- Author: Betsy Buxton
Well, spring appears to arrived and that means that the garden list comes out and the new jobs are duly
entered. The holdovers from last season's list slowly – ever so slowly – come floating to the top! First is
the weeding of the new front bed; the next step is putting the brown mulch (purchased last year and
languishing at the corner of the garage) into place, and following that with the new drip system. The
reason for the mulch and THEN the drip is this way I won't be doing one of my famous face-plants
tripping over the piping! And you folks thought “old dogs” couldn't learn new tricks!
But before turning on that watering zone, I need to find the irrigation connections for the new system.
With the latest system, I don't need to remove the entire sprinkler bodies – just remove the tops and
guts and then put the new drip heads on! At least that was the way Toro envisioned the concept. New
Flash!! The Toro guts are bigger in diameter than the bodies of the RainBird sprinklers. OK, no problem
– here we replace the bodies after all, go team!! After a glorious afternoon of doing that, I'm right back
to square 1.
Right now I've used 3 of my mulch bags from last year – Oh glory!! – I have to go get more. I can get
some next week: What do you mean the sale ends tomorrow?? Back I go today while I have my pack
mule, er my husband, available to load those bags into the truck. Egad, I am pooped – back to that job
tomorrow!
The next on the list from last year was making small 2 X 2 boxes for the 4 clematis that are to be planted
along the side of the garden shed. First things first: go get the lumber for the construction. After
laughing hysterically at the cost of decent redwood boards, the plan undergoes a drastic change in
design and plan ( plan A was an 8 X 2 long raised bed but with a 6-foot bed on the truck that changed
fast). That's why each vine is having its own little box – 8-footers weren't available in the width or
height I wanted so change plan again. After consulting with my wood man (Bruce, natch), it was
determined that my funds only covered pressure-treated wood—and the was a stretch of the purse
strings – so that what the little darlings will get!
I was all ready to begin the little raised beds but : before that occurs, the weeds in the area need to go;
before that occurs, I will wait until they stop blooming (gorgeous blooms up to 5” wide; before that
occurs, we need to paint the shed; before that occurs, we need to get the other bids to paint the house
and the shed; before that occurs – I DON'T know!! Maybe that's for next Spring's list!
Dealing with the List today, I need a long rest!