This morning saw the husband and daughter head off to go white water rafting. (My hernia problems have kept me from joining them for several years now. Bummer, but it beats having a second hernia surgery, which the surgeon warned would not be as quick or easy to recover from as the first.)
As soon as I got them out the door and finished a cup of coffee, I poured a second mug to go and headed to town in search of anaheim pepper plants. Three nurseries later, no anaheims, but amazingly, my car was full of plants, wheat straw...and a cantaloupe. The aroma of wheat brought back memories of riding in an un-airconditioned pickup as we bounced along rutted dirt roads and fields, to check on the guys in the field, harvesting the wheat or baling hay. I remember those trips as hot, dry, dusty and I was probably cranky and whiny. But the smell of wheat brings back a flood of good memories. Long days, when the sun didn't set until after my bedtime, and when I was the one asking "what's for dinner?" instead of the one answering.
The cantaloupe smells luscious...we'll see if its taste lives up to its smell when I slice it for breakfast tomorrow.
The additional tomatoes (2 Health Kick and a Black Prince), a hot chili pepper, plus zucchinis, cucumbers and pole beans are in the ground, and everything is mulched with straw. It was tremendously hot and muggy work, but middle child helped, so the job went much faster than it would have otherwise. Thunder grumbled a few times while we worked, but it held off while we broke for lunch. As soon as I began setting out the bedding plants and perennials, the rain began in earnest, so I took it as a sign to break for a while. Hopefully it will clear off and I can go back out and finish up everything today. But in the meantime, my desk is going to get a deep cleaning and the card table that has been set up for VBS activities will be tucked away in its rightful home. Order WILL be restored to my workspace today.
Jun 12, 2010
Jun 11, 2010
Daylilies: here today, gone tomorrow
We created the bed alongside the driveway 8 years ago by my guess-timation. The guys laid the landscape timbers to my specifications, we added leaves and compost that fall, and I covered the mess with plastic for a little natural radiation treatment on the bermudagrass.
The following spring, we removed the plastic, and I introduced about 150 daffodils bulbs. I then drove to a private residence on the north side of Knoxville and helped myself to daylilies from the friend who lived there. I distinctly remember planting them because that was the year I broke my great toe on my left foot. I sat on the ground, squatted on an upturned bucket and contorted my body to baby that toe as I dug hole after hole for the clumps to fit in. The friend has since relocated to the Houston area, but her daylily divisions remain part of my landscaping - the daffodil/daylily combinaton is something I saw touted in Southern Living many years ago. Over the years, I've divided and shuffled my own daylily clumps, trying to get a better blend of colors and blooming times down through this very long bed (the driveway stretches about 70 feet through here before widening in the turnaround area adjacent to the garage bays.) I've also added a few dozen varieties, thanks to plant sales and eBay.
The introduction of a sprinkler system last year has helped the plants in this bed tremendously. The bed is located under a couple (beautiful) sugar maples that suck the nutrients and moisture from the soil every chance they get. My efforts at keeping the bed watered with a hose have always been hit-or-miss, so now they're responding well to the more regular waterings thanks to a timer and pop-up head sprayers. The daffodils are probably saying a silent prayer as they recover from their late winter/early spring display. That's okay - they can thank me by showing off next spring.
For the next few weeks, the daylilies will be on parade, with one after another blooming until they're all spent. The purple ruellia I dug up out of the cow pasture behind us has finally settled in and filled in some of the blank spots, so it will provide some color after the daylilies are gone. If I had room, I'd introduce some crocosmia to the bed, just to keep the color going into early fall but I think this bed is near capacity. And in case you think I can't mix colors, check this out.
Put on your sunglasses for indeed, it is a combination of bright yellow (I love the spider-y dayliliies) a vivid cherry pink, right in the middle of pale pink, lavender with a splash of red and orange thrown in for good measure. Subtle and demure are not my strong suit - at least when it comes to flower colors. What can I say? I live in a state that thinks orange looks good on all skin tones!
