My little mitts are screaming. I have vowed that from now on, Sunday morning is my date with the garden. Last year I laid a very good foundation for more intensive work this year. I put some heat-hardy native perennials in strategic spots and 95% of those are back so far, so in that I am well-pleased. I spent a goodly bit of time weeding, and the muscles around my fingers are aching in a terrible way, today. I know it will come sooner or later, but I'm such a hands-on person that I really dread having arthritis someday. It's gonna suck.
That said, I took my handy dandy weeding tool about and popped up loads of dandelions and milkweed. There's a techinque to it, and when you have it down, it's kind of satisfying to slide the blade into the soil parallel to the plant, prise slightly and then the rewarding *pop* as the root gives way and pops free like a little carrot. That said, it's a shame the milkweed is such an odious plant in other ways, because it had a very lovely dusty blue and dusty purple cast to the leaves, and if it weren't such an exponential proliferator, I would let them go hog-wild. Not to be: out they must go.
Again, my paws are aching. *whimper*
I put out a lovely purple creeping phlox that I just love-- they make such nice mounds of color that come back year after year. Then I put a lush gallon pot of hydrangea at the edge of the porch step. I'm hoping for a massive profusion of blooms there soon.
A lovely Purple Finch couple have taken up residence in the nesty corner at the top of the porch ceiling. There's a lovely fat blue egg in the nest now, and since I'm going to be a Granny to a little birdie family, I thought I'd better put out a birdbath. Found a lovely one at Tuesday Morning. Himself most gallantly got me a couple of finch feeders and my little avian paradise is on its way. Put up a lovely hanging basket with blue lobelia and red pertoonies (that's what ancient Mrs. Kennedy fetchingly dubbed petunias) and some lovely yellow daisy flowers. I'm determined to have the place looking like a jewel box by the time Fall rolls around.
It's good to be gardening again. It's been too long. :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
5 comments:
I've had to a bunch of that this year, but I prefer to wage chemical warfare on the little critters. I've got a small sprayer that I can adjust the spray nozzle to a pin-point, and I mix up a load of RoundUp and Weed-B-Gon, and give em a zap dead center.
Take a day or two, but they just dry up and disappear.
Can't use that method in the back yard because of the dogs, so it's 'hands-and-knees' time ripping them out like you do!
Um... isn't that called nesting??? :-) Good for you, plants DO make a house a home in so many ways...
It does my heart good just to read about people gardening. I still have three foot snow banks in the yard, so I have to live vicariously.
Two days of weeding in Vinoland and I was walking around for a further 2 days with 2 things resembling claws, not hands!
You might leave a few milkweeds for the butterflies. Maybe a corraled patch over in a corner?
LittleRed1
Post a Comment