[gardeners] Weekend gardening
Harry Boswell (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:37:35 -0500
Spent Saturday and Sunday in the yard, and I can report that summer is
trying to arrive early in Mississippi. The temperature was within a
degree or so of 90, and the sun was beating down. But the foundation
crew that's been working on my house the past 2 weeks left Thursday
(I was impressed - the yard was neater than they found it - they even
scrubbed out my garage, where they had broken through the slab to set
a pier!). So, I could finally get to things, and my new tiller was back
from the shop (something broke after the first 10 minutes of
tilling - hey Sears, your QC stinks!), so Saturday I mowed and picked up,
in between gettiing Kristen to ball practice and a birthday party;after
the party, I went to my sister's house and did some tilling I had been
promising her I'd do. Sunday after church i attacked the perennial bed
out front, where I had a bumper crop of blackberry vines growing - 2 hours
later, I had filled up a 33-gallon trash can. And I mean filled - I had
compressed the load several times to get it all in. No composting
these beasts! Then I moved an old azalea - I'm opening up the front yard
a bit, and the clump of shrubs where it lived had to go. The nandina
had already been moved, but I waited to let this one finish blooming.
I started to just pitch it, because it is old, and pretty battered, but I
decided it had earned a reprieve. Then (pure organic gardeners
please cover your eyes) I sprayed Roundup over a part of the garden
that's about to undergo extensive renovation. Potted up a few
bedding plants I had forgotten about, in some pots I had forgotten,
using some potting soil I had forgotten about. Who needs to go
to the garden center? i just wander around to parts of the yard I
haven't been to in a while, and look for surprises! Need to plant corn
this week, and get some tomatoes in the ground, but I gotta hurry -
I'm off to a star party this weekend, and I've got a new telescope on
order (sold an old one, so to maintain the requisite minimum of
three scopes, I had to buy one, right?) which should be here Tuesday
or Wednesday.
On that subject, my local library has asked me about giving a series
of talks on astronomy and stargazing - if you folks were going to
a talk on this, what would you like to hear about? I've got some
ideas, but I figure you would represent the audience pretty well,
so I would like to hear from you.
Thanks,
Harry