Mmmm, its spicy viburnum season!During the week, it's tough to get a lot done in the garden. Between homework assistance, kid limo service and dinner prep, there is usually only an hour or so in the evening to get stuff done. Since the first half hour or so of that hour is coldframe inspection and watering, progress on muchelse during the week is slow. Thankfully, the extraordinarily good weather has continued so I've had lots of outdoor time.
This week I finally got the peas in the ground. I tried a new location for them this year with more sun so we'll see what happens. Last year they were really late to emerge and ended up cramping the space plans badly. I spent most of the early part of the week potting up the peppers and eggplants. A part of me toyed with the idea of just sticking them in the ground now. We haven't seen frost for weeks and there is none in the forecast. Since I am only a couple of weeks away from the last frost date for this area it is really really tempting to get a few in the ground now to save a bit of work later. If this weather continues for one more week I'm going to go for it.
Tonight, in addition to potting up a couple more tomatoes, I finally got four broccoli "Early Dividend" and four Ruby Perfection cabbage in the ground. I left them out and not covered by the row cover tonight. Hopefully the varmits leave them be. Also planted was fennel, and a rosemary.
Now that we have hit the third week of April, I've started my annual spring freak out. Everywhere I look there is so much to get done and while mother nature has gifted me with multiple weeks of gorgeous weather, in a sense its made things worse. Its been so balmy the magnolia only held onto its blossoms for a few days. Now that mess already needs a clean up and the lawn is already getting crazy long thanks to all the warmth. Normally regular lawn mowing doesn't start until May!
In addition to all the usual spring chores, we are seriously toying with the idea of both residing the house and finally reclaiming the patio area which means new fencing, concrete work etc etc. If we do the siding we have to replace all the railings on all three balconies too. This project will involve significant research and planning. The electrical mainline will have to be shut off the the back of the house, fence posts will have to be dug. I have to research a different siding product we want to switch too (concrete fiber) and figure out if I can get decent styled fencing that will match it. If we are doing the patio I have to research a pond installation and get all that coordinated in such a way that we are not dealing with massive dirt piles all summer. ARGH! LOL. Oh well at least its not blizzard season anymore right?
1 comment:
Hi Stacy, My kids are grown now, but ah, I remember those busy days of homework help and chauffeur services, and just not enough time. Little by little what really needs to get done, gets done usually though.
Best wishes with your patio/siding/fencing project. We just replaced our patio and walks because they had settled and rain was draining towards the house. What a messy job, but now that it's done, I'm so glad, and it really looks nice.
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