I hope everyone had, or is having, a great spring break. P and I had a fantastic one lounging around like lumps @ BFS’s house. I just loved all of those cloudy overcast days that brought all the much needed water and nutrients to the budding plant babies. Not much to do @ BFS’s house this month as far as planting and gardening goes. I’ll still let him have control of the lawn for a bit and continue to make my master plans (Mwahahahaha… ahck…cough, cough). Mostly, it involves lots of mulching, overturning, edging, fertilizing, and planting. Nothing a few super-exhausting warrior weekends can’t fix. Simple but beyouteaful…I hope.
BACK TO THE GRIND
So, it was back to work in the ho-hum yesterday. I had tons of fun catching up on a week worth of ignored stacks of file me’s, sign me’s, and HIDE me’s (JK BOSS!), just waiting for my attention. (Boo on that)…. I finally, with much effort, gave it up. It was too beautiful of a day to stay inside. A new plan began to emerge. I started to crank up the iPod, and then changed my mind. A monster rattle snake was recently found (killed) lurking in the garage. I decided I’d better keep my eyes and ears open….for now. It’s a little early for rattle snakes to be wandering these parts. Usually around this time, they are just waking from hibernation and sunning closer to their dens. Never-the-less, I was going to be certain that my zone was a rattle free zone so I was working iPod free. I even went as far as to wear SHOES (that weren’t flip flops). I hate to wear shoes when I dig in the dirt, so it was a huge sacrifice for me. Stupid snakes ruin everything. I was pretty disappointed in the lack of an iPod because I had some really great podcasts that I was trying to catch up on….but I digress to more important things.
For my birthday, I received a great pack of gardening gloves for all occasions. Obviously, one must have 5 pairs of gardening gloves that are categorized in gripability and material thickness, to do all the fantastical, outdoorsy tasks that need to be done. I was very pleased the pair that was deemed “pruning and weeding super-grips” were the ones with the cute daisy on the back. I was now wearing my lucky camo shorts, thoroughly slathered with spf1000, sadly wearing tennis shoes, majestically wearing daisy/super-grip gloves, was iPod-less, and ready to get outside and kick ass (minus the cape)!
THE TASKS
First things first, all efforts to save the potted rose tree. It has really been neglected and not looking well in the past week, or two, or three…(it wasn’t me, I just ignored the problem). SO, my first task was to water the hell out of aforementioned potted rose tree, and prune the heck out of it. I had to cut a lot off. I don’t think it will have a very good growing season this year, but will survive after a healthy dose of rose fertilization and pest treatment. When he’s up to it; he will shine.
GUILTY CONFESSION
I will have to admit, I have been a bit of a pre-spring neglectful gardener. This past month, my weekends have been pretty full. I didn’t get my “It’s February so Prune Me” time in. I still had tons of pruning back and hedging to do. So, next task was backyard pruning. Grapes and Wisteria looked ok. I was already aware that I probably lost one of my grape vines and it lookd like I was right. Dang puppies will always dig in the wrong places. I put it on my list to take care of at a later date list.
I noticed that a limb on one of the mulberry trees had fallen during all the rain this week and was hitting the electrical line. That was put on the list of things BossDaddy can do. I then set to work on my butterfly and hummingbird area and began hacking away at my Texas Fire Brush (Hamelia patens). It was already coming back so I didn’t totally hedge it to the ground. I did the same to the Autumn Sage (salvia gregii) and Butterfly bush (Clematis ternifolia). Once I removed all the leaves and two wheelbarrow loads to the compost pile, it was looking pretty good. I then trimmed the rosemary and wired up the honeysuckle fence. The cows were not pleases about that. I have to grow my honeysuckle on a fence in front of the fence; otherwise, the cows (or sometimes goats) will have a buffet of honeysuckle delight. Not happonin’ on my watch. I then set to work on my Vitex, aka Texas Lilac, aka Chaste Tree. I am growing them as multi-trunk trees so it is very necessary to cut back quite a bit as well as cut all the potential new growth off the trunks.
LAZY BEDS
One of the things thing that sets me apart as a successful lazy gardener is that I love to use nature’s own insulation system. When the leaves fall from the tree, I direct them in an orderly fashion, via the wind, to the beds. It is totally a win-win. I have great dirt, natural compost and a wonderful living environment for all the creepy crawlies that want to stick around for the unpopular months. The only problem is that the cleanup is kinda ookey but very satisfying. That being said, I moved onto my front beds for cleanup time.
