Gardening Weekend

I had 3 days off this weekend and spent all 3 with my back yard in mind. I did get to attend my 3 year old grandson's pre-school pancake breakfast. It was fun going there and seeing him in that environment. Then we got to spend time together the rest of the day while he stayed around and played and I got started on my latest project list - my Autumn Garden.

Black Knot
Fungus on
tree.

I took a ride to the local nursery and picked up some plants that were good in filtered sun and shade. I am hoping that I will be pleased with my choices. Saturday morning I got up and started in earnest. I have a fruitless cherry tree that was in awful need of pruning. It had tangled branches so bad I had to just start cutting to find the main limbs. The tree may be headed south as it has the Black Knot fungus which was already in full mode when we moved in. I am not sure that the cure is possible at this point, but it is very artistic with it's galls on the trunk.

You can't really tell how much I pruned from this shot, but
there is way more sun shining on the ground now. I have
opened a window to many more kinds of plants that will
thrive in this area..

Anyway, by the time I had the tree in some semblance of shape, I had branches on the entire lawn. I got my neighbor's spare green waste once again and with the help of my 5 year old granddaughter filled both mine and his spare compacted as tight as possible. By the time I was done with that project, I was done period. The day was almost over and it was time to sit and rest. As it was a nice evening, we ordered a pizza and enjoyed it with our son and his family.

This is the grass. Notice the blossoms. They are somewhat
like a pampas grass but in little curly fingers.

Sunday dawned grey and cool. I made a quick trip to Home Depot for potting soil to plant the mums I purchased on Friday for my front porch. Well, you can't just get potting soil, can you? I came home with a Japanese Finger Grass (I made that name up for how it looks). The grass spears are variegated dark green in the center and white on the edges. It has a pampas grass type of bloom but not as big. It really looks like fingers to me ergo the name. I got some soil amendment and some other doo dads (got to have doo dads).  When I got home, I was ready to start. But where first?

How cool will this be if we actually get stalks of sprouts?

The back of the garage wall had some straggly annuals that looked past their prime so I ripped them out and planted some brussel sprouts. Mark loves brussel sprouts! Then I put some holes in the ground under the boxes of sprouts and planted a few daffodils for next spring. I also got some pony packs and stuff for my little area in front of the deck so I placed those. Then it was time to put in my big grass shrub.

Me cleaning out the old plants to make
ready for the brussel sprouts.

The bulbs are in the holes, using orchid and bulb soil to set these
to bed for the winter. I covered the very top with dirt and then
as always finished with a layer of Spaghnam Moss (peat moss)
to hold the moisture as well as enrich the soil.

This will looks so good this spring!

Nice finish with the peat moss cover. And it enriches the soil.

I have to say if you are planting anything, pay attention to the fertilizer and soil recommendations. I have been mixing vitamin B for shock and several types of soil to make sure my plants have a good start on their life in my back yard. I have had the best of luck Now I just have to get rid of the stupid raccoons! I have about 6 more gallon pots to put in and about the same of different colored mums for the front porch. Got to take the time to work tomorrow but with luck I will be off early and have some left over energy to finish this project.

There I am with a shovel. Maybe that's why my shoulder burns
this evening....

The final product. I think this will spread nicely and make my
Zen garden more "zenny" Hah!

Hope you all get time to get your hands dirty and commune with the earth, it is such a therapeutic exercise! Until later, my friends, Happy Trails!