Had another very productive weekend. Mostly because I received two large shipments: one with 25 Arctostaphylus uva-ursi and another with 10 Rheum rhabarbarum, 5 Actinidia arguta, and 96 Hibiscus syriacus. Yes. 96.
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| My dog is a mouser! Go Layla! |
I started Saturday digging 25 holes for the A. uva-ursi. It is a low-growing woody ground cover and has a prominent importance in my plan as I build around this and other trees and shrubs into several mini-guilds. Around noon or so, the rain changed over from a pleasant (but mud making) drizzle into thunderstorms.
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| Looking south as the storms come in from the southwest - our prevailing weather pattern. |
I didn't mind the rain but the thunder and lightning told me to get out of the weather. So, I took the opportunity to run into town for supplies! (And a nice break :-)
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| Fresh and steaming hardwood mulch. I love that smell... |
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| Wood for more raised beds |
By the time I got back home, a light rain was coming down, but the thunder and lightning had moved on. I quickly got incredibly muddy as I dug out all 25 holes for the A. uva-ursi. It was getting late by the time I finished digging so I took a few pictures of the plants since they were all coming out in full spring glory!
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| Lonicera caerulea edulis - in pots for later planting, just not sure where... |
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| Helianthus tuberosus - they survived the wind! |
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| Elaegnus umbellata - all 30 planted two weeks ago are in leaf! |
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| Fragaria x ananassa - transplanted from Granny's last week and doing great! |
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| Allium sativum "Giant" - saying "Hello World!" |
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| Solanum tuberosum "Purple Majesty" - looking forward to purple mashed taters! |
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| Solanum lycopersicum and Capsicum anuum - not sure those stakes will be stable enough for the maters. Hmm. |
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| Hibiscus syriacus - all 96. Really. |
Sunday started off a bit foggy, but turned into a nicely-cool partly-cloudy day -- perfect for planting. In each hole, I planted one bearberry, two strawberries, two onion seeds (not sets), and three asparagus seeds which I covered with a layer of musky-smelling mulch. (Looking forward to seeing how the bearberry and strawberries work out being the dominant ground cover.) I put rhubarb roots in ten of the holes. As the day progressed, I noticed the roots starting to dry out even with frequent rewaterings so I tried speeding things up a bit. Of course, my body resoundingly said, "no." Still, I got all the holes planted. Phew.
This week is going to be daunting as I plant all of those Rose of Sharon for our north and west hedgerow.
