I finally got around to gardening yesterday, and just in time too. I fly back to Baltimore today.
It seems like I didn’t get any gardening done last summer. The weeds seemed to be two years tall. I decided to focus my energy on getting rid of weed trees, and pruning some of the larger overgrown shrubs.
In the back yard, the holly bush needed some attention. I made a rookie-type mistake and planted a big plant in a small space. I don’t know how that happened. I’m usually really careful about that kind of thing. I decided I would cut the monster down to almost nothing. If it survives, it will be much smaller and fit the space better. If it doesn’t survive, it won’t take over the space any more.
BEFORE:
The patio furniture is there temporarily because the patio has some benches being stored on it.
AFTER:
I think it has maybe six living leaves on it still.
I also trimmed the climbing rose bush on the side of the house. The previous owner planted it. I’m not such a fan of climbing roses.
There were some casualties along the way. The pruners I borrowed from Beth couldn’t take the tough stems of the holly.
They actually still sort of worked, but I went and got new pruners anyway. It would have been bad form to return the broken ones.
And while I was digging the weed trees out, I hit my thumb pretty hard on the shovel handle. I got a bruise under my nail.
Ouch.
Whenever I see an injury like this, I always remember a time when I was a kid and my dad had a bruise like this. The internal pressure was hurting him so bad, he decided to drill through his nail with the drill from his tool bench. Ack! I remember being horrified, but not being able to turn away. I have no memory of him getting through the nail though.
*gasp* Thank you! I noticed last night on the window that the climbing rose wasn’t trying to get in the house. That’s wonderful! You’ve inspired me to – sometime in the next couple of weeks – try to de-junk the stuff I’ve collected out there. Thank you so much!
Goin’ with your strength, I see – wonderful job there, sir! Keep those gardening skills honed, as we have some “how far back should we trim these seasonal flowering shrubs?” queries for when we return…and we have yet to plant anything on the east side of the house either. Safe journey today – see you soon!
Are there such things as mail-order gardeners? I sure could use one!
Happy flying today! Try to flash your injured thumb & you’ll probably get extract snacks.
(extra…)
That is not a BIG Holly Brad! You can come to my house and help me trim some really big Holly trees.
The pediatrician that I worked for in my youth, used to unbend a paper clip and heat it to red hot in the Bunsen burner we had in the lab. Then he would put it through the nail of the poor child that had blood building up under the nail. My job was to hold and distract the child on my lap. I used this technique several times for my sons. They of course were fascinated and liked to watch the hot paper clip go through the nail.
Safe flying!