sidetracked

Today I went out intending to straighten another line of bricks on the garden edging, some are still wonky. But I got distracted by doing things with plants instead! I guess that's a good sign of my interest reviving. I cleared grass and spreading bugleweed from the stone edge on the side bed in the backyard, pulled most of the violets out of the front bed, yanked out all the 'autumn joy' sedums in that area (they look diseased), dug and planted in their spot a few lungwort babies, cleared some weeds and sensitive fern (dying back) from around the young arborvitae on the sunny sideyard, pulled up the milkweed over there (it looks sickly too, and I still don't have any monarchs visiting), turned part of the leaf mulch pile and mulched all of the front bed. Whew! 

I wore my skating knee pads while doing the work. It really saves some aches.

My canna lilies died this past winter too. They had never flowered, so I don't feel that's too much loss.

The beautyberry are looking fantastic! I should get some photos (might edit to add later). Even the young ones I dug up and transplanted few years ago, are looking nice (though not making decorative berries yet). I have one in the front bed and am really looking forward to how showy that will be someday soon.

reckoning

There's a lot to re-evaluate as I start working in the garden again. I found out which plants can't survive the winter without extra mulch and care. I've lost my potted figs, chocolate mint, green onions, tarragon, some stinking hellebores, the hyssop, winter savory and probably more that I can't remember now. Or have forgotten their names. 

I was surprised to find that both rosemary plants are still alive- doing better when I ignored them. My shady sideyard has been overwhelmed by the joe pye weed and black-and-blue salvia (which pleases me). The salvia crowded out the lamb's ears and gladiolas. Somehow I don't mind loosing some glads- I'm not as fond of them anymore- but I do miss the lamb's ears. Mabye I will try to move them to a different spot, because I love seeing the blue salvia thrive. I even saw two hummingbirds fighting over the space this week! 

I find I'm not too keen on the yellow salvia under my trees anymore, or the sensitive fern that looks terrible half the year, or the 'autumn joy' sedums that the deer munch on so they don't look great and have very few blooms. My lilac appears to be suffering, some branches have died, and my lavender is much reduced in size, but I cut out a lot of dead stems and hope it will grow back.

Today I pulled out a ton of mock strawberry in and around some garden beds, and straightened out one whole brick row of edging, on bed 4. I thought I was lining the bricks up straight enough, but then when I got to the end the last brick wouldn't meet the corner one square. So I took them all off again and ran a string line from one end to the other. Redid it- much straighter! Packed the clay soil in tight underneath and hopefully I won't have to re-do this one for several years (the clay gets pretty solid). I'm pleased because this bed has always had a crooked edge where the stump of an old tree never came out. I finally broke up and removed most of that. Then planted some calamint (nepitella) along the edge- which I'd pulled up when trimming in the front bed. Stems had rooted where they trailed on the ground. Easy to move and put in more areas. Such a bright, sharp scent.

The lovage there at the end wasn't doing too great but a few weeks ago I cut out yellowing foliage, weeded around it, mulched and watered. It's perking up a little bit.

In bed 1, I yanked out all the mock strawberry but left half a dozen of this plant that's growing there as volunteer (or weed) also. I've always left a few of these around the yard, they seem to get eaten more by the insects - so I view it as a decoy or trap plant. I still don't know what it is!

I was also pleased to see that the little broken stone "mowing strip" I dug in along the outside base of bed 1, is mostly still in place! There were some weeds in the cracks but once I pulled those up, it was far easier to make this a clean edge when mowing. Encourages me to continue with that project (I have a lot of rocks stacked on my bench intended for this). There are more edging bricks to straighten too (as visible on the left).

Here's the few herbs I have: parsley, thyme and chives. All bought as starts from the nursery months ago, I didn't do anything from seed this year. With my cat Eliza in the window.

She was meowing at me.

I had basil and mint also, but they died. I forget to water sometimes, still. I've removed and dumped the soil from the planter boxes that hung on my deck railings. One was badly cracked and spilled- I'd fixed it with duct tape years ago but it wasn't holding and looked awful. Another was warped, and all four the plastic really faded and discolored. Not sure yet if I will replace those or use them somewhere else. 

