As a mother to two toddlers I am quite busy and so I was thrilled that my wonderful husband gave me two wonderful Mother’s Day presents. The first was time with my pick-ax in the garden. I was able to remove a dead rhodie and plant a wonderful new lilac in its place- all without having to mind two children. I also moved a Maltese Cross, planted some lime grasses and pulled a weed or too. Then, it was off to the concrete store. Yes, you heard my right! My second Mother’s Day surprise was picking out a fountain for the back yard. We also got a very nice Japanese pagoda lantern for the flower bed and a little bear figure for the kids. The fountain will take some setting up, but everything else has a home and looks great. Finally, I was also honored with a bouquet of 30 cheerful tulips and some very nice cards. It’s hard work, but very satisfying being a mother. To all you mothers out there, may you be as satisfied and happy with your roles as I am!
Mulching, weeding and seeding
| Kids in the Garden, Tips & Tricks, new plantings | 0 Comments
Over the weekend I pulled weeds from a new section of my slope flower bed and mulched the remaining existing flower beds that were still bare. Now I just I have to mulch the new slope beds, but I need to do a lot more weeding first, hopefully throughout this coming week. I also planted a pot of wildflowers that I had sown from seed last year. Actually, some of last years wildflowers actually came up and are blooming on my slope. I’m hoping more will take off.
Also, for the first time last night it was warm enough that the slugs were out and so I was out with my ammonia mixture and spray bottle. See my tips and tricks page for details. The slugs I hit were small, plentiful, and now dead and even more slimy. I’ll keep you posted as to how my slugs are this year as I aim to be vigilant. So far there is just very minimal slug damage mainly because it has been so cool outside.
Today, my 2 and a half year old and I sowed seeds into little starter pots. We planted cut and come again zinnia, little bear pumpkins, sunflowers, butterfly weed and bachelor buttons. It will be fun to see how quickly they germinate and what my daughter’s reaction will be.
Otherwise, my daughters and I spent about an hour picnicking and playing in the backyard after I mowed the lawn. It was sunny, 67 degrees with a pleasant breeze. It was very peaceful and relaxing and it’s for moments like these that I work so hard on my yard. The flowers were blooming, the birds were frequent and the only thing missing was my husband who had to fly to California for an early Monday AM meeting. Otherwise, it was the perfect family time.
Yesterday I spent about 40 minutes in the garden weeding the ornamental strawberry patch before the clover takes over. Hopefully the mulching will happen today. My list of gardening tasks is a mile long, but I am making progress in small chunks of time here and there as I can fit it in between mothering.
Otherwise, I found a pale blue bird egg in the garden under a tree. I searched the tree, but there was no nest to be found. Perhaps a bird just laid the egg on a branch? I heard they sometimes do that. Usually hummingbirds hang out in this particular tree, but they have nests and much smaller eggs (I’ve seen them!) so I have no idea how this poor little egg got so lost.
New plantings:
- BRODIAEA LAXA ROYAL BLUE
Today I planted the 3 copper hanging baskets for my entry way and turned on the sprinkler system. I tested the front 2 zones and had to dig out 4 sprinkler heads from overgrown grass. What a pain! Also, I need to clean a couple of the sprinkler heads. I’ll try one. If too unpleasant, I am calling a contractor. Just 5 more zones to test. What fun.
What’s in my hanging baskets:
- purple sweet potato vine
- burgundy pelargonium
- white bacopa
Today I spent 3 exhausting, but satisfying hours in my yard. I replanted my 5 annuals planters in the front of my house and spruced up 2 planters on the back patio. I cleaned out my 3 copper hanging baskets and am getting these ready for new plantings for the summer. Now I just have to break out the copper cleaner next. Then I planted a lavender and delphinium in the back flower beds and finally weeded two huge buckets full of weeds. There are always more weeds to pull. My plan is to hopefully mulch the final two unmulched beds in the back yard tomorrow. Today’s yardwork was accomplished with my two-year old tagging along the whole time. I put her to work watering my new plantings. Something which which she LOVES to do with her little monkey watering can. Sometimes her shoes get more water than the plants, but she’s actually getting pretty good at handling the watering can.
