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:
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
I spent yesterday spreading 4 bags of shredded bark mulch on one of my remaining two un-mulched flower beds. My 2 and half year old kept busy by blowing every dandelion seed head into the wind that she could find in my meadow area. I just watched the seeds fly around and know I will be pulling weeds for months to come. Of course, I helped blow every seed head my daughter brought me never letting on how conflicted I was feeling about the fun we were having. Every new dandelion I will have to pull out of my flower bed later will well be worth it as long as I remember that my daughter helped to “plant” them. I also washed and polished my hanging copper pots so that they would be ready for their summer plantings as well. The white wooden rocking chairs and outdoor furniture also had a good cleaning. I can’t wait for summer to get here!
Some new blooms:
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.
