Two full days of gardening down, and I’ve barely made a dent in the work. It would probably help if I didn’t keep buying plants.
I bought more plants anyway.
Today I bought:
- Three Dianthus (Sweet William) for next to my garden chair
- Two more phlox
- A Germander (I’ve never had one of these)
- A Gaura (beeblossom) for the hummingbirds (for next to my garden chair)
- A lamb’s ear for our daughter for out back
I moved the final plants around in the front beds to make space for everything that’s going to go there. I can’t remember which day I did what,:
- the asters, blue mums, Rudbeckia, blue Salvia, and yarrow are all in their rightful place in the bed in front of the stairs.
- the Gaillardia, Rudbeckia, bee balm, and goldenrod have all been cleared out of the butterfly bush bed
- the butterfly bush, white milkweed, sedums, blue Salvia, Germander, phlox, Gaura, lemon balm, and new Dianthus are all planted in their rightful places in the long lobe of the front bed.
- a Sedum, Rudbeckia, and Gaillardia are by the mailbox. I also moved the tulips around down there.
Today our daughter sowed some blue wheat, and we covered it with twigs to keep the birds from eating the seeds. It looks like a giant nest in the middle of the bed. have no idea if these will work or how they’ll look, but that’s the fun of gardening. If I don’t like the wheat, I can just put an ornamental grass in that spot next year.
Once I got all the plants in place, I started edging the front bed like I did with the herb bed — slice an edge using the half-moon spade, dig a trench using the shovel or a trowel — and then I started mulching.
The front bed is big, so I’m mulching it one section at a time. I hope to finish that on day four, and maybe the mailbox too.
At that point I’ll maybe be able to relax and rest. I’ve got a couple more things I want to do out back, and I’m hopeful I can get to those before this weekend: before the mulch.
The back hill is going to be a beast to spread mulch on, but for that I’ve enlisted the help of Virginia Tech’s Big Event, a student-run day of service where students help residents with projects like painting a house or mulching a garden. I’ve got my fingers crossed it doesn’t get rained (or snowed) out. I’m not sure if I can handle covering that big hill by myself.
