LysmachiaMoon's blog: Busy and productive weekend

I finally had a weekend of uninterrupted gardening. Early Saturday morning, I finally (FINALLY) finished laying in the 2nd of 4 or 5 strips of underground fencing along the south veg border to deter groundhog attack. I originally opened that 12 foot long trench last...when?...last spring? I don't even remember. But weather turned and I had to put it on the back burner. OMG what a job. The soil (heavy clay) was pretty wet and very heavy, it's very awkward trying to dig a ditch along a wire fence (no manuevering room), and over the time since I started originally, there were a lot of weeds sprouted up (mostly burdock and poke with huge roots) that had to be dug out first. It took a few hours, but it is done. Now I have to steel myself to do the next 12 foot stretch. Although, if I remember correctly, that might not be as bad...I think what made this so bad was that it had set half done for so long and the half depth trench had accumulated so much moisture.

Well, after that I really did not feel like doing anymore heavy digging, so instead I moved into the Pine Gap and began working on the next section. A lot of weeds (mostly blackberry). I dug out 3 wheelbarrow loads. But I'm very happy with how that whole area is shaping. The first sections where I've been working over the longest, are very nice and will only need some light weeding/tidying now and then. The newer sections are coming along in turn. The section I worked on Saturday was sort of "in between"...I've got some things planted there, there's some mulch down, but it hasnt received the full treatment yet. This summer it will. As soon as the weeds/blackberries begin to resprout (which they will), I'll start spraying them with Roundup.

I'm hoping to move into the next section soon...that is "virgin" territority. It's thick with blackberry and weeds and nothing has been planted there. I've been toying with the idea of planting a couple of young arborvitae that I have growing on the property as a backdrop to some red twigged dogwood, which would be a stunning combination, but if I do, I'm afraid the arborvitae will shade the recovering blue spruce in several years and we'll be back to square one...and considering removal of the spruce. Still, is that such a bad thing? Not sure.

Sunday morning, I decided it was time to finally get cracking on the "Tropical Cliff" garden that I am designing for the steep little slope beside the deck steps. Did a thorough weeding, then lifted out the spring bulbs (snowdrops/crocus, star of bethelehem) and moved them to under the apple tree on the south border. I pruned up the 2 pink spirea in preparation of digging them out and moving them, then dug 2 planting holes for them in the Pine Gap. I may do the big move today, because we're supposed to get some rain tonight. After those spirea are gone, I think the next thing I want to do is dig a small trench up the slope right next to the deck steps where I'll bury a PVC pipe to act as a conduit for a garden hose. That will look so much better than having it snake up the hill in plain sight. I'm going to have to design some sort of an access point when the PVC/hose reaches the top of the hill so that I can (maybe someday) hook another hose onto it to feed a (maybe someday) water feature for the Tropical Cliff garden (my dream is a small trickling waterfall into a small pool at the base.

Once that's done and the hose is threaded thru, etc. I want to mark off where I want the "cliff" to start across the face of the slope and then I'm going to try to make some hypertufa slabs to set up there. I considered trying to use real rocks but I'd like it to be fairly dramatic and (1) I doubt I'll be able to find anything the size/shape I want (2) buying slabs of that size will cost a fortune and (3) the weight. If I pour what I want out of tufa, they'll still be heavy but I think manueverable. In addition, I'm toying with the idea of adding some crushed dark green glass to the concret mix so that the rock face sparkles a little, nothing too glitzy, just subtle.

Now, here's where a bit of synergy MAY come in if I am smart about this....I was trying to figure out how to make a form for the cliff slabs... The simplest would be to dig the shape (basically just big flat rough rectangles) into compacted dirt and pour into that... Where is the compacted-est dirt I have? In front of the garden shed. Where I need to dig out a shallow area so that I can pour a concrete pad. Ta da! I'll use that area for the "forms" then it will be already partially dug out for the eventual concrete pad. Now let's see if this genius idea actually works, right? *LOL*

It's a bit too cold yet for concrete work (we're still dipping into the 30s F at nite), so that will have to wait a bit.
I'd like to get my brassicas and potatoes into the veg this week. Peas are beginning to sprout. The first batch of chinese cabbage that I got into the veg are doing surprisingly well. These were the seedling that starting going bad from damping off. I popped them into the veg with a hope and prayer. Well, the pak choi did not survive at all, but about 8 of 12 chinese cabbage have finally got their feet under them and are really taking off. I've got a second batch of seedlings coming on, they'll be ready to go into the veg probably May 10.

RE: Smokey. Smokey the cat is doing very well. She's up and about a bit now, walking thru the house. We're still keeping her confined to the office overnight, but she really does not want to be in her crate anymore, so I think that is finished. She's taking meals with the "family" and although yesterday she tried to run a bit, I think she knows she has to take it easy. She managed to get herself into her old basket in the dining room this mornign after breakfast and she's sleeping comfortabley. I'm not sure if she'll have a permanent limp; she is pretty awkward moving right now. Still it's only been 9 days since her accident. I think Weds I'll try taking out the stitches on the end of her tail. Unless I have a lot of trouble, I don't see subjecting her to another vet visit for that.

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