Category: Gardening (Page 1 of 159)

I worked in the garden yesterday! It’s been so long! The more I worked, the stronger I got. I think I must draw power from the earth!

My goal was to get the trees and the goldenrod out of the front garden. Elm trees grow like weeds, and are so difficult to get out. Golden rod is native, but is an aggressive grower, and looks kind of weedy. I got it all out!

The goldenrod has interesting/scary running roots and growth nodes:

And here’s the before and after:

There is a tree in the back left corner of the plot (and in the middle of the above picture) that I couldn’t get out. It has grown too powerful for me to destroy with a mere shovel.

I was excited to see the elderberry I planted has grown so big. I planted it back in 2007.

I was also pleased to see some hostas and coneflowers that were revealed by the removal of the goldenrod. I planted them in different years, the hostas being the more recent additions. I’m hoping the extra space will help them flourish.

I got an email from the gas company saying they would be coming to look at my gas meter sometime in the next 30 to 60 days. The meter is in my side yard. The whole area is dirt, and would be great for a garden, but I haven’t taken time to decide on plantings or prepare the area, so it is all weeds. And it was a wet winter and spring, so it’s a LOT of weeds.

After a while, my green waste bin was full, so I decided to pull no more weeds. (Actually, it was a good excuse to stop. I was hot and tired.)

I did at least clear a path to the meter. And maybe I’ll get back to clearing it out some time in the next 30 to 60 days.

I’m trying to clean up my classroom this week. It’s still covered with the wreckage of the year. Yesterday I worked on the area behind my desk. I wish I would have taken a true “before” picture, but here are some “during” and “after” shots:

When I got home, I worked in the garden. It was wonderful!

Last summer, I planted some flowering sage along the back wall of my yard. This spring it was pretty, but then it looked raggedy. I decided to take it all out. I need that space anyway, so I can put the pool cover there. I did do proper “before” and “after” pictures this time.

That massive clump of vegetation in the foreground is my tomato plant. I tried to tame it a little and prop it up. It will be a work in progress I think.

The planter bed in front of my garage is blooming. There are big Pygmy Date Palms growing in it, which are overgrown and need to be removed. At the base of those trees are a bunch of other old plantings. There’s a pink hydrangea:

And are those strawberry plants to the left of the hydrangea? Yes, they are! I looked for some berries, but only saw evidence of one that was long gone:

There are also some old, old geranium (Pelargonium) plants. They are in constant bloom, so they’re lovely.

One of these days I will get around to re-doing this area completely. Until then, I’ll just enjoy it for what it is.