More Weekend Activity

Yesterday I spent much of my time on gardening-related activities and had a great time, not to mention a good workout, too! The main plan was to travel out and dig up some free pachysandra from a guy who had advertised on Craigslist... I had read up a little bit about the plant but didn't realize what a pain it is to dig up and to replant, with all its runners. But, I also got two small free rosebushes out of the deal, when I noticed them among (and being choked by) one of the beds of pachysandra. I was just like, "Um... do you want to keep this rosebush?" and the guy was like, "You want it? Go ahead and take it!" and it turned out to be two separate plants. I planted them in the front garden along the wall where it is nice and sunny, hoping it will fill the space nicely one day. I hope they will survive and flourish. All the man said he knew about them was that they were pink. Good enough. I've really come to love roses, I think mainly because they remind me of my maternal grandmother, who had all sorts of flowering bushes all over their property back when I was a wee lass. (Peonies are another nostalgic favorite, by the way, for the same reason.)

On the way over there, though I stopped at Home Depot for a couple small things—a cultivator for the new beds I am making, some slug pellets for the hostas, and... I couldn't resist... I know HD isn't the best place to buy plants, but I decided to get a few herbs and veggies for experimental reasons. After the success we had last year with our tomatoes and hot peppers in containers (mostly due to C.'s careful attention and diligence, I might add), and seeing how just about anything I've put into our gardens has flourished, I wanted to see how well plants with a more practical purpose would do directly in the ground. So, I walked away with two strawberry plants, a black beauty eggplant, some Greek oregano, sweet basil, and two types of tomato: Early Girl and some cherries. I'm not expecting success necessarily, but I am interested to see how things do in the locations I've selected for them amongst the flower beds. Exciting stuff! I wouldn't mind trying to see how directly sowed seeds do, too.

I took some more photos around the yard today, but it won't be tomorrow until I sort them out and post a few here. Everything's going like gangbusters now. Most of the tulips are now blooming, and the flowering trees are waking up and showing us their pretties. It's such a lovely time of the year, and I am very pleased at how things that I contributed to the existing gardens are really filling things out, like the variety of sedums, and the hostas that I separated. I am quite proud of my efforts and feel that I have already learned so much in just the two years I've had my own garden.

See you tomorrow!