Garden Song

A late frost made posing all of the plants easier. I had to bring them in anyway.

Inch by inch, row by row

Gonna make this garden grow

Gonna mulch it deep and low

Gonna make it fertile ground

—David Mallett

I spent much Saturday whipping the front yard into shape. This involved shaving the weeds as close to the ground as I could and edging the driveway and sidewalks. Edging always makes a huge mess because I have an ancient Craftsman edger ($30 courtesy of Craig’s list). So, I broke out the power washer and blew the mud of the pavement.

While I had the power washer out, I went to the back yard and washed the accumulated crud off of the small deck outside the back door. This deck was originally the floor to a treehouse the neighborhood association made us take down last fall, much to Beccano’s dismay. His grandfather built the treehouse when the kids were little, and it had remained hidden for years. Last year, the NA looked harder. It looks much better with the growth blasted off.

Then Suna and I went plant shopping. This year, Suna decided she wanted a red flower garden. Last year, I bought whatever was on sale. This year, we timed it right and were able to stay within the red pallet and within my plant budget. We bought a range of plants, including:

This whiskey barrel had a lone survivor from last year’s garden. I surrounded it with red impatience and begonias, with a little dusty miller to grow over the sides and make the reds pop.

• Begonias
• Celosia
• Dusty miller
• Geraniums
• Gerbera daisies
• New Zealand
• Sweet pea

We also had a few survivors from last year.

• Our fern grew so well last year that I split it in half and repotted it. Both halves overwintered well. One lives in the media room, the other will goes back outside.
• Several of the begonia’s overwintered, despite a lack of care.
• Two or three of our pepper plants look like they’re coming back from the dead.
• The perennials all seem to have perennialed.

That means all of my free time Saturday and Sunday was spent repotting and positioning. I had to bring them all in as soon as I got home from work on Monday. The sweet pea was fairly wilted by a late afternoon cold front that dropped temps to almost freezing, but it seemed to be doing better by bed time.