Stringweaver I did have a huge drip system at one house we lived at. Honestly by the time I turned it on and made sure every little dripper was working I could have done the watering by hand. I finally gave up on it. There is one times I have used successfully and it is fairly inexpensive. It is called a Nelson timer and of course it goes on a garden hose. and mostly turns off the water at a set time. Now I am wondering where my two are. They might have given up. I do not remember now.

My yardening update is mostly animal related. I moved an old dog house roof up to the top of my new dog house. It will support the snow load so if I only rake it off once in awhile it will be fine. Last year I never cleared it and it was holding up at least 4 foot of snow. Soooo this eliminates another yard snow issue for me. I think I might be drinking a lot of tea come next winter. Relaxing.

The empty spaces are planted and the grass is coming in well. I still need the temp fence around it to keep the dog from trouncing on it.

Next is to move the wonderful old water pump It was in a great place until I moved the kitty kennel over 8 foot. Now I need to move the pump. Not really a big deal. It is just sitting on a pipe driven in the ground. Just lifting it off and back on again is the difficulty. Sucker is heavy.

I've been using the landfill compost for years. It is far superior to anything else available and I've never had trouble with things not growing.

Last year I bought some 'compost' from a landscape company....clay and silt and not much organic. It came with a wealth of puncture weed seeds...yay, something new for my seedbank. OW. Then I tried commercial bags of soil pep, which hadn't cooked at all and burned my plants. So then I went back to the landfill for their black gold.

I would love to have the land fill compost. I might see if I can haul some home this season towards the end after it has had time to work. If I can figure a way to haul it on the trailer. I would suppose putting a tarp down first then loading it on. the guy has a backhoe at the dump. I am sure he would load it for me.

No yardening for me today other than to cover my plants soon. Temps are dropping to freezing and it is raining now but could turn to SNOW!!!!

As per an earlier post, I went flower shopping today for container plants. For the two urns in the rock garden/courtyard, I bought lilac colored geraniums, white petunias, and a trailing vine (1 ger., three pet. and one vine each). For the large urn at the end of the privet arch, three "Neon" red geraniums, and a white w/dark pink geranium.

I confess I am terrible at container gardening. I have no patience for it. Instead of carefully planning and planting, I just try to stuff them all in the container and add potting mix until it looks like a mess. For one thing, I wait and buy the bigger plants when I should start earlier with the smaller ones available in April. Somehow, they seemed to eventually grow and look half decent but the gal at the greenhouse does such a neat job on my mailbox cover I'm thinking of taking ALL my containers down to her next year. lol

I was grumpy today as well. I told my friend I was feeling grumpy and not to take offense if I snap. She said she was "starting to feel the same". ha We decided not to go to any other greenhouses today. Have no idea what was in the air today. So tired and achy. I'm wondering if it may have been my blood pressure, it has been low lately; but I didn't bother to get my monitor out and take a reading.

"Has anyone ever used a water system time/manager? I want to put the
drip system, plus 2 or 3 lawn sprinklers on automatic. I think it will
have to be battery operated and a unit suitable for outdoors."

I would not garden without one ...

I sat down and calculated what I need for the remaining beds (yet to be built). 6 yards of compost at $20/yard, plus another 6 to 8 of mulch at $10-15/yard. And 190 board feet of lumber. sheesh. I have to find the number of the lady with the dump truck who will deliver it for me. Good timing. My tax refund arrived yesterday.

Thanks lazy, that's encouraging. There's nothing I hate more than coming home to haul hose around after a long day working outdoors. At the height of summer, the garden pretty much has to take care of itself.

not going to be too hot for a bit yet, there's a winter storm warning on tonight at higher elevations, frost for sure.

LOL 2 inches of snow this morning. Heavy and wet, the trees are all looking like they are in deep mourning, all bowed over. Many onto power lines. I didn't see any broken driving to town, but I hurried beneath them.

string - where are you and that 2"of snow? wow.

Oh String Weaver. That is a lot of snow this time of year. I had your storm here too and snow was predicted. Fortunately we only got rains and the temps only dropped to the mid 30's. I did cover my plants just in case. Today is iffy for yard work and my poor aching body can do with a second day of rest. As much as I would like to be out digging post holes for the bottle trees I think it best go just let it be another day. There is no hurry for me for those. And it is kind of windy.

schoolhouse, I'm in northern Utah, at about 4500 feet. It's not that unusual to get snow even in June, but two inches is a bit much. Could be more tonight.

