This is Pirate Pearls.
Bert and I came up on Wednesday. I arrived after jury duty and worked for the rest of the day. The evening was balmy, but I didn't go outside. I will look back on that as a missed opportunity I'm sure.
Thursday. Rain!!! Lightening and hard rain came right at dusk. I was already up and watching it happen. It rained until about 7:30. Even Bert (who loves to sleep later than me) woke up and came out and sat on the porch to watch the rain.
I worked in the Vegetable Garden first. The baking soda I spread last week seemed to do a good job on the nostoc algae , but after the rain, the ground in the Vegetable Garden was slimy and unpleasant. I pulled all the weeds in the newest long bed except where I came upon a few ant beds. I put down poison on the ant beds and will swing back around later and pull the weeds growing on the ant beds.
Next I worked in the Shade Garden. Basket grass has taken over a few beds. I had a claw hand tool that I used to scrape along the soil and partially pull it up. The I pulled it out of the ground by hand. That worked pretty well. I raked the paths as I went and cut away plants leaning into paths. I dug up some flagstone along the paths that was partially buried and reset them on top of the soil. I also dug up a few gingers growing in paths and planted them in a bed. None of the beautyberries set seed in the Shade Garden with the exception of two that are right next to sprinkler heads. And even those did not do as well as usual. The drought took a toll.
Friday. I planted 2 large fall asters in the Rose Garden, and half dozen or so of the bandana series lantanas and 3 scrawny New Gold lantana. The New Gold are superior to all the new varieties, such outstanding performers! I tried to find a flat of those, but I only found 3. Since I had to stick something in the ground, I bought a flat of bandana. Deer have eaten the flowers off of the white pentas I planted last week and the Johnson Amaryllis.
Next I set to work in the Shade Garden and kept on with my cleanup of that garden. I picked up all the dead sticks of sweetspire. I don't know if drought or voles or what killed all the sweetspire. I had so much that I had grown to hate it. It was always creeping into the path and I had to cut and pull it away. Now, it is completely gone. The sticks were totally rotten, so they were easy to pick up. I thought I was going to have to cut every one down. I also pulled up lots of basket grass and a thin vine that crawls along the ground with tiny little watermelon-like gourds. I but down and poisoned some yaupon that was growing in there as well as some greenbriar. Did some more raking and reset some more flagstone. It looks pretty good in there. The snakeroot should be blooming for the wedding. It's not as plentiful as in non-drought years, but that's probably a good thing since I usually have too much of a good thing going on, plants everywhere making a jumbled mess.
It rained again. Not for a long time, but it was most welcome. I made manicotti, a salad and some black bean soup. Josh and the girls and Max and Julia arrived in the early evening. They are going to hang the strings of lights for the wedding. Josh and Max stayed up until 4 in the morning arguing or whatever they call it. I guess it's their love language.
Saturday. Max and Josh hung lights, but they were in considerable pain from the night before. The girls and I planted some orange lantana in the Rose Garden. Mid afternoon it poured rain - a bona fide soaking, yay! We all sat on the porch and watched the rain. I made them all leave around 5 because I wanted to work in the garden.
I worked for about 2 hours. I stood in the ageratum and thinned it out and pulled crab grass. I tied the hyacinth bean vines to the arbor so that they would not crowd the entrance. Trimmed plants leaning into paths.
Sunday. Up before daylight, out the door at dawn. I worked in the Star Garden exclusively. I cut back the mock orange shrub to about half its size. By the end of summer it always looks so scabby.
I weeded the Toad Lily bed, the Vitex bed and the ginger bed. I pulled up or cut to the ground all the wild petunia wherever I saw it. Raked the paths. It looks much improved in that area.
I sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, the Vegetable Garden, the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.
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