Wednesday Workday

Project one is, er .... nearly half done!

Most of this "mess" is just fall trimming that didn't get done.  All the green you can see is winter weeds!

Mother Nature handed me a lovely Saturday and I was able to get a good start on refreshing the xeri-garden and turning half of it into a veggie garden.

Nine bags of ingredients.  A nice man helped me load the car.

Mixing dirt is always one of my favorite things.  Used a vermiculite with large particles this time [highly recommended by the garden center] and am concerned at how prominent it is in the mix.  Hope it's just the large size.

After moving out all the remaining xeri-plants, was able to re-fill 90 percent of the bed with new, good dirt.  It's a mix of top soil, three different composts, manure, vermiculite, and peat moss meant to provide nutrition and drainage, along with some water retention.

This is the old dirt with all the plants moved out.  See how low the dirt level is in the bed?  New soil went on top

Cleaned up and replanted, the remaining plants fill about a third of the bed.  There are two different sedums (Stonecrop 'Fuldaglut' and 'Autumn Joy'), an agastache ('Ava'), and one hyssop ('Alcapulco Yellow with Rose') left.  I have ordered one more hyssop, which should come in the next two weeks.

Rain poured before I could get photos.  This is what it looked like Monday morning.  See how high the soil is in the bed?  Big improvement!

That leaves me two-thirds of the bed for veggies.  I have potatoes ready to plant and several "starter" lettuces.  Don't know what else I will put there, but I think I will try some new things.  Before I plant, tho, I need two things:  a little more soil mix and three days without rain.  The yard is so wet that I can't even get to the bed right now!  It's too cold anyway.  Sure wish Spring would decide what to do.

Romaine, red leaf and green leaf lettuces, plus cilantro.  I want to plant a mesclun mix as well.

Would love to get this little project finished this next weekend, but am not sure it will happen.  In any case, it sure does feel good to be out digging in the dirt again, even if Spring is still not decided on whether it's time or not.

Flowers in the House

You were expecting maybe daffodils?  Well, so was I.  The yard is full of them.  Sadly it was cold and rainy all day Sunday and i just didn't feel like going outside long enough to cut some.  So, you will have to be satisfied with the "leftovers" from this past week. 

Mitchell came home with my favorite tulips last weekend.  He had searched out the tightest buds, so they are still pretty after a whole week.

Fortunately, the hellebores are still going strong and I cut a new bouquet every week.

How can you not love them?  You can't!

Thanks to Jane at Small But Charming for hosting today's flower house tour.  If you haven't visited her, please be sure to hop over and see who else is playing this month.