More Chores

Six On Saturday is a weekly garden diary hosted by The Propagator & contributed to by gardeners all over the world.  Check out Mr Prop's comment section & the Twitter hashtag #SixOnSaturday for everybody's links.

Over the last few years, my ME symptoms tended to get worse as the days shortened.

This year, that's happening again, but to a lesser degree, which has me thrilled.

Thrilled to do chores?  You can bet your Aunt Lizzie's 3 legged hog on it.

Here's a few thrilling things that got done in the garden this week.





1.  Breakfast club.

I've spent half a century or more starting my day by feeding animals.  However, these morning silhouettes waiting on the neighbour's gable for me to give them brekky?  That's new.

When the sky's grey & wet, they look positively creepy.


2.  Wisteria.

The not-so-shady bed's been empty since the great plant rescue of Summer, 2019.  That's because the wisteria needed repotted, so better to keep the space in front of it empty than risk plants getting trampled.

Well, the new pot happened this week.

While the Possessors Of Brute Strength in my household willingly help outside, tasks involving live plants require the Great Triumvirate - Brute Strength's availability, good weather, & my energy level to be up.

In this instance, that didn't work out, so it took me 5 days to repot the wisteria on my own.  I don't regret a moment of it - just look how the turning foliage of the Japanese anemone loves that new pot.

Hopefully next week there'll be some plants in the not-so-shady bed to show you.

3.  Bulbs.

There's been planting in other parts of the garden though.  I started the week with 120 tulips bulbs & some leftover daffs that'd previously lived in the tree pots.

By the end of the week, there were 45 tulips left to plant, & that's because of the . . .


4.  Begonias.

They're wind & rain battered, but they simply won't stop blooming.  These were a free gift with an order a few years ago.  While most are o so gorgeous doubles . . .

. . . this single is pink on the back & yellow on the front.

Despite how much they delight me, they take up the planters where the 45 tulips need to live.  Next week, the begonias have to go.  Definitely.  Shoo!


5.  Hydropod clean up.

My first year using this, & 19 little plants have taken root, which is probably more than in my entire gardening career combined.  Of course, how many survive the winter is another question altogether.

But the hydropod's been cleaned & stored until next year's adventures.


6.  Bubblewrapping the shed.

This is my 2nd winter with this shed, but the first that I've used it for live plants - the hydropod success has taken over my indoor sills & ledges.  The wisteria pot came with tons of bubblewrap, so inevitably . . .

I found a YouTube video showing how to hang it like a curtain, rather than attaching it to the window - a real labour saver.  However, no one mentioned this should be done BEFORE the plants were inside.  You can see how big Choco Mint pellie has grown, so yes, it got interesting, especially with little plastic bowls of seeds drying everywhere.

And that's all from me this week.

There's a few dry days in our future, so hopefully the last of the last of the last'll get done by next Saturday.  (That means you, begonias.)

As always, thanks for stopping by.

See you next time!