It will be spring again by saturday and soon the switch will flip to summer.....endless sunny, dry, hot days. I am in no hurry for summer.

I managed to tick off three more things on my yardening list. More yard than garden. I moved the dog yard gate around to now latch on the corner of the kitty kennel. I still have a section of fence to take down. Tomorrow is another day I was getting cold out there. I also moved the old well pump to a semi corner of the patio. And built one more bottle tree. I need more bottles for it. I used all I had. This will help keep neighbors eyeballs on their own side of the fence. Sigh.

The gate is further from the house than it looks in the photo. this is the corner the snow slid off the roof and built up and the dog walked out of his yard. Now he will no longer be able to get to that snow pile.

The old well pump moved and I need to paint it.

And finally the bottle tree waiting for more bottles. it is a zoomed in photo. Blocks view into my new patio from neighbors and also the direct view into my kitchen window. A bonus I did not count on. I need at least 12 more bottles or even more if I can get them. Photo taken sitting at my patio table.

nice. I remember using a pump like that when visiting my grandparents in Minnesota. It was red. I loved pumping it, but preferred the taste of the tap water.

I planted two more small beds of asparagus this weekend (24 plants), 9 strawberries, 24 mixed broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi in a big bed and three large herb/flower tubs.

my sage survived the weight of last week's snow. It's loaded with flower buds and taking over the mint bed. I didn't anything could out compete mint! Eventually all the herbs will go into tubs and this bed will revert to salad greens, though it may never be totally free of mint.

I picked up wood for three more 3x4 beds, though I didn't get them assembled. Four 3 by 8 and two 3 by 12 beds remain to be done.

I need to call around today to either find out about a tow package and small trailer for my car or find a dump truck for a big delivery of compost. I would much prefer a little trailer to haul about 1/2 yard at a time. An amount I could easily manage after work each day and several loads on saturdays. My car can haul up to 1000 pounds, so it should be fine for a small trailer and 1/2 yard loads of compost and mulch.

I need to get to work. Warm season crops can go in the ground started next weekend. I have the tomato and pepper beds ready to go, but corn, bean, cucumber and squash beds are yet to be built and filled.

You are still all ahead of me.

I tilled the south side of my garden for the third time yesterday. I wanted to set back the evil plant witch grass that got ahead of me last year. I managed to move my archway made of cattle panels and 2'x4's to a new spot. It is 8'x10' and about 6' tall. Last year I grew squash on it. This year I am planning on peas beans and maybe cukes.

Now I can install one raised bed and plant peas in the archway. Then with some tidying I can till the rest of the garden. Progress!!!

I am hardening off my pepper plants. I was told by a friend to not bother planting them til June. That worked spectacularly last year. I have been dragging 80 4" pots in and out all week. I just discovered they have thrip - so now considering what to murder/minimize them with - they are so hard to kill. I am so annoyed!

I moved a bunch of plants onto the screened porch where they get part sun. My little house seems bigger. I really want to get my porch decluttered. It is storage in the winter and living space in the warmer months. My favorite breakfast spot!

oh dear, thrips are horrible. I know of nothing that will control them.

I am thinking of cattle panel for my peas. Arch it from one side of the bed, up and over the pathway to the next bed and fasten it off above the next bed. Then I can hang strings down for the peas all across the bed to climb on and harvest from under the arch. Plus I think it will look cool. Can I buy 4' wide cattle panel I wonder? I don't fancy cutting it. I'd do the same for the cuke and squash beds. I have bush bean seeds this year. I need to come up with nice trellis for the tomatoes.

I don't plant my tender crops until the very end of may. Last frost is supposed to be the 25th, but you know, I had three inches of snow last week.

ugh...tow package on my car would cost about $400 and then I'd still need a trailer. So I found a woman with a dump truck and she'll try to get 6 yards of compost to me this week, though I was late in calling for this week.

OH my Stringweaver that is pretty high for the tow package. The guy I bought my Blazer from treated me well on the tow package and only charged me 100.00 including the hitch. He installed and wired it.

i have an open trailer. As in the sides open too. I would need to put some wood siding and bottom on it to haul compost. I did put a big load of leaves on it using a tarp and that worked pretty well.

I now have two neighbors giving me their grass clippings and the one neighbor mows about an acre so he gets a lot of clippings each week. I will just take the Ranger down there for him to dump in and then mark where I want him to dump the grass. The ranger has a dump bed on it which is nice if I am okay with having a deep load of grass in one place. I hope to cover all my flower beds with the grass clippings through the summer and more to come. I know it is better to have more of a mixture of things but in fall I can also gather leaves. Sadly one of my best leaf gathering places cut down their big tree.