The introduction of a sprinkler system last year has helped the plants in this bed tremendously. The bed is located under a couple (beautiful) sugar maples that suck the nutrients and moisture from the soil every chance they get. My efforts at keeping the bed watered with a hose have always been hit-or-miss, so now they're responding well to the more regular waterings thanks to a timer and pop-up head sprayers. The daffodils are probably saying a silent prayer as they recover from their late winter/early spring display. That's okay - they can thank me by showing off next spring.
For the next few weeks, the daylilies will be on parade, with one after another blooming until they're all spent. The purple ruellia I dug up out of the cow pasture behind us has finally settled in and filled in some of the blank spots, so it will provide some color after the daylilies are gone. If I had room, I'd introduce some crocosmia to the bed, just to keep the color going into early fall but I think this bed is near capacity. And in case you think I can't mix colors, check this out.
Jun 8, 2010
June is the dangerous season
It's the perfect storm for any gardener who also happens to be a bargain shopper. The nurseries start slashing prices on their remaining spring perennials, just to move them out of the way so THEY don't have to water them all summer. (That should be a clue right there.) And I always have a few bare spots that need a little something, and an urge to fill them with something new and fun...and cheap.
So the markdowns beckon. Sure, they're a little shopworn, lanky and in need of TLC, but they're cheap. Dirt cheap. Enticingly cheap....so I take a few (?) home with good intentions of planting and nursing them. It's hot outside, and there's plenty of other things to do today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Sometimes my "foundlings" sit in their pots, slowly declining until they're finally brown and crispy and they get pitched when fall cleanup time rolls around. Or I actually do get them planted, but then forget my promise to water them and keep up with them all summer. So when the frost comes, they go to that great compost heap in the sky, never to return.
I know all this, in my head and in my heart. And yet I am fighting the urge to just go SEE what the nurseries have left in stock. My optimistic side is telling the rest of me that this year can be different - this is the year I will keep them watered all summer. Sigh... When will I learn my lesson?
In other news, I discovered that I do not care for whole-wheat sourdough bread. The wheat and sourdough flavors fight each other and nobody wins. Next time we'll try half white, half wheat. But at least my sourdough starter got a much-needed feeding. The honey-lime glaze on the salmon went over well with the men in the family; I thought it was okay, but not as good as the chili-lime sauce for chicken. And my salmon grilling skills need some work - it always winds up just a little dry. The only thing to do is just keep trying, I guess! Today I've got a crockpot of Kim's baked beans going for a pre-Bunco picnic buffet. It ought to be a fun night, and it'll keep me from moping around while the youngest is away at swim camp. I hear-tell she's having a great time, although she hasn't called to tell me personally. See my lip quivering? Hmmmm?
So the markdowns beckon. Sure, they're a little shopworn, lanky and in need of TLC, but they're cheap. Dirt cheap. Enticingly cheap....so I take a few (?) home with good intentions of planting and nursing them. It's hot outside, and there's plenty of other things to do today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Sometimes my "foundlings" sit in their pots, slowly declining until they're finally brown and crispy and they get pitched when fall cleanup time rolls around. Or I actually do get them planted, but then forget my promise to water them and keep up with them all summer. So when the frost comes, they go to that great compost heap in the sky, never to return.
I know all this, in my head and in my heart. And yet I am fighting the urge to just go SEE what the nurseries have left in stock. My optimistic side is telling the rest of me that this year can be different - this is the year I will keep them watered all summer. Sigh... When will I learn my lesson?
In other news, I discovered that I do not care for whole-wheat sourdough bread. The wheat and sourdough flavors fight each other and nobody wins. Next time we'll try half white, half wheat. But at least my sourdough starter got a much-needed feeding. The honey-lime glaze on the salmon went over well with the men in the family; I thought it was okay, but not as good as the chili-lime sauce for chicken. And my salmon grilling skills need some work - it always winds up just a little dry. The only thing to do is just keep trying, I guess! Today I've got a crockpot of Kim's baked beans going for a pre-Bunco picnic buffet. It ought to be a fun night, and it'll keep me from moping around while the youngest is away at swim camp. I hear-tell she's having a great time, although she hasn't called to tell me personally. See my lip quivering? Hmmmm?
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