Friday, May 4, 2018

. . . .At Last!!

 Today is the day, HURRAY! Hard to decide which day I was awaiting with more anticipation: the house closing or dirt delivery. Whatever, I am thrilled that Christmas  Garden Day has arrived. Woowoo!!! This pile of luscious black soil was dumped last night around 6pm. I threw the driver a kiss. 
The size of the dump truck was huge and I expected an equal size load of soil, but this may just be the first of many. I expect it will just fill one bay of the three sides of the bed. The interior depth is about 24" and crushed rock is already filling a couple of those inches. Drainage is important, as well as the stability of the beds. When it is dry, our 'soil' is concrete and when it rains a lot it turns to mashed potatoes. I loathe putting down rock in any garden but needs must, as they say in Britain. 


In the meantime I am kinda liking this idea that I saw on Pinterest for keeping garden tools handy and out of the tiny one car garage. This side of our garage is a desert and rarely sees any sun or water. I hope the brooms will be alright there. We have a ton of leaves and tree blooms falling on the patio this Spring so sweeping is a regular task (until we get a leaf blower, which I dislike for the noise it makes). Dave promised to wash and paint this pallet...and I promised to get some hooks to hang small tools like trowels, hedge shears, tree pruners and secuteers.
 Picture of 20140704_201707.jpg 
Speaking of Pinterest, I saw this cute homemade garden pagoda, and tried to assemble one from the debris left from the patio brick. ha! I await one good wind to topple it, hopefully on top of the voracious big fat seedling eating critters that have attacked my efforts.

 Mustn't grumble, I have a good bunch of basil already sprouting its second set of leaves, and loads of zinnia, which seem to sprout overnight. Love their enthusiasm.


 
So many plants ready to plunk in.
 Four clematis, and an equal number of coneflowers, some swiped from my previous house...and a whole tray of asters, which I never have had in my garden, but aren't they sweet?

Home Depot had a huge (on sale )selection of tremendously large hydrangea, so I went nuts and got eleven. Some white, some pink, some blue-ish and then the new selection this year, Bloomstruck. A white turning pink turning purplish mophead variety.
Endless Summer 1 Gal. BloomStruck Hydrangea(Macrophylla) Live Deciduous Shrub, Pink or Blue or Purple Blooms

Still unplanted in the garden is my darling little fig tree, which is going great guns in the galvanized pot. We relocated this from the previous house too, before it had its current leaves. They grow really fast and I am crazy about having one, and maybe more if I can find the variety I want.
We are sooooo glad to have the space, the trees, both the sun and the shade and landscaper to do all the hard work. I keep saying that now that I am 70, I deserve it. Dave does too, even tho he is a mere youngster at 63.

 Must mention my two pots of Empress Wu hosta. I ordered one and it arrived with the main stem broken at the base. So I had them replace it, and lo and behold the roots had news for me. Two sprouts appeared even before the replacement arrived. These are reputed to be the largest hosta yet. O boy!
Gardens Alive! Bareroot Empress Wu Giant Hosta Plant 

6 comments:

  1. http://www.finegardening.com/article/3-myths-soil

    This was news to me.

    Myth: You can improve soil drainage by adding a layer of coarse material, suchas gravel or coarse organic matter, to the soil.

    Fact: The effect is exactly the opposite: Drainage is impeded by a coarse layer of material buried in the soil.

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  2. I do not buy plants from big box stores because they kill bees with how they treat the plants. "A study released by Friends of the Earth and Pesticide Research Institute, Gardeners Beware 2014, showed that 51 percent of garden plants purchased at Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) in 18 cities in the United States and Canada contained neonicotinoid pesticides"


    https://foe.org/news/2015-12-home-depot-to-phase-out-bee-killing-pesticides/

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  3. Wow! I'am having a severe case of Flower Envy right now. Your landscape plan is wonderful and I will be right *there* with you, virtually anyway. Good to hear the closing went well, at least at the end and you can move on to the fun-stuff in the new property. Cheers and happy gardening!

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  4. Your garden is going to be great. We moved from SC to VA a few years ago, and unbeknownst to us, we had a fig tree in the back, though it looks more like a bush. I'm not sure what type it is, but after doing some research, I think it is a Brown Turkey fig. The fruit it produces is absolutely delicious! I thought I'd pass along a really good recipe I found for fig preserves: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/105905028721533612/. I made this once and it was sooo good!

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  5. Get a cordless blower..... I love my Ryobi and the battery works several "tools".

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  6. Can you see the green of my envy glowing from there? Your gardens are always gloriously beautiful. I have been eagerly awaiting this stage right along with you!!! Our soil here in the Charlotte area is just as awful as yours so I can't wait to see how things work for you. Congrats on the closing!

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