Friday, May 6, 2016

Cleaning up my early spring garden


Come join me today as I work in my veggie garden.

I'd welcome the company,

because I have a lot of work to do to turn this into a workable garden.


I hope I can make it not only functional, but also pleasing to the eye.   Unfortunately, I got distracted by a noise.

By the time I had grabbed my camera, two street sweepers had passed by my house.

Even with two passes, it looks like they didn't do a very good job.

One street sweeper turned around while the other one continued to sweep the street.

Golly, the city had called in reinforcements.

I watched mesmerized

as what appeared to me to be a slow dance between machines.

I kept snapping photos until I realized how high the grass had gotten nearly overnight.

That was when I got bored and decided it was time to get back on task.

Where was I?  Have I not mentioned I get easily distracted?

Oh yes, I was cleaning out my pots so I could plant seeds.

I was near the end when I started on this pot.  Do you see the ants?  They were everywhere, but they may not show in the photo.  I see several on the big leaf to the left, but it's hard to tell because they are all carrying my precious soil away.

I don't like ants.  I especially don't like them when they are crawling all over my hands, arms, and clothes.   So, one quick photo and I'll be back tomorrow.  For now, I must get these ants off me!

Fast forward about 24 hours and note my tools of the trade.

I've just planted radishes

in the ground, not a pot.

I also threw some cantaloupe seeds in the ground that my friend Sally saved from a cantaloupe she purchased earlier in the year.  I covered the seeds with a bit of soil and some wet leaves so the seeds will have a chance to develop.

I managed to clean the rest of the pots and plant my sweet basil seeds.

I didn't have the heart to remove the dill I found growing in this one.

I'm not sure I have enough room in this pot for planting the mesclun mix, so I divided the seeds into two pots.

I finally have the pots in the approximate place I want them.

The garden doesn't look too bad from this angle,

but photos are often deceiving.

Unfortunately the garden looks a bit wimpy from the street side.  Note how high the grass is in the back yard.  That's definitely not a good sign.

However, it's incredibly wet right now, and you can't mow mud!

If you made it this far, I promise to not show my garden again until either the end of the month OR the first of June.  And thanks for visiting, since this is less a hobby and more a chore at the moment.

13 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Looks like a lot of hard work, and I do not like to see ants, how ghastly to have them crawling all over you! But you got a lot done, and it is looking good, even if you did get distracted by the street sweepers. I love finding distractions like that! Glad you got you camera out and shared the photos with us. Have a nice day, hugs, Valerie

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! You may live in the city but the view down the street looks so pretty with all the trees! Great distraction and the pots will look great before long! Ants are not nice at all - they got into the caravan last year and the wall was black with them! I had to kneel on an ants nest for one of my high school photos - I have a look of agony on my face but although sympathetic, the teachers behind me wouldn't let me move until the camera had panned round! I see a house for sale down the street......Hugs, Chrisx

My name is Erika. said...

I can't get over how green it is there and how many leaves are out. We are getting there-oh so slowly. Its been so dark, rainy and cold this week which has slowed everything way down. Yesterday my husband got a truck load of loam delivered to work on the yard and the truck made huge ruts in the yard, so now he has even more work to do. Maybe it won't rain all weekend and I can get a little yard work done myself. Your garden will look great once it all starts to grow, and then you can have some yummy cantaloupe and fresh veggies- YUM! I am ready.

My name is Erika. said...

Oh and I wanted to add that it is pretty cool you've made it to all 48 lower states. That is impressive. And even better you've made it to all of the state capitals. I know I haven't done that, but I think I will need to figure out how many state capitals I have been too. I think quite a few. I will let you know. :)

Sami said...

Gardening is hard work even though it can be quite rewarding and even therapeutic!
Good luck with all our potting.
We also have ants the ones that bite you!

Meggymay said...

Looks like you have been so busy, your garden will be flourishing when all the plants grow. I like your pots all in neat rows, they make a good design of their own. Hope the weather turns fine for you soon and dries the earth, it makes heavy work when its wet and soggy.
Yvonne xx

Carol said...

It's the week for garden prep work :) Your's is starting to take shape. I spent day prepping my veggie garden to set up the straw bales again, only to fin out I have waited to late to find any. Seems there is a big shortage of them due to last year terrible weather in the spring and early summer. :( Can you hear me sobbing ? I will continue to search today but then come up with an alternative plain if I don't find any.
P. S. : You are not the only one that is easily distracted. ... I'm the QUEEN of it :)

Jeanie said...

Impressive! You are going to have quite the garden when all is said and done. I bought a few herbs and a couple of plants yesterday. Should be time to plant soon, though I think I'll nurse them in pots for another week -- Michigan weather is so unreliable!

Caterina Giglio said...

wonderful gardening post, E, and the little bed at the end is so sweet, not an ant fan either.. yikes!!

Rita said...

Now you have me wondering what the two vehicles were doing--LOL!
Ants--hope you got rid of them. Garden looks like a nice start. :)
Have a great weekend.

AiyanaKalyna said...

First I love your garden. I think it's coming along quite nicely. I hope you all don't get hit too hard with the storms coming this weekend. I am ready for Monday and our crazy high TorCon that NWS has gridded us too. I am not crazy about ants since I got bit by one as a small child. I love the street sweepers. I miss mine on my old street. Since I moved I don't have street sweepers where I live. My neighbor was mad about the street sweeping thing. Complaining about how the street sweepers go to the better parts of town, blah, blah. I had to remind him we practically live on an alleyway and street sweepers don't usually clean alleys, lol. I do not have a blog post yet. I am feel guilty. I am still working on my one project. I had a bad asthma flare up this week. I will have a post up next week.

froebelsternchen said...

What a fab garden post Elizabeth! You put a lot of hard work into the verggie garden! Congrats! I know how many hard work this is .. my two little beds need so much work each year... I am really happy to have not such a really large garden... too many work for me!
Happy weekend Elizabeth!

Halle said...

I'm still totally loving the Formica chip plant stake idea! Brilliant! I have a ton of those chips...just need to happen upon some orphan forks. :)