Culling

The indoor plant rack is still suffering from the attack of the spider mites. There are tiny webs on nearly everything including the lantana, pineapple sage, and especially the brugs. One day this coming week, I need to take everything to the shower and give them a good bath. A jet of water should remove most of the mites and their webs. Spring can't get here soon enough for my Honeycomb cuttings. Only two have survived the winter, slowly turning yellow and dying under lights. I took cuttings from the largest to see if they can root in the cloner. Stressed plants don't usually fare too well.

I culled a bunch of things this morning including my 5 largest pineapple sage plants. I had stuck them last fall in terrible soil. I'm surprised they made it this far. I used the tops to stick more cuttings in the cloner. I've got another 12 and plenty of seeds. I'm not worried. It had to be done to make room for the plants that have rooted and need to be potted soon.

Valuable real estate has been gained on two shelves.



The cloner is getting used again.



Last night, I arrived home from work to find that my parents had made an unscheduled visit. They were supposed to bring this up on Thursday. It burns better than my wood. I'll move some inside today and maybe split some of the larger pieces if I have time.



On the agenda today: Move the compost bin to a less visible area behind the dead oak tree. Rake and shred all the leaves in the meadow. I'll scatter the finely chopped pieces back over the area. The large leaves are making it difficult for the warm sun to reach the soil. It should warm up quickly beginning next week. I'd like to see it dry out a bit as well. The perennial bed needs the same treatment, but there is still snow on those leaves this morning, although less than yesterday.

I'm only on my third cup of coffee. It's 28 degrees and sunny. The overnight low was 25. By Friday, we should be back to more normal February temperatures. I hope.

10:37am - The compost bin has been moved to behind the tree trunk.



The pitchfork didn't survive the move.



The hoophouse has lots of moisture on the plastic. That's a good sign that things inside are warming up again.



On the North side of the house, there's still plenty of snow.



The ground here is frozen solid. It's been a hard winter with no sunshine on this soil. It will be June before the soil is really warm again.



It's 36 degrees. Still sunny. Heading outside to rake some leaves if the ground isn't too wet from thawing.

12:53pm - It feels good to be working outside again. It's only 41 degrees, a heatwave!

A better shot of the compost bin's new location.



I dig a lot of digging this morning for enough rocks to finish the shrub island's edging. Everywhere I put my mattock, there was another pile of stone. The Farmers Almanac suggested today would be a good day to dig.



Two large stones in the gully need to find their way into the yard. If only I could levitate them. I'm going to wait for help on these.



I finished the edging on the shrub border. It took 6 wheelbarrow loads of stone.



And I raked the leaves off the meadow. I might wait a few days before putting them back. The ground is soaked.



Lunch - Leftover ziti that Carla made and a store bought pizza.

Hunkering Down

Today, 62 and sunny. Tomorrow, ice and snow. Welcome to North Carolina. The weathermen are predicting all sorts of nasty stuff for Friday and Saturday. It should start about 3pm tomorrow afternoon and continue through the night and into Saturday evening. My parents will not be coming up to bring me the 2-liter containers they've collected. Maybe they can make it the next weekend. I need more soil anyway.

Carla came by this morning to drop off two pots of brugmansias from her yard. She had rooted them in water, but had some problems once they were moved to soil. I'm going to babysit them for a couple months until they can be moved outside. Hers are pink. Once they settle in, I might have to "prune" them a bit and stick the cuttings in the cloner to make more. She also helped split a week's worth of firewood. It only took us just over an hour. I'll spend some time today moving it into the basement.



The compost is coming along nicely. A few weeks ago I took Janie's advice and tossed a half bag of 34-0-0 fertilizer into the bin. It seems that jumpstarted the decomposition process. I need to stir it. I want to move it. When I placed the bin here, you couldn't see it from the house. Now it's in plain view thanks to a crape myrtle that's gone dormant for the winter. I should know these simple things. Funny how I forget about deciduous trees and shrubs when placing things in the yard in summer.



Down the street, a cherry tree in front of the old stone church is in full bloom. My peach tree is threatening to start soon. Hopefully I won't lose these buds with the low teen temperatures in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday nights.



The rest of the day is mine. No real plans aside from a trip to the grocery store and another errand or three. I do intend to spend most of the day outside. It's 46 degrees and sunny. It's going to be strange waking up to cold and miserable conditions tomorrow.

1:36pm - Back from my errands. On the way home, I saw a landscape company committing crape murder on a beautiful dark red specimen that blooms fantastically all summer. I had to stop. I brought back a few limbs. Some have seed in the seed pods still.

I moved 4 barrows of wood inside. I'll do 4 more before dark. I'm heading outside now to play with my crape myrtles. I believe they're Dynamite.

2:00pm - Before and after.





I love my truck.

Simmering on the stove is a pot of black bean chili. I take 1lb of ground beef, browned and drained. I sautee half an onion, finely chopped. Drop the beef, two cans of black beans, and a large can of whole tomatoes that have been chopped and squished into a pot and let simmer for at least an hour, probably two. Salt and pepper to taste. Chili powder for flavor. Red pepper flakes for heat. Quick and dirty.



I'm going to relax a bit.

4:33pm - Done relaxing, I hauled another load of wood into the basement. I'd like to have enough to last through Sunday. I'll probably do another two in the morning.

It's 63 degrees with a touch of chill in the air.

The Snake Pit

I'll get to the snakes later, but first a list of what I did this morning.

I built a compost bin. Sort of.



I put it in an out of the way place. I need two more regular sized pallets instead of those small 3/4 pallets.



I moved the crape myrtle. I know, I just couldn't stand it any longer.



I laid out a rough area for the recycled brick and concrete patio I plan to build this winter. I'm doing it now because I know I'll change my mind a few times during the process. It's inevitable. I can't wait to get rid of that dead oak tree. Three more weeks, we should be chopping it up.



I moved the pink brugmansia to the hydrangea bed. There are more brugs here now than hydrangeas, but that could change any day. They're rooted and ready to plant. Kongmansia has lost all its leaves again. If it survives the winter, good for it.



I planted a couple more white crape myrtles and mowed the front yard. That's where the snakes come in.

The snake pit. It's periwinkle and weeds. I thought I would like it, but this stuff is a thug. It's already 4' into the lawn and is just over a year old. I've got to get rid of it. I mowed it all down today.



The lawnmower claimed another victim. Don't ask me what kind of snake it was. I don't know. I don't care. It was a snake.



I'm looking for suggestions of what to do on this sloped bank. It's shady, gets about 2 hours of summer sun along the driveway and none along the street. It's dry, heavy clay and stone. Against the house, I have hucheras, gardenias, tea olives, knockout roses, lavender, artemesia, some grasses, and bluish salvias. I'm thinking shrubs would work well on this slope, but the mulching...oh the mulching.







Other items worth mentioning today:

Spider lily.



Miss Huff and Yvonne.



Just waiting for the seeds to ripen. It went quick this year.



81, mostly cloudy. A good chance of rain this evening and overnight. Muggy, again.