The Ungulate House Garden: April 1999
April 2
noonish:
The raspberry plants arrived today! Eeek! And we are so not
ready to put them in -- haven't even touched that part of the yard yet,
and it's all hard and compacted and unworked. Eeek!
later that evening:
My muscles are going to hate me in the morning. Sean and I dug a veritable
Marianas Trench in the backyard for the raspberry and strawberry plants
(which were in the same package). This part of the yard had definitely
never been a worked bed. Once we got underneath the grass and dandelions,
there was good, if very clay-ey soil, and lots of big rocks.
Right now it's still just a trench, and tomorrow morning we'll put most
of the dirt back in, mixed with mushroom soil, compost and some composted
manure. And of course, when I went to Home Depot to get the six bags
of soil/manure, I found another plant that desperately wanted to come home
with me, so now there is a lovely pale purple dwarf rhododendron on the
patio that will go in the front yard. I'm thinking of tearing all the evergreen
except one fir tree out, and replacing all the shrubbery with purple rhodies
and purple heather. It would go so well with the pink house. :)
The shallots just arrived too, but I stuck them in the fridge until
I have time to think again.
April 5
We managed to get all the raspberries and strawberries planted. The poor
things look so straggly and unloved! Also, planted more parsley and
violas (in the lovely, biodegradable paper pots made of paper bags by my
PotMaker(tm)).
My muscles are so very very sore.
April 6
The peas have started to grow! There is a small little orderly line
of green sprouting up. Unfortunately, there is also grass and dandelion
that managed to fight through the layer of newspaper to take advantage
of the nice compost on top, and it's rather difficult to eradicate.
April 8
My opinion of crocuses is beginning to change. Yes, they are delightful
harbingers of spring, and I was thrilled out of my head to see them finally
blooming on our front walk. However, they get really disgusting and
slimy once their bloom has past. Feh.
The strawberries have started to grow leaves again, which excites me
no end. I did just realize that I was about to plant shallots right next
to the peas, and onions (which I assume shallots are sufficiently closely
related to that I should worry about this) are apparently bad for peas.
Sigh. So I have to rearrange again. And since it's been so sunny, I need
to get everything in THIS WEEKEND. eek!
Just added pictures for the second half of March.
April 9
The apple trees are suddenly covered all over with little green leaves,
and the cherry trees at work are overflowing with pink. It rained
all day today, though, so I couldn't go out and enjoy all the new growth.
April 10
Mid-day
Just taking a break from all the hot sun and digging, and thought I
would do an update. Bobbi came by and traded me daylilies, iris, and an
unidentified purple flowering plant for some of my excess strawberry plants.
This morning so far I've planted the unidentified plant, strawberries,
cucumbers, fennel, parsley, nasturtiums, coriander, shallots and mint.
And transplanted some cherry tomatoes. Whee!
And tonight at 6 we stop by our massage therapist's house to get some
plants (bleeding heart, fern, whatever else strikes our fancy) out of her
over-flowing garden.
It looks like I didn't manage to kill the roses, either -- both of them
are showing leaves again. Yay!
Midnight
What a lovely day! The final count added periwinkle, ajuga, bishop's
weed, forget-me-not (all courtesy Erin), as well as oregano and marigold.
And we ripped out a full third of the front lawn putting in the periwinkle
and other flowering ground cover. My muscles will hate me in the morning,
but for now I'm delighted. We talked to a bunch of our neighbors
too, who we hardly know even though we've lived here a year. Gardening
in your front yard seems to invite conversation.
April 12
Some pernicious varmint has been pulling up my strawberries!
Yesterday, I figured it might be a fluke, somehow, those two forlorn
bundles of root and twig lying on the ground. But this evening, I came
home to another murdered plant, in the very same bed. I've replanted
this one, though I'm not very hopeful it will have survived it's day exposed
to the hot sun. And Carrie and I just laid chickenwire over the entire
bed. If they make it through that, I'm really not sure what to do.
On the front lawn front, we're about two-thirds done, and while it doesn't
look great yet, it is vaguely presentable (especially after I transplanted
a bunch of healthy, flowering periwinkle from the side yard. And I've seen
lots of periwinkle yards around the neighborhood, now that I'm looking
for them. So it should work, shouldn't it?
April 18
Just a quick note while I'm waiting for the cookies to cool ... the weather
has been grey, dull and rainy all week, greatly reducing my inspiration
to work in the garden. And we're "between blooms" on the flowers, so it
just looks depressing to look out on the gray and brown world. The weeds
are flourishing, of course. And it does look like the ground cover we planted
out front survived, though of course it has not yet begun to spread. Sean's
out taking up the last bit of lawn now. Oh, and we bought an ax,
and chopped down the first of the two trees that are going to go. So we
have a lot more yard now, or will once we chop up and haul away the remaining
branches.
A squirrel is sitting atop the garage, with a very bushy tail. He's
flapping it so hard it looks like a furry flag in a windstorm.
(garden)