Back to the Garden - Passion Flower Vine

On Tuesday, the temperature at the start of my day was 62F and I was movitated to garden.  For starters, I want to improve the view from the kitchen table.  So I'm putting in a small flower bed. I bought two Passion Flower Vines and a trellis, all that was left was to make the bed and get them in the ground and growing.

Thank you Google for the picture.  (My plants aren't blooming - yet.)
In my youth we called these "MayPops."

 

 

I gathered up everything I needed for this project and completed the whole thing in just over an hour (83 minutes, but who's counting?).

On your mark, get set, go!

I used the trellis to determine how big to make the bed. Fortunately for me, the Previous Owner had this thing about collecting old bricks, so I've started using the old bricks in my landscaping.  I like the recycle aspect of using them and if I want to expand a flower bed I just have to grab a few more bricks.

Maintenance

See the hole?  A tree used to grow there, the Previous Owner cut it down and each year it sinks a bit more as the roots have rotted   composted returned to the earth.  Every now and then I put a little more soil in  (usually after I stumble).  On Tuesday, I put soil in the hole then started putting in the grass that I was removing to make way for my new flower bed.  Nothing wasted.  I like that.

All I had to do was dig out grass.

Still digging.  When does the fun start?  Wish you (or anybody) were here digging with me.

Ready to Lasagna Garden my little bed.  I added a some soil and amendments, just a little.  Then I grabbed some newspaper and lined my new bed to help keep weeds to a minimum.

I added back some of the old dirt (that sounds silly, most dirt is, well, as old as dirt - how ever old that is) mixed in some 'new dirt' and added the bricks. 

And the plants!

All that was left to do was add mulch, water, and clean up.  I've got a nice little garden and next spring and summer I will have beautiful, blooming vines.

The job is almost finished.

Here it is, Thursday morning.   It's amazing what can happen when the temperature cooperates.  Only two days in the ground and already the tendrils are at work. 

Life is good.

My view from the kitchen is better this morning --- my coffee even tastes better. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to Vintage Thingie Thursday with Colorado Lady (button just to the right if you want to join us).  I'm 'rerunning' my coin story over there - next week I must find something new to bring to her party.  Hope you have a great weekend.  cJoy

Back to the Garden - Weeding

Weeding is the worst of all chores in the garden. It's also one of the most important. I put this off for so long (I live in hope that my gardens will become self-cleaning). When I got busy doing it instead of just wishing it was done, clean up was much faster than I thought it would be. 

I took this picture a few days before I started work and put it on my computer as my background so I would remember I had a bit of weeding to do. 

Thursday morning I spent less than 90 minutes weeding, putting in soil amendments / plant food, putting down newspaper to hold in the water and keep out the weeds, and scattering wood mulch across the top of everything to make it beautiful (this also helps keep out the weeds and keep in the water).   I started at 7:00, I was trying to work while the temps were only in the 80's (around here that's just a few precious minutes in the morning). Also, I was trying to avoid a sunburn - that takes a bit of work - it seems like the sun is always out.

I told you about the book LASAGNA GARDENING by Patricia Lanza.  This is one of the benefits of putting down newspaper in your garden, it keeps the weeds from really taking hold. 

I started pulling the weeds with my hands (wear gloves!) and they came out very easily.  I grabbed my old fork hoe and it made the job go even faster. 

After a bit of weeding I was ready to add the good stuff (soil amendments).   It was going so fast I almost forgot to take pictures. 

As I put down the sections of newspaper I spray them with water, this keeps them from flying away. 

When I was done I was careful not to take any photos of me. I was dirty, sweaty, hot and tired. And proud. I have just started a garden revival.   

Yes, the stone and the fossil were there all the time - just hidden by all the weeds.  I am so amazed at how quickly I cleaned up this area of my garden.  Sure, I've got lots more to do, but that's one of the things about a garden  - it needs you as much as you need it.

random thoughts - newspaper - gardening - men and women and clothing - a bit more gardening

  "...and I can raise hemlines so high, the world is your gynecologist...."
                                                      .....Patsy, Absolutely Fabulous (BBC) 1992


I have let my own garden slide these past couple of weeks, maybe a month, face it - it's been a while since I did any serious weeding in this section of my garden.  It shows, a garden, like a favorite handbag, needs to be regularly weeded and cleaned out.

Desperate garden, not only do the weeds need to come out, plant food/fertilizer and mulch need to go in.

I still get the local newspaper - I just love the way it smells and the way the ink stains my fingers.  The usual weekday edition is just thick enough to use is the garden to keep down the weeds.  A couple of years ago I read the book LASAGNA GARDENING by Patricia Lanza and now I just weed a bit, put down newspapers and top it with mulch.  I take the magazine pages out, just want the newsprint - it composts so easily I can't help but wonder what's really in each issue.          

I like our local rag and have been a faithful subscriber for many years.  Don't care much for the fact that it's not very local.  I think this is what is killing newspapers.  They all print the same thing from the same source.  I believe they could sell more papers if they just stuck with the news and information in their area and added just a sprinkling of what's going on in the nation and the rest of the world (reverse of what they are doing now).  Of course they would be much thinner and probably cost more.  I love the town I live in and want to know what's going on and where's a good place to go for dinner and/or entertainment.  If you want to be active in your community you need to know what's happening in your community.  

Relying on the News at 5 to tell you everything is risky, some of us don't get home until after 6.  Others refuse to miss their favorite rerun of a rerun - forget news.  There's also that problem of "if it bleeds it leads."   The more depressing, the more it's on.  Instead of informing us, the News is the most depressing thing you can watch - some news (the really bad/sad stuff) is talked about so much and graphic photos are shown and re-shown and soon the News just isn't news anymore.  

Not to mention (but of course I will), I have a genuine concern for the women on news programs - why do the women wear 'band aids' while the men are in 'body casts?'  Not that I want men to wear less, I just think the women could have a bit more clothing on and still read the news to me.  Is this a fad?  Can a plunging neckline and a really high hemline cause ratings to soar - for a newscast?  My concern is that if they cross their legs or lean forward we are all at risk of being a lot more informed than we need to be.  What happened to modesty?  At some point in the future will human beings suffer from extreme boredom because they've literally seen it all?  Also, why on earth do - - - - - - -  wait a minute.  This is a happy blog.  We interrupt this train of thought - - - -

I think it's time to find my old newspapers and go outside - even in this heat. I've let my garden run on its own for a while and now it needs some serious supervision and weeding, lots and lots of weeding. 

I'm ready to start work - green sand, azalea food, newspaper and wood mulch.  It's not enough to take out the bad, you've got to have something to put back in - to feed the plants (the summer heat and all the watering have taken out many of the nutrients in the soil) and to mulch (this will hold in the water) - to make the garden beautiful... again. 

I guess this is where you tell me a mind is like a garden, to keep it healthy and running well you have to keep weeding out the thoughts that are of no use, keep it clean, keep it happy.  Always be careful what you allow in - garden & mind.