Friday
I definitely will not be meeting my goal of having the initial spring gardening cleanup finished by the end of March. The weather just isn't cooperating. After two days of rain, I was really looking forward to today with the predicted sunshine and temperatures reaching 60. The sun may be shining, but it sure doesn't feel anywhere near 60 and it is really windy. I just heard that there is a forest fire about 2 miles directly south of us. There was one a few weeks ago about 5 miles north that the local fire fighters had under control quickly. No homes or people were harmed, but 75 acres of woods were burned before it was out. I sure hope this one is under control just as quickly.
Mike FINALLY started grading around my greenhouse this morning. I swear that man must procrastinate on things that I would love to have done simply to annoy me. I know that isn't really true, but sometimes it feels like it is. It took him all of 2 hours - REALLY??? I told him that I have way more than 2 hours of my time asking him to do it 
After all, it has only been ready for that last bit since LAST SUMMER. All this time of having to walk through ruts and mounds and mud... He has heavy duty landscape cloth to put down and a load of gravel in the dump truck to put on top of that, but with the wind, he is likely done for the day. Probably done for getting back to it anytime soon too 
I spent way too many hours yesterday organizing the accumulated pile of plant vendor tags. I ran out of the avery labels I use on the envelopes and made a run to Staples around dinner time to get another pack. I spent more hours trying to finish it up last night. Time just flies by when I am on a roll with stuff like that, and I didn't realize that it was going on midnight 
I nearly finished, but not quite done.
I really keep track of perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs - things with longevity, but don't do much about keeping track of annuals or herbs or vegetables/fruits. Not that I have done much in the past with any of those anyway.
Last year though, I purchased a lot of annuals for containers to spruce things up before hosting the Mid Atlantic plant swap. Gulp, open mouth, whatever, about the prices of things that I consider consumables. They sure were pretty though. I want to do a lot more with annuals in the future, but I will be trying my hand at growing them from seed vs purchasing grown plants. We'll see how that turns out.
As far as herbs, I always grow a variety of mints in containers on the stonework retaining wall where we park and a variety of cooking herbs on a tiered plant stand on the back deck right outside the kitchen door. I don't see much deviation from that in the future, but again, I'll be trying my hand at growing them from seed.
And vegetables/fruits, oh my do I have expansion plans 
There is just something about growing your own and preserving it that has always appealed to me. I have a vegetable area, enclosed by deer fencing, where I have grown a few tomatoes and peppers in the past. Not consistently every year though. I want to really up my game with it this year though. I have another 100 foot roll of deer fencing to enlarge the area. I will be doing tomatoes and peppers, but a lot more than before, both variety and quantity, and adding things like lettuce, onions, carrots, garlic, cucumbers, melons, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and whatever else I might like to try.
I have spent the day so far being on hand for Mike while he was grading, puttering in the greenhouse - although it wasn't circling back to do the waterlily repotting or sowing seeds that have been on the to do list for days, finishing up the plant vendor tags, and last but not least, a nice long nap after staying up way too late last night. I'm raring to go again.
Thursday
Yesterday I sure got sidetracked. Bottom line, I didn't get any seeds sown nor did I repot that waterlily that I had planned on doing. It started with looking for a specific plant tag for the yellow rose that I planted last year in the Lemon Garden, and spiraled off on a tangent from there.
I've posted before about my OCD record keeping. I love having information right at my fingertips with the push of a few computer keys. The records are only as good as the time you spend organizing them though. Last year I purchased a lot of plants, nothing new there, but I was so busy getting the gardens and house ready to host the Mid Atlantic spring swap, that I just kept piling receipts and plant tags in a pile on my office work table. Now with the 2024 buying season underway, I've been adding to that pile instead of organizing the information right away.
Well, I found the plant tag for the yellow rose that I wanted to id, and then decided to switch gears for the day and tackle the entire pile. I go receipt by receipt, scan the hardcopy or print to pdf if it was an email, then look up the plant in the NGA Plant Database to get the proper genus/species information, add it to my NGA Plant List tagged with Acquisition Year, Garden Area, and obtained date information, add it to my homegrown Access database that has even more detailed information, and lastly fill in the details to the financial transaction that was already entered in Quicken when balancing accounts month to month.
