jesshartley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jesshartley) wrote2008-06-18 02:22 pm
jesshartley) wrote2008-06-18 02:22 pm
In which we have a day off...
Today is my first non-travelling day off in... at least a month. I want to say closer to two. I spent it working in the yard, potting the plants I shopped for last night, organizing some closets and generally wearing myself out doing boggany things.
It was AWESOME.
Last night, in preparation for what I knew would be a day of domestic bogganry, The Valkyrie and I went over to Sierra Vista and came home with three new pieces of do-it-yourself furniture (a movie shelf for the Viking, a bookshelf for her room and a shoe-organizer for under her desk.) As well, we bought a bunch of new rubbermade containers for organizing the game closet and the top of the hall closet, and about $100 worth of flowers, herbs, tomatoes and planters.
This morning, after sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 8am, I got up and started in on the plantings.
First, I replaced the rosemary that had died in the middle of my kitchen herb plot.
Then I planted a cat nip plant (which I'm hoping will do like other mints and take over this entire pot) along with a lavendar and some flowers for the patio off the dining room.
Then I planted some flower boxes and pots to put on the back yard wall. Our belgian shepherd, Anubis, has discovered that while the wall surrounding the back yard itself is too tall to jump (or too tall to bother with), he can easily run up to the top of the ramp and step over the wall there. Thus, the flower boxes here do a double duty of keeping him from leaping the fence easily and brightening up the area around the patio outside of the master bedroom.
Speaking of the master bedroom, here is our hammock which is on the patio just outside there.
And here is the view from the hammock.
After the flower boxes, I moved out to the front porch. There is a built-in planter (which desperately needs new cap-bricks) that had dwindled down to a single, lonely and slightly brown boxwood bush. I haven't yet decided if I want to take the boxwood out - I hate to pull out anything that's managing to survive in this harsh climate unless it's wholly necessary. I may end up pulling it out and putting it elsewhere in the yard, especially if these flowers take off.
I bought some ornamental rosemary (the needles are shorter, fatter and more succulent than the culinary variety) to put in here, but I think I'm going to wait and get one big planter for the porch and put them in that with the remainder of the flowers (those still in the flat in the picture of the three-pots above).
I put a matching pair of small terra-cotta colored planters with these little purple flowers by the front door as well.
While at the store to pick up some more potting soil, I discovered that they had all their trees on sale for half-off. Most were much the worse for the wear, but I managed to pick out an apple, a pear, a dogwood (I think) and a willow (I think) that looked like they could be saved.
I'm going to put the apple and the pear in the front in the two circles of bare earth that used to house some half-dead shrubberies. I may surround them with the cement scalloped circle pieces that were formerly around the shrubs, and fill the interior of the circles with some hardy flowers so that the watering of the trees will benefit the flowers as well.
Finally, I put in five different varieties of tomato, some cilantro and a yellow fleshed watermelon plant. Since the soil here is so poor and the climate so dry, I heaped potting soil in rings around each of these water-loving plants, so that I could water in depth around each of them and it would "moat up" and slowly drain into the soil around the plant. This is my first experience with desert gardening, so we'll see how it goes (and if I remember to water them!)
Now, I'm off to the shower, and then to working on putting together the furniture! I love bogganing!
Hope y'all are having a great and productive day as well!
It was AWESOME.
Last night, in preparation for what I knew would be a day of domestic bogganry, The Valkyrie and I went over to Sierra Vista and came home with three new pieces of do-it-yourself furniture (a movie shelf for the Viking, a bookshelf for her room and a shoe-organizer for under her desk.) As well, we bought a bunch of new rubbermade containers for organizing the game closet and the top of the hall closet, and about $100 worth of flowers, herbs, tomatoes and planters.
This morning, after sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 8am, I got up and started in on the plantings.
First, I replaced the rosemary that had died in the middle of my kitchen herb plot.
Then I planted a cat nip plant (which I'm hoping will do like other mints and take over this entire pot) along with a lavendar and some flowers for the patio off the dining room.
Then I planted some flower boxes and pots to put on the back yard wall. Our belgian shepherd, Anubis, has discovered that while the wall surrounding the back yard itself is too tall to jump (or too tall to bother with), he can easily run up to the top of the ramp and step over the wall there. Thus, the flower boxes here do a double duty of keeping him from leaping the fence easily and brightening up the area around the patio outside of the master bedroom.
Speaking of the master bedroom, here is our hammock which is on the patio just outside there.
And here is the view from the hammock.
After the flower boxes, I moved out to the front porch. There is a built-in planter (which desperately needs new cap-bricks) that had dwindled down to a single, lonely and slightly brown boxwood bush. I haven't yet decided if I want to take the boxwood out - I hate to pull out anything that's managing to survive in this harsh climate unless it's wholly necessary. I may end up pulling it out and putting it elsewhere in the yard, especially if these flowers take off.
I bought some ornamental rosemary (the needles are shorter, fatter and more succulent than the culinary variety) to put in here, but I think I'm going to wait and get one big planter for the porch and put them in that with the remainder of the flowers (those still in the flat in the picture of the three-pots above).
I put a matching pair of small terra-cotta colored planters with these little purple flowers by the front door as well.
While at the store to pick up some more potting soil, I discovered that they had all their trees on sale for half-off. Most were much the worse for the wear, but I managed to pick out an apple, a pear, a dogwood (I think) and a willow (I think) that looked like they could be saved.
I'm going to put the apple and the pear in the front in the two circles of bare earth that used to house some half-dead shrubberies. I may surround them with the cement scalloped circle pieces that were formerly around the shrubs, and fill the interior of the circles with some hardy flowers so that the watering of the trees will benefit the flowers as well.
Finally, I put in five different varieties of tomato, some cilantro and a yellow fleshed watermelon plant. Since the soil here is so poor and the climate so dry, I heaped potting soil in rings around each of these water-loving plants, so that I could water in depth around each of them and it would "moat up" and slowly drain into the soil around the plant. This is my first experience with desert gardening, so we'll see how it goes (and if I remember to water them!)
Now, I'm off to the shower, and then to working on putting together the furniture! I love bogganing!
Hope y'all are having a great and productive day as well!