Gardening Expectations

We had hoped to start construction of the greenhouse next week... and are still planning it.  This week Keith is busy with all day meetings, and we are expecting The Weather Event of the Winter on Thursday, according to our weathermen.  Snow, Sleet, Ice, the whole caboodle.  For right now, here are our plastic sheets: 

They are on the ground because in yesterday's 30 mile an hour winds, they began to sail away from where they were stacked on the side of the henspa, even with the 4 x 4s you see on the ground stacked up against them.  We had to weight them down, literally.  Lifting one in any wind is akin to taking off... we are warning you of this.  We will be putting the greenhouse together on NO WIND days. 

They are on the side of the henspa, near the garden, where no one will have to walk while the snow is on the ground this week. 

Last year, I bought a very good book on Amazon by Sydney Eddison, who has been a life-long gardener and raised hundreds of daylillies in her gardens, where she worked alongside her husband.  Then, she was widowed.  She came to the realization that, in order to keep gardening, she would have to cut back and replace some of those perennials that she had always loved with easy-care shrubs, etc.  (The book is called : Gardening for a Lifetime).  Today, while out in the yard, I took some pictures. 

Please note that the green you see coming up is GRASS, that I am going to have to dig out next week (OR pull up, as some of it is in the lasagna layers, and is easy to get out)

Not grass... yarrow, or achillea.  

And the north side of the arbor. 

Do you see what I've done to myself? 

I babied 15 perennials on the deck all last summer, because by the time I was ready to plant them, the gardens were burning up.  I took a chance and put them in in September, and almost all died.  That is a LOT of money to throw away... nursery grown perennials can be anywhere from 7.50 apiece to 12.50 or more apiece.  This year, I'm planting annuals, because I suspect we are going to have another hot summer, and the water can only go so far.  I have bought lots of annual seeds from Burpee, and from Thompson and Morgan. 

Some of the perennials are still alive, but my point here is... I'm not getting any younger, and I realize it now.  The days of having my grandson over for a few days of digging are past, too, so I am going to streamline and make things as easy for myself as I can.  Oh, yes, there are still going to be sacks of dirt hauled around, and raking, and digging... but I hope less and less as the beds mature and self-seed. 

Something is going on in the henspa for the past 3 days.  A group of five little bantam hens has stopped laying, and are hiding under the nest box back in the corner.  I'm not sure when they are coming out to eat and drink... or get warm under the light in there.  Tomorrow, I'm putting the critter cam in there and I'm going to find out who is bedeviling them... and then that offender (or offenders) is going back to the old henhouse.  

I'll report on that tomorrow night. 

Here was a little visitor yesterday: 

All the wildings are going to get extra feed these next few days.  If we DO get the ice and sleet, it is going to be critical to their well-being to have food and water.  

Abby's making sure she knows where all the shelters are! 

That's it for today from Calamity Acres!