So all in all I can get lots of pine needles and grass clippings and some leaves. Free is always good. This fall I might put out the word I am in need of leaves. I would love to mulch this yard about a foot deep or more if I can get it.

well, if I could find a tow package for that amount, I'd be tempted. But Alice is getting on and I'll be replacing her within a few years. My next car will definitely have a tow package right from the start.

Years ago when the town where my dad lived started collecting leaves he somehow got them to dump them at his place....7 giant truck loads. He got them for several years before policy changed and they went to the landfill.

The asparagus I planted saturday has grown inches already!

I think these panels are 4'x16'. We made a base of 2x4s - I moved it solo and the panels got a bit out of whack. I spent my last minutes outside last night on my tippy toes with swarms of flies trying to them back without getting my fingers pinched - with my dog moaning in the background with a combo boredom, ball just out of reach and flies. Lol. I didn't get everything done. But several beds are ready and I am almost ready to till the second half of the garden. Moving stuff out of the way took longer than I thought. I have piles of trash. I really need to get to the transfer station this weekend.

I love those panels. they make great trellises. And fences if your dog is big enough to not get through them. they are a bit heavy though Agmss good for you for moving them by yourself. That could not have been easy .

A friend came over yesterday and we pushed out the last of the wood beds. Built 4 3x8 foot and 2 3 by 12 foot and got them laid out in the garden. I had built three 3 by 4 foot beds saturday and with those laid in place the garden is complete. It looks awesome. The central open space is 16 by 16 feet, room for a good sizes pavilion later on.

Now I just need to schedule compost delivery, fill the new beds and plant them. And I want to get that all done in 8 days, before a family gathering. yikes.

I got the tomato bed planted last evening. 30 some mixed varieties. I mapped them out carefully and need to get good markers. I think I will staple some plastic strips to the rim of the bed and mark them with wax pencil.

On saturday the lawn guy came and removed all the sucker siberian elm saplings. I need to replace them with desirable plants. Desirable for birds, bugs for them to feed on, bees and butterflies.

WOw Stringweaver. Would love to see a photo of your beds. I bet it is Beautiful and such a large open center will be lovely for a seating area. you certainly have vision on this project. I can just see you at a big dinner party in the center saying OK folks lets go pick our second course of salad greens and tomatoes and just have bottles of dressing sitting on the table and plates. Years ago I used to come home from work at noon or one o'clock and graze my way through the garden while I was eating.

I hope to get pictures tonight. I love the idea of the grazing dinner. Set up the grill and pick and grill corn, pick the tomatoes and basil and have fresh mozzarella waiting to make caprese salad. Have the mojito fixings and fresh pick the mint.

I won't get the big permanent pavilion this year, but I may splurge on a pop up canopy.

I heard from the dump truck gal and she will call and arrange a time this week.

Exciting to have come this far. Even fold up tables set up to celebrate your accomplishments. Such a novel kind of dinner party.

busy week ahead. 6 yards of compost got dumped next to my garden yesterday. I got one and part of another bed filled last night. It's slightly cooler today and overcast, so it will be pleasant for hauling wheelbarrow loads tonight. The tomato trellis is set up, but I need a few more parts to get the peas set up and they are starting to lean and need support soon.

Stringweaver I saw these and thought of them as markers for your beds. If no time to do the fancy painting maybe just permanent marker on rocks would work.

Garden markers

lol, I have no end of rocks! I wonder if a smooth painted rock would take wax pencil marking (and wash off later with ethanol)? I have probably 18 or so tomato varieties to keep straight. I have detailed bed maps, but it would be nice to see what they are. I might try wax pencil on unpainted rock.

Thursday a neighbor came by and asked if I'd like help with filling the beds? So this morning about 8 guys came with wheel barrows and shovels and the beds were filled in less than an hour. Whee! It would have taken me all weekend. They said they'll come back when I'm ready for mulching. Whee!

I've been shopping and planting. Now I'm turning my house, office and car over trying to find the Maple Sugar sweet corn seed I got some months ago. I may have to buy another variety, but I love that one. All that's left to plant is the corn, the baby corn, delicata squash and five big tubs; sweet potato, artichoke, huckleberry and various herbs and flowers. It looks great, except for all the bindweed taking over the walkways. I'll spray it again and then lay landscape cloth and deep mulch in a couple weeks.

OH Cripes I hate that stuff. We have it here and it is such a fight and pulling it just makes it worse. Here they call it wild morning glory.

After my parents dealing with kudzu in the south, bindweed is a nuisance, but it seems so minor in contrast, I can only count my blessings.

here are some pictures of the garden, the southeast, southwest and northeast corners. I don't know why I didn't take a northwest view.

I didn't find my corn seed, but bought another. I still have the baby corn and tubs to plant. And spray the bindweed again.

WOW your plan is looking great. I had to go back and find the lay out photo and then it made more sense to me. What a huge accomplishment for you. that dark compost looks heavenly. I also love all the half barrels you are using. And you have a lovely view from your garden.

I was away for a week right after planting. It was cool and rainy while I was gone, so I didn't get too far behind on weeding. The corn, beans and cukes have sprouted, the winter squash is taking its time. I'm starting to wonder if I should reseed.

I have snap peas, salad greens and sprouting cauliflower ready to harvest. There will be Kohlrabi and petite pois will be ready to pick by the weekend I think. There are a few tomatoes already, but they aren't ripe yet.

I bought a slightly above base price range popup canopy this weekend on sale. It has a cloth top with wind vents and heavy insect netting curtains that can pull all the way to the side or zip up the middle. Mosquitos aren't a big problem here, but they can get annoying and the tan curtains will add some needed shade. I will need some good anchors for the corners. I can attach one corner to one of the big central beds and weight the others.

I'd like to kill back the bindweed again, lay landscape fabric and mulch before I set up the canopy, but I'd also like to sit out there in a week or so and shell peas.

Canopy sounds great stringweaver. I needed one for a couple years to shade my hosta. I think I have enough shade from the tree and lilacs growing close to shade them now. no idea what I might use it for. Maybe nothing. LOL It a trellis would be nice but I seem to have enough of them right now. I will dream some thing up for next year.

I spotted a garden chair at an old stuff shop the other day. One of the type that rocks on a coil of thick wire. My favorite style. Even better, this one is built low to the ground, so it fits me. Even better, there were two. And even better, there was a matching folding round dining table. And best of all, all three pieces fit in my car. Though they haven't been as easy to get out of it....

I am so far behind. I have $60 worth of bedding plants still sitting on the potting bench. I'm keeping them alive, but just.

My 3+ week trip right at the end of winter threw me for a loop. Between trying to rest up from the trip, get the winter clothes and bedding squared away, and doing everything else, my gardens look abandoned.

The peony was glorious this spring. Until the hard winds and rain hit it. we're getting just enough rain to make a mess and not enough to "water" anything. I'm hoping to get the second peony planted today.

My yellow iris made a spectacle, too. It's a bright, lemon yellow iris and one bloom fills both hands.

Stringweaver, you scored big time. I was visiting a new "Purple Martin friend" last week; she had one of those chairs.

I have a full house of Purple Martins myself, but I've not had time to count the eggs yet. I must get that done today, too.

After talking with my lawn guy this weekend I acknowledged that my idea to kill and mulch the garden paths simply isn't going to work. The bindweed would resprout, bust up through expensive landscape cloth and inches of mulch in a matter of a few weeks. So he will keep the area mowed and trimmed. At least it's green and not uncomfortable to scoot along on my bottom while I weed. I can toss some grass seed out there and hope eventually it will take over. Right, when pigs fly. I just keep telling myself, be grateful I don't live in kudzu country.

The upside is I don't have to wait to set up the canopy pavilion. I'll need someone to help with part of the set up, but I can start assembling it this evening. I really want to have it up so I can sit on my new chair at my new table in the shade and shell the peas that are ready to harvest.

Then I can start collecting party lights for the canopy and trellises and have a dinner party out there. I need to clean and paint the rusty garden chair set I got several years ago and make seats.

There's a snocone stand here in town with table umbrellas of the most gorgeous Liberty print fabric. I need to start looking for something like that for seat cushions.

In addition to shell peas, there are purple snap peas, salad greens, spring onions, purple kohlrabi, baby beets and sprouting cauliflower ready to harvest. I might be able to snag some new potatoes soon too. And there are tomatoes already. The blue cherry tomatoes are deep purple, but still hard. I keep squeezing them to see if they are ripe. There is one tiny strawberry starting to turn red.

My corn came up spotty. I've reseeded and fertilized. Something has eaten my cucumbers I may need to replant those as well.