transplanting

Last nice day before a weekend of rain, so I did more yard work. Raked up dead grass and winter leaves off the lawn, tossed another indoor compost bucket onto the pile outside. And transplanted a few things.

I've always wanted to have a Lilac bush, and never realized there was one growing right in my yard- at the end of the walled garden plot. My mother's had lavender-colored flowers, so I never realized this was the same shrub- ours (and all the neighbors') have dark purple flowers. In some yards they're grown into large tree-shaped bushes, with all the flowers forming on the top. That's what I want, only I know it didn't have room to grow that big inside the raised bed. Plus, it's always in the way of my garden plans (I forget how much the foliage will shade that corner).

So today I was bold and moved it. First I dug a hole where I want it to go, on the slight hillside next to stepping stones down to our patio. Twice as big as I figured the root ball would be. Then I dug up the shrub, working around just outside the drip line. When I levered it out of its spot, though, I'm afraid some of the larger roots broke off. The soil was damp, but most of it fell off the roots. I had to fill in part of the bottom of the new hole, then set the root mass on it and had Daughter hold it upright while I backfilled with dirt from the original spot (since it was more cumbly). Tamped it all down, then made a ring of mulch around a space away from the trunk; first a layer of the dry grass and leaves, then compost on top of that

then the rest of the soil that had come out of the new hole. Then I gave it about two gallons of dishwater. Last of all I clipped off the dead flowerheads that were still lingering from last year (didn't know before I was supposed to trim them after the flowers die).

I hope I haven't killed the poor thing. It's the first time I ever moved a bush. Lilacs are said to be tough, so hopefully it will be okay and continue growing.

There was a little second bush growing just off its base that broke off when I took it out of the ground; I dug a smaller hole and put that one on the other side of the slope. Not with as much care as the bigger bush, and it's so small I didn't even bother to take a picture, it just looks like a large twig stuck into a lump of mud right now.

In another part of the garden, where I turned dirt over for the carrots, found a lot of roots. I'd turned that plot over in the fall, so these were already buried, and it was easy to pull them out. To my surprise, there were little leaves on the top of the long masses of roots- they'd been growing again, several inches under the ground!

I'm pretty sure its the Clover, and to reward it for such tenacity (and out of pure curiosity to see if it will grow, and if it is the clover) I've planted them again in an empty corner of the garden, next to the cauliflower rows.

Just to see what happens.