Wednesday, June 4, 2014

An Afternoon of Gardening


Very proud of these, because I started them from seed last year!  

This bed is not too bad... I'll work in it in a few days.  Yes, I have to cut trees out of it... 
but all in all, the plants grew closely enough together that weeds 
were pushed out. 


Blooming, and soon to bloom... and the little tree... soon to be dug out! 


These beautiful red lilies were hiding under some volunteer sunflowers. 

The orange lillies in front of them are about to bloom.  I got these at 
WalMart several years ago at the end of the season... and they are coming back nicely. 


Here is the reason I am working so hard... the south bed became totally overgrown... okay, not totally, but very overgrown.  This is the end that still needs intense work.  The clump in the middle WAS kniphofia, but 
I am not sure any is left.  There IS still  a clump to the right, but you would never know it from the weeds.  

I'll work on this tomorrow afternoon. 


Here is what I was working on.  I lost one of the asclepias plants... the orange one.  I lost all three of the buddleias... and tomorrow, I am going to take the pruning shears and cut as much of them down as I can.
I can't dig them out, so maybe I can find another solution. 

Now... let me tell you about the "mulch". 

When the goats left, I had put two bales of straw in the hay barn. 

I swung the door open today and saw this: 



Not one, but two wasp nests.  If some of you recall, we were both stung several times last summer in the goat barn, and we had to finally resort to getting an exterminator to come and get rid of the wasps for us. 
You KNOW I do not like to kill God's creatures.  

I did not get threatened today, but boy, was I watching. 

I got as much loose straw out as I could with the pitchfork. 

Then, I went back for more.  I thought something was wrong, and when I pulled the bale out 
into the cart.. I smelled something good. 

It was HAY. 


I went ahead and cut it up into flakes... and hauled it over to the garden.  I would not normally use hay as mulch because of the seeds in it, but you know I am trying hard to save money in any way I can. 


I am leaving some of the volunteer sunflowers, and that's a Stella D'Oro daylilly already blooming in the foreground.  Tomorrow, I'll rake all the weeds up, and work on that north end of the south bed.  

I still have work to do here, too, at the new house... I have some petunias to put in, but I need one more bag of Miracle Grow potting mix, and I am too pooped to go get one tonight.  I'll swing by Wal Mart in the morning and get that bag. 

Some of these plants are coming here, as I can get the planters filled. 


Those clouds didn't really keep me from perspiring all afternoon.  Whew! 

We are expecting bad weather on Friday now... instead of Thursday.  We got only the tail end of the storms that came through Nebraska and Iowa last night, and we hoped none of our friends or family up there had trouble. 

Looks like no one did! 

It's lonely out there without the chickens around me... I admit it.  I'm also missing my little companion who was always at my feet, there and here. 

We have water in our side yard again, but I have watched the robins and starlings today... they are bathing in it!  I'm going to have to get a small birdbath for them to enjoy this summer. 

Oh, PS, as they say...

Here I talked last night and said I would use Round Up on the weeds in our new backyard. 

Today I ran an absolutely SCATHING criticism of Roundup... so I'm having second thoughts about that! 
I don't want to do anything else to hurt the bees. 



6 comments:

  1. Oh Mary Ann,,,
    its all your way of letting go, We all have our own ways. All of our pain is diffferent.
    We know you would not hurt a fly.. your heart is big,, and so full of emotions.
    I am sorry you have to go through this,, I am sorry your heart is hurting,,, and things aren't like they used to be.
    I am so sorry.
    love
    tweedles

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mary Ann, I hate Roundup with a passion. It was what our neighbor sprayed last year, that killed our whole garden. That stuff is dangerous in my opinion.
    I know how much you are missing your animals, especially Abby. Hang in there!
    You are making the old place look great. Good therapy for you too. I hope your hubby is feeling better. Just think, you will soon just have to be concerned about your current home, You can relax some then. Have a good one!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do hope the weeds stay gone now after all your hard work. Weeds do seem to grow no matter what. I am fighting the battle here and those little trees are everywhere too. One thing I have to be very careful of is poison ivy. I got it really bad a few years ago when weeding and am now very leery of it. Hope you have a wonderful Thursday there. We have a cool start here with only 54 degrees but it will be warming back up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm suffering in the humidity, too! These are the times one wonders, "What was I thinking?" Big yards and flower beds are wonderful, but they require an awful lot of work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The beds are coming along great! Love all the flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I fink Ms. Mary Ann if you are really really quiet you will feel little Abby right there beside you right where she wants to be. Hugs and Love.
    Stella Rose, Margaret Mae and of course Angus McConnell

    ReplyDelete

I love comments!