Out in the yard
by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett
Like most everyone else, we are in self-isolation. I feel so bad for the people in large cities because they're stuck in apartments. I live in suburbia. I have a backyard. It finally got warm enough for me to go outside and play in the yard.
By play, I mean work on the garden.
I don't have a great garden. I have perennials that surround our in-ground pool. (We are not pool people. It came with the house. It's there, it costs more to get rid of it than maintain it, it's staying.) Around here, we wait until Memorial Day to plant annuals. Let's hope by then the worst of this situation is over.
Unfortunately, by the time it got warm enough to go outside, most of my perennials were in the shade where it was too cold to work, so I cut back the rose that was in the sun. Usually I wait until the forsythia blooms to prune the roses, but they are already sprouting leaves, so I figured it was okay to start the job.
While I was out, I also decided to plant my snap peas. They like cooler weather, and hopefully they will grow. I only planted a small area as the package advises planting them every ten days so that you don't get inundated with snap peas all at once. Works for me! If I had some potting soil, I'd start some other plants inside (although my record of transplanting hasn't been all that successful in the past).
I have a LOT of hosta plants, and they got away with me last fall. That is their leaves dropped and I didn't pick them up before the snow fell--and it was early. We had more snow in November and December than we had the rest of the winter. (80 inches--50 of which fell in Nov. & Dec.) If you don't get the hosta leaves up before it gets too warm, they get moldy and disgusting. If it's sunny today, the 10 or so on the north side of my backyard will get taken care of. : )
We also drained the foot or more of water (mix of melted snow and rain) from the top of the pool cover. Now it's time to remove the leaves that are stuck to the cover. If it doesn't rain for a week or so, it's a lot easier, because they dry out and don't weigh a ton. (Water is heavy!)
It's all a lot of work, but I found myself singing while I did it. I was enjoying it. I was outside in the sunshine for more than an hour before I felt guilty for walking away from my rewrite. But if it's sunny again today, I think I'll play hooky for a little while longer.
What are you doing to fill your suddenly very long days?
Like most everyone else, we are in self-isolation. I feel so bad for the people in large cities because they're stuck in apartments. I live in suburbia. I have a backyard. It finally got warm enough for me to go outside and play in the yard.
By play, I mean work on the garden.
I don't have a great garden. I have perennials that surround our in-ground pool. (We are not pool people. It came with the house. It's there, it costs more to get rid of it than maintain it, it's staying.) Around here, we wait until Memorial Day to plant annuals. Let's hope by then the worst of this situation is over.
Unfortunately, by the time it got warm enough to go outside, most of my perennials were in the shade where it was too cold to work, so I cut back the rose that was in the sun. Usually I wait until the forsythia blooms to prune the roses, but they are already sprouting leaves, so I figured it was okay to start the job.While I was out, I also decided to plant my snap peas. They like cooler weather, and hopefully they will grow. I only planted a small area as the package advises planting them every ten days so that you don't get inundated with snap peas all at once. Works for me! If I had some potting soil, I'd start some other plants inside (although my record of transplanting hasn't been all that successful in the past).
I have a LOT of hosta plants, and they got away with me last fall. That is their leaves dropped and I didn't pick them up before the snow fell--and it was early. We had more snow in November and December than we had the rest of the winter. (80 inches--50 of which fell in Nov. & Dec.) If you don't get the hosta leaves up before it gets too warm, they get moldy and disgusting. If it's sunny today, the 10 or so on the north side of my backyard will get taken care of. : )We also drained the foot or more of water (mix of melted snow and rain) from the top of the pool cover. Now it's time to remove the leaves that are stuck to the cover. If it doesn't rain for a week or so, it's a lot easier, because they dry out and don't weigh a ton. (Water is heavy!)
It's all a lot of work, but I found myself singing while I did it. I was enjoying it. I was outside in the sunshine for more than an hour before I felt guilty for walking away from my rewrite. But if it's sunny again today, I think I'll play hooky for a little while longer.
What are you doing to fill your suddenly very long days?
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