Plotting or Plodding?

By Paula Matter

I had expected this to be my wrap-up post on my adventures in gardening. Since I started blogging about my garden back in May (April? Let me go look up when it actually was. Details are so important when writing. Only take me a minute to check).

Huh. Early June. Somehow it seems much longer.

Anyway, while I have some photos today, the garden is still not finished. Not at all where I want it to be.

Before I show the photos (I know, the suspense is killing you, isn’t it? Meh.) I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned:

* Ramona was right about people sharing plants. I now have a beautiful lychnis (yeah, I didn’t know what it was either--just that it was pretty), and a tall yellow plant (I’ll go look it up. Be right back. . .) Okay. I still don’t know, but it’s similar to a sunflower. And my neighbor now has a clump of my coreopsis.

*I learned how to divide my coreopsis.

*A newly uprooted plant needs to be plopped back into the ground fairly quickly.

*A shovel might be my most valuable tool. One evening I planted an iris in the perfect spot. Next morning, not so perfect. I dug that sucker up and replanted where it still remains.

*Patience. I want to divide my pink hibiscus, but must wait until the proper time.

*Rabbits don’t like to be squirted with hoses.

So, if you’re still with me, here are some more photos of my gardening WIP.

Before the mulch. Notice the hibiscus to the left of the statue.

One month later, it's taller than the statue. Amazing what happens when a plant is placed in the right spot.

The divided coreopsis which has doubled in size.

See? Only 3 photos. Maybe next time I blog I'll be finished and have more photos to share. I can hardly wait!

Paging Elmer Fudd

By Paula Matter

I had a nice, upbeat post all prepared for today. You would've loved reading all about the progress I've made in my garden. You would've been happy for me. It was that kind of post.

Then I went outside to take a couple more photos. . .

Rabbits: 9 12   Paula: 0

I no longer call the little bastards bunnies.

I'm not going to let them win. No, I'm not a killer (she wrote on a public forum), but I must stop them from destroying my plants. 

A half eaten lily

http://tinyurl.com/3auyhmb

Y'know what? I'm not gonna give the little bastards the satisfaction. Bitching about them gives them power. I'm gonna show you what progress I have made despite their evil ways. I'm at about the midway point.

                                                                      April 2010

                                                                      June 2010

                                                            June 2011 minus the mulch

Putting this photo up here before it's finished is kinda like querying an agent before the book's done.

 

April 2010                                                                                                 June 2011

 

 

                           

 

 

 

 

April 2010                                                                                                 June 2011

 

 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that kind of post since I uploaded only photos. But you do see progress, right? I'll be back in three weeks with the final results. In the meantime . . .  http://tinyurl.com/4xp9e55



Why is it?

by Joyce

Why is it that when it's my turn to blog, I can't think of anything interesting to write about? 

I have plenty of ideas for fiction projects. Blog posts? Not so much. So I'm going to bore everyone to death and talk about yard work.



We've been doing a lot of yard work over the past few weeks. (Hubby really started in March--he drastically pruned an overgrown maple tree, rebuilt a retaining wall, and re-seeded two areas of lawn.) We had three tons of rocks delivered and hubby built a stone wall at the top of the hill in the backyard. It's like a small version of the walls they have all over the Gettysburg battlefield. I should be fair and say that my contribution to the wall building was bringing hubby an occasional glass of water or an ice cold beer. The rocks were too heavy for me.

Two days later, we had seven yards of shredded bark mulch delivered and dumped at the bottom of the driveway. In case you don't know, a yard is 27 cubic feet. One yard will fill approximately nine wheelbarrows. Seven yards is a pile about five feet high and about ten to twelve feet in diameter. It's big. We have a lot of beds to mulch, and they look really nice now.

Needless to say, I'm not getting much writing done.

The good news is the yard is almost in shape with plenty of time to sit and enjoy it.

More on Spring

by Joyce

I thought I'd continue Annette's theme from yesterday. I'm in the same frame of mind--it's hard to get much writing done when the outdoors is calling. In my case, however, the outdoors is not telling me to take a walk with my muse. It's more like it's yelling, "Hey, lazy butt! Get out here and clean out this flower bed!"

A little hard to ignore. Believe me, I tried.

So, I finally gave in and began the annual ritual called Yard Clean-Up. My husband got a head start this year. He decided some of the trees in the back yard were a little too tall. As in, if they fall in the wrong direction, they're taking out the sunroom and maybe part of the roof, too. He bought this nifty thing called a "high-limb chain saw." It's a chain with a rope on each end. You attach a weight to one end, and toss it over the branch you want to cut. At least that's the theory. Most times it lands on every branch except the one you want. When you finally snag the right limb, you just saw your little heart out and hope you run fast enough to keep the branch from landing on your head. I watched from the safety of the kitchen window with my finger on the speed dial for 911. Fortunately, there were no mishaps. And you'd never believe how many logs we got from just a few branches.

Anyway, I've been cleaning dead leaves out of shrubs, raking up the mulch, pulling grass out of the perennial beds (did you ever notice that grass will always grow where you don't want it to?) I even pruned my grape vines, much to the consternation of my Italian neighbor, Mario. "You're notta gonna get any grapes. In Italy, we pruna them in November." I wanted to tell him that the last time I checked, Pittsburgh ain't Italy. Instead I just smiled.

With the temperature in the 80s this week, it's hard to believe that only two months ago the back yard looked like this:

Here's what it looks like now:

And hopefully what it should look like in a couple more months: