I have been working on putting things together for the spring, though we skipped right to summer. It is already stinkin' hot!
On Mother's Day, I did the Spring Great Migration of the succulents that have been wintering in the solarium. I wanted to do so earlier, but I couldn't find the tray that I use to carry a few pots at a time. Carrying things is difficult, but the amount of stairs needed in the migrations is what makes the task so very difficult for me.
I just so love the front porch filled with greenery! I still need to get some six-packs of annuals to fill the two planters and three other pots. Two others I think I will plant more succulents. I do not wish to add to my bi-annual migration labor, but both pots are really too small for annuals and could be better served by succulents. The solarium is crowded in the winter, but could bear just two more pots. Both a floral ceramic parts. And both are a bright spot on the porch. So, I want to keep them and I want to convert them to permanent plants.
I also set up the fountain on the front porch. Oh, man! I was replacing the pump every year. Now that I have wintered the pump indoors, I have not had to replace it for three years! Imagine that!! Anyway, the pump is installed and the water filled. I don't have it gurgling at much as in the past, but I do enjoy sitting next to it.
I still need to power wash all the pollen off of the porch floor and clean up the piles of leaves still left from last fall. And I have a few planters and pots that are awaiting some flowering annuals to bring a color other than my beloved GREEN to the front porch.
On Saturday, I worked on cleaning up the tufts of grass here and there in my sidewalk pavers. I do not want to put out killer stuff, because I also have the beginning of moss growing in between some of them. So, I scooted along my back side the length of the sidewalk and the walking paths, cleaning them up.
I also worked on doing some weeding in my beds. I cannot do much, but I did, for pride's sake, weed around the three azaleas that I planted last year. I am very much looking forward to them blooming in all their glory.
The middle one is ahead of the other two, which bums me a bit. I just don't understand why they are not blooming together.
The middle one is a creamy yellow, whilst the outer two are a brilliant orange.
By pride' sake, I mean that the plan for the bed beneath the rose of sharons, where all those seedlings pop up every year, is to blast it with weed killer. But I wanted the area around the azaleas cleared now so that I can take photos of them without a million and one seedlings beneath them.
And on Monday (skipping around the days here) I worked on getting the fountain out in the haven set up again. I had essentially planned on having to spend money on it this summer, but I was able to get it up and running and gurgling significantly without having to do so. Instead, I changed out how I stack the two pots. Last year, I followed several examples of stacked-pot fountains and used a plastic pot filled with drill holes so that water can circulate all around it. This time, I stacked old bricks cross-hatched so that the top pot would be more level.
In order to create a column down the middle in which to drop the pump, I had to put the bricks further out that solid stability would allow. So, the top pot and its tray of pebbles teeters a bit. I wonder if it will hold its integrity if a heavy bird lands atop it to play in the water.
I am more and more and more pleased that it gurgles louder. At night, in the deep stillness, I can hear the water on the back porch. And I can see the higher curve of water from the kitchen window. So, my cockles are warmed.
Today, after being accepted to another medical research study, I bought things for the yard, front porch, and raised bed. I am trying, very hard, to finish of empty spots in the beds. So, I purchased a hydrangea for the far end of Fern Bed 2.0. That means I have hydrangea book ends for it!
Fern Bed 2.0 is coming along nicely in its second summer. There was a spot over to the left of the middle of the bed where none of last year's transplants came back, so I relocated 3 more small ferns from the original fern bed. That fern bed was started from a few stray ferns I found in my yard. Now, have two glorious collections of ferns and three magnificent specimens in the shade bed on the far side of the house.
I was too weary to walk around and take a better angled photo, but the few hostas I found have now been split and grown into four double clumps (eight plants). I stuck the ferns in between them, not sure if I would like the look. I still am not sure, but the ferns sure do love the location. This bed is the epitome of low-maintenance. I weed it about three times over the summer and that's it. No watering. No fretting. Just joy that keeps on giving.
The other side of the house has been a bit of a failure. It had that wretched snow-on-the-mountain stuff in there for several years. Firewood Man finally killed it all off for me and I plant ajuga there, mostly transplanted plants, but I bought four of them, I think. They all died. SNIFF. SNIFF. The bed was mostly dead last year and I tried to ignore it. After talking with a guy at Menard's, I decided on planting stella de ora. It will stay proportional to the space and will re-bloom. Plus, I have had good luck with the other daylilies I have ... though those all came with the house.
The rest of what I bought were herbs and two vegetables for the raised beds. This year, the new vegetable I plan to try (to kill off most certainly) is eggplant. I do not think I am going to do tomatoes again. I still have sauce from last year and I don't have visitors to eat up the fresh tomatoes when I don't have enough for sauce. Not being a tomato-eater, it really doesn't make sense to grow them. However, they have been my best crop to date. Go figure.
And I bought annuals for the pots on the front porch, the two pots in my haven, and the bulb bed. I did so enjoy having some annuals in that bed last year. I am rather bothered that my bulbs mostly did not bloom this year. I don't know if they are all petered out (does that happen with bulbs?????) or if I somehow killed them off (more likely). I would like to add some bulbs next fall. But, meanwhile, I think I would like to keep it the one annual spot in the yard.
Finally, I bought soil, peat moss, and compost manure. I already realized that I had enough potting soil from last year to get the permanent plants into the ground. I also might possibly have bought one too many bags of peat moss. However, I won't know until I get all the six-packs planted.
You see, every year I fill those massive hummingbird planters with good potting soil. Those planters and the other pots I use for annuals. And every following year I re-fill them because the soil is all dried out. This year, I have decided to try and rejuvenate the soil in the pots with peat and compost manure and forego filling them up with potting soil over and over and over again.
Now, mind you, I know little about plants, but I suspect that the soil in pots gets tired more easily because it is watered more frequently. So, maybe my plan will not work. However, I still aim to try. It will be cheaper in the long run.
I should admit that I am spending the medical research money before it arrives, as well as a check I know I will get for my birthday. I just do not have money for the yard/raised beds/front porch. I need to start a savings account for that (to also include the systemic fertilizer I put on my bushes and trees once a year), but I just don't see where that money will come from. As in ... I don't have what I need!! I did do me one of my beloved spread sheets based on what I spent (need to spend) this year and the total came out to roughly $15 a month I would need to save. Impossible as that might be, it is good to have a goal.
Oh, yes, the other things that I bought were two cans of sealer and a brush for the panels in the haven. They've been drying out all year, having been built with rather green wood. Now, it is time to start doing the preservation and maintenance work on them. Hopefully, I will only need to do it every other year. And those panels will now be staggered with the porches, since I will NOT be doing them this year! Just a good power washing (soon and very soon) and again in the fall.
With the need for sealer every year, I suppose I should round that savings goal up to $18 a month. Spreadsheet adjusted. Yard thoughts closed down for the day.
Although I am utterly exhausted from fetching prescriptions and yard/raised beds/front porch/haven panels things, I still need to get my time in on the treadmill. Even though I will barely be able to stay on it, I have learned that if I skip a day, then I will skip 10 days ... or more. It is so difficult for me that I start making excuses each day following the one that I miss. And, well, if it is not in my Fitbit, then my exercise doesn't count! So, I have to get myself down to the treadmill and started in the next 25 minutes!
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