The Ungulate House Garden: March 1999, cont.

March 16

We have basil germination! (well, there are little blue things where I sowed some of the basil, and I'm assuming that those are the beginnings of basil plants. They're coming up in both the sweet and thai areas.) Also, I found a fabulous garden journal

March 18

Okay, it wasn't the basil. It was the tomatoes, which are going like gangbusters. (just got pictures back from the lab; should have them up in a day or so.) The snapdragons and parsley are showing signs of life as well.

March 22

(this entry may be expanded in a little bit, when I'm not also rescuing a flailing transit server) It was a most productive weekend. [Sean building the wheelbarrow] Sean and I weeded a bewildering amount of stuff out of the yard, assembled the wheelbarrow, built a raised bed, and planted the peas and sweet peas. It was so incredibly satisfying to build a real thing, with bricks and dirt and compost and everything. I just got the pictures back, will scan in soon.

March 23

We have crocus sign!
And the two daffodil bulbs I rescued during weeding from where they were lying atop the ground and brought inside are growing.

March 27

Saturday again, which means lots of work. We put in half of another bed, raked, weeded and raked and weeded some more. Did I mention the weeding? But things are really starting to come together. Sean also finished the trimming job on the firs in the front yard that I had started; there is actually light entering our living room now, which is very exciting. The nice ladies across the street, who were sitting on their front porch (the real sign that winter is over in this neighborhood) approved.

[Daffodil foliage] The daffodils are completely running amuck, though they aren't blooming yet. We have so many that we've just started digging up the ones that are in the way. I attempted to replant one bunch into a large pot, but we'll see if they survive the shock. I just don't like daffodils as much as I used to, and well, my eyes were so much bigger than the amount of land we've actually got that we can't have them taking up too much space.

Tomorrow morning, it's back to Home Depot for more bricks, and then to track down mint and chamomile seed -- we decided that we're going to sow chamomile at the back of the backyard, and let it slowly creep forward and (hopefully) take over the rest of the grass that way. (Hey, if it's good enough for Buckingham Palace, it is certainly good enough for us!)

March 30

Sean put in some more bricks in the big side bed; I tore out more daffodils with abandon. Some of the ones we've left in have just started to bloom.

At Sunday's Home Depot trip, I of course ended up bringing home more than just bricks. I found a climbing yellow rose called Peace, which I planted tonight after work. Digging a hole that is an entire cubic foot is very satisfying, though difficult.

As Sean was digging the trench for the bricks, we come coming across shards of odd refuse and patches of gravel; sometimes it feels as much like archaelogy as gardening.

(garden)