Seems like overkill, but each has a purpose. Having it in the NGA Plant List gives me online access to the information when I am shopping or want to show something specific to a gardening friend. It quickly links to all the characteristics and photos in the NGA Plant Database too. My own homegrown Access database has a lot more fields than the NGA Plant List, and I can easily filter, sort, and print reports for every question I could ever have about my plant inventory. I keep all financial transactions in Quicken, plant inventory is just a small part of the overall financial tracking of income and expenses.
My goal for years has been to retain information, but digitally. The only physical retention of plant information is the vendor tags. I finally came up with a great way to organize those a few years back.
It took me most of the day, but I got all the plant information entered into the computer. I also went through the receipts for all the items that I've been purchasing for the new greenhouse and got all that information entered into the computer too. Today I want to do the accumulated plant vendor tags, and then I'm all caught up with plant acquisitions.
It is still cloudy and rainy, a good day for inside work. Depending how long it takes to do the plant vendor tags, I may be able to get to that seed sowing and waterlily too. It is chilly in my turret office, but I have the space heater on and am wearing my new alpaca wool socks
Wednesday
It is raining now and will be raining most of the day, as the weather guessers predicted. I did manage to get the new groundcover and the hellebores planted yesterday. It really feels good to finish the tasks I set out to do each day. It helps to make the to do list actually doable I think these early morning musings of the previous day and planning for the day ahead give me focus too. Lately I've been feeling motivated, or maybe the better word is empowered, even with the stamina and strength issues that slow me down.
I love acquiring plants, but getting them planted is harder to feel excitement for. Somehow, getting that "Laura version" power planter auger is looking to be a game changer for me. I can easily see the value when making a gazillion bulb holes, but for perennials? Why is it better than a shovel? I don't know, but it is. I had to rake away the mulch where I was planting like I always have to do, but then it was quick work making the holes with the auger. Much, much quicker and easier than with the shovel. Even though the auger bit is only a 3" diameter, all I have to do is auger in a circle motion to get the hole wide enough. I also discovered that it seems to work better going in at an angle vs straight up and down. It is also easier to backfill the hole after augering. With soil on the clayish side, especially clumpy for days after rain, backfilling always involved breaking the shoveled out clumps into small pieces to fit back in the hole. The soil thrown out of the hole by the auger is of a fine texture - no big clumps to deal with!
I was able to rake away mulch, auger holes, throw in biotone, set the plant, backfill, tamp down, water in, and put back the mulch for 22 perennials in about 2 1/2 hours. That has to be a record for me! I was pretty dang proud of it too I then spent time making up labels for the new hellebores and getting the slate markers placed. I also confirmed the ids of the existing hellebores in the Cherry Tree Nook and the Gazebo Garden and made up labels for them too. While I was at it, I made up labels for a few other things in both of those gardens. These new slate markers may be a game changer too. Time will tell.
With the rain today, no outside gardening work is on my agenda. I plan to putter out in the greenhouse though. I want to get that waterlily repotted and sow more flower seeds.
Tuesday
I'll have to circle back to the things on the planned to do list that I didn't get done yesterday. I started and ended with potting up the bare root strawberries, and that was about it.
I had left the bags of potting soil outside so they were wet and heavy - too heavy to simply lift and dump in the Greenstalk tiers. I had to transfer the soil one scoop at a time until each bag was 2/3 empty and then I could lift and dump the rest. Each tier takes a full bag, so very time consuming for four tiers. I was surprised at how achy my arms got too while doing it, but then again, why am I surprised - everything physical wears me down pretty fast these days.
As far as the strawberry bare roots, the initial unpacking of the boxes had me skeptical. They were small and completely stuck together. After soaking for an hour or so, at least they were easy to then separate. I planted one per planter pocket and boy do they look miniscule in there. After the 6 pockets, there were still 4 left of each variety. At first I just stuck all 4 in a single gallon nursery pot, then thought better of it and put each one in its own smaller nursery pot. Anyway, that little project is done. Now it is wait and see if those bare roots amount to anything.
Halfway through the strawberry planting project, I took a break from it and placed the remaining hellebores from the Black Creek Greenhouse run. Three will go in the Gazebo Garden and seven will go in the Cherry Tree Nook. These are all pink tones - Ice 'N Roses 'Rosado', Ice 'N Roses 'Carlotta', Honeymoon 'French Kiss', and Wedding Party 'True Love'. I have one left - the white 'Mont Blanc' that will go in the Lemon Garden. All placed, but not yet planted.
I also did my routine daily walk about. The flowering almonds that I purchased last year are starting to bloom. Prior to this I've only seen catalog pictures or member photos so I'm excited to see them first hand. Most of the perennials are starting to emerge. This is such a thrilling time in the gardening season. It always brings me such joy to see what has made it through the winter, and it is like greeting old friends.
