Roadblock!

This is the weekend that I was really hoping to get started on the Big Project, but the tree trunk has intervened. Turns out it is still much too solid to work around and we will need to get it ground out before I can start building.

I took an adze to it today and had little success. The parts that were completely underground for the past five years are partly decomposed, but even some of them are very solid. The stump itself is still very solid and won't even break up around the edges, so it won't be possible to build around it. Fortunately we know a tree man and will call him Monday. With luck he will be able to come soon and grind it up.

So, for this project there are two things I can do this weekend. First, I can is go look at landscaping timber choices. I would really prefer something that is more square - like railroad ties - than the ones with two curved sides, but that will work if that is all that's available. And secondly, I can pull up the timbers that are there and till the area around the outer perimeter of the space. I may reuse the timbers in the new box, so will keep them until I decide on materials.

Otherwise, looks like it will be a weekend of clean-up. I need to clear a foot on either side of the main path thru the garden, and that will include using Round-Up on a large area where sea oats have colonized all over the path, as well is clearing back the Shasta Daisies and more Monarda and a bit of the chrysanthemum patch. It is easy to see this week how much the maurading monarda did to that patch. Where there was no interferance, the chrysanthemums are about four inches taller than in the area I cleared last week.

Had hoped to receive my order of plants for the purple river today. The nursery sent an email on Wednesday that they were shipped, but now they will sit in the post office all weekend - hopefully not in a truck! I would love to get these plants in the ground soon. We are expecting heat in the low 90's this weekend, so I may have to water on Sunday or Monday.

What's blooming this week: The Fothergilla is in full bloom and prettier this year than last. I really tried to water it periodically this past winter. More azaleas, too, and the woods hyacinths have come into full bloom. The prettiest thing is a white Viburnum, which is nearly full size now and covered with blooms. The groundcover around it is a purple vinca, so the contrast is nice.