenhouse.  The idea is we will train new growers and supply them with lights.  Hopefully none of that comes home with me.  Not sure what the rush is but he has been evicting Marsha's stuff all week.  Maybe just trying to keep himself busy.  Or fearful Marsha will haunt him if he doesn't follow the marching orders.    He's been to the gardens twice that I know of bringing people to see where she spent all her time.  I've been wanting to be there too.

Only the second time I've trimmed the whole garden this year.  My arms are like jello and between the shoulder blades ache.  Today I'm trying to make a dent in all the pots the parks department bought us.  It's economical and ecological to clean all these pots but I'm thinking I'd rather pitch them and use my own money to buy new ones.    I'm definitely buying a couple bags of top soil to fill in a hole rather than try to dig some and haul it all the way across the garden.  I'm done mowing this low spot alongside the greenhouse and having to wrestle the mower out of the hole, almost falling into the greenhouse.

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Workday at the garden.  Marsha's team is cleaning up.  They got a cubic yard of soil laid out and wood chipped 3 paths.  Tom worked on the final part of the boardwalk.  I can't watch.  They are changing her design some.  It needed to be cleaned up.  It's been a construction zone for 6 years.  I wish she had had the chance to finish it.  Everyday, several times a day something comes up where I would have said something to Marsha and we would have laughed or made some plans.  

Anyway, it was sunny out there.  I was done by 9:30.  Watered and hung out in the shade until the rest of them finished up at noon.  Came home and slept on the couch the rest of the afternoon.  Tonight I hope to run the pots and flats through the bleach water.  I need my garage back to work on the lawn mower.  We hit the upper 90's next week and I will be worthless.

My SIL was granted the commercial pot grows license.  Not easy to get and he zoomed right through the process.  Says a lot about how into this he is.  Now he has to find investors to get up and growing.

Ran out of room for the pots and flats drying in the garage with a couple hundred pots left.  Guess I'll finish tomorrow but this task, the thrill is gone! 

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And I lost it.  Had to announce Marsha's replacements at the meeting tonight.  Knew I was going to choke and tear up.  I anticipate it's going to be a long time before I can publicly talk about her without losing it.  Laura did apologize for lashing out at me about Marsha's memorial stone or bench.  Probably didn't mention that.  Just her anger in the grief loss process.  Understandable but I didn't need that punch.  Unrelated but she wants to put a fabric cloth down over the whole greenhouse floor for padding.  I just want to say did Marsha approve that?  All the people who walk on that the shit we drag over that, drop on it, don't see that working out.  Kept my mouth shut and walked away.