LysmachiaMoon's blog: Viburnum and Red Twig Dogwood into the Pine Gap

I think I may have overdone it a bit this morning, in the heat and humidity. I was up early and decided that after the torrential rains last night, it would be the perfect time to get the Arrowwood Viburnum and the Red Twig Dogwood that I picked up last fall at discount prices into the Pine Gap area where I'm trying to fill in after having several big old pines taken down. I was working in that area a couple of weeks ago, and it was disheartening to see that the area that I had weeded out (thistles and blackberry) was grown back in (thistles mostly) lush, thick and green with weeds. But I skipped that because where I wanted to plant these two nice big shrubs was in the next, "virgin" section....untouched since the pines came down and thick with blackberry...and poison ivy.

I'm very susceptible to ivy poisoning, so I dressed accordingly: long sleeves, socks, shoes, long pants, gloves. In the kind of heat and humidity we are experiencing right now (77 degrees at 7:30 a.m., nearly 100% humidity), doing hard physical labor bundled up like that is really really uncomfortable. It took me about 1.5 hours just to clear the area. By that time I was exhausted and dehydrated, so went in, tanked up on water, took a shower (have to be careful to clean off the poison ivy!), then got into a whole new set of clothes...and this time the only long sleeved shirt I had was a turtleneck. So you can imagine how hot that was! But the second stint went well...got two big circles dug over and the roots removed, then holes for the shrubs and planted. Then, since I was already there...got the weeder thingy..it's like a golf club but with a big serrated blade instead of a head...and whacked down a lot of garlic mustard in the woodland path. Then, back in, another shower, another set of clothes and another session of re-hydration. All this while I've got 2 men working on putting up stone siding on the house. What they thought of me I don't want to know. *LOL*

RE: Hypertufa Mushrooms. Setback. I had 3 nice caps made over the winter but R destroyed one by pitching it out of his way as he was mowing the lawn. He could have just picked it up (the whole point of hypertufa is it's light weight) and moved it, but you know...it's far more dramatic to pick stuff up and throw it to show me how annoyed he is. Oh well. I'll have to do another one. I still have the "stems' in the molds and I'm a bit scared to try to get them out.... I think I'll try to unmold one tomorrow. Funny thing: you know that favorite drinking glass he has? The one with the football team logos on it? Darn if it didn't just slip out of my hands as I was washing it. ...*Whistles innocently*

I've really got to get cracking on the veg. The pole beans are really exploding out of the ground and I should get my sweet corn and bush beans in this week. I still don't have all the tomato plants in yet and I still have a few sweet pepper plants to go in. I'm skipping the carrots this year: too much trouble, too little results. I would like to grow beets, but those can wait for a fall crop.

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