May 2nd. I only had a couple of hours on Saturday morning to work, then to the Woodlands to watch Jonah and Blake's kids.
I spread some compost and prepped a bed in the Vegetable Garden. Planted a little pot plant.
Spread some compost along the Boardwalk and planted 2 Oakleaf Hydrangea that I grew from cuttings. I tried to start 6 cuttings, and only 2 survived. Not a very good percentage, but I learned a lot from the experience. Next fall I will have much better luck when I try again. Some of the cuttings I took had leaf buds but no full grown leaves. The ones that survived had big leaves on them. I guess they need those leaves in order to gather energy.
Next, I worked in the Orchard pulling up Tall Winecup and Golden Rod. Basically, I was uncovering my blueberry bushes that were covered up by flopped over flower growth. I pulled up a truckload of flowers.
Everything is weedy due to all the rain. But, nothing that 2 solid days of work can't fix. Unfortunately, I don't have 2 solid days for a while, but the weather is beautiful and only good thoughts are the kind to have right now!
I decided to come back to Burton on Sunday after I left Blake's house. Bert was still here. I had fertilizer, potting soil and perlite with me, prepared to pot up some plants for the fall plant sale. I dug up 10 or so Dahlberg Daisy and planted them in cactus mix, fertilizer and perlite. That plant has spread everywhere in the Rose Garden paths. It loves gravel. I just walk on it, it is very low-growing and charming. I dug up 6 or so Shinners Sunflower and planted them in potting soil, perlite and fertilizer. They got wilty almost immediately but the Dahlberg still looks perky. I put all those plants under the table under the arbor so they can recover from their shock.
I spent most of the day in the Rose Garden laying down the very last of my compost and fertilizer and planting many of the plants that I have been growing since the early fall. I was waiting for the tall winecup to finish their bloom. I pulled up tons of tall winecup last week and some as I worked in the garden. I planted 12 or so coneflower, several Helianthus, 6 or so Hyssopleaf Thoroughwort, one Rudbeckia Goldsturm and 6 or so Pringle Aster. Job well done! That was hundreds of dollars worth of plants if I had purchased them in the nursery that cost nothing because I grew them from seed. Oh, except for the cost of the soil and perlite and fertilizer! But I still think I came out ahead. I watered as I worked.
The last think I did was bump up most of my Ox Eye Daisies into gallon pots. I will probably put all of them in the plant sale. They are beautiful and healthy looking, but they were root bound. I used potting soil, fertilizer, and perlite. I re-potted until I ran out of perlite. I probably got about 12 plants re-potted.
Vacation through the end of May - road trip with Nathan and family and Bert.