I am also an avid herb grower. Rosemary and lavender are my favorite. It grows everywhere. So I go to work on clearing the leaves off the everlasting herbs. I say everlasting because most of the herbs in the bed in front of the house made it thru the mild winter. I cut back all the dead lemon grass to reveal new sprigs emerging among the dead stalks. Underneath this, and a foot if mulberry leaves, was my oregano that I knew was alive throughout the winter because I uncovered and snipped a few sprigs this winter for spaghetti sauce. I also had a very woody sage bush, lemon balm vigorously coming back, parsley that was still hanging in there, more rosemary, dill, and cilantro. The American bamboo was looking like it needed a trim but the JFK White roses looked fabulous. The only problem was some Bermuda grass threatened its space. That was when I discovered that the doggies had found a new favorite spot to do their business. I was none to please to say the least, however, a job was a job. I braced myself for the worst. I grasped my shovel and went to work on removing the vileness from my bed. The smell that was wafting to my olfactory sensifications was…was….was…. chocolate?…… and……holy hell……MINT! No way! Underneath the desecration created by the waste of my evil pups, grew a wafty and potent patch of chocolate mint. I didn’t think it took when I planted it last spring! Bless the Lord and Nature! Miracle observed and appreciated.
ANYWAY…
On the other side of the porch I revealed the shallots and garlic already up in abundance. I thinned that a bit and made more room for my calla lilies. I have a patch of all white Calla Lilies that thrive next to the faucet. I love these babies and they will most likely be the favorite bulbs that I dig up and take wherever I go. The garden roses grow somewhere in the mass of all that awesomeness. Then there is regular old mint and evergreen honeysuckle mounds. All is well here.
The hundred year old lavender bushes are blooming and doing fine. We had a scare a few years back and nearly lost them to drought and disease but thanks to a heavy pruning they are alive and well (sadly, they are not even a fraction of their old size).
One of the signs of “Spring is Here” is when the big English Ivy covered Mulberry tree blooms. It comes on quick and within the span of a wink and a spit we are covered in these allergen filled pods. Spring is now delivered in the form of hay fever! Must get the leaves up in order to shovel these buggers out with a shovel soon. It’s a big tree.
QUITTING TIME
I’m exhausted. I have blisters on my thumbs, despite my amazing gardening gloves with the daisies on them. One more major area to cover. The little burned stump area is last on the agenda. This is an area around a chared stump where anything will grow. Around it grows any misc herbs I can find. I currently have: fennel, indian mustard, thyme, rosemary, sage, chamomile, purple basil, sweet basil, regular basil, catnip, dill,oregano, turmeric, tarragon, cilantro/coriander, parsley, and majorum.
On another side is my trophy cherry tree that I snagged from my FavAunt H’s house a few years back. It is a baby from my Grandma’s cherry tree/bush. It holds so much sentimental value and it is blooming. I am truly happy. I sit and talk to the tree for a minute. I explain that he is new and still growing and gently let him know that, in this climate, he may not produce every year but he is still loved. I laugh about blogging this later and all those who will hopefully understand my craziness and then move on to another area. This is an area that faces the circle drive so it is a spot for beauty. Here grows my lantana, beauty vine, clemantis, columbine, some pretty blue flowered ground cover called flax, marigolds, California poppy, zinnias and cosmos. Nothing is showing here yet but lots of it will come back from seed. It will soon, however, now that I’ve let the sunshine in. It is hard to believe that so much will grow in such a small space but it will be packed to the brim with ausomeness by the summer.
I mainly removed the dead growth, cutback and cleared the leaves. I am was on wheelbarrow load # 7 and was almost done. It was after 7, the light was waning and then…aaaahhh, wiggly, scaly…..oh yes…snake!!! I’M DONE! Thats a big NO on working with snakes, thanks. Turns out it was just a harmless Bull Snake. Oh yes, they bite and its hurts, but not poisonous. But still!
The super kitteh guarded the stump and I went inside cursing snakes and enjoyed a lovely glass (or two) of Pinot Noir while reflecting on an evening well done. I figured that the only people’s who will read this, know me, and will forgive me on the insanity and understand how crazy I get about this time of year. Now that I decided to blog about it at extensive length the whole world will have it as public record. DANG
Much love and Peace.
