Today was one of those days that started out rough (headache and a trip to the chiropractor) but I ended up getting a lot of little stuff done after a 2hr nap.
I transplanted some small containers of willow (scarlet curls and black maul from cuttings), lavender (2 minis I picked up from ebay), chives (seeded last year) into larger pots, repotted a pine (brought home from school as a sapling 8yrs ago), planted some more basil and short dill into the ground, made some soil out of some topsoil, peat and the left over horse manure from a couple of weekends ago, and watered one of the beds that I will then mulch tomorrow. I also fertilized the container plants including the blueberries. I still need to put some Serenade fungicide on a couple of roses and lilacs for p. mildew. I may try my hand at making hypertufa tomorrow. I have Monday off too so I still have a couple of days and a number of small projects remaining. I would like to sand and varnish the picnic table too if I have time.
I found a baby mantid last night and moved it onto a plant with a few aphids. I’ve been seeing a number of lady bugs which is a good thing. I also noticed that the deer have made the rounds through the backyard as a couple of roses, blackberries and grapes are missing tips or leaves. Anything that can chew on those thorny roses has my admiration. They didn’t really hurt anything just gave them a slight pruning.
I am not sure but it looks like I may have a couple of hazelnuts on my two bushes. I will have to keep an eye on those.
We have been soooo dry the ground has rather large cracks in it. I am considering tapping into the drain from the bathroom sink and routing it to one of the side beds. I will look into that a little more. It doesn’t appear that I would need much in the way of plumbing parts to do it. The sink is not far from the wall that the bed is next to. I am guessing I could tap into the drain above the s curve and run it through the basement and out the side. Since the sink is higher it should free fall ok. It would mean not having to water one whole side and that will really help if we end up having the dry season I believe we may be in for. Stay tuned.