Saturday, May 8

It was a busy week what with my working as principal, doing presentations for Five Ponds Press, and reviewing pages for the US II book for Five Ponds. I didn't do much in the way of gardening except keep everything watered. Sadly, the huge bud on one of my poppy plants died, but there are buds on the others so I'm hopeful I'll see some huge orange blossoms soon. My neighbor's poppies are in full bloom but the color is not as bright orange as I am expecting.

On Thursday, I received a long-awaited package. Inside were the components for my new standing garden (see picture below). I set it aside until the weekend, and Paul volunteered to assemble it. It is the new home of my herb garden, or will be once I get everything planted. The inside bottom has a water reservoir and wicking material so that the plants stay watered. You add water via a tube that sticks up above the dirt. The wood is a special type of cedar that will not rot.

Paul decided to tackle improving the grass by spreading some type of "weed and feed" granules that are supposed to make the lawn lush and dandelion free. We'll see ...

Here's a view of my new standing garden. I already put in a couple of pathetic basil plants and a thyme plant that is almost dead. The standing garden was to arrive a month ago, but was delayed. In the interim, the herbs I bought didn't make it very well. You can see casters on the bottom making the contraption easy to roll. I plan to bring it inside during cold months so that I can have herbs for cooking year round.

Around the left side of house the landscaping is a mess. I found these straggly candy tuft plants struggling to survive among the weeds. This part of my overall landscaping project will need to wait until next year.

Here's Paul spreading the weed and feed. We now need a good rain to activate the granules. My friend, who is an agriculture teacher said this should do the trick.

I hate to waste water, but I hate more to see plants die. So, I bought an adjustable sprinkler that can be set to spray over a specific area. It is working well, both on the front beds and the shade bed next to the garage. I am so impatient and gardening requires infinite patience. I want big showy blooms right now!