And they're off!
Absolutely beautiful Sunday weather, so I slathered on some SPF 30 (the long winter hasn't done my lily-white skin any favours) and went out to begin work on the garden.
I've always heard horror stories about the soggy clay soil of this city, but digging in the flower bed revealed fairly well-drained soil rich with chubby earth worms (the way I kept having to relocate them out of harm's way while I was digging made me feel like some kind of earth worm taxi service). I think probably some previous resident did their darn best to create better soil in the beds by mixing sand in. My heartfelt thanks, Stranger.
It took me several hours to dig up the largest of the two flower beds (and a lot of rocks and cigarettes and shards of glass did I find in there). I've sown some marigolds in one corner to dissuade the colony of ants that have made it their home. We'll see if they sprout at all - I haven't grown anything from seed since I was about ten years old. I also came across several massive, milky-white larvae while digging, but being in a Mother Nature kind of mood I decided to not disturb them - later on Modern Man checked Google and discovered it was probably the larva of the Cockchafer beetle (what a name!), which are considered a garden pest. Whoops.
I've sown some other flowers as well, and I'm going to try to bring some of the less sturdy ones up indoors before I plant them outside. Meanwhile, my mum gave me some ready-grown plants too, while I wait for other things to grow - got some Lavender in once corner of the bed (hopefully they'll cancel out the smell of the marigolds) and pink carnations in the other.
I've always heard horror stories about the soggy clay soil of this city, but digging in the flower bed revealed fairly well-drained soil rich with chubby earth worms (the way I kept having to relocate them out of harm's way while I was digging made me feel like some kind of earth worm taxi service). I think probably some previous resident did their darn best to create better soil in the beds by mixing sand in. My heartfelt thanks, Stranger.
It took me several hours to dig up the largest of the two flower beds (and a lot of rocks and cigarettes and shards of glass did I find in there). I've sown some marigolds in one corner to dissuade the colony of ants that have made it their home. We'll see if they sprout at all - I haven't grown anything from seed since I was about ten years old. I also came across several massive, milky-white larvae while digging, but being in a Mother Nature kind of mood I decided to not disturb them - later on Modern Man checked Google and discovered it was probably the larva of the Cockchafer beetle (what a name!), which are considered a garden pest. Whoops.
I've sown some other flowers as well, and I'm going to try to bring some of the less sturdy ones up indoors before I plant them outside. Meanwhile, my mum gave me some ready-grown plants too, while I wait for other things to grow - got some Lavender in once corner of the bed (hopefully they'll cancel out the smell of the marigolds) and pink carnations in the other.