Gardening 2024

[cineater]

I can't count or maybe I took a few more than I thought.    Came home with 21 plants, some are for other garden leads.  Sunday is a stormy day too so they are hanging with me until Wednesday when we can put them in.

I got to Garden of Hope, the garden my ladies' gardening club maintains.  It was supposed to be a work session to clean up the garden.  The wood chips had arrived early and were sitting on the parking lot.  It was me and the lady in charge who showed up and she can't do much physical work.  Says they don't have many people who can do that kind of work moving wood chips.  Fuck.  And she wants to lay down cardboard all over the garden and then the wood chips but first we have to put a berm of them along the one side.  Two hours later and 7 carts, done with the berm.  I joined this club so I didn't have to do physical labor.    I did like the dump cart, so much easier than pushing the wheelbarrow.  I have to get one of those.  Garden looked good though.  They had already done a few work sessions to clean it up.  It's going to take forever if I'm the only one moving the wood chips.  Decent size garden.

Beautiful night, rain coming in but may not actually rain.  Decided to burn my brush pile.  It was a beautiful night until the thunder started and then sheet lightening.     Ran for the house and left the fire burning.  Almost didn't rain but then a brief downpour put my fire out.  Will try again tomorrow.  That brush pile needs to go.

[cineater]

Up to 31 plants.  I told Donna if I came back to turn the hose on me.  But I did go back and picked out 5 more for Scott's area.  Left them there for him to plant.  In the meantime, I'm clearing out the areas I'm planting all this stuff in.

So the rain just put out the flames.  Sondra eode her lawnmower over and we burned for  a few more hours.  Coals still hot this afternoon and I got the pile close to half gone.  The coals are so hot they are black so I'll burn some more tonight.  Kind of need to empty the fire pit.  It's getting full.

[cineater]

Chris came down on his bike and Dennis walked over.  Nobody brought marshmallows but still a nice night around the fire.  Burned some more today but the rain put it out.  The brush pile is in pretty good shape but I'm going to have to let it dry out before I take care of the rest of it.

When did the sun become my enemy?  I use to love the sun.  These days I prefer the shade or cloud cover.  I use to tolerate it up to 90 but now the 70's seem hot.  Maybe just not use to it and we got hot real quick but moving north seems to be reasonable.

I did finish up the milkweed display by adding a couple of Slender Mountain Mint.  Added the Pink Veronica to the Crepe Myrtle bed. 

In the past I always used the foundation beds to display the leftover annuals from the plant sale but Marsha doesn't want to do that any more.  She explained at the general membership meeting why they kill the leftover plants.  Said the seed cost her very little and it was the promix she wanted to reuse.  I added and the pots.  She said something about we were into retail meaning decisions have to be made on profit.  What a contradiction.  First off, it doesn't cost her, it costs us, the organization.  She's very fond of telling me I can't do something because it's not horticulture and we are about horticulture.  Yoo-hoo, killing healthy plants is not horticulture it's retail.     Keep my mouth shut, she does an excellent job with the plants sale and all I have to do is support her.  The rest of the group can bitch about her killing plants.  Anyway, I'm going to start filling up my beds with perennials.  Donna can grow just about anything.

[cineater]

Here's what happen with 31, 32 and 33.  The important part is they didn't come home with me.   

Met Sharon at the garden early this morning with her three asiatic lilies.  She already has a row of five tree lilies so I tell her there is more and where they are at if she wants to plant these in a back row in between the ones she has.  She would need 4 to do that.  She blows me off, doesn't want me to stay and help her weed.  It's a thing with her.  She's in her 80's with arthritic hands and like a child wants to prove she can do it herself.  Nice lady, takes care of the roses and does the ladies high tea.  I leave her to it.  Come about three o'clock, she calls, wants to know if we have more.  She needs one more for symmetry.  Did I not try to talk to you about that this morning!     I would never yell at Sharon, told her I would take care of it.

But to take one left just two behind, 32 and 33.  Couldn't fit them in that rose bed but the one next to it had a dead rose in the middle.  Now I need another plant, I have roses on each side those two so I need something for the middle.  Maybe 34 or maybe something I already have, we'll see.  Never knew lilies got so tall.