From the weather forecast, it looks like we'll have another day like yesterday - high in the low 50s and sunny. Rain is predicted to come back on Wednesday and Thursday so I want to make the most of outside work. First on the agenda today is to plant the new groundcover and hellebores. If I have any time or energy left after that, I'll circle back to the Front Steps Bed. I started that cleanup weeks ago and haven't gotten back to finish it, despite numerous plans to do so I still need to repot the waterlily, but I can do that in the greenhouse during a rain day.
Monday
On the late Saturday afternoon trip to Lowes with Bonnie, I spotted what looked like a groundcover with yellow blossoms. I had never heard of it before, but it was so cold and windy that I didn't want to take the time to google the characteristics. I snapped a quick photo of the tag for reference though. Yesterday I looked it up - Erysimum, commonly known as wallflower. The cultivar at Lowes is 'Jubilee Gold', but it must be a new one out for sale because it didn't come up with a lot of results, nor is it in the NGA Plant database yet. There were plenty of results for 'Golden Jubilee', but I think they are different.
Erysimum 'Jubilee Gold'
I need groundcover in the Lemon Garden and have been googling to see what might be suitable. The Lemon Garden is both sunny and shady - sunny along the front where it is open to the cleared area around the west side of the house, but shady along the back where it meets up with the wood line. The criteria is deer resistance number one, soft yellow or white blooms number two. The groundcovers that I have on the list so far include sweet woodruff, achillea mollis, and winter aconites. I still want a few more, but I wasn't coming up with anything that caught my eye.
I was thrilled to learn that wallflower is deer resistant and the plants that I saw in bloom at Lowes were soft yellow. It prefers sun, so it will be perfect in the front of the Lemon Garden. So, yesterday I made yet another run to Lowes and picked up two flats, 12 plants total. After planting the 5 new hellebores 'California Dreaming', I placed and spaced the new groundcover to get a pleasing effect. I didn't get them planted though, hopefully will get that done today. With the addition of the new hellebores and the wallflower groundcover, I'm really pleased with the fullness of the first 0 - 20 feet of the 60 foot long Lemon Garden. The remaining 40 feet just needs a bit more filling.
While I was planting the hellebores, I dug up the azalea 'Weston's Lemon Drop' that is alive but really struggling due to deer damage. I will try to rehabilitate it this year and see if it can be saved. I also got the christmas fern bare roots that had been soaking potted up.
While I was out working in the gardens, I could hear Bonnie and Richard over at her cottage working on her new deck. They were putting the handrail and decking on the steps. Everything else is done, but stairs are so tricky when it is something you don't do everyday. River made several trips through the woods to check out what I was doing. At one point, he whined to go in the house - of course, it was noon and he wanted his usual treat 
Then he came back over a bit later and again whined to go in the house - this time, a nap on the couch was what this very spoiled dog was wanting.
When Bonnie and Richard finished up with the deck project for the day, they came over. At first we were just chit chatting, but Bonnie can never sit still. She got the loppers and started pruning the very overgrown weigela that has been bugging her. Richard, ever helpful, got in on the action. I am so lucky to have Mike's sister and brother often on hand, willing to help, and so easy to work with. Bonnie and I were collaborating on what to cut, Richard took the loppers to the thickest branches, and Bonnie took the pruners to the smaller branches. That weigela looks a lot better. We'll wait and see what it does with leafing out and blooming, and then probably fine tune the pruning later in the season. Richard eventually headed home, Bonnie took a tractor load of pruned branches over to the burn pile, and I went back to working in the Lemon Garden. By then it was getting late in the day and cold again. Temperatures had actually reached a high of 50 and the sun had been shining. It was not my ideal, but it was ok for working outside. The returning cold finally made us call it quits.
Today it is supposed to reach a high of 57 and mostly sunny. I plan to make the most of it. I have those wallflowers to plant in the Lemon Garden. I also have quite a few hellebores to plant in the Cherry Tree Nook too. The specialty soil from Amazon arrived yesterday, so I hope to get the water lily repotted. Want to get the four varieties of strawberries I purchased on Saturday potted up in the Greenstalk vertical planter too.
Well as Monty Don says, time to crack on. And as Annie says, the plans I have for today won't get done by themselves missy. I won't head out until it warms up a bit more though - at least another hour or two.
