Little by Little

I've made some progress in the garden, but some of that has literally washed away due to all of the rain we've had lately. My brother and I got all of the materials for the flower bed walls and he did an excellent job in digging the trenches for the bricks. But in less than 72 hours, all of his hard work got buried in the avalanche of dirt that flowed downhill in the rain. Of course, I made matters worse by digging up all of the weeds and flowers that had served as an anchor for the soil. This means we need to finish the walls and start the next phase soon. My rock garden trench has already been buried under a mound of soil, so I'll have to dig that out as well.

The weed has re-emerged along the fence. It had also started to show signs of coming back in the side yard. Apparently this thing is like kudzu, because eventually it grew over three trees in the backyard, several of the bushes on the side and now it is beginning to threaten the azaeleas and the unknown bushes in the front. One way or another, I plan to conquer this thing. The last thing I need is another visit from the city...

Which brings me to an interesting debate I entered last week on the community listserv. Not about gardening, but certainly about neighbors and their rights. I posted a message about balance, and then I got an offline response that invited me to gain further information about the origins of the issue. Yesterday, I sent a lengthy response. I haven't checked to see what the counter position is, but I mentioned my past issues with the civic association concerning my kudzu problem. I was trying to make a case about how competing interests affect neighborly relations. In my case, I want nothing to do with these busy bodies in the civic association.

But I do want to join the garden club. Mainly because I need advice on tackling some of our problems. I've consulted numerous books and websites, but I think I need to talk to a human being who has some experience with these types of things.

Final note is that I planted the potato plants outside last week. I also planted the onions. I tried to start the carrots, but I guess I forgot to punch out the drainage holes so now the soil is a puddle of mud and I'm sure that the seeds have drowned. Once the weather improves, I will try to fix that problem. I potted the pepper plants yesterday. I realize that I mislabeled the peppers because instead of two little dipper plants, I may actually have one little dipper and one regular bell pepper plant (I saved some seeds as an experiment). I'll have to see what happens with that one. The tomatoes are ready to go outside to harden, but the weather has been too rainy and cold. I'll take them outside this weekend and I will plant them next week. I haven't even started the zucchini, the green beans or any of the other tomato and pepper plants that I had planned. I try to get all of that started by June 1. Since this has been a cold spring, I can anticipate a later summer, and maybe I'll have some plants that will still be producing by October.

Gotta run!

Finally, some progress!

I made some significant progress this past weekend. I finally got around to watering some of the seeds that I had planted but never got started back in March, so right about now I have two pepper plants and at least one tomato plant that survived the initial trauma of my neglect. My teddy bear sunflowers are outside on the front step so that I could make room for other seedlings. Also, sunflowers tend to be hardy plants that can take early exposure to the elements. As a matter of fact, I plan to start a few more for the back yard so that I can have a nice floral frame for the container garden that I have planned for the side.

I have several things to plant, and with so many seed packets awaiting attention, it is a matter of space and time. I really want to start my carrots and zucchini, but I need more soil. And I still need additional room in the sunroom for starting seeds. Oh, and I may need more containers because I don't know how reliable clay pots are for this type of gardening.

I got the first wall built on the side of the house with the able assistance of my brother. Actually, he is the one who built it, I was merely his supervisor, and he even mentioned that he could do the bulk of the work while I am away one evening. I may take him up on that offer. I don't have the patience for that type of tedious work--measuring, staking, digging, etc. The part I enjoyed the most was the brick stacking...although digging in the dirt was fun too.

I feel like a little kid. I want to get a little garden started at my parents' home, but my mother insists that she plans to have grass and flowers inside the fence where I want to garden. I say that she has had plenty of time to do something affirmative, and since she hasn't, my little tomato, pepper and zucchini plants are not that big a deal.

Anyway, I feel good about my work so far. Of course I got a late start because of laziness, but in fact, a few plants are doing ok inside the house. They got started in March, and so by mid-June or July, they should be in full summer bloom.

Still have the daylily problem, but one thing at a time...