Today was a beautiful blue-sky day …
… so, I decided to start prepping the castle’s garden space.
The humidity was high, but I did not have to use my inhaler – thank
the Lord. Birds were singing, lawn mowers were buzzing over lawns, neighbors
were chatting back and forth across lots … life seemed almost normal.
As I pulled my garden tools out of the shed, and started turning
the soil over in my garden boxes, I was missing my man. Big time. I am still
not used to having him gone from my life. Bob should be here, smiling and
watching me enjoy his designs, specifically crafted for me to enjoy.
Maybe Bob was present and I just didn’t know it. I believe Scripture
tells me that Bob can still see me – it’s not the same of course because I
am not aware of his presence now; but I do believe he sees me. All around
me, life was unfolding. Everything seemed almost normal.
I had turned over 4 boxes before coming to the leeks bed:
The violas have re-seeded prolifically all over the lot, so I
yanked them out of the garden boxes, and didn’t bother to transplant them. Some
of the over-wintered leeks were beefing up pretty nice – but some had struggled
among the viola patches, so I lifted those and transplanted them among the larger
ones. The bed looked pretty tidy, and the struggling transplants should take,
and shoot up healthily …
A little further down the
line, I was able to glean a nice bit of over-wintered ‘Mascara’ lettuce and a
few over-wintered scallions: I hustled those gleanings inside to keep fresh in
a cup of water until I was finished prepping the garden boxes. I was a little
breathless from the high humidity, strenuous labor, and dust floating in the
air … but I wasn’t concerned enough to use the inhaler. I wasn’t feeling the
onset of asthma. I am determined to live my life uninterrupted by asthma
concerns. The steroids in the inhaler can cause cataracts – I need my eyesight.
And my asthma is controllable with little reliance on the inhaler.
Coming to the last garden box, I saw that the over-wintered parsnips
were ready to be harvested; so, I pulled those, and took them inside too. I
like the scent of parsnips – clean and crisp like a breath of Spring air. I
think I’ll make a batch of parsnip soup with these roots:
Parsnips, Lettuce, Scallions, & Miner's Lettuce
As I turned over the soil in each box, I covered them with plastic
netting to keep neighborhood cats out of the soil – and to keep birds from
stealing seed once I start seeding my garden area; I couldn’t seed today – and I
didn’t weed the Lot either: I’ll do those things another day. My main
concern today was prepping the garden area …
All garden boxes are now ready to receive transplants.
Yesterday, I pulled my geraniums from under the front porch;
watering them and setting them in place again, on the front steps and along the
porch railing; there is new growth on some … but some don’t look so good –
seeing that I may lose a few, I was glad I kept the Fall pruning’s and rooted
them in the house over-winter: ALL of these geraniums are well over 2
decades old, and many of them have special memories connected to the receiving of
them. I hope they ALL rebound, but if some don’t, I have the rooted
transplants from the mother plants, and I bought a few more at the Adna Floral
Market when I was there Wednesday afternoon. I love geraniums, and can always find
room for new ones ;-)
New geraniums bought April 15th, 2020
Geranium cuttings trimmed & repotted - September 12th, 2019. Some of the mother plants are 25- & 20-years old.
The garden area prepped and netted, I put my gardening tools in the
shed, ate Supper, dropped off into a 2 hour catnap … and started painting one of
the plant stands after I returned from the ‘Land of Wynken-Blynken-and Nod’ ;-)
I wanted a color to match the terra cotta bird bath I always set on
it, in my garden area. But I didn’t have any ready paint colors that would give
me the desired effect, so I blended 2 paints on a sturdy paper plate to make
the color I wanted … and I applied the paint with a sponge wedge (I quartered
a round bath sea sponge), and touched up a few spots with a tiny paint
brush:
Blended entire contents of both 'Sweet Potato' & 'Chestnut' paints to make a terra cotta tint.
It took time to finish the project, but the acrylic paint dried
pretty fast, and I’m happy with the outcome :-D
All I need to do now is spray it with a clear paint sealer so the
rains don’t wash the water-based paint away.
I'm liking it!
Close match. And my hands are so red (you can see it in the picture) - they burn too, from all the hand washing and use of sanitizer: I'm going to STOP doing both 24/7. My hand skin is literally cracking & bleeding. I can't have this much chemicals on my skin every day.
All it needs now is a sealer.
Tomorrow – maybe – I’ll paint the other plant stand ;-)
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