It's Not Work, It's Gardening!

More filthy mulch

>> Wednesday, January 9, 2013 – mulch

As I've already mentioned, I've been doing some mulching lately. One thing I've learned this year is that when you get a load of good mulch dumped into your truck on a snowy day, you get dirty. Or as two of my neighbors remarked, "filthy" (as in the phrase "why is your truck so filthy?")

The mulch dust stuck to pretty much every surface of the wet vehicle. I've been waiting for more precipitation to take care of this problem for me, but the expected rain last week didn't materialize -- we're still experiencing some level of drought here. I don't think filthiness matters when you're protecting plants and adding a wonderful blanket of organics to your soil, so I've been doing even more mulching.

Seed packet displays

>> Tuesday, January 8, 2013 – seeds

I don't know about you, but seed packet displays always get me excited. The logical side of me thinks that it's much too early in the year for these to be put out and wants to walk past without stopping, but the emotional side of me shouts loudly enough that I always stop.

There's something about a rack of seed packets that I just can't resist. Maybe it's the color, or the uniformity of it, or the fact that you can't really see what's there unless you're close enough to scrutinize the packets. Or maybe all of that is just an excuse for spring fever to start kicking in. I always stop.

Manure

>> Monday, January 7, 2013 – fertilizer

As I mentioned yesterday about my visit to Schlafly Gardenworks this weekend, we all got to take home bags of aged manure.

This may not sound like a big deal because you can get bagged manure at almost any garden center, or bulk manure from a couple of local sources. I have a few thoughts about that though.

January at the Gardenworks

>> Sunday, January 6, 2013 – winter

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month, and that means a visit to Schalfly Gardenworks.

It's not as lush and green as it was this summer of course, but there's still quite a lot going on.

more pond ice

>> Saturday, January 5, 2013 – pond, winter

The pond continues to be a source of inspiration and fascination for me. Recently the ice was clear, but a little warm spell followed by some snow and another hard freeze changed that.

The ice is now opaque, white, and very bumpy. I would not get my skates out for this.

transplant?

>> Friday, January 4, 2013 – planning, transplant

Yesterday I asked about creating better drainage in clay soils, and I got quite a few suggestions (although I'm not yet certain what I'll do). Today I have another problem that I'd like some opinions on: transplanting.

This isn't your typical "dig it up and move it" transplant though. In fact, it doesn't really look like a transplanting at all -- but that's what it is.

drainage?

>> Thursday, January 3, 2013 – planning

Like most gardeners, one of the things that I do during winter is make plans for next season's garden. Although most of the plans don't happen or take a couple of years to go from planning stages to actuality, I do it every year anyway. Sometimes the plans are straightforward and I know exactly what I want to do, like "build a small deck next to the pond". For other projects though, there are a lot of question marks.

One of these questionable projects was supposed to happen this past summer: prepare planting beds for my new Agaves, Yuccas, and different cactus varieties. Thanks to the walkway project I actually got a start on these beds, but the plants all remain in their pots, eager to stretch out their roots and become a part of the landscape.