Therapy Gardening

Well, it's back to work tomorrow.  I've been off since Mom died on the 19th.  It will be two weeks tomorrow.  Spring Break was last week and schools were closed today following the Easter holiday.

Back to reality tomorrow.  In a way it will be good; it's good to keep busy.  And, the end of school is in sight - we have something like 40 more days.

Today was a beautiful day; I spent most of the day working in the yard.  There's nothing like digging in the dirt for therapy!  I used to have a really pretty backyard but then we got a second dog.  My Boston Terrier did little harm to the backyard and it stayed lush and beautiful; then we got the Lab.  Now my backyard looks like a barren wasteland.  It's literally unrecognizable.  It's awful.

And on top of that, the drought year before last killed off a number of shrubs back there that I never got around to replacing.  I really had planned on re-sodding the backyard over spring break but was discouraged by voices of experience who warned me that my Lab would keep it from taking root.

It's getting better, though.  You'll have to trust me when I tell you that I've spent two really good days working back there and even still you can barely tell a difference, although by the end of the afternoon today I can say I'm starting to see some progress.  I even went out on a leap of faith and planted a few flowers.  They probably won't last a week (dog!), but they look hopeful right now.

So far, over the past two weeks, I've pruned three crape myrtles, cleaned out six flower beds, dug up one dead shrub, bagged fourteen bags of oak leaves from the neighbor's tree, mowed for the first time this season, planted twelve hollyhock roots, two phlox, two giant elephant ears, one delphinium plant, one avocado tree (started from a seed last year), fertilized the hostas who are bravely peeking up through the surface, planted a pot of basil on the deck and a few annuals in containers.

If half of that lives then it might be habitable back there this summer.

And if it doesn't, well, it was good therapy anyway.

The Day After Massive Yard Work

Aches and pains. What I had intended to be a "few hours" of yard work ended up being an all day affair. I mowed, edged, fired up the blower, raked, cleaned three flower beds, planted impatiens and caladiums in two beds, put down five bags of mulch, dug up one ugly plant with a root ball the size of Texas, filled the gaping hole with new dirt, and planted two calla lilies.

Today there are aches and pains in places I didn't know could ache OR pain and I have a throbbing headache. Too much sun. Too much work. But it will be worth it later.

And today I'm off to teach Shakespeare to tenth graders. This should be fun.

Getting Dirty

I'm offline for most of the morning. I'm finally getting around to my annual planting and flowerbed cleaning today. I'm behind schedule but part of that I can blame on the soaking rains we've had around here lately.

Through the years I've moved more toward perennials and things that stick around all year, but I always like to plant some pretty impatiens for color and I love my while caladiums. Each year I try to pick up something new to add to the mix just for fun, and this year I found a pretty miniature calla lily. I'm not sure if it'll make it but I'm going to try.

I also have my normal marigolds because they do well in my yard and are colorful. A bonus is that they repel some bugs.

Last year my new addition was larkspur. I ordered the seeds from Monticello (oh, I know, you can get larkspur seeds at the supermarket, but THESE came from Thomas Jefferson's garden! Wow!) They bloomed for the first time this year and it's just gorgeous. I've really been enjoying those.

I've also got major flowerbed cleaning to do and grass to mow, so I better get to it. Time to get dirty.

Hollyhockalleujah!

My hollyhocks are blooming! I had heard that they would not bloom the first year, but this is apparently a myth. I totally love hollyhocks. I always admired Sheryl's hollyhocks in Iowa and at Liberty Hall they had gorgeous ones as well. I don't see so many of them around Shreveport, but I'm sure they are here and I am simply unobservant. Hooray for hollyhocks! (And yes, I know they are poisonous to dogs, but unless Checkers can unlock the gate, she can't get to them, and she can't unlock the gate because she doesn't have thumbs.)