It's a lot of work but I'm trying to just do a little bit at a time. Mostly focused on rebuilding and fixing structures in the garden, improving the soil again (when I pulled off the bricks, nice to see the soil was still dark and healthy-looking under the dried crusty top inches), and getting rid of weeds. Have to figure out a fencing solution too, or the rabbits will just eat everything I grow. Oddly, I have not seen many squirrels in my yard this year. We do have red-tailed hawks, an owl and foxes that come through regularly, I wonder if they have just reduced the numbers. Or if they don't have as many nuts to bury, or if they aren't interested in digging in my garden because the soil got so hard and compacted without me working and amending it.

tiny frog

The garden is still neglected, though I have begun to work in it again. Clearing weeds, spreading some light mulch, hauling extra dirt in from a neighbor. It's mostly clay so I mixed in some old potting soil and a handful of compost with live worms, per bag, letting it sit for a while. One bag didn't get the compost. Will see if it breaks down and improves a bit over the next few months (I'm not ready to spread it yet, going to straighten some of the garden edging and maybe transplant a few things out first).

Nicotiana and borage are still self-seeding, and the plant I think is shiso but never confirmed.

I looked over the railing the other day and saw something on a leaf. 

Went down and looked closer: a tiny tree frog. The size of my thumbnail. 

So cute. Of course it kept hopping away from us, but I called my kid down to see and we took pictures and got it to sit on our hands a moment. (Washed them well afterwards).

four years

That's how long I've had Tucker.

I think it's the longest I've kept any paradise fish. He's the only fish I have now. With lots of snails.

I think he looks pretty good.

I think my cats

are best buddies now. They have two cat beds side-by-side, but try to fit in the same one together. It's snug!

Mabel wouldn't look at me when I squeaked to get them both facing the camera. 

baby snake

Found along the edge of garden bed, when I was trimming back the grass. After spending hours out there (or so it felt like) pulling the weeds from the beds. I saw this wriggle away and thought it was a large earthworm, but it moved differently. I actually saw three of them- and caught one (gently) just to take a picture.

Tiny Northern brown snake! (my best guess at identifying). I am fairly sure it is the same species I saw years ago as adult- I'm glad to know they're thriving in my yard. This one so small it's the width of my wedding ring. Literally.

I show nothing of the garden yet because it's in such terrible shape. But there are a few flowers lingering even though the heat- from a mixed packet my sister sent me last year. (I don't know which these are)

little celosias

It's started to come back- my desire to work in the yard and garden. I just woke up one day and felt like going out there and doing stuff. Maybe the malaise from TBI is finally lifting. Yesterday I actually went out and cleared all the weeds and dead plants from the garden beds- it's still rather untidy with leggy going-to-seed nicotiana and some other flowers leaning all over the place. But looks a bit cared for now. I also weeded out the front bed, which is full of gaps and alarming empty spaces since I cut back the boxwoods severely months ago and it is so slow to regrow (but showing some progress now). My next task is to dig out the bottom of the leaf pile and spread mulch here. And then plant something. Not more boxwood (one of them has died). Maybe a beautyberry, or an azalea.

But what really was my first move into doing plant stuff again was for someone else. Or a bunch of someones. I'd weeded the mailbox spot when trimming edges for mowing again, and there were a lot of little celosia seedlings growing up in the grass just outside the bed. I felt bad to keep just mowing their tops off, so I pulled most of them, potted up, and gave away via the online neighborhood group. At least half a dozen people came and took some. 

They were so sad when first potted up!

So spent a few days in my mini greenhouse to recover with some extra humidity. It was nice to put the greenhouse to use again. 

Part of the roof panel had torn off from the wind, so I fastened on some temporary plastic sheeting. On one short side, the plastic shower liner has started to tear. I taped it up. It's the section that was already used when I put it on here- the liner that I bought new shows no signs of wear yet. A year for that is pretty good I think, and if the new-bought one last two or three years, even better. It was only five dollars. Ten bucks every few years to re-skin my greenhouse is great.

Back to the plants- they all perked up and looked fine by the time I set them out for giveaways. It felt satisfying to get my hands a little dirty again.