Wednesday Vignette: Wishful Thinking
Today I polished off the second 20 cubic yard pile of mulch. With the recent rains finally soaking into the parched ground, that means all the new beds are now ready to plant. I'm really excited about most of them, though one area, at least, isn't coming together as well as I would like. The second pile took me much longer to finish than the first. Part of that was me overworking myself on the first pile and straining my wrists to the point that I had one in a brace. So I had to take it easy for a few days. Various other bits of life occupied my time, and I spent most of last weekend in Seattle to raid a friend's garden for more plants.
Meanwhile, I've had these pots sitting out in the hell garden, playing around with placement. They've been sitting there long enough, but they still haven't planted themselves! I thought if I just left them there long enough they'd sink into the ground on their own (and maybe quadruple in size overnight). Oh well, I guess it was just wishful thinking.
So after finishing off the last of the 40 yards of mulch and helping to rip out the summer veggies, I finally started planting in earnest. I had planted the triangular bed in the upper right a week or so before, but got tired of filling holes with water several times before planting. Today, I managed to get essentially all of the main structural plants in place in a few hours. Planting goes so much faster when you don't have to water each hole in the dehydrated soil several times before putting a plant in. Actually, the soil in the back, closer to the trees, was still quite dry, but with the rain coming this weekend I figured I didn't need to worry. I would have kept working, planting filler plants, but the clouds started to roll in and I wanted to photograph my flowers and foliage for Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up before the storm wreaked havoc.
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| Hmm, it actually looked more impressive when the plants were still in their pots. They stood out more. Grow, little plants, grow! |
I'm passing this mini progress report off as my Wednesday Vignette, hosted by Anna of Flutter&Hum. Be sure to check her blog for an actual vignette and to find more in the comments from other bloggers.
And here I complain about spreading 5 cubic yards of mulch! Forty is tiring even to think about. Even a new bed with relatively small plants looks good to me. ("From tiny acorns, mighty oaks grow" and all that!) Good timing getting everything in before the rain comes. Rain remains a foreign concept down this way.
ReplyDeleteBig gardens take a lot of input, even for a low-maintenance one like this should be. Oh, I still have a lot of plants to put in here, lots of Salvia, Santolina, Zauschneria, and other small filler plants, not to mention most of the back near the trees still needs to be planted. But I got the major players in. Hope you get rain sooner than predicted. I'd send a bit of what we're expecting over the next few days your way if I could.
DeleteI empathize with your impatience, waiting for new plants to "grow, little plants, grow" but it's nice to see the layout so clearly.
ReplyDeleteI'm most excited for the trees and shrubs to grow, and for the perennials to start moving about on their own and create those happy accidents I love so much.
DeleteImpressive work moving 20 cubic yards of mulch! That hell garden will look heavenly soon. What a treat to have so much space to plant cool stuff!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to see how much you got done. I find that some potted plants do indeed plant themselves: I have a lavender that snuck roots through the hole at the bottom of the pot and I just let it be... but aside from that, raiding a friend's garden?... Ha! We should all have friends like that. What did you score?
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