Weekend Gardening

Oh! I just know that I am going to be paying for this tomorrow! I am probably going to be so sore when I wake up.

It is such a lovely weekend that the planting of the aspens I did yesterday was just not enough... This morning, bright and early, I headed back down to the garden center and did some more shopping. I had a few other things I have wanted to do for a while now, so I figured: Heck! Why not today?

About a hundred dollars later, I had some seed, some plants, some soil, and a couple new gardening tools and was back at home with my morning's labor planned-out ahead of me. the first thing I did was to lay-out some drip irrigation hose around the perimeter of the fence that lines my little private area of the complex. While I was at it (and having to use the whole 100' of hose), I also laid it around the base of the aspen trees that are planted between my patio and the trash bin enclosure.

This involved removing a couple of the fence pickets so that I could bury the hose under the fence to get it out to the trees then back in again. It also involved going around the base of the trees on my hands and knees to bury the hose under the gravel mulch (the dirt in the entire area is covered with a few inches of golfball sized rocks).

That job completed, I then cleared more of this gravel (Can golfball sized rocks really still be called gravel?) from the outside of the fence that surrounds the trash bins. This is an area between the walkway to the entry to my home and the fence. The area is about twelve feet long and two feet wide. The reclaimed rocks went to build-up the covering over the irrigation hose and the space around the rose bush at the other side of the enclosure. I removed the top couple inches of soil/rock combination as well and laid in a new covering of top soil that I could then plant in.

Next, I leveled out the soil and sowed it with wildflower seeds so that it would look really nice in a couple weeks when the flowers start to come in. I planted a combination of violas, cosmos, and miniature snapdragons in the area and also sowed the seed in the established planting area that I made years ago at the end of my patio.

Perhaps this fall I will plant bulbs in that area as well, but I really can't think that far ahead right now. For today, my gardening is done and I hope my neighbors will get as much joy out of the color to come as I am sure that I will. I think that now it is time for a walk with Saga and then, perhaps, a nap!

Wherever you are today, I hope that you're having a great weekend!

Don Bergquist - May 04, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA