Return to the Fence: May 2.
It is raining to-day.
According to Weather Underground we will have rain through Sunday, May 2.
As a result I am planning to not continue on the fence, including rails and pickets, until then.
If there is any let up in precipitation my focus will be on cutting the lawn in the back, restoring the land around the posts and moving bricks to LBT. The last two are certainly possible, even with a little light rain.
While I was hoping to have three more days, I am grateful for the two days I had.
After years of waiting for the right moment, I seized it and made progress.
The potential is that, by Memorial Day, I will have finished the fence but certainly the southeast corner enclosure.
I will also be once again pursuing the idea that I can find a old wood garden gate. Its width will determine the position of the 8x8 post, the car gate(s) and the 2nd 8x8 post.
---
Meanwhile, the plants here are doing well (besides the small evergreen tree).
I have kept the front park strip free of dandelions, digging them out when I see them flower. One central area is luscious with green grass. If I had wacked it before the rain hit it would look very nice. Right now it is uneven.
I have kept weeds from growing inn the street gutter and in the cracks in our front walkway.
The cracks in the driveway and the median do have weeds. Working there has been opportunistic at best. Same with the front side walkway and the Chimney Memorial Walkway.
The back lawn is choked with dandelions and broad leafed plants, but I have been slowly making progress on digging them out and replacing bare dirt with grass. I have a new patch of supposedly drought resistant grass adjacent to LBT. The grass opposite the south plant bed is somewhat vigorous and weedless.
As of yesterday I hacked out all blackberries on our property and into the alley way. There are still rootballs which must be excavated and I want to hack the alley way all along the property line with House70. I will be happy to fill our compost container every week for the next two months to get things back in control.
The wild ginger looks good. Violets, Spanish Bluebells, Bleeding Hearts and Forget-me-nots are doing well. I still find some straw from last year, but most of the distracting pieces have been removed. Yesterday I did that for the mambo grass in Marvin's Garden. The grape hyacinth is doing well, but one of the stalks was horizontal and was hurt. The violet flowers I got from Marlana are doing well and so is the white droopy flower.
I am now faced with the fact that the Douglas Spirea in Marvin's Garden has become very successful and need to cut it back when it reaches out too far. The same goes for Euphorbia Characias Wulfenii (the satellite dish plant) which wants to take over the walkway.
In Delbert's Garden the Oregon Grape was cutback in early Spring so lost so much new growth and blossoms. I did the same on the pink flowering current but it still did well after the cutback. The garden is much fuller with the vegetation from the bluebells and bleeding hearts occupying most of the area. The white flowers blooming off the side of the fence look nice once again. They are rooted in Delbert's Garden but thrive on the fence.
I am really happy with Squeakers' Corner now populated with a variety of perrenial flowering plants. There are, of course, the bleeding hearts sitting up against the heat exchanger, but also Rose Campion and others. There are only a few spots of bare earth.
Spalding's Corner needs a little work. The soil by the sidewalk is simply needles and leaves, so only grass and flickweed show up there. I need to amend the soil and find something new to plant there. The Heuchera is making a comeback. The mint, of course, is thriving: I just need to keep it under control as it will dominate everything.
I am starting to see the ephemeral fern plants come up. Unlike the sword fern, this fern's upper body disappears in the winter. Its roots stay alive. I have found it in the median and in the park strip from its original location at the front of Marvin's Garden. I let a few of them grow, but the rest I pull hoping to stem the tide of the relentless root system.
The two mystery trees grew and have leaves now. I will need to transplant them soon. Smaller seedlings did not do well when transplanted. I am hoping the growth will help the plant survive. Just don't want to wait much longer as I might be unsuccessful removing its root system properly. I am thinking I can try one by the garden gate and the other near Cirrus Alley (the Peruvian Lillies). I think I saw another of the mystery tree seedlings growing elsewhere.
Right next to the two mystery trees there is an evergreen seedling which has new growth this year. It may well replace the small evergreen which appears to be dieing.
I am really proud of the large evergreen which I started as a seedling 9 years ago. Its lower branches are starting to overwhelm the area it is in, but I will do what I can to make it work there and not try to move it.
The weed tree has been most successful. I will keep it, for now. Its roots are filling the area but have not disturbed the back driveway. The roots make it difficult to create a walkway, but if I move the compost bins I might get enough room for a 3 foot walkway. Definitely will cut the lower branches to allow people to walk underneath the tree and prevent interference with the car.
According to Weather Underground we will have rain through Sunday, May 2.
As a result I am planning to not continue on the fence, including rails and pickets, until then.
If there is any let up in precipitation my focus will be on cutting the lawn in the back, restoring the land around the posts and moving bricks to LBT. The last two are certainly possible, even with a little light rain.
While I was hoping to have three more days, I am grateful for the two days I had.
After years of waiting for the right moment, I seized it and made progress.
The potential is that, by Memorial Day, I will have finished the fence but certainly the southeast corner enclosure.
I will also be once again pursuing the idea that I can find a old wood garden gate. Its width will determine the position of the 8x8 post, the car gate(s) and the 2nd 8x8 post.
---
Meanwhile, the plants here are doing well (besides the small evergreen tree).
I have kept the front park strip free of dandelions, digging them out when I see them flower. One central area is luscious with green grass. If I had wacked it before the rain hit it would look very nice. Right now it is uneven.
I have kept weeds from growing inn the street gutter and in the cracks in our front walkway.
The cracks in the driveway and the median do have weeds. Working there has been opportunistic at best. Same with the front side walkway and the Chimney Memorial Walkway.
The back lawn is choked with dandelions and broad leafed plants, but I have been slowly making progress on digging them out and replacing bare dirt with grass. I have a new patch of supposedly drought resistant grass adjacent to LBT. The grass opposite the south plant bed is somewhat vigorous and weedless.
As of yesterday I hacked out all blackberries on our property and into the alley way. There are still rootballs which must be excavated and I want to hack the alley way all along the property line with House70. I will be happy to fill our compost container every week for the next two months to get things back in control.
The wild ginger looks good. Violets, Spanish Bluebells, Bleeding Hearts and Forget-me-nots are doing well. I still find some straw from last year, but most of the distracting pieces have been removed. Yesterday I did that for the mambo grass in Marvin's Garden. The grape hyacinth is doing well, but one of the stalks was horizontal and was hurt. The violet flowers I got from Marlana are doing well and so is the white droopy flower.
I am now faced with the fact that the Douglas Spirea in Marvin's Garden has become very successful and need to cut it back when it reaches out too far. The same goes for Euphorbia Characias Wulfenii (the satellite dish plant) which wants to take over the walkway.
In Delbert's Garden the Oregon Grape was cutback in early Spring so lost so much new growth and blossoms. I did the same on the pink flowering current but it still did well after the cutback. The garden is much fuller with the vegetation from the bluebells and bleeding hearts occupying most of the area. The white flowers blooming off the side of the fence look nice once again. They are rooted in Delbert's Garden but thrive on the fence.
I am really happy with Squeakers' Corner now populated with a variety of perrenial flowering plants. There are, of course, the bleeding hearts sitting up against the heat exchanger, but also Rose Campion and others. There are only a few spots of bare earth.
Spalding's Corner needs a little work. The soil by the sidewalk is simply needles and leaves, so only grass and flickweed show up there. I need to amend the soil and find something new to plant there. The Heuchera is making a comeback. The mint, of course, is thriving: I just need to keep it under control as it will dominate everything.
I am starting to see the ephemeral fern plants come up. Unlike the sword fern, this fern's upper body disappears in the winter. Its roots stay alive. I have found it in the median and in the park strip from its original location at the front of Marvin's Garden. I let a few of them grow, but the rest I pull hoping to stem the tide of the relentless root system.
The two mystery trees grew and have leaves now. I will need to transplant them soon. Smaller seedlings did not do well when transplanted. I am hoping the growth will help the plant survive. Just don't want to wait much longer as I might be unsuccessful removing its root system properly. I am thinking I can try one by the garden gate and the other near Cirrus Alley (the Peruvian Lillies). I think I saw another of the mystery tree seedlings growing elsewhere.
Right next to the two mystery trees there is an evergreen seedling which has new growth this year. It may well replace the small evergreen which appears to be dieing.
I am really proud of the large evergreen which I started as a seedling 9 years ago. Its lower branches are starting to overwhelm the area it is in, but I will do what I can to make it work there and not try to move it.
The weed tree has been most successful. I will keep it, for now. Its roots are filling the area but have not disturbed the back driveway. The roots make it difficult to create a walkway, but if I move the compost bins I might get enough room for a 3 foot walkway. Definitely will cut the lower branches to allow people to walk underneath the tree and prevent interference with the car.