Planting Away

Friday I got an express delivery of irises from my mother. I had dug up where the bed was to be located, but hadn't put in the landscape timbers for the boarder of the bed - so that was put into rush mode. I'm not saying that to make my mother feel guilty; I had actually planned on putting in the timbers this weekend anyway - it just made it more a rush item on the Wonderful Spouse's agenda. See, the landscape timbers hadn't been purchased yet, and his truck was the one that would be transporting the timbers - ergo, it became a top priority for him.

It seems that everyone in a 20 mile radius of Agway had gardening plans for today too. Fortunately, we didn't let that deter us and we managed to elbow our way to the cash register to request our purchases (everything we needed was in the warehouse or the lot out back). We finally got loaded up and made our way home - all was well and good.

The Black Fly nation was out in force today, so in digging the trenches where the timbers would go, there was lots of arm waving and sending up of sacrificial smoke (cigerette smoke is good for bug control if nothing else). At one point, the Nation was so persistant that I ran into the house and did dishes hoping that they would give up and go to the neighbor's house (no, not that neighbor's - that is where WS was at - the OTHER neighbor's).

The timbers were finally layed into place, I added some manure and humus mix to the flower bed itself, then started on planting the irises. I always try to do the "random planting" pattern - you know the one where you just throw handfulls of bulbs (or plants or whatever) in the general area you want them in and then plant them where they land. I start out with that but always end up straightening things out because there are bare spots and a general sense of dis-order that I don't like (strange, that has never really bothered me about the mess in the house).

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late I know, but I get an E for effort), I got the irises planted and watered.

Then, it was time to work on the strawberry bed. I used to have strawberries amongst the fruit trees. But, the Wonderful Spouse weed-wacked them so much that they finally died out. I think there are 1 or 2 plants that are still struggling to survive - but the weed-wacker will find them eventually so I have given up on that location. Actually, I had given up on strawberries in general, but the neighbor had caught me in a weak moment and asked if I wanted some. I said "Yes" and he sent them home with WS this afternoon (WS was helping him haul wood earlier in the day).

Naturally, I had no plan as to where to put the strawberries. WS and I finally decided to place them on the hill between the dog pen and the retaining wall that we built last year (out of desperation for someplace to re-locate boulders). WS did most of the preperation for the strawberry bed; he dug up the ever-present rocks (in the process, building up the retaining wall even more) and raked the area to a nice, smooth slope. I did end up helping toward the end of the project - mostly stacking more rocks on the wall as he found them with the rake. Every once in a while, one of us would run about 50 feet in any direction to get away from the Black Fly Nation (since they hadn't gone over to the other neighbor's house).

The strawberry bed is ready to recieve its new babies. The planting will happen tomorrow at some point. For now, the strawberry plants are in the greenhouse. Hopefully, the mouse has gone to the moon (the big cheeseball in the sky) and I won't find empty containers when I start planting!