I raked as much of the mulch off of the bed as possible, onto the sidewalk. A big mess. Then I dug up the three largest ferns and moved them to the other side of the house in the three open spaces in the hosta bed. I thought it was two spots, but I have four sets of two hostas growing over in that shade bed. At that point, I also filled up the pot from the tree that I kept (since it is so large ... like a gardening bucket) with mulch and moved it over to the hosta bed.
Then I dug up all the remaining ferns and lined them up on the grass. Because it was getting darker and darker, I am not actually sure that I got all of the fern. But I tried. Once they were removed, I raked as much of the dirt as I could to get the bed back down to the sidewalk level. Then was the job of putting all the ferns back.
I dug holes ... a lot with my hands because I could no longer stand with the shovel. It was a feeble job, really, and quite poor. A C- effort at best. I lined up the ferns more in the middle of the bed, so there would be room for expansion. In putting them back, I had a few leftovers, so I wrapped them up in a plastic bag and thought to plant them on Sunday. However, it rained all day yesterday.
That was great for my relocated ferns.
And thyme.
And sedum.
All of the mucking about in the yard now had proper refreshment, between the fertilizer I used and the long soaking by the rain. The rain also helped to clean off the very, very, very dirty sidewalk. I had put some soil back and a bit of the mulch. I carted away as much as I could to stick behind the burning bushes (my dumping ground). And I swept as best I could. But the sidewalk was still dirty. No longer, though. The rain really was a blessing.
Of course, that meant that I did little yesterday besides languish on the sofas with Amos, who seemed intent on giving me extra affection. Not content to lie beside me, Amos insisted on curling up in my lap. I didn't mind.
[An earlier photo of my beloved Fluffernutter.
Copious amount of sleep and copious amount of Tylenol for my weary body. I am still tired and sore today, but I am deeply thankful that I was able to tend to the things in the yard before Firewood Man comes to mulch. I really am trying to set up the yard for less work for me, given that I am just not able to putter out there as I once was.
Now, I still need to get those last ferns in the ground. And there is still a bit of the (weed-free) thyme that I would like to salvage. But, as you might agree from the photo above, I am looking forward to Tim killing off all the infested thyme and returning the long bed into a visually restful, weed-free, simply mulched bed. If I cannot get to the last of the thyme before he comes, I will be okay with that.
As to the ferns, I might move them over to the side garage bed. I had put the stonecrop there, but, as you can see, it grew way, way too high and is a bit of a mess. I dislike the look. Although I have never been one to toss plants, I just might get rid of the stonecrop and put the ferns here. They would do well in the shade. And the old rose bush in the middle is slated for removal.
Notice the longer grass? I had Tim skip the mowing this week so I could enjoy the blades waving in the wind. I was hoping we would have cold weather and I could have long grass all winter, but it is STINKING HOT again, so I'll need another mow. My luck will be that the weather will turn cold as soon as Tim drives off and so I have short grass all winter.
You know, if I actually want it to be STINKING HOT, it won't be. It is annoying, to me, to have the AC running in the middle of October. My utility bills have been higher with all this STINKING HOT weather. And it struck me, yesterday, that maybe we will not have a Fall the way that we did not have a Spring. We went from using the heat in May to having the AC on ARCTIC BLAST in June. It was weird. The poor part of me really wants those days where neither heat nor air-conditioning is required.
I should go get to those ferns.
Maybe after a nap.
Or two.
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