Red Zinger

My latest bearded iris is called 'Red Zinger'.  Isn't it lovely?

I love the variegated leaves of these iris.  They were new last year and bloomed while we were on vacation.  I can't wait to see them bloom this year.

The bleeding hearts have held up pretty well to the 28 degree temps we had the other night.  I'll be glad when the nights stay warm for good so I can get my tomato plants in the ground.

Posts are Set

My darling husband worked all day on his day off and set all the posts for the fence.  It's been quite wet here since Thursday, so it's taking a little longer for the concrete to cure than I had expected, but that's OK.

Now we just need to get the beds filled with soil and compost. We have a brush pile with compost on the bottom.  Weather permitting, I'm going to go out tomorrow and try to dig some of that out.  Whatever we decide to do, we are probably going to need about 2 cubic yards of soil and compost, if our measurements are correct.

We also need to finish cutting fence posts and I figure it doesn't make any sense attaching them until we've got the soil in.  We were able to rescue some black rubber mulch from the dumpster for the walkways to keep the weeds down.  I wouldn't ordinarily want to use that type of mulch, but when you can get some stuff for free or dirt cheap, you sometimes make due, you know? 

The beds are a composite material, so they will last forever.  The tall posts on the right were rescued also.  They are probably about 15 years old and they were treated lumber at one time, but they are so dry now, I can probably paint them to match the fence if I want to.

It looks like we are in for a week of rainy weather, so not sure if I will get much more painting done on the greenhouse.  I really should be working on some mosaic garden spheres I started a month ago, but I haven't been in the mood to make anything lately.  I need to though, as I've had a few sales in the Etsy shop over the past few weeks.

Out of Control Weeds

We all have one of those beds that gets away from us, don't we?  Last year it was my whole garden, practically.  A mallard decided to nest in our mixed border, and I couldn't weed for a month because I didn't want to disturb her.

There really was no reason why I let one of my newest beds go to pot, so to speak, except that I just wasn't in the mood to weed last year.  It really is my least favorite gardening activity.  But this year I am bound and determined to get the butterfly garden, the bench garden and the side of the house under control for good.  The mixed border will have to wait until next year unless I get a second wind this summer.

As you can see, this bed is over run with grass.  There is a field stone border, and you can't even see the rocks for the grass.  It's a true mess! 

I've spent about 5 hours weeding this so far, over the course of two days and I am only about 40% done.  Some of the areas were so bad, I had to dig up the bearded iris and daylilies to get the weeds out.  I hope the bearded iris still bloom.  I tried not the disturb the clumps too much, but I did have to remove a lot of the soil before replanting them.  I kept the tubers in tact, since they really didn't need dividing anyway, so I am hopeful they will still bloom after a little fertilizer.

At least now you can see the rock border.  I will have to add a good thick layer of compost to help make up for the soil I removed along with the weeds.  Wish me luck on getting this finished this week.

Garden Beds Started

Where does the time go?  This past week has gone by so fast.  I've been doing a little gardening (weeding mostly) and Gary and I finally got the new garden beds next to the greenhouse started.  He'll be setting the posts for the fence on Thursday, and then we can edge it and add the mulch for the walkways.

The beds are made from composite boards that were rescued from the dumpster.  One bed is 3' x 7' and the other is 5' x 7'.  I was hoping they could both be 5' x 7', but we really didn't have enough space here to do that.  

When digging the holes, we discovered just how high our water table really is in this area.  Each hole filled with water almost immediately and they are still pretty full today.  Some are only about a few inches full of water, but others are 12" or more.  I hope that doesn't affect the concrete we are putting in the holes for the posts.

We are using traditional weed fabric for the walkways since we are using an inorganic mulch for the paths and I lined the bottom of the beds with a thick layer of newspaper.  Hopefully we can have these beds filled with soil within the next week or two.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but I've also started to paint the greenhouse trim and doors.  I think it will look very nice.