58°f/14.4°C this morning, overcast after a night of rainshowers. High of 81 yesterday, 77 expected today, with clearing in the afternoon.
View from my rocker on the porch.
Yesterday was a full-on garden day. I planted those lily bulbs, and transplanted a coral bells plant that was being crowded out by hostas and a peony. Then I watered the plants I put in last week, as we had only had a small shower since planting.
Next up was tilling. I have experimented over the last few years with no-till gardening, with mixed and not really satisfactory results. I think perhaps our soil still has too much clay for this to work. The plants took longer to get established and overall didn't seem as robust, the soil stayed wet much longer, and I had more problems with diseases. On the plus side, weeding was minimal, and when the drought hit these plants still did very well. So after weighing the pluses and minuses, I am back to tilling, but will continue to mulch as I have done for years. The soil looks amazing, very rich and friable. Which it should, after years of care and nourishment.
Later in the day--after a couple hours porch time and a couple glasses of iced tea!--I went back out to
put in some seeds: Indian corn, onions, spinach, beets, basil, dill, and parsley. I have never grown onions from seed before but it have had good luck with leeks so I thought I would give it a try. The leeks seeded a few weeks ago are already up. I planted beans, cucumbers and squash last week. So the garden is filling up! I was tired, but boy am i glad to have done this, as the overnight rain really settled those seeds in perfectly.
I was delighted to see the row of glads I put out there in the veggie garden are now poking through the ground. When I was a child, our next-door neighbor grew rows of glads for the local florist, and they were a beautiful sight. I think a row in the garden will look so pretty.
I did stop a while to make dinner too: broiled steak, pan-grilled asparagus, sweet potatoes cooked in brown sugar and butter , and a macaroni salad like my mother used to make, just the pasta, chopped celery, celery seed, salt, pepper, and mayo. I added minced parsley and chives from my garden, and a little poppyseed dressing with the mayo. Simple and good.
Larry mowed grass most of the afternoon, but when he stopped to fill up with gas, the mower would not restart. So aggravating. He also finished up this little table for our booth. At least that made him feel good.
The past two evenings, we've had firepit time. It is our reward for our day's work, and so pleasant to be out there with the dogs, listening to the fire crackles and the birds go to bed. It can be a challenge to make Larry stop, with so much to be done. And hour or two out there just restores the soul.
His and hers!
Today we are off to his doctor appointment in Charleston, stopping to pay the last of our taxes on the way. There goes $$$. Maybe I'll stop on the way home and buy plants. More $$, but so much more satisfying!
