work on my garden

I had a very emotionally difficult day today….so, in order to give myself some much needed nourishment I decided to finally work on my garden in the back of our apartment. I went to the Home Depot and got a bunch of perennials to plant in my little patch. I also got two beautiful Boston Ferns for my front doorway. In addition, I got a hummingbird feeder, and a songbird feeder (with accompanying seeds and food). I then came home and worked about an hour to get the flower bed churned, ready and then put the plants in the ground.

It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed working in the dirt, playing with the earthworms and talking to the toddler who lives next door. His window overlooks my patio. So I showed him all the worms I was digging up and he showed me his toy cars he was playing with. That was really nice. He was really excited about the bird feeders, too.

I am excited abut putting perennials in, so I don’t have to buy a new batch of flowers in the spring – these will bloom again! :) I might get some more perennials to keep in pots to line the patio, since they are on sale cheap cheap.

I also swept and cleaned up my patio. It is lovely out there now. I didn’t want to come inside!

I pulled three wheelbarrows full of weeds last night. :( And that’s just from a small area of the yard. Gross, I know. It was finally in the 70s yesterday—perfect weed-pulling weather! It’s been too hot for me to get motivated about yardwork.

Yesterday I picked up a wheelbarrow full of sticks from around the yard, and then I went to weed a flower bed… I realized it was totally weeds and no flowers, and the irises I had there never bloomed this year. So, I created a NEW iris bed in another part of the yard where there’s more sun so they’ll bloom next year, and I transplanted them! It was quite a feat, but I think it’ll look beautiful next spring. I have more to move but I didn’t get it all done yesterday as I was pretty much half-assing it.

I spent a lot of the weekend crouching and pulling weeds out of the flagstone/driveway. OUCH! My thighs are KILLING me! But at least I was stretching/using muscles I forgot I had. And the flagstone looks a lot nicer, too!

We have a lot to knock out this weekend. Mainly weeding and transplanting things. We have to figure out a way around the mole situation, those little bastards! Two days ago Adam mowed the lawn and did various yardwork. I managed to cart a watering can around to a lot of our trees in the front yard that the hose won’t reach and God hasn’t watered.

Last night I moved some of the plants from the area that I’m going to try to reclaim as a path. There’s a bench in my garden, but no one can sit on it because plants are growing all around it.

I planted some hollyhock seeds and they sprouted almost instantly! I need to thin them out and transplant some to more pots so I can grow all of the seeds that sprouted to mature plants. I can’t wait!

Today we spent about two hours in the yard. I finally gave in and we pulled out a bunch of “trees” that are really weeds. I have no clue what the heck they are but even when they’re fully alive, the wood appears dead. It’s bizarre. Anyway, I’m here right now covered in dirt and sweat and I’m about to go hop in the shower. The yard looks 100x better though. This is such a long and tedious process…

My garden didn’t get much attention this summer, after all. But the Michaelmas daisies just started blooming. That always inspires me to clean up everything so that they can shine. My husband and I pulled weeds, cut back cone flowers and other things that were done for the year, and cut down tree volunteers that have no business in a flower garden.

The daisies are completely out of control. But who cares while they’re blooming?

In a couple of months, I’ll want to cut everything back and rake the leaf litter. That will put me in good shape to improve my garden in the early spring. I thought of a way to put in another path. I’ll re-establish the path that was there. Then my garden will have “good bones” again and will be much easier to deal with.

We had a late afternoon storm. I went outside immediately after and pulled up every onion in our yard.

This is a tip I picked up just walking one day in the Lafayette Square neighborhood of St. Louis. I was continuing the house tour, the first weekend in June, after being holed up in one house while waiting out a storm. I walked passed a woman working in her damp garden and she looked up and said “best time to pull onions—right after it rains.” I’ve never forgotten that advice and use it at least once a year. So I owe a complete stranger for an onion